Fred Pryor Seminars - CareerTrack unethical charges and changing rules on Rewards Program after payment! San Diego, California

After several calls to Fred Pryor with no results and promises not kept, I wrote to their corporate CEO Phil Love in the hopes of getting this very frustrating situation taken care of.  Ive never received an answer in over 2 months time, so Im writing to Ripoff Report to alert others before they get snared in this companys web of deceit and unethical practices.

In September 2005, my wife attended a two-day Excel seminar in  San Diego.  The cost of that seminar was $398.  At that September 2005 seminar she purchased a Premium Package which cost approximately $1,000.00.  Included in this package were two 2 VIP tickets.

On March 11 12, 2009, my wife and I redeemed those two VIP tickets and attended a two-day Excel seminar in San Diego.  Mark Bugsby was the trainer.  At this seminar, Mark offered the group in attendance a Training Rewards Program at $199/ea.  He said this was a newly instituted program offered by Fred Pryor Seminars.   This allowed us to attend any and all seminars for one year free.

We asked Mark if there were any exceptions or additional fees.  He very clearly stated the only requirement was that we were actually attending his seminar which, obviously, we were there.  He joked that the only restriction was that our butts had to be in the chairs in that seminar that was the only qualification.  He explained that it had to be purchased that day and it was not transferrable nor could we purchase it for someone who was not at the seminar that day.  Nothing was ever said about the deal not being offered to anyone who was attending the seminar on a VIP ticket.  After verifying there were no hidden costs or additional fees (because we were only interested in attending the computer courses offered), both my wife and I purchased the $199 Training Rewards Program for a total paid of $398.  It was charged to our credit cards. Also, at this same seminar, I purchased two DVDs for an additional $100.

We registered for another two-day computer course (MSAccess) seminar in San Diego on April 1 2, 2009.  Because we had not received the Rewards Program membership card when we registered, I contacted Fred Pryor to ask how I should register.   That sales person checked the computer and said they had received the sales order for the Training Rewards and DVDs and would process them and we could just attend the class and she would add our names to the seminar roster.  At that time, I was advised that we were responsible for paying for one qualifying seminar.  I explained everything to that person, as explained above.  Since Fred Pryor had already charged our credit cards for the $398, I told her if we had to pay for another seminar, then I wanted to cancel the Reward Program with a full refund of our $398, and we would not attend the April computer seminar, as the entire situation had been mishandled and misrepresented.  At that point, the woman I was speaking with put me on hold.  When she returned, she said not to worry she would sign us up for the April seminar and register us as Reward Program members.  She advised me that the Reward Program had become effective on the day our credit cards were charged. 

June 29, 2009 my wife received a demand for payment of $299 for the April seminar from a collection agency.  I immediately called Fred Pryor Customer Service and spoke to two people.  The first person was helpful and spoke with her supervisor and after 15 minutes of waiting and explaining we were disconnected.  I called back and spoke to a second rep named Pam.  She advised me my wife and I are both registered as Training Reward Program members but our memberships are on hold!  Our memberships were active as of March 19, 2009. 

On July 7, I received an invoice for $299.00!  It seems that my call to the seminar customer service to straighten out my wifes bill resulted in me getting one also!

Since 2005, we have spent $1,896 for seminars and merchandise. Im being bombarded with collect letters and debt collectors via telephone. 

Stay away from the Fred Pryor Careertrack Co. as they are unethical.  They apparently own their own debt collection company that will pursue you mercilessly.

To top this whole ordeal off they are demanding payment for courses I signed up for before I was told our Training Rewards program was on hold!  This company is not customer friendly and is very unethical!