Member's Learning Center, YES International, Daeus Financial, Your ECommerce Support telmarketing and internet business scam quickly exceeding $16,000 American Fork, Draper Utah, Nevada

With phone records and the notes I took in order to try my best at this "internet business" thing and to keep track of contacts, I can now look back on this process and notice many problems that justify my request to cancel any associated contracts, refund my money, and cease calls related to any of the companies mentioned below.

I have reported to the BBB, Attorney General in TX and UT and Nevada, the FTC, Utah Division of Consumer Protection, and anywhere else I can. I am now looking for a lawyer who will help us.

1. I have three contracts that heavily favor one company’s side (one that mentions MLC--without saying what this stands for--and then the name Your Ecommerce Support in the same enrollment paperwork), containing terms that give that party all of the power which can be used to make money while hurting my side by requiring huge amounts of money up front with verbal timeframes but no timeframe in written form.
2. MLC (Members Learning Center) company personnel have acknowledged that the coach has not fulfilled on the deal by not providing expected information in the first two coaching sessions such as warning me that other services may be offered but are not already included and are not necessary to continue in the coaching program. They refuse to refund any money.
3. The two most recent coaching sessions were neither performed nor rescheduled and fulfilled. This gives me the indication that some of the parties are no longer interested in upholding their end of the deal.
4. The execution of the coaching agreement depended on the ability to cancel in writing within 3 days, but the first coaching session was not scheduled for 4 days despite my request and my earlier availability.
5. Daeus Financial, a related company who further subcontracts with YES (Your Entity Solution) sold me a plan larger than I would need for years, and filed Texas LLC articles of formation but not the SS4 or EIN paperwork. After I asked them to stop, they sent more emails and steps still two days later. Daeus would only credit half of the $3704 ($1852) when what they filed was only $300.
6. The STS (Strategic Tax Services) subcontract through Daeus also had a 3 day cancelation clause but I was not informed that the business had neither been filed yet nor was it going to make any tax-related transactions for months; the sale of the service was based on intimidation regarding IRS rules and legal threats, which gave me no other practical choice but to sign. They notified me that my name choices were not available after the 3-day option period. They state they do not have any of my billing information—Daeus does, and they have promised a full refund of $2990 but I have only received $1500.
7. I was scheduled for the corporation credit advisor Alec Eskander, and he called but expressed technical difficulties and rescheduled for several days later. I returned my “homework” of financial credit status before the session as requested but when he pressured me to use an agency for business credit, he stated that he can’t recommend an actual company but they did have a relationship with a good one with which he can make me a connection. When I asked about charges and for what I can be taught as part of the coaching I purchased, he ended the conversation and sent me a threatening email about the legal risks of not using the agency.
8. I have been an AT&T customer for many years and have never exceeded the call minutes allotted. However, due to the sheer number and extended length of these sales calls, my phone used over 800 minutes in the last 8 days of the bill ending 5/2, and 588 minutes in 13 days of this next bill (of my 700 minute monthly limit).

I asked for Your Ecommerce Support/Members Learning Center and Daeus Financial to let us please decide mutually at this time to terminate the contracts and remove the charges from my credit card account. I will have to dissolve the  LLC business through the State of Texas. I want a full refund of the total $16,389.

When I got Daeus to respond to me, they offered me a refund of ($2500 refunded already after long conversations and persistence on my part, then another $1,490 to be credited back to make the whole $3990 expense for tax and bookkeeping service, Joe said on May 22, 2013). I accepted, and they sent an email confirming the refund. It is not credited and now they say it will only come if I sign a very explicit gag order contract saying I will not tell this story, rescind any statements made to FTC, BBB, blogs, etc. and not sue them. I told them this is a bribe and now they are really in trouble (but I said it more professionally than that).

Under Rule R152 of the Utah Consumer Sales Practices Act, Commerce, Consumer Protection section, they violated many of the laws about direct solicitations, exclusions and limitations in advertisement, use of the word "free", and representation that services are necessary when such is not the fact.

Is any lawyer willing to help me and all of us?

Supporting details:

On 4/24/13 I made a $97 VISA purchase online from Members Learning Center for information and website access on how to set up a business.

The evening of 4/24, the aggressive and harassing sales tactics began with a cold call from Larry Stevens of Your Ecommerce Support. For two days, he left messages and firmly stated that the first step in the online package was to call a support line number, which is him, and I was already behind. On 4/26, he performed a 39 minute screening to determine if I was a good candidate to be “groomed and supported personally to be a case study of success for their all-inclusive coaching service.” Having passed the screening process to talk to the assistant to the CEO, Jason Farnsworth (19 minutes of more personal and financial questions), he then began the process for me to talk to the CEO, Devon Kinney, of the coaching company. This interview lasted 111 minutes and involved fast-paced teaching, high pressure tactics, and a no-risk promise of success of “profit made within a month or two at most because the screening and interview is so tough and we spend so much time with you, we make sure your business is a success”, which he defined as making at least 5,000-6,000 per month to be even with my previous salary--I am on disability from work due to a severe autoimmune illness.

He gave his address as 125 E. Main St. Ste 338 American Fork, UT 84003 (Utah County), phone 801-901-1131 (or 888-476-4557, which as of 5/15 when I realized I needed to talk to him for help, was not a working number) and presented the cost as $8695 that is totally inclusive for the tax accounting service for business and personal; web site built for you; marketing and search engine optimization so your site comes up on the first page or two in a search on Google, Bing, and Yahoo; drop shipping arrangements and any fees with the companies with best prices for profit margin; research software for selection of high-grossing products to sell; and a program called auto e-mail responder for orders placed on my site to make the site self-sustaining with only 10-15 hours per week of my time. Statements within the contract are substantially different from the truth and the intimidation that I encountered.

He instructed me to write down the number 175, which he explained was the minimum credit card charge even at a 19% interest rate, and he didn’t want me to pay off my credit card the first month “because the business would pay it off by the second month, and then they can truthfully say that I invested very little of my own money.” As an important point, prior to this I have never carried any balance on any credit card and have an excellent credit score. Silence can be misleading or deceptive and void a contract when one person fails to alert another to facts known only to them, and the facts are relevant to the decision, or important details a person should know are not conveyed to them.

There were 3 days to rescind the contract, but the very first coaching session “available” was scheduled for 4/30 (4 days later). He and the coach both said that the only other expense will be $40 per month for the site hosting fee, which is like paying for the “real estate” online, and that charge wouldn’t start until after the coaching time period of 6 months. He said that a man named Skyler Jarmon would be calling me to set up some of these services, but this person never called. I did, however, get multiple calls daily, as documented in the attachment below, from multiple suppliers and other “connected” businesses that all had information shared about me and all had an extra something to sell that I “desperately needed” or that was “part of the program.”

Tuesday 4/30 at 12:04 was the first coaching session with David Smith and was 33 minutes of a repeat of all the promises made in the original sales pitch, with threats about what risks (financial and legal) I can incur if I don't follow the coaching advice and services exactly. I asked what to work on and how to get in contact with him. He explained that this lesson is really web videos that he will assign to me which will explain the demand for a product, finding out about the product’s competition, and finding a source/supplier for a niche product with a good profit margin.

At 9:57 and 11:04 on 5/3 (a Friday, which my coach had said is not a workday for him, so I could not ask him about this), Daniel Alpamirano called from 801-495-2405, had financial and coaching program information about me to verify authenticity, and presented himself as a lawyer asked by the YES coach to tell me what he does for my business. The call was 43 min., then a very short call from the same number repeated only select summary points and a cost, which I thought was an allocation of the original amount to his area of the company for this part of the service, which was the formation of the LLC. He gave his contact number as 866-525-3709 ext. 249 (which, when I was really questioning the appropriateness of this service, I called on 5/15 at 10:47 and the number was not working).

Monday 5/6, I was called by Scott Orison (801-495-2405 ext. 166) from Daeus Financial for 35 min, then another call for 11 min. to schedule my LLC business creation, business documents, tax help, and getting an EIN from the IRS with a department of the business called Strategic Tax Services. He stated that “Wealth Building” teaching was also included in this Premier package, which is a relatively small initial investment but is the only logical way to go so this can all be done within a week and has a tiny monthly fee that won’t start until the business is making money. He said that within 2 weeks, Wendy Byford would be sending me my business documents in two binders. In the meantime, my website is being built, then he would help me get a business checking account and corporate credit card with 0% interest. He said the best thing is to sign the agreement ASAP so that she can get the business name today or tomorrow from the state of Texas.

Also Monday 5/6, I sent my coach an e-mail question and Excel list of niche ideas so that we could move forward to find products and get them on my website to begin sales. I was going to talk to him about the LLC time expectations and tax info. from Scott too, but David did not respond. When he called for our scheduled appointment Tuesday 5/7 at noon, he sighed audibly and told me that LLC information doesn’t need to be discussed right now since it will take more like 3-4 weeks, and that I did not niche search correctly by checkmarking a box on the left of the screen (which he had not told me, nor was it in the video, which wasted days of my time); he also talked down to me (slowly and firmly) saying that he did not tell me to check for availability of drop shippers (although he hadn’t told me not to and the video instruction showed me how and why to do it). He gave me no new information and put off my questions of what to do next, saying we would talk next week.

At 10:00 on Tuesday May 7, the tax account manager for Strategic Tax Services, Martin Petit, CPA (gave his contact information as in LA 310-622-7292) called to explain that he will be doing my business taxes and can also do my personal taxes. He explained that calling is the best way to get an answer from him, so call with questions, leave a message, and he will call back within a few days.  He said everyone with a business uses a CPA and I didn’t have to use them, but the arrangement with Daeus “would be stupid not to use” to get the full tax benefits for entrepreneurs: write off internet & phone bills, portion of mortgage/taxes, and all this tuition expense if recorded within 3 wks of LLC creation. He explained that I was getting with this program that was worth $3704 was unlimited LLC formation (as opposed to standard formation) “which is the only way to go to protect multiple streams of income from each other in a lawsuit.”

On 5/14, I was contacted by another person, Brandon, who gave no last name even when I asked, and represented himself as David’s superior and said that David asked him to call and explain to the drop shipper industry and connections and expected costs. He said the coaching program would only be continued long enough to actually help if I paid $11,700 for actually helpful drop shipper relationships. I refused to spend any more money (and don’t have a high enought credit limit), and he became verbally abusive and mocked me, and he repeated the phrase "I just want to help you get you where you want to go" a total of 21 times in the 80 minute conversation. He stated that Doba and other middle-men drop shippers will have upcharges for every little thing, denied what he had just said about not being able to succeed without paying drop shipper fees to him through the program, but then said that the amount is standard and actually a good price. He hung up abruptly after he said that he would talk to my coach and “clear up any problems.”

David did not call at his scheduled time on Tuesday nor did anyone call to reschedule. The next day when I called Brandon back, he raised his voice and lectured that he would have told me that he had rescheduled the coach call if I had called him back that night with verification that I had requested a higher credit card limit. I told him that scared me too much and I began to get physically sick from the stress and my illness, and I just wanted out and who could I talk to about how I have encountered misrepsentation of expenses and services. He said he is my account manager and he is the only one I can talk to, with raised voice and an audible sneer, which I asked him not to do since it was offensive and degrading.

The morning of 5/15 after not sleeping the previous two nights and having my illness worsen from stress, which now necessitates IV medication, I disputed the charges to my credit card company, and called every phone number I had been given to try to get in contact with Devin who, I was told, was the senior business leader. I described the pressure and harassment, the lack of coaching, and my request for a refund, and he said he would return my call. I called again that night and twice the next day and just got a voice recording.

After I waited two days for an appointment with Glenn Lovelace from the customer care department of YES International, he said that Brandon is with a company called MSS(?) and that Devin Kinney, represented as the senior level operator as CEO is really just in the enrollment department, and Ken Sonnenberg (a name I have never heard even when I have asked for names of other company leaders to be able to check their reputation) is the owner of Members Learning Center. I did not sign a contract that specified a software bundle or anything I have been sent through the other companies, so I have not opened them when I realized my need to end our relationship. I have to express being grossly misled through stated promotions and an overall false impression about the price, value, and quality of goods and services represented.