
Silvia of Whitehouse Station, NJ on Feb. 24, 2011
I bought a book by Michael ** and checked out one of the websites listed in the book. I received a call by Nate ***of MyFundingResources.com. Nate told me that they work directly with the government and that they guarantee that their clientele get grants for their projects. He asked me all kind of questions about my credit, how much money I would need, and etc. Then he states that if the company did not provide me with secured funds by the end of three weeks, I would receive my money back. I paid $7,100 for 14 sessions and the grants and was lead to believe that all the information they obtained from me was to get grants on my behalf.
I also, unfortunately helped out a friend of mine, an elderly lady that lives below the poverty line and paid a fee of $2,700 on her behalf. A supervisor was put on the phone with me and he verified all the information. They charged my credit card with the promise that I would have grant money in hand by the time I received the bill and that they were working directly with the government to help people like me to fund their businesses and home improvements. He further stated that we needed to act fast because they knew of a lot of funds that needed to be distributed by the end of the year.
I was contacted on November 16th in the evening. I was told that I had three days to cancel the contract. I asked them for a written contract by email which was never sent to me. I wrote to them by email requesting the said contract and stated that I do not accept the three day cancellation based on the fact that I did not receive any written contract from them. I called the company's phone several times without anyone ever returning my call. I obtained an email address for the customer service department and I sent them an email on November 20th, canceling my contract and my friends verbal commitment based on the fact that this company has not acted in good faith. This was a Saturday.
I received a phone call the following Tuesday by Nate **, questioning why I wanted to cancel. I told him and said he needed to refund the money immediately. He said he couldn't do that because I canceled after the three day period and notified the dispute department of my MasterCard. The cooling off period after a contract is three full days after and before the beginning of the following business day. Well, this company did receive my cancellation on time. They now argue that the cancellation is not valid because it should have been done in writing to their address in Utah.
It is commonly accepted to cancel by email or fax, if a letter would not reach the destination in time. I did not receive anything from this company until a month later when they started calling my friend and I wanting to set up coaching sessions. I told them that I am waiting for a refund and that I had canceled a month earlier. They stopped calling and I called several times and tried to get my money back. I spoke to several people within that maze of different companies they have set up, but to no avail. They insisted that I should have canceled in writing with their customer service department, which of course I wasn't aware of because I had never received a written contract from them.
Finally, I received a written contract which I refused to sign. I called the customer service department, told them again that I had canceled and also told them that what was written in their letter and what was verbally discussed were entirely different scenarios. The letter stated that they would coach me to fill out forms and that they would in no way guarantee that I would get a grant or the amounts of the grants etc. I have been a business owner for the past 30 years. I know how to fill out forms. I would have never agreed to any of this had I been told the truth that all they did was give you coaching sessions to fill out forms.
My credit company pressured them to credit the money back to me with the result that we got a promise to credit back $4,000 out of the total of $9,800 we had to pay. I received a packet from this company a month after that listed a few websites and phone numbers of companies. All of the sweepstakes and small item grants (like $500.00) were something I had found by myself before. There was absolutely nothing unique and usable in the packet. I called them and said they could have it back and that I had canceled and they sent it to me unsolicited. The same for my friend, she mailed it back to them.
I was scammed by this company big time. The people that work for them are trained in deceiving people and they do not deliver at all what they tell you and promise you. I was told by Nate ** that the government would not back them if they left people worse off than before. Well, I got nothing from them and I am out $5,800 which I cannot afford to pay.
Is there a class action suit I can join to get my money back and when is the government going to step in to shut these people down and jail them for defrauding people? The credit card told me they decided that they could not help me any further because the company did perform a service. The packed with the websites seems to be enough for the credit card company to determine that is worth $5,800. I am questioning the credit card company as well. They are aware of this scam and I am not the first person that was defrauded but yet they still back this company.