National Association of Professional Women

Revdex.com:
At this time, I have not been contacted by National Association of Professional Women regarding complaint ID [redacted].
Sincerely,
[redacted]

I saw an advertisement on LinkedIn several weeks ago for a "special deal" for a Free membership to the National Association of Professional Women. Thinking it may offer good networking opportunities, I completed an online application and forgot about it. Today, I received a phone call from a woman named Janine who conducted an extensive "phone interview" to determine, I assume, the voracity of my claim to be a woman professional. After a lengthy process asking about my passions and where I saw myself in three to five years, she then said she would be recommending me very highly for membership and would be sending my information down to processing. Fifteen minutes in, she arrives at the nut--$989 for an Elite membership or $789 for a Preferred. When I told her No Way would I be paying $800 to $1000 for a Free Membership, she said, I don't want money to be an issue for such an outstanding candidate, let's see what I can do...okay...$489? What the heck! I then went online and searched for "National Association of Professional Women SCAM" and got dozens of hits. This organization should be called "Women Scamming Women" because that is what it is.

Revdex.com:
At this time, I have not been contacted by National Association of Professional Women regarding complaint ID [redacted].
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I do not wish to be associated with this organization in anyway. An additional year extension is not requested by me or accepted. I prefer to have my account closed and all future correpondenced ceased immediately. The services are excessive to my needs and the constant email is harassment. Close my account and put me on a do not call or email list. Thank you.
In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

[redacted] contacted our offices after normal business hours on January [redacted] and left a voice mail message; the next morning, we left messages on both of her numbers to call us back to resolve the matter. We included information about our business hours, which are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm ET,...

Monday-Friday. [redacted] called our offices on Saturday, January [redacted] leaving another voice mail message; we reached out immediately on Monday morning, again leaving messages on both of her numbers. We will be happy to resolve this matter with [redacted] when we are able to contact her during our normal business hours.

We are sorry that
[redacted] experience with the NAPW has been less than ideal – we do strive
to provide our members with resources and benefits to enhance and improve their
lives, both personal and professional.  We encourage and expect our members
to avail themselves of those benefits...

and to contact us with any questions or
problems regarding their memberships. Members who do take the time to explore
and take advantage of the myriad resources available will find tremendous value
in being a member of the NAPW.Our members are
entitled to be treated with utmost respect and empathy, and every person on the
NAPW team is trained to work with our members to resolve any issues; however,
there are protocols and policies which must be followed.  These policies
are companywide and all of our team members are required to follow them.NAPW employs a
comprehensive call recording and auditing function.  Our staff reviews the recording of each
completed interview for multiple compliance points, including that the representative
explained the automatic renewal process as described above. As part of our
investigation into this case, we reviewed every call between NAPW staff and Ms.
Hadden. Her version of events is vastly different than what she describes.  These calls are available for review if
required. [redacted]
authorized the October *, 2015 charge reflecting her annual membership
dues.  During her initial enrollment
interview, our representative went over the membership, beginning with the most
comprehensive package – part of the goal of the interview is to determine the
best package to fit the member’s goals and budget. We want them to get the
maximum benefits for the money, which is why they offer the options in the
order they do. [redacted] selected the Basic membership. Our
representative also explained that NAPW uses an automatic renewal process,
designed to protect [redacted] enrollment in and uninterrupted access to the
benefits provided by NAPW and its business partners.  Prior to concluding the interview, our
representative specifically informed [redacted] that her annual membership
would automatically renew unless she contacted us to decline the renewal.  [redacted] had the opportunity to opt out of
our automatic renewal program at that time.  She was also advised to review the detailed terms and conditions on the
member website, which explain everything in detail. Her login information was
emailed to her immediately following the enrollment confirmation, and her
membership card, paid statement and login information was mailed to her the
next day.On February
**,2015, [redacted] was invited to upgrade her membership to a VIP level.  [redacted], who said that she was pressed for
time, declined the invitation, stating that her current level of membership was
fine. Our representative reminded her to log into the portal as we had a new
website. [redacted] thanked her for the information. Throughout the
year, NAPW made available to [redacted] a comprehensive membership services
staff, which is qualified to field all inquiries and would have been able to
work with her had she elected to opt out of her automatic renewal (or any other
questions she may have had).  NAPW  publicizes the availability of this staff
through multiple dedicated pages.  Each of
these pages publishes the contact telephone numbers and email addresses, and
provides a convenient form which this member could have submitted at any time
if she wished to engage our staff for any reason, including opting out of her
automatic membership renewal. Members also receive regular emails, all of which
include contact information. A postcard
reminder was mailed at the end of August to the address provided by her at the
time of enrollment, which is the same as the one provided here. We have reviewed
all of our records.  [redacted] did not
contact us to cancel her scheduled renewal prior to processing, as required by
our Terms & Conditions, so her renewal was processed as she previously
authorized.  [redacted] did
contact us on October **, 2015, which is the conversation to which she refers.
Contrary to her claims, our representative was polite and professional,
explaining to [redacted] that as she had not contacted us prior to her renewal
being processed, we could not issue a full refund. When a membership renews, we
in turn, automatically renew all of the services which are provided by our
partners, fees for which are not refundable to us. This is why we send the
postcard well in advance to give members the opportunity to change the status
of renewal before it processes.  As a
public company, we are answerable to shareholders and our policy is that full
refunds are issued only if they were not authorized or under other specific
circumstances justifying the absorption of those fees without reimbursement.
Simply refunding because a member forgot that she was renewing, or ignored her
reminder does not meet those criteria. As our review of all contact with [redacted] clearly demonstrates, her case does not justify a refund. Our representatives
are fully empowered to issue full refunds when justified.  We will concede that our representative could
have been clearer in her response to the escalation question – but she was
correct.  [redacted] would not have been
satisfied because any supervisor would have explained the same thing.As per her
conversation with our membership services representative, we have issued a
credit to [redacted] account and we have also deactivated the automatic
renewal function of her membership, so that it will not renew.We take the claim
that a member was "scammed" or that a charge was unauthorized very seriously
and we thoroughly investigate them.  We are also deeply angered by
the claims that NAPW takes advantage of women whenever someone forgot about the
terms to which she agreed or failed to use her membership and wants us to bear
the financial burden of her oversight. NAPW provides an
amazing value for the membership fee.  Included in ALL memberships levels
are webinars, seminars, discounts, perks, online networking access and in-person
chapter affiliation as well as a myriad of other benefits.  Our
organization is growing, expanding and moving forward through numerous
initiatives, strategic alliances and corporate affiliations; offering members
additional avenues to ASPIRE, ACHIEVE and CONNECT.  Every member
of NAPW's management team works diligently to deliver maximum value to our
members, and any claim that someone was "scammed"
is demonstrably false.  We currently have almost a half-million
satisfied members, all of whom are free to use our online networking
portal, which gives our members more connectivity options and far
more ability to promote themselves than other networking sites.  We have
over 150 local chapters across America, in which tens of thousands of our
members get together to take their online experience into the real world and
create incredible connections with other professional women. These local
chapters are constantly implementing new ways for the local members to
interact.  We encourage of our members to
join all of the chapters in their area - this gives them more opportunities to
attend events that fit their busy schedules and widens the circle of local
women with whom to network.Additionally,
we are constantly providing and working to upgrade the secondary benefits
such as free or discounted continuing education through leading
providers like Lorman Education and National Seminars Group; shopping and
other discounts through a number of partnerships, including exclusive sponsors
like Lenovo, one of the world's largest computer suppliers; and interesting
topical content provided through our social media and other outlets. 
Again, our entire team is working hard every single day to build these
partnerships, identify and create content, and make greater benefits available
to our members. We were rated
within the top 100 Best Websites for Women in [redacted] 2013. Our corporate
partners include prestigious and well-known brands like [redacted],
[redacted], and Disney.  Internationally prominent women, like [redacted] and [redacted] have been featured speakers at our
conferences – each sharing her journey in building her reputation as a
prominent business figure.  Star Jones is
our President and National Spokeswoman. These are women to whom integrity
matters and they would have no part of the NAPW if we were any kind of scam.Quite frankly,
there are negative comments on any and everything. Iconic brands such as
[redacted] – even local restaurants – receive
complaints and criticism from customers who were not happy with a product or
service. However, despite those opinions, millions of us continue to shop at
[redacted], buy [redacted] cars and purchase [redacted] products again and again. As
professionals, if we all believed everything we see on the Internet was true,
rather than informing ourselves and making our own judgments, we would all view
the business world very negatively.

We have deactivated [redacted]'s profile and removed her from our lists. There may be some residual emails which she receives as they were already scheduled for transmission and could not be deleted. There may also be emails sent from our partners, and it may take time to get those updated.
[redacted] may scroll down to the bottom of any email she receives, select UNSUBSCRIBE or MANAGE MY SUBSCRIPTION and follow the instructions to ensure that all NAPW related emails cease.
Any searches of [redacted] will bring up a page that states NO RESULTS FOUND; it will take some time for her NAPW link to disappear from the search engines. She may view the policies on the help pages of each search engine to determine if any steps may be taken to expedite this as it is beyond our control.

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

member was refunded by check
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

They lied about trying to reach me. I contacted them this month and during that conversation they wanted to reduce the charge to $199 and I refused. I don't use their services and did not authorize the recent charges. Furthermore, the first time this organization reached out to me (in 2014), I authorized a $99 charge one time; they charged $489 seven days later and again this month - that's $979 of unauthorized charges for absolutely nothing resulting in fraudulent business practices. This complaint needs to be elevated to egregious.  
 
 
 
In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

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

Attachedis the receipt of the refund we issued to [redacted].  We would also like to address the issue oftimeliness.   [redacted] states thather message was left with Customer Service on Friday afternoon. Customerservice has hundreds of members calling them per day – and those calls aredealt with in the order in which they are received.  This is why the prompts on our phone treeoffer several choices for members to determine which department would bestaddress the issue about which they are calling. It seems that [redacted]s message was not forwarded to the Billingdepartment until our staff had left for the day.  Again, we did contact her on Monday morning.  We dostrive to provide our members with resources and benefits to enhance andimprove their lives, both personal and professional.  We encourage andexpect our members to avail themselves of those benefits and to contact us withany questions or problems regarding their memberships. Members who do take thetime to explore and take advantage of the myriad resources available will findtremendous value in being a member of the NAPW. We donot hold out to the public that we are accredited by Revdex.com because we are notaccredited.  We have elected not to become accredited becauseaccreditation carries costs for both NAPW and the consumers.  Once acompany is accredited, consumers are able to "lose" disputes and NAPWhas to pay Revdex.com for the process.  Instead, we address every single consumercomplaint and we work with the consumer to resolve their problem.  As theRevdex.com itself states on NAPW's page: "[redacted]
[redacted]  [redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]"Furthermore, the number of complaints we face is actually incredibly low. The raw number is not the key, the ratio of complaints to consumers is. The Revdex.com recognizes this and actually states that our low number of complaintsis one of the elements which raises our rating.  This is found right onthe NAPW Revdex.com page:"[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted] "  Mostof the complaints about the NAPW are from people who failed to research theorganization before sending in a application - they see the word"free" or "no cost" and do not bother to read the rest ofthe information or even visit the website to see what we are about.  Othercomplaints about not being able to reach anyone are false - if they call duringnormal business hours, we usually handle those calls immediately. If they callafter hours and leave a voice mail message, or send an email or fill out arequest for contact, we respond the next business day - and we leave messagesrequesting that the member call us back. They also fail to understand that whenthey accept the terms and conditions of membership, they are obligated to standby that contract.  When we enroll or renew a member, we automaticallypurchase services from outside organizations which are part of her membershipbenefit package.  These are not refundable to us, which is why we havethese terms and conditions. It is fiscally responsible to make sure that fundsexpended on a member's behalf are covered by the membership fee wereceive.  TheInternet and the Revdex.com provide an open forum for anyone to share opinions. Most of the complaints are made by peoplewho declined membership. Therefore, theyhave little concept of exactly what the NAPW is aboutand the benefits to being a member. We are committed to workingwith our members to help them get the most out of membership.We are constantly striving to address any complaints orquestions regarding the NAPW in a timely and forthrightmanner.  We have been working withconsumer advocacy groups like the Revdex.com and [redacted]to determine how to improve our customer services.   At our request, [redacted] conducted an investigation into the complaintsit received and came to this conclusion; "Because of our review andthe sincere efforts put forth by NAPW, [redacted] is confident in givingNAPW a positive rating. This was made possible by a completely honest approachto corporate introspection and a commitment to taking good care of theirmembers....Keep in mind, NAPW has worked with many members over time. Whatreally is amazing that despite [redacted] appearing on most search enginesright below NAPW, their complaint ratio is a fraction of a percent of theirnumber of members. NAPW's members show a satisfaction rate with the programsand services provided that is higher than most similar organizations."

We are sorry that
[redacted]’s experience with the NAPW has been less than ideal – we do strive
to provide our members with resources and benefits to enhance and improve their
lives, both personal and professional.  We encourage and expect our
members to...

avail themselves of those benefits and to contact us with any
questions or problems regarding their memberships. Members who do take the time
to explore and take advantage of the myriad resources available will find
tremendous value in being a member of the NAPW.
 
Our members are entitled to be
treated with utmost respect and empathy, and every person on the NAPW team is
trained to work with our members to resolve any issues; however, there are
protocols and policies which must be followed.  These policies are companywide
and all of our team members are required to follow them.
 
[redacted]
[redacted] completed an application for membership in NAPW.  On August **, 2014, NAPW contacted her and
conducted its initial enrollment interview. 
During this telephone call our representative explained the annual costs
and benefits associated with membership, and that all membership enrollments
are final.  The primary benefits are
available through our online portal, where members are able to network via our
secure message center – reaching out to other members. Because NAPW incurs
costs upon enrollment with those partners, we maintain a final sale
policy.  Please be aware that membership
alone includes no tangible product to be shipped to the member. However, [redacted]
[redacted]’ membership card was mailed to the same address appearing on this
complaint. This went out on August **, 2014.
 
The NAPW
was established to provide busy women, whose schedules may limit opportunities
to attend live networking events, with a membership-based online networking
organization whose primary benefits -  at
all levels - are found through our membership portal (www.napw.com).  This connection is vital to those who live
outside of the areas served by the over 300 Local Chapters the NAPW hosts nationwide,
like [redacted]. It is not necessary for members to network face to face only
within the framework of a local chapter – reaching out to others in your area
to meet informally is encouraged.  Most
local chapters were established when the interests and schedules of the members
in that area grew great enough to require a local chapter be created.
 
[redacted]
[redacted] did choose the highest level of membership – as a new business owner,
she has access to myriad resources and benefits, including seminars on
marketing, using social media to grow her business, regulatory and tax
compliance. The cost of those alone make her membership valuable. Additionally,
this level of membership provides a higher profile on our website, free
admission to our conference and networking events, and access to exclusive
deals with partners who provide exceptional services for business owners.
 
Our
representative explained that [redacted] would receive an email (within 24
hours) containing login information for our members’ portal through which she is
able access all of the online benefits and enroll in Local Chapters.  Our representative further explained that [redacted]
[redacted] should review our Terms & Conditions.  Subsequent to logging in but prior to
accessing her benefits, she was required to review and accept those Terms &
Conditions.  Therein, [redacted] was
provided with the details of our final sale policy, along with all other
policies governing her relationship with NAPW. 
NAPW’s Terms & Conditions are available at [redacted]  
 
NAPW
employs a comprehensive call recording and auditing function.  Our staff reviews the recording of each
completed interview for multiple compliance points, including that the
representative explained the automatic renewal process as described above. As
part of our investigation into this case, we reviewed that call again and [redacted]
[redacted] was made completely aware of these points at the time. This interview
is available for review if required.
 
NAPW
made available to [redacted] a comprehensive membership services staff, which
is qualified to field all inquiries and would have been able to work with her to
maximize her benefits, utilize her membership tools and access all of the
resources specific to members who are eager to grow a business.  NAPW publicizes the availability of this
staff through multiple dedicated pages. 
See [redacted]  Each of these pages publishes the contact
telephone numbers and email addresses, and provides a convenient form which
this member could have submitted at any time if she wished to engage our staff
for any reason, including opting out of her automatic membership renewal.
 
[redacted] did contact us on September **, 2014
and spoke with one of our membership service representatives regarding her
membership. The information above was discussed with her – and we refunded most
of her fee without reducing the level of her membership.  We also requested that one of our specialists
reach out to [redacted] and spend time going over every aspect of her
membership so that she would be thoroughly versed in the benefits and resources
available to her. This is a tremendous value for the net cost to [redacted].
 
As per her conversation with our membership
services representative, we have issued a credit to [redacted]’s account and
we have also deactivated the automatic renewal function of her
membership, so that it will not renew.
 
 We take the claim that a member was "scammed" or
that a charge was unauthorized very seriously.   NAPW provides an amazing value for the
membership fee.  Included in ALL memberships levels are webinars,
seminars, discounts, perks, online networking access and in-person chapter
affiliation as well as a myriad of other benefits.  Our organization is
growing, expanding and moving forward through numerous initiatives, strategic
alliances and corporate affiliations; offering members additional avenues to
ASPIRE, ACHIEVE and CONNECT.  
 
Every member of NAPW's management team works diligently to
deliver maximum value to our members, and any claim that someone was
"scammed" is demonstrably false.  We currently have almost
a half-million satisfied members, all of whom are free to use our online networking
portal, which gives our members more connectivity options and far
more ability to promote themselves than other networking sites.  We have
over 300 local chapters across America, in which tens of thousands of our
members get together to take their online experience into the real world and
create incredible connections with other professional women. These local
chapters are constantly implementing new ways for the local members to
interact.  We encourage of our members to
join all of the chapters in their area - this gives them more opportunities to
attend events that fit their busy schedules and widens the circle of local
women with whom to network.
 
Moreover, we host an annual National Networking Conference
where almost two thousand members where members from all over the country enjoy
an unforgettable day of networking, panel discussions, workshops and
presentations from extraordinary women like Sara Blakeley, Arianna Huffington,
Star Jones, Martha Stewart, Ivanka Trump, Randy Zuckerburg, Barbara Corcoran
and Robin Roberts.  
 
Additionally, we are constantly providing and working to
upgrade the secondary benefits such as free or discounted continuing
education through leading providers like Lorman Education and National
Seminars Group; shopping and other discounts through a number of partnerships,
including exclusive sponsors like Lenovo, one of the world's largest computer
suppliers; and interesting topical content provided through our social media
and other outlets.  Again, our entire team is working hard every single
day to build these partnerships, identify and create content, and make greater
benefits available to our members.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference...

to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.  One additional note, I contacted my bank who removed the charge.  I am glad that the company has decided to count this matter has resolved. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

I was led to believe this company promoted Women in Business practices and would help in the advertising and cost cutting of supplies for my business. Instead, they sent me ad after ad for unwanted merchandise. Never offered any help in the way of advertising and cost me a great deal of money. They "automatically renewed" my membership, costing me several humdred dollars, which they would not refund, eventhough it was clear I never used their service and had no intention of using this "membership". The service agent I talked to was pushy and rude.
If your a women, trying to help promote yourself in any type of business - save the money by steering clear of this scam.

Classic bait and switch, with hard selling, and manipulative tactics thrown in. As soon as I said I needed to do my due diligence and would not be signing up / paying for anything over the phone, the representative's tone changed to condescension. The LinkedIn ad clearly said it was a free professional organization; the Revdex.com's D rating and 1-star on Yelp were very illuminating.

[redacted] contacted NAPW on Feb **, 2013 to cancel her membership charges from Oct 2013.

Since this member's charges were processed more than 60 days ago, we must refund them via live check, as discussed with the member when she requested cancellation. That request has been issued, and the check has been cut for $888.  The check is being mailed to the address provided by [redacted] at [redacted] should expect to receive the check within the next two weeks.

I responded to a mailing I received inviting me to join this business "free of charge". When I was finally able to speak with someone about this business, as others have said, I was asked a lot of questions and then told about the cost to become a member. I was first offered a $900 membership and when I refused the amount kept dropping until I was offered the $99 basic membership. I was also told that I would be featured in their news letter as a "VIP" member. A newsletter that I might add NEVER materialized. When I called to cancel my membership after one year - 1 day after they had charged my card, I was told that I could not be refunded all of my money, as I would yet have access to the 'perks' of being a member. I am not sure exactly what these 'perks' are supposed to be, because in the year that I paid for I have received absolutely NO BENEFIT from this company. There is no local chapter, as the web site states there would be. The seminars that are offered are of no interest or benefit to me in my field of expertise. If Star Jones is supposed to be the President of this company, how come she never makes any advertisement about it. I believe that the recruitment tactics this company utilizes are fraudulent and that this company is a scam. I would not recommend this company.

We are sorry that[redacted]’s experience with the NAPW has been less than ideal – we do striveto provide our members with resources and benefits to enhance and improve theirlives, both personal and professional.  We encourage and expect ourmembers to avail themselves of those...

benefits and to contact us with anyquestions or problems regarding their memberships. Members who do take the timeto explore and take advantage of the myriad resources available will findtremendous value in being a member of the NAPW. Our members are entitled to betreated with utmost respect and empathy, and every person on the NAPW team istrained to work with our members to resolve any issues; however, there areprotocols and policies which must be followed.  These policies are companywideand all of our team members are required to follow them. [redacted] completed an application for membership in NAPW.  We assume that anyone who submits anapplication for membership has explored the NAPW to see what we are about andthey are ready to make a decision about joining the organization. Withthousands of applicants to interview and consider, we do require thatapplicants make their decisions at the time of the interview. We prefer toallocate our resources to providing better benefits and services to ourmembers.  Applicants are then required togo through an initial enrollment interview.  OnOctober **, 2014, NAPW contacted [redacted] and conducted its initialenrollment interview.  During thistelephone call our representative explained the annual costs and benefitsassociated with this level of membership, and that all membership enrollmentsare final.  Because NAPW is amembership-based networking organization, the primary benefits at all levelsare found through our membership portal ([redacted]) aswell as through our face-to-face networking at our over 300 Local Chaptersnationwide.  Additionally, through ouronline portal, members are able to access ancillary benefits provided by ourbusiness partners.  Because NAPW incurscosts upon enrollment with those partners, we maintain a final salepolicy.  Please be aware that membershipalone includes no tangible product to be shipped to the member. Ourrepresentative explained that [redacted] would receive an email (within 24hours) containing login information for our members’ portal through which she isable access all of the online benefits and enroll in Local Chapters.  Our representative further explained that [redacted] should review our Terms & Conditions.  Subsequent to logging in but prior toaccessing her benefits, she  was requiredto review and accept those Terms & Conditions.  Therein, [redacted] was provided with thedetails of our final sale policy, along with all other policies governing herrelationship with NAPW.  NAPW’s Terms& Conditions are available at [redacted].  Within 10 days of enrollment, NAPW physicallymailed a welcome package to the member containing a paid statement, amembership card and a welcome letter. [redacted] was also told that the delivery of her plaque would take up to sixteenweeks – and it has since been delivered to her. The long wait time for the delivery is due to the fact that we haverecently changed the fabricator who creates these personalized items and wehave experienced some delays due to adjustments as we worked to make sure thateach plaque is created to meet our standards. We expect this delivery time todecrease drastically when we resolve these issues.  NAPWemploys a comprehensive call recording and auditing function.  Our staff reviews the recording of eachcompleted interview for multiple compliance points, including that therepresentative explained the automatic renewal process as described above. Aspart of our investigation into this case, we reviewed that call again and [redacted] was made completely aware of these points at the time. This interviewis available for review if required.  Throughoutthe time of her membership, NAPW made available to [redacted] a comprehensivemembership services staff, which is qualified to field all inquiries and wouldhave been able to work with her had she contacted us for guidance in accessingher membership benefits.  NAPW publicizesthe availability of this staff through multiple dedicated pages.   Eachof these pages publishes the contact telephone numbers and email addresses, andprovides a convenient form which this member could have submitted at any timeif she wished to engage our staff for any reason. [redacted] had been selected for consideration by our VIP membershipcommittee and was contacted on January **, 2015. This is the call to which shealludes in her complaint.  Initially, shedid accept the upgrade, but called us back and changed her mind. The upgradewas immediately voided.   We take the claim that a member was "scammed",taken advantage of or that a charge was unauthorized very seriously. NAPW provides an amazing value for themembership fee.  Included in ALL memberships levels are webinars,seminars, discounts, perks, online networking access and in-person chapteraffiliation as well as a myriad of other benefits.  Our organization isgrowing, expanding and moving forward through numerous initiatives, strategicalliances and corporate affiliations; offering members additional avenues toASPIRE, ACHIEVE and CONNECT.   Every member of NAPW's management team works diligently todeliver maximum value to our members, and any claim that someone was"scammed" is demonstrably false.  We currently have almosta half-million satisfied members, all of whom are free to use our onlinenetworking portal, which gives our members more connectivity optionsand far more ability to promote themselves than other networking sites. We have over 300 local chapters across America, in which tens of thousands ofour members get together to take their online experience into the real worldand create incredible connections with other professional women. These localchapters are constantly implementing new ways for the local members tointeract.  We encourage of our members tojoin all of the chapters in their area - this gives them more opportunities toattend events that fit their busy schedules and widens the circle of localwomen with whom to network. Moreover, we host an annual National Networking Conferencewhere almost two thousand members where members from all over the country enjoyan unforgettable day of networking, panel discussions, workshops andpresentations from extraordinary women like Sara Blakeley, Arianna Huffington,Star Jones, Martha Stewart, Ivanka Trump, Randy Zuckerburg, Barbara Corcoranand Robin Roberts.    Additionally, we are constantly providing and working toupgrade the secondary benefits such as free or discounted continuingeducation through leading providers like [redacted] and [redacted]; shopping and other discounts through a number of partnerships,including exclusive sponsors like Lenovo, one of the world's largest computersuppliers; and interesting topical content provided through our social mediaand other outlets.  Again, our entire team is working hard every singleday to build these partnerships, identify and create content, and make greaterbenefits available to our members.  We wouldlike to opportunity to work out a resolution for her membership and invite herto contact us. The benefits and resources which are available to her are myriadand would certainly be of enormous benefit to her.

We are sorry that[redacted]’s experience with the NAPW has been less than ideal – we dostrive to provide our members with resources and benefits to enhance andimprove their lives, both personal and professional.  We encourage andexpect our members to avail themselves of those...

benefits and to contact us withany questions or problems regarding their memberships. Members who do take thetime to explore and take advantage of the myriad resources available will findtremendous value in being a member of the NAPW. Our members are entitled to betreated with utmost respect and empathy, and every person on the NAPW team istrained to work with our members to resolve any issues; however, there areprotocols and policies which must be followed.  These policies are companywideand all of our team members are required to follow them. 
[redacted] authorized the September *, 2014 charge reflecting her annualmembership dues.  During her initialenrollment interview, our representative went over the membership, beginningwith the most comprehensive package – part of the goal of the interview is todetermine the best package to fit the member’s goals and budget. We want themto get the maximum benefits for the money, which is why they offer the optionsin the order they do. [redacted] selected the Preferred membership.  Ourrepresentative also explained that NAPW uses an automatic renewal process,designed to protect [redacted]’s enrollment in and uninterrupted access tothe benefits provided by NAPW and its business partners.  Prior to concluding the interview, ourrepresentative specifically informed [redacted] that her annual membershipwould automatically renew.  [redacted]had the opportunity to opt out of our automatic renewal program at that time. NAPWemploys a comprehensive call recording and auditing function.  Our staff reviews the recording of eachcompleted interview for multiple compliance points, including that therepresentative explained the automatic renewal process as described above. Aspart of our investigation into this case, we reviewed that those protocols hadbeen followed. [redacted] was made completely aware of these points at thetime.  Duringthe initial enrollment interview, our representative explained that [redacted] would receive an email (within 24 hours) containing login informationfor access to our members’ portal.  Ourrepresentative further explained that [redacted] should review our Terms& Conditions.  Subsequent to loggingin but prior to accessing her benefits, she was required to review and acceptthose Terms & Conditions.  Therein, shewas provided with the details of our automatic renewal policy, which waspreviously explained during the initial enrollment interview. NAPW’s Terms& Conditions are available at [redacted].   [redacted] was selected by our VIP committee and chose to upgrade her membershipin September 2013. At that time, she was advised of the additional benefits andstatus her upgrade would provide. It was also explained that her renewal wouldnow take place in September instead of June. Throughout the year, NAPW madeavailable to [redacted] a comprehensive membership services staff, which isqualified to field all inquiries and would have been able to work with her hadshe elected to opt out of her automatic renewal (or any other questions she mayhave had).  NAPW publicizes theavailability of this staff through multiple dedicated pages.  See [redacted].  Each of these pages publishes the contacttelephone numbers and email addresses, and provides a convenient form whichthis member could have submitted at any time if she wished to engage our stafffor any reason, including opting out of her automatic membership renewal. From dayone of [redacted]’s enrollment with NAPW, we communicated via email usingthe address she provided: [redacted]– this is also the email which she provides in this complaint.   Email was clearly the primary communicationchannel, by which [redacted] received her monthly newsletters and numerousother organizational announcements.  Apostcard reminder was mailed at the end of July 2014 to the address provided byher at the time of enrollment, which is the same as the one provided here inher complaint. Additionally, well before it was processed, NAPW sent [redacted] a courtesy reminder of her upcoming renewal transaction via email,and another reminder a week later. We havereviewed all of our records.  [redacted] did not contact us to cancel her scheduled renewal prior toprocessing, as required by our Terms & Conditions, so her renewal wasprocessed as she previously authorized.   [redacted] did contact us November **, 2014and all of this was explained to her. She seemed to understand and accept thefact that this renewal was something to which she had agreed and that she hadnot contacted us in time to cancel her renewal despite our reminders.  As per her conversation with our membershipservices representative, we have deactivated the automatic renewal functionof her membership, so that it will not renew. Additionally, as a courtesy, wehave requested that a check be sent to her refunding all but the minimal fee tocover the outlay of the services for which we have already paid for theupcoming year.  A check has to be sentbecause the transaction took place more than sixty days prior and our systemdoes not permit direct credits to cards after that window. This should takeabout fourteen business days to process.  We take the claim that a member was "scammed" orthat a charge was unauthorized very seriously.   NAPW provides an amazing value for themembership fee.  Included in ALL memberships levels are webinars,seminars, discounts, perks, online networking access and in-person chapteraffiliation as well as a myriad of other benefits.  Our organization isgrowing, expanding and moving forward through numerous initiatives, strategicalliances and corporate affiliations; offering members additional avenues toASPIRE, ACHIEVE and CONNECT.   Every member of NAPW's management team works diligently todeliver maximum value to our members, and any claim that someone was"scammed" is demonstrably false.  We currently have almosta half-million satisfied members, all of whom are free to use our onlinenetworking portal, which gives our members more connectivity optionsand far more ability to promote themselves than other networking sites. We have over 300 local chapters across America, in which tens of thousands ofour members get together to take their online experience into the real worldand create incredible connections with other professional women. These localchapters are constantly implementing new ways for the local members tointeract.  We encourage of our members tojoin all of the chapters in their area - this gives them more opportunities toattend events that fit their busy schedules and widens the circle of localwomen with whom to network. Moreover, we host an annual National Networking Conferencewhere almost two thousand members where members from all over the country enjoyan unforgettable day of networking, panel discussions, workshops andpresentations from extraordinary women like Sara Blakeley, Arianna Huffington,Star Jones, Martha Stewart, Ivanka Trump, Randy Zuckerburg, Barbara Corcoranand Robin Roberts.    Additionally, we are constantly providing and working toupgrade the secondary benefits such as free or discounted continuingeducation through leading providers like Lorman Education and NationalSeminars Group; shopping and other discounts through a number of partnerships,including exclusive sponsors like Lenovo, one of the world's largest computersuppliers; and interesting topical content provided through our social mediaand other outlets.  Again, our entire team is working hard every singleday to build these partnerships, identify and create content, and make greaterbenefits available to our members.