EVERETT – Terry Black of Everett has paid more than $7,000 toward promises of becoming rich from her Internet business.
Those promises were pitched at a StoresOnline.com seminar in Everett last year and included guarantees of booming sales.
But after a year, Black said Thursday, the six Web sites she bought don’t work, and she has yet to see any profit.
Now, StoresOnline is back in town and Black is on a crusade to inform seminar patrons about the bad ratings for the company, which sells Web site domains.
Black said she will stand outside an Everett hotel today to pass out information and tell people of her own experiences with StoresOnline.
“If I can only save one or two people it would be so worth it,” Black said. “It is a scam and they are slick … they got me big time.”
Clint Sanderson, a StoresOnline spokesperson, declined to give a phone interview but said he would answer e-mailed questions. However, questions e-mailed to him were not answered as of Thursday.
StoresOnline has not been charged with a crime, but it is the subject of investigations.
StoresOnline, which operates under several names, has been investigated by several states’ attorneys general and the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Company revenue jumped from $11 million in 2002 to $20 million in 2003 and is expected to top $30 million this year, according to the commission.
The Orem, Utah company is the subject of many complaints to the Better Business Bureau by Utah and California residents, prompting warnings for potential seminar attendees to “carefully read” the fine print at the events. The agency rates the company’s response to the complaints as unsatisfactory.
Black said she and her mother received an invitation to a free seminar a year ago. She was so excited about starting her own Web-based business that she quit her job to devote her energy to the venture.
“I went into this not knowing anything … I know nothing about building a Web site,” she said. “They said they would teach me everything I need to know. It was total lies.”
StoresOnLine initially sold its services and e-commerce sites on a nonrefundable basis, because they defined their product as a “business-to-business” service.
Recently, it altered its refund policy to allow new customers three days to back out.
The change in policy might have been a pre-emptive response to legal actions initiated by California officials. On April 7, StoresOnline settled with California by agreeing to a three-day refund period, paying $102,333.19 in refunds to 42 purchasers, agreeing to give customers a list of all optional services prior to execution of a contract and agreeing to tell people that knowledge of and access to a computer is required.
The company primarily markets its program with a 90-minute presentation, followed by a one-day workshop that requires a registration fee.
“It’s just a scam, and they are slick,” Black said.
She said she has requested a refund, talked to the state Attorney General’s office, filed a report against StoresOnline at ripoffreport.com (a consumers’ rights Web site) and tried to get her credit card company to cancel the payment.
“Nothing. It will take me six years to pay it all off,” Black said, adding she was lucky because some people bought into it for $12,000 to $20,000.
The Securities Division of the state Department of Financial Institutions is keeping a close eye on the company after an investigation in January.
Black said people who receive and invitation to these seminars should tear it up and throw it away.
“Everything they offer – the information – is free on the Internet, and the books they sell are at Barnes &Noble,” she added.
Reporter Evan Caldwell: 425-339-3475 or ecaldwell@heraldnet.com.
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