Global Cash Flow Network – Exposed

It’s an anniversary this week I was hoping to celebrate. It’s been a year since the Global Cash Flow Network’s Wade Matteson contacted me regarding this Blog.

He was concerned about what it could do for the GCFN Program and made it clear he did not want any ‘bad publicity’ online. Well, Wade, Happy Anniversary! Below is an e-mail just sent to Wade.

Wade:

It’s now been a year since you and I spoke on the phone and you told me you ‘could be flexible about this situation’ as you didn’t want any ‘bad publicity’ regarding GCFN. If you have forgotten, let me refresh your memory: I was part of the GCFN Scam in 2007. I spent about $4,500 on the program. I earned just $110 (the standard GCFN Bait Cheques of $10 and $100). I started a Blog online (http://www.globalcashflownetwork.ca) to alert others from staying away from online scams. You phoned me when someone pointed out the Blog to you.

I never expected you to actually forward me a refund. I actually was hoping you’d do just as you did – ignore me. It allowed me to sit and wait. Now I can post this letter online…exactly a year after your phone call telling me how flexible you could be in fixing our little ‘situation.’

Thanks, Wade.

You’ve given me more proof of the standards you have set in the GCFN Quality Control Department.

Wilbur Elliott – formerly Client 14181.

After chasing Global Cash Flow Network for months for the $399 US I was entitled to receive as part of their ‘money back’ promise I started to lose faith in the program and the integrity of the company providing it.

Online research led me to discover I was not alone in my frustration. My credit card was carrying a heavy load as a result of my involvement with the GCFN Certified Media Placement Specialist (CMPS) program and I was feeling ripped off. Others with blogs or responding to blogs about GCFN or other make money online programs were expressing their disappointment in the very same program. Although I did find just as many websites and blogs that were positive about the offerings of GCFN, those that were negative were VERY negative.

I was trying to get out of the program and had sent numerous e-mails to my Level 2 Media Coach Sara Williamson. I was becoming convinced that Sara either didn’t understand entirely my issue or was being paid by GCFN to purposely come across as confused and unable to communicate to me answers to my questions.

Finally, after a row of back and forth e-mails Sara finally got it and the auto responder program at GCFN sent me the following generic response:

From: support@globalcashflownetwork.com
Subject: Wilbur – we received your request…
Date: December 9, 2008 10:36:32 PM PST (CA)
To: laptop@thenewsleader.ca
Reply-To: support@globalcashflownetwork.com

Dear Wilbur,

We are sending you this e-mail to inform you that we have forwarded your account to our Quality
Management department to follow up with you to resolve whatever complaint or issue you may have with us.

The reason we have you talk with them is to log and document whatever problems you may have had with our products, our services or our representatives so that we may correct those problems and maintain
the highest quality for our students.

They will be contacting you at the phone number on your account.

By the time you have received this, you may have already been contacted by someone from that department. If you have, then please disregard this e-mail.

If you have not already heard from someone from the Quality Management department, please call our Customer Service department at (800) 719-8270 to set up an appointment.

We appreciate your cooperation in our efforts to provide the best service to our students.

Sincerely,
Melissa Troyer, Customer Support

Well, although it was a standard form letter e-mail, I thought maybe I was finally getting somewhere with this. More to come…

Since I started this blog I have uncovered some interesting details about the Global Cash Flow Network make money from home scam. A lot of it comes from my personal experience, but where I have found the most interesting information is from what other people are saying about the program on various forums and blogs online.

A recent posting at www.work-a-home-forum.com caught my eye. It’s a response to a forum thread titled, “Your Feedback on Global Cash Flow Network” and was posted by someone identified as ‘Jules’ only last month (April 3, 2010) at 13:24.

In the posting, which I have included below in it’s entirety, Jules shares his frustration about feeling taken by the slick talking telemarketers and for the problems encountered it attempting to get a refund on money spent to get into the program.

I can totally relate to his posting and it confirms a lot of the things I’ve already blogged about myself.

Here is Jules’ posting: I was stupid enough last year to sign up with GCN. What a complete waste of time and money! Their sales people are superb in my experience and make the whole process of making all this money sound extremely easy. However, once the manual arrived I realised this was no easy option. My experience has been that GCN don’t return any calls, rarely respond to support tickets and unless you want to spend some more money with them really couldn’t care less about getting their coaching staff to advice you.

Anyway, has anyone been successful in getting refunds from these jokers. If anyone has I’d be interested to hear what they consider to be the best way to go about it as I’ve read on this forum that it can be extremely difficult. I was stupid enough to also sign up to the ultimate traffic system so I’m into them for a considerable amount of cash now. This system is absolute rubbish, we were promised the earth and it hasn’t generated any extra traffic at all in my opinion. When I questioned them about this they just offered to run it again FOC!

Any advice much appreciated.
Jules

It’s been a month, okay a month and a couple of days, since Global Cash Flow Network Director of Quality Management Wade Matteson contacted me about this blog.

At the time he expressed concern about why I would start a blog like this about GCFN months after I had received my original $399 US investment in the Certified Media Placement Specialist (CMPS) program.

I explained to him my reasons for this blog and stated that there have been invitations issued for feedback, both good and bad, about GCFN and any other make money from home programs. To date the only comments received here at www.globalcashflownetwork.ca have all been posted in the places they were received – uncensored. So far the only feedback received here has not been positive towards Global Cash Flow Network although I did purposely search for some online. What I found I posted in earlier posts on the blog.

Matteson had indicated he could be ‘flexible about this situation’ after I shared with him my displeasure in spending close to $4,500 US and only receiving $110 in return close to two years in the program. He hinted at me receiving a refund.

A month (and a couple of days) has passed. So far, no refund. We’ll see how long it takes as Matteson said, “We don’t want any bad publicity.”

Let’s pick up where I left off. It was August 29, 2008 when I last heard from my Level 2 Coach. I had been trying for months up to this point to prove I have completed the ’14 Things…’ list in order to receive my $399 US initial investment back from Global Cash Flow Network. A series of e-mails back and forth proved fruitless.

It wasn’t until October 3, 2008 that I wrote again asking for any progress on my request regarding the ‘money back program’ and I was offered a ‘consultation call’ which I’ve since identified in an earlier post on this blog as one of the many ways GCFN tries to avoid honouring their promise.

This was my e-mail response:

From: W. George Elliott [mailto:laptop@thenewsleader.ca] 

Sent: Friday, October 03, 2008 2:29 PM

To: Sara Williamson

Subject: Re: Progress?

Sara:

I appreciate the offer, but I haven’t seen ANY results from all the work I’ve done to date. I would have expected to have seen some return on my investment by now. I’m actually quite disappointed that I spent upwards of $6,000 and have only seen exactly $110.00 come back. I’m ten months into this at this point and I think had a little trickled in monthly I’d probably be quite satisfied.

I’m really not sure what to do at this point. Thanks for your assistance to this point.

George

It took Sara three days to respond with this e-mail:

From: sara@globalcashflownetwork.com
Subject: RE: Progress?
Date: October 9, 2008 9:55:15 AM PDT (CA)
To: laptop@thenewsleader.ca

Hi George,

I am sorry to hear of your frustrations. Please let me know if there is anything I can do? Below is a form that you can forward to melissa@globalcashflownetwork.com and provide your opinion of our services. We use this information to improve the services we provide.

Remember we are here to support you!!! We want to see you do well…
so definitely keep in touch. 



Thank you for contacting Global Cash Flow Network

Sara

Another month passed and then December rolled around. It had been well over a year that I had been a part of the CMPS program offered by GCFN and after spending thousands of dollars getting into the program (another couple on such things an online advertising, auto responder programs, pay-per-click promotion, etc.) I had made only $110 of it back. I wanted out and I wanted out badly. I sent this e-mail on December 3, 2008:

From: W. George Elliott [mailto:laptop@thenewsleader.ca] 

Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 12:19 PM

To: Sara Williamson

Subject: Refund?

Sara:

A year has passed since I joined the Global Cash Flow Network. I have made a total of $110.00.
When does my ‘money back’ guarantee kick in? Thanks.

George

Five days later this was the response:

From: sara@globalcashflownetwork.com
Subject: RE: Refund?
Date: December 8, 2008 11:16:50 AM PST (CA)
To: laptop@thenewsleader.ca

Hi George,

I have been on vacation for the past week so I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. If you go to www.trainingwithmary.com and under the first column “Getting Started” you will see the CMPS 12 Month Guarantee link http://www.cmpshelpdesk.com/show_help1N.php?id=69 . After you have reviewed this let me know if you have any more questions and what you want to do.

You started on 10/26/2007 with the CMPS Program.

Sara

I was fed up with the dodging, ducking and weaving I had been receiving from Global Cash Flow Network and had little interest in looking up a website to find out what Sara could probably have told me herself. My next e-mail follows:

From: W. George Elliott [mailto:laptop@thenewsleader.ca] 

Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 12:18 PM

To: Sara Williamson

Subject: Re: Refund?

Sara;

Save me some research…do I get a refund or not?

George

Sara’s follow-up was another attempt at side-stepping the issue.

From: sara@globalcashflownetwork.com
Subject: RE: Refund?
Date: December 8, 2008 11:20:23 AM PST (CA)
To: laptop@thenewsleader.ca

. I will give you a call so I can have you speak to a Quality Manager who is an authorized personal who can answer that for you!

Sara

It was becoming more and more obvious to me that Global Cash Flow Network’s customer service department was far better at selling and up-selling it’s products than dealing with customer complaints. The more time spent on trying to get answers to my questions, along with the obvious avoidance in dealing directly with my issue led me to think I was being ripped off. I think anyone in my position would have felt the same way.

In an effort to assist you decide whether or not you really want to become a CMPS (Certified Media Placement Specialist) by signing up to the program developed by Global Cash Flow Network I have started to list of things I think should be changed or altered to improve the program.

The slick sales pitch on the phone is offensive. Yes, I know, one of the best selling features for GCFN is the skilled telemarketers they have on staff selling you, then up-selling you into the program and quite frankly, they do an extremely good job at it. However, the sales pitch would be more attractive if it was presented a little more honestly.

The guy who first signed me up in November 2007 repeated the phrase ‘risk-free’ so much that I barely recall any of the other details. I do remember I was told that my phone conversation was being recorded and that I was giving my credit card number to sign up to a risk-free program. What he didn’t tell me was that the portion of the program that was really risk-free was the $399 US I spent just to join. I could make it back by completing the ‘easy’ 14 Things… list.

The extra $4,495 US I spent on the Ultimate Traffic Program was apparently not as risk-free.

If honesty is the best policy and if the customer is always right, then GCFN needs to re-examine how they sell their product on the phone. Yes, there’s also buyer beware and a sucker born every minute, but those are not reasons to take advantage of people trying to earn an extra dollar. The sales pitch needs to be toned down a notch and explained with some more details such as stating the 14 Things… items are not all free and that there are a number of other costs associated with the program. Yes, it may scare off a few but better to scare away a customer than to upset one to the point they feel ripped off.

Every business venture includes an element of risk. Global Cash Flow Network also includes an element of risk, but, according to their literature, if you do it right you can quite possibly earn a good deal of money.

That, however, was not my case.

After attempting on numerous occasions to sever my ties with Global Cash Flow Network I finally, on December 22, 2008, managed to get my message across to them that I wanted out and my money back. I was tired of fighting for months to retrieve my $399 US initial sign up fee. I had completed all the requirements, but for some reason my Level 2 Coach could not open jpeg files sent to her as proof. I still don’t believe she couldn’t open them, but I can’t prove that.

A phone conversation with Bert Nunley of the Quality Management Department convinced me to stick with the program a while longer.

This was the e–mail Bert sent me following our conversation:

From: BertN@globalcashflownetwork.com
Subject: Global Cash Flow Network
Date: December 22, 2008 12:37:16 PM PST (CA)
To: laptop@thenewsleader.ca

Termination of Services Agreement

Hello Bill,

Per our conversation today I will put you on the non-active client list and shutdown the websites. You are allowed to keep the CMPS binder. Guarantee and Warranty of Service for the Program: The Company offers a Guarantee for the program. It’s simple. All you do is try the program for a full 12 month period and apply just one different means of advertising per month for the 12 months and if you haven’t made all of your money back, simply contact our office within 30 days after the 12th month and we’ll cut you a check for the difference of what you earned and what you paid for the program (shipping and handling not included). We set the challenge and the guarantee up this way because we want you to work the business and see for yourself the excitement of what can happen for you and your family as you attempt to build potential security for you and your family. At this time there is no refund eligible as per the guarantee as provided in this email. You will have not further recurring fees, or any other charges of any sort (unless there were any purchases you made in the future, although there is nothing that you have to purchase). This does require the reply to this email quoting this text and stating “I AGREE”.

What got my attention first about this e-mail is that my name is not Bill. Secondly, the conversation I had with Bert was not about a termination of service. What Bert offered me on the phone was a re-run of my Ultimate Traffic System at no cost to me.

When it was pointed out to him I received the following e-mail:

From: BertN@globalcashflownetwork.com
Subject: Global Cash Flow Network
Date: December 22, 2008 1:57:27 PM PST (CA)
To: laptop@thenewsleader.ca

Wilbur Elliot,

Per our conversation today Global Cash Flow Network has agreed to continue your services, education, and support. Global Cash Flow Network is going to re-run the traffic portion of your Ultimate Traffic System at NO ADDITIONAL COST to you. All guarantees are still in force for your protection.

To continue our services you must reply to this email by clicking the reply button and typing the words “I agree” in the body of your email reply.

I saw this as another ‘red flag’ signaling a problem with the program I was in and continued to fight for months afterwards until I finally received my $399 US credited back to my credit card. It wasn’t until November 2009 when I launched this blog that I decided I had to fight for the rest of what I spent on what I had determined was not a very promising program filled with empty and broken promises.

My Global Cash Flow Network Level 2 Coach Sara Williamson told me on August 29, 2008 that she would look into what was taking so long for me to receive my $399 US refund from the cash-back portion of my program. I had completed the 14 Things… required to qualify back in February of that year and struggled for months to get answers on why it was so difficult to get back money promised as part of the program.

I discovered in my attempts that not only had the 14 Things… changed since I had completed them, but also for some reason the jpeg files I sent, as proof could not be opened.

I waited and waited and fired off another e-mail on October 2, 2008.

From: W. George Elliott [mailto:laptop@thenewsleader.ca] 

Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 12:18 PM

To: Sara Williamson

Subject: Progress?

Sara:
I’m just wondering what progress, if any, has taken place with my account.
Thanks.
W. George Elliott – GCFN Client 14181

Sara’s response? It was as if she never read my e-mail.

From: sara@globalcashflownetwork.com
Subject: RE: Progress?
Date: October 3, 2008 2:19:36 PM PDT (CA)
To: laptop@thenewsleader.ca

Hi George,

In this case it sounds like a consultation would be appropriate. I can arrange a phone call if you like so we can trouble shoot what’s been done vs. what’s happening results wise to conclude what needs to be done. Let me know what you think?

Stay tuned as there’s still plenty to follow!