Who Do I Report False Advertising About a Course?

I'm sorry to hear your sister's problem. She could file a dispute on PayPal if buying with it, or claim a charge back if using credit card with her bank. However, the success of refund can not be guaranteed.

Also she can give negative review of such product in any forum like WF to attract the seller in contacting her and hopefully offer the refund.

She could put up a website called "JohnSmithSucks.com" and document her experience. Anybody Googling the seller would be bound to come across it, including the seller himself. As long as she sticks to the 100% truth, she has no legal worries to fear. Just tell it exactly like it is.

If John Smith starts to experience a dip in sales, you can bet he'll be in touch - first with a threat, then with a checkbook.

Suggestion: make a short youtube video about her experience. Use relevant tags including the company name, course name, spam, warning, etc. Most people search for these types of companies or courses on youtube. This way she can warn them before they spend their hard earned money.
hope this helps

She has no claim. She allowed the refund date to expire before she took action. Furthermore, this is hearsay.

We all know that there are 3 sides to every story, and we are not even getting the first side from the person who purchased the product.

I don't know who is right or wrong, but I know we are not going to get the whole story, because the OP probably never got the whole story.

Just saying....

how is the progress so far ?

Well said webmarke, sounds like you're the only one here with a real business that realizes how customers can misrepresent things.

OP, I understand your sister's concern but the elephant in the room is that she didn't file a refund during the refund period. If it was so bad she should have done that. I'd put it down to experience and filing a refund next time during the refund period.

Please do create a you tube video about the scam. I do sincerely doubt that she can get back her money. However, this is a valuable learning experience. Mostly, I like doing business with companies in america. If they fail to perform, I can always take them to small claims court. Yo, I have taken a lot of scammers to court and most of the time I win. Judge will usually take my side and order them to pay every penny. Sadly, most scammers never pay. Oh yes, they simply run away. However, the case stays open seven years. Records are there for all to see. What people need to learn, is that the mean streets are full of hungry wolves looking for sheep to feast on.

I wish you could post the company name. Sadly, that is against our forum's terms of service. This sad TOS policy against posting names is what allows crooks to scam us. Please do turn the lights on. After that, the cockroaches will scurry away.

OK, here is some advice to pass along to her, as you have requested:

1. Don't spend any money on marketing courses that you can not afford to lose
2. Don't spend any money on marketing courses until you have done a thorough "due diligence" on both the course and it's seller/creator
3. Do observe and abide by any guarantee provisions, including time periods and other constraints
4. Do not complain about or disparage other marketers on the Warrior Forum. Rule #1 (found right here) : "If you have a problem with another Warrior, a Guru, or God, take it up with them directly. Not here. No exceptions."
5. Understand your rights as a consumer. There are always options available to the buyer if you paid for a product by credit card and feel that the seller did not perform as advertised.
6. Whenever there is a dispute of any kind, it is always best to seek competent legal advice if you can not get satisfaction. Be aware, there will be costs to you. It may or may not be worth the stress, time involved, and money it will take to get to a resolution.

There you go.


Steve

And that's the problem.

This is WHY you can't name names here - because you end up with one side of a story. The course may be bad - the OTO may be bad....but if there is a refund period and you ignore the deadline...you may be out of luck.

The best thing you can do for your sister is to educate her on OTO's (click the "no thanks" link unless you know EXACTLY what you are getting) - and teach her how to conduct due diligence BEFORE buying any program/training/etc online.

Except perhaps for a chargeback if she paid with credit card....she may have just learned an expensive lesson.

With the caveat that we're only getting one side of the story, if you can demonstrate false advertising on the part of the company, the guarantee period shouldn't be an issue. In the USA, you can report incidents of advertising fraud by filing a consumer complaint to the FTC. https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-pro...-complaint-ftc

You'll need to support your claim with hard evidence, such as a copy of the original ad and any training material supplied by the company thus far. If your sister can get feedback from other course members, that would also help. But just calling the course "very bad" probably won't be enough.
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I'm having a problem wrapping my head around this because I know if it were me and I shelled out $500 for a course that was one crappy video, I'd have applied for a refund on the very same day.

Although, I've been around a while and I'm familiar with the good old baiting technique where the product vendor keeps telling the buyers that something huge is coming in the next few days and then they continue that tactic until it's beyond the time frame to obtain a refund. There have been plenty of so-called "gurus" known for pulling that one. They use their reputation as a "guru" to abuse people's trust.

However, even if there was let's say, a 30 or 60 day refund period and that has passed, if I'm not mistaken I believe PayPal has extended the time you can file a dispute for digital products to 180 days. It's my experience that PayPal will often side with the buyer on these disputes if the buyer can prove the product is not as advertised. Even if the refund period stated on the sales page has expired, it's quite possible a dispute can still be filed. Also, if she used a credit card to purchase she may still be able to file a charge back.

Personally, I despise vendors who operate like this because they put a stain on every honest vendor in the industry.

Also, I agree with the folks who are saying we are only getting one side of the story. I've had many experiences where I have taken on students and taught them to do exactly as I'm doing and they fail and then come back to me and tell me I'm a fraud. Now, I'm obviously not a fraud, since I'm doing exactly what I told them to do and I'm very successful at it. The problem in these instances is that the student did not follow my instructions at all and failed to put in the necessary WORK. Yes folks, an online business is a TON of work. Just because some of us make it look easy certainly does not mean it is. It's just that we have been doing it for so long it becomes second nature.

In fact, I have stopped taking on students because out of the 10 or 12 students I've attempted to teach, only 2 of them are actually succeeding. Does that mean I'm a poor teacher? Maybe. All I know is that I tell people to do EXACTLY what I'm doing. They nod their head and think it's great until I come to the part where I tell them it's going to take 2-3 years before they make enough money to quit their job and be their own boss. That very important piece of information is often conveniently ignored.

Well, sorry if this turned into a little rant, and I'm not saying that the vendor is innocent here by a long shot. I'm just saying that people who are new to IM are usually under the impression that they are going to start making 6 figures in 30 days or less and well, to be honest, it just doesn't work that way.

Again, I wanted to first thank everyone for all their suggestions and help. I truly appreciate your time and information. I have passed it all onto my sister.

Every day I get these messages and updated information from my sister and it truly is like a soap opera! lol.

At this point the coaches are now internally fighting between themselves. So it is a mess. It has been over a week since any of the coaches have been onto the FaceBook group to help the people who bought the course.

I have never been involved in anything like this craziness, so I am just surprised at the emails of the coaches she has sent over to me. Not to mention the coaches are trying to have the people take "sides" on their own FB sites. The coaches are blaming each other and they all feel like they have "rights", but no one is helping the people that bought the course.

I have to say I really feel sorry for everyone who is in the middle of this. It is very unsettling and it really doesn't reflect well on any of the coaches.

One of the people in the group wanted to know why the coaches aren't around to help the group out with their questions. The one coach got irritated came onto the FB group and when onto this lecture. The coach was talking about how everyone has to be nice and not "call out" anyone. Then magically the coach remove the person from the FB group. I didn't think they could do that. Especially since it is supposed to be a "special" closed FB group just for the people that bought the training course. Guess I was wrong.

All I can say is "Wow"!

Sorry man! And that is the reason why i never buy and will never but this IM, internet gurus, self improvements courses.99.99999% are all scams.

Well what was the course?

Who is it buy?

Not that it matters, she's past the deadline in which she could get a refund.

If she bought via PayPal they may give it too her depending on how long it has been 180 days or less.

However if she went through like their merchant account or something she will not get the refund.

Another issue why did it take so long to even request the refund in the first place?

Did she do her due diligence on the product being sold?

Did she try and find other customer reviews on the product?

If I bought a product and the upsell was $500 and I didn't get what was promised I would have refunded the same day... not put it off when its most likely too late.

Isaiah

Wonder why the Mods have not move this thread to the right place so others can see what the fuss is about!

You and me both.

If I were to call it based on the info. in this thread, I would say "buyer's remorse."

If it's prefaced with my "sister", "friend", "Grandma", etc...

You had 30days to make a decision and there was no deception
She did not use her rights and you can't blame anyone else