Is StomperNet a Scam? A Home Business Cautionary Tale
Anybody who is anybody in internet marketing is talking about StomperNet today. Well, I joined this $800 a month internet marketing extravaganza, and I have a lot to say. Read on, folks.
First, some backstory…
Recently, a very good friend of mine and I decided to start a little home business venture. We figured that although we had a very high level of combined knowledge of many relevant facets of our business model, we should look into coaching or membership sites to make sure we were sharp as tacks when it came to our ittybiz.
In Came StomperNet
For those of you not in the know, StomperNet is the most hyped product launch I’ve ever seen. Remember here that hype is my bread and butter. Hype is going to put my kids through college, but this hype was unheard of. New Coke and the original 1984 Apple computer had nothing on this shit. We were bombarded, y’all.
There was a series of incredibly informative videos, one released each day coming up to the launch.
There was no documentation or product brochure made available online until today, the day we could join.
They did not disclose how many members they would be accepting, but we knew there wouldn’t be many.
They did not disclose how long membership would be open. (There were rumors that they would only be accepting members for anywhere from 6 hours to 72 hours.)
Today was the first day they would be accepting new members since LAST MAY.
It costs $797 a month and half of the industry was scrambling to pull together the cash to get in on this craziness.
The idea is, as part of StomperNet, you would have access to 600 videos about everything from SEO to conversion techniques to niche sites to domain flipping to Adwords and more. All from established and agreed-upon experts in each area. The best of the best, doing what they do best.
You would have access to an incredible member’s only forum and get the same experts and more looking at your site, your blog, your business and helping you personally.
Four times a year free member’s only conferences.
“Faculty hours” where you could ask the best of the best anything you wanted, for free and in private.
If you know anything about internet marketing — and don’t worry, nobody expects you to — you’d realize this was the steal of a lifetime. It was everywhere. The newly re-Canadian Yaro was promoting it and while I do not agree with everything he says, he generally knows his shit.
So my partner and I get in line. We wait with our screens held on their countdown page. We hold our breath, knowing the whole “Whoops, we’re so busy that our server crashed” thing was both bullshit and very likely. Didn’t matter, it was worth it.
We sign up. We get every sign up bonus. We are very happy.
Long story short, we log in, we look around, all is cool. Then we see something that is no doubt copywritten so I’ll paraphrase it here:
“This is premium content. It will cost 10 credits.”
What the fuck?
(See how mad I am? I’m breaking the iron clad no-F-word-in-header-text rule.)
Again, long story short, it would seem that with each month of membership, you get 375 “credits”. This means you can watch 37 of the premium videos — of which it appears there are several hundred — that seem to be around 20 minutes each.
Um, no. Fuck that.
Is StomperNet a Liar?
No. They did not lie.
They said we would have access to every video.
Yup, we do. Just not in the same month.
They said we would have access to every part of StomperNet.
Yup, we do. Just not in the same month.
They never said UNLIMITED access. Just access to everything.
What your Home Business Can Learn From This
Do I think StomperNet is worth the money? Yes.
Do I think any sensible person could make their money back at least two-fold? Yes.
Am I staying a member? No.
Here’s the thing. I have dropped EIGHT HUNDRED FUCKING DOLLARS for access to this. That is more than my rent. And now I feel like I got fucked.
Lesson to Home Business Owners:
If you’re using manipulative sales and conversion tactics, if you’re doing something people in your industry think is pretty dirty but they’re going along with it anyway, if you already have people nervous as shit about their investment, you better fucking follow up with the best goddamn program ever.
When you start like that, you have ZERO room for screw ups. You have ZERO room for users with a bad taste in their mouth. You have ZERO room for me to feel like you fucked me.
Do not lie. (Which, to their credit, StomperNet did not.)
Do not almost lie.
Do not bend the truth.
Most importantly, and this won’t apply to you but it does apply to them, do not use what are, by your own admission, the best sales tactics in the business on me and then follow it up with shit. I already don’t trust you. I’m already wary.
If you use these tactics you have one option and one option only… blow my fucking mind.
Again, to their credit… StomperNet appears to have a rock solid refund policy. They appear to have an extremely good product. I do not think they’ve taken MORE THAN MY RENT just to fondle one extra high priced hooker at lunch. But learn the lesson. Don’t ever do this.
Next Post: 7 Home Business Lessons From StomperNet
I am glad you are telling this story. Hopefully some of the Internet Marketing guys (most of them are guys) will be provoked enough to come and join the conversation you’ve started.
I have done so many of those programs… Stompernet may be the most hyped-up one, but there are a lot of others. As you said, they may in fact provide good value - Product Launch Formula is well worth it, IMO - but there are usually a few things that aren’t mentioned in the marketing-on-steroids pre-launch campaign.
Anyway, thanks for bringing this up. It will be interesting to see how the response goes.
I don’t think ANY SEO or IM content is worth $800.00 period, never mind per month.
There can’t be anything in those videos that already isn’t well known to anyone who wants to look around. There’s no magic to this stuff, no dark secrets known only to a few.
So yes, in my opinion it absolutely is a scam.
Unbelievable!
I would feel lousy after that, too. For $800/month, it ought to be unlimited AND give you bonuses every month.
I’m glad they have a good refund policy — but if they’d done things right, they wouldn’t need one….
Very interesting. Thank you for sharing candidly. At least they offer a 30 day money back guarantee right?
Hmm…looks like they wanted you to pay the 800 per month for a year at least. Perhaps they glossed over that part.
I did not sign up for this course, but I did pay (a far lesser sum) to a guy (he has his picture up), whom, intentionally or otherwise, has convinced me that he is the internet marketeer version of Jack the Ripper.
All the way home from work, I was cursing him, and the ground he was working on.
Like you said, any marketeer worth his/her salt should never even try to lie!
You should double check that cause I’m a member of stomper and when i go to watch a video it says I have unlimited credits. I’ve been a member for a while.
@ Chris — Absolutely. Like I said, I strongly believe this product is worth the money for the right person. Dedicated, ready to learn, ready to implement, ready to ask questions. I could easily be that person, but I’m annoyed on a principle level right now.
I think part of the problem with just looking shit up on the internet can lead you in a very bad direction. (Some very prominent internet marketing trainwrecks come to mind.) At least with something like Stompernet there is a valid chain of command. You have recognized experts going on record to a bunch of people paying a shitload of money — there’s accountability there.
@ Carole — Exactly. Frankly, I’m really disappointed about this. I learned an incredible amount just from their free videos. Since I turn around and sell these services, I’ve made my first month’s money back from the free videos alone because it will benefit my clients tremendously. It’s sad, really. I was ready to be a StomperNet evangelist.
@ Shama — Indeed they do, which I respect tremendously.
@ fathersez — Don’t you love that guy? (I don’t know the “that guy” in question, but the existence of his archetype is why I actually get clients. They’re just so damn glad I’m not trying to screw them.
And if you’re going to be sneakyesque, don’t do it in such a high profile way.
@ Liz — Hmm. Maybe it’s a new member thing? A bandwidth thing? Anything? If so I will gladly retract every word. :-) Believe me, I really, really want to dig this service.
@liz and @naomi
There are different levels of most of those programs, I believe, depending on when you joined, how much you pay, etc. Presumably some people have a set limit of credits and some have unlimited.
One more thought before I go to bed -
@Tony, no offense but I do not agree that no SEO or IM service is worth significant money. There are many services I have paid much more than $800 for that have returned many times the amount I paid. There may not necessarily be any “dark secrets” but there is certainly value in learning strategies and tactics presented in a new way.
One time a couple of years ago, for example, I paid about $2k for something that I was really stressed over in the beginning. Most of it did not seem to apply to me. But then, I changed something– just one thing– in my business based on the information outlined in the product. That one tweak brought more than $10k to my business over the next year that was completely automated.
I was happy with that ROI. :) So IMO the lesson is not “all this stuff is bad” but rather “your experience may vary, so be careful.” Also, another lesson from this post is “your marketing had better live up to its promises.”
But neither of those mean that you should categorize all marketing as somehow shameful. If you think that, why would you be in marketing or even an entrepreneur at all?
I don’t think you’d be able to consume that much content in that short a time period anyway, so if I were you I wouldn’t worry about the credits thing. You’ll get more than your money’s worth. And anybody who doesn’t think so has no idea what the fuck they’re talking about.
Michael Martine is my homeboy. Rock the fuck on, dude.
Jamie says his issue is that they COULD have mentioned it in their sales copy… (”You have access to THIRTY SEVEN videos a month narrated by the best in the business. They hold your hand through the entire process. More than one for every business day, and you can customize your choices to exactly what YOUR business needs. If you don’t need Adsense, we won’t force you to watch Adsense videos. Total control over your learning experience.”)
@ Tony: You have to draw a line somewhere on the price front, I agree. But almost any purchase can be trashed by saying something along the lines of “why pay for it, you can find it for free if you look hard enough”. Almost all knowledge is available for free if you know where to look. However, how much is your time worth? It may be worth paying an amount just to have someone else compile all the information for you in one place. Sometimes I don’t know what I need to know, so I need someone to hold my hand. I think the point here with StomperNet is that it was worth the money for the content, but they seemingly arbitrarily limited the member’s access in order to prolong the subscription times.
Right, see if you’ve seen any StomperNet video at all, you know that you could live off of it for a MONTH. More than one video per day is more than enough.
It’s also designed to prevent people from just downloading everything and then asking for a refund or canceling.
The problem is, there is so much garbage out there, being peddled by Internet Marketers.
“My accountant begged me to charge $3000 for this product. It’s THAT good! But for only the first 3 buyers, I will throw in $17 MILLION worth of bonuses, and you GET IT ALL for just $249!!”
I saw the early videos. But the truth is, anyone who has an extra $800 a month just laying around probably does not NEED all of this info. Because they already hired someone who taught this stuff to them.
Also, not to hi-jack this thread, but Jamie and Naomi told me to give a holler when my new blog was ready. Well, although there will still be some renovations over the coming weeks, the blog is functioning and I am posting. So please, c’mon down! http://www.bizwarrioronline.com/wordpress
Everything about this screams “stay away”. I’m not even sure what they’re selling. Marketing expertise? SEO expertise? Business models?
Here’s how to save $800 a month in two easy steps:
1) Read Seth Godin’s books
2) Build a website with good content and a clear purpose. I’ve seen site owners do *everything* wrong from technical, design, and SEO perspectives yet their sites are highly ranked because people love the content and link to them. Even so, it’s better to do things the right way. This free whitepaper will help you get started: http://www.blizzardinternet.com/seo-for-wordpress-blogs-free-marketing-whitepaper/
The way that Stompernet operates has got me hopping mad so if any of you have technical questions about setting up websites send me an email and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.
Right, I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about.
Except unlike most Internet marketing wannabe’s, I actually make significant money from my site, and have been doing so for more years than many of you have even been in business.
I didn’t say the thing was crap. I said there can’t be anything in it that isn’t available from books, web sites and your own damn experience.
Look, I’m sorry if I piss some of you off because you spent a lot of money and you desperately need to think it’s worthwhile. Eight hundred dollars per month? I bet 99% of you will never see anything vaguely approaching $800.00 per month in return.
No offense? Yeah, no offense. How much is your time worth? I dunno what your time is worth but let’s say you value it at $100.00 an hour. Yeah, I know: most of you will never come close to that, either, but just bear with me: at $100 an hour, a years worth of this stuff is 96 hours - more than two weeks of constant attention. At $50 an hour it’s four weeks. At $25 (more realistic for most) it’s 8 weeks.
There isn’t 8 weeks worth of actual knowledge to be had on this subject unless you learn like a dunce. There isn’t 4 weeks either. I’ll grant that there MIGHT be two weeks worth of value. Maybe. But there couldn’t be more.
So maybe “scam” is too strong a word. Fine: it’s not a scam. It’s just a damn expensive way to get an education in something that isn’t fricking rocket science.
But then again, as there’s a sucker born ever minute. Google “Stompernet” and the gushing results go on and on and on.. and yeah, I believe EVERY ONE OF THEM IS MAKING TONS OF MONEY (wish I could put this in red!).
Yeah, right. Buncha maroons..
(Some very prominent internet marketing trainwrecks come to mind.) Naomi, I smell a series here — please dish!
Naomi,
I think you made the right decision to go with this training since it seems like top quality and the expense of of it should motivate you to make the most of what you learned.
The idea of the points system on one hand sucks but on the other hand is a darned good marketing technique to hook in subscribers for the long haul.
All the best
You might consider heading down to Ken McCarthy’s The Seminar, which is in, like, a week. No question for me, and I watch these launches pretty closely, if this was the right time for me to make a significant investment in this kind of education, that’s where I would put it. I will do it next year.
MM, I’m sure you’re right about what it was designed to do, but that’s always going to be a small percentage of your customer base, and it’s just part of the cost of doing business. IMO it’s not a wise business practice to make your best customers feel shitty about having given you money, in order to protect yourself from the scummy 2%. Esp. with a digital product, when you can write that 2% off as overhead.
Anything that induces that feeling of “I got screwed” after a customer has made a major investment is a bad idea. If you can possibly avoid it, do. Which I think is the point here.
Also, “never nickel and dime a premium price customer” should be tattooed on the foreheads of everyone who wants to push the limits of price elasticity.
Related to that–this was an opportunity for SN to say “You can watch more than 1 video a day for $800 a month. If you’re a Stompernet junkie and want to watch unlimited videos, all day every day, the cost is $1200 a month.” That would have made Naomi feel like a gigantic brainiac about getting the $800 a month package, instead of a tool who had been scammed.
Sonia, you are a genius. I am merely just clever for reverse-engineering the reason.
You are a genius, a scholar and a gentleman, my dear.
Thank you for sharing this, I was thinking about joining but balked at the $800 price tag (despite the 30 day money back guarantee, which sounds like is entirely valid). I did see value in it but this type of throttling is a bit ridiculous, I think it might highlight the value of the videos and less so the value of everything (you can download them all in the first month and then cancel, right?).
This is like buying an airline ticket and then finding out it costs $25 to check a bag.
@ Tony - I’m going to call you on this one:
Chill. Seriously. I pay $600 for one university course and $150 for books for that course. Price tag: $750. Time: 3 months of studying at 1 hour per day minimum. Extra expenses: Hotel room for exam, meals, telephone. Overall cost for one course? Over 1k. And this is distance education online.
My ROI? The pride to say that I passed a course in Physiological Psychology, something I will probably never use in my life, because I have at least 30 more courses per year over 5 to 8 years to obtain a Masters required in Quebec to practice psychology.
Internet course education? 1/4 the cost, no traveling expenses and a much higher applicable skill set that actually increases my earning potential and pays for the course many times over.
Putting people down for their informed choice to participate in a membership program on SEO isn’t right, Tony. Putting people down for getting convenient education in one place and saving time with a viable shortcut that comes with recommendations isn’t right.
Also, the program isn’t a scam. I’ve seen it. It’s quality information worth that price.
What Naomi is complaining about is the way the company attracted sales and how these lessons can apply to marketing for small businesses.
Stay on subject, try to remember not to stomp all over people and keep in mind that Itty Biz community is not the one you want to piss off. There are diplomatic ways to debate and express opinion without raging like that.
And my apologies for the public calling out.
[...] if you haven’t already read it, go read Is StomperNet a Scam? A Home Business Cautionary Tale. Second, I haven’t had any coffee yet. If I’m not lucid, you know [...]
@jim,
What airline would dare charge to check a bag? ;)
Ah, unbundling! Someone (not me) could write a book about it…
My partner and I were paid members of the StomperNet Web 2.0 SMARTS course which cost $1497 and was spread out over 15 weeks, end of January 2008-May 12, 2008.
We are “The 2 Older Dudes” who promote online privacy and security for the everyday Internet user, not just “power computer users”.
Our backgrounds are from the Internet gambling world and United States Govt. Intelligence Agencies. We’ve been off the “radar” so to speak pretty much our entire adult lives. Geez, in some instances we’ve been listed as “Dead/Not Alive”.
After reading the marketing preliminaries for SMARTS Web 2.0 and watched the videos we felt we had sufficient verifiable info to make an informed decision to join their course. I would not say their marketing for SMARTS Web 2.0 was “HYPE”, as hype has negative connotations. We found the course to be of HIGH VALUE and will be implementing many of their concepts in our “OFFICIAL LAUNCH” next week.
But they do have a tendency to bury price and availability issues under a ton of info and copy. The devil is in the details, n’est ce pas?
Example: We were under the assumption that we had won a FREE SMARTS Club membership after the closing of the course. Our accountant has told us we have a $97 deduction from our company credit card for SMARTS Club membership for the month of May. All of a sudden we do not feel like CONTEST WINNERS. After the Memorial Day holiday we WILL resolve this issue.
Our main PEEVE is this. How dare they start a Credit Card deducting continuity program without any notification, whatsoever. After all we won a FREE membership, right. Would we have joined the club after the ending of the course? Probably NOT. We recorded and printed out everything from the course and one day per work week we devote ourselves to our Web 2.0 marketing strategy.
Many folks feel more psychologically comfortable with masses of information surrounding them, (my opinion, prevents you from taking action, the paralysis of analysis syndrome). I’m sure there is great value in their StomperNet membership but at $800 per month and being deluged with all of their material it could lead to NOT taking TIMELY ACTION. Where is that sense of URGENCY to establish ones successful online business?
Do we think they are crooks. NO, definitely not. But like many successful businesses they find subtle ways to slightly gouge money from you and in such a way that is not illegal but never the less leaves a BAD feeling towards them.
Caveat Emptor (Let The Buyer Beware) Mitch Dominguez (Older Dude #1)
Thanks for telling this story. I guess I would describe their marketing as “misleading”. Kinda like lying by omission. They didn’t provide details on the “credits” and how they are acrued. IMO, this is critical info in helping potential customers decide if it’s worth paying $800/month to watch up to 37 videos.
I’m sure there’s some valuable information provided, but IMO potential customers would need to decide, before purchasing 1. what they need to learn, 2. if that topic is available and in what format (i.e. a 50 video series or a 10 video series on Adwords) 3. do they need to watch the entire catalog to get a ROI and 4. how long do they expect to pay $800/month before realizing their goal?
I don’t think anyone would actually watch 600 videos and effectively apply those techniques within a month.
@ Tony:
Where the FUCK do you get off? I don’t even know where to begin. First of all, no one desperately needs to believes this works. Naomi is a very good judge of what information is useful and what is not. Secondly, we do make more than $100 an hour, thank you very much. So does Michael Martine, and I’m sure some of the other people who read this blog.
I have never seen someone so unwilling to listen to what other people have to say. Are you really so close minded? May I suggest you read the post on the comment rules; if you can’t post here without insulting the readers than you are not welcome here. It’s one thing to have a dissenting opinion, it’s another to try and browbeat and insult anyone who doesn’t automatically agree with you.
Treading on thin ice dude.
@Mitch: I agree w/ the “subtle ways [businesses use] to slightly gouge money from you ”
I’m willing to guess that this “credit accrual scheme” that StomperNet uses is one of the methods for actually PREVENTING people from paying $800, watching all 600 videos (and perhaps copying them … somehow) … then cancelling their memberships.
Netflix has a similar “scheme” … they have plans that allow you to rent 1-8 videos at a time, as many times as you’d like during the month … BUT (there’s always a but) … if you return them too quickly … they will place your movie order at the bottom of the queue.
Sounds like “forced continuity” to me. Watch these videos…oh you want more? Pay your $800-here ya go. This is a sore subject with me. I recently bought 3 separate products from 3 separate “gurus”-now I find myself in 3 separate “memberships”. What the fuck? Who’s billing me $29.95 and where did I sign up for this shit? As anal retentive as I am how come I didn’t catch this. Sounds pretty underhanded to me! Now I have to figure out who is charging me what so I can cancel the damn things. Yeah…this is great use of my time…
@Jamie - Hear, hear!
@Tammy - The lesson here is only use one guru at a time. I say that tongue-in-cheek, but I’m serious. I could afford StomperNet. That’s not the issue. I’m getting so much value out of Teaching Sells, which is an entirely trustworthy program, that I don’t want StomperNet right now. It would be overload. I’m not ready for it and I know it. Brian Clark doesn’t come off like a guru, either, which is very refreshing. TS is a great example of how a low-key approach can work marketing magic.
I got some of Yaro’s crap a while back. I wouldn’t touch another friggin’ thing that dude pushes. It’s all about membership and continuing charges for “content” that looks like it was written by an autistic russian with a thesaurus fetish.
>>Nathan: thanks for the link to the whitepaper. I have downloaded it and will check it out.
I didn’t read all the comments, so I apologize in advance if I’m repeating someone else—
I hope to heck you’re building a membership site for this copywriting/SEO/Internet marking stuff so I can give money to someone I trust? That sounds like ass-kissing, but I can live with that.
What I can’t live with is downloading one more free report, watching one more video, buying one more $20 ebook, and doing one more case-study-from-a-distance because I’m dreadfully wary of making a sizable investment in Internet marketers who smell like every sale is for an upsell…which means (of course) I won’t get all of the hows, whats, and whys until I spend more money…and more money…and even more money. And I may never get the whole picture anyway.
And now I read that I’m right to be nervous? Lovely.
So I hope that you’re working on sumpin’, because I clearly need the help. And I hope to hell it ain’t $800 a month, because that’s my rent too.
@Mitch — After my series on Alexandria Brown, I heard from one of her students. According to this woman, Ali also has an irritating way of signing folks up for her continuity program without a heckuvalotta notice.
Notably, this woman bought three information products over 8 or so months, and each time she was given two free months to Ali’s Silver Mastermind group. At the end of each two month period she was automatically charged, and each time she withdrew. By the third time she wondered why the hell the system didn’t take a hint.
She was increasingly less happy as she realized this poorly managed auto-continuity-via-unwanted-free-membership was going to happen each time she bought something. My question is: Where’s the incentive to buy more stuff if there’s this hassle that automatically follows? For this woman, Ali’s upsell sequence turned on itself and bit itself on the butt.
Interestingly, even though the woman no longer pays for access to Silver Mastermind content via the monthly fee, she still has unlimited access to the content. I suspect (but don’t know) this is because Ali’s Golden Rolodex, or whatever she calls it, is brimming with affiliate links, and the monthly speakers are JV partners. If this is the case, there’s no benefit at all to letting subscribers go, whether they pay for access or not. So, according to this woman, folks are paying $47/mth to be sold to, when they could be getting the same infosell for free.
Food for thought, seems like.
Thanks for the post Naomi. I’ve been hearing alot about Stompernet over the past couple weeks and while it sounds much less ‘over the top’ than other internet marketing courses, it’s still way out of my league.
I’m with Naomi and Sonia on this one. Anyone making the leap to a paid subscription has to be in a very precarious state of mind right at the moment of signing up. Is this for real? Am I getting taken? Especially with a service that is following all the patterns of the Product Launch Formula — right up to the ’servers down’ email everyone was just waiting to see.
I can appreciate the reasons for implementing a credit system. I can even agree with the view that I couldn’t possibly watch more than 30 videos per month. But there’s no reason to hide the credit system before the sale. You’re just asking for buyer’s remorse. Why do that to your new customers?
Mark
PS — a point that I haven’t seen raised yet is that many of these Internet Marketing videos are LOOONG. Take an hour to portray three minutes worth of information. Wastes my time but I guess you can claim ‘500 hours of content’. I hope that’s just the free stuff and you premium folks can get the condensed versions. I’d be really mad spending 10 credits to figure out where in the hour the actual information is.
[...] It looks like I am not alone. Read about what made Naomi feeling pissed. [...]
[...] find a blog. Any blog. This one will do. Read some of the comments. (Maybe not the ones on the Stompernet review, but any other post is fine.) See who’s [...]
[...] Her er noen som har l
[...] They are premium content and cost you credits. Now it doesn’t bother me near as much as Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz, but I don’t recall any mention of “premium content” on the sales [...]
Hi,
I too feel annoyed with all the download this free report and watch this video thing and you will make lots of money. I have spent lots of money on the net trying to make money but that hasnt happened.
still in my shit textile factory job, while i still have it that is. Geez $800 a month that would be 1/3 of my wage.
steve
Listen Folks..
I would be willing to jump and down shout from the rooftops how great StomperNet is .. but I never got the chance.
I recently took advantage of the new StomperNet2.0 + Brainless Business Transplant for $150.
I purchased on 9/7 and still have not recieved the product.
I have recieved an overdose of email “congratulating” me on my purchase.
So .. I set off an interesting expedition .. solely to find out what happened to my order ( innocently enough, I presume ? )
So I write .. oh .. 4-5 emails to :
stse2support@stompernet.com >> I received exact duplicate responses from Colby,Natalie et al telling me quote “I have confirmed that your order has been placed successfully and is currently being processed” That’s great .. but the same exact duplicate message 5x ? Come on !!
Then I write to another customer service email listing ( yes, another one ! ) a meager attempt to get a response from the dark side of the moon.
stompersupport@stompernet.com >> No, none,zero, nada response.
Ok .. now it’s time to call! this is where is gets really interesting ..
So, I managed to find a number listed at
https://member.stompernet.net/salesflow/contact-us.html
the number is 1-404-348-4401 ( huh ? No even a toll free number ? )
Well, I get the GREATEST customer service message ever recorded.
“there is no one able to answer you call. GoodBye!”
Next is a quest similar to trying to find the Holy Grail …. a legitimate telephone number ..
So I start the exercise and “voila” i find one … buried as deep as whale crap at :
https://www.stompernet.com/Default.aspx?tabid=190&ctl=Terms
this is inside the Terms and conditions.
The number is 1-888-325-7845
and .. I get a LIVE person named Judy who is quite sweet but tells me she cannot help me . I need to contact another customer service person , which, she diligently transfers me .. well, I should have known at this point I am now adrift in the nether world of no contact. This ranks up there with sensory depravation torture!
Ok , I am starting to think .. wow, did I get scammed ?
So, I look at the blogs and discover there are significant volume of negative pub on StomperNet ..
Oh God, was I a fool ?
Then, I think well … if it is a scam then what does the Better Business Bureau have to say ..
Well, should have known .. StomperNet has an Unsatisfactory Rating.
Well, I issued a chargeback on my business VISA card today , which incidentally VISA’s policy is to cancel the card and re-issue ( which means know I have to update all my business accounts ! )
So.. I do not know if StomperNet is a scam but …
if it look slike a duck
sounds like a duck
dont get f—
You get my point !!!
Yes, I am sure there will be countless fans of StomperNet claiming I an off-sides or so .. but I have published the contact list and phone numbers .. Try it your self and see..
if StomperNet is a truely reputable, customer service advocate then why close the doors on it’s customers.
‘nuf said’
I think the gist of it is that if a company isn’t completely upfront about what its doing and if customer support is difficult to reach and/or unhelpful, one tends not to want to deal with that company anymore.
I’ve seen some of the free Stompernet videos and tools, as well as one of their sites - and I could tell I was looking at true competence and know-how. But when I’ve tried to cancel the recent free trial subscription, I’ve found it very difficult. There is no statement in the site or in their emails on how to cancel.
I Googled “cancel Stompernet” and I found cancelneteffect.com (plus several sites where people were complaining about their own difficulties in canceling).
I tried to cancel twice, using that site, but ran into something technically wrong with the site.
I have written to support a few times - no answer yet. It isn’t so easy to cancel. I shouldn’t have to spend so much time figuring out how to cancel, writing to support, searching, etc. Its not really “free” then.
It would have been more honest to say “its a free trial, and if you can figure out how to cancel on time, you won’t be charged again, but you should set aside a total of 1-2 hours for the cancelation process, incremented over a period of about two weeks.”
Anna,
I believe there is a number on the inside of Net Effect magazine which you can call.
Also, amaziningly, i raised such a stink I actually received a call from their StomperNet Customer Service. They could not convince me to purchase but they did send me the StompetNetr 1.0 and 2.0 for free.
It is quite obvious, once they hook you it is your job to find a way to get unhooked. If I can find the direct number for their customer service agent I will forward to you.
Regards,
Ron
Thanks! :)
I don’t have the magazine - I asked for it to be shipped to Europe where I am, but it was shipped to the West Coast of the US. I guess I can read it during holidays. But that’s a bit late for cancelation!
I know there’s always a little risk in these types of things. It was a little harder than I thought because when I signed up I saw a direct link to a cancelation page. But later I couldn’t find it …
Got the “Net Effect” and the CD (STSE2).
I canceled after two weeks. The CD of course does not work anymore. I was sure they said that the subscription was for the magazine. Hey they could of said that the course would be only $77.00. Which seems to be a trend these days with ebooks and courses. Everyone is going with $77.00.
Lets see PPC Classroom 2, Affiliate payload and a few others I can not remember. I would rather read the PPC web guidelines and ask questions on forums then be treated like a sheep.