Ripoff Report Needs Your Help!
X  |  CLOSE
Report: #644141

Complaint Review: Steve Klock CEO U.S. Online - Internet Internet

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Mac — Hesperus Colorado United States of America
  • Author Not Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • Steve Klock CEO U.S. Online 430 Olds Station Road Wenatchee, WA Internet United States of America

Steve Klock CEO U.S. Online SuddenValues.com Steve Klock the owner of U.S. Online aka SuddenValues.com took a business from me that I have spent 9 months building. Internet

*Consumer Comment: WA state Attorney General has filed suit against this company

*Author of original report: Update to my original Rip Off report wrt SuddenValues.com / Suddenblitz.com / U.S. Online / Steve Klock

*UPDATE Employee: Took your business?

Show customers why they should trust your business over your competitors...

Is this
Report about YOU
listed on other sites?
Those sites steal
Ripoff Report's
content.
We can get those
removed for you!
Find out more here.
How to fix
Ripoff Report
If your business is
willing to make a
commitment to
customer satisfaction
Click here now..

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
  The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
  The frumious Bandersnatch!"

Lewis Carol: From Through the Looking Glass ... and what Alice found there. 1872

In late November of 2009 I responded to an ad posted on Craigslist that offered a business opportunity. I called the number in the ad and discussed the "email advertising" business that SuddenValues.com offers for a fee of $500 and a $500 training fee. I specifically asked if I would own the business with the right to sell it when the time came that I wished to do so.

There was a training scheduled for January 10, 2010 in Las Vegas. I called the corporate office and spoke to a person who shall remain nameless yet bore the title Recruiter, about the possibility of arriving at the designated hotel in Vegas to discuss this opportunity. It was explained to me that unfortunately that would not be possible as the owner of the company and himself the recruiter would not be arriving until the final day of a four day training course. That if I completed the application and paid the $1000 I could attend the training and become a licensed dealer with exclusive rights to a specific territory. Well contrary to my initial hunch that I should meet the folks from SuddenValues before giving them my money I went ahead and authorized a charge of $1000 to my credit card. I made my hotel reservation for the week of the training and attended the training class having not had the oppportunity to speak with anyone other than the Sales Trainer.

The training was comprehensive. I was provided with a sales presentation book and some "Power Point" pages to put in the book as sales aides. When the four day training was completed I felt confident that I could go back to my small town in SW Colorado and knock out a living selling "permission based email advertising" and other related internet website products. After about 9 months of doing making an effort to do the business I had a more than a dozen clients and though was not near the level of success I had hope to achieve I found that I was doing better than anyone else in the area in which I worked. This area includes Utah, some larger cities in CO, Las Cruces NM and the Tuscon metro area. My exclusive territory was the Four Corners area of Colorado which includes Durango and Cortez in Colorado and Farmington in New Mexico.

On Monday September 20th I attended a meeting in Phoenix AZ where Steve Klock was revealing the details of a new advertising program that he wanted all of the current dealers to sign on to. I questioned a few of the features of the new program. I could tell that Klock did not like me questioning features of his idea but I felt that if I were going to be required to sign a new contract I need to understand every detail of the terms and conditions of the new program. I asked my probing questions in a professional and respectful manner. With the exception of a little impatience and frustration on the part of Mr. Klock the meeting concluded with no animosity or anger.

One week later on Monday September 20, 2010 Mr. Klock called my home and his opening statement was " You have to go." I asked go where? He said " You are finished." The conversation became somewhat heated and at the end Mr. Klock was screaming at me at the top of his voice and he hung up. Ten minutes later I had no access to my area website http://fourcorners.suddenvalues.com He took my business. If he did it to me he can do it to anyone in the "dealer network". The only reason he provided was that I was not meeting the performance requirements. As mentioned above I had more active advertising clients than anyone else from my region.

Caveat emptor. Before you enter into any agreement with U.S. Online and or SuddenValues.com take the agreement to your attorney. Since I was "terminated" I have heard from two other former dealers that they too were ripped off by Steve Klock. You see my clients pay monthly for the services provided. Now Suddenvalues.com no longer has to pay me or the other former dealers any commission on the annual sales agreements that they signed with advertisers.

I also encourage you, if you were to look at an ad on Craigslist or Monster.com or anywhere else for SuddenValues.com to challenge the proported incomes obtainalble in their program. Lies. More lies and deceptive misleading information than you as a lay person can figure out. Again see your attorney first before signing anything and before giving SuddenValues.com you credit card information.

I have lost a great deal of money and my reputation here in Durango has been besmirched. A representative of SuddenValues called each of my clients and told them that I took a position with another company implying that I had just abandoned my clients... but don't worry Mr. Advertiser SuddenValues will manage your advertising from their offices in Wenatchee WA. Beware of doing business with U.S. Online or SuddenValues.com

"Burn me once shame on you. Burn me twice shame on me." Anonymous.

 

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 09/24/2010 06:25 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/steve-klock-ceo-us-online/internet/steve-klock-ceo-us-online-suddenvaluescom-steve-klock-the-owner-of-us-online-aka-sudd-644141. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

Search for additional reports

If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:

Report & Rebuttal
Respond to this report!
What's this?
Also a victim?
What's this?
Repair Your Reputation!
What's this?

Updates & Rebuttals

REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
1Author
2Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#3 Consumer Comment

WA state Attorney General has filed suit against this company

AUTHOR: MontNan - ()

POSTED: Sunday, June 22, 2014

I called the consumer protection office of the state of WA and learned that they had just filed suit against this company.  email brooksc@atg.wa.gov,  to add your complaint to the growing list of customers that have had money taken from them.

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#2 Author of original report

Update to my original Rip Off report wrt SuddenValues.com / Suddenblitz.com / U.S. Online / Steve Klock

AUTHOR: Mac from Durango CO - (USA)

POSTED: Sunday, October 31, 2010

Chuck from Monrovia CA asked if I met the performance objectives as outlined in the "Dealer Agreement". It is not clear to me if Chuck is an employee of U.S. Online or a dealer who signed the same agreement that I did. If Chuck signed the same agreement that went into effect in December 2009, he would be asking a question to which he already knows the answer. Yes there is a performance requirement.

Because Chuck is curious let me reply respectfully that he cannot show me 10 dealers in the entire U.S. Online / Sudden Values / Suddenblitz.com network who have consistently signed the required number of advertisers per month as stipulated in the Dealer Agreement. Let's use the Pasadena, Monrovia area as an example. I count 23 distinct advertising business on that website. This would indicate that if the dealer for that area were in full compliance with the U.S. Online / SuddenValues.com Dealer Agreement he/she must not have been a participating dealer for more than 6 months.   (6 months X 4 signed advertisers per month). The truth is that only a small number of the more than one hundred dealers have more than 12 accounts on their websites.

My territory did not include the major cities of Pasadena and etc. I live and work in an isolated town in SW Colorado with a total population of 15,000 people. When I signed my dealer agreement I was given assurances by the person who recruited me that those performance requirements were only enforced to get rid of people. Well that part worked.

To satisfy your curiosity Chuck it is also true that out of all the people in the SW Mountain region with the exception of Dennis in ABQ and Chris in Gilbert, I had more advertisers than any one else. None of those others have had their business taken away. Steve Klock took my business. His act was capricious. I was wrongfully terminated. It is my opinion that Steve Klock is running a pyramid scheme by which he makes money from recruiting. Furthermore I believe he is operating in more than 40 states out of compliance with franchise laws. Is Suddenblitz.com a franchise? I don't know the legal answer to that. But it walks like a franchise.

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#1 UPDATE Employee

Took your business?

AUTHOR: Chuck - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Sunday, October 31, 2010

Just out of curiosity...did your dealer agreement say anything about performance objectives?  I know that much of the SuddenValues revenue is based on a portion of the revenue dealers are supposed to be generating.  Only 12 accounts in all of nine months doesn't sound like a lot of performance given the inexpensive nature of the loyalty program.  Were you really meeting performance objectives, or is this just another example of someone looking to blame the wrong person?

Respond to this report!
What's this?
Featured Reports

Advertisers above have met our
strict standards for business conduct.

X
What do hackers,
questionable attorneys and
fake court orders have in common?
...Dishonest Reputation Management Investigates Reputation Repair
Free speech rights compromised

WATCH News
Segment Now