Complaint Review: Optimal Web Solutions - Seattle Washington

We have started an eCommerce business through a reputable company, purchasing a complete business coaching and website package.

Not long after the website had been built on that company's web builder platform, Optimal Web Solutions called us, claiming to be "part of our team". They then "educated" us on the value of SEO (search engine optimization) and "backlinks", and that we needed to buy these services from them to land on the first page of Google rankings, as if what we already had from our original company was not enough. Being naive, we bought it.

Two days later, we got another call from them and they "educated" us again on what would happen if we did not have them build a "mobile website" that was "html 5 compatible"--that the website did not have those capabilities and would fail within a year, basically scaring us into paying for this, along with monthly fees for the earlier services plus this service.

The next week, they are back at us again, selling us a "cause marketing campaign" linking us to charities. They claimed that this would save us a huge amount of money in taxes and would make our website so much more successful, so that we would make up more than twice what we spent within a year. They claimed that this would cost 3 to 4 times as much if we waited until later when we were turning a profit, so we had better do it now.

Our original company told us that this all had been a lie, that our original website was mobile and html 5 compatible, and that Optimal Web solutions could not have done the s****.>

We contacted Optimal Web Solutions, telling them that they have until 1/1/16 to refund our money or we would dispute all charges and file reports with agencies such as RipoffReport. Next week someone from "card services" (800-847-2911, known scam #) called us, claiming to be an independent company that resolves disputes and it would be "a process" that would take time. This was an obvious attempt to stall any actions we would take.

Optimal Web Solutions has deliberately deceived us, taking advantage of the fact that we are new to eCommerce business and that we are both retirement-age, polite, trusting people who find it difficult to hang up the phone without hearing people out. They have misrepresented themselves and their products as being necessary for our financial well-being, when in fact they are unnecessary duplication of services we already had and have added significantly to the debt load we are carrying and adding to it every month with a monthly maintenance fee.

Our original website company has told us that Optimal Web Solutions has done this same kind of thing with their clients before and advised us as to what steps to take before this one. We believe that they have taken our money through outright fraud and deceit, and therefore any contract that has been signed should be declared null and void, and all money returned to us. The delaying tactic of having someone posing as a consumer specialist from what appears to be a non-existent company is only further evidence that Optimal Web Solutions will go to any lengths to deceive their customers. We are only asking for our money back. What this company deserves is far worse, the least of which is to be prevented from doing this to anyone else.