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| Stephen Pierce International Dallas, Texas Better Business Bureau Gives Stephen Pierce International an |
| 2nd of Nov, 2011 by User735607 |
| To Whom it May Concern: Stephen Pierce is a very charismatic fellow whom presents a well-crafted albeit fundamentally flawed, for participants, workshop. The fatal flaw, which will eventually be the cause of his business' undoing, is that his Internet Income Workshop is a scam; a fraudulent multi-state ponzi scheme of sorts. The business practices of Steven Pierce International, if not immediately identified by the following information as illegal, should be thoroughly investigated with appropriate corresponding federal, state and commonwealth legal actions following those determinations. To my understanding, my particular basic story is not unusual; I was simply and naively one of the many 'caught up' in the promises of those presenting 'their successes' at the workshop; the possibility that I could and would, in Mr. Pierce's given qualified estimation, be similarly successful at the very least by utilizing his program. Unfortunate, truly, for all so taken and beguiled. Being so cost me financially. Hugely. At a most inopportune time. I should like to think that had I not been laid off on my birthday some six months prior to the workshop; that had I not been brought to the event by a friend, himself a financially successful businessman; that were I not trying to live with diminished cognitive abilities which are part and parcel of a rare combination of two Neurological diseases (Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's Disease), I suffer from, Stephen Pierce would not have so successfully duped me; I would not be ten thousand dollars in debt today without an ability to work. Instead, I find myself here. My money has not been returned; my efforts toward that end have continually and consistently been rebuked. Despite the fact that I began sending tickets and e-mails to the SPI office on December 7, 2010, without reply or contact with Mr. Pierce or any of his employees. Despite further e-mail efforts made December 20, 2010, again without reply or the receipt of log-in information. After receiving months later, on March 25, 2011, literature of some fashion via Federal Express, well past the period for cancellation and frankly, rather juvenile and of no use to myself, I sought legal advice. Beginning April 11, 2011, my attorney requested a refund as well as a copy of any documents that I may have signed that were not provided to me at the time of said signing, Mr. Pierce's attorney Kevin Vela has determined after many more months of obfuscation and delay, that I do "not qualify for a refund under the terms of his agreement with SPI". A copy of my "signed agreement" was provided to my attorney October 5, 2011. I encourage you to read the Cancellation/Termination/Refund policy written on the rear of the agreement. Item 6a., in part, states "you have 3 days from the date payment is received (or the date you receive your login [sic] information), to receive a refund". Inasmuch as log-in information was not provided at the time of signing nor, as in my case, ever and the fact that a copy of the agreement was not given to me at the time of payment, I maintain that Steven Pierce International has violated its own agreement. In fact of evidence, thereby voiding the document on November 10, 2010. |
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| This story is so typical of how Stephen Pierce treats customers and employees. Talking to their attorney will only make things worse as he is part of the scheme. This is what works better--- Send this report to Detective Taylor at the McKinney Police Department with your records, then file an online complaint with the Texas Attorney General, they have a file on Stephen Pierce. After you file, call Sandy Mahone in the Dallas Consumer Protection Office and confirm that they received your online complaint. Now you have exposed him at least and the pressure has sometimes caused them to make restitution to others. Also post on the other sites that expose scammers and there are several such as saltydroid at http://saltydroid.info/black-america-online/ OR rip off report at http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/stephen-pierce.aspx OR www.stephenpiercescam.net. |
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I am a former employee of Stephen Pierce- and I am very familiar customer and affiliate issues. Let me tell you the frustrations and problems that we had as employees of Stephen Pierce's in trying to do the right thing for our customers. You may already know that Stephen Pierce is now down to a staff of three people. Tanoa Kemp and Craig Pettit, and Gloria Montoya- who is Stephen Pierces' sister. I was fired for being friends with a former employee and Stephen Pierce was angry that I wasn’t "loyal" to him by talking to my friends. Jesse Frye was fired for standing up to Stephen Pierce and disagreeing with his bad business practices. Gina and Sheila walked out because of Stephen Pierce's bad business practices as well. Chelsea was fired because Stephen Pierce felt she wasn’t loyal- the list of good people who wanted to do the right thing while employed at Stephen Pierce goes on and on. We were all completely disgusted, angry and disenchanted by the end of our employment there. He treats his staff like garbage then accused us of not doing our jobs and accepting paychecks for work not done. We have been accused of falsifying our resumes and references. According to Stephen Pierce- the reason for the failure of his company is his former employees! This so called "guru"- Stephen Pierce- equates himself to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates! In my opinion, the reason why you have had the horrible experience you have had is due to Stephen Pierce himself.
As his employees, we would get complaints from consumers and affliate customers over and over, repeatedly requesting refunds or to be simply paid as they were promised by Stephen Pierce. As part of the "refund process" I literally had to jump through a hoop of fire to obtain refunds for the customers. After making sure that all the pertinent refund request info as required (in very small print on the back of your order from) was entered into a ridiculous spreadsheet- a genius invention masterminded by Craig Petit- making sure there was a written request from the customer received within 3 days of the sale, making sure all the materials were returned, scanning in the original order form and all correspondence from the customer- and then forwarding all of that to Craig Pettit who was SUPPOSED to meet with Stephen Pierce every Thursday to review refund requests- I was to receive answers concerning the refunds that customers were requesting by Tuesday the following week. I would have to call and email and text Craig repeatedly to get answers. Remember how many people are calling the office- sometimes numerous times a day to hear the status of their refunds! Usually, if I could get a response to the refund requests that I submitted- I would get an email with responses typed on the spread sheet like "denied" "call and delay" "no refund". And that was the extent of the explanation from Stephen Pierce as to why we couldn’t issue a refund.
Stephen Pierce gave me NO ability to issue refunds at all. Only Stephen Pierce has the power to release the funds. He would give and take away passwords to various accounts and databases and even our recurring billing programs all the time. If he was angry about something that someone in the office did, we all paid the price. At one point, someone gave passwords to Stephen Pierces own sister- and he was so mad that he locked the entire staff out of our own systems!
Working for Stephen Pierce for 10 months was probably the worst professional experience I have ever had. The environment was so stressful- I was sick with pneumonia and Mononucleosis, both illnesses were stress induced. Imagine working a job that every day is filled with dealing with an absentee boss who rules with an iron fist via text and email and angry customers all day. When I found out exactly what was going down at Stephen Pierce International- and that his programs are a scam and a lie- I immediately starting looking for other work. I am disgusted that I have this on my conscience and wish that I could personally apologize to every person that had been hurt by this scam. If you are currently fighting with Stephen Pierce International to obtain payment or a refund- Your story is not unique when it comes to Stephen Pierce International!
All I can say here is that I am so sorry for your situation. There is absolutely no reason why a vast majority of customers who requested refunds shouldnt have gotten a full and complete refund. If I had had the ability to refund more credit cards, I would have done so. Please continue with the BBB and the Attorney General's office. Please contact Detective Taylor of the McKinney Police Department- Financial Crimes Unit.
I wish you and your family all the best. |
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You may care to note the more recent action taking place regarding Stephen Pierce and his dealings with both customers - and I use the word advisedly - and employees being reported at:
http://saltydroid.info/the-people-vs-stephen-pierce/
This scammer may well be about to get justice rained down upon him.
The opportunity for you to join the action is available. |
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