SUBMITTED: Saturday, July 02, 2005
POSTED: Saturday, July 02, 2005
Hi Stella, My name is JoAnn. I understand your position, however, perhaps you didn't read everyone's comments completely.
The majority of the people on this site have purchased the initial program for around $40 and then received high pressure sales calls from Mentoring of America or one of it's affiliates.
They make several phone calls, making you believe that you've been chosen to possibly be in one of their next infomercials. They guarantee your success and promise you'll make 100's of thousands of dollars. They also promise you that they'll work with you until you make your initial investment back, which is a lie.
Here's the kicker, they charge everyone they solicit a different price (unlike a college course or real estate class) based on the amount of available credit you have on your credit cards. For me it was $13,960.00.
They promise you a lifetime membership to a tax club and that they will set up your LLC, in addition, you get to go to the Belligio in Vegas for a seminar with John Beck himself.
They lead you to believe that's all a part of what you're purchasing, when in reality, those things are all extra.
No flight or hotel in Vegas, no lifetime membership to the Tax Club, and no LLC. Those things separately are about an additional $3500 (in my case anyway).
Then, once you get into the program, it's clear that it's a joke. More infomercials, and dead links to sites on the internet. The "mentoring calls" are really some guy in a boiler room telling you to write down your goals and leading you thru a website called bid4assets.com.
All information that is useless. He encourages you to buy property site unseen over the internet, and then sell it for a profit.
There are several civil codes and laws that John Beck has broken. I've attached my attorney letter just so you can see why people on this site are so pissed off.
Not to mention, that Beck has authorized a refund to me 3 times, and renigged each and every time. Now he's sicking his collection agency EPN on me for the 3 calls I participated to the tune of over $7000. Those calls were only 20 minutes each, my attorney doesn't even charge that much.
Hopefully, you'll read more carefully next time you begin to pass judgment.
Oh by the way, I have my real estate sales license and have had for 15 years, and they were able to trick me thru several (about 7) phone calls, and false promises.
June 23, 2005
Mentoring of America, LLC
406 West 5050 North
Provo UT 84604
Re: JoAnn and Roderic County v. Mentoring of America LLC
Dear Mentoring of America:
This office represents Joann and Roderic County concerning their September, 2004 purchase of the Amazing Profits Real Estate Program.
Your company is currently trying to collect $7246.31 from the Countys by making debt collection calls (through your related entity EPN) and by threatening to report this amount on the Countys' credit reports.
As explained below, the Countys do not owe any amount, and you are not entitled to make any credit reporting as to them.
I have reviewed the history of this transaction, and find your company's conduct to be shockingly fraudulent.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of the fraud:
• The CD's and books from the “Amazing Profits” program were useless. The manuals were incomplete, the vast majority of the websites referenced were dead links, and the CD's were merely infomercials.
• Mentoring of America promised the Countys that
(1) they could not fail because they would be your “next infomercial success story,”
(2) that if they invested 5-10 hours per week they would make their money back in 60-90 days, and
(3) that they would make “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in the foreclosure market. These were false representations designed to induce the Countys to buy more useless products.
• Mentoring of America solicited the Countys to use “other people's money” for a new real estate program by allowing Mentoring of America to charge their credit card $13,960.00.
Your company told the Countys that this amount included
(1) lifetime tax preparation or advice, anytime of day or night;
(2) free creation of an LLC in Nevada with someone there to answer the phones anytime; and
(3) a free trip to Las Vegas to see a John Beck seminar, with travel expenses paid. All of these statements were false. Mentoring of America later tried to charge the Countys additional money for every one of the above items.
• Mentoring of America quoted a price to my clients of $13,960 and charged that amount on their credit card. Not coincidentally, this was the County's current credit limit at that time.
I understand from my investigation that your company has been defrauding many other consumers by charging them depending on their credit limits.
• My clients requested a refund, and Mentoring of America ignored their calls and letters. However, once my clients did a chargeback on their credit card, your company sent my clients email confirmation that the entire $13,960 would be refunded.
Kindell Graham of your company told the Countys not to worry, that this was a total refund and that they would not be the subject of any debt collection efforts.
These representations were also apparently false. As soon as it had promised a refund, in writing, your company refused return of the books and CD's, and assigned the account to your sister company debt collection agency EPN. Ms. Graham started avoiding the Countys' calls, and once when she answered one of those calls, falsely told the Countys that she would fix the “mistake.” She did not.
• EPN is now trying to collect $7246.31 from the Countys, allegedly for the materials they tried to return and four “mentoring calls.” EPN now maintains that Mentoring of America didn't actually intend to refund anything, and always intended to collect the money from the Countys later.
This is outrageous -- Mentoring of America's own email states otherwise. I am also shocked that your company would try to collect the unconscionable amount of $7246.31 for a total of four phone calls lasting 20 minutes each, which constituted little more than walking my clients through a website and having them write down their goals.
EPN has also informed my clients that their credit reports are about to be damaged, and that Mentoring of America has instructed it to collect the debt.
In addition to the obvious fraud chronicled above, your company violated California's Home Solicitation Sales Act in wholesale fashion.
The Legislature passed the Home Solicitation Sales Act in 1971 in order to protect consumers from the unfair pressures of sales which are consummated in the home.
See Civil Code § 1689.5 et. seq.; Weatherall Aluminum Products, Co. v. Scott, 71 Cal.App.3d 245, 249 (1977).
The Act grants consumers a 3-day right to cancel such transactions. Civil Code § 1689.6.
The seller must disclose the 3-day right to cancel in writing, directly above the space for the consumer's signature on the contract (Civil Code § 1689.7(a)(1)), and must orally disclose the 3-day right to cancel as well. Civil Code § 1689.7(f).
The seller must also provide a special tear-off cancellation form in duplicate that the buyer may then use to cancel the transaction. Civil Code § 1689.7(b).
Your company did none of these things.
Therefore, my clients have the right to cancel the transaction at any time. Civil Code § 1689.7(g). Upon cancellation, your company had 10 days to refund all payments made under the contract, and had 20 days to pick up its goods.
Your company did not refund all the payments, and it failed to accept the returned goods.
Accordingly, my clients may keep the goods without any obligation to pay. Civil Code §§ 1689.7(c) and 1689.11.
It makes no difference that your sales force used the telephone to induce the Countys to enter into the agreements, and never came to their home.
The Act applies to telephonic transactions where the offer is accepted at home, regardless of who initiates the telephone call.
People v. Toomey, (1985) 157 Cal.App.3d 1; Weatherall Aluminum Products v. Scott, (1977) 71 Cal. App.3d 245; Janzen v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd, (1997) 68 Cal.Rptr.2d 260, 263; Luskin & Sons, Inc. v. Samovitz, (1985)166 Cal.App.3d 533, 536 (“Although the home solicitation statute is commonly thought of as protecting consumers from the high pressures sales tactics of door-to-door solicitors, the clear, unambiguous language of the statute gives it a much broader application”).
Pursuant to the Home Soliciation Sales Act, and because of the underlying fraud described above, any transactions between your company and the Countys are entirely void and unenforceable.
You are also hereby put on notice that your company violated many provisions of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act at Civil Code § 1770
(a). The CLRA provides the prevailing consumer with injunctive relief, and attorneys fees. Moreover, you are hereby advised that if you fail to cure your violations of the CLRA within 30 days, the Countys will also be entitled to damages and punitive damages against you.
You have the opportunity to cure your violations by doing the following within 30 days:
1. Agreeing in writing to waive any alleged debt you contend the Countys owe, and recalling your debt collection agency EPN.
2. Agreeing in writing on behalf of Mentoring of America and EPN not to report any tradeline on the Countys credit reports at any time.
3. Ceasing all contact with the Countys, including by EPN.
4. Returning the Countys' payment of $39.95 for the Amazing Profits materials.
If you do not comply with this demand, the Countys will file a lawsuit against your company and EPN for fraud, violations of the Home Solicitation Sales Act, violations of the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and for damages and punitive damages under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act.
The Countys will also consider bringing a class action to set aside all of your transactions in California during the last four years as voidable home solicitation sales, and to force you to return all monies you have obtained in those transactions.
Thank you for your consideration of the above. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Alexander B. Trueblood
cc: Roderic and JoAnn County