Not exactly ripped off as to smart to fall for it (or were we), but...
This company advertises a product available for download, once payment is received, then asks for the completion of a ridiculous, intrusive and downright dangerous (in respect of information being give to them) form before releasing the actual e-book.
( I can not vouch for the availability of this book as we never got this far).
Be warned, the "vetting procedure" provides someone who goes to great lengths to hide her location, web site ownership details, never answers the phone etc etc.with enough information to electronically steal your identity.
We decided not to proceed, and then asked for a refund (which to date we have not received) and have since been subjected to a torrent of on-line abuse in her blog, which we have posted a reply although not sure if she will allow the rebuttal to be posted..
She has also posted personal and confidential information which could only have been gleaned from our supposed confidential application on a public blog when we pursued her for a refund (for a product never actually received).
This person is dangerous, she professes to have the good of the industry at heart, the fact is she is harming it, potentially causing embarrassment by posting personal info (personally this does not matter to us), she is collecting personal information, for what purpose? and would seem from our dealings to be unprofessional, unstable and very very vindictive.
For completeness I have appended our reply to her blog post in the likely event she removes it from her site.
"Firstly let me say thank you for the link to our site, I am sure any negative recommendation from yourself can only increase our own standing.
In response to your post above I would like to add the following.
1) I am a web designer of some 11 years standing in the escort industry, with the largest client base of escort related businesses in the UK so I probably do know how to run a business. My partner Mandy has many years management and marketing experience in the corporate sector in a variety of roles, as well as an excellent design eye, so I would dispute that point.
2) In respect of professionalism we would never, unlike yourself divulge personal information as the result of a petty dispute whatever the rights or wrongs of that dispute, to do so is far from professional and simply shows a complete lack of integrity on your part. I presume this is some innate desire for revenge, however unlike most (including yourself) we do not hide either our identities or location, so if you could please correct your post in respect that yes that is Mandys real name, although our office is actually in London. I have also added my full name at the bottom of this post in the interests of completeness.
3) Turning to the dispute itself, as a web designer and someone who has studied usability in respect of websites I would suggest that the "screening process" which I will deal with later is placed before the collection of payment not after. This allows someone the opportunity to abort any prospective purchase before parting with money, not after. Had this been the case we would not have had this dispute.
4) The screening process is (in our opinion) intrusive, irrelevant, and crucially provides you or anyone else with access to the forms contents enough information to electronically steal our identity, and this was the crucial factor in deciding not to proceed with the purchase.
I fail to understand other than perhaps a check on someones age why you feel the need to screen anyone simply to download an e-book? Amazon do not, nor do any other responsible site that I am aware of, and certainly not to the extent of the personal and intrusive information you are attempting to collect (for what purpose?).
5) Once we considered the ramifications of the "screening" we decided not to proceed, that is our right, plain and simple, we requested a refund and on advice from our bankers cancelled our card used as a precaution.
It was this card I presume you attempted to refund, although we have still have no proof of this from you despite requests. This refund could not have been made as the card was cancelled. I would presume your card services people notified you of this, if not I suggest you investigate. We have now raised a query with our bankers to try and trace your supposed refund but to date this has not been traced.
Yes we did send a series of (legally) threatening e-mails, we could get no response from you, your domain is untraceable on whois (why perhaps anyone should ask) your phone is only an answer phone which you never answer, and yes there is more than one way to achieve a result when reasonable methods fail. I am talking about legal action and requests to your payment providers and site hosting companies, not, as you seem to infer some shady method. Unlike you we are a legitimate, business, open, visible and traceable who has spent the last eleven years working to establish a culture of honesty and openness in the escort industry, a cause with your ranting, petty vendettas and secrecy you are far from helping.
Anyway, in the interests of fairness I hope you will allow this comment to be posted without alteration, the measure of a person can be found in their ability to allow criticism, I wonder if you can rise to that challenge?
Richard Noakes
Director
69Design Ltd.
69Hosting Ltd. "
