Prosperity Learning
Complaint 32915 Details

On 10/9/2011 I made an inquiry on line about creating a blogging site to make money on line. This cost me about $40. I set up my site and started “blogging for money". This blog site was somehow connected with DCA (Direct Commerce Academy) which I was never interested in-I just wanted to try blogging.

On 10/16/2011 I received a telemarketing call from Scott Reinarz phone # (877) 304-1475 ext 139 representing DCA (Direct Commerce Academy). He apparently got my contact info from my sign up with this blogging site. I mentioned to him that I was only interested in blogging which I had set up and was working on. I had no interest in pursuing anything else. He was not put off so easily. He convinced me to at least listen to this great money making venture with Prosperity Learning. This new name threw me as I thought he was from DCA. These 2 companies are somehow connected- I never did figure that one out.

He proceeded with a high pressure call giving me grossly exaggerated “facts” about how I would recover my investment in 30-90 days and within 12 months be earning $4000./month

These are excerpts from the notes he told me to write down during the call.
I would receive a coaching/ mentoring program that would provide me with:
1. All the Tools and Training needed with this one purchase to establish an E-bay drop shipping business.
2. A 30-90 day return on my investment
and is: 3. 100% Tax Deductible and has a
4. Warranty of Service where they will stay with me if I do not accomplish my 12 month income goal of $4,000/month.
I would need a time commitment of 5-10 hours a week, must be willing to use OPM (other people's money), be open minded and teachable, have 100% commitment to myself , be an action taker and be a STRONG DECISION MAKER (which he told me to write that down in caps and underline it). And be the kind of person to not back out of a decision once I made it.
He then outlined the drop ship process:
50-100% mark up, No storage needs, no shipping charges, copy and paste products from existing sites, Research best products at best prices, Set min bid price to cover wholesale cost, listing fee and shipping.
1st auction takes 10 minutes to set up and make $5 profit
2nd place bidder $4. Profit
3rd place bidder $3. profit = $12. profit for a 10 minute time investment then duplicate this process.
He did tell me about the three business day cancelation policy, and he strongly advised that I would not want to cancel due to my being a strong decision maker and action taker and to remember that- the entire amount I pay for this service is a tax deductible business expense and I will get it all back on my taxes. He also told me that this expense would qualify under an education tax deduction.

He then had the Senior Director, Mr. Travis Robinett call me from the corporate office #877-938-4055 ext 126 for me to convince him "Why Me" "Why Now" -Why I needed to be a part of his team. Since the whole deal was presented as a low risk investment, sold as an entire package with no other additional expenses, and is cheaper than a college education if one was to pay for 12 months of classes of how to establish an e-commerce drop ship business, I used my Credit card to pay for this service. Because of my 4 day on, 4 day off work schedule and a neighbor needing my help to get to numerous doctor's appointments during an unexpected health crisis- I was not able to take 5 of my 6 coaching calls. Prosperity did authorize four additional calls at a later time- of which I only received one.
I resigned myself to try and use their web site and training steps on my own to establish a drop ship business. I made a little progress, but discovered numerous services the Prosperity site refers you to associated with drop shipping/e-commerce that require additional payments. Also Ebay places a limit on shipping charges, which was lower than what the company charged to drop ship my product. I was not able to price my product competitively enough to make any profit. I also discovered establishing this business took a lot more than 5-10 hours a week- and due to my job and life responsibilities I could not keep pursuing looking for a saleable product.
My saving hope from this whole deal was,” I will get it back on my tax return and pay off my credit card”. I received a copy of my tax return on June 6- from Strategic Tax Services- for my review before they filed it. (as they had to apply for an extension). According to Strategic Tax Services (whom was referred to me by Prosperity) I am not getting ANYTHING back that I paid for their service as a business or education expense . I believe Prosperity Learning is using unscrupulous telemarketing business practices. On these grounds I am requesting a refund for the money I charged and the interest I’ve paid to my credit card to pay for this service.
I have reported this to Utah Consumer Protection- they have an investivator working onit with no results yet.
Annette Ilowiecki