Paragon Learning Academy

Review: I was told that the program would pay for it self and that there would not be any money out of pocket. That is was one time charge.

They have been charging a monthly fees.

The money they claim you can make is over exaggerated.Desired Settlement: Would like to the money that has been charged to my credit card to be refunded.

Review: I was told that if I paid this company $6775.00 + $39.99 (for coaching) that I would be able to make at least $5000.00 a month selling products on ebay or my own website. I purchased the "platinum" package, but I still had to pay $39.99 (for coaching). I dealt with several coaches. I don't believe that this company delivered on what they sold me. I did try to cancel but was told that it was too late to do so. I don't understand why I had to continue to pay 39.99 monthly when I paid for a full service package.Desired Settlement: I would like a full settlement of $6775.00 + $39.99 that I paid out for the last 8 months.

Review: I have been a member of the Online Revenue Academy (Paragon Learning Academy – SBG) since March 2012 and I am extremely frustrated and dissatisfied with the ignite builder platform for web building and support. When I signed up with Paragon I was promised that I could launch a successful online business in 6 months to a year with diligence and hard work. I put in the blood, sweat and tears as well as the time and effort and I was able to create a website selling tiffany lamps. You must understand, however, that I accomplished this using an outdated and extremely subpar web building platform that was not able to do simple things like, Zoom, Enlarge an Image, create a decent blog, no Logo’s, manually entering EVERY SINGLE PRODUCT, pricing, and product information since uploading a spreadsheet with product information was not possible (as they had promised at the start). These are typically routine elements inherently available on any website on the internet. Yet tech support said they could not provide help me with my requests. Despite this, I launched my web store in September 2012. It was less than perfect but I figured these things take time and I AM NOT a quitter.

The web builder was coming out with updates every few months, addressing, guess what? …. the problems mentioned above that they said they could not fix. These were not just little upgrades…these were HUGE upgrades that should have been in place from day one. Every time they made an upgrade, my website was all screwed up. I continued the program because I felt I had no choice. I stuck it out because I had made a huge investment ($9, 525.00).

Most currently, I have been experiencing serious problems with my website with no help or response from ignite builder support for one month. I am unable to edit my website (it won’t save my edits), I had to hide one of my categories because it just disappeared from my website, customers do not have the capability to reset passwords or change passwords, and most importantly, my customers cannot get to the checkout. Please feel free to check this out on my web store. Try to purchase something. You will find that it does not allow you to get to the payment section (tiffanythings.com)

Any time the builder posts new upgrades, upgrades that should have been part of the web builder since day one; my website is altered and needs to be constantly fixed.

The most recent upgrade is the most serious and damaging to my business. My customers are not able to get to the payment section and I HAVE NOT received any reply or support for the numerous emails I have sent in the month of January. I paid a lot of money upfront (not to mention the monthly hosting fees for the past 22 month totaling $800, plus gateway fees, and Merchant fees, $60/month required for accepting payment) for a product that makes my website look unprofessional and does not function properly.

I want out and I want my money back. I have put my faith, trust, and confidence into this program and have been more than patient with the web builder‘s constant blunders. I feel that I have been cheated and scammed and I want my money back. They sold me a product that was not ready to operate at full speed.

As of today, 2/06/2014, my most recent issues have not been resolved. The “Save” for editing is functioning, however, my other problems, such as the inability to change passwords for customer accounts and the ability for customers to purchase items, have not been addressed. This is a direct breach of the service promised in the contract: "Integrated e-Commerce Shopping Cart" not to mention an essential part of online Business. Upgrades should improve a service or product, not make it inoperable and incapable of receiving transactions. Nor has anyone from builder support contacted me for a status update. I have been unable to reach anyone at the number provided in the contract, 888-619-7831, for resolution to problems. “The person you are trying to reach is on the phone. Please leave a message at the beep” is the message I receive each time I have called. I have called at different times of the day (2/4 2:17pm; 2/5: 9:13am, 2:04pm; 11;23pm; 2/6: 8:20am). I don’t believe that someone is constantly on the phone…or maybe so, if other clients are experiencing the same problems that I have. I did send an email to [redacted] addressing these issues on 2/6/2014 and have not received a response.

I have documentation to prove these allegations which I am happy to provide upon request. The recent emails and list of upgrades since I began with the web builder should be sufficient for starter to demonstrate my allegations.

Anything you can do to help me with this matter will be greatly appreciated.Desired Settlement: I am asking for a refund of $7,025 of the $ 9,525 I initially paid and $400 dollars returned for web hosting and support which has not been provided for at least 10 of the 22 months I have been associated with this business for a total of $,7425. (The coaching services provided in the first three months were adequate and provided the fundamentals of creating an online business.)

Review: I enrolled in a help program to start up a website business. This company has taken almost 10,000 dollars from me and I have nothing to show. They advertise that they will help you start up your business through weekly "coaching" sessions that started via telephone and transferred over to e-mail help. I received weekly phone calls initially from one of the "coaches" and after 12 weeks was basically dropped. I sent numerous e-mails to this company begging for help to no avail. I have the contact information from two of the "coaches" that I could provide for you to investigate. I will be going after this company monetarily as I got nothing in return and feel this business is nothing but a scam.Desired Settlement: I would like my money back from this site. I am requesting a refund of the following amounts:$3660.00 start up fee January 23, 2012 (1-[redacted])$39.95 monthly for February through October = 359.55 (same as above)$1055.00 drop ship (3/12/12) (1-[redacted])$250.00 drop ship (4/14/12) same number right above$250.00 drop ship (5/7/12) same number as above$250.00 drop ship (6/7/12) same number as above$1000.000 for website(4/14/12) (1-[redacted])Total: 6824.55

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern:

This consumer (Ms. [redacted]) purchased access

to our educational training and mentoring program on January 17th,

2012, for the amount of $3,660.00. Apparently since that time, the consumer has

also purchased additional products from other companies with the goal of

creating an online business.

To be clear, at no point did the consumer

purchase additional items or products from our company, and the only additional

monies spent with our firm were her ongoing monthly membership payments of

$39.95.

If she has an issue with the additional

resources she purchased with other companies, I would certainly advise the

consumer to take up her issues with them. I am sure they are reputable and

honest companies which would be happy to address her concerns.

As to the matter of the $3,660, this amount

paid for access to proprietary materials and valuable intellectual property,

and at the time of the transaction, the consumer electronically signed an

agreement agreeing that after 3 business days, all sales are final. As a

supplement to this material, the consumer also spent multiple 30-60 minute

training sessions with our staff who made every attempt to further and enrich

the consumer’s understanding of online commerce and how to succeed with it.

Obviously, each individual student has a

unique rate of progress and ability to put forth the effort required and as

such, we cannot guarantee, nor do we claim to guarantee individual results. The

consumer completed a recorded verbal verification at the time of the

transaction affirming that she was not guaranteed any specific result.

We are obviously not happy to learn that

this consumer did not have success with our materials and we would be more than

happy to address these issues with the consumer in the hopes of correcting the

problem and helping the consumer resume her efforts toward building her

business. The unfortunate reality is that she did not take the time to express

these issues to us directly before filing this complaint and has rebuffed our

efforts to contact her since.

We sincerely hope that the consumer will

contact us soon so that we may help get her education back on track.

As to the matter of the $39.95 monthly

membership payments, the consumer was made aware at the time of purchase that

these monthly payments were to cover the cost of ongoing technical support and

web hosting and these fees are charged on a monthly basis as long as the

consumer remains enrolled in the program.

These fees can be cancelled at any time

with as little as a 5 day notice, which the consumer was made aware of. Since

the hosting and support services were delivered by us and received by the

consumer while she was a member of our program, we cannot offer a refund on

these services. Her fees have been cancelled going forward.

We look forward to getting this

relationship back on track and welcome any opportunity to do so.

Thank you for your time and attention in

this matter and do not hesitate to contact us at (888) 619-7831 if you require

any further clarification in this matter.

Sincerely,

Client Relations

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

They stated they have provided support to me, which they have not. I have sent numerous e-mails to them with little response as I previously attached in my original complaint. They have not provided the service they purport and this is nothing but a business scam to find inventive ways to take money from consumers who are not financially stable. I stated this in my initial phone call from them stating I was a full time student, trying to pay for my own education as well as my daughter's who is in college. Even stating this, they did not care and stated I would make my money back within 6 months. They have phone support initially and all correspondence and help abruptly stopped. I have received three e-mails from them in a year's time. I find it interesting that it took this company almost two weeks to respond to my initial complaint which is what I have been dealing with, resulting in minimal response from them for help if no response whatsoever. I want a full refund from this company and feel they need to take a critical look at how they take advantage of people.

Regards,

Business

Response:

Our rebuttal to Ms. [redacted]' response will be as brief and concise as possible. In the interest of transparency, I will address her claims in the order in which she made them:

1 - They stated they have provided support to me, which they have not.

This is false, and actually contradicted by Ms. [redacted]' own statements below: "They have phone support initially and all correspondence and help abruptly stopped." So, to be perfectly clear, Ms. [redacted] first states that we provided her no support, but then goes on to state that we DID in fact provide her support, which then ended (at the conclusion of her training program) abruptly.

This is also false. Attached to this response, you will find 26 pages of correspondence between Ms. [redacted] and our staff, which shows that our staff was completely reactive to Ms. [redacted]' needs while she was a student in our program, and at the end of her proactive training, we sent her an email invitation to continue to contact via email and live chat to answer any lingering questions.

Any lack of communication is frankly the result of Ms. [redacted] not proactively reaching out to our company.

2- I have sent numerous e-mails to them with little response as I previously attached in my original complaint.

Attached, is a 26 page pdf detailing every client contact between Ms. [redacted] and our firm. She has never sent us any emails which were not responded to professionally and promptly. If she claims that there are email to which we did not respond, then I would ask to see them, as we are not in possession of them.

3- They have not provided the service they purport and

This is Addressed above

3(b) - this is nothing but a business scam to find inventive ways to take money from consumers who are not financially stable.

This is both false and intentionally incendiary. We operate and honest business, and entered into our agreement with Ms. [redacted] in good faith. We had and continue to have every intention of helping her succeed with her online venture. As you can see from the attached documents, it was Ms. [redacted] who abruptly ended contact and we believe that she would be in a much better position now had she not done so. For the record, we have never "taken money" from anyone, and have never willfully caused any of our students financial hardship. We have no interest in making anyone's financial situation worse, and would never actively attempt to do so or try to make money at their expense. The purpose of our program is obviously to generate revenue, but to do so by teaching students valuable skills in the realm of direct response marketing and to help them grow a profitable online venture of their own.

4- [They] stated I would make my money back within 6 months.

This is categorically untrue. At the time of Ms. [redacted]' initial transaction she participated in a live recorded verbal confirmation stating clearly that no earnings claims were made to her whatsoever. This recording is available upon request. Additionally, she electronically signed Terms and Conditions(see attached) certifying the same. It is only now, many months later that Ms. [redacted] suddenly recalls being promised a financial gain within 6 months, when she had no recollection of any such statements at the time when these statements were supposedly made.

She was not promised ANY specific financial outcome, as we cannot guarantee how any specific student will use or apply the information and strategies taught to them.

5- I find it interesting that it took this company almost two weeks to respond to my initial complaint which is what I have been dealing with, resulting in minimal response from them for help if no response whatsoever.

We take our commitment to the Revdex.com seriously and made every attempt to provide a thorough response to the initial complaint in the time frame provided to us with which to do so. Additionally, during that time, multiple attempts were made to reach out to Ms. [redacted] in order to resolve her issues personally. Given her unwillingness to return contact, we mad the decision to reply in the manner in which we did in order to make the Bureau aware of the current status. We have always maintained an excellent level of communication with the Revdex.com as well as with our students. We stand by our reputation 100%

6- I want a full refund from this company

This is not an acceptable resolution and we will not consider offering a full refund to Ms. [redacted] under the circumstances of this issue. If Ms. [redacted] would like to discuss her options, we certainly welcome her to respond to our attempts to contact her directly.

Sincerely,

Client Relations Director

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Please review my response in blue and pink for ease of reading. I have also attached ALL e-mail correspondence from January of 2012.

COMPANY MESSAGE

Our rebuttal to Ms.

[redacted]' response will be as brief and concise as possible. In the

interest of transparency, I will address her claims in the order in

which she made them:

1 - They stated they have provided support to me, which they have not.

This

is false, and actually contradicted by Ms. [redacted]' own statements

below: "They have phone support initially and all correspondence and

help abruptly stopped." So, to be perfectly clear, Ms. [redacted] first

states that we provided her no support, but then goes on to state that

we DID in fact provide her support, which then ended (at the conclusion

of her training program) abruptly.

This is also false. Attached

to this response, you will find 26 pages of correspondence between Ms.

[redacted] and our staff, which shows that our staff was completely reactive

to Ms. [redacted]' needs while she was a student in our program, and at the

end of her proactive training, we sent her an email invitation to

continue to contact via email and live chat to answer any lingering

questions.

Mr. [redacted] states there are 26 pages of correspondence? Does this include the coaching phone calls from [redacted], who was my assigned coach from the paragon site (which I included after the training, the phone calls abruptly stopped but I could continue voice to voice for another fee--- and the e-mail correspondence was minimal and often went unanswered). Since Mr. [redacted] states they have made several attempts at contacting me, I would like them to send me the 26 pages of said correspondence to my e-mail address and the information they have on file for me since my contact information has not changed and it says to review to this attachment which I don't see evidence of.

2- I have sent numerous e-mails to them with little response as I previously attached in my original complaint.

Attached,

is a 26 page pdf detailing every client contact between Ms. [redacted] and

our firm. She has never sent us any emails which were not responded to

professionally and promptly. If she claims that there are email to which

we did not respond, then I would ask to see them, as we are not in

possession of them.

Where is the 26 page pdf file? I don't see it attached to this complaint. Please send to my e-mail address that you all have on file since you've stated you've made every effort to contact me.

3- They have not provided the service they purport and

This is Addressed above

3(b) - this is nothing but a business scam to find inventive ways to take money from consumers who are not financially stable.

This

is both false and intentionally incendiary. We operate and honest

business, and entered into our agreement with Ms. [redacted] in good faith.

We had and continue to have every intention of helping her succeed with

her online venture. As you can see from the attached documents, it was

Ms. [redacted] who abruptly ended contact and we believe that she would be

in a much better position now had she not done so. For the record, we

have never "taken money" from anyone, and have never willfully caused

any of our students financial hardship. We have no interest in making

anyone's financial situation worse, and would never actively attempt to

do so or try to make money at their expense. The purpose of our program

is obviously to generate revenue, but to do so by teaching students

valuable skills in the realm of direct response marketing and to help

them grow a profitable online venture of their own.

Abruptly ended contact? Please review the attached documents Mr. [redacted]. I received one response via e-mail from [redacted] once my "reactive" phase phone calls stopped (see attachment from March 8th 2012 from Jared) and one response from [redacted] who was my voice to voice coach for "team one". All other e-mails I received came from [redacted] from Team 2A and she never responded to my inquiries. All I was told once the "reactive" phase (please see attached e-mail from [redacted] saying the phone call phase stopped) was that they would be available by chat on the paragon site or e-mail. Once the "reactive" phase of the weekly phone calls stopped I received absolutely no support. I also reviewed the terms and conditions which I have attached for Revdex.com to review. There is some wording in here regarding a disagreement between client and company- Please review Part E on Terms and Conditions of conflict of personality between client and company.

4- [They] stated I would make my money back within 6 months.

This

is categorically untrue. At the time of Ms. [redacted]' initial transaction

she participated in a live recorded verbal confirmation stating clearly

that no earnings claims were made to her whatsoever. This recording is

available upon request. Additionally, she electronically signed Terms

and Conditions(see attached) certifying the same. It is only now, many

months later that Ms. [redacted] suddenly recalls being promised a financial

gain within 6 months, when she had no recollection of any such

statements at the time when these statements were supposedly made.

She

was not promised ANY specific financial outcome, as we cannot guarantee

how any specific student will use or apply the information and

strategies taught to them.

Yes, please send a copy of the recording from the gentleman who initially talked me into signing up for this service. It does state that monetary value cannot be quantified on the terms of agreement, however, please send the recording in its entirety. His questions were very mis-leading and it was a sales pitch in which he stated I could make back all of the money I had put into this business (the initial recording would be great) which was I believe somewhere around the 14th or 15 of January, 2012. I had stated I was in a financial bind as I was putting my daughter through college (all on recording I am sure) and that I only had a few thousand dollars on my American Express Credit Card to put this fee onto. It was a sales tactic and it is all on there so yes, please Mr. [redacted] send this recording in its entirety to Revdex.com so they can review. I did sign the agreement and it did say you had to cancel within three days however, there is also a section in there about disputes and that I would be supported after the reactive phase for as long as it takes to make my business successful (please see #3 extension of services which I have taken the liberty to copy here for ease to review right below in pink font): The part that is upsetting is you did not provide services to me after the "reactive" stage was completed.

EXTENTION OF SERVICES: Company fully expects Clients to be successful, if Client truly

puts to work the education that our Educational Branch provides. Company’s educational arm

agrees to provide unsurpassed service and support to Client through our efforts, and the efforts of

affiliate companies, in an effort to fully support Client's three to six month goals. Our Education

Division states: “Once you’ve completed your proactive coaching program, we will continue to

provide reactive support for as long as it takes, as long as your monthly membership fees are

current.”

5- I find it interesting that it took

this company almost two weeks to respond to my initial complaint which

is what I have been dealing with, resulting in minimal response from

them for help if no response whatsoever.

We take our commitment

to the Revdex.com seriously and made every attempt to

provide a thorough response to the initial complaint in the time frame

provided to us with which to do so. Additionally, during that time,

multiple attempts were made to reach out to Ms. [redacted] in order to

resolve her issues personally. When? Please show me the correspondence aside from what I have put in here and after the reactive phase Mr. [redacted]. Given her unwillingness to return

contact, we mad the decision to reply in the manner in which we did in

order to make the Bureau aware of the current status. We have always

maintained an excellent level of communication with the Revdex.com as well as

with our students. We stand by our reputation 100%

I honestly don't know why you would stand by this Mr. [redacted]. It's listed in the terms of agreement that if there are any disagreements then communication should be made between client and company. I have tried calling and e-mailing you to no avail. I even had my bank try contacting you and leaving messages. This is absolute lunacy and I just am beyond comprehending how you an say you are a reputable company and how you can stand in good faith on this statement.

6- I want a full refund from this company

This

is not an acceptable resolution and we will not consider offering a

full refund to Ms. [redacted] under the circumstances of this issue. If Ms.

[redacted] would like to discuss her options, we certainly welcome her to

respond to our attempts to contact her directly. What number would you like me to call Mr. [redacted]? I have left messages for team 2A and have received no response either via telephone or e-mail. Perhaps you could share with me what telephone number you have tried contacting?

Best,

[redacted]