Stores Online Reviews

After further interacting with the Stores Online people, I was convinced and bought the program. They offered a monthly payment that I paid as I built a web site and followed the instructions they gave to become visible on Google. But, when it came time to contact SOL customer support as instructed to walk through the link building process, I had spent over three months building a College supplies online store that was very marketable. Only, now I was informed that I should pay another 750 dollars on top of the over 5000 dollars financed to have them link build for me. The fact is, I could have built a better site for almost nothing.

Now, the most important thing offered, training on Search Engine Optimization, was not delivered and I was expected to pay more. I called several times and it became clear that even the customer service people that we were told would walk us through link building did not know how. They simply referred to another part of SOL that did the link building for you. I did further research and discovered that the techniques that were used by SOL were, in fact about four years outdated and even their own customer service agent at one time informed me that they did not work. He suggested placing hot words in blogs. I received so much complicated, conflicting information that I could no longer continue my efforts. One thing that all agreed on was that if you used the wrong methods, your site would be negatively affected on search engines and never seen by a customer. After five months of hard work, I had to abandon my efforts and admit defeat.

They have now destroyed my credit and I am starting a suit against them in Massachusetts. This company is a scam and should be shut down by law enforcement. I directly contacted Samuel **, Supervisor at Store Online several times between June 2011 and September 2011. I told him of my issues and that I intended to contact the Mass AG office about the matter. He told me that he would talk to others and see if they could sever the relationship. Later, he said the answer was no. I never got around to contacting the AG office but now that this statement is in writing, I think I will.

Unfortunately my husband was convinced, I wasn't so sure but against my better judgment I went along with my husband who wanted to try his hand at that and supplement the household income. I signed the agreement and acquired a debt of over $4,000 and got nothing in return but a bad credit report and another shady company (Palomar Associates) calling me to collect on the debt they bought from StoresOnline (so they say).

I'm unemployed and I was unemployed at the time I signed and they knew it, still they pressured on. A couple of months after I had signed and paid a couple of installments, a guy named Mark from StoresOnline started calling and offering to help us make it big like the lady who sold the road maps. It turned out that Mark just wanted more money. He said he was calling from the office of the StoresOnline president and that they had selected me to give me their secrets to make it big, but I needed to pay for that and, silly me asked how he could ask me for more money when I was having a hard time paying for the monthly installments?

As an answer he asked me how much money could I put together, say like savings, loans from friends, etc. so I could purchase yet another $4,000 package from them. At that point all the alarm bells were ringing and I just decided not to answer the phone anymore when StoresOnline called. I also stop paying the monthly installments not just because I didn't have the money; I had realized that we've been ripped off. These scammers should be stopped. There were at least 100 people in the same seminar I went who fell for it: seniors mostly and others wanted to start foundations. I know it's not correct but I refuse to pay for something that I feel I was coerced into signing and that has turned out to be a major rip-off. So my credit is ruined and I owe $4,000+ and I don't even have a part-time job to try to pay it out either!

I never thought I could be reimbursed for what I spent on the 6 websites, $6,000. Again, as others have said, as you try to start building your website, it just costs more and more money for marketing and other costs. I would like to know if there is a way we, as a group, who have been scammed by SOL can file a Class Action Lawsuit against Stores Online. If someone could give me some legal advice, I would appreciate it. In the meantime, a word to the wise - if you get an invitation or see an ad to attend any seminar STORES ONLINE, DON'T WALK AWAY, RUN!!!!!!

The bottom line is - they never built my websites for my 2 businesses. We built those websites before, during and after, using legitimate professionals who know how to deliver on their promises. It's self-evident. But StoresOnline's justification for not performing is to blame me for demanding what I signed up for and they are happy not to deliver, but instead harass me and even bully my credit card company into dropping the investigation. Every StoresOnline claim of expertise and leadership in the Internet fields is false. Their method of operations is just to sign people up and extort money for things that people did not get. I am absolutely fed up with this so-called "company".

The very word is wasted on them as they have no business ethics. They deserve no respectability, no revenues, no clients, no profits. Yet they continue to inflict the same grief and hardship on other unsuspecting clients. Buyers beware: the only functional department this company has is "collections". When I was at the early stages of my complaint, I asked for the accounting department, CFO, CEO, etc. - I never received any information. I received a call from their "bookkeeper" to remind me that I was under contract and my credit card would be charged monthly. They make the honest business people pay for nothing and suffer and they should be forced to stop it.

I implore the IRS, various State Revenue Departments, various State Professional Licensing Boards, FBI and other authoritative agencies with Interstate Commerce reach to investigate and evaluate their practices, attend their seminars and constructively document all the reasons which make StoresOnline not eligible to conduct business. The StoresOnline saga I am undergoing is like Hans C. Andersen's "The Emperor's New Suit" fairytale - StoresOnline continues to convince their customers that they have a product to sell, but they are as naked as that fairy tale emperor.

Stores On Line is very good at what is known as "Upselling". They use a very basic technique that is taught in sales. Do not give your potential customer a question they can answer "no" to. We did not receive the support we needed. The online "chat" people were not bad - time consuming, but not bad. The assistants on the phones, however, were terrible! You could hear them flipping through their manuals. We were placed on hold for 20-30 minutes at a time. There were times we were on the phone for over an hour and we figured out, through trial and error, how to resolve the issue we were calling about. We never received the "meta tag" assistance we were told we would receive.

Three hundred dollars a month for the support we did not receive, $30 for hosting, $15 for limited email accounts and data storage, $50 fee for data storage over 1 gig. As a service-oriented company we simply cannot "throw" away any correspondence from any client. Two hundred dollars to change one word in our banner. Change was necessary as the builder placed the wrong wording in our banner. It was explained to us that the banner is "html speak" and a technician would need to be involved. We have since found a hosting site that is far more reasonable: $5.00 a month, 24/7 support, unlimited email accounts, unlimited storage, no charges for changes to our site.

I'm sure SOL has had some success with setting up individuals with a physical products to sell. However, it is our opinion that they are not geared to assist companies in the service industry. Our feeling is that they should be honest enough with themselves and prospective clients to inform them of this. As for the "free" gifts, the containers they were wrapped in cost more to produce that the contents of the packaging. We would not recommend this company for the money. It is definitely not worth it. Our new site is ten times what it was with SOL.

Now a year later, I received a letter from Universal Data Services, LLC demanding $6,166.00. Really?! Oh, but they do give me the chance to pay $3,083 or 4 payments of $924.90. If anyone in Nevada wants to look into a suit against these guys or if D from Gardnerville sees this, I would like to know how you worked it out.

Everything we were told at the seminar that was part of the package, the "home office" denied. The main reason for purchasing the package was the initial site would be put together by Stores Online. When we had everything ready for them to put the site together, as instructed, we called. She said we had to pay $324 before she could discuss anything further. She said the site was not included in the packages. Now this $324 is in addition to the package price that included the first site built by them as the sales personnel assured everyone. We told the programmer what we were told at the seminar and she said call customer service. The programmer sent us an email stating these additional charges. When I made a complaint, they said they had no record of any email being sent to me from them. When I produced the email, they then said I must have asked for more to the site than what was provided. The second statement by their own words leads one to believe then that there should have been a site built without additional charges to the package unless our design was over and above what was allowed. The programmer wouldn't talk about anything until the $324 was paid. I did not have a recording of the telephone call (or the seminar) so the BBB wouldn't take it further without proof from me.

I finally did an Internet search on Stores Online and found they have lost numerous multimillion dollar lawsuits for unethical business practices (to put it briefly). They also aren't allowed back into some countries and places. It also seemed that a good percentage of the states had or have had lawsuits against them. I didn't see any lawsuit that Stores Online won during my searches. If, for those of you who have been to a seminar, consider the price of the packages and the number of sales at each seminar, they can stand to have their employees lie through their teeth at the seminars and still make millions even after lawsuit payouts. It all boils down to what was "said" at the seminar and the "home office" can deny what customers were told at the seminars.

If you get any invites from Stores Online, do your research. If I had, I would have found out that this state already had a lawsuit going.

Regardless, I had to start all over and so I did and a couple of weeks later, I asked them again to see if I was ready to publish. At this time, I was told that I had done all of the Meta tags incorrectly and they explained how I should have done them. I told them that is exactly how I did them originally and I was told they were wrong! She apologized and told me to go back and redo them again and so I did. Now as incredible as this may sound, when I again asked them to proof before I publish I was told that they were done incorrectly again. At this point, I had asked to speak to the person who told me this last time to redo them only to be told that he no longer worked there.

At this point, I asked for my money back and they told me No! So I gave up. Then in 2009, I started receiving phone calls from Stores Online again and they wanted me to reopen my sites. I had explained about the problem that I had with them and he seemed extremely apologetic. He had explained how they undoubtedly had problems with some of their online agents but that they had cleaned shop and that I would not have these problems again. He told me how beautiful my site looked and that it would be a shame to just let it go. He also said if I had any problems or concerns to bring them to him and he would take care of them. So like a fool, I did it another $300.

So obviously the first question I needed answered was about the Meta tags and again I had to redo all of them but I was assured that this was the correct way. So I asked for somebody to review my site and let me know if I was ready to publish. Yes, indeed I was ready so I published my site November 18th 2009 another $29.95 per month. At that time, I was also suckered into "My Avail" another SOL affiliate that gives you an 800 number and some tracking tools another $12.65 per month beginning on Nov 19th 2009. Now at this point, the phone started ringing off the wall but not from customers but from "Marketing Companies" trying to sell their services. I declined the first 10 or 15 but they all said the same thing. That there is no way that a single person could market my company the way that an entire company could, which made sense.

Now, SOL said that I could do it myself but hiring a marketing company would definitely get me results much sooner. So I asked them about "Future Ranking" which was the company who sold me on their services. They said that they were aware of that company and that they were good but that they did not have their own marketing company and that I could use whoever I wanted. So I did it! Signed up with Future Ranking and wrote another check $3,840 plus $129.99 per month which was what they called "CHUMP CHANGE" once I see the return that I get!

Not a single sale! Not even one! I said to my wife you would think that they would even buy something to make it look like they were doing something but no, not one sale. So on November 2009-September 2010, I paid my monthly obligations to all three. Then finally, I had had enough. I cancelled the SOL hosting $29.95 per month and my avail $12.65 per month and future ranking turned me into collections because I obviously refused to pay them too at $129.99 per month. So all in all, I lost $7,166.60 to Stores Online and $5,269.89 to Future Ranking without a single sale! Wow!

When I previously notified Bill McCollum of this awful problem, it went nowhere. During this trying time in our nation with this dreadful economy, this company, Stores Online and its sub companies, preys on the unemployed, elderly, uneducated and retired people who are looking for income to be made by working. They invest their last dollars, literally, with Stores Online, only to be ripped off.

I have all my documentation, correspondences, emails, etc, to prove my case.

Hastings stores accept the following payment methods: American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa, Hastings Giftcards, Personal Checks, Business Checks, Traveler's Checks and Cash.Their authorization process: When your order is placed, GoHastings.com authorizes your credit card to make sure sufficient credit is available. A hold is placed on funds equal to your order amount until the order is shipped. You will not be charged for items that do not ship.

I spent many hours trying to get my money back, customer service representatives are useless. They don't have control on their policies and don't know where to find them. In terms of customer service. This company sucks big time.

Then after having everything set and getting ready to launch the new website, I needed help with a few minor changes and then I got disconnected. The next day when I accessed the website, nothing was the same. Files were gone and pictures that worked in a virtual aspect of the website were gone. The whole thing was they went and made changes in there, store-front configuration, and then did not say anything until after you log back in to work on your site. All of a sudden, you're back to begging and have to start all over. If this site is not up and running, we starve. I have explained that several times They don't know support at all and we want our money back, and have them cited for breaching the agreement they made with us.

The 'programmer' they set me up with, knew absolutely nothing about programming and could not even begin to do what I needed to have done. I knew more about programming than he did, and I'm not a programmer. He said their definition of a programmer is different from my definition. It was obvious that he had not been trained as a true "programmer" as the rest of us understand the word. He was only trained to use the SOL software, and the company "considered" him and was "calling" him a "programmer". I suppose I could call myself a brain surgeon, regardless of the fact that I know nothing about brain surgery.

I called SOL and demanded that they refund my money, since they lied to me. They refused, but offered to have a real programmer work on my site, however, it would cost me $150/hr! I wasn't about to throw good money after bad!

This was totally unexpected, especially after sitting for hours and hearing glowing promises of how they would set us all on our way with all the tools and help we needed!

I tried to cancel this program and I was told that someone would get back with me that afternoon which was the day after the workshop where I agreed to take the package. I received no contact that day and tried to contact them again the very next day only to be put off again and I realize now that was a stall tactic to push it past the refund time span. The people I finally got in touch with told me to study the materials and watch the step-by-step instructions on the computer and they would help with support as much as I needed to get my sites making money for me once I started trying to use the materials I found that I was left in the dark and I was unable to get any help from Stores Online.

I tried a number of times in the next couple of weeks to get in contact with someone who would help me get an address to send the materials back to them because it was not at all what it was represented to have been and what I was expecting and I couldn't figure out how to use the materials and nobody from their company would help me to understand it. I tried to return it but they wouldn't even talk about that so I went to my bank and I placed a stop payment on the check they had talked me into writing for the down payment for the program materials. I then boxed the materials up and attempted to send it all back to Stores Online.

The next thing I know, I am getting alerts from my bank that my account is overdrawn and I have a large amount of overdraft fees as well as some items that had been returned unpaid. This caused my phones, internet, and auto insurance to not get paid so I went to my bank to see what was going on and they looked through the records to find that even though I had placed a stop payment on the check to Stores Online, they had sent the check through as an e-transaction and gave it a different number than the paper check that they had attempted to put through the proper way and found a stop payment on it. So they changed the number and put it through as an e-transaction so the bank would not stop them from getting the money they were after. The bank representative told me at that point that I would have to contact Stores Online to try to recover my money. Stores Online will not respond to my calls and I have gone deeper as a whole because I have a very small amount of money that I get from social security, retirement and a home health care job, and now it is almost time for them to try to get more money and I have not even recovered from the last money they took out of my account.

I would like to seek legal actions against this company and the other companies associated with them to keep them from doing this to other people and to get my money back and the extra expenses I have had to deal with as a result of their actions. I feel like they scammed the money out of my bank account by changing the number of the check to get it through and refusing to allow me to return their materials.

I have complained to this company since it happened April 30, 2011 and Mari **, head of customer relations, states since I did not buy anything, I am entitled to nothing and should not have been there. If you solicit someone to come to your seminar with promises of information and free items, why shouldn't I be there? Why am I to anticipate being treated with such disrespect? They owe me what they stated in their brochure. I was also text to come early for seating.

Most of them hail from China and provide "knockoff" products to be sold as genuine at a profit. I recently contacted the company to ask them for help to set up one website (I was fortunate to find one "wholesale drop shipper") and to even set up the site has proved to be a nightmare. It is far more involved than they presented at their sales seminar. Has anyone thought of trying to file a "class action suit" against Stores On-Line for refund of money they basically stole from intelligent yet ignorant people like me? I have recently lost my job and asked if they would purchase back the sites and they said no. They said that since the "licenses" do not cost the company any money, they would under no circumstances purchase the licenses back. I say, we find a lawyer who would be interested in at least filing a class action suit against the company and let's go to work against this highly professional scam company?

I got frustrated with this situation, so I called the customer support department. I was told that Bonnie was on maternity leave, and now I would be working with Calvin **. I spoke to Calvin and we set a meeting date for February 14th. Again, Calvin did not show up for the meeting, nor did he call to reschedule. I called and left multiple messages for Calvin and received no response. I also received an email from SOL that I had only 30 days left to have my website built or the free website offer would be over. At this point, I felt that this was a scam to get me to invest additional money into this process.

a.) I had to manually copy and paste the descriptions from one area of the SO back office to another (when I did this, the description field into which I was pasting has very limited word count capacity and even when I did get something in that field, the description still does not show on the website).

b.) The drop-shipper agreement says that I cannot use their descriptions (I called the DS and they said this is false).

c.) There is a glitch in the system and I need to call the DS to have it fixed (again, the problem is with StoresOnline).

d.)There is a glitch in the SO system and the problem has been escalated.

e.) The problem was again escalated and that I would receive a call from a manager by the name of Monica ** to help me resolve this.

f.) I was misinformed and that Monica ** is a manager and does not talk to customers.

There is no way to get resolution on this issue, and I cannot launch my website because the system does not work. No one will take responsibility and call me, but they got my money so they don't seem to mind that I bought into a fraud. I cannot make money with this system because of these issues. I want the darned thing to work so that I can make money. I am not asking for a refund or calling an attorney (yet). I simply want the thing to work properly.

I put a down payment with my M/C of $1700, and my friend Linda took out a loan for the remainder of the $1700. She was not lucid, and did not check the paper work of the loan, and they overcharged her. It turned out that the loan was for $2471.00. I then tried to cancel this contract, and Jeannette **** said we only had 3 days to cancel, unless we prove that one of us is 65 years of age, which I feel is an unfair rescission period, for such a big amount.

I looked up the company to see if it was true that they had an A+ with Utah BBB, and it looks like they lied, because they have an F with Utah BBB. They misled us, and their high pressure sales tactic, has seriously affected me because I have been getting really ill with my chronic mental illness.

I have seen 4 lawyers so far, all of them pro bono, and I have written many letters to Jeannette ****** demanding a refund. The lawyer told me to keep sending the same letter. Fortunately my business partner was discharged from the loan on Friday Dec. 3, 2010 and they told me they will not refund me my money. I do not want to have anything to do with these people, they know I am on disability and they still refuse to give me my money back. Yet, my friend and I have the same package. Why are they treating Linda differently when we are business partners?

I feel it is unfair that I am being punished, because they said they don't care where the $1700 came from. All they care about is taking my money for services that they did not render. They misled us into thinking they were a great company, and that they have 24/7 customer service which is all untrue. Thousands of other people got scammed by these people.

One lady got scammed out of $10,000 this Oct from Stores online, I recently read this. These people are scamming people in Australia, and U.K, as well us people like me in BC. Please help me get my money back. I would also like you to please shut this business down, because they are taking advantage of many unsuspecting people, especially the elderly, like the 70 year old women who recently got ripped of $10,000 from Stores Online. I found out these people are not allowed to practice business in BC, and they are not incorporated. Also, they are out of jurisdiction. So I am not sure if I would win anything even if I took them to small claims court. Please hep me. Thank you in advance.

I have contacted the Attorney General of New Mexico as well as the Better Business Bureau, and I may not be able to recover my financial losses but someone else may benefit from my 'crazy' experience. I can provide any documentation you may need to help me with my situation. And anything you can do, would be greatly appreciated.

I paid $500 in deposit, and further payments of $166. It got to the point where I emailed Devura, and said I can't afford it. I have maxed out 3 credit cards, and my account. If I hadn't done this, then today I would be alright. Furthermore, a debt collection agency in the UK is hassling me for money. They are gonna take everything, if I don't do something. I am facing financial ruins, and my home. I have 2 lovely children.

I have been very unhappy with my relationship with Stores but I was still trying to find the benefit of contracting with Stores even though I have found so many other offers that almost give the same services you provide for very minimal costs and free. I called today to extend my option to have my website developed that was included in the contract, and for the very first time, I was told I could not extend it. Whenever, I called Customer Service prior to today, everyone told me that I could extend it for as long as I needed. There would be no problem. Now, today, I am told I cannot and I would have to pay another $250 for this service. Well, I haven’t gotten anywhere near any type of service or satisfaction from Stores to even come close to the original cost of $6,000, and now I am being asked for more money. And then I was contacted by PMI and they offered everything that was promised at the November presentation in Pensacola but for additional money. Stores Online is presenting itself not only as misleading but a cash cow and that’s a cash cow for Stores and not the customer.

I don’t like having to do business with someone that is not only misleading in their presentations just to get people to sign up, but also who will not allow you to speak with anyone of any authority. It appears to be quite shady. So therefore, I would like to talk to someone about the cancellation of my contract. Oh and by the way, we were promised DVDs of the presentation and we were told there was no need to take notes and we were also promised a free MP3. I have received none of these and have reported it to Customer Service and no one could help me again. It seems as if your organization lacks adequate honest communication and each department is quite isolated and there is no team work or coordination between your different areas.

So this is my story and my issues with Stores Online and as I said before, I am hoping that this will reach someone in your company that is a professional and believes in trying to make their customers satisfied and will at least be open to negotiations and concerns. I am sure there is someone in your company that is not scared to talk to me and wants to try and help me. Am I correct?

2 weeks later they had the big workshop for the serious people who were invited to find out about this great, new opportunity that would be explained. We were excited and went to the second lunch. We have little computer experience and no web site experience and no marketing experience, but we were assured that many others were in the same boat but now making profitable incomes.

We paid the $6,000 and we were told we would be getting all the help we need to build and run our own drop shipping website. We were really excited and tried to build our sites right away, but it was so complicated we were not even sure about the questions to ask customer support when we called. The seminar told us they would help us pick products for our website that would sell. When I mentioned that to customer support, she didn't have a clue what I meant. It seems very clear to me that only someone with experience building websites and marketing them would be able to pull off what they were saying that any old housewife could do.

My friend and I invested the only money we had, $6,000, believing that we were being told the truth. When I asked for the money back due to the fact that having no experience in building websites I don't think I can do this, they said “Too bad, we will answer your questions about specific things but that was all.” I told the girl I didn't even know the right questions to ask. She just kept saying, “If there is any way we can help, let us know.” There are actually other companies out there doing what StoresOnline says it is doing for about half the price. We would like to get our money back so we could do this right. The other company offered a lot of actual training which is what StoresOnline said they did but do not. I believe they fraudulently told us we could do it with no experience or training. But it can't be done and I believe we should get our money back.

Does anyone out there know how I could go about doing this? I want to be able to take care of my 12 children and myself and now I have lost the $6,000 that would have been able to get me the training and do what this company told me they would do. Surely someone can stop them from making fraudulent statements and taking someone's only hope of investing in a better life away. I just want what I paid for and I have found another company that can give it to me, but StoresOnline has my money.

I have 10 e-mails between storesonline & me. They keep changing the ticket (reference) number with each e-mail I send. I get a response from different people each time stating I missed the 3 day cancellation window. They've asked for proof of age & requested I send a copy of my birth certificate & drivers' license. I sent in scanned copies of these documents. They keep changing the reason for not returning my money. They are now claiming that they never received my written cancellation notice. If you would furnish an e-mail address, I could send these 10 e-mails to you

After we explained to them that we weren't going to be able to afford it, they 'played with the numbers' in such a way that we believed we could. We got into a financial hole where we couldn't make these payments. And the scam, of course, didn't pan out for us, anyway. So now they've been adding on interest and the grand total is up over $4000 that they they agreed to 'settle' for half of.

The first installment is due by the end of April 2010 and 7 more payments of $249.28 are due monthly after that. As it turned out, I got a call from a woman asking if I'd been the victim of a scam recently. I told her about SOL and she said that she gets complaints about that one all the time and told me to contact Consumer Affairs and the Attorney General to file complaints against these people and that I'll find all kinds of stuff online about it if I go to those websites.

All I walked away with was the free meal, and a dollar store Mp3 player. I also had the base to use the program which would be $24 a month. I built my site and was ready to go, I had previously been using a site from goDaddy. My site never switched over to Stores Online.

About a month later, a rep from Stores online called me to try and sell me the $3600 system once again, I refused. He became irritated with me because I did not want to listen to his sales vomit. I told him I have had problems launching the site with them; he said that unless I spend the $3600 he would not be able to help me. A few days later, I called and wanted my $48 returned. They refused and promised they would get the "glitch" fixed.

I told him the website is the smallest part of my business which has sales of 2.5 million a year. The only reason I need the website is for my rural customers.

I also told him I may be an idiot when it comes to websites and computers but if he thought I would fall for yet another scam with those people, he was crazy. He called me an **** and hung up. I called to report the incident and the "Manager" had no response but tried to yet again pitch me a sale.

The good thing is, I was only out the $48, they never billed my account once for the $24 a month. But I think that $48 is a small part of their scam because most people won't make a big deal about it, and much of what they promise people is not realistic and they prey on folks trying to make more money.

I have been in business along time. I have a masters degree and what those folks are telling and selling is a bunch of ******. If you are thinking of having an e commerce website, I would advise any of you to use goDaddy or vistaprint; they are easy and less expensive. It is the exact same type of website Stores Onlin is trying to sell you.

Do not waste your time ir money with this company!

This has to be the biggest scam around here. I'll bet the only ones that were eligible for the computer drawing were the ones that were let into the conference, unless that is a hoax also. I had to pay for the gas in my truck, buy lunch, and drive back home, a total of over two hours roundtrip. Not to mention, it caused me the mental abuse of being denied something that you were expecting. I would never do business with a company that is totally unorganized as this one. To top off the day, I am physically handicapped, so by the time I got home, I was totally drained.

We are older folks living on a modest income and feel that we have been unfairly victimized by greedy, highly unscrupulous scammers who make it a practice to prey on the weak and most vulnerable members of society. Any explanations offered at their business seminars we attended were vague and our questions were not really answered satisfactorily. We should have been immediately alert and suspicious. If we were only thinking clearly, I'm sure that we would have exercised better judgement in the matter.

We felt pressured into signing a purchase agreement without being afforded an adequate opportunity to review it thoroughly and were unable to read the contract's full disclosure information details hidden in the fine print. We were asked to quickly sign the paperwork before us and return to the auditorium where the business opportunity presentation was still underway. We were told we were being hurried because the contract agent didn't want us to miss out on any of the valuable insider information that was only given during the live seminar. That should have been a warning sign to us to bail out, then and there.

The sales pressure and tactics they used were subtle, intense, deftly applied and unfortunately, effective. StoresOnline has grossly failed to deliver on any of their products and services, either promised or implied in their live sales seminars we attended or written literature they provided. The only subsequent communications we have had with StoresOnline have been our failed attempts to cancel the contract and recover the money that we have lost to them. Communications that were directed to us from StoresOnline, their affiliated companies, financial departments and service consultant associates have been efforts akin to strong arm tactics to extort payments from us or attempts to sell us even more useless marketing products and services that they say will practically guarantee our success in setting up, starting, advertising and operating multiple online internet websites and online stores.

We feel that StoresOnline operates a fraudulent, overpriced, predatory business that blatantly employs a host of dishonest, misleading and very deceptive practices. In our subsequent internet research, we have discovered that they have been banned from doing any business in their home state of Utah and in several other states, and even some foreign countries. We found a website exists that lists the angry testimonials of hundreds of people who have been victims of their scams. We recently received an email message notifying us of a class action suit against StoresOnline is currently underway in the state of Tennessee. The proposed settlement decision there is expected in January 2010 and will amount to nearly $8,000,000.

We are unable to participate in that class action suit settlement due to time window restrictions, but feel that there are probably other actions pending in other jurisdictions. We want our hard earned dollars back (the amount we invested was a bit over $7,000). We want them put out of business now and not be allowed to hide behind loopholes in the legal system. Your actions on behalf of myself and their other victims will be heartfelt appreciated.

The workshop was not a 'training session'. At no time did any of the attendees touch a computer or the like, to explore the software/product being sold. Given the complexity of the software, it is within a consumer's right to be allowed reasonable time to inspect the product. It is within my right to inspect the product before I accept it. To inspect a program, you have to be able to put it on a computer and run it. I have a right to a product that works the way the seller (publisher or retailer) said it would. If the product doesn't conform to the contract, I can refuse to accept it.

The customer service that I used when running the product has a success rate of 50%. Half the time, they did not know what they were doing and wasted my valuable time. I have given the Stores Online product ample time and have found that after this time, my commitment, resources, and energy are being wasted on an untrustworthy company and an unsatisfactory product. I then sent the letter to the Stores Online, Inc. physical address and CCD (charge-coupled device) it to the attorney general in CA (because I recently moved to CA and didn't know which state would handle it), UT, and GA, state senators in CA, UT, and GA, and the BBB of Utah. I also included supporting documents with the letter requesting a refund and why.

I did receive a response from Stores Online, but it is a pressured attempt to get me to sign a quick fix to the initial and larger problem (They offered free programming for 1 year and hosting for 3 months). The issue is, the company is not trustworthy, the product is faulty, their business practices are deceptive, and I am completely unsatisfied with the product after making reasonable attempts to work with the software. Normally, this would work with any company that respects its product and customer.

Not only this, but there have been legal documents released from the Director of Consumer Relations, Mari **, that have had errors that I had to correct them on. Dates and details that were overlooked and I, the customer, had to correct and catch them on it!

Update: They are now offering half a refund but I would only have access to one of my websites, if I only keep 1 out of 6 websites then I should receive 5/6 of a refund. They are also making me decide by July 7th, so, for as slow as they move, I'm being forced to decide in one week. The point is, that the product is faulty, so I still think a full refund is warranted. Not only have I not been able to get the initial purchase price of $5,998.00 back, but I have time, energy, resources invested in this from the beginning.

Basically, I was led to believe that one or two websites would not be enough because of the endless possibilities online stores could create, especially by using dropshipping. They then launched into the high-pressure sales pitch, by letting us know that the price was available only on that day and would be much higher later. I purchased six websites for $6,000. When I got home and contacted the dropshipping companies that Stores Online recommended, I learned that some of them were merely third parties for whose services I had to pay in order to get leads to dropshippers.

A few weeks later, I started receiving phone calls from a tax company who, again, applied pressure by telling me I had a deadline by which to incorporate my business, or I would not be able to gain any tax benefit from the websites that I bought. I also received numerous phone calls from various people associated with Stores Online, offering to assist me to launch my business for an additional $10,000 - $15,000. Even though I declined their offer many times, and it is now one year since I purchased the websites, they still continue to call me.

The economic damage is that I am still paying off my credit card for the websites that I purchased even though I have not been able to launch any businesses nor generate any income from them.

Concern about the integrity of my investment and potential fraud in the claims made for the product purchased.

Also, our coach told us that no other companies did what StoresOnline does. After doing some research, I found that is not true. This site offers essentiall the same thing: dropship-business.

Fortunately, my Mom and I were not financially able to invest $6000 and we walked away.

WE paid several thousand dollars for websites that take more computer knowledge than we have to set up, we also took their marketing training for several more thousand dollars that is not doing us any good because of the difficulties related to setting up the sites. We are about 20,000 in debt because of this company, not counting the referral to THE TAX CLUB that took us for another $10,000

I also disagree with the claim that people were arm twisted into signing up. At our seminar, there was absolutely no pressure. It was unnecessary, as many people like me were interested in their product. At the first seminarm, 10 days earlier, we were informed that they would be offering the licenses for sale and were even told the price. We had plenty of time to shop around.

I invested 2,700.00 StoresOnline,it was a Costly Mistake. The Company Never gave all the details while holding an all day Seminar in Miami,FL including being licensed by the State. Is there a law against not revealing all the details in an Business offer/ Opportunity?

I spoke to a representative after my credit card company called and said that they would refund me after I returned their kit. I did this only for the kit to be sent back to me. I want a full reverse charge of $5698. This company is breaking the law under Massachusetts Chapter 93.

I demand $4,998.00 returned immediately for my business is smal,l and this is a huge financial burden! Would have been money well spent if promises of company had been kept!

If we want to publish 3-6 websites already bought from Storesonline, we have to pay them higher hosting cost continously compared with current market since there is no other option for those expensive 3-6 website to be published, especially for those people who have limited experience in the high-tech field.

I had to refinance my home on Dec. 29th., 2007 to pay the credits cards I put this $5698.00 on and being on SS Disability I couldn't pay the minimum on any of my cards and have enough to live on and my home is 50 degrees except for one room my bedroom because I can't afford the propane and electric bill each month and I am a 68 year old gentleman that these internet jerks prey upon and looks to me they aren't happy until they get every penny I have and this has been a real hardship for me and I have requested a refund of the whole amount that I payed them.

The next thing they did was start calling me several times and sometimes twice per day starting on 12/17/2007 at 12:07 PM and 3:07 PM then on 12/18/2007 at 8:05 AM and 5:44 PM and then on 12/19/2007 at 2:01 PM and then on 12/20/2007 at 9:20 AM and on 01/03/2008 at 11:48 AM and some of the later calls I didn't answer and a message was left on my answering machine to call Cory and all these calls were called form 801-437-6871. The reason I quit answering this number was because he was trying to twist my arm for $5600 more money on my Amex card or another one and I couldn't pay my card the $5700 they put on it on 10/20/2007 and refinanced my house just last week to get enough money to live on and now my house payment went up $230 per month.

I have asked for a refund many times and just get a run around with asking for written materials, which I sent and then telling me they would forward it to their legal department. From there, their communications with me would end. I would call again and get the same line asking for all the same things. On November 9, 2007 I finally got a manager to tell me that they refused to give me a refund. I then asked them to send that to me in writing verifying that they would not issue a refund and they refused. Their customer service is at best terrible.

SOL was a very High pressure sales team whom doesn't believe that many of their customers can actually succeed at operating the websites. Which explains why they spend so much of their energy on high pressure sales tactics. They also failed to let us know at the initial seminar that they have a 3 day cancellation policy. It takes longer than 3 days to sort through and read all the propaganda they send you home with.

They talked me into purchasing 6 site licenses for approx. $6,000.00. They also have called me at home at least 2-3 times a month trying to pressure me into a very expensive extra training class to help my failing website along with many other extra services that they offer.

I had a lot of issues with their site but here's some of the big ones:

1. Mass emailing feature sent 5 identical emails to my customers containing advertisments which annoyed them causing many request removal from my mailing list.

2. Their Support people had very little knowledge for anyone who knows the basics of setting up their sites. They were trained well enough to help people new to web design and marketing. Many times they would tell me they were doing research on my issue and would get back with me and never did.

3. SOL said that they are verisign secured and it was appropriate to use the verisign seal on our website and link it to their Verisign Certificate page. This is not true as I was contacted by Verisign and told to remove the Seal from my website. They said that you must have a seperate Certificate for every domain name.

I lost $6000 dollars on the initial purchase of the websites. I lost over a year of my time I invested on trying to figure out all the internal issues with my site as their tech team could not help me. I have $4000 in unsold merchandise left. My family has suffered both financially from these guaranteed to make money instantly sites that went under and also from the lack of time I have been unable to spend with them due to Stores Online's inability to give tech support.

Not even counting the on-going monthly fees, I have spent over $26,000.00 and have yet to make $1. from any of the 3 sites that I have published. I initially purchased 6 sites from StoresOnline and believe I was misled as to the extra expenses that would be involved and the number of hours it would take to build the 1st site. Even though StoresOnline emphasized that they made no promises as to income that could be made from purchased sites, the implications were if you did everything that they told you to do through their training tools available, you too could make as much ( or even more ) as the lady in the film who knew nothing about the internet and the man who spoke about how well he was doing with his site. He was presented as an average person who was getting rich from his site even though I noticed he was purposely dressed in a white shirt missing a lower button which exposed part of his stomach. This made him look like he was just a regular person who was not very wise about computer things yet was able to easily make money with his purchased site from StoresOnline.

The buy 6 sites today at a discount because you won't be able to get them at a later date for such a low price was so convincing that you just knew you were going to make so much on the 1st sites that it would be no problem to pay all the fees to publish all 6 sites. I should have realized something was not right when speaking to one of their phone support people (site owners themselves) and he said, if you don't show a loss the 1st year you're doing something wrong. I did think Is this some kind of tax shelter just to off-set my other income? But I foolishly thought if I worked hard on my site and did everything I was taught, had a good product at a better price than similar sites, promoted my site through advertising, that I would have sales and would eventually make a profit just like the people shown at the seminar.

I have lost over $26,000.00 in this venture that I believe was represented to me as a legitimate business opportunity when, in fact, was a scam to just get my money by way of a very effective sales pitch.

Due to personal situations and illness we didnt start work on these sites until june this year.
I managed to find a highly marketable product and went about preparing the web site.
the last part of making the site live was the setting up of the e-commerce or online processing sysytem.

upon contacting storesonline they said it is done through their affilate ECI-CORP .

I contacted this company and they said that the site had to be live and meet certain criteria.
we did all that was required and were notified by ECI-CORP on 24 july 2006 that our application had been submitted to the bank for processing.

The contract with storesonline stated that this process should take 4-5 working days.

with this in mind we purchased $10000AUD worth of stock and enrolled on google and yahoo search engines for sponsorship.
To this date (nearly 9 weeks later)we still do not have the online payment facility.
for the last 7 weeks i have been corresponding between storesonline (by e-mail and their online chat) and ECI-CORP by e-mail as to what the hold up is and that there is financial pressure on us to pay for the products we ordered.
Finally last week under the threat of reporting these events to yourselve we received an e-mail from ECI-CORP stating that their bank in the phillipines has been taken over and that they can no longer provide this facility.

Without this facility the web sites are useless.

Over the last three days i have sent repeated e-mails to storesonline ask for a refund or a solution to this problem.
they have yet to respond.

last night i contacted them by their online chat system and again streesed my disappointment and the financial hardship that we are placed in because of this.

They suggested that i try to find another e-commerce provider for credit card processing.
I asked why should i when i had paid storesonline for the complete package, and asked for someone to ring me .

I believe that this contract is frustrated and all i wont is my money back so i can clear the bill for some of the stock we purchased.

when i took the prouduct home their little kit. I found that they were not truthful. They claimed that you can free 24hr help. but in the contract and somewhere in the instructions its not free. Their search analysis program, I found that you can go on overture.com and look up search engine keywords for free. They claim they were tons of methods available to try for starting your online business. They stressed how great and important how drop shipping was. Now I decided to started this business because of one of their techniques called drop shipping only to find out that its a rare method, many products cannot be drop shipped and it is considered a dishonest pratcice and many of them are frauds within themselves.

Their customer support is terrible, Its like nothing ive ever seen. I had some problems with account, I called them and someone was supposed to get back with me. I have trying to contact one of the representatives and they have not called me back since. Then I find that these websites have the cheapest unprofessional looking templates I have ever seen.