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Total Scam Artist – Google his name and company, now into BBQ sauce. He and his wife have been ripping people off for years with $199.95, OUTDATED, software you can get on Amazon for $10. His company says your “student expressed interest”. Playing on parents that want to do right by their kids, and then he won’t refund your money. If your credit card company wont help you, then report his business practices to the California Attorney General. Stay away from his BBQ sauce too, he had ripped people off for years to get the money to get it going.
Testprepservices.org owned by Ira Pupko also owns Hog http://hogheavenbbqco.com/ phone number [protected].4.HOGHEAVEN 44789 Mumm St. Temecula, CA 92592 Hog Heaven BBQ Sauce https://www.facebook.com/HogHeavenSauces
Test Prep Services is not is first venture in telemarketing selling SAT/ACT software. The software is very outdated, and will not work on most MAC's but Ira tells his sales reps to say it does and then will offer substandard replacement software . The Scholarship and Grant Guide is a free service, that is also outdated. The program includes "sample tests" that are links to tests anyone could find. Them scam is in the misleading of parents to make them believe their "student had expressed interest, when in fact numbers are coming off a call list". He will not refund clients if they don't get the point increase. The last person had to contact the State Attorney General to get her money. There is a current client that will validate she is going through the same thing right now. She can prove it with emails sent to the company, and I can prove it with emails directly to ownership that always where ignored and went unanswered. A current practice is they aren't refunding people until they call asking where their money is. Why not just refund it back to their card like any other company would?
THEY WILL REFUND YOUR MONEY, but it is difficult. First the will insist on a check, because they say it's cheaper for the company to do so. Could be that, and they also could be looking to limit the amount of refunds having to be issued so they don't show up on the radar of their Merchant Account. I was getting frustrated from clients emailing asking where their check was, when they had already agreed to a check refund. It was also noted if they would accept a check. Those that didn't accept a check were ignored until they demanded their money back.
Filed against :
The Test Prep Service Kit
44789 Mumm St
Temecula CA [protected]
Complaint Description:
After returning incompatible CDs following all return instructions, company denies ever receiving them despite USPS validation. Thus no Refunds. Test prep services contacted me on 4/11/16 stating my 16 yr old child had expressed interest in their product of 10 CDs to help improve test taking skills, college application prep. etc. My child denies speaking to anyone on this topic and they did not explain how they got this information. 100% return guarantee was offered as explained in the website as well. Fell for the scam against better judgement. Payment $214.90 by credit card on 4/11/16. Gave exact specifications of MAC computer requirements. 4 CDs were not compatible and the other 6 would not load. They told us to keep the non-MAC CDs and just give them to someone who might need them and they would send us a new package. We declined because the MAC CDs didn't work either. Returned CDs via USPS following all instructions. All correspondence after this was by email with Mr. Mike Long (mikebruch94@gmail.com) as the phone line was solely a voice mail that was never replied to after several days trying. Email dates are numerous on some days but took up to 10 days to respond other times only after a request for reply. Mr. Long now denied receiving the package stating "we've had many problems with them (the postal service) in the past" and " the postal service has messed up a lot lately" I contacted the Temecula post office and obtained all the tracking and reporting forms as well as the GPS coordinates of the delivery truck on day of delivery. Sent them all to Mr Long and he still denied receipt and demanded more proof of delivery. Temecula post office mentioned they had the exact problem recently with another customer returning a package to this address. I asked Mr Long if he had contacted the USPS or his mail carrier about these "many problems" they've had and he wouldn't respond. He stated the GPS coordinates of the mail truck were not his address and this was not proof of delivery. Informed him that mail carriers usually do not stop at every house, they park and deliver in the area and that the carrier obviously does not have an on body GPS or mailman camera to prove he delivered correctly. When asked how they got information on my child, a minor, he stated "someone in your household must have given it. Totally False. (why would I give information on my child to a stranger, much less an unsolicited caller) Basically, this company offers you a product under false pretenses preying on parental instincts of helping your child after illegally obtaining information on them. Sends you a cheap and unusable product. Upon return, they deny receipt so they don't have to send a refund. I've filed complaints with the USPS postal inspector and will be calling the FBI regarding their gathering information on my child.
Your Desired Resolution:
I ask for a full refund of $214.90.
This case will be reviewed by a complaint specialist at the Better Business Bureau, and then forwarded to the business for their response. It is our policy to allow the business 30 working days to respond to your complaint. You will be notified when the business has responded.
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