Advanced Merchant Funding
Complaint 90127 Details

I was contacted by phone by this company at a time when I was out of work and was looking for a way to earn an income. I was told by the individual who contacted me that they were offering me a business opportunity dealing with offering businesses with poor credit merchant accounts allowing them to accept credit cards. In this poor economy this seemed to make since to me as I know of businesses who have lost their credit rating due to our slow economy. I told the individual that I never make a business decision without thinking it over first at which time I was told by him that this was a one time "first call" offer. What this meant was that I couldn't think it over and do my due diligence and check them out first. Once again I told him I needed to think about it and had only a few hundred dollars left to my name, which by the way was true. The individual then asked if I was willing to talk to his supervisor who then lowered the price. I repeated to him that I had no way of paying for the "business opportunity" and would have to decline. He then asked me if I had any credit cards to which I replied yes but they were all nearly maxed. I then explained to him since I had been out of work for several months I was paying many of my bills with these credit cards. Without skipping a beat he told me if I didn't make enough money to pay my bills from this "opportunity" by the time I had to pay them, they would gladly refund my money. He followed that up with a 90 day 100% money back guarantee. He stated that if for any reason I was not satisfied within 90 days from the date of my purchase that they would refund my money. Long story short I maxed my credit cards leaving me with only about $500 to my name to eat, buy my diabetic medicine and pay my bills. I figured I'm a hard worker so making my money back shouldn't be a problem. Boy was I wrong.

After receiving my membership package from them which consisted of a small booklet of about 50-60 pages. I started to follow the instructions for success that were contained in the booklet. I had paid for live coaching so I called to schedule my first coaching session. After about 3 attempts I finally got through to a live body and they told me that I would hear from a coach the following week at the very latest. I never heard from a coach so I called again and after several attempts once again I finally reached a live person. This time I told them they had promised me a coach would call me by the following week and I never heard a word from anyone from their office. This time I was told I would get a call the very next day by a coach. Guess what, I never heard from a coach or anyone this time either. Following this I was patient with them and gave them a few more opportunities to make good on what they said. I must have called them at least 15 to 20 times to reach them about 5 times.

It was about 30 days into the 90 days when I called to make good on the 90 day 100% money back guarantee. After about 5 attempts I reached a person who once again told me they would have someone get back in touch with me. You guessed it, no one ever called. I then contacted a lawyer that I have access to through another business venture that by the way makes good on it's guarantees as I know several people they have helped including some of my family members. My lawyer said it would be best to start by mailing them a letter certified mail along with another letter first class mail which I did. I mailed both of these letters to the address listed under contact information on their website as well as in their booklet. Now about 2 weeks later the certified letter I mailed them came back as undeliverable. Why doesn't this surprise me. I was able to reach a live body once again and told her about a certified letter I had mailed them having come back... I didn't tell her it was about a refund so she told me that was the old address and gave me an other address. I then told her that the address I mailed the letter to was on their website. She told me she'd have to mention that to her supervisor.

I am at the point now where I will pay another $3.50 to send another certified letter and If that doesn't work I'll have my lawyer contact them.

In a way I'm glad I never sold a merchant account to a local business as this would have made me feel bad knowing what I know now.