National Association of Professional Women

NAPW has confirmed that this member was not charged the renewal fee of which she complained I have spoken with the Customer Service manager, and she has pulled the recording, for retraining with the agent at issue. As a result of this and a few other similar complaints, NAPW is changing
its renewal notice policy The company is changing the language in its renewal emails, adding additional renewal emails, and working on a technology fix that will issue renewal reminders via both its messaging feature on its website and through SMS messaging I anticipate significant development time, but now that this has been brought to the company's attention it is in the development queue. I trust this matter is now closed If this member has any questions or remaining issues, they are welcome to contact me anytime at [email protected] W*** | EVP & SecretaryProfessional Diversity Network, Inc.*** *** * ***
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Our initial investigation of this claim indicates that we received one call from *** ***, on December *, 2015, after her membership renewedShe authorized the renewal during her enrollment interviewWe sent her a reminder as a courtesy at the end of October via ** ***
Service.We did speak to *** *** on December *, 2015, explained why her card was charged and issued a partial refund. We are undergoing further reviews of all correspondence between NAPW and *** *** and if her claim meets the criteria for a complete refund, it will be issuedIf not we will advise her of the outcome within ten business days

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me
and the matter has been resolved
Sincerely,
*** ***

Please allow two to ten business days for any credits to post to your accountThis depends on the policies of your card issuer.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.I find it amazing how defensive this organization is when they have a well published track record of aggressive sales and unethical billing practicesYou don’t get a reputation like that on accident
Sincerely,
*** ***

I recently registered my new business in Arizona and received an unsolicited invitation from NAPW by postI visited their website and signed up to be a memberThere was no membership fee mentioned anywhereThere was information about complementary membership on the website
I got a call from one of your representatives, LaurenAfter a nice interview during which Lauren encouraged me to talk about my achievements, I was invited to Join NAPWAfter I accepted and all the benefits of being an elite member was then explained to me, I was then asked if this was the "package" that I wanted and then informed of the cost of $LASTI was then asked for my credit card information for the elite membership packageI declined to give this information as I was not prepared to submit such a large paymentI was then encouraged to pay up front and asked why I couldn't pay during the telephone call, I declined again after which Lauren began quoting less expensive options as low as $per year

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ***, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:
This was supposed to be a free trial -- not a huge fee before I even knew about it. I will not use any of the services offered -- I will never recommend them to anyone else -- I have continued to receive charges to my credit card. This is not reputable -- I was not invited -- I clicked on an ad. Now I know better.Not only was my experience bad -- but I can not believe that without using any services or filling out any profile, I have been charged so much money! This is highly unethical. I am happy to pay for services -- but not for no service. Do not claim it to be a free trial when it is anything but.I will not read a single email from this organization -- I will not join anything or attend any conferences -- I have not used anything at all -- and asked for this refund the following business day once I realized my company would not reimburse and that I cold not afford it. Also -- I do not remember hearing anything about it being non refundable -- please check that your employees say that very clearly in the future.I would still like some sort of an apology -- and a refund.
In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above
Sincerely,
*** *** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolvedThank you for your assistance in this matter
Sincerely,
*** ***

This issue was resolved directly with *** *** on February **,

The check was mailed to the address which *** *** provided in this complaint

I handle 90% of the marketing for the firm I work for My boss got an "email" invitation to join for free and asked me to look into it Their website provides absolutely no helpful informationNo information about membership benefits (other than sales blurbs), who their directors are, what levels of membership are available, where they have local chapters or any upcoming events Professional associations provide all of this information on their website Everything was a sales pitch on their website leading back to the free registration form A sales person called back, and quite rudely explained that she would need to conduct an interview with my boss and it could ONLY be my boss as she would be asking "very personal information" that I wouldn't have She left her number, my boss called it and got her voicemail and told hertalk to *** This person did call me back The oh so very personal information was not very personal at all It was the standard information you put on your public profile on *** which is where I get the feeling they cull their leads from After this interview, I start getting a sales pitch for $and $ Then it starts going down there from there I ask about their benefits which frankly don't seem that impressive Local chapter meetings, webinars, discounts? I asked for topic names and she gave me a few about HR and public speaking Nothing that would be interesting to my boss We can get these benefits from a lot of other organizations without paying $ I did not commit to anything, even after they offered a $membership When she called back the next week, we declined the offer We still ended up with the "free" membership Thankfully, no payment information was ever given So I have no worries about getting charged for anything
Here are my qualms 1) The email says free membership And yes, we ended up with a free membership However, at no time during my conversations was a free membership ever offered, even when I asked about it Never Only after I declined their lowest option did they offer the free one The "free" part was to register to get a sales call It is deceptive to put "Free Registration when you complete this form" and then be called with sales pitch that doesn't offer a free membership I certainly felt "free" to decline it 2) The "interview" was a farce My red flag warning went up as soon as they said that they needed personal information that I wouldn't have as the marketing person for my boss Really? I wouldn't know what organizations she belongs to or her educational background? Its a ruse to pretend there are qualifications to join There are not which was clear when she wasn't really interested in hearing about more than two professional organizations she belongs to 3) Their website offers no useful information I've sat on boards for professional organizations Information about benefits, membership, directors, events, products, and basically everything was always public None of this is available on NAPW Why? Because they want to pressure you into a $membership Everything on their website is designed to give you the impression that any of the "benefits" are free to get you to "register" to get a high pressure sales call 4) Instant commitment They want an immediate response now Professional organizations want you to join when you are ready They don't require an immediate commitment Immediate commitment requests are what you get at the car dealership of the wedding dress shop 5) Finally, my last issue is that they treat gatekeepers very rudely, as if they are little peons to be stepped upon This peon steps back I told this sales person that I handle the marketing for my boss and the firm and her attitude was rude and condescending because I wasn't high enough up the food chain to give her what she wanted My boss supported me when I explained what happened But the initial rudeness really got to me Professional women, business owners, partners, managers, or anyone with a pretty busy schedule has a gatekeeper answering and filtering out the garbage calls Being rude doesn't get you past the gatekeeper For a "professional association", that's not very professional

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved
Sincerely,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved
Sincerely,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved
Sincerely,
*** ***

white;">This consumer has asked not to receive further communications from NAPWShe has been deactivated in our CRM and will not receive any future emails or targeted advertising, though she may encounter passive, non-targeted advertising on the Internet
***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ***, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:
Again, this organization continues with dishonestyPlease pull any recordings as they are evidence that I was very clear that I would not pay $I also have the original approved charge of $on my credit card statementYou absolutely did NOT have authorization for charging an additional amountYou stole my credit information without my permission and charged $TWICEThis case is NOT resolved until you reimburse my account the additional charge of $
In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above
Sincerely,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ***, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:
Upon reviewing my account online, I do see a partial credit of $was applied on 7/**/However, the original amount charged on 6/**/was $I want the entire $charge creditedThis issue will continue to be at an unresolved status until the full amount of $is credited.Thank you!
In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above
Sincerely,
*** ***

NAPW has confirmed that this member was not charged the renewal fee of which she complained I have spoken with the Customer Service manager, and she has pulled the recording, for retraining with the agent at issue.As a result of this and a few other similar complaints, NAPW is changing its
renewal notice policy The company is changing the language in its renewal emails, adding additional renewal emails, and working on a technology fix that will issue renewal reminders via both its messaging feature on its website and through SMS messaging I anticipate significant development time, but now that this has been brought to the company's attention it is in the development queue.I trust this matter is now closed If this member has any questions or remaining issues, they are welcome to contact me anytime at ***.CHRIS W*** | EVP & SecretaryProfessional Diversity Network, Inc.New York - Chicago* * ***
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*** ***'s contact information has been removed from our system and she will not be contacted again

This organization is a total shamI was charged $for a useless membership, and I found out others were charged less than $As someone with a ton of student loan debt who was just looking for networking opportunities, I feel suckered and embarrassedI have requested cancellation twice, to no avail