There’s usually no such thing as a free lunch, or a free MP3 player. At least not when they come gratis at one of those seminars promising to teach the secret of making big bucks at home. Still, that’s not likely to stop hundreds from attending the “free” 2009 Internet Marketing Conference in St. Louis this week.
According to the BBB, the conference will begin at noon Tuesday at Sunset Lakes Banquet Center in Sunset Hills. Other events will be held at hotels at Westport Plaza, near Lambert St. Louis International Airport and downtown. There’s no admission charge, and participants are promised an MP3 player and lunch. But you need to be invited to attend.
The Better Business Bureau warns people to beware.
The conference is the work of Utah-based StoresOnline, Inc., which provides software and computer assistance to small businesses and start-up companies. The firm and its parent company, iMergent Inc., seem to have a fishy track record highlighted by law enforcement investigations, lawsuits and at least 640 complaints to the BBB.
Michelle Corey, president and CEO of the St. Louis BBB, said consumers should be extremely cautious when dealing with StoresOnline. The company’s calling card, she said, is to draw people to the conferences with a promise of a free meal or gift, and then hoodwink them into paying thousands of dollars to StoresOnline. “Too often, they end up frustrated and disappointed,” she said.
According to BBB, StoresOnline has been the focus of legal action by attorneys general and other law enforcement officials in Australia and at least nine states, including Illinois, Texas, Florida, Connecticut, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Indiana and Oregon. Last year, the Florida attorney general’s office announced the company had agreed to reimburse the state $125,000 in fees, change its marketing practices and refund money to more than 150 Florida residents.
Local people have lost money, too. A High Ridge woman filed a BBB complaint alleging that, after attending a 2007 StoresOnline conference in South County, she ended up paying the company $4,000 for help setting up three web sites. An Edwardsville woman complained to the BBB that her husband paid StoresOnline $2,000, then thought better of the arrangement and canceled the deal during the three-day refund period. Instead of being finished with Stores Online, the company sent him a bill for $6,000 and put the debt on the couple’s credit report after they refused to pay.
No one seemed to be answering the phone Monday afternoon at the StoresOnline’s home office in Orem, Utah.
