Storesonline Review – Part 2
In the afternoon session of the storesonline workshop, we were taught five strategies to help us succeed in our online business.
The first was on the use of joint ventures. Bascially, a joint venture is a collaboration where two partners cooperate to earn money. For example, person A might have a product but no traffic while person B might have traffic that is relevant to person A’s product. So person B sends traffic to person A and they share the profits.
Kory did not really go in depth into this strategy but he shared one of his methods of doing JVs. Basically, it was to search the search engines for a particular keyword and then go a few pages deep in the search to find a partner to do JVs with.
This was a decent strategy but his next step of this strategy spoilt it all. He told us that we could simply duplicate the entire site (with minor changes), get it to the top ten of the search engines and start making money! He made is sound very easy but it doesn’t take a genius to realise straight away that:
1) We will get into potential copyright issues.
2) Duplicate sites are not favoured by search engines and hence do not rank well.
3) It takes good quality (and relevant) inbound links to rank well search engines. If an existing site (with established links) can’t rank well, what more about a new site?
He then showed us his tax site where he’s using this strategy. I can’t find his exact site now but it looks something like this. Apparently, many people had already copied his idea. But seriously, would you buy from a site like that? For that matter, would it even rank well for relevant tax keywords?
You need to build trust in order to sell anything online!
Strategy two was about search engine optimization. He gave us a few rules for getting our websites ranked well. Keywords appearing in url, titles, descriptions, etc. Pretty basic but useful stuff.
There was a demonstration of a storesonline tool that was able to analyse the top ranked (on search engines) sites and provide a comprehensive report. We were told that with this tool, we could use the report to copy what they did and get our sites ranked in the top ten listings. Would this work? Go figure.
The third strategy was not on how to make money, but on how to save money by buying cheap items on ebay. The gist of it was that there were some ebay sellers who had typo errors in their item title and description. These items had no bidders because no one could find them. Thus, we would be able to buy them cheaply. To find those words commonly typed wrongly, you can make use of fat fingers.
While there could be a couple of really blur people, my opinion is that the majority of sellers on ebay are quite experienced. Some sellers might have purposely mis-spelled their item listings to reach more buyers. As for why they would sell their items cheaply, I’m sure you will be able to figure it that out. But this idea is still worth a shot as we can use it to find items that has less competitive bidding.
The fourth strategy was on the use of vertical portals. Essentially it meant having multiple websites with different products down the product chain.
The fifth strategy was on the use of affiliate programs for selling products. Having an affiliate program is a must have if you are selling any of your own products. This one is a no brainer.
The guaranteed method to get your website on the first page of a search engine within three days turned out to be using pay per click advertising (as expected). There was a very brief introduction about using ppc on overture and some using tips like bidding on non main stream words and mis-spelled words.
Overall, the workshop provided a fair bit of content but some people might be misled by some of their strategies which wouldn’t work. They made it sound very easy and many people were tempted to just jump right into it by buying their software and hosting.
I wouldn’t call the storesonline product a outright scam but at the price they were selling, it was definitely a rip-off. There are defintely better alternatives around.
For example, Sitesell provides more than what Storesonline was providing for less than 10% of the price and has most of the things that you need to get started online. It is something that I would recommend if you want to build a profitable website. For more details on the different alternatives available to you, please read my article Building Your Website.
Furthermore, the top few results in the search engines about storesonline were mostly complaints (too numerous) about their prices and customer service. There was even a website setup for people to re-sell (or get rid of) their multiple sites purchased from storesonline. Not to mention the multiple name changes of the company. This is surely a red flag.
If you found this storesonline review useful and feel your friends might benefit from it, please do tell them about it.
Hi Medussa,
Thanks for sharing. I will be posting up some of the links on the help page.
Hi Cindy,
There might be some class action suits against storesonline in your state. So you might want to contact your AG.
Thanks for this – just come back from a meeting with them in the uk – I will not be going and have just cancelled my card for 20pounds for the workshop – hope I have done it in time
I went to the first short one with my boss who owns a store, she was sold to send me to the second one (the eight hour one where they make the real sales pitch). It was only 98 dollars out of my boss’s pocket and it didn’t seem terrible.
My boyfriend and I went as reps to the bookstore we work for. I wont lie, I thought it was fishy that the whole room 99.9% of the people were older folks in like 50+ I would say. We went with no intentions of buying the site from them anyway. I personally think that they gives some good tips and tricks, though not worth the 98 dollars, aside from the endless sales pitch.
Now, this gave us the idea/motivation to do something like it. We figure we could do the same thing for less ( we are 21 and 22 and so we figure we were a bit more tech savvy >.>) If you have gone, remember the the 1 on 1 consulatation? The guy was clearly surprised that we weren’t really inclined to buy right then and there and was just asking questions really. I believe he said ” So I just went through all that… ” and caught himself. LoL my boyfriend and I just laughed as soon as we walked away from him.
I feel bad for all the old folks that got scammed. There is many other places as indicated by previous chains, that could do it for just as well and hell lot cheaper than for what they are asking.
So what I guess I’m trying to say is… It reeks of a ripoff. The 8 hour seminar gives some good tips and tricks, the lunch wasn’t terrible, but not really worth 98 dollars. If gullible girl such as me can see this as a scam/ripoff….. that is something to say. So really, don’t let them push you and don’t dump thousands into it.
Hi to all….
Marie and Cliff : thank you so much for the info. Marie your site looks great.Very easy to navigate as well. good job. your hard work and perseverence paid off it seems,. Are you getting sales? I sure hope so.
As for our saga….we are still waiting fo our refund. I spoke with “ryan” an SOL rep and he assured me i would get FULL refund on our MC deposit and he would also nullify our financial agreement (loan to pay the balance) that was last week. still has not showed up on our acct but i am a patient person…i will give it another few days before i get ugly ugly ugly. LOL
To all CANADIANS who have purchased last few days….DO NOT PROCRASTINATE….GET YOUR REQUEST TO CANCEL IN WITHIN 3 BUSINESS DAYS. According to (free) phone consultation i got from a local law firm:
In spite of the fact that your province may allow for up to 10 days to cancel a contract or get full refunds, the SOL contract states cancellation request must be made within 3 business days so by signing that contract, their terms over ride your state or province’s terms. Also, be sure to have you and your spouse or business parter etc sign the request for cancellation as well as all communications re your request for refund/cancellation–IF they have co-signed the financial agreements or any bill of sales. According to the SOL contract terms all parties who sign the agreement are liable. Therefore all parties who sign must also request the cancellation/nullification of the contract. I am not a lawyer so i am saying all this in lay terms according to my understanding of the research i have done re: consumer rights, contract laws, etc etc.
RE: Gao said, on September 15th, 2007 at 3:39 am
“as it ever occurred to those that want their money back after the Storesonline seminar purchases, that to get their money back they could sue the place that the seminar took place in? Think about this: if your car got damaged in the parking lot of the Marriott Hotel, who would you file a lawsuit against? The Marriott, of course. The same would apply for the seminars: why would a respectable hotel (as I understand Storesonline do their seminars at hotels predominantly) get involved with a fishy event like that? They don’t need/want that kind of publicity.”
FYI…..I asked the lawyer i spoke with about this. He said that in Canada–hotels, conferece centers or any other venue that provides space for these operations are in NO way liable for lawsuits relating to the business practices of these “traveling road shows” as he called them!
best wishes to all
Hi Medussa,
Thanks for sharing.
you are most welcome Martin. I am very grateful for the support this site offers thanks to you for setting this site up and to all who have shared.
I feel real bad for the people knocking SOL, you get as much out of life as what you put into it, no more or no less. SOL gives you the tools and yes there is no free lunch but you do have to work, if you do the work the program works, you can call the support people at SOL for help, they are some of the nicest support people I have ever met in the internet marketing business, please don;t put the blame on the company, just look in the mirror for the answer.
I am one of those people that need to look in the mirror, Bruce. Can you post your website url’s for us to see? how long have you been in business? and how well are you doing in sales with your business ventures, (new stores). My problem with SOL was not how complicated the stores were to build, that was not the hard part for me, it was if I am paying $6000. for the programs it should have included some more precise marketing help and tools. I know how many web stores there are out there that potential customers don’t know about and know one will ever find because they do not posess the knowledge on marketing with the search engines, I don’t want to be one of them. I did not get that kind of marketing information or help from the seminars or the package once I got it home. I felt that 6 stores in cyber space that know one was going to find was too scary, and I have some knowledge about being an online merchant. What about the poor people who have committed funds that have never even made an online purchase before. There was a lot of greeen!!! people at my seminar forking over money, that will ge there stores built and will expect the customers to come flooding in, Surprise!!! I would rather pay someone $6000. to take my one store and market it for me with the search engines who know about click rates and click rankings, it still boggles my mind.
Seriously, I would like to check out your stores will you post your store url’s??
The sales tactics of SOL are far to pushy, you get roped in that this is a once in a lifetime thing, check out there website, it offers the same thing. They just don’t want people leaving the seminar to think about it because they won’t get the sales if you do.
Rene
Rene: I have two sites, I did not expect to make any money with either site to start, both of my sites were put up to help people either with their health or finances. In the begining I did listen to what SOL support was telling me but being a senior citizen I thought I could take a short cut and decided to work with other programs, needless to say I was mislead. Just the other day I attended a SOL seminar as a guest and learned about things I need to incorporate on my sites. The site I have used to help people and their pets with their health is http://www.seaweed4you.com I have now been taking the seaweed 2 yrs and everyone should do the same
Hello Bruce, Do you want to buy one (or two) of my sites for $900 each? I would love to sell them. Thanks.
Hi Bruce,
I had a look at your site. For some reason, the layout is misaligned on my browser. I think some of the banners are messing with the layout.
For $6000, you can buy not only the tool, but you can probably get someone to build an entire site for you. Why do things the hard way?
Hi people. I have just spent like 2 hours reading the whole comments and I want to thank you so much for sharing this information.
I did attend the seminar with my friend on Nov 15, 2007 – at Embassy Suite Hotel in Dallas TX.
Lol unlike you I just want to mention we couldn’t even eat the meal because we only eat Kosher food (We’re Jewish) so the only freebie we got is 2 mp3 players one for me and one for her, so at least that was the only good reason to come.
I just want to introduce myself.
My name is Arie and I’m the webmaster of the website http://www.Gptreasure.com where people like you can make money from completing offers, and I won’t lie to you – you can do the same thing as I do or do similar things with Affiliate Networks – money comes from networks, and from Google and Yahoo (I wonder if MSN will start something similar and if they do – be the first to try them, and try them is $50 or $100 investment, not thousands!!!)
As for my friend, she’s actually the one who invited me to come to this seminar. She has started not a long time ago to work on a pre-paid legal business and she has a small website with this link: http://www.LawyersOnTime.com and she wants of course to make the main page look better, but that’s only introduction and I’m sorry if I’m putting already too many words on who we are.
So the main part is – I don’t remember the name of the person who came to talk to us on the Seminar, but he started like “The first person who comes to me and brings me 2 dollars – I will give him 10 dollars” and 2 people did so and got 10 bucks (or actually 8 if you count what they gave him). He did it to drive our attention and he knows how to speak but omg – that was so pathetic! I got so many things to say about it from my point of view – 22 years old student who likes computers, business online and other online stuff from a very long time ago. But Please! Please read the things I want to tell you…
So he explained about StoresOnline and explained that they can’t “teach” us everything in 90 minutes so that’s why there is a workshop day. The only thing that was interesting for me was the Google thing, coz’ they said they can teach you how to be in a good rank in Google but guess what… For some reason a friend of mine explained me all about it yesterday!! Nevertheless I admit I paid $25 for the Workshop because I don’t mind to spend $25 for learning Google stuff but that’s the only thing I spent, period. And by the way, the Google ranking, I can explain it in 3 lines and I’m pretty sure that’s all they do there – explain things you can learn FREELY on the web.
People, the Internet nowadays is a bubble, a bubble that a lot of people don’t know and StoresOnline is abusing people and asking for a few thousands omg!
You can do everything today for no more than $100 investment, trust me on that! Just read, there is a lot of FREE information online! You can sell products from Affiliate Network like Linkshare, ShareASale, CJ – just type those names and put dot com and you’ll be much more happier!
One more thing – the pathetic part! In the end of the Seminar this guy there gave us a “Bonus” yeah right. And people were so naive and I felt so sorry for them!
They had like a website where you pay for a membership like $50/month and with this membership you can shop online and get cashback – are you guys crazy???
There are so many websites who will give you cashback for FREE!!! So many advertisers that will give you double discount if you just buy at their online shop, and those people there in the seminar actually some of them I’ve seen myself, they paid, they paid $50 / membership!
It’s so pathetic to abuse people’s knowledge, because people don’t know the Internet but nevertheless – today is the workshop in Dallas (7050 Stemmons Freeway) – and guess where I am today? at home!
People, just ask yourself, why would you bother to go to a such place? Why they want you to dedicate a full day of yours just to “teach you information” – give me a break!
If I was thinking like them and I would get a lot of people coming to listen to me – the only thing I would do is to explain them about my website. That’s what they do and I’m a young person who knows at least what I’m talking about in this issue. You might know a lot of things in life that I need to learn and that’s normal, but trust me – stop wasting your money and TIMEEEE and don’t go there!
Wish you just the best.
Martin: I do think SOL gives the person the tools to be successful, however I was very dissapointed to find out SOL has gone back on their word, I was told when I joined in 2002 I would be able to attend their works shops(boot camps) for the rest of my life at no charge, now I am being told by Brian of SOL the Boot Camp will cost me $499.00 to attend. I attempted to call Clint Saunderson to verify information and I was told in no uncertain terms he is a V.P and I could not talk to him, after being told by another merchant he was the person I should talk to about the boot camp meeting. I still feel the company does a good job but I am very upset they changed their tune.
Bruce, are you serious? They can do a good job, I didn’t check that but the comments above prove otherwise, AND, most importantly – Their price is so expensive! Charging thousands of $ for doing something that can be done for less than $100 is a very sad story, if not also a joke.
Arie
Hello Bruce,
I am the trouble maker that asks people that think SOL are so wonderful to post their web address’s so we can check out your stores and/or sites ?, and ask you how you have been doing financially since you joined in 2002? That was 5 years ago, you should be pulling in some nice profits by now…
I have been checking out some of the other web store builders around and have found that ProStores, an ebay company has a pretty good plan you can build and set up your store quite easily and affordably and then if you want you can buy a marketing experts time to put you out there on the search engines if that is where others like me are having problems. They have tier levels at different prices for the marketing and the store building, depending what and how much you are selling. Any thoughts on this program anyone!!!! Martin any feed back on the ProStores..
Rene
Hello Again Bruce,
Sorry I did not realize you were the same guy that I already asked to post your url’s before, but I still am not convinced that your sites are successful because of what you bought from SOL, how much traffic is your website getting on the web or are you struggling with generating traffic as well?? Did you buy the 6 websites?? Do you only have the one up and running??
I just don’t think you understand that what you have you could have done a lot cheaper than what SOL has charged you..
Hi Arie,
Thanks for sharing your experience. MSN does have an ad center like google/yahoo. However, do take note that whenever you run ads from one of those networks on your webpage, you are not allowed to run ads from the others on the same page.
Hi Rene,
Yes, ebay stores is another alternative to start and test things out. It is good as ebay by itself has many targeted buyers. Cost of starting is also low.
However, in the long run, you want a store with your own domain name. The ebay store could be used as a feeder site to get traffic to your main site after people have bought from you.
Any one want to transfer a storesonline account, I can afford a little money to try out. I am in Vancouver BC.
Email: shaggyoo@hotmail.com
Please do not email me after new year to ruin a whole years resolution. Thanks!
Martin: If I understand what you are stating a person can not have a ppc acct with Adwords and MSN, yahoo all at he same time?
Martin: You seem to understand how internet marketing works? Have you seen the ad for getting information from some Dr re: using Adwords without paying? It seems like he just wants you to buy his book, if not please explain.
Thanks,Bruce,Seaweedman
If Bruce,
There is a difference between a publisher and an advertiser account with yahoo, msn and google.
You can setup and use a ppc advertiser account with all 3 at the same time. This account allows you to advertise on their networks.
You can also setup a publisher account with all three at the same time. This allows you to show their ads on your website to earn money. The only thing to take note is that you are NOT allowed to show ads from more than one network on any particular page of your website. If a page shows google ads, it shouldn’t show yahoo ads and vice versa.
Use adwords without paying? Forget about that ebook.
Martin: Everyone be careful when attending the e-Bay information free seminars, the people don’t explain what is on the contract real clear, I got taken once but was reimbursed. Get back to me and I will explain if anyone is interested.Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Watch out New Zealand, Storesonline are here. Luckily for us we asked if we would get our money back if we signed up, got the kit home and didnt like it. We were told we had 3 DAYS to cancel. Not a problem since we knew this but were only told when we were asked and it is in TINY writing on a small piece of paper. All you people that have signed up dont leave it too late to cancel. We did after reading such terrible reviews and found out even Consumer.org.nz had written about them warning people to stay away – not to mention Australia and America where people are apparently taking legal action against them. This is a huge amount of money and the risks are too great. It made me feel sick to watch trusting and often elderly NZrs hand over vast amounts of money as a result of hard sell techniques. This maybe for you but do the research and make sure you get your money back if not. (We havnt got ours yet so heres hoping…)
Dont worry about the kits you buy if you do cancel, they generally dont bother about them they told us as its not worth it.
Take care.
Jan: I was was talking about the affiliates for e-Bay, however SOL did go back on their word to me re: being able to attend the meetings and seminars for free, no cost when you become a merchant. I wanted to attend a Boot Camp and was told I could attend but it would cost me $499.00, that does not sould like it is no cost to attend.
Hi,
One of the website building solutions that I have always recommended as an alternative to Storesonline, “Site Build It” is having a 50% offer until Christmas.
You can watch this SBI video tour to see what’s it all about.
http://www.storesonline-reviews.com/go/sbi-video-tour.php
To Bruce
Thats terrible that they were going to charge you for the Boot Camp as we were under the impression it was free and part of the package. Guess we will never know since we pulled out.Lucky!
I got a phone call from SOL yesterday wanting to help me with the website I bought (with my mother) last month for 2800.00. I haven’t had anytime to work on it because I am working a crazy amount of overtime to pay off the credit card I charged it to. My plan way to pay it off then dive in to the business. I was told they selected me to personally walk through the process and set up our website to start making us money. We would be flown to Salt Lake City for a few days to attend a meeting with the man who has the wheatgrass website we were told about in the first meeting in Tucson. We talked for 1hr 45mins and I had to stop to go to daughters school play. This man wants a futher investment of 15000.00 for helping us along with our website. He is calling us back today at 10am to finish the deal. I got on line and started looking up SOL and came across these comments. I wish I had seen this before we paid them the first money. I will be working day and night for months to pay it off. The phone call today will be interesting, but they won’t be getting anymore money!! If I can’t make something from the initial investment then it’s going to be a very expensive and painful lesson learned.
Thank all of you for your commnents.
If anyone out there has be given the “golden” opportunity to go to SLC I would like to hear about it. Email me at hskiles@gmail.com
Omg Hannah, this company just wants to rip off people. He wanted from you $15k in addition?
Is there any ‘police’ or something that can stop those people from doing that?
I have contacted the BBB and the Utah senators two times and never got a reply from them at all; the BBB couldn’t do much as the company just denied things and made up their own story. I dealt with Bright Builders also from Orem Utah, but I attended a SOL wrokshop ……..I bet they are the same company. I do wish there was some way of stopping them, as they have been doing this for yrs. Bright Builders got me good, now I am suffering with the debt, but as I said the BBB couldn’t do much. Yo can also check http://www.ripoffreports.com.
New twist……when he called me back (and his name was Don Fox) and I told him I was not interested in giving him 15000.00. He decided he could lower it to 6500.00. I told him no. He ask why, I told him I did not like what I had read about SOL and before I went any futher handing out money I wanted to do more research. He then told me I hadn’t listened to him because he had told me he was not with SOL but PMI (professional marketing international). Just an affiliate of SOL!! SOL’s reputation is their problem and PMI has a spotless record. Still not giving you any money Don. He got very frustrated started using 4 letter words. He started mocking what I would say and told me I would never have anything, go anywhere and my kids would not get to college ( I had shared a goal with him why I got into this). I wanted throttle him but remained calm. I may never have anything but I will NOT have a 15K charge on my credit to them!!!
This drives me nuts seeing comments like all of this. StoresOnline sells websites. Just because you buy a website from them and don’t make a million dollars, is that their fault? That’s like saying, I went to the Ford dealership and I paid $25,000 for a new car. I thought I would be a race car driver and I’m not. I want to blame Ford for me not being a race car driver.
Hannah says, “My plan was to pay it off, then dive into the business.” What were you thinking? That’s like saying, I’m going to buy a McDonald’s franchise, but I don’t want to make hamburgers yet. And then being upset that you’re not making any money.
Half of the comments I’ve seen in here are from people that have done NOTHING to actually build a website, get some product, make some money, and manage your business. This is a business folks. It takes work. It takes time. It takes money.
If you thought that you’d buy a website for $2800, or $6000 or whatever you paid – and you’d make money without doing a thing… then you’re an idiot. You shouldn’t be in business in the first place. Go buy a “Business 101″ book, and then figure out what you can do.
I know the rebuttal already, “but they made me all these promises, and I believed them!” Of course. You know what? I’ll make you ALL a promise right now. If you get a website, and you put effort into it and you do your research and you invest in wholesale products and you invest in marketing your website through Google, and you learn how to draw people to your website and turn them into customers… I PROMISE YOU that you will be successful. If you think because you spent a bunch of money on a website and you don’t have to do a thing simply because you spent money… I PROMISE YOU that you will fail.
Just because you buy a treadmill doesn’t mean that you’re going to lose weight. You have to wake up, turn it on, and walk. I’m not going to gripe and moan to NordicTrack, and call the Better Business Bureau and complain about Nordic Track that I’m not skinny yet. I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do… get up, work at it, and be successful.
And if you want to make money with a website – quit sitting here complaining – and DO SOMETHING. If you do it, I know you can succeed.
Hi Jaycee,
I agree with you that it takes work to make an online business work. Unfortunately, most people are lured by “get rich quick” schemes.
However, charging over-priced products and applying high pressure sales tactics are definitely not right.
The money could be much better spent on marketing the site.
Hannah,
15k for that? Crazy stuff.
Just to let you know…………I am one of the people that have worked very hard on my websites and my business. I have two websites: http://www.healthbrights.com & http://www.childhealthebook.com; I have also published a book. Neither site is with Brightbuilders or SOL; I learned very little for the almost $4000 I paid, most of what I have learned about business is from my own research, teleseminars, seminars, business book and networking. I am making more money every year, but it is not enough to pay back the money I invested yet; it will be three years in January.
After my daughter goes to bed and on weekend nights (I have no dating life), I work on my business; this is my choice, as I enjoy what I learned, but I learned very little from the company. So maybe some of the people have not done the work, but I have.
JayCee….just to let you know, I did not have a complaint about SOL…not untill the man called me. I never once complained about not making money. Why would I expect to when I don’t have a website going? When I bought the website I was told at the seminar I could work on it when I wanted to. If I needed to wait a bit that was not a problem. It would belong to me, it is mine. No problem, just pay today after that price goes up. All good. Then the phone call with the guy’s offer. He gets insulting when I tell him I don’t want to give him 15k for his help. But wait he is not with SOL he is with PMI now. Where do you think he got my number? I did not contact him. Yet he knew all about the SOL seminar I attended and everything that went on there. That tells me SOL sold or gave my number out! If that man had not called me I doubt I would have found this website. That is where I have my complaint. That makes SOL look bad. I wasn’t working fast enough they had to send that clown my way? Don’t kid yourself they do use high pressure sales tactics. They do not want to you to go home without buying. That’s just business. They do paint a pretty picture. They do stress how easy it is …”anybody can do this”. And from what I have discovered (after the seminar) they do appear to be overpriced. Now, do they deliver? Well that seems to be the problem I am reading about. There are far too many dissatified customers. This is only 1 website, look around there are many. What about all the lawsuits, problems in other countries that have been reported? If that doesn’t make you think twice then you are in denial.
JayCee: I agree with you, however what is your take on SOL not allowing merchants to attend meetings after stating we would be allowed to attend the meeting for life, or paying $499.00 to attend Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Thanks to everyone for the heads up on this company. I have a workshop (hard sell shop) today. Paid the $25 to go and now understand that I’m a “sucker!” Ha! Hubby must be one too!
Karen: I feel the $25 is well spent and worth your time. I just disagree the way they changed their policy, other then that I feel the company has done a great job for many people. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
It is basiclly a worldwide scam….. simply a devil’s in sheeps clothing…
Dollamann: Why do you feel that way, are you a merchant? Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Hi All,
My name is Jim. I went to the first 90 min meeting in Huntsville, Alabama on Jan 26, 08. There were about 150 people there. Some of the presentation was good but it was all sell,sell,sell. I have a product that I feel will sell good on the net so I thought what the hell, $50 for the all day conf. plus a free web site (sort of) it turned out to be the express one which does not allow a merchant’s account just a plain web site that I have to set up with no help or support. The second meeting on Sat Feb 2,08 was just like everyone else has described–SELL,SELL and then more SELL. I did learn a little very little. There were people there from all over North Alabama, from at least three small conf. I counted tables and chairs and there was close to 350 people there. As I watched about half signed up for the $6000 package. Do the math 175 X 6000=1,050,000—-This is why they do such a hard sell. Plus the 29.95 per web site per month is over $300,000 per month.
I noticed as others of you have said that a lot of the folks were in my age bracket 55 +++ and many were disabled. By the way they were dressed I know they did not have the 6K to spend.
I turned them down, then had a one on one with a line backer for a football team. He was not going to take no, but I finally just walked out.
Monday, Feb 4, 08 I got a call from some smooth talking guy that told me he was there to help me get started for FREE we would use OPM-Other-Peoples-Money. I told him no thank you I was not interested and he told me that he worked for PMI Then I really said no thank you.
First they try to sell me a 6000 package worth about 3-500 and then they tell me that they will help me get going for FREE because they need some more success stories.
STAY A LONG WAY AWAY FROM THESE VERY LOW LIFE FOLKS.
Thanks for reading my rant.
By the way this is the first time ever I have written on a Blog of any kind. Sorry it had to be something this bad.
Have a Great Day.
Jim
Jim: Would you please e-mail me so I can explain to you what this is all about, please don’t blame SOL for misinformation. Compared to me you are still young. If you want to stay healthy go to http://www.seaweed4you.com and get back to me
How much did you earn so far? Bruce?
Bruce,
I did not say I was 55 I said the group was was in my age bracket 55-+++. I’m in the +++ area. I don’t know what you can explain that I do not understand. These guys are CROOKS plain and simple. First they want the big investment 6k then they call me and tell me they will set me up for free.
Anyway Feel free to post more here and I will respond.
Jim
PS I did go to your site looks good.
Jim: I have heard this story a few times, after checking further I have found SOL is not calling the person to sell them a web site but some other company person is calling. I dont know how they get the phone numbers to call but they get them some way. After checking still further the individual finds out SOL did not call. If a person is of age the can say no, please don’t blame SOL if a person decides to purchase their package high pressure or not. I purchased my membership in 2002,had it up-graded in 2006 and built both of my web sites through SOL, the company has treated me fairly. Shawn Guy was more then fair with me. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Bruce,
The man that called identified himself as being from PMI which is part of SOL. To me that means just what I said in my other posts. THEY are in it for the money. Those all day events bring in Millions of dollars for them.
They are Slese-Bags of the worst kind praying on folks that really need help and promising anything to get their money. Kory who was our presenter showed us a website that was his wife’s. She has been working on it a long time as one other person in this long blog said he showed the same site to them over a year ago. And it still is not up and running. Strange.
Jim
Jim: I am not sure if PMI is connected with SOL, are you sure they are or does the name sound like PMI? One person I responded to thought she was hearing something, but found out she heard the wrong name. Is PMI an affiliate now? Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Bruce, Yes I am sure he said PMI and he also said PMI was the something (I don’t remember the exact word.)for SOL. You can also go on line and do some searches and find the links between them.
Jim
PMI is at least affiliated w/SOL if not owned by them because I was chumped into an additional $3000 after purchasing 6 websites and the check was to SOL
Joe
Joe: I will check and let you know what I am told. http://www.seaweed4you.com Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman SOL taught and helped me build both web sites
Jim: As I told Joe I will call them to check, but that does not sound like something SOL would do. What did you think about the information I just added to my site re: Alzheimers? Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
SOL is just now in Honolulu. I attended the 90-min meeting with free dinner a few hours ago at a posh Waikiki hotel, and am now doing my Internet research on these SOL guys. The presenters looked like a matched set: all young, male, clean-cut, short-haired, courteous, fresh-faced Utah boys. Free dinner was a turkey sandwich with fruit, salad and a giant choc-chip cookie, and the prize is a “personal organizer” thingy. But I am already feeling ripped off in comparison to most of you since the price to attend the day-long seminar to be held at the end of Feb., 2008, was $50 for us Hawaii suckers. (Not sure how much 20 pounds is in my money.) I will probably still attend the second session, and hope to pick up some few tidbits of information on website commerce, as many of you on this forum reported, but will make sure to keep my credit cards and checkbook securely locked up. I’ll consider the $50 (plus a chunk more dollars for parking) for two free meals in Waikiki as an entertainment expense, I guess, and maybe play around with my one website license (assuming the password works). Many thanks to you-all for all the tips to other web building, e-commerce sites and the helpful reports.
Alas! After forking out thousands of our hard-earned Singapore Dollars, we are left in a fix by Storesonline. We were assured of how simple it is to have the site running and rolling with income, as long as we are work hard to build it up. And that we will have all the support needed to start and run it.
Well, we really worked hard on it, got our first site designed, got our dropshippers to work with us, etc. But, after almost a year had passed with the site all ready to go and we still can’t publish our site. Why? It’s because SOL have not been able to resolve their issues with the local eNETS credit card processor to work with our SOL site. Now our suppliers are also questioning our ability to sell their products.
We had to constantly chase their so-called “quickresponse” chat centre for the status and everytime the answer we got is “we will do our best to resolve your issue”. Incidentally, they never bothered to reply any of our emails or get back to us. Once, they even closed the case without resolving it.
Now, how we wish there’s some way we can get our hard-earned money back.
RM: If at all possible I would try to use PayPal. I understand how you feel, keep asking questions. I have never experienced what you are going through with SOL, in fact most of my dealings with SOL have been positive, sometimes you have to keep digging until you find the right person. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
I did check and found out SOL has an affiliate PMI or a similiar name, but they are not part of SOL, however they do receive the names of people from SOL,which I don’t think is good. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
PMI is definately part of SOL when I paid them for the advanced marketing program the money went to SOL
To Jim Smith…My wife and I were at the seminar on Feb.-2-2008 in Huntsville.We got suckered into it, but we only bought one site.I remember the speaker ( Cory) you were talking about.He was very good at what he was doing.I also noticed that the initials for Stores On Line should have given me a clue to what they were all about…”S- – - Outta’ Luck”. Strange but true. Jeff & Tracey/Hazelgreen
To Jeff & Tracey, Sorry I didn’t know you on that Sat maybe I could have helped you. I know how you feel now. Have they SOL helped you in getting your site set up yet? What ever you do I would not give them any more $. I have seen a lot of scams in my life and have been caught in more of them than I care to remember, but these guys take the cake. Wish you the best.
I wonder how many people they signed up that day?
On the question of SOP and PMI if you go on line and do some searches and read all the historical files you will find that SOL and PMI are joined at the hip, waist, shoulders and other places. Stay FAR FAR away from them.
jim
Jim: I was able to build my sites with SOL, it took awhile but the support people were very helpful and nice to work with. Why are all these people not working with SOL? Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
I also am from Huntsville and attended a meeting in January. However, as someone who has (somewhat unfortunately) gotten used to hearing hype everyday from doing internet marketing in the home business arena, I was on guard. I carefully double checked the text on the invitation when I got it and paid careful attention when I was confirming my reservation.
The meeting itself was ‘exciting’ in terms of the benefits of getting a net business and actually covered some good topics. Just for the experience of attending and meeting people interested in doing business online, there’s a good networking potential and the prices quoted were competitive. Lunch was better than expected, but I’m not used to attending meetings in person, so I don’t know how it is relative to other business meetings. Though it seems that’s where the good stuff ends.
The quoted prices were much lower than what people are saying they really ended up dishing out, even for a single web site. The information presented was pretty much a teaser for information that I already was very familiar with. Information that you can get for free or near free just by searching the internet. I also noticed that the presentation seemed geared at older generations. I would be surprised to find out if I was not the youngest person attending.
Overall, go ahead and visit a presentation if you get the free deal, just be sure to leave your checkbook at home and go in with your head on. As previously said, if you feel like you are being pressured, then it’s time to walk out. Legitimate businesses do not have to use those sort of tactics in order to make a sale.
Oh, and be sure to use use a fake email address on the ’survey’. I had my husband make up a user at my domain and I’ve gotten a lot of spam to that address in my catchall account, even though he did not opt in to get partner offers and has not used the email address since then.
Thanks for posting. I receiveed a storesonline mailer and your comments saved me a lot of time and money. BTW, SEO’s don’t used keyword searches, they search for non-alias text threaded thru each page of your actual site. If you want a real inexpensive way to make a site, I have a link on the front page of my site – comps-illustration.com—(I’m not selling anything, REALLY)- to a company where you can put up a webpage in a few hours, but—–you have to KNOW HOW TO USE PHOTOSHOP. It uses photoshop to make them. For the ecommerce, you have to link to paypal, or most hosting companies have their own ecommerce. The reason I had you go to my site to access the company, is I put up their link as an affiliate, which means, if you decide to buy their program, I get a few bucks because of the referral. It’s the best program I’ve ever found. You can demo their program until you have your whole site built. Check out their reviews.
I am not saying this to make a few $’s. It allowed me to build a site for myself the way I wanted it to look, without using someone else’s templates and without knowing html or php. Cost for the photoshop plug in $249. Cost for a host & domain name, roughly $160 for 2 years. That’s it.
As many of you have stated, thanks for this forum!
URGENT – URGENT – URGENT
I need all people from Pennsylvania to contact me immediately.
I spoke with the Consumer Protection (Attorney General’s Office) about getting StoresOnLine banned from PA and was informed if there is a reoccurring problem, they can get them banned.
Any PA residents who have been lied to by StoresOnLine, contact me at 610-495-0176 or 610-213-9011 or
stephanie@ushopeurope.com
We need to file complaints with the Attorney General’s Office. Don’t worry about how long it has been. I filed 11 months after I was scammed.
We need to show a pattern of deceit. This should be pretty easy considering the fact these people do not tell the truth about anything.
I contacted the newspaper where the next seminar is taking place. Here’s the article:
http://www.fairfieldweekly.com/blogs/home.cfm?uid=84
Please feel free to post your comments!
I am sorry to say but I think you people are acting like grammar school kids, people should not have to hold your hand when you make business transactions, based on the fact you are an adult?
Bruce, I’m glad you consider yourself smarter than the majority of people. But I must ask, if it is so easy to be aware of their ‘deception’, then why did so many states have take them to court for fraudulent practices? I would reconsider your stand. Unless you work for them. Do you?
Bruce, In all your transactions with SOL you say they really helped you. And, you say all of us are wrong. And that you are not sure that they are part of the companies we have listed. Well, if you go to the WEB and check stock market you will find that SOLs Parent Co. is Imergent IIG on AMEX. And they are listed as Formerly known as Galaxy Mall, PMI, Bright Builder and Pro Stores. Now if they are so wonderful and helpful why did they change their name so many times and as Chris said yesterday why are so many states taking them to court? Maybe, you do work for them.
One more thing the web site that our presenter said was his wifes, no one has ever been able to find it.
They are as I said before a bunch of out right CROOKS praying on people who want to try and get ahead and make a little extra money. The only ones making money is SOL and group.
Jim: I am not telling you or anyone else to use their service, all I am saying for the most part I have been satisfied. I can understand your fustration with SOL changing names etc, however again I think many companies will consolidate, add, make changes, some for the better and maybe for other reasons also, no I am not a company man
Thought some of you may be interested:
Connecticut Attorney General’s Office
Press Release
Attorney General Announces $130,000 Settlement With Storesonline, Inc. And Imergent, Inc., Restitution To Consumers
April 1, 2008
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today announced that Storesonline, Inc. will pay $130,000 to the state and in restitution to consumers.
Storesonline, Inc., which also operates under the name Imergent, Inc., charges consumers to set up online businesses or create websites for existing companies. The agreement settles allegations that the company’s online businesses made exaggerated and deceptive claims regarding its virtual storefronts.
Under the settlement, Storesonline, Inc. will pay the state $65,000 and another $65,000 in restitution to Connecticut consumers who bought its services. Blumenthal estimates 10 to 12 consumers will be eligible for restitution.
The settlement comes the day before Storesonline, Inc. will hold a recruitment seminar in Stratford. The company plans to conduct similar seminars on April 8 in New Haven and April 9 in Hartford.
“”This settlement bars Storesonline, Inc. from making exaggerated and deceptive claims about its products and requires restitution to consumers,” Blumenthal said. “I urge consumers attending this company’s seminars to ask tough questions and demand honest answers. Remember: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
“Storesonline, Inc. capitalizes on consumer dreams, promising superior and state of the art products. This settlement requires that reality match the hype. My office will continue fighting to enforce consumer protection laws that shield consumers from deceptive business practices.”
The agreement also creates a process for handling any future consumer complaints about alleged company misrepresentations. If a dispute persists, Blumenthal’s office will make the final determination.
Content Last Modified on 4/7/2008 2:38:33 PM
Hi Chris, Thanks for the update.
Chris: Thank you for the information!
People, I’ve already said what I said above in my comments from December.
Chris, thanks for this update.
Bruce – I want you to look, just to look and maybe it will change your mind because I’m really sick of seeing you trying to defend them – okay? I don’t wanna sound cocky, but I’m 23 years old, I know a little bit about computers, and paying $6k or even $1k for a website is a SUPER JOKE! So just stop defending them please!!!
Look at the website I helped my friend Edna to build, she speaks Spanish and she wants to help Hispanic people to use Prepaid legal services which is what she does:
http://www.abogadosatiempo.com
(Abogados A Tiempo [Spanish] = Lawyers On Time)
Cost: $28 dollars for Domain + Hosting for 1 year!!!!
Additional Cost: Less than 4 hours of our time on April 7, and I’m going very soon to help to complete the website and remove the non-working links from the left menu.
$28 dollars dude, why are you jumping for $6k or even $1k?? People, stop wasting your money and time on this CRAP and BS, I feel like I have to reply in this tone because otherwise people don’t understand. I did reply previously in DECEMBER 2007 and nobody bothered to read simple thing.
Bruce, you should spend $50 or $100 or $200 on your website, but definitely not thousands, not even 1 thousand.
Put that in your mind people, seriously, and if you need me to teach you how to get a website like Edna’s for free, yes, for free, without asking you to pay me anything just email me and I will be happy to explain you things:
admin@gptreasure.com
I’m going over my emails every day so you won’t wait too long to hear from me, unlike people who take $6k from you and give you CRAP back.
Seriously, just stop doing it, that makes me so sick to see that!!
Thanks for the update, Chris. Now I wonder if there is any chance that this can be fought for in other countries – like Singapore.
Hi RM,
Given that storesonline does not even have a presence in Singapore, it is going to be tough. Even if you can get a judgement in a Singapore court, I am not too sure whether it is enforceable in the States.
It is probably best to consult a lawyer. There are free legal clinics provided by your MP.
Arie: I am also a member of PPL, which saved me about $9,000 so far. I do understand where you are coming from, but how many Arie’s are there out there, not too many. It is just like me wanting to help people with their health, very few people listen. I will go to your site, but please don’t put all the blame on SOL, adults should be able to reason and make logical decisions. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Hi Bruce,
I totally understand, but let’s try to make the world better but having merchants and businesses who care about their clients and only about their funds.
You’re welcome to visit my website but I pointed out actually on Edna’s website and also replied to your email.
I’m waiting for Edna to write in Spanish all the pages so I could upload it and make it looks better. As mentioned above the address is:
http://www.abogadosatiempo.com
Have a good day.
Arie
*but = by
With regard to anybody that wonder who SOL’s affiliates are, these is an internal note they send to all merchants dated Nov 16, 06.
———————————
Subject: Update – Non-StoresOnline Affiliates contacting our merchants
Date: 16-NOV-06
Attention All StoresOnline Merchants,
This notification has been updated with additional information.
StoresOnline has a few select providers who are authorized to contact you on behalf of StoresOnline. These companies are:
PMI
EMS
Mserve
Express Village
Tax Club
MPG (Manhattan Professional Group (Also part of Tax Club)
ECI
MSI
Links4Trade
NMR
Operation Drop Ship
MRN (Money Resource Network)
Please be aware that some of our affiliates use a 3rd party company for fulfillment, some of those companies are MyEbiz and ACS (Advantage Corporation Services.)
We have been made aware that several companies, including White Crane Productions, Internet Advancements and Web Marketing Source have been contacting our customers, and claiming that they have an affiliation with StoresOnline. (All of these companies appear to be out of Redmond, Washington – StoresOnline has no affiliation with any companies in Redmond, Washington.) The only companies authorized to do so are mentioned in the first paragraph of this notification.
We are in the process of taking appropriate and aggressive legal action against non-authorized companies in an effort to protect our customers against this unlawful conduct.
If you receive any phone calls from companies other than those listed in the first paragraph please take note of the representatives name, the phone number that they are calling you from, and the company they represent, and notify customer service via the email concern@myquickresponse.com. Please be sure to include your customer ID or license number in order to allow us to locate your account should we need to contact you in regards to this matter.
With Warm Regards,
Stores Online Management
I’m just wondering if Bright Builders is also an “affilliate” of sol and pmi? If so their price has gone us to 10k for the training and help of building the website and they still put you through the ringer with their “more than personal information” so-called interview process….they know all about your credit and hopes and dreams….I backed out a day after giving them my cc # and after reading all of this I’m glad I did.
Hi Kim,
I am pretty sure they are related……….I lost money to Bright Builders years ago and they had their PMI program then, both out of Orem Utah. I contacted the Utah Senators a few times and they never got back to me.
They did use personal tactics to get me to sign up. In those days I did not know much about internet scams or business………….I do wish there was some way this company could be stopped and held accountable.
I actually learned more about internet business from other sources, most of them free or very inexpensive, compared to the price they charged me. I am glad I started my business, http://www.healthbrights.com, but I do wish I had not invested so much money with Bright Builders and I think about all the people they have scammed since me.
Has anyone from Canada or USA had an experience with the collection agency from SOL?
Ann: I have only used SOL, no affiliate, to build and maintain my sites, I have had not contact with any other partner of SOL. You can check out both my sites if you like. http://www.seaweed4you.com, http://www.barclaysbe.com Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Bruce, do you keep posting to get your links up here?
Chris: I am not sure what you mean by posting, do you mean responding to a person’s comment? No all I am doing is showing Ann how SOL has helped me with my sites. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Just attented a local seminar at their event in Essex.
Started off well, they were saying, we will tell you how to do this today, and this and this. (all good positive things on how to market your website)
However, about 1 hr into it and it was a very hard sell and they never told us anything!
Questions were being asked by the audience but were not be answered, this was a ploy as to not distract the few people who were signing up.
You can buy, build and host your own website for less then their price.
They sell you the idea to go to their internet marketing course which to be fair sounded good, but then you have to pay a lot of money after the workshop!
Overall, very disappointing and full of empty promises from the start.
Not a free dinner!!
(I have sold over 20,000 items online since 2006, so I do sort of know how ecommerce works)
Sorry, Essex, England, UK.
Why doesn’t anyone stand up when they are hard selling and mention the negative press on websites? Mention that they have been stopped in certain states, and that people have said that they have been scammed. What’s the fear? It’d be a great thing to do.
After doing about 2 hours of research about SOL, I can tell you that there are only 2 camps; sites which lead back to an SOL sales website and people who feel they have been suckered out of money. Where are the legions of people who ARE happy with what they got from SOL?
I attended a 90 min. seminar, got my sandwich ‘dinner’, MP3 player, and thought I’d do some research on the company. So here I am. Let the people who have had success pony up and defend the company.
Or let’s say that these people are SELLING dreams via software. If you aren’t going to do your homework about investing even a small amount such as $50, $20, or whatever, that’s what the SALESPERSON is counting on. Also counting on your reluctance to complain, take steps to get a refund, or insist on getting what you paid for. These ARE the basics of economics in our free enterprise world.
I’m thrilled the internet exists to help people talk to each other. Glad we don’t live in the day when it took months of diligent research in libraries, and newspaper archives, and word of mouth in order to exchange ideas.
Keep up the good work all who have contributed to this review!
I have changed my email, but people have to take on their own responsibility, don’t blame SOL for being dumb, nobody put a gun to your head to join! Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Bruce, nobody puts a gun to someone’s head, that’s true, but they are using shady tactics to lure people to come. I’ve just received like a week ago a mail from them with invitation to come to their place (again in Dallas) and have a chance to make money etc etc.
They offer you free gifts and basically trying to get “suckers” to come to their show, and fall in their trap.
So even if that’s not a gun it’s still a dirty business and you can’t defend them in my opinion for doing so. What if all the casinos will send every single person in United States promotions and metrial in the mail along with a nice invitation to come there?
They don’t put a gun on people’s head yet they are luring people, and that’s not allowed, it’s even a spam or scam if you ask me.
Bruce, Let’s end it and just say you’re smarter than all the Attorney Generals that sued the company for fraud and won, and all the people that were swindled by these ‘fine’ folks.
Posting here is just a way to get people to click on your name and go to your website. End of story.
Chris: No you are wrong I could care less if the people go to my sites, if you go to my sites you will see I am trying to make people’s lives just a little bit better, but I don’t appreciate adult people wining after they have made a decision and realize they made the wrong choice. In fact I am getting ready to put information on my site how to double your current gas milage. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
If it’s gas pills, don’t bother. They don’t work.
Due to the great response we’ve had in resolving customer service issues with past and present StoresOnline merchants on these blogs, we wanted to publish the official StoresOnline contact information for those who will visit this blog:
Mari Silva
Director of Customer Relations
Stores Online Inc.
Phone: (801) 227-0004
Fax: 801-426-6712
Toll Free Fax: (888) 416-7370
Email: msilva@storesonline.com
We look forward to hearing from you.
Chris: No I have been meeting and talking to a 20yr old young man that has made a kit and has had it on his brother’s car for 6 plus months saving 50% on gas, another friend of mine is starting to also make the kit, but I am too dumb to try until I can get help from these people. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Is this the new money making/saving idea?
http://www.terrapass.com/blog/posts/does-the-waterpowered-car-really-work
Exerpt from website:
The water-powered car kits commonly advertised on the internet claim to use water to boost the efficiency of a conventional gasoline engine. This isn’t an inherently crackpot notion, and in fact a quick search turns up some non-crazy people who have done research suggesting that electrolyzed water can improve the performance of internal combustion engines. The problem is that the web sites selling the car kits generally are completely crackpot, offering up a stew of conspiracy theory, outlandish claims, and typographical errors that fairly screams scam.
Free Kits:
http://3d2f.com/download/80-686-water-gas-kit-free-download.shtml
But I digress, this isn’t about saving gas, it’s about SOL and not getting scammed. Bruce, you’re still pitching.
I might be a little naive, which my wife often says I am, but I was not aware of any attorney general suing StoresOnline for fraud and winning. In fact, it was my understanding that almost every state that had investigated StoresOnline had asked them to refund some customers and make some new disclaimers but otherwise allowed them to continue to do business in their state.
I recognize that not everyone is going to make millions online, but I’m able to make a nice little profit on the side using StoresOnline and found the price less expensive than building a customer site. Not only that, but I appreciate the control I have over content, design and the statistical information has been priceless. Again, it probably isn’t a tool everyone needs or wants, but I like it and I have had no problems with it.
http://www.ct.gov/AG/cwp/view.asp?A=2795&Q=412534
Connecticut Attorney General’s Office
Press Release
Attorney General Announces $130,000 Settlement With Storesonline, Inc. And Imergent, Inc., Restitution To Consumers
April 1, 2008
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today announced that Storesonline, Inc. will pay $130,000 to the state and in restitution to consumers.
Storesonline, Inc., which also operates under the name Imergent, Inc., charges consumers to set up online businesses or create websites for existing companies. The agreement settles allegations that the company’s online businesses made exaggerated and deceptive claims regarding its virtual storefronts.
Under the settlement, Storesonline, Inc. will pay the state $65,000 and another $65,000 in restitution to Connecticut consumers who bought its services. Blumenthal estimates 10 to 12 consumers will be eligible for restitution.
The settlement comes the day before Storesonline, Inc. will hold a recruitment seminar in Stratford. The company plans to conduct similar seminars on April 8 in New Haven and April 9 in Hartford.
“”This settlement bars Storesonline, Inc. from making exaggerated and deceptive claims about its products and requires restitution to consumers,” Blumenthal said. “I urge consumers attending this company’s seminars to ask tough questions and demand honest answers. Remember: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
“Storesonline, Inc. capitalizes on consumer dreams, promising superior and state of the art products. This settlement requires that reality match the hype. My office will continue fighting to enforce consumer protection laws that shield consumers from deceptive business practices.”
The agreement also creates a process for handling any future consumer complaints about alleged company misrepresentations. If a dispute persists, Blumenthal’s office will make the final determination.
Content Last Modified on 4/7/2008 2:38:33 PM
Bruce, does this gas thing work outside of US as well or only in the US? I’m planning to leave the country soon and my boss in Europe isn’t going to cover me for the gas you know, it’s very expensive there
Arie: From what I have learned it should function anywhere. I am receiving new information from various people that have made the kit or are now working on it. It has been awhile since I have heard from you. People are still bashing SOL. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Just a note to let you know my husband and I just left a workshop in Southaven, MS located next to Memphis, TN. I saw right through the seminar from the beginning. I cracked up when instead of paying 199.00 today only, you can purchase a book ( that was half empty) and for that you get … another day off without pay ( fortunately I was off work today) schedule another day off without pay ( remember folks, there is just no way those 11 professionals can reschedule their lives, but they expect all of us to) and lets not forget your getting a software license..i still can’t figure that one out of why you have to purchase something your paying 25.00 a month for. Well i found it absolutely hilarious when lunch arrived aka.. snack of 1/2 sandwich ( do you get the other half at the ” NEXT ” seminar ? along with that lunch you got to keep drinking the same water they served 2 hours prior. It sickened me to see some folks actually giving up 50.00 today especially after they took a day off. I caught the parts about having to pay extra for ” promotional tools” and I also caught the part about 24/7 tech support and I asked about it. I asked for the 24/7 phone number ..i was corrected that its all online tech support 24/7. Now if you’re needing tech support for an online product, how are you able to talk to them online ? It was then they told me they actually have a phone number you can call but its only operable 13 hours a day. Then i was told any add’l questions I had, could be answered at the ” next seminar” yeah.. the seminar that you have to go to on THAT day at THAT time and plan to spend ALL day brainstorming. Well i wonder if you get the other half of your sandwich then. Sorry to see you all went through so much hassle. I am just glad i put my foot down when my husband started to tell me how it could all work for us, we would just need to learn all about it. The next seminar is in Tupelo sometime this month guys.. so if you’re able.. you might want to get some materials together and present them to the next suckers that arrive that day. Run a warning statement in the tupelo paper. Contact the Mayor of Tupelo and let him know about this company and how they are about to hit his town and rip off his constituents. Best of luck !
Arie: I just saw your post re: casinos, the Hollywood Casino in Aurora was just fined by the state for sending out mailings to people who have put them selves on the do not allow in the casino list. Again we can not police every adult just because we don’t approve of some program or action. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Chris: Today I received a photo of the PVC tube my friend is going to use to make his kit, some people use mason jars. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman