AskNow Unethical, dishonest, cruel psychics? Actually the customer service, the company itself is like that! Internet Based Internet Based in the US

Some other examples of psychic insight on Ask Now:

Reader: What kind of work do you do?

Me: I am an "X"

Reader: Oh, that's just what I was going to say...You are an "X." I knew it!

(Of course they knew after i told them.)


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After finishing discussing a separate concern, I asked for a reading on my relationship.

Reader: OH everything is going well, but he is worried about (the specific concern I just told her about.)

Me; Can you tell me anything about him?

Reader; What is his professional?

Me: He is an (x)

Reader: He is ....(attributes generically attributed to people in "x" professional, but which did not specifically apply to him. In fact, some attributes were wrong....ie, emotionally distance, workaholic etc. In fact, he is emotionally available, balanced, and family oriented.)

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Me, discussing a work rivalry, asking how they see it panning out...

Reader: What did the other party do?

Me: (Explaining it.)

Reader: Oh something terrible will happen to them...I don't know what. But Karma will get him.

Me: Why do you say that?

REader: Because Karma always does.

(This is the quality of a $4-$7 a minute reading, folks)
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Reader: I know you are very nervous talking to a reader on the phone.

Me: No, I Have just come in from work and had a busy day. (Had nothing to do with my nerves, or apprehension talking to a reader)

Reader: Meditate for me.

Me: (Meditating for reader -- on my dime of course)

Reader: You are very open and trusting. People take advantage of you.

Me: No. I am just trying to be open to get a quality reading since I am paying for this call. (Of course she was right here as this whole call was a rip off and she was taking advantage of me. But, no, people generally don't, but in this instance, she was -- or was trying to anyway,)

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Me: (Discussing concern) Do you have any insight about this situation?

Reader: Why don't you buy some candles and burn them.

Me: Can you tell me anything about the situation specifically?

Reader: If you buy some candles and meditate, everything will work out just fine.

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I tried AskNow and regret that I wasted my money. I will file a dispute with my credit card company and try to get it back.

In my case, I paid $30 for 30 minutes -- and ten of those I got back (or rather I did not get a refund of my money, but they gave me an extra te minutes). My problem is that the readers are all fake.

Granted, a few of the readers seemed to be Keen regulars, so I guess a lot of the readers just sign up for all these online reading sites to get maximum exposure and money. Keen has some exquisite readers, but most there are fake too.

I tried, I believe, 5-10 readers during my time, each was worst that the last, in my search for a quality reader. Every one was fake. I even had minutes left over from the 30 (40) minutes and didn't want to use them as the readers were so poor. However, the company would not refund even my unused minutes as I had bought a package deal to "try" the service.

This company seems more reputable than most online reader services in that it will offer deals of $1/ minute for 30-40 minutes per month. Otherwise you pay $4-$7/minute. IF you're not a reading junkie and just want to get an occassional reader, that is a great deal.

However, no readers i spoke to even came close to being legitimate or helpful -- and it was not entertaining just frustrating. It also appears that bad feedback isn't posted. (I didn't leave any feedback on my own, but I have read on other sites that most bad feedback is removed). Even worse, the readers seem so cynical, that they even deliberately falsify information -- like they concoct these fake, conartist voices, or just come across like snake oil salesmen.

Not that anyone necessarily cares about the particulars of my readings, but here are a few examples:

1. One man announced that he is entirely honest and doesn't sugar coat -- and am I ok with that. Who wouldn't be, so I said yes. He then demanded full honesty from me - and by that I mean he wanted my city, state and full name. When I hedged on that (i mean isn't this service supposed to be anonymous), he got aggressive. Then when I gave it (I didn't reveal my real identity), he said, "That's better now, isn't." Basically by being "open/honest"...he meant that he wanted to be able to demand any information, however personal, from the caller and for the caller to just provide full disclosure from which to make an educated guess. Nothing he said was worthwhile. I called a career decision and he gave half baked career advice, but could see nothing about the situation. He then advised me to get an agent. I said I didn't want one at the moment, and he insisted I get one and then asked me if he could even give me the names of top ones. I said yes -- and he then proceeded to ask me who I had tried already. What kind of a reading is this? HE is trying to get my agent's name...and he is wasting all this time on a $4-$7 minute call, just shooting offering half baked advice and then typing into a computer to pull up names of agents (which are available in the public domain.) The whole call was a waste.

2. Another lady who got great feedback, with people gushing with praise over her accuracy and details. However, she could provide no details about my questions. None -- and I am not that hard to read. Her responses were vague and generic. They seemed more or less right on, but I had really fed her the information, and then she rephrased it and fed it back to me. I didn't feel she was able to get anything, provide any clarity, or even divine any info on her own. Some things were out and out wrong - or just could not possibly or realistically happen.

The rest of the readers more or less just babbles trying to fill as much time as possible to get as much money as possible. THey did not stop or try to tune in, but took a question, offered some half baked, generic response and then pumped for more information and then offered a generic response, based upon that more information. I got a lot of false assurances, "Oh..everything will work out and be fine..." THey also provided a lot of false conclusions, due to their ignorance, as they made generic assumptions and were unable to actually "See" the situation or know what they are talking about and so they made bizarre guesses for outcomes which could not possibly happen.

One even told me, "you are very open and trusting, and so people take advantage of you." I told her that no I am not just an open person but that I had meditated so that she could read me and get a good information. I also informed her that I had a very skeptical nature and was quite cautious and that people couldn't take advantage of me -- or were usually caught when they tried. I expect her real intent was -- "I perceive you as someone I can take advantage of."

That was my entire experience -- ignorant, and truly uneducated and ungifted readers -- who provided no value whatsoever. Most seemed to be uneducated hucksters trying to make a quick, fast buck. This whole experience was insulting, degrading, and left me feeling fleeced.

I wish them well as they do offer good package deals, but so far the readers on their roster are not gifted, at least the MANY I tried in that short time. I would never call back and will endeavor to get my money back. ON the positive side, their customer service was very kind, helpful, and polite, but, of course, would never dream of refunding any money they get their hands on.

My advice is to stay away from these online, assembly line reading factories. THey are cynical and predatory. I did receive one reading from California Psychics which literally knocked my socks off. That reader was so gifted adn good -- and provided
me with information she never could have known without having known me personally. It was genuine and left me feeling inspired and empowered.

I could not trust the message, authenticity, or authority of Ask Now readers. Just because a random person I happen to be giving money to says "all will work out" doesn't mean it will, especially when they had to pump for information to make their generic statements and when their readings were inaccurate on so many other levels.

I would first like to say that Asknow.com is a phone based psychic service that is intended for entertainment purposes only. The person who has registered this complaint was a customer of Asknow.com. The customer has only placed one very short call to one of our hundreds of Psychics. The customer's experience in customer service was due to some of the employee's being new at the time. Turn around is very common in call center environments. As far as information on his feedback left on the website. We typically do not list low ratings for very short calls as we feel they really do not represent the reader accurately. The customer was sent a reply to their email explaining this. Because of the level of advertising, Asknow email is often blocked by many filters. Which would explain the possible loss in their reception of the email.

Patrick
Asknow Technical Support