Beyond Barter is a waste of money Free fof All barter, exchange group , Internet

Diana got it. If not a ripoff why change the name four times? I smell trouble.

I am neither a member, a former member, or a disgruntled customer. I saw an ad on the Los Angeles Craigslist for a company called NotBarter.com, and was intrigued. However, unlike many people, I do something called due diligence. I scour the Internet for either rave reviews or exposes.

The reviews on here are all written in the same voice, so are clearly written by one person.

I find it the most disturbing that this company has gone through yet another name change since the July 2010 posts! First it was "Free For All." According to these rave reviews, it was then "Beyond Barter" as of July 2010. Now in August 2010, it's "NotBarter.com" with a dubious URL of http://theskillspool.webs.com/quotes_.html for one its pages.

Companies only change their name every month if they have something to hide. Legitimate businesses understand the value of branding.

I am glad I stumbled upon this Ripoffreport, because I've just saved myself a headache. Heed the adage: If something appears to be too good to be true...

Wow, it's so hard to believe that someone would say all of our responses are not from "real" members! I wrote the first response - and yes, now I see that it did not line up properly. I wrote it on my iphone while on the go, sent it to myself, then copied and pasted it when I got home so I could proofread it. I didn't realize it would look so weird once the comment was approved, nor could I possibly imagine that people would think I was a robot! so bizarre. I didn't write the second one, but I imagine someone else did the same copy and paste thing. Oh well.

The points everyone made are all valid, and YES it's true that some members of our community would come on here to comment. Clearly enough people like the organization enough to take a few minutes to sign up and write a comment. We have a vested interest in people liking and joining Beyond Barter because when the community grows, there are more services to partake in! So call it selfish, but the members care.

It's pretty ridiculous that the person who wrote this complaint didn't just get a refund or do a trial membership. Guess they didn't pay much attention when they signed up. Their loss.

I'm going to have to agree that those reviews were false. The odd's of 20% of the members all come here and sign up in under 48 hours to rant and rave about how good it is, is slim to none. Not to mention the odd fashion the first two were typed out. I run a business investigating online scam's and fraudulent case's and after just SEEING those two response's without reading if they were negative or positive it was quite clear they were fake.  Maybe your business isn't a scam or a fake but seeing this does not help you one bit. I'm sure most people that see this that have no idea what Beyond Barter is and normally wouldn't of remembered it after just reading the report, now definitely will remember and remember this very pathetic attempt to try to lie to an unhappy consumer as opposed to trying to make it right for him. Any good business should know that the customer is always right, regardless if you agree. I would definitely suggest to anyone that was considering signing up for Beyond Barter to think a little harder before they shell out their hard-earned money. Not only is it possible that they could be a scam, but it is clear that they do not know how to treat a customer and believe that lying is the best way to get ahead. If it has not been 30 day's I suggest trying to get your money back and if it has I suggest contacting them directly and see if maybe they will do the right thing. Please let us know what happens so other consumer's can have a head's up.

I'm not going to respond to the groundless accusations filed here against BEYOND BARTER, which I've been pleased to run in Los Angeles for the last 34 years. I don't know what the problem is of the person who complained. I don't know who she is (although I can guess) and I don't really care, since she never complained to me and her charges are completely without merit.

I'm happy to let my members file their own rebuttals; and that's the point of this post. I'm responding to the remark that since a bunch of these arrived at about the same time, I must have written them. That's not the case, of course. I simply alerted a few of my members and suggested that if they disagree they so post here. Their willingness to do so is a testament to the regard that my members have for BEYOND BARTER, of which I'm very proud.

However...

If you have any doubt, I invite you to read the unbiased reviews submitted to our payment processor, Google Checkout. These are reviews which I could not possibly write (or even suggest!), since they're provided voluntarily only on Google's request, following payment or refund. (Yes, I do make refunds, although it's rarely necessary.) You'll find these reviews at:
https://checkout.google.com/reviews/merchant/endUserReviews?sellerId=335268891659343

Or, if you're interested, you could check out a sampling of the many testimonials I've received over the years from named members, documentation of which is available on request. Those are on this BEYOND BARTER webpage: http://theskillspool.webs.com/quotes.html

You just posted 6 good reviews for yourself within 48 hours. Do you expect anyone to belive that it was genuine?

3 reviews praising you on July 5th and 3 on July 6th. Nothing ever before or after.

How do you expect people to take it seriously? REAL CONSUMERS don't flood complaint boards with good reviews from one day to the next! Check out any other companies and you will realize your mistake. If your greedy self would have waited a few days between those reviews maybe someone would have belived that they were from actual members but like this, no way.

I neither work for Beyond Barter nor have I been offered any incentives to write here.  However, to anyone who complains that you cannot know how many members there are and what services they offer until you join I say this is COMPLETELY FALSE!!!  Mr. Richard Johnson is a hard working gentleman, and is not online to falsely advertise.  To see if you may like the quality or the quantity of the services that will be made available, you DO have the choice to join as a TRIAL MEMBER for a very minimal fee.  If this were so bad, there wouldn't be so many life members.

I find Beyond Barter useful. There are plenty of services to benefit from. Yes there is no lawyer in the group at the moment, but I've spoken to a member who said there was a lawyer in the group recently and that she got several hundred dollars worth of free legal help in working with him through the program. The point is, new members join and the overall service package available alters slightly from month to month. But I think it's valuable and an inexpensive membership for what you get in return.

I've been a member of Beyond Barter (formerly Free for All) for over 20 years.  I'm a life member.  JMech, your experience is so different from mine that I hardly know where to begin.  I'm sorry that the organization didn't meet your expectations, but I think they were unrealistic, and I'm afraid you didn't take responsibility for using the BB in the way that it's set up to operate.  

There's a 30-day money-back guarantee.  So if you didn't find it to your liking, you could have gotten a refund.  Or you could have used a trial membership to check it out before investing in a full membership.  

You say you felt used, but BB is designed so that you CAN'T feel used if you use it properly.  In a conventional skills exchange, there can be an imbalance in giving and receiving services because they use credit/debit systems.  When too many members use your services in these exchanges, you build up credits you may not be able to use, so it's more give than take if you have a popular service and you don't need or want other services, or other members just don't offer what you need or want.  In contrast, BB is a "gift economy."  You set your own limit for how many hours per week you want to offer, and you never have to exceed that limit.  (You use other members' services up to their limits.)  You can change your limit at any time, and that's all you had to do!

Many of the members of BB are right-brained types, so there are lots of services like massage and hypnotherapy.  But there are also practical mainstream services like handyman services, gardening/landscaping, computer help, bookkeeping help, etc., etc--hundreds of services to choose from.  (There's a list on the website of the services currently offered, and legal services aren't among them.  BB has had legal services in the past.  I made use of them, and was very happy with the result.  They may again have member attorneys offering such services in the future.  You never know who will join next.)  

Richard Johnson provides outstanding customer service in my experience, and I'm glad to be a life member. The membership rules very carefully spell out how it all works.  Had you read them and followed them, you'd have found that BB functions like a well-oiled machine.  
 
(The additional negative comment looks like it was submitted by the same person.)

I agree with you.  I felt duped too.  The membership is about 30 people and most of them are older and/or "spiritual" service providers.  I think they should advertize it as such and then people would not be so disappointed.  They have a huge turn around because of this false advertizing, like you said.  It is cheaper than regular barter companies because you don't get the services those big companies would give you.  You will also feel used if you sign up with a good service because they can request you help 5 times before you get anything back if you even ever get something back. So if you want quality go with a larger organization.