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Report: #409717

Complaint Review: Home Business Success Academy ,HBSA - Nationwide

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  • Reported By: Manassas Virginia
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  • Home Business Success Academy ,HBSA Nationwide U.S.A.

Home Business Success Academy ,HBSA, Misleading False Deceptive Advertising Telemarketing School I Used Reverse Phone Look Up And They Are In Lake Forest Illinois. Nationwide

*Consumer Comment: Ohh My...

*Consumer Comment: Shocking Report, This Program Changed My Life!!

*Consumer Comment: This report does not accurately express my results

*Consumer Comment: HBSA Defense

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HBSA contacted me and offered me a chance to hear how I could add 20 to 30 people to my home based business a week. They had me listen to a presentation in which they claimed they would teach me marketing techniques that were a cut above traditional network marketing. They mentioned how I would be able to find or in their words target only those people who had a want, need or desire for what I had. They had inferred to me that I would only be in touch with those people who had a real serious interest in my product unlike the other form of network marketing in which I got a hold of people who were not really serious or ready to buy.

I really thought I would be taught where I would find leads of those people who were already ready to buy. I had decided to jump on the opportunity since they guaranteed a generation of $50K or more in my business within a year and I felt like it would be so wrong to throw away an opportunity like that since it seemed like the opprtunity of a lifetime.

I finally started listening to the training materials, and it was not until their 7 day return policy had already expired that I caught on to what it was really about! When I had gotten a little further in my training, I was shocked with what I heard. What they were teaching was that to target individuals, you would with the help of a middleman, profile people over a widespread database network, thereby invading their privacy by checking into their private information and records about their spending habits and other demographic information such as age, income and health, thereby violating their privacy rights! You were to then call them over the phone via, you guessed it, telemarketing! I protested to my mentor, hoping he would decide that due to my strong feelings against what I had found out, cut me loose and get me refunded. But oh no, he did not even hear what I had to say. He glossed over what I had to say and "corrected" me and had the teacher of the school talk me into moving forward with the program.

I finally got to the point where I had purchased leads via a middleman and went ahead and started dialing. It turned out to be much worse than I could have possibly imagined! I could tell that the people I called were feeling threatened, preyed upon, violated and disturbed etc. based on their words and behaviors and it just made me miserable! It isn't right calling people like that violating them, invading their privacy. They were asking me who I was and how I got their information because they were frightened that I was able to find out about their private information! I can't say I blame them! These people certainly do not have a want, need and desire for my product! I understand that if I call hundreds of people (including those who do not want to be bothered) I will eventually get some people who will want what I am selling and sign up. It does not matter how well it works or how much money I make, I absolutely cannot live with myself bothering people like that for a living! It isn't right spying on their habits and calling them unaware!

I am adamantly against telemarketing! I refuse to live my life doing something like that! I despise it! I will not make a living doing something I am opposed to period! You cannot be successful in business doing something you strongly despise. This is immoral!

I was duped into joining a telemarketing school for my business. It does include targeting people over the internet once you become more advanced, but you would still be invading their privacy! They do not teach what they claim to teach! They purposely make their education seem what it is not! The reason being, you guessed it, they are smooth telemarketers themselves! They called me yes, but I had already found out about their school over the internet and got on their list. That's why I thought I could trust them. I signed up because I was really serious about expanding my business! However, I will not use telemarketing techniques to market my product. I stand my ground.

I contacted my mentor first, and he alleged that I was living in a dreamworld because I adamantly opposed using telmarketing techniques to market my product! He really does not value anything I have to say no matter how important and true it is! I then asked the corporate office for a refund explaing how I can not do something that violates my values and my morals and they completely ignored me and disregarded everything I said! They shifted the resposibility on me as if it is my problem that telemarketing is unethical and against my conscience. Of course they used smooth language using politically correct non-judgemental sounding words but the message was clear they they did not care how I felt and that if I dropped out I would just have to forfeit my guarantee! They refused to honor my requests even though I had a legitimate argument!

I have already contacted my local consumer affairs office. If they can't help I will contact a lawyer for advice and/or report them to the BBB. They have or so they say a strict qualification requirement before being accepted into the school. I expressed skepticism, becuase I have been duped many times before, I am more wise and aware of how sneakier companies are becoming. The person who signed me up and I haggled for almost 2 hours! If he could have sensed I was not the right person for the program, then he should not have have qualified me. I believe it is another deceptive tactic, so that you feel at ease like you are making the right decision. They appear as a reputable company because of the way they phrase things.

Anybody considering expanding their home based business by investing in a HBSA education beware! These people are underhanded wolves in sheeps clothing. They are a business and yet they are not even listed in the phone directory. When you use reverse phone lookup, the address is blocked! There are better more suitable as well as effective ways (I hope) to successfully expand your business using more moral marketing techniques! Even though traditional network marketing may not work for everyone, at least you are using more moral less invasive marketing techniques. Not all marketing techniques are created equal!

Janet
Manassas, Virginia
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 01/08/2009 02:58 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/home-business-success-academy-hbsa/nationwide/home-business-success-academy-hbsa-misleading-false-deceptive-advertising-telemarketing-409717. 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

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
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#4 Consumer Comment

Ohh My...

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

POSTED: Thursday, June 18, 2009

Dear Janet,

I honestly hope you are not as naive as you sound. This summer I worked for a company that has very short selling cycle each year. They have a product they can only sell about 4 months of the year. This year the CEO was not surprisingly worried about the economy.

So he changed his marketing strategy slightly this year. He told us in some detail about the marketing strategy and what has really struck me is that he pretty much used the exact principles for marketing that is sold in the intermediate package with HBSA. This year he made 29 million dollars. He "only" used the strategies that is listed in the intermediate section of the HBSA classes. Not bad I would say.

Here is the thing - we are all profiled by business's every single day. Take the web. The web sites leave trails on your computer and those are checked by other company web sites. What you buy online is extensively tracked by the company you purchase from, and multiple other companies. How you behave online is tracked by marketing firms as well. How long you stay at some given web sites is tracked. The kinds of links you click on are tracked. THis is all done for marketing purposes and you are a statistical number in the data, not a person. But the tracking is there. Sometimes you are a person when for instance Amazon keeps tracking what you buy and suggest other related products to attract your attention.

In the off line world the same tracking happens constantly. THe large multimillion dollar companies take advantage of that tracking in their marketing campaigns. HBSA teaches us small folks to do the same thing. I think thats a neat deal.

Now is it "immoral and unethical"? I dont think so. Not if you have a product you truly believe in. We all know that on the market place today there are amazing products that we would really want or even need. Then there are products we want nothing to do with. Some nasty people are taking advantage of good marketing and sales principles to sell bad products and that suck. Does it mean that those representing good products are wrong to use the same skills? I dont think so. Not as long as the product you sell is good and you know the product will make a positive impact in that persons life.

For instance if I had to deal with a medical issue or another life altering issue that I really needed help with. So say I went to the net to check research on this issue. Initially I didnt really find anything that I either believed in or seemed ot answer my questions. But now my behavior was tracked. Lets say a great company with a fantastic new product had gotten a hold of the tracking done for me and found a way to contact me? Well, I would be very sceptical at first, and chances are very high they would have to work horribly hard to get through to me in the first place. But if the product really solved a painful issue that I needed solved I would be grateful for them making the effort. OF course the problem is the scammers. We have to stay on high alert and do research on stuff that we want to purchase.

If you sell something that in your heart of hearts you dont really believe in. Or you dont believe the customer you talk to really needs it. Or you dont believe your product will really change your perspective customers life for the better. Or you dont believe the price is reasonable for your product. IE the value to price ratio isnt there. Or you dont believe you deserve to succeed. These are all reasons not to use the strong marketing methods to help your business. Then find something you do believe in and start to sell that.

THen there is the supposed deceptive marketing you claim to have been exposed to by HBSA. I just signed up with them and of course was subjected to all their marketing material. Before I even got to talk to a sales person I listened to some calls and read material that said I would have to use the phone to sell. So when you say it was a shock you had to do cold calling I am shocked you didnt know that. If you had read even one of their sales web sites you would have known it. In fact the material also clearly spelled out that we would learn ways to get access to the right prospects - IE profiling prospects. It was all there for me to read.

I will check back in on this report in a month or two, to let all of you know how I do.

Malene

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#3 Consumer Comment

Shocking Report, This Program Changed My Life!!

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

POSTED: Wednesday, February 04, 2009

I have been involved with home businesses for the past five years. Always looking for the right fit and group of individuals in my upline to help me produce what I know is possible, success in this industry. I spent thousands of dollars learning the hard way that this industry isn't about the networking as much as it is the marketing. You see I networked very well and saw success for a while involving my friends and family but sooner or later the well ran dry. Where would I turn and how was it that the individuals on the stage were so productive? Does it really take a used car salesman mentality to see these results?

The answer is simple, absolutely not! I am the perfect example of someone with very strong morals who is the farthest thing from a used car salesman. I am personable but never pushy and I needed to find a way to reach out to thousands of people so I didn't have to become just that. This is where HBSA changed my life. They taught me how to properly market not only by using the phone but many forms of media which opened endless doors to individuals who truly wanted what I had to offer. As some of the other posters have stated I'm not always welcomed with open arms but the percentages are staggering, in my favor. I think back to the dozens of meetings I attended with friends and family and what those percentages used to look like, not pretty. Some of them still don't speak to me today.

Now this is the most important part about HBSA, I have dealt with many people in my years of working this business and have never come across individuals like the men and women of this academy. I guess that's what truly shocked me and motivated me to write a response about this report. It's simple and common in today's society to take someone's money and send them out into this sometimes harsh world of network marketing without true guidance. Trust me, I know and have purchased a few of them through the years. But this academy has provided me with the best training materials and most importantly the best support system that I could ask for. They actually care and all I or my family can say is thank you HBSA!! Thank you.

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#2 Consumer Comment

This report does not accurately express my results

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

POSTED: Friday, January 30, 2009

After reviewing this article, I find that the experiences I have had while being affiliated with this company are entirely opposite from what the writer states. When I learned about this company and left my email and phone number asking for help I fully expected to receive a phone call from someone to share that information. I did receive a phone call, listened to their presentation, went thru the qualification process and was accepted into the program. At the time I began, I was approximately $26000 in credit card debt after doing everything my upline told me to do. I was so frustrated and really felt like a failure even though I worked harder at growing my business than I have ever worked before. I have learned so much from the educational process that they employ and I have actually grown as a person. The techniques that I have applied have given me much more confidence. I have been able to pay off my credit cards and now, as I use it, I am making a profit in my business. I am also able to lead others to more success. My results have been completely opposite from this writer's experiences. I would definitely recommend this program to anyone who is serious about learning marketing skills that can be used in any industry.

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#1 Consumer Comment

HBSA Defense

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

POSTED: Friday, January 30, 2009

I am actually a student with HBSA and I've benefited tremendously. I've followed the same exact guidelines outlined by Janet and with the mentoring team, have had phenomenal results.

What I did before I came to the Home Business Success Academy was truly foolish. Trying to sell to friends and family, trying to promote to other people a business opportunity that wasn't making me any money was truly a mistake and is likely the biggest scam of all. And I know that hundreds of thousands are duped into doing this. Nonsense really.

In defense of them (which really isn't even necessary), I hope that this response will be helpful to those who are doing their research.

The biggest key I've learned from them is to lead with the product as a marketer should, and that once you've identified a target audience of people who through understanding their buying patters are pre-disposed to want what you have, there are endless ways to get a marketing message in front of them.

Calling them on the phone is one way, and yes it's the cheapest way, but it's not mandatory, and in fact if you have a good message and confidence in what you are promoting, many times you will be seen as a welcome guest rather than a pest as they say.

I doubt anyone likes to get those annoying phone calls from a call center trying to pitch a discount phone plan or whatever, but developing the right message and a strategy to get that message in front of a VERY targeted audience who has shown a predisposition to already need what you have, is absolutely a win/win... BUT there needs to be some skill involved with how you get that message seen or heard.

I've learned their system, and have generated XXX (I'll skip the hype) dollars without having to host home parties, or any of the other outdated foolish strategies taught to me by my upline. With the academy's system, I and a stack of 10-15 cent names, I have been delighted with my results. I've been successful with the phone AND with using many other options such as postcards and voicebroadcasting. Do I occasionally miss my target? Yeah for sure. You can't aim to please 100% of people, but with the hundreds and hundreds of lives that have chosen to participate in wanting more of my information and in turn my solutions, the benefits and reward FAR outweigh the risk or the occasional upset.

My guess is that Janet simply wasn't able to see beyond this, but she's entitled to her opinion non the less, and if a marketers focus is more on their own fears, than on trying to connect a person in pain with a solution that their product can deliver, I doubt they will get very far in business.

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