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The good, the bad, and the ugly - discover what customers are saying about Thrive Learning Institute

Welcome to our customer reviews and complaints page for Thrive Learning Institute. We understand that making informed decisions about where to invest your time and money can be challenging, which is why we've created this platform for our community to share their honest feedback about their experiences with Thrive Learning Institute.

On this page, you'll find a comprehensive collection of reviews and complaints from real customers who have used Thrive Learning Institute's products or services. Our reviews are authentic and unbiased, providing you with a complete picture of the company, its products or services, and their customer service.

Whether you're considering doing business with Thrive Learning Institute, or you've already had an experience with them, our community's reviews and complaints will give you a valuable perspective on what to expect. Our goal is to help you make informed decisions about where to invest your time and money, and we hope that our platform will be a valuable resource for you.

Please feel free to browse our reviews and complaints and share your own experience with Thrive Learning Institute. Your feedback is an important part of our community and will help others make informed decisions.

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12:07 am EDT

Thrive Learning Institute did not get what was promised

January 23, 2009 momentum marketing connected us, charles and wilma kaighen, to thrive learning institute which promised to coach and provide educational videos and training for an on-line business. They promised we would profit enough in 6 months time to pay off our debt. We were charged $15, 200.00 (Now I see that everyone was charged a different price!). We had good credit and had 2 credit cards with zero balance at the time. They took advantage of that for sure! I received very little coaching during the first 3 weeks, then... I was "on my own" to figure out what to do. With that much debt to pay off... I was in trouble! I was also paying $39.95 a month for their lightwave website builder. I began getting calls from other companies who told me that they could help my website be more professional for a fee. I was already drowning in the debt and felt so afraid. I studied the "agreement" and found that they would not give a refund and that I could not sue them for a refund! I felt trapped for sure! I focused my attention on working harder... To get this business to work... After 2 years of trying... I had only made 1 small sale to one of my sisters. This was a disaster! I decided to drop the website (That would save me at least $39.95 a month!) and then focused my energies on getting the huge debt paid off. I have often wished something could be done about this! I now see that many others have suffered as well. I am looking at the "agreement" right now... It says, warranty "we fully expect all of our clients to recoup their full initial investment inside of 6 months. If for some reason it is not recouped, we will continue to work with the user until they recoup their initial investment." that did not happen! I attempted to log in to my user account on thriveli.com to access the e-library... And I cannot log in. That was supposed to be available to me for the rest of my life! I was wanting to get some kind of benefit from this great debt! If there is any way of getting even a portion of my money back, I would be so grateful! 15 thousand dollars is a lot of money to pay for nothing! This all happened at a bad time... I was hoping to help my daughter with her college, but instead became so "strapped financially" that she was not able to do more than 1 year of college. I have the "agreement", but do not know how to send that to you all... Or if I need to... Let me know if there is anything more I need to provide.

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6:43 pm EDT
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Thrive Learning Institute Scam

Thrive Learning Institute is a scam. They used a highly skilled, trained and relentless sales agent that used all of the high pressure sales tactics to pressure me to make a deal with them.
They take advantage of people that have been financially hurt and are looking for answers to their money problems. They quickly put you through a "qualification" process to determine your available resources, primarily credit card related. They try and make you feel at ease by saying things like, "well it's not really your money, you are just using the credit system for a while and you will recoup all of the money from the great website you will have from Thrive.
The training is weak, production values poor and the information is generic, dated and available free around the internet. They refused to give me my money back. There is no real customer service, you can't reach people and there are hundreds of others just like me, betrayed, hurt and looking for help from the people that should be protecting us. Let's get organized and launch a group effort and put a stop to this. I'm in Virginia and have an agency who will help. Let me know if you are with me. [protected]

Greg (Alexandria, Virginia)

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Kona
Kona
Crystal, US
Jul 05, 2009 9:10 pm EDT

Have you been scammed by Thrive? Do you want help? Do you want to help others? Please click on my name above < Kona > and then "Send Message" and I will reply with more information.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

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Connie Roselander
Cornville, US
Apr 09, 2010 2:10 pm EDT
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Thrive Learning Institute sells people training to put up a website backed by a money back guarantee. My training package cost $8, 900.00, which was promised to be returned if I had not made that amount back in a year. I made no money, but Thrive Learning Institute is not honoring their word.

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We&#039;re Learning our Lessons
Abbotsford, CA
Apr 29, 2010 7:10 pm EDT
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We are still working on getting a refund. Keep working at it; eventually they will come through.

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urwutuis
, US
Aug 02, 2009 3:49 am EDT

Thrive is definitely a rip.
I really want some justice for these bloodsuckers. They lie right from the start and then keep lying all the way through.
That's why they try to scam you into giving them a testimonial after about 2 weeks into the program. They offer to submit your site to search engines in exchange for a testimonial. 50 of them WOW! what a deal, huh? These guys are a very low form of life. About a step below slime.

by urwutuis

Kona
Kona
Crystal, US
Jul 23, 2009 5:49 pm EDT

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Kareena
Jonesboro, US
Jul 09, 2009 6:03 pm EDT
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Kona
Where is your complaint? And please share your story...

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10:44 pm EDT
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Thrive Learning Institute Scammed out of thousands

This Company advertises themselves as a business school offering a team atmosphere to guide you on building your own online company. They apparently charge everyone differently and scam as much money out of you as a start up price and then finance the rest with a company called Momentum Marketing making 18% interest themselves. They are suppossed to work with you and guarantee you will be able to pay off everything within 6 months or earlier if you work atleast 10 hours a week. I far excelled at 10 hours a week and everytime I spoke with my so called team coach I was given the run around so was never even successful with the basics. Once they no longer offered a coach to me I tried to figure their system out on my own and received no help except an offer for a "new" system that was only available for a short time for another feeof $500.00 seperate from the original $5, 000.00 fee. The original sign up connects numerous other web hosts, credit card charging company's like Imax Bankcard, and once three months is up you are automatically charged a monthly fee...while never making ANY money as promissed. This is so humiliating and has added a great deal of stress to me and my family. They come across as a very legitimate company but clearly are making millions off of poor everyday citizens trying to support their families from home. I can't spend anymore with nothing but debt to show for and my outstanding credit will suffer.

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Update by minocarp
May 16, 2011 10:42 pm EDT

This Company advertises themselves as a business school offering a team atmosphere to guide you on building your own online company. They apparently charge everyone differently and scam as much money out of you as a start up price and then finance the rest with a company called Momentum Marketing making 18% interest themselves. They are suppossed to work with you and guarantee you will be able to pay off everything within 6 months or earlier if you work atleast 10 hours a week. I far excelled at 10 hours a week and everytime I spoke with my so called team coach I was given the run around so was never even successful with the basics. Once they no longer offered a coach to me I tried to figure their system out on my own and received no help except an offer for a "new" system that was only available for a short time for another feeof $500.00 seperate from the original $5, 000.00 fee. The original sign up connects numerous other web hosts, credit card charging company's like Imax Bankcard, and once three months is up you are automatically charged a monthly fee...while never making ANY money as promissed. This is so humiliating and has added a great deal of stress to me and my family. They come across as a very legitimate company but clearly are making millions off of poor everyday citizens trying to support their families from home. I can't spend anymore with nothing but debt to show for and my outstanding credit will suffer.

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9:39 am EDT
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I would like to put in a formal complaint about Thrive Learning Institute. In July of 2008 I decided to go forth with Thrive on a new business website for an investment of $5.703.00. My initial investment was supposed to pay for all the learning materials, advisers, website & SEO Package. I was told that if I did not make my initial investment back within...

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11:35 am EST
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Thrive Learning Institute Did not get what was promised

I personally have also been scammed by Thrive Learning Institute. I joined up with them through a company called Auction Profits at that particular time which was October 21, 2008. The convinced me that they would assist and teach me how to set up my own website, obtain a drop shipper for blind drop shipping and would double my investment within six months. I invested initially 5, 485.00 on my credit card of course. They always use that saying "Use other people's money" Well now I know exactly what they are talking about. They are getting rich off of poor suckers like me who falls for their scam! I was also referred to Innovative Tax Services as well for business planning etc. and that cost me another 1600.00 bucks. All Innovative tax services did was get a federal ID number for me for my so called business. I worked anywhere from 8-12 hours every single day of the week trying my best to learn everything I possibly could. I was determined I was going to be successful! NOT! I actually posted my unfinished website in December of 2008. Since that time to date I have only made three sales. Two leather hats and one leather pair of pants! I have only made 120.00 from those sales and have not had any sales since that time. I complained to Thrive almost everyday, cried many tears, was so stressed out about the money I have spent that I made myself sick quite literally! I filed a complaint with the BBB in Utah and got no answers for about a month. I filed against Thrive as well as Auction Profits who now call themselves E-commerce solutions. The original person Josh Bish whom I so called purchased this program from no longer works there and they have of course changed their names. The new manager or owner of Auction Profits otherwise now known is Kevin Handren. When I filed a complaint through the Utah BBB he responded after his time limit which was seven days with similar wording that I was offered additional coaching time by Thrive which at that time I refused and that all my complaint was for was buyer's remorse. I responded that after a year of begging and pleading for help and attempting to get answers I had simply given up and that I have a certificate that was provided me by Auction Profits for a written guarantee that I would double my money profits within six months, and it is a lifetime guarantee. The BBB didn't seem to care about that and suggested that I take what Thrive was offering which was four months of free website hosting and eight more weeks of personal coaching. So I have again given up. I plan to file this complaint with the Utah Division of Consumer Protection as well as the Federal Trade Commission and see where that gets me. I have spent upwards of ten thousand dollars paying hosting fees, the original charges from Thrive and Auction Profits and have made absolutely zero profit up to this point.

So in a nutshell my words of wisdom to anyone who is being called and conned into buying into any of their programs out there, STOP! Don't listen to their fake promises and don't spend one single penny! They are a bunch of crooks who prey on people who are simply looking for a way to make some extra money in an honest fashion and then they dump you like a hot potato when you start complaining! It's not worth the time of day! I hope that this complaint helps anyone out there who have been approached with their tactics!

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1:53 am EST
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We are waiting for a call from Thrive, in order to settle our request for the return of our money. We were smooth talked into thinking that we could make a little extra money but getting a web site and a drop shipper. We were told we would get our money back in 6 months time and be able to make a 6 figure income. You found out that we had a good credit...

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5:28 pm EST
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Thrive Learning Institute No Help after the 4 week pro-active stage

Long story short - after the initial 4 weeks pro-active training (which was dismal at best) there is no further contact from these people other than an occasional email. All phone conversations cease. So I was defrauded out of $4, 500 for a webhosting company that takes your money and runs.

In August, I clicked to a Google business add ohline and was sent a cd/dvd in the mail to teach me how to make money by using the web. I no sooner received this item than I received a phone call from the Thrive Learning Institute based out of Utah. He made the whole concept of an online university to learn how to make money by the using the internet sound sooooo easy that a child could do it. After numerous phone conversations with them, I agreed over the phone to do this and consented to a $4, 500 checking account withdrawal with the hope that within 4-6 weeks I could recoup my investment.

After 4 weeks with basically no help from them, I emailed them to let them know that I wanted my money back. I soon thereafter filed a formal complaint with the Utah Attorney General's office and carbon copied by Pennsylvania Attorney General's office. Within a week, I received a terse phone call from their company attorney asking what my problem was and after a lengthy conversation I agreed to give them another 4 weeks to help me get my website up and running and he promised to NOT take out the $49.95 monthly website hosting fee. ha! for a website that was not completed in any way.

So with another 4 weeks gone by and still no website they started charging my account again and again I called to complain and again I received a terse phone call from their top people. Then the deal was for me to just start all over with another website with other products. So now I had to apply for two (2) domain names for websites that I don't even have. I receive spam emails and phone calls from other bogus companies to get me into more scams, etc.

So in the end, I have nothing - no website, no money and no help from the Utah Attorney General. So whoever is out there reading this, DO NOT accept any kind of false help from the Thrive Learning Institute because you will be screwed.

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6:12 am EST
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Thrive Learning Institute Scammed-want full refund

Greed! Greed has happened to many in this country. What was wrong with making a 10-15% profit and not cheating individuals for your own personal gain? Some people want more and will lie, cheat, and steal to get your money, so they can have more at your expense and you have less. You receive nothing in return but stress and have a harder time just trying to have the basic necessities of life—food, heat, medicine, but they don’t really care.

Welcome to Infusion Media, Thrive Learning Institute, and Capital One Credit Card Company where you are really taken for a ride. Hi Clint Arnell, Brandon Clark, Zach Bradshaw, and the Capital One Dispute and Fraud Investigation Departments.

At Thrive Learning Institute you pay a lot of money for a lot of nothing. Think you are getting a web site from them to start an online business. Think again. What you get is doing all of the work yourself because the only thing they provide is telling you where to go to access free things on the Internet for your web site. They also provide more ways for you to spend your money when you were told there were absolutely no more out of pocket expenses. You have to purchase a domain name, get a business license, a drop shipper, set up a merchant account through them, pay hosting fees, and so on.

Now this is the good part. I spent $4, 225 for all of this and what I actually got was this: Infusion Media had their phone number disconnected, so I thought it was a scam (it really is a scam) and filed a dispute with my credit card company. Brandon Clark and Zach Bradshaw said they had me on tape and I could not get my money back, so I worked very hard at making my $4, 225 really count. Here is where we find out what kind of a company Thrive really is. Sean from Thrive called to verify that I had, in fact, filed a dispute with the credit card company. When I verified I had filed a dispute, he said I needed to stop calling and e mailing them for help because they (Thrive) weren’t going to help me any more and I needed to call Zach Bradshaw.

So, I called Zach Bradshaw and he wanted to know why I filed the dispute. I explained why I filed the dispute and the concerns I have with Thrive Learning Institute. Zach said if I dropped the dispute, my concerns would be taken care of. Zach offered me 6 additional months of free hosting and to start my year training over again. Zach was to send a confirming e-mail regarding this, which I never received, so I didn’t drop the dispute. I talked with Zach again and told him I wanted my money back as I never received an email from him. Zach said why would I send you an email when I don’t know how you learn and I didn’t hear from you regarding dropping the dispute. I told him you know how I learn because I have been in contact with Thrive constantly trying to get this done. Zach used the communications I had with Thrive (verbal and written) against me for the dispute with the credit card company and Capital One fell for it. Zach said because I did not drop the dispute with the credit card company has caused Thrive a hit on their merchant account and also cost Thrive a considerable amount of money. I told him I was waiting for his confirming email before I dropped the dispute. Once again, I was getting nothing in return from Thrive for my $4, 225 investment. Zach offered me this: I could either continue with the training or forfeit my money.

I chose to file complaints with the FTC, Utah Attorney General’s Office, Attorney General’s Office in the state I live, and again file a dispute and fraud complaint regarding the charge with the credit card company, and the BBB of Utah.

So this is what I end up with. (1) An offer for $1, 000 from Thrive because I don’t want to continue their training because it doesn’t work, they are unprofessional, untruthful, etc., (2) Rejection from Capital One regarding the dispute and/or fraud complaint (you can prove their was misrepresentation, pay services and not receive them and still can’t get your money back), even though you provide documentation from agencies as the FTC, Utah Consumer Protection Division that there was wrong doing and nothing is done, and (3) you are unable to receive anything from Infusion Media. You would think the credit card company would agree with me, the consumer, as I did not receive the services promised and have sent the appropriate documentation. What I received was misrepresentation and deceptive sales practices of what Infusion Media and Thrive Learning Institute could and would do for you; when in reality what I received was misrepresentation of what they actually provide, when you actually receive much of nothing for your investment, but violating the Business Opportunities Act in Utah and in my resident state, and other violations. Does breaking the law no longer have consequences and full restitution for the victims?

So, at this point, I am out my $4, 225 investment. I could get $1, 000 from Thrive and pay only $3, 225 for 2 months of the Thrive Learning Institute’s training and support, which really got me nothing because Thrive locked me out of their training web site and access to my web site/domain name, which I paid for. And, last but not least, what company provides a service that you paid handsomely for is allowed to decide they are no longer going to help you because you filed a credit card dispute against them. Just like many other victims of Infusion Media, Thrive Learning Institute, and the credit card companies, Capital One in my case, I have been taken for a ride. It is even harder to survive myself, let alone taking care of an elderly parent and provide financial assistance to a child that has a brain tumor. Thanks for your greed and taking from others who trusted you. No one deserves to be taken advantage in this manner because they want to take provide for their family. A personal thanks to Clint Arnell, Brandon Clark, Zach Bradshaw, and Capital One for taking food from my table, medicine from my daughter, and heat from my home.

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Fraud Scam by Thrive Learning Institute
Menominee, US
Jan 20, 2011 11:38 pm EST
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I totally agree with you all. They are literally criminals in my mind. The only difference is, is that I'm into them for $15, 000. I guess that was the going rate at the time I signed on. I read in other reviews that the price changed from person to person. Some were only charged $ 600 and others $10, 00 and ME, $15, 000. I spent
1 1/2 years building my website only to have them make me change it at least 3 times and when I told them that their "up-grade" at one point didn't work They told me I had to do the whole site over again. I guess they didn't have the programmer that knew how to correct it. I understand they hire students for their so called "experts" that train you. I NEVER got a hit or made a sale from my site and after a year and a half I told them I just wanted out. I had spent so much time and effort on it and it was such a let down when it failed that I just wanted to crawl in a hole somewhere and never come out.
I am a 70 year old retired widow and live on social security and by the time I pay my monthly bills there isn't anything left over for gas for my car or food for my table. Thank God I can plant a garden and harvest most of my food. I don't know how to go about getting my money back but I sure wish someone would tell me because I had to mortgage my home to cover the cost of this fraudulent so called business.
Maybe we need to get everyone who has been scammed by them on one page and go after them and break them. I sure would like to see that happen.
I went on the Utah website to file a complaint and besides being scammed for #15, 000, they want me to pay $25.00 to file the complaint. And then they will let me know what Thrive has to respond to it. That's a laugh. I tried that once and the BBB sent me a notice that there was no company by that name, even though they are listed in the BBB. I got a call from the BBB one day wanting to endorse my business with them and I told them they could take their BBB and stick it because of the scam I received from Thrive. He asked me if I filed a complaint and I told him that I had and they did nothing about it. So much for the BBB!
So if anyone has a way or website that will fight for our money without taking more away from us please let me know or include me in it. signed: durowp@gmail.com

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Decorating by Debi
Harrisburg, US
Apr 09, 2010 9:58 am EDT
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Thank you DsbJ1jjd - you said so eloquently exactly what happened to me. Same exact strategy that Thrive used on me-down to the last letter. Amazing. I felt like I was so alone in my quest for trying to retrieve my money that they fraudulently took from me. I will not give up on trying. I will fight to my dying day trying to rectify this wrong. They should be allowed to screw people like they are and get away with it.

Debbie Clark
PO Box 225
Mifflintown, PA 17059

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JoeGrumpy
Newburgh, US
Feb 07, 2010 12:48 pm EST

Did you ever receive any money initially from your credit card co.? I was hooked for a lot more from Thrive. I also filed a complaint with Capital One and initially credited my account the full amount, but I didn't have all my stuff together at the time and let the it drop. I'm in the process now of getting my things in order to refile.

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Mislead???
Newington, US
Nov 16, 2009 10:15 pm EST

How recent did this happen to you? I got charged that exact amount too and got the same BS but that was months ago and if their still doing this scam we got to stop them! brandon clark sold me thrives services too. He cons you into buying something else you think your getting.Accelerated business solution aka infusion media were to be shut down by the FBI? or so i was told by the utah consumer protection agency.I hope they read all of these complaints, i know that Brandon clark has read some before and he gave me lame excuses on all of them. It's crazy how thier doing the same thing still and getting away with it!

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10:13 am EDT
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Thrive Learning Institute New Stagety

Hi all,

Well, it seems that all predictions seem to be off with Thrive. Yea, they’re still within their first five years that it takes to really make a business operate (but still will probably end up failing). Utah’s Department of Consumer Protection don’t seem to care about the way, we the people, were hung out to dry by Thrive and their lying sales floors. Glen Minson, so called investigator for DCP knows who they are and what they do, but apparently having to contact and deal with Thrive’s PR person over and over again for so long, seems to have struck up quite a friendly relationship. Anyone who’s had to deal with this Glen character knows what’s being said here. Thanks Glen, for bending over, stringing along and throwing these innocent people under the bus while you were supposed be getting paid to protect them. The most recent news is that they've gotten out from under that Utah Business Opportunities Act by simply changing their contract and cutting a deal with the state (called "settling out of court"…Oh yea, that's right, the Utah Attorney General already took his donations, didn't he?)

Which means, outside of some embarrassment, Thrive gets to skate…and get back to the business of scamming people as usual. Of course, they can pay the best designers they can find to hawk their wares and a marketing division which does nothing but game the search engines…and top it all off with a complete lack of customer service(weak videos and worse coaching). They don't understand how real commerce works, only how to scam - so their promotion, marketing and delivery sucks because their customer service sucks (what a vicious circle).

What really sucks is that they seem to get away with it. Of course, this really means that when you get right down to it, it's only you and me and other people we know that can shut these crooks down - either they get out of the business (unlikely) or they have the sales floor and learning under the same roof where they have to take more responsibility for what they deliver. Customer service is number one in keeping a business alive…and they don’t have any of it.

In case you didn’t notice most all the people who had personal blogs have mostly disappeared from the scene. After some research it turns out they were made to sign a little note which probably doesn't have any real legal weight behind it - but no one has the money to take it to a real lawyer to check it out. Look what I just found…http://antifraudintl.org/showthread.php?p=77435#post77435

What are people doing to get back at Thrive(who don’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to this) ? Simple, They just dig up the poop Thrive left lying around in public areas(forums and blogs) and then copy and post it to their blog. A lot of this information is actually in the forums. More can be found by simply looking up Google's cached copies (or checking with other people in the various forums to see if they downloaded those pages.)

Dave Rasumussen has tried to go nearly invisible by hiding his wife's blog. Eric Largin has similarly locked down his LinkedIn pages so that no one can actually network with him (so why does he have a LinkedIn page then?) Colton Moody still has his picture up on facebook with his wife. Zach Bradshaw has been either too busy or too embarrassed to put his real face or info up anywhere - and he'll never want to do this, unless he moves out of Utah or even the country (way to go, Zach - you just blew any chance to enjoy the Internet like the rest of us...)

But a lot of stuff has been exposed on these guys and there is still a lot more out there.

The reason these blogs disappeared is that they tied the personal lives of those scammers. Their actual family, friends, community (as well as the local Chamber of Commerce) don't know what they do. Just like sneaky politicians, they can't stand the spotlight. So, they easily buy off those complaining customers by refunding them - and think nothing about infringing on their First Amendment Rights and getting them to sign them away. Again, it was hard not to notice all the blogs and comments removed from forums and the rest of the internet in the last five months.

Now with this being an election year, we can actually have some fun with the candidates by asking them the real questions about what their stand on the Utah scams are. Then post any response to the forums, where others can see, comment, and do their own emails and calls to these offices. Then ask their own questions like, “how they are going to act (or not) on the illegal activities that Utah is becoming known for. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is running against Bob Bennett in the primary. Be sure to give Bennett all the info you have about Shurtleff's campaign contributions...

These forums have been the most effective work in forcing Thrive to reform. These posts don't go away (except where they made taking down forum posts as part of their paper agreement/payoff deal) as long as they are factual. As long as they are true they won't be taken down by the moderators or administrators.

These forums are an open invitation to recover and post the data from those now-missing blogs. And so, people would then be able to simply have all the real, publicly-available information to quote and post on their own blogs.

The simplicity of setting up a blog is nearly as easy as creating a forum post. So it's a no-brainer that if we could simply get in touch with all these people who have given up on their refund and then had them scrape, copy, and post the information found (making sure to link back to where they got it, of course) - these people could get their refunds a lot faster.

Of course, nobody is saying we should organize or anything like that – (we don't want to stoop to racketeering like Colton Moody, Eric Largin, and Matt and Dave Rasmussen). This post is only bringing up ideas that should be made known to anyone who is posting in these forums.

If you want your money back fast, you start a blog and spill the beans. That's just a fact.

Now, what we on this forum and those few who still have blogs out there are really doing is trying to educate the public on how to use the Internet.
(Same thing the scammers are doing, but they cost a lot more for that education...)

So the suggestion here to anyone interested in stopping Thrive and getting their refund, is:
• Copy this post and repost on the forums from time to time(especially if it was removed)
• Contact everyone they can on the forums to see if they are interested in setting up blogs.
• Find people who have the publicly-accessible information on these individuals (which had been posted on blogs and forums before and now have disappeared)
• Get that info recovered and posted to the forums (all of them, if possible) so that this data will always be publicly-known and readily available.

That would mean that everyone has to get several other people blogging before they put up their own blog. Thrive didn't just get those informative blogs removed, they also made that data disappear on the forums. Their strategy was to pick off the hardest working and most dedicated, pay them, and force them to take down all their hard work…all vital public information.

Saundrak is still around and so is Kona - both of whom are willing to work with anyone on getting started with their refund cycles. (And if you want to help these two, visit their blogs and post comments there - it starts ranking them above Thriveli.com.

Thrive Learning Institute is set to go under if they have to start paying off too many refunds (they only make 10% out of every sale), and would have to pay back the rest (which they can’t get back from the sales floors). They've probably already spent the money they did get ...serves you right.
Their other option is to declare bankruptcy and start over. However, the same truthful yet negative information will still be in those forums when they surface again.

I'm asking everyone on this forum:

What do you think of that plan? Do you think it’s possible? Do you think the people in this forum (and others) will get behind this and get everyone blogging to get their refunds?
Personally, hopes are high…but, I don't think that it will actually get rid of scammers totally. PMI Inc and some others like Pacific Webworks have been around for some ten years. Nobody has ever shut them down and their scamming ways still continue. They are only a little better than Thrive…but only because they have a better business plan (mostly because they generate their own leads and cut out the middleman).
But… what we can do is start picking up people who have been discouraged into quitting and getting these guys to simply put up a blog so they can get their money back.

So, what do you think?!?

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I BN Conned
Clifton, US
Jan 06, 2010 11:47 pm EST

I'm happy to do whatever I can. I have a Post in this forum in a different section. I wrote a more extended report in "anti-fraud international." My so-called contract came from a company called, "Vannuity LLC. When I sent my fraud complaint to Discover card, I received a copy of a reply to Discover that came from another company called, " The Shanklin Group", which in addition to their relationship with Thrive is also an insurance broker. The principal is "Brett Labrum", who has been sited on other forums as another one of the con-men associated with Thrive. It's like a shell game trying to put all the pieces together in this nefarious gang of rip off artists. Since they are probably Mormons, I've thought about an appeal to the Mormon hierarchy for help.
Tell me about your blog methodology--the, "how to" stuff, and I'll implement. How about an attorney in Utah? If they take a class action on contingency there might be enough meat on the bones to make it worthwhile. Get back to me ASAP please.
Dave-- I BN Conned-(post display name).

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Mislead???
Newington, US
Nov 10, 2009 7:27 pm EST

What do i do since the company that sold me thrive's services got shut down by the feds? Though the charge was mad by thrive, or at least that what it said on my CC statement and had thrives phone #. Any help out there to help me...?

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Jane
Bucyrus, US
Oct 25, 2009 7:01 am EDT

I will help any way I can. I was able to get my money back. I got it back from the company who originally sold me the contract, which was Platinum Training Solutions. Thrive on the other hand was just like you said. I was not made to sign anything since my refund came from the company who sold it. I feel that PTS didn't have a clue how Thrive operated. I feel Thrive sold them a bill of goods as far as the services they would provide and of course didn't follow through. I have not removed any of my posts, hoping they would help others. I'm shocked to hear about Mr. Minson. He was helpful to me when I was asking for my money. Evidently, he has joined their club. SO SAD!

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What a fool
Santa Fe, US
Oct 21, 2009 7:52 pm EDT

I am so confused and disgusted that I could scream. I have spent several hours on the phone with different people who all sound a like and seem to be reading from a script. I just want my money back and never to hear from these people again.

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Thrive Learning Institute internet scam

A representative from Thrive Learning Institute talked my 81-year-old mother into charging $6350 for a web-based business opportunity. She receives income only from social security and certainly can not afford to spend this money. For health reasons she is not able to follow through on the "training" they claim to provide or to conduct a business online. I was out of town when this initially transpired. When I returned, I spent a whole Sunday afternoon on the internet investigating this business. What I found out caused me to call John Waddlesworth at Thrive to get my mother released from this contract. I have talked to him twice and he says a refund is not possible and that from his conversations with my mother, he feels she is able to handle the business and I was not being "ethical" to speak for her. He did promise to stop the $39.95 monthly website fee being taken from her checking account but I don't know if that will happen. As it turns out, a second $39.95 was deducted from her checking account after I spoke with him. Fortunately, my mother's bank refunded all the charges made against her checking account and issued her a new debit card so that Thrive can no longer have access to it.
My mother's credit card company (Discover) from which the $6350 was taken has not been as helpful. They originally said they would be sending paperwork to us to fill out to try to get the money back, but now they say their hands are tied since she freely gave her credit card information to Thrive. I'm not even sure what the name of the company is. Thrive Institute? IDI? Focus? Thrive Learning? LVFG? Money Mastery? Every correspondence (email, phone, bank charge, USPS) uses a different name.
Incidentally, I found a report from the BBB in Utah giving an F rating to Thrive Learning LLC as part of LVFG, Inc.
I have written to the Utah Consumer Protection Agency and the Utah Attorney General. I'm sure that Thrive has covered all its bases but maybe if the powers that be get enough complaints, they'll do something about it.
We are considering hiring a lawyer to try to resolve this mess. I am angry that unscrupulous jerks can continue to use the internet to prey on those who are not able to fight back. From what I can tell from internet chatter this company has been getting away with this for a long time.
Has anybody been able to get a refund from this company?

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DPFH
Pittsburgh, US
Nov 06, 2009 10:43 pm EST

Ramos/JBV,
I've just realized that I'm being scammed after almost 1 year...! I can't believe that I'm so stupid...!
I'm having problem with iMAX now to close the account, and nothing useful from Thrive Learning Institute. Gosh, I have lost US$ 5000 at initial registration, and monthly payment for web building and iMAX bancard which both never been activated and used by me.
Do you guys have any idea how many days the people received their money back?
Man, I just found out now, feel like crying now... =(
I'll post more later

D. H.

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Robert Ramos
Corona, US
Oct 05, 2009 9:27 am EDT

JBV,
Yes, several have recieved refunds. As stated on this and other forums. There are several blogs out there with tons of info. I created one to help with this thrive mess. Go to:

http://scambuster111.blogspot.com/

I have linked other blog sites with even more info(including one who has recieved a refund)

Good luck and happy hunting

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honestvoice
, US
Oct 02, 2009 12:23 pm EDT

I did not get scammed for as much money, but these folks are a complete rip off and need to be shut down!

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I am another victim of Thrive Learning Institute. Here is my story. I clicked on link that said "Google Ad works", it took me to one guy's testimonial about the way in which he is been earning "2000 to 3000" dollars per month from home. I hesitated for a long time and clicked the link which asked me to put my name and address in it. And the web site asked...

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Thrive Learning Institute RE: Unsurpassed customer frustraition

During the course of my traumatizing experience with my Thrive Learning Institute process, I was also sucked in to a big mess with a merchant business account to be able to accept credit cards for orders online. I was contacted by a person with Thrive (or so that’s what I thought). She went on to talk about a merchant account (online credit card possessing) and that I should sign up to begin accepting credit cards for online orders. She told me they would wave the setup fee for a limited time and that the offer would not last long (more tricks of the trade).I signed up on 3/11/09 thinking that I could still get a website going and salvage this program. A 35$ per month charge was to be in effect after activation of my account (so I was told). To my delight, Kayla, asked if I needed an appointment with their web builder. I agreed and she informed me that they were busy right now and that the soonest available appointment would be 3/30/08(almost three weeks). I agreed, even though I was frustrated at having to wait so long. I tried to continue my progress and anxiously waited for the web builder’s call. On the 3/30, after waiting all day, I received no phone call. This was the last thing I was willing to stand. After trying to make a go of this so called system (again and again) and working to pay off my upward spiraling debt, I realized, it would be impossible to complete this business. In late May 09, I realized on my bank statements that this company has charged their $35 fee for the last two months even without activation. I called customer service and (without asking for the two months totaling $70) I asked to please cancel the account and they informed me there is a $250 cancellation fee (which was never discussed or mentioned before I signed the contract). I never used this account and in fact never even activated it. After the initial shock of this and expressing this verbally, He told me the fee is negotiable. After a brief break from our conversation so he could talk to his manager, he returned to the phone and informed me they would be willing to go down to $150. I told him I would call him back and hung up disgusted. They have, as of July 1 charged me for June as well. I called to cancel the account on July, 9, 2009 and refused to pay a cancellation fee. I called my bank to place these charges in dispute and ask for a charge back to my account. My bank informed me they can only do a charge back for no longer than 60 days. I could only get the month of June and May placed back on my account. I was willing to leave it at that and chalk this up to a business loss. On July 29, 2009, I received a letter from the merchant account collection dept. stating that I owe a balance of $120 due by 7/31/09 or face further collection action. In addition, a report of the past due amount will be reported to credit bureaus. I disputed the charge asking them to wave the amount due and refund what I was charged for in total from them. I sent them a brief explanation of my negative experience with Thrive along with my complaint and a copy of the State of Illinois cease and desist order against Online Data Institute/Thrive Learning Institute. I faxed all this info yesterday at 2:15pm. I received a call from the collections department rep. around 3:15pm telling me they received the info; they will look it over and call me back tomorrow.
They spoke and listened to me as an equal. They were punctual about their actions. They took the time to look over and understand my problem. The next day (just as they said) at 9:45am they informed me that not only were they waving the amount due, but they are going to refund my money in full. Now That’s Customer Service! Are you listening Thrive… That’s how you attain unsurpassed customer satisfaction!

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Update by Robert Ramos
Sep 29, 2009 2:12 pm EDT

I started a blog to warn and help others who fell into this scam...go to:

http://scambuster111.blogspot.com/

Good luck to all
RR

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odizbaby
30277, US
Sep 15, 2010 6:26 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Thrive needs to be shut down! Are you listening UTAH?

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Thrive Learning Institute Awful experience

I signed up for Internet training on eBay and was sold a bill of goods. The problem is in their aggressive sales techniques - and they are responsible for the call centers they contract to sell for them. Thrive Learning promises you can make your money back in 2-3 months, but in fact they have a success rate which is about 1 in 10, 000 actually doing so - and that's ever, not just within 3 months.

I complained after the training was complete, because I didn't actually learn anything that I hadn't already known. Their training at that time mostly consisted of how to set up their proprietary sitebuilding software - which can take you weeks or months to actually build your site on a part-time basis. You are charged additional monthly fees for site hosting and programs - but can't actually move your site without rebuilding it again. There are several free programs that come with most web hosts that you can use for site building - much better than Thrive's version.

As well, all of the training that Thrive offers can be found on the Internet for free. So being charged several thousand to be "coached" and another $40 per month for site hosting is excessive.

The scam continues as they sell you add-on programs and "services" such as credit-card processing, site marketing reviews, and PPC advertising. Some have even been offered the creation of a Montana S-corporation. I've read of people going into $30-$50, 000 in debt with nothing to show for it. (I was "lucky" in this regard.)

They do not have their refund policy stated on their website and it is not covered in their telemarketing pitch. This is an FTC violation. As well, Thrive Learning is a "fulfillment center" for at least 20 other scams - and so could be investigated under RICO statutes for racketeering.

Utah call centers contributed around 1/4 of the Utah Attorney General's election campaign - but are not being prosecuted for known complaints. The manager for Thrive Learning is also associated with these other Utah call centers.

All of this is publically available information.

Another tactic they use is to string you along until your credit card company is unwilling to do a charge-back (usually about two months). While Utah requires any company to refund within a 3-day period, often your training doesn't start until after that time, so you won't find out you're scammed until the State can no longer enforce that statute.

If anyone is approached by Thrive Learning, the best thing to do is to hang up immediately.

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Elizabeth Kelly
Alameda, US
Aug 27, 2009 5:27 pm EDT

I gave Thrive $17, 000.00 a year ago, and I've seen very little return. Finally made two sales this week, and made $20.00 after hiring another firm to help me. I'm paying $500.00 per month on my credit card trying to pay back the money. The stress has been so bad, I became very ill and had to retire on disability. I receive $1, 500.00 per month, from disability so things are very hard.
Thrive or Strategic Wealth referred me to another company and suggested that in order to make money I should liquidate my IRA account, and invest in property in Nevada. Bad mistake. One of the properties went belly up and the company said they would return $44, 000+ of my money. I called the company three days ago, and I was sent to voice mail. Haven't heard from them since.

Elizabeth Kelly RNHoneyDu@msn.com

Kona
Kona
Crystal, US
Aug 19, 2009 8:19 pm EDT

@utahconsumeradvocate,

Why can't Utah enforce their own code, like Title 13?

I can't believe that companies are allowed to lie and are not required to comply with the law. Why should consumers be required to comply with Thrive's contract when Thrive and its sales floors are not required to comply with the law of the state they operate from.

Fines don't do it - for the few people who have the means to complain, it's a small price to pay for all the other money they are raking in from those who don't know that they can or should complain.

Free enterprise is one thing, but false advertising is another.

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utahconsumeradvocate
Provo, US
Jul 23, 2009 2:25 pm EDT

all of the thrive comments follow a general pattern. I hope others can learn from your experience.

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lied2
Duluth, US
Jul 20, 2009 8:40 am EDT

Your comments are so true about Thrive Learning scam.

That's right...hang up on anyone trying to sell you anything about building a business on line, or coaching.

Many people who purchase packages from Thrive Learning end up losing their hard earned thousands of $$$$$ to lining the pockets of Colton Moody CEO of Summit Group/manager/owner of Thrive Learning and CEO David R Rasmussen of Thrive Learning along with some of their other cover up crooks.

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I check all the forums on a regular basis and see the number of people that are still being scammed is sickening in its numbers. I have seen many individuals asking the people responsible for ruining their lives and credit, these ### of the earth individuals such as COLTEN MOODY, ZACHARY BRADSHAW, DAVE AND MATT RASMUSSEN, " How do you sleep at night?" So...

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Thrive Learning Institute scammed

I GOT A REFUND AND YOU CAN TOO!

I have gotten a refund even after almost completing my web site! So it does not matter if you are a week or several months into it, you can get a refund too.

BEN THERE has already given you all the information you need to get a refund, but I wanted to reconfirm to everybody that the information he has posted will work as well as tell you my story, so that when you go through the process yourself you wont be tricked by their lies into accepting anything less than a full refund!

The two most important places to complain to are: 1) The Attorney General of Utah and 2) the Department of Commerce, Division of Consumer Protection.

It is also very important to send your complaints to the BBB in Utah, the FTC, the IC3, your credit card company and even the Attorney General of the United States to ensure these people are shut down for good and the laws that allow these scam artists to stay in business, are changed.

Please pay close attention to what I tell you next as the following info is very important for you to understand the inner workings of thrive and their associates' methods in dealing with your refund.

1) After your complaint has been received by the Attorney General's office, you will get a call from whatever company sold you the program, offering you half your money back. They will tell you this is their final offer...THIS IS A LIE. Do not believe this no matter what they say, and believe me, they will sound very convincing! They will tell you that any contract you have with them, be it verbal or written is legal and binding...this is NOT TRUE! Do not accept this offer.

2) The Attorney General will defer your complaint to the Division of Consumer Protection to be investigated. Once they have received your complaint, you will get another call from the company you purchased the program from, this time offering you 2/3 of your money back. You will go through the same procedure again and they will tell you that is the ceiling of what they are willing to offer. I cannot stress enough for you to not believe what they tell you...REMEBER, THEY ARE SMOOTH TALKERS! They will not offer you a full refund as their hope is that you will cave and sign on a lesser amount before they are forced to pay you in full by the division of consumer protection.

3) After this you need to contact the division of consumer protection (by phone preferably) again and let them know what has transpired and that you know your rights and be firm that you know these companies are committing FRAUD!
Do not be nasty about it, just stay firm in your conviction.
They will tell you that there is a possibility that your contract was legal and tell you that they will look deeper into your contract. Do not worry about this or let it get you down. They are just covering all their bases...after all their boss is the AG ! So stay calm and thank them for looking into your case personally and taking the time to talk to you.
I happen to know for a fact that they are currently swamped with complaints against Thrive and have entered into an agreement with most, if not all of the companies who have sold thrive's services.
This agreement is that they have to refund complaining clients in full or face the consequences.

4) Within a week, the division of consumer protection should be calling you back to tell you that you are being refunded all your money!

I would encourage everybody to visit this website: http://stop-telemarketers.midwestjournalpress.com/
This website contains all the information you need to know about the laws that Thrive and their sales floors' have broken. This site also has blogs almost daily against Thrive...very encouraging and inspiring !

Also, the article "Called Into Question" will give you ammunition when pleading your case to the Division of Consumer Protection.
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-7772-called-into-question.html

If you any questions regarding the information I have provided, please do not hesitate to send me a message on here. I will check in periodically and get back to you as soon as possible.
The fight is not over with these scammers until they are shut down and the laws changed, otherwise if the individuals responsible are not held personally accountable, they will just keep going with a new company name and a new scam.
On the "stop telemarketers midwest journal" web site, you will find a legal petition to Shut down Thrive and change the laws. Please take the time to sign this as this is the only way we are going to slow down the vast ammount of scams that are taking over the internet.
I personally have found that I see a new scam everyday and it takes a lot of time, energy and knowledge to sort them out. There will always be scam artists out there, but maybe we can make a big difference in weeding them out!

Good luck to all of you and I know if you are persistent, YOU WILL GET YOUR MONEY BACK!

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Update by cmchatten
Jun 22, 2009 7:36 pm EDT

Hi,

I have posted every thing I did to get a refund.
Ben There got a refund but had to take his site down as part of the deal...no worries though, someone else has started one and you can also access a petition we have started from that site.
The web address is: http://stop-telemarketers-scams.blogspot.com/

Hope this helps :)

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luis sulsona
wilmingtom, US
Jan 24, 2009 12:28 am EST

I paid full amount, I was misrepresented by what trriveli said theyn would do for me, Two days after I was
phone by thriveli to pay by credit card, I asked for a refund, I was told that they would not refund
my money back because we have a contract, I have been constanly emailing and phoning for a refund for Five (5) months and all I get is a run around by thriveli, Zack Bradshaw, Nicholes Johnson, and there coaches. I plan in filing a complaint with the BBB and Atorney General's Office of Utah, and any one else who will lissen or that can help put a stop to this scamming By thriveli.

I feel that I have been more than fair in waiting this long, to rteceive my money back, but to was
it, I received a email from Taylor, that he was going to call me on tuesday at 11am, and I did not phone or have the courtesy to phone and apologize for not calling or given any explanation as to why.

I am very angry with thriveli I paid them $11, 350.00 up front and was told I would start making
4-5.000 a month to pay my credit card back before its due, well like I ssid, every time I would ask
for a refund I would get this run around that they would d o this and that . I also was promished a
website which was encluded with my fees, and every time I would asked when is my website going
to be constructed I would get an excuse that I have to pay $39.95 for Hosting fees before my website is constructed.

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BendyC
Porterville, US
Jun 09, 2009 7:02 pm EDT

I have also been a victim of Thrive Learning Institute. I have paid them a total down of $1, 600.00 and owe them a balance of $4, 372.93. I joined up with them in February 13, 2009 and was told that everything was included in the price. That I would have training with the coaches for up to 3 - 6 months one on one and would have direct contact for 2 years. Kim Waggoner was a smooth talker. He told me that I would have all my money paid and making money within 30 days if I put in 10 hours a week. Well if you have done this program you know it takes alot more than that and around the end of March of 2009 I was calling the coaches for over a week with no return phone calls and I was very upset that no one was returning my calls. Finally April 3, 2009 Eric called me back and said they would no longer be talking to me on the phone that I had to do everything through E Library on live chat. Which is not what I was told in the beginning. And again the on April 8, 2009 live chat with Andrew, but I felt like I was being rushed and I never seemed to get the answers I was looking for when I did talk to the coaches. I would call and each time there was a different coach and no two are the same so you are spinning your wheels if you know what I mean. As I did more research to do this business everything was money. Everything was going to cost more money. Which I was not told when signing up with this company. I also had a merchant company calling me to set up an account for $10.00 a month and I told her I didn't even have the website up and running yet and she said I needed to set the account up first and I flat told her no. Also, I was paying $39.95 for a website per month that was not even up, which is included in the amount that I have mentioned. So I am telling you, that Mr Waggoner didn't even mention this till the very last sentence of our phone conversation when talking to him. I have contacted them but they will not give me a refund. I told him if he didn't give me a refund that I would report them and he said I was just like all the rest of the idots on the internet that can't do anything about it. He said they will give me a couple months credit and work more closely with me now and that there is nothing I can do about it. He said when they contact him he will tell them that I wasn't willing to accept his offer. So What I would like to know is how these people get away with this and sleep at night? They are not doing an honest business. I would like more information on that class action law suit if anyone has it.

Kona
Kona
Crystal, US
Jun 17, 2009 10:33 pm EDT

Cut and paste the below to put in your compaint to the FTC, BBB, FBI, Utah Division of Consumer Protection, Utah Attorney General, US Attorney General, etc. etc. Also go to
http://stop-telemarketers.midwestjournalpress.com
and buy something from the guy - he paved the way.

AND DON'T FALL FOR THIS AGAIN! (talking to myself here)

The company did not provide, in writing, a description of what is involved in the program. Following is copied from the “Agreement” :
A. TRADE SECRET PRODUCTS AND/OR SERVICES: In exchange for the consideration of $12, 295.00 (USD), THE USER shall receive the following custom designed trade secrets, products and/or services:
Unlimited reactive training
Ebay Training
Research Tool
Lister Tool
Lightwave Web Builder with shopping cart
SEO marketing package
Business toolkit 4.1
No further description was provided prior to signing, of these items.
The product and/or service is not as advertised. Training was advertised as "trade secrets" and “custom designed” but actually is common knowledge and readily available on the internet, often for free.
The company used unethical sales practices. The sales scripts say "you should make your money back in 60-90 days" and convince people to use Other People's Money, which is their credit card. Sales reps are trained to make people feel bad about themselves, hype them up about their dreams, and then tell them they have to qualify and be invited aboard. Truth is they'll sell anyone with a credit card.
Almost every technique known in the “Psychology of Persuasion” was used. The main one that led me to believe it was real was that “we normally charge more for this service, but we feel you are such a good candidate, that we will give you a lower price in return for your agreement to use your name and success story in future advertising.”
The identity of the actual company providing the product and/or service was not clear. Initial contact was from "Momentum Marketing" and the other company names, Thrive Learning Center and Success Training, intentionally obfuscated so as to make research on the company difficult or meaningless.
A Refund Policy is not presented on the www.thriveli.com or www.thrivelearninginstitute.com website.

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internetsalesinstitute
boise, US
Dec 10, 2010 6:23 pm EST

In reference to the complaint. Internet Sales Institute stands behind its services. We offered this client over 50 percent of her money back. The client made the decision to move forward on her own merit. We will go to any extent to make our clients happy. We provide one one help on a number of different levels. Our coaching sessions are at least 30 minutes long. Clients also have unlimited help from 8:00 am mst-8pm mst to get help via phone, e-mail and live chat. The problem when people start any new venture is they expect immediate results. At Internet Sales Institute we gaurantee to work with every client until they recover their full initial investment. There are no such things as get rich quick schemes. Sometimes when clients sign up and realize they do have to put time and effort in they start to second guess their decision. We communicate to all students that it does take time and effort to build a business. We work diligently with every client to accomplish their goals and lay a solid foundation for their online ventures. There will be frustration at times but giving up on a program within one week, no one would ever succeed. Growing pains happen for all new start up businesses. We do business with people all over the world by phone. We stand behind our gaurantee and all services we provide to clients. We are ready and willing to address any concerns that any past, present or future clients may have! WE STAND BEHIND OUR GUARANTEE!

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Nanchan
Decatur, US
Jan 18, 2010 4:00 pm EST

Sixteen months ago my husband and I took a giant step or so we thought. I actually was a giant fall.
We invested several thousand dollars with Thrive Learning and Momentum Marketing. We were promised all the tools and coaching to build a successful on line store. We followed all their suggestions and I spent hours building our site. Now 16 months later my total sales have been less than $600.00. I am filing a complaint with Utah Attorney General and the BBB.

I have spoken with a representative of Momentum who claims he will take my complaint to the company to see if a refund is possible. He told me the Attorney General's office is not demanding they pay refunds and if I do receive one it will only be for part of my investment. No one ever gets a full refund.

I am urging others of you who have experienced a similar problem to contact the Utah Attorney Gen. office and the BBB. This kind of business has to be stopped. Our silence will only allow others to fall into the same trap.

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da207516
Grafton, US
Jan 09, 2010 3:58 pm EST

Hi,
Could you provide the link to the "website that contains all the information you need to know about the laws that Thrive and their sales floors' have broken. This site also has blogs almost daily against Thrive...very encouraging and inspiring !"

Thank you,
Desi

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Annie
Ham Lake, US
Nov 20, 2009 5:26 pm EST

I GOT ALL MY MONEY BACK AND SO CAN YOU! Hi, I am in the process of getting all my money credited back from Internet Sales Institute (ISI) who markets for Thrive and should get it (within 30 days) by early to mid-December (althought it is supposed to be within 10 days...they use our money). After I signed on I found this complaint board and checked the Utah BBB (Thrive) and Idaho BBB (Internet Sales). They both had complaints and neither of them belonged to the BBB's. Check the Utah BBB for Thrive as there is a notice from the government stating what Thrive and its marketers have to disclose when selling their services. I was not given all the information that was stated in this notice. I called Thrive and ISI to say I wanted to cancel and get all my money back. A cancellation rep from ISI called me back and tried to talk me into staying on and that I couldn't get my money back. I then told him the complaints I found and the info they didn't disclose to me per the government notice. He then spoke to his management who agreed to refund my money. (I had caught them in the act...yippee!) I had also called the credit card company to file a complaint so they would suspend the charges until it was determined that Thrive & ISI were at fault. Good luck to you. Let them have it. I hope this helps.

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Dsbljjd
Pontiac, US
Nov 16, 2009 9:30 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Include everything that you can remember on the complaint. Send any communications you may have received through e-mail, etc. Good luck.

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Mislead???
Newington, US
Nov 10, 2009 6:48 pm EST

Put that you were misrepresnted with the whole program and many false statemants were made. All the laws they broke in doing so, I filed with them too.I'm still trying for a refund myself. when and who got you into this? Try not to beat your self up, as i did, not even having an appitite to eat for many months. It made me sick on how i could fall for this. We must stop them!

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whatisgoingon
Provo, US
Oct 22, 2009 1:16 pm EDT

what do i put on the complaint form to the Utah Division of Consumer Protection?

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Thrive Learning Institute Did not get the &Professional& help they promised

I am very disgusted with Thrive Learning. I did everything faithfully for the first 3 weeks. There were problems with the videos, which I had to bring t0 their attention. When I asked a question, even though there were 4 people on my so-called team, their answers were far from professional. There was a time I asked 3 different questions and when they responded, after a day and a half, she said I received all of your questions, but I am only answering one of them. There were always problems with videos. After spending 4000.00 dollars, my feeling was this so-called professional help wasn't worth 40 cents. Then when I talked to Mr. Zach Bradshaw, he was an all out a**hole. What a joke!

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Update by Jane
Jul 13, 2009 12:37 pm EDT

I would like everyone to know that I have just received a full refund of the money I initially invested. I did what was recommended and I do believe that's how it happened. It took about 7 months altogether but it worked! So please, don't give up. In my opinion, it was more Thrive than the company who sold me the contract. Thrive should be ashamed of themselves. Good Luck to all!

Update by Jane
May 20, 2009 9:10 pm EDT

You tell him, Ben. I don't know, but I have read more negative than positive about Thrive. You have my vote!

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Ben There
, US
May 20, 2009 9:35 pm EDT

Here's a new expose' just published about the Utah Internet Scam Family - loaded with the inside scoop about how they operate and what you can do to get you refund. Also, tons of links to report your scam to - and - media links so you can share your story,

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15672916/Internet-Scam-Capitol-USA

Time to put these guys out of business...

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Ben There
, US
May 20, 2009 3:42 pm EDT

Mike,

Where's your proof? Got a website? How about posting a invoice proving what you made from it? (Just blur out the contact details...

But if you are just b**ching about people complaining about poor service, where's your assistance in helping them get a coach who will get them what they need?

Plenty of Thrive shills out there to say "how great" these fulfillment centers are - only problem, they never actually back up what they say.

Thousands of people are scammed every year by Thrive Learning Institute and others.

Very, very, very few people actually ever get their money back.

Show us the money - prove that you've made it work. Otherwise, put up or...

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mike
, US
May 20, 2009 10:20 am EDT

heres the thing about all these complaints its not the oppertuinty its the people working it. heres the proof. mr. Pauley brought me aboard and now im makin about 4500 a month with my online biz so maybe all you people who say it doesnt work need to ask your self am i really working it or am i just b**ching because im to afraid to be successful. once again thank you mr pauley

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Ben There
, US
May 16, 2009 12:11 am EDT

Thrive Learning Institute is a scam because they can't deliver what they promise. They are oversold by sales floors (call centers) that you can actually make your money back in three months.

But Thrive only gives you 4 hours of coaching, plus access to a library of videos which you pick and choose form. No way are you going to make any amount of income with that little training.

However, Thrive only gets about 10% of that money you spent. If you want a refund, you'll have to get it back from that sales floor (Internet Income Solutions or Summit, maybe some others - or other names.)

Here's how to go about it:

1) Contact your bank and get them to send you a fraud form. Fill this out and then get them to do a charge-back on the account. US law says you have 60 days. But if they didn't tell you about the refund (Thrive doesn't have any refund policy on its site - an FTC violation) - then you have 90 days from Utah itself.

2) File complaints with FTC, FBI, Utah A/G, and the Utah Division of Consumer Protection. (http://www.consumerprotection.utah.gov/). Be persistent. If you stick with it - and it can take months - this will do the trick - best line I've been able to find right now.

These scammers hate charge-backs because if they get too many, the credit card company can cancel their credit line.

And Utah has to be complained to so that they know that this scene needs correction. And will end up doping something about it.

There's more information at http://stop-telemarketers.midwestjournalpress.com

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BAT
Manchester, US
Apr 08, 2009 1:56 pm EDT

Everything they told me I could have very easily just Googled and found the answers. They keep stressing Key Words! Yet do nothing to help and after 2 months of them saying do this and do that I said the heck with it! I worked very hard coming up with information and honestly I think they take our GOOD ideas and run with them! Don't share any info with them unless you truly think they will help you.

For me on a scale of 1-10 10 being the best I give them a 2 and want a refund! Bruce Gott the person that introduced me to this is a big scammer and has nver returned my calls or emails..Jerk!

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Thrive Learning Institute Stealing Money and Harrassment

I was scammed by a company using 2 names-Thrive Learning Institute and Infusion Media. They are the same company. They will contact you by e-mail offering to sell you a Google kit to start an online business. They will use your credit card numbers to debit your account for S&H as well as other unheard of charges. Then they will call for your other credit card numbers so they can take money from all of your credit card companies and start a home computer business. Brandon Clark, who seems to be the leader's name in this business will seem to be a very nice guy until you tell him of your intent to retrieve your stolen funds. Then he will call you at 10:15 at night and wake you from a sound sleep and discredit your claims towards retribution of your funds. Please beware of this company. Guard yourself from similar torture.

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Ben There
, US
May 30, 2009 4:02 pm EDT

William,

Too easy to flame, isn't it?

Have you taken any Thrive training? Or do you just work for Thrive?

Let's just apply this advice you've given in your two posts on this board to yourself. While you earlier said you experienced great coaching, where is your own site?

You can look up my other posts easily and know that I give specific ways people can get their refunds - and it isn't by complaining about Thrive or anyone else. People get their refunds by going back to the sales company through the Utah Div of Consumer Protection and/or the Utah A/G. And also doing charge-backs.

The important point about posting to complaint forums is to treat people as you'd like to be treated. Either give good advice which is helpful, or simply back up your claims about the service you received. The main point of these forums and boards is to *help* others.

Yes, there are people out there who don't really want to work at what they've decided to do. And this also is partially Thrive's responsibility. Their sales floors (which they train to sell their products) should be qualifying people better. Some people are simply refund risks. These people should either be given extra coaching until they are satisfied, or simply get the sales floor to refund them in order to avoid a lot of complaints.

However, there are many people who come to these boards for help with their problem. If there were more people telling them to simply do some more lessons, or to quit the hosting and learn everything you can from all the eLibrary - well, that would be helpful.

I choose to help by informing people about their options on getting refunds.

But to have people on these forums and boards who do nothing but flame other people really shows their character.

Meeting people in public used to mean you had to have public manners. Now that anyone can hide behind a login, some take advantage of this to simply be rude.

So, William, what's your choice?

Have you actually built a site that other people can go to? Or is your next comment here only going to be to flame me or someone else?

Choose wisely.

cmchatten
cmchatten
nasonworth, CA
May 30, 2009 1:51 pm EDT

Well William...Ben There is a pretty smart guy and having checked out his very successful website against Thrive...you sound to me like you hold a VERY PERSONAL GRUDGE against Ben There!
Could your name have possibly been mentioned in one of Ben There's articles?

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William
Lansing, US
May 30, 2009 11:49 am EDT

First of all, Ben There...where have you been reallly? If you spent as much energy making money online as you spend attempting to discredit people and their efforts, you might actually be somewhere. What do you do for a living? What evidence do you have that substantiates your claims? Please Ben There, the only place you have been is down your daddys leg...which is where the best part of you ran.

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Ben There
, US
May 29, 2009 9:40 pm EDT

Too bad Jerry never puts a website up where these facts could be checked out.

Since he gives all these stories from various states - are these just off Thrive's website?

Oh - and four out of five of Jerry's posts are on this page.

How about some actual statistics rather than "success stories" which are a little too glowing with no real world evidence to back them up.

Need: actual websites where people are earning money, as Thrive trained them. What their average Google position is - or how many affiliates are selling for them, number of auctions they run, etc. Proof. What niche are they operating in - what's their Page Rank?

Business people I talk to say it's nearly impossible for anyone to make their money back in 60-90 days - so what "secret formula" are you using to make $3, 800 in two months? (Or is it something in the Kool-Aid?) Nothing on the videos on their site showed how to do this.

If you've seen some video's the rest of their clients haven't - tell all of us "brain dead" "idiots" the names of these and how they made for you "fabulous" success.

Otherwise, you're just another Thrive Learning shill.

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Jerry Pace
Clearfield, US
May 29, 2009 4:50 pm EDT

Anyone discrediting Thrive, or their Success Team is up in the night. I consistantly make 3 thousand dollars plus after graduating from their program. I too was interviewed by Brandon Clark. The man knew his stuff to say the least. To the person who is slinging mud I say get it together!

Steven Call
Tyler, TX

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Jerry Pace
Clearfield, US
May 29, 2009 4:43 pm EDT

I made enough money with Thrive and their coaching program to pay my way through my final year of college. Couldn't have done it without them. THRIVE ROCKS!

DW Henry
Henderson, NV

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Jerry Pace
Clearfield, US
May 29, 2009 4:39 pm EDT

I also have great things to say about Thrive Learning Institute, and more to the point, about Brandon Clark. I have been looking for a way to make money from home for the past 3 years. After a nasty divorce and two different layoffs, I was discouraged beyond belief. That's when my fortune changed. While surfing the web late one night I came across an advertisement that boasted of making thousands from home. With 2 young childred at home, I figured I had nothing to lose. I initially spent about $2 dollars on their materials which were very helpful. About a week after that, I got a phone call from someone offering to let me qualify to work with coaches. A short "interview" transpired that led me to talk with their Program Director named Brandon Clark. He answered all my questions and was nothing but informative, and professional. At the end of the call I spent about $10, 000 dollars. I am thrilled to say that I have never been in a better position financially. It took roughly 4 months for me to make my investment back. Now I consistantly make over $5, 000 a month. I recomend their services if you are serious about an online business.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Matheson
Spokane, WA

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Jerry Pace
Clearfield, US
May 29, 2009 4:26 pm EDT

What are you idiots talking about? My wife and I came aboard Thrive's "Success Team" a little over 2 months ago and couldn't be happier! In a few short weeks with our coaching team helping us, we have been able to not only find a product to sell, but we have also cleared a profit of over $3, 800 so far...anybody not making money with these experts helping them has got to be brain dead. I wish I would have found them a few years ago!

Jerry Pace
Clearfield, IN

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violet
Winnipeg, CA
Mar 22, 2009 1:23 pm EDT

Help, Help... did anyone get there money back? I just signed up yesterday... and I want to cancel. Help anyone, ...thanks you.. Need any comments I can get.

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Thrive Learning Institute Not being able to get my Money back

Thrive has done nothing that they have promised. I am so disgusted that I spent over 14 grand with them plus all the fees associated with it like e-bay etc. My web site has never been built and I was told it would be built for me...not true. The only thing they do is have web hosting classes which I could not participate in if I wanted to. I have told them already that you need a mike and a headphones which I do not have.
I have since hired another company to build my web site for me and they have given me a list of dropshippers already...all for 2500. I am sending a letter to the better business of Utah as I feel that is all I can do at this point. The name of my web site is being changed with the new company and they seem to know what they are doing for a much lower price. I only wish I had found out about them before becoming involved with the scamming company known as Thrive.

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blueyes77
London, CA
Nov 04, 2009 8:59 am EST

I would like to agree with all of these stories. They are all similiar about misleading and dishonesty from The Thrive learning Institute/Summit Group/Momentum Marketing.
When you call them to discuss any issues it only says "Corporate" with no name other than that.

Go to my Blog at disgustedwithscammers.blogspot.com or utahtelemarketersmisleadingus.blogspot.com

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Robert Ramos
Corona, US
Sep 29, 2009 2:16 pm EDT

I started a blog to warn and help others who fell into this scam...go to:

http://scambuster111.blogspot.com/

Good luck to all
RR

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Elizabeth Kelly
Alameda, US
Aug 27, 2009 5:26 pm EDT

I gave Thrive $17, 000.00 a year ago, and I've seen very little return. Finally made two sales this week, and made $20.00 after hiring another firm to help me. I'm paying $500.00 per month on my credit card trying to pay back the money. The stress has been so bad, I became very ill and had to retire on disability. I receive $1, 500.00 per month, from disability so things are very hard.
Thrive or Strategic Wealth referred me to another company and suggested that in order to make money I should liquidate my IRA account, and invest in property in Nevada. Bad mistake. One of the properties went belly up and the company said they would return $44, 000+ of my money. I called the company three days ago, and I was sent to voice mail. Haven't heard from them since.

Elizabeth Kelly RNHoneyDu@msn.com

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Robert Ramos
Corona, US
Aug 14, 2009 4:43 pm EDT

Jim
Go to pages 7-8 at http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/14_8845_7.html. There are other Canadians like you in the same mess. BenThere's posts and coments on this site in addition seems to be the way to go. I can send you info as well that I have been collecting over last 3 months. You can contact me at nothappy111@yahoo.com...Good Luck

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blueyes77
London, CA
Aug 07, 2009 7:17 am EDT

I am another victim of these mis informing thieves that have taken me for about $8400.00 usd . I am in Canada and I was lucky that the dollar was even at the time. The only good part of the whole scam from these extremely rude and ignorant low lifes. I can't believe that they are still in business.
I would like to know how to go after these parasites and close them down before more poor desperate hard working people fall into their clutches. I was off work at the time due to a mental illness and very vulnerable to the crap they pitched to me about using OPM (others peoples money). Little did I know it would be our money they were talking about.
I signed up for a $69.00 Michael Matthews website that was already built per say. That was the beginning of the phone calls from the Summit Group and their sales people. First they made it sound like they were doing me a favour if I qualified for their special program. All they wanted to know was my credit card info.( limit of credit available) That should have been my first clue...but I was severely ill with depression and not thinking properly.

I told Mr. Chad Selmos the next day I wanted to cancel and he was going to charge me $1500.00 for cancelling which was total crap. He said at one time that he needed a note from my Doctor and I said you must be joking pal. He forgot to inform me about any other costs involved...like an accountant fee of another $1395.00 to a guy named Ryan. I was called by a woman named Lynnell telling me this. He also wanted $39.95 mthly. for his services. This Chad guy was nothing but a deceiving (BLANK BLANK) that will get his one day when he stands before his Creator to explain what he was apart of. Him, Mike Wellings, Alex Saavedra and Summit Group. He forgot to mention a hosting fee of $39.95 to Thrive mthy. I have contacted them about my Doctors orders that I will never be well enough to return to work of any kind indefinately. These people don't care about the health of their customers and if a note from my doctor would get my hard earned cash back...they can have it.

If anyone knows where to turn for help I would appreciate it a bunch.

Thank's...Jim

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I wish to make a correction from my entry on January 21st. I was mentioning that I had originally been contacted by "Platinum Trading Solutions" who never mentioned the name "Thrive Learning Institute" the whole time I was being pitched. In reviewing my notes and going to the website I see that it is really called "Platinum Training Solutions" and i...

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Thrive Learning Institute scammed out of my money

On november 1, 2008 I was contacted by internet auction solutions to start a business online. They kept me on the phone for about two and a half hours and every time I tried to get out of it; the man kept insisting that I could do this. That was a lie. He got 6, 236.00 from me and I was not able to get my business going. The coaches from thrive learning instatitute would keep giving me the run around. Giving me more and more nonsence. I know now that they would do this to wear me down so I would break down and give in and give up. This is an online scam and all they do is give false hope and take your money. Be aware of there tactics.
They are experts at taking your money and if you try to get your money from them, they tell you you signed a contract. There is no way out of it. I just wish the government would get involved and shut them down. Seems like someone could do something? They have hurt to many individuals

Read full review of Thrive Learning Institute and 3 comments
Update by a.a. patin
Feb 05, 2009 3:59 pm EST

The comments made by the guest have been a real help to me. I know now that I was not alone with my money scammed out from me from thrive learning institute. There are many others out there that need to come out and speak up against them. it is a rip off.

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lied2
Duluth, US
Jul 15, 2009 10:15 am EDT

Thrive Learning Institute and Infusion Media have hurt many people with their scamming techniques...literally emptying pockets of many unsuspecting innocent souls like myself.

They sell you a story that sounds so good you couldn't lose a thing by trying to build a work at home internet marketing e-commerce business with their training and coaching program.

I have signed the petition and I encourage anyone else to do so if you have not yet done it. I notice new names added all the time.

http://www.gopetition.com/online/27433/signatures.html

If you have a complaint with either of the businesses named about file your complaint immediately with Utah Attorney General's office as they are handling many complaints about these companies now.

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Ben There
, US
May 11, 2009 9:36 pm EDT

There is a way out of it. Your contract is probably illegal.

Check out the Utah State site - Division of Consumer Protection. There you will find a PDF of licensed telemarketers in the state.

Your Internet Auctions Solutions isn't listed. Meaning that they probably didn't have permission to sell from Utah. File a complaint with that Division and you should be able to get some help. They are currently overloaded with Thrive Complaints - be persistent.

And you should also file a fraud alert with your credit card company. This will help. Don't forget the FTC and FBI.

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Yolande Sims
Mobile, US
Feb 06, 2009 1:59 pm EST

Dear a.a. patin

I wish I had done my homework or that I had found this site sooner. In June 2008 I was contacted by Internet Auction Solutions after I downloaded a free e-Bay kit from eBay's website. The man's name was Arthur Morton of Utah. He was a fast talker. I also spoke with his secretary or assistants Inez and Christine. I was told that I would receive a 1 year DOBA membership and that I should recover my initial investment in profits in 12 weeks just working 10 hrs. a week. Thank God Chase would not allow me to increse my credit limit. Half of the money came from my savings account and the other from my Chase credit card. DOBA is a drop ship company with nothing that I wanted to sell. I did all of the real work myself and the coach with TafitiConsulting.com didn't tell me too much that I didn't know or could research for free. I worked my but off. This was in addition to my 40 hr. a week job. When the 4 coaching sessions were almost over the young man named Bryce informed me that drop shipping is not the best way to go with e-Bay websites and that I should find something around the house to sell. I set my first auction up properly, but it was a flop because the high bidder was not ligitimate and Pay Pal refused to pay. For weeks I tried getting things cleared up w/ Pay Pal. I shut down operations and I was devestated. I'm just getting to the point where I can deal with this. I can't find an address on these guys or I would write them and ask for my $2, 930.36 back. Did you try and get your money back? I was told by Arthur that this is considered Business Education and is 100% tax deductible. I don't know if that is a lie. Does anyone know? Is it too late to ask for my money back even though I believe I was scammed?
Y. Sims in Mobile, AL.

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