Video Professor continues to be angry that I called them a scam in my original Scamville post. They’ve gotten nowhere reaching out to me directly (more on that below), so now they’ve tried complaining to the Washington Post, which has syndicated our content since 2008. The Washington Post stood firm beside us today and kept our original post as written. Good for them.
Essentially Video Professor is arguing that they didn’t have the chance to respond to our post before we published, and that in general we aren’t behaving very journalistically.
One of my favorite habits of journalists is that they refuse to state an opinion. Instead, they find a source to say whatever it is they want said and then quote them. And when I say “favorite,” what I really mean is that I hate it.
The story the journalist writes has the look of objectivity but really it’s just the same as if the journalist wrote what she or he meant, directly, in the first place. A gold star journalist will then find a “balancing” quote from someone else, often the person or entity being attacked. “When did you stop beating your wife,” etc.
I prefer to just skip all that nonsense and get right to the meat of a matter. And most of my favorite bloggers do the same. None of us have the audacity to think that we are your only news source. You can find other opinions elsewhere, and judge them on their merits, too.
The Video Professor Scam
Video Professor was a side note in our original Scamville post, just one of a bunch of scams that were making their way into social games on Facebook and MySpace. But now we’re focused on them like a laser.
Video Professor is unlike mobile scams which look to get a relatively small $10 – $20/month subscription on your mobile bill and hope you never notice. They go for the big kill: $190 – $290 charged to your credit card on time.
I haven’t found the Video Professor scam on Facebook social games since the Scamville posts, but the site is still live, and there are still lot of links from Google and Facebook (they still advertise directly on Facebook).
What you see when you first hit the site depends on how you got there – directly or via an advertising partner. The least scammy version is what you see if you go to videoprofessor.com directly. On the home page in very small font is a statement that you are going to be charged $290 if you engage in a transaction with them. But that’s the only on-screen disclosure you’ll see. Click on a product and go to the next page and you are told you get lots of stuff for free, all you have to do is pay up to a $10 shipping charge. You choose your product and you’re on to the checkout page. Nothing is stated about the $290 charge. After that you are on the final checkout page, showing a total price of $4.56. There’s no fine print, just two links on the page to pages with hugely long agreements with text hidden in the middle of it all that you are actually being sent tons of products and you’ll be charged $290 for them all if you don’t cancel in ten days.
Needless to say, people who get this stuff either don’t read fine print and are charged, or try to return it. There are hundreds of user complaints about refunds not being paid. 271 complaints to be exact, on RipoffReport alone.
I’ve put the purchase flow at the bottom of this post. Remember that this is the least scammy version I’ve found (here’s how they lured people in from Facebook a couple of weeks ago). For users who hit the site via Facebook, Google or other advertisments, it’s even scammier.
Is This A Scam?
You’re damn right it’s a scam. Users are obviously being tricked into buying something they don’t understand and wouldn’t want even if they did understand the details. The company says they comply with federal and state laws. But they continually refine the landing and checkout pages to comply with the bare minimum of legal requirements while maximizing ROI. Jump to 3:15 of this video for a description of how services like these trick users into buying useless products.
Here’s an easy way to determine if something is a scam – would users pay for it if they knew exactly what they were buying? In Video Professor’s case, the answer is no, and the company has to resort to tricking the user into paying nearly $300 for a bunch of CDs. Our governments should be protecting us from this nonsense, but they can’t or won’t. I’ll be damned if I’ll stop writing about it, though.
Here’s what people have to say about video professor. See this article and comments, as well as Amazon and epinions reviews.
And to the people behind these companies – how do you sleep at night knowing that you are nothing but a deadweight loss to society, taking money from people who aren’t Internet savvy enough to know they’re being scammed? When you’re 80 and look back at what you’ve done with your life, is this really what you want to have spent your time doing?
History Of Threats
I’m not surprised that Video Professor is going to so much effort to shut me up – this is how they do business. Video Professor has gone after people who’ve criticized the company. Some of the links in this article pointing to other criticisms are now dead links – victims of litigation?
When Video Professor sent me an email after my post arguing that they weren’t a scam, I replied “It’s a huge fucking scam. And you know it.” Which pretty much summed up my position on the matter. Here’s the letter they sent to the Washington Post. Note that they argue that they simply want to tell their side. I argue that their website tells their side of the story:
Dear [removed],
[removed] referred me to you, after we inquired about this story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110100018.html
In the story, Mr. Arrington accused us of being a “Scam.” Mr. Arrington never contacted us in advance of making this charge for an opportunity to present our side of the story.
Assertion with attribution.
We contacted Mr. Arrington, and essentially answered the questions he didn’t ask of us prior to writing the story, and it appearing in the online edition of the Washington Post.
His response to me was as follows:
“It’s a huge f*cking scam. And you know it.” ( I replaced the “u” with the asterisk in case your filters prevent this sort of language from reaching your inbox)
Two question sir:
1. Is it now the policy of the Washington Post, either in print or online editions to make such assertions, without first contacting someone prior to accusing them of being a Scam?
2. Is it now the policy of the Washington Post, either in print or online editions to have their writers respond to inquiries with the “F” bomb?
For the record, and the point we tried to make with Mr. Arrington, we are not a scam. We are members of the BBB with whom we maintain an “A” rating. The BBB reviews all of our marketing materials on a regular basis. We also are in full compliance with all rules and regulations of the FTC.
All we ever asked was a chance to offer our side. Mr Arrington would then have been free to “call it as he saw it.”
But we were essentially told to “F-Off”
I’d appreciate your thoughts sir and also your time and attention.
Yours truly,
Brian D. OlsonBrian Olson
Vice-President of Public Affairs
Video Professor, Inc
303-232-1244 Ext 380
The Washington Post’s response? In a nutshell, “you’ll have to discuss directly with the editors at TechCrunch.”
I always see the commercials they run at night and sorta assumed it was a scam, but didn’t really know for sure. Now I do!
“Try my product.” LOL
Actually, your gut could feel that something is a scam. Those things that sounds “too good to be true”, “can give miracles to your undertakings” etc….Hilariously, they offer guarantees But in Reality, the only guarantees you can have is N-O-T-H-I-N-G. And once you try their product…
Well, that’s it. Seriously.
Biggest Scams For 2009 That you Didn’t Know: http://bit.ly/biggest-scams-internet-for-2009
WTF is the quote from that article about
“As of today, millions of people are joining Adult oriented sites. I can’t stressed to you, that you shouldn’t be there on the first place.”
Dont tell me I should not be somewhere, lol. Especially when I develop adult websites. Another person trying to force feed their opinions on people.
WOW tnx for the link victoria. Forget this bozos replying with you
that link hides a terrible post, you should be ashamed of yourself for spamming it here.
@EH I bet your name looks more crap.
That link you posted, victoria, is complete crap. no one click it.
ONCE AGAIN – Michael Arrginton has jumped the gun on this one.
Why not complete the WHOLE transcation to see if you get full disclosure of what the service will cost?
Jeez…
STFU Spammer.
@Todd
hey todd the “dickhead” toddler.. put your squatter-like suburbian words on the streets not on this website..
go get some MILF, you STFU lover t(”,)t
thanks for that link – i think the other replies to this are essentially scam artists themselves, because everything in it is pretty much a common set of warnings you see everwhere.
The only scam I am concerned about is the one where I am lured into TechCrunch with promises of venture capital articles only to find MG ranting about how he equates twitter to Walter Cronkite and the drunken ramblings of über lush Paul Carr as he stumbles around the keyboard in a stupor. I feel so violated.
Or MG writing about every minute detail of the Chrome browser *almost* being available for the Mac.
I mean, WHO CARES?
Just write about it when it’s finally released and spare us the details otherwise!
I hope this post becomes the first link on google for Video Professor. I just wish it has a better title like “Video Professor is a scam”. Does Google index TechCrunch comments?
Your wish is granted. I just added it to google search.
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHNG_enUS346US346&aq=f&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=video+professor
It came up as a first on my search. Fellow readers, please check on different browsers from different locations and make sure it comes up first.
I checked it on firefox and chrome (both on mac). I’m not getting this article. The Washington Post article is on the first page; just not the first result.
I hope this guy goes out of business. I’ve always had feeling he was a total scam.
6th position in Germany with Firefox.
7th position from Florida, USA on Google using chrome.
6th position from California, USA on Chrome.
Strange. I was using a special Chrome edition on my laptop, which launches a Google page that allows you to add a result to a list of search results. It still comes up first on that browser– which I now realize is probably a result of some cookie action. It comes up in 7th (or 6th if you exclude the News results) position when I check from my desktop on different browsers.
You added your own link. It comes up first for you. Google may or may not consider it as information contributing to how they index web pages. Otherwise, don’t you think scammers would just enter their own site with “Viagra” or “Britney Spears” as the keyword?
Fourth, under news. Using Firefox. It comes up again as a standalone towards the bottom.
This post already shows up among the top 10 Google search results for “video professor” (at least from where I’m searching).
He doesn’t even try to hide it https://twitter.com/JohnWScherer
Rofl! Bravo to who ever set that page up. I think most TechCrunch readers and internet users in general knew this guy was a scam. The people he feeds on are the elderly who just want to learn the basics and fall for his con.
I agree completely with this. I would never fall for this, but i know for a fact that people of my parents or grandparents generation who are still very new and unfamiliar with the internet, but are trying to use it, would get scammed here. This stuff makes me sick.
That’s pretty funny. Probably set up by some insiders (e.g., ex employees).
A perfect example of “caveat emptor”. Buyer beware.
If people think they are really going to get all this for such a low price, they *almost* deserve to pay. But, I can picture my poor Mom on Facebook at night and wanting to learn Excel and buying this shit. She’d lose the $300 and never ever call.
I also love that I don’t even remember reading about these guys on the scamville post, and that they are brining more attention to themselves with the letter.
It IS a huge fucking scam.
These scams do not invoke Caveat Emptor. A casual internet purchaser should not be forced to put on his detective mask and pour over pages of fine & misleading print.
Think about it, when you stand at the cash register making a brick & mortar purchase, you do not have to switch into high alert mode to make sure your pocket isn’t being picked, or someone isn’t trying to steal your sun glasses from the top of your visor.
PORE. No purchaser should be forced to “pore” over pages of print of any kind — that is, study them in detail. Also, nobody at all should be POURING any liquids over any pages of any print, on paper or online. That makes books soggy and does considerable violence to your computer. /englishpolice
Lol. Thanks. Mistakes like that are embarrassing.
the disclaimer is right on the home page of the their website! ALL internet purchases, just like ALL brick and mortar purchases are Caveat Emptor! This is not a new idea, merchants have been trying to get people to pay more for a long long time. To me, this is less of a serious issue than (e.g.,) deodorant marketers actually changing western society behavior over time (to think they need to be odor free to be acceptable in society). This is SO a good example of a scam. ITS ON THE HOME PAGE!!! How long are we supposed to protect the stupid? And Mike — the LAST people I want policing this type of behavior is the government. Those guys aren’t exactly above the board on most things you know…
*…So NOT a good example of a scam…
The following appears on VP’s opening page; where’s the scam?
—————–
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: ANY TWO of the three computer tutorial CD-ROMs are yours free without further obligation, PERIOD. Take 10 days to decide if you want to keep the complete set of CDs. After your 10-day free trial, if you decide to keep the complete set, we’ll conveniently bill your credit card just $289.95. Or simply call our customer care number at
1-800-519-4110 if you decide to return any one of the lessons. You will be charged nothing more and get to keep two computer learning CD-ROMS! You can also return everything within 10 days and receive a full Shipping and Processing refund upon your request. Click here to learn more about this offer.
*Pay up to $9.95 USD for shipping & processing.
And how many people read that?
Only people with brains should read that. The rest should just put their credit card number in any open field and press “submit”. Reading is HARD!
If you can’t receive the “free” thing without giving up your credit card number, it’s not free.
“FREE” means that you don’t pay money. It doesn’t mean that, since THEY pay, there is no NON-cash payment, and MORE importantly, THEY have control, since THEY are paying.
The deal usually is that you do give something of value, possibly YOUR time (to read the details of the deal), and possibly some information (which DOES have value).
Also, since THEY are paying, they want to know who is benefitting. I dislike the credit card as the identifier, EVEN IF I TRUST THEM. For that reason, I often, make that almost always, DO NOT take the deal.
Video Professor I know has been around for years, and I would trust them, BUT . . . it does cost — in being careful about the 10 days. For now, I’m passing on the deal.
*** P.S. When you see “FREE” ask yourself, WHY? Google is free, but they’re collecting data and, for now, that (plus ads) seems to pay their bills.
I totally agree with you. The information is there, in plain sight, it even has a link to more information.
The thing is, you have to be willing to read, and look for the information on a site. Sure the site is made to make you miss it, but it is there.
I also agree that if something is “free” with a credit card number, then it is not free at all.
“Or simply call our customer care number at 1-800-519-4110 if you decide to return any one of the lessons.”
That is the scam. I got VP to try it out. The same day I got the CD’s in the mail, I discovered the videos are 640×480 and you can’t resize them and started calling them once a day to cancel. Every time I got a message saying all lines were busy and I can leave a message to be called back. I also sent email to their support line. After my 10 day trial was up, I got a phone call and email response to my cancellation request. I then had to fight with them to get a refund.
I eventually did get my refund, but it took them 45 days to issue the credit. I have never had an experience with a reputable company where I could not get a hold of someone during normal business hours or could not get a timely refund. This is definitely a scam.
It’s generally good to be politically correct, to get the other side’s view, etc. However, there are situations like this one where it’s plain pointless to go through such steps. How to decide? In my books, it’s called “common sense”. Well done, Michael!
Yes, thank you. Not like I would ever buy one of these discs, but now I know to warn others of this scam.
If they had a video course on Journalism you wouldn’t have to buy it – I would buy it for you.
+1
I think all those websites that use free but need a creditcard are a scam… they are banking on you forgetting to remove your card. Even more puzzling is they say it is not secure to cancel your account online. This baffles me since it was secure to add your cc.. doesn’t that imply their user accounts are not secure…. free to me online is free to start and we are free to exploit the fact you have a busy life..
God these offers piss me off, especially when the people behind them fail to see what they’re doing is tricking people into purchase there products. How about building a business where the product and/or service speaks for itself and then they’d be no need for all this fineprint and dodgy deals.
Awesome Post on Scams Michael!
I got my whole family reading TechCrunch.com, they really enjoy the scam posts.
I wonder if the Video Professor will be at Affiliate Summit in Vegas again this January.
Keep investigating and looking out for Internet Users Michael…Thank you
Ruben
Hear Hear!
As soon as I’ve laid my eyes on this scamville on my space.com – Me and my friends decided to withdraw the “strange” offers, I know it was a scam. Tis’ good I warned one of my friend who almost fell for this trap.
I mean what they are offering are kind of dull, “video training for noob-computer users?” That kind of tutorial is not so hard to find in the internet now and its for FREE.
One will realize that, for sure there’s someone financing these online scamming website for their own demise.
These scam website won’t be extinct coz the movers/creators are the same people who create good website.
you have your own space.com? how?
oh the irony….when I do a search on your site, the video professor website shows up as an ad. You are pimping the very product you are blasting.
Maybe she’s a bit confused like me, if Google and Amazon are doing tricks on the public and getting away with it – who does a consumer (or small business person trying to make a few bucks for a living) side with ? I have to question my own perception of what is a scam – as if big companies are allow to do smoke and mirrors and give away my credit card details – who is the sucker ?
Totally hilarious to see replies like this and the “your wish is granted” guy above who have the same amount of web knowledge as the people who are falling for this scam.
I know it’s off-topic, but it sucks too much not to say it:
I’m seeing Scientology ads on TechCrunch. Is that OK with you, Mike?
…”When you’re 80 and look back at what you’ve done with your life,..” – What are you talking about – that guy is like 90
Thanks Michael for looking out for the likes of my parents, and other interwebs illiterates
…”When you’re 80 and look back at what you’ve done with your life,..” – What are you talking about – that guy is like 90
Thanks Michael for looking out for the likes of my parents, and other ‘interwebs’ illiterates
The consumer reporter (Don Dare) at WATE TV in Knoxville, TN. did a report on the Professor a few months back. I’m not sure if the story did any good. I still see those commercials in heavy rotation.
Shame on John W. Scherer. Facebook has to wipe out this obvious scam and to advice their users. It is their duty!
How did they manage to get an “A” rating from BBB?
I wonder this as well. I assume it’s because they are technically operating legally, even if most of their customers think utter shit of them.
Because the BBB is a worthless organization. Any business that actually cares about their rating can massage it. Notice on the left part of the video prof. home page there’s a BBB logo and a short blurb explaining the $300 charge if the disk isn’t returned?
Their entire business model is based around people not reading the agreement or being too lazy to return the product. While the company does its best to hide the agreement, it doesn’t lie or fall foul of the BBB’s rules.
Mike, Great story!
Sounds like another good story is about how BBB is worthless in calling out scams. I just went and checked the BBB site, and sure enough Video Professor has an A rating.
Here’s the link to their BBB page: http://www.bbb….denver-co-15503
I don’t have the energy to read the BBB’s grading policy, but they did get an A rating. I assume that a HUGE factor in getting a high rating is the percent of complaints that are “resolved.” In this department, out of 1087 complaints, only 47 are unresolved. These Video Prof guys are slick. The simply refund those people who complain, knowing that statistically, only 1 out of hundreds or even thousands complain.
Here’s the BBB’s explanation of its grading policy: http://www.bbb….s/overview.html
Nice explanation. But its quite surprising that they have been able to maintain an ‘A’ rating at BBB. Undermines BBB a lot in my eyes.
Don’t forget that our entire real estate industry collapsed because people couldn’t be bothered to read the fine print.
I for one support money-draining of people with no common sense or are too lazy to read before they buy.
It would make the world a whole better place.
Because the BBB is a scam, too.
EH,
the BBB isn’t a scam. It is just a little outdated and there are loopholes to the BBB system.
There are loopholes in the FTC system and that’s where scamsters live… in the grey area. BTW, people that buy from a TV ad, don’t know how to google before they buy something…
Hey grow up. Anytime someone pays the evaluator money for the evaluation and the right to belong to the group …. it’s a scam. Nobody kills off its meal ticket on principle. The only way to be exposed by such organizations as BBB is to fail to continue to pay your dues.
Now, I think I’ll know your answer to this question but I’ll ask it anyway. “So academic journals are a scam?”
roguetrick: some of them, probably, but until you can point to the peer-review methodology of the BBB I think we can assume you’re just trying to change the subject.
The BBB is a complete scam. Part of recruiting a company is contacting them when they get their first complaint, they are told about membership and your status with them starts from here, do you join and PAY their fee’s or let them give you a not part of the BBB rating that consumers trust.
The BBB is the original scam/shakedown organization. They only exist due to the fees their members pay them, they are not government funded, they are funded by the companies they report on, would the BBB in VP home town give them an F when John drops of his monthly commission check and tickets for him and his wife to go to the ballet or some shit.
BBB is the real scam. Most are to ignorant to see it.
regardless their rating, look at their complaint history — BBB reports over 1100 complaints in the last three years. that’s the kind of history that would make you run and hide on ebay.
http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-reviews/computers-training/video-professor-in-denver-co-15503
Michael, I’m glad you are exposing the underbelly of the tech world. At the same time, I’m trusting that you are running a squeaky clean operation yourself.
I can’t believe the Government has not done anything about this loser. He has been scamming uneducated Americans for years now.
cause the government is run by faultless do-gooders who never scam anyone? Yikes. they’re the last group I want handling this stuff…
The validity of the accusation aside, in my view the expletive in your reply to the scumbag was gratuitous, counterproductive and unnecessary. It gives him ammunition, and makes you look uneducated and churlish.
“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far”
I think in this case the expletive was appropriate.
yes, well sometimes I take liberties in my personal responses. Plus, I hate people like this.
“Mommy, Mikey said a bad word!”
Seriously, it was in a personal letter. How is this NOT a middle age man going to tattle to his “mommy”?
I must be thick, but I don’t see a scam here. It says “Order any three courses. If you don’t like one, send it back but keep the others for free (less shipping and handling).” How is that a scam?
If you sent back one of the courses and they still charged you the $300, =that= would be a scam. Do you have any evidence they did that?
because that’s not what they say. they say “free*”
also, they commonly don’t refund.
the videoprofessor.com site, on the left side, says that they charge the $299 or whatever AFTER TEN DAYS. Does anyone have experience that VP did not wait the ten days? THAT would be, what the lawyers call, ACTIONABLE. If they wait the ten days, then YOU can SCAM them: Order, keep 2 CDs, send back the third, use the 2 that are truly for free, wait a while, order again, keep 1 for you and 1 for a friend, and send back the third.
the whole idea is that nobody needs this product. It is unclear what your are buying (2 out of 3 when ‘we send you hundreds’), you will not see the true total amount at checkout, you will not be able to cancel your order if you just found out the obscene amount from your statement (then it will be passed 30 days and they will never refund).
They even make sure not to be reachable, counting on people to give up after trying to contact them multiple times.
Just take a look at his biography: http://www.johnwscherer.com/about-john-scherer.html
It is completely ridiculous. It is all about how important good work ethics are to him.
I, for one, salute you Mike Arrington on your response to him.
the site was almost certainly set up to push down negative reviews of video professor in the search rankings. We saw the same thing with intellius. They hire SEO guys who recommend setting up lots of site with links back to the main site to push other stuff off Google. That’s why the first page of VP search results are mostly links on the site.
Do they really have an “A” rating from BBB?
Yes, sadly this just proves how out dated the BBB is. Scammers today are smarter than ever before. They stay within the legal bounds but rely on human error, in this case customers forgetting to return the disks or even realizing they have to return the disks to avoid the charge.
It sounds like the Keiretsu forum scams..whereas they insult everyone’s intelligence..
Maybe BBB is becoming a joke too?
Check the BBB report for Video Professor: http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-reviews/computers-training/video-professor-in-denver-co-15503
It states that they received over 1,300 consumer complaints over the past 36 months, and yet they are giving an “A” rating to the company?
Weird
ridiculous.
“When considering complaint information, please take into account the company’s size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm’s responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.
BBB processed a total of 1134 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total of 1134 complaints closed in 36 months, 885 were closed in the last year.”
Biggest single source of complaints: Not honoring refunds.
Surprise surprise.
Arrington – Suggest you switch to a more direct headline, as this will rank highly when someone googles their name. This current one doesn’t stand out as a warning.
Better (Business Bureau) accreditation standards:
http://www.bbb.org/us/bbb-accreditation-standards/
how about techcrunch puts up a free version of vid prof – lessons on all the topics that video professor charges for in a separate, search-friendly category?
hit them where they live! it’s very unlikely someone will see your info before reaching for a phone to order their stuff, however. if people knew how to search the net, they wouldn’t need that dude and a low point of entry intellectually.
it already exists in the form of youtube and the like. all that basic tutorial info is available for free. the people ordering it are most likely unknowing it’s there.
bravo mike.
We need to get this on Digg, and give this as much exposure as possible.
http://digg.com/world_news/Video_Professor_Tries_To_Bully_Washington_Post_Fails
P.S. Where’s Facebook’s response? They get an ounce or two of blame as well for facilitating this scam, especially after their recent “fireside chat” that was supposedly about improving the quality/security of third party apps.
This is a great example of companies that just don’t get it. In years past, these companies could fly under the radar. How many people do you personally know who’ve bought these DVD’s? None, probably.
But in today’s connected world, thankfully, we have online reviews, blogs, and Google to quickly tell us what is a scam. Fortunately for us, these companies won’t be able to last that long as they get more and more bad publicity (like this) and as consumers become more aware and actually research before they buy (that part might be a little less feasible).
Still, it’s clear they’re just preying on naive people who don’t know better. What a way to conduct business… do you think they get any repeat business? At all???
Wouldn’t it be a better marketing strategy to sell the DVD sets for $30 instead of $300 and then get a ton of repeat business from customers who buy more sets on different software products they want to learn?
Of course, Video Professor’s shortcomings in business and marketing savvy will backfire, and leave a huge opening for someone who knows better to come in and steal a huge chunk of marketshare and put them out of their misery.
Oh, and just because something is technically “legal,” doesn’t mean it’s ethical and it doesn’t mean it’s not a scam.
In years past, these companies could fly under the radar
VP has been running infomercials since Windows 95.
Wouldn’t it be a better marketing strategy to sell the DVD sets for $30 instead of $300 and then get a ton of repeat business
Not if the lessons are lame. I mean really, people pay much more than $300 for good CBT, that VP has to process so many refunds should tell you something about how happy people are with the product.
I love your response to them. You used the F-Bomb! No god don’t use the F-Bomb!!!!
I am sure that the whole team at Video Professor have been waiting for this day to come – essentially the day they get exposed. Everyone from Linda in accounting to Frank in shipping new they were working for a scam. I am pretty sure that when they collectively read your article they all went – Ahh Fack!
You have done a great job calling it the way you see it – good on you – you don’t duck!
Cheers – Eric
Mike: I know you cited RipOffReport stats in your article, but you aughta take a look at them next. Do a quick search for how that business is operated and you’ll see what I mean.
Hey Mike,
This sentence: “But they continually refine the landing and checkout pages to comply with the bare minimum of legal requirements” – While I applaud you for pointing out these scams I have a problem with this sentence.
Is Video Professor using “scamy” tactics? It’s pretty obvious they are. Yet, I don’t see an issue with a company doing the “bare minimum” to comply legally with the law. I think I have a problem with the law not being strong enough to make it absolutely crystal clear what is going on. They’re either acting above board or they’re working hard to comply with the law but, in a confusing and devious way. Why is the law not stronger in this arena?
I’m not for more laws for the sake of more of them but, I do think laws should do a better job of protecting consumers. Let’s start taking it to our representatives – put your microscope on them. I think that coupled with what you’ve been doing will generate pressure on two fronts. Keep fighting this war Mike.
i think this is a discussion worth having. Let’s say they aren’t breaking the law. Then I think the discussion should be around whether the laws should change. The key is that the product is worthless and they have to trick people into buying it. It’s hard to put that into a “law” but we all know exactly what it means.
MA-
Thanks for this post, I love to see you bringin’ it.
The legal issue is my top concern as well. How is this possibly considered legal? It might pass the FTC’s low bar for non-fraudulent advertising, but clearly they are defrauding people, especially the ones coming in from affiliate links. Why not sue for fraud, or a class action?
Alternatively, why doesn’t the law have something like a truth-in-lending clause that makes sellers state in clear writing *all* charges that they will experience when entering a transaction?
I am very saddened thinking about how many millions of dollars have been bilked out of people, many of which are probably unable to pay real bills because of a $300 fraud.
Alan
This article is for the same person who praises Cash4Gold? Come one Mike, both are scams. Why do you defend Cash4Gold?
This is almost as bad as you bitching about other conferences that make startup pay to pitch, and then you endorsing your pal Loic’s le Web conference where he rips off startups in the exact same way.
The more I think about cash4gold the more I wish they’d just publish the price they actually pay for gold. But regardless, I see these as very different things. It would be an interesting conversation though.
Loic doesn’t rip anyone off, Le Web is an excellent conference.
+1
I think a good place to start would be to regulate (or even outlaw) the entire concept of, “Free*”.
The word “free” with an asterisk next to it is the scam vector.
+1
In an interesting Consumer Affairs story, I’m linking to the “usefulness” page:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/12/video_prof02.html
In my mind, the solution is simple: ban rebills. Diet pills, teeth whiteners, government grant schemes and now electronic cigarettes are used for one thing – to get your billing information and start the rebill process. Going after one company, advertiser, or platform (Facebook/Zynga) won’t do the trick. Rebillers will just find another “product” and another platform as they have been doing for years.
Oh, and ban the ability to pass CC info after a legit purchase. That will stop the checkout scams you’ve also reported on.
One law we need now, is that anyone who charges your credit card monthly (not VP I guess) must send you a monthly invoice. I’ve noticed about 50% of companies that charge after a free trial don’t send invoices and I know why they don’t. Six months later I actually look at my auto paid credit card paper statements and realize I’ve been paying some company for six months because I’d forgotten to cancel before the free trial expired.
Hey Mike,
You continue to say that VP is a scam because they sell a crappy product that no one wants and have to trick people into buying. While I agree that the product is banal and I myself would never pay any amount of money for VP products, none of us can say what value the product has to others. I have a plethora of tech books going back 15 years. I paid $50.00 plus for each of these. To the vast majority of the people, these books are a waste. Yet, I learned to write software from them plus a lot more. What is crap to one is not necessarily crap to another. Had I gotten a chance to review these books in depth for free before I purchased them, some I would not have. Still, I don’t consider any of them to be a scam. We could come up with a million examples, like computer stores that sell training and set up services when you buy a computer. I think that’s stupid. But, if some bozo wants to spend the money on it, it’s his call.
From what you are saying, VP is a scam because:
1. They offer a trial period in an attempt to get you to buy their product either through forgetting to cancel your credit card (sounds like a million different web sites to me) or because you like it and want to buy it.
Fine. Then is everyone who offers a trial where you have to pay for shipping a scam?
2. The product is crap. That’s an opinion and not journalism (you made mention of your journalistic prowess in proffering an opinion which makes you a commentator, not a journalist). My opinion is also that their product is crap but that’s only for me to say. If others pay them for it, perhaps they see some value.
At this point, you look like you’re just grinding an axe. I agree that OfferPal was being misleading with their ring-tone offers and I think that Anu (sp?) did a terrible job in defending her company (should have just admitted that there are problems and then looked to fix them). But, at this point you seem like you’re doing nothing but searching for some reason to attack her due to her stupid response to you.
I am glad you pointed out the problem with how OfferPal was (is?) doing business. I have been making these same claims for a long time and have had numerous discussions with social networking site proprietors about them. From my experience in working with the ad networks that provide these offers, it’s not the users who are being scammed. The users are scamming the advertisers (ring-tones excepted). And, from what I’ve been told by affiliate managers, VP is one that gets scammed quite a lot.
Take care,
Al
In theory, capitalism pushes us to meet the “bare minimum” or regulation to maximize our returns. In reality, we’re all a bunch of people capable of making decisions on how we want our businesses to be run.
Assuming your allegations of scaminess are true, Mike, the biggest disappointment here for me is the BBB. I was going to say that rather than trying to close every loophole, the government should work to educate consumers to consult independent, 3rd party review sites. However, in this case, it seems even that would have failed.
Blech.
I always assumed that most infomercials & late night TV commercials were scams. It would be nice to know which ones aren’t!
The red flag is always an offer of something for free or at a discount or you just pay handling & shipping charges…then they get your credit card and charge it monthly until you complain. That is IF you can get a hold of them and ask them to stop or try to get a refund.
I’ve become adverse to giving over my credit card number to anyone unless I’m sure of the conditions of the purchase. It’s unfortunately easy to check off that you agree to the terms & conditions & not know what you’re agreeing to because you’re on a shopping high & thinking about the product, not about legal language surrounding the purchase. That’s what advertising does, it gets you to turn off the rational part of your mind & you end up making purchasing decisions based on emotion & hope.
Thanks for filling in the details. I’d never purchase their products but it is useful to understand how these companies operate.
Liz the point of these scams is you don’t even choose to buy anything, you click a button that says about a discount or a freebie and presume it’s a legit freebie/discount right there and the check out on your favorite website – like Amazon – you don’t realize that when, clicking the button to pay for your item, you are giving away your credit details to a 3rd party / a recurring fee. I find this troubling as it’s on ‘consumer’ websites – where as in MLM’s like GDI they make it crystal clear you are paying for a website monthly after a 7 day trial – if MLM’s can be honest why can’t store merchants ?
i actually was fool enough to order some disks for my parents many years ago for Christmas – they thought they were very helpful. So I don’t think the product itself is completely worthless to total computer newbies. The problem was they kept sending and kept charging and ignored all cancellation requests. I finally threatened legal action and they stopped and refunded a small portion of what they bilked me for… maybe if i watched television i’d have seen the infomercial and known to steer clear.
that’s what i don’t get. if the products have some minimal value to some people, why don’t they focus on that instead of the scam? I’m tempted to order this just to see what exactly comes in the mail.
because being honest gets you much less money.
Money rules the world, without a ton of money, Video Professor wouldn’t be able to run all those ads.
Without those ads, their supply of gullible customers dries up.
It’s like the point you made about Zynga, the ones who are honest, get crushed by the scammers, since they have bigger budgets
I always thought their angle was building marketing lists of people who had credit cards and were gullible enough to use them for DR-type crap.
I’ve seen those ads a million times and the website offer seems different than the TV offer (I can’t remember the particulars though)… I wonder if the idea is to do enough volume and build some sort of credibility with the TV offer to make the complaints from the super-scammy on-line offers seem statistically insignificant?
Try ordering it with a pre-paid 10$ debit card (the ones you can buy at supermarket checkouts), see if they send you the full kit. A test to see if they are pre-authorizing for the ‘retail price.’
Not sure what that would mean, if anything, but if pre-paid debit cards can be used to throw a wrench in the gears of these places, might be worth spreading the word.
Exactly my point when it comes to this scam operation. Sick and sad thing about it is this scam is 100%. Overcharge for a useless “product”, very unethical practices, and as a former employee for more than 3 years but less than 10 I can assure you the office itself is as disfunctional as it gets. Very few want these cd’s. LMAO to see what the charges are now- unbelievable. At the time I became employed by the company I will say the business practices were ethical; but in the following years especially as the need for their “product” spirals downward their cunning crap increases. It’s the worst of the worst in the office and in their business. With this company they attempt to take all accountability out of their hands and blame customer and even employee before taking any responsibility for their numerous inadequacies. A good “product” doesn’t need to focus on the scam aspect of their marketing. Hell, even a decent crap product has no need for this. BBB is his shield and it is well known that people pay for membership and BBB means nothing. The simple fact Video Professor is a member of the BBB demeans the BBB entirely. Think my reply is lengthy? Sorry, this is but a portion; a small portion.
I was interested to know if anybody got anything out of the lessons themselves, so I’m glad you did. However, that “not completely worthless” is the standard of value here is a bit concerning.
Video Professor is not teaching anyone anything that the neighbors 12 year old can not teach them in an hour, I have relatives that fell for their free lessons and I could not believe it when I saw those lessons, sure if you are a very lonely friendless person who has no one else to teach you, sure maybe this is for you, but honestly bah humbug.
Not so much so. It becomes too much of a pain in the ass to explain every little detail to a computer newbie. Sure the neighbors 12 year old kid COULD explain it, but would they want to?
It’s just a lot easier to hand someone a disc and say – here take this , figure shit out , if you have questions, watch it again, and if you STILL have questions come back to me.