I have been involved in Real Estate for about 25 years, which I have managed to do reasonably well at. When I saw the advertisement in our local newspaper telling of the opportunities to make millions in real estate investing, and to learn about the secrets of Robert Allen and his 'multiple streams of income' strategies, I was interested enough to dedicate a evening of my time and see what they had to say. I attended the meeting at the Best Western in Richmond, and was introduced to Noel Welles, who told of his success stories. How he came from being in debt and never owning a home, and watching as is Mother was foreclosed on and tossed into the street. And after using Robert Allens proven technique he now had not only his own home, but had bought one for his Mom as well. He also had managed to create a steady stream of income and no longer had the collection agencies on his back. Pretty heart tugging stuff if you ask me!! Anyway, it became very apparent that most people saw through this charade, as they were leaving throughout the session, and at the end only 4 of us were left. He made all sorts of grand promises and offers of deals if we signed up right then and there, and even told us of a discount that we could get. The big prize was his offer of his super secret website where one could find all sorts of cherry listings of properties in pre-foreclosure that would give us a jump on anyone else. Big catch though, you had to sigh up first before he would very dramatically take a piece of paper and write this secret site out for you. Big deal, later I found out that not only is this site able to be found by Google, but that it is a subscribed to site and costs money! Here it is for everyone to enjoy!!! www.realestatefacts.com
I signed up for the 3 day intensive class to be held in Vancouver at the Four Seasons Hotel 10/12-10/14, and was under the impression that I was free to cancel up to 7 PM of the first day and receive a full refund. Armed with my Welcome Package, I went home and started to read the material provided. It was thin on substance, but very thick on all the other classes and courses that I could enroll in to help further my dream of becoming a Certified Real Estate Specialist. It appeared to me that my dream was not going to be cheap as every one of these courses carried a large price tag, and was deemed to be important as they built on the previous classes. Regardless, I kept an open mind, and looked forward to the 3 day classes.
Friday morning meant the introduction to our instructors, Angela Worley and Joe Varnadore who regaled us with stories of their various successes, and gave us a snap shot of what we were to expect to learn over the next 3 days. I am skeptical by nature, so I asked lots of leading pointed questions, about things they said and claimed, to try and catch them on misstatements or lies, but they for the most part were very smooth and managed to baffle the answers to avoid the original question or not answer it and say they would come back to it later. I knew I was targeted at that time as I was approached directly by both of them to confirm whether or not I was going to come back the next day. Stupidly I agreed that I would persevere and return Sat and Sun. The next 2 days were merely copies of the first day, with a little extra spin added, but all in all the whole thing could have been held over 1 days with no problem. Each day they would bait the hook and drop the line about the importance of purchasing the Executive Package Program (regular 12680.00, class special 6995.00) and if you want to protect yourself in the U.S., then the J.J. Childers Wealth Library (regular 2835.00, class special 1835.00), as well as furthering you knowledge with classes. The pressure was intense, these people are very good at what they do, and would make a telemarketer blush with their tactics. Succumbing to the pressure, I signed up for both products and gave over my Visa number. The class was done, everyone bid their good byes and we went off to seek our fame and fortune!!
By Sunday evening, I was so full of regret and worry that I had just shelled out almost 10000.00 on books, software, help desks, boot camp workshops and numerous other things, that I wrote a letter and faxed it off on Monday morning formally canceling my order and demanding my money back. I got a phone call from a very worried individual as to why I didn't even want to look through the package before canceling it and I gave a BS story about the environment and shipping and saving the company money etc. I said that I wanted time to try the system out first before having a debt of this amount over my head as well. 10 days later, when my refund had not yet appeared on my Visa, I made another call and faxed another letter, 2 phone calls later my refund appeared on the statement. My wife said that during this time the product was still shipped, and she had to refuse the shipment much to the confusion of the driver. I thought that this was the end of my dealings with the Robert Allen group, but no I was wrong!!
2 days after getting my credit I was called by someone in Florida telling me about the wonderful offer that they were extending to me to get the same material that I had just canceled for another 1500 less, but I had to buy something else for 2000. I was not interested in listening, and by this time had started to see just how difficult the proven system really was to put into practice. Wake up and smell the coffee, there are not people out there that are that stupid and willing to just hand over their asset or loan money to someone who has completed a 3 day workshop!!!
Everything remained quiet in my house, except for the constant emails from Robert Allen and Enlightened Wealth Institute. These were easy to ignore, and I just carried on with my life accepting that I was out the 3500 and all I had to show for it was a large binder, several CD's and a couple of new ideas about real estate.
Last week, I received a phone call from Cory in Utah. He went through these selected questions, and told me that I was randomly chosen to be selected for a super special opportunity. I was to be contacted by Dominic Larkin, who would interview me to be granted the opportunity to have my own Mentor and Coach. I was called on Saturday, by Dominic, who was very nice, and personable, who asked me all sorts of questions and wanted examples of my past real estate experiences. I told him right up front that I was already very skeptical about this system due to my previous investment, and he informed me that the Florida group is not the same as the Parent Company in Provo, Utah, and that they use very shady practices and misleading statements about what a person could hope to achieve. He went on to tell me that I won the selection process and that he could offer up this wonderful opportunity to me. Well, there were 2 levels to choose from. One at 11000 the other at 22000 which was for a full year of one on one tutoring 8-12 hours a week. Why so much was my reply? Education this valuable doesn't come cheaply was the reply.
What a crock! I did some investigations on the internet about these Charlatans, and they are a scam that is as old as time. Play on peoples dreams, exploit their weakness, give them hope and then when they are reluctant to sign on wear them down!
I said no, told him why, and asked him to explain the reports on the complaint webpage, Scams.com etc. His reply was that occasionally there are people who are not satisfied with what they achieve and they complain. He said you never see the ones who are successful, so that is why they site called https://www.millionairehalloffame.com/ was created so that the successful ones could tell the world of their accomplishments. I told him that without any proof anyone could write anything and pass it off as a success. He tried to argue the point, but I had enough and told him I had to go. We will see who calls next!!
Avoid the hassles, don't sign up for anything that these companies and individuals are peddling. It is a hard to achieve goal, not impossible, but very, very difficult to accomplish. The mere fact that someone could hope to do it enables them to make the claim that it is in fact possible, and that is how they get away with it!!!
LEARN FROM MEJUST SAY NO!
Steve
Tsawwassen, British Columbia
Canada
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