When I first saw the complaints about a product called Internet Income Initiative (also called Google Pro Kit), I thought “wow, this really, really reminds me of the long and angry discussion going on right now about GoogleMoneyTree here. Of course instead of “Kevin Larsen” the product is by “Michelle Valdez”.
I went through the process for getting the Google Pro Kit and was bothered by the exact same thing that bothered me with GoogleMoneyTree. When I got to the part where I was supposed to enter my credit card, there was a pre-checked box stating “I Agree to The Terms and Conditions”. What was interesting was that the phrase “Terms and Conditions” was hyperlinked to the actual Terms and Conditions, but on my computer I couldn’t even tell it was a link, although that may be an anomaly of how it displayed on my Mac iBook G4.
Anyhow, I went to read the terms and conditions. If I hadn’t already been talking to the people in the discussion about GoogleMoneyTree I would have been surprised by what I found.
There was quite a bit to read in the Terms & Conditions, but I was most interested if there were any other charges if I don’t cancel within the seven day trial period.
Here’s what the Internet Income Initiatve – Google Pro Kit Terms and Conditions said as of 12/27/2008:
“After seven days, if you choose not to cancel you will be billed your first monthly membership fee of seventy two dollars and twenty one cents for the membership fee for the internetincomeinitiative.com.”
First of all $72.21/Month for one month of online business training and tools (especially geared towards people new to online marketing) seems outrageously expensive (that’s $866.52 per year!).
Nothing we recommend on our top 10 recommended home businesses list comes anywhere NEAR to costing that much. Not even remotely close.
In fact as of today NO product recommended on the WorkAtHomeTruth sites comes close to costing as much as the full paid membership to InternetIncomeInitiative – a.k.a. Google Pro Kit.
As of December 27, 2008 2:00 A.M. Central Standard Time the Terms on the InternetIncomeInitiative site state:
“If you have a question or complaint regarding the Site, please send an e-mail to support@internetincomeinitiative.com. You may also contact us by writing to internetincomeinitiative.com, Website Customer Care, 5940 S. Rainbow Boulevard, Las Vegas, Nevada 89118, or but can only cancel by calling Customer Service at 888-657-8585.”
Click here to read the Terms at the InternetIncomeInitiative website.
If you signed up for InternetIncomeInitiative and were surprised by the charges that appeared on your statement, you may want to read the following information from the Federal Trade Commission:
Within the page called “Trial Offers: The Deal is In the Details” you’ll see the following
“It’s The Law
According to the law, companies must clearly and prominently disclose the “material” terms of their trial offers before you give your consent. Material terms may include:
- the fact that by accepting the trial offer, you’re actually agreeing to be enrolled in a membership, subscription or service contract or paying for additional products and services if you don’t cancel within the trial period;
- how much time you have to cancel before you incur charges;
- the cost or range of costs of goods or services you’ll receive if you don’t cancel during the trial period;
- how to cancel during the trial period;
- whether you’ll be charged a non-refundable membership fee if you don’t cancel within the trial period;
- whether fees will be charged automatically to the credit card you used to buy other goods or services.”
So the question is what does “companies must clearly and prominently disclose” mean?
FTC has very good guidelines about proper disclosure placement as they relate to proximity and prominence here:
www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus41.pdf
I encourage you to read ALL the information above, but some of the relevant parts from the above PDF document are repeated below:
“Many of the general principles of advertising law apply to Internet ads, but new issues arise almost as fast as technology develops. This booklet describes the information businesses should consider as they develop online ads to ensure that they comply with the law. Briefly,
1. The same consumer protection laws that apply to commercial activities in other media apply online. The FTC Act’s prohibition on “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” encompasses Internet advertising, marketing and sales. In addition, many Commission rules and guides are not limited to any particular medium used to disseminate claims or advertising, and therefore, apply to online activi- ties.
2. Disclosures that are required to prevent an ad from being misleading, to ensure that consumers receive material information about the terms of a transaction or to further public policy goals, must be clear and conspicuous. In evaluating whether disclosures are likely to be clear and conspicuous in online ads, adver- tisers should consider the placement of the disclosure in an ad and its proximity to the relevant claim. Additional considerations include: the prominence of the disclosure; whether items in other parts of the ad distract attention from the disclosure; whether the ad is so lengthy that the disclosure needs to be repeated; whether disclosures in audio messages are presented in an adequate volume and cadence and visual disclosures appear for a sufficient duration; and, whether the language of the disclosure is understandable to the intended audience.
3. To make a disclosure clear and conspicuous, advertisers should:
- Place disclosures near, and when possible, on the same screen as the trigger- ing claim.
- Use text or visual cues to encourage consumers to scroll down a Web page when it is necessary to view a disclosure.
- When using hyperlinks to lead to disclosures
- make the link obvious;
- label the hyperlink appropriately to convey the importance, nature and relevance of the information it leads to;
- use hyperlink styles consistently so that consumers know when a link is available;
- place the hyperlink near relevant information and make it noticeable;
- take consumers directly to the disclosure on the click-through page;
- assess the effectiveness of the hyperlink by monitoring click-through rates and make changes accordingly.
- Recognize and respond to any technological limitations or unique character- istics of high tech methods of making disclosures, such as frames or pop-ups.
- Display disclosures prior to purchase, but recognize that placement limited only to the order page may not always work.
- Creatively incorporate disclosures in banner ads or disclose them clearly and conspicuously on the page the banner ad links to.
- Prominently display disclosures so they are noticeable to consumers, and evaluate the size, color and graphic treatment of the disclosure in relation to other parts of the Web page.
- Review the entire ad to ensure that other elements—text, graphics, hyperlinks or sound—do not distract consumers’ attention from the disclo- sure.
- Repeat disclosures, as needed, on lengthy Web sites and in connection with repeated claims.
- Use audio disclosures when making audio claims, and present them in a volume and cadence so that consumers can hear and understand them.
- Display visual disclosures for a duration sufficient for consumers to notice, read and understand them.
- Use clear language and syntax so that consumers understand the disclosures.
Once again, I’d recommend you read through the entire disclosure guide if you want more details.
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Evelyn Holms contact me pleas, I have hotmail. lpb88lois.
Lois, first call your bank and request for a reverse charge on your bank account, be prepared to have plenty of ammunitions (copied of googlepro’s add, your bank statements, your stated conversation of talking to googlepro’s customer service, with names and dates, and printed copies of googlepro’s complaints, such as this site. You can find many others). You file complaints to Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau, District Attorney, and the highest court in the universe, God if you’re a christian. Be sure to keep copies of everything. Also your bank might refund your ISF fees after the googlepro thief. AND DO NOT STOP UNTIL THEIR OUT OF BUSINESS.
http://southnevada.bbb.org/compaintmanin.asp
http://www.IC3.gov
reply to Lois, submitted 5/27,09, 9:54, above. Don,t worry, you’ll get your money back. Go to your bank to get the charges reversed, and DO NOT STOP UNTIL THEIR ARE OUT OF BUSINESS.
I got screwed too, but I caught on pretty quick and called my bank fraud dept and all is right now.
Whew! I stopped at the part where they asked for my Credit Card information and did some research in regards to what I was about to get into…THANK GOD that I didn’t enter my Credit Card information. I hope all you guys get your money back. These scams are cruel, absolutely cruel!!
In this age of information at your fingertips, make sure that you research things before entering in your credit card information. And if the ads keep talking about you making money…you have to ask yourself: “HOW??” Isn’t it interesting that they never tell you HOW you’re going to make money…? It’s like a “Want to make money? Give me your Credit Card information, and I’ll tell you” type of deal…which is NEVER good.
Best of luck, everybody.
I paid 3.88 back in 3/21/2009. By 3/29/2009 I was being charge 72.21 by 3/29/2009. Now three more charges of 72.21, 5/15/2009, 5/25/2009,6/25/2009, all at 72.21 So that is four charges totaling 288.84 plus the 3.88. This is not what I thought I was getting. I trying calling . I FILED FRAUD ON THEM .
This is a huge rip off! You’ll pay the $2.95 shipping…Then a represenative will call you to talk about the kit…I was under the impression it would be e-mailed to me…An unknown number came up on my caller ID so I didn’t answer it..This person would call at least 7-8 times a day, without leaving a message. I finally blocked his call. I did a quick search on the kit, only to find out it was a scam. I should have known better, but thinking it was the real Google, I thought I would give it a try..Never recieved anything in the mail, or email, although I paid for the shipping. A week later, my debit card was billed for $79!! No refunds either! After speaking to customer service regarding the unauthorized charge, she cancelled everything for me.
thanks for let me know about this crap!
I just got ripped off by this company too and 4 other companies which claim I ‘Had’ to have put in my account info in order to charge me. This is a lie as I have Keylogger installed on my computer and I have proof I signed up for the $1.97 kit from this company and only them but other companies are charging my account(checking) they are…Network Agenda,Rebate Millionaire with out my permission but when I did call those 2 companies did credit me but they still claim I had to have put in my credit card info in order for them to charge me which is a LIE. Any help on this company Internet Pros..which doesnt have a web site to contact them by the way,they just say they are called “Internet Success” on line but no web address and the funny thing is I thought it was a trust worthy company because I thought I was dealing with ‘Google’ but i guess ‘Google internet kit’ isnt really google after all
I started to apply for the kit but when they asked for credit card I closed the page and came here,,these people should be in jail..Also watch out for video proffesor another scam
I too orded Google Pro March 17th 09 from a woman that called me from the Philipiens and charged me $3.88 on my credit card, then proceded to try to sell me two other products,mathew lesko for $19.95 a month, and shopper for $19.95 a month and I IMEDITILY TOLD HER NO TO BOTH BUT SHE ALLREADY HAD MY CREDIT CARD NUMBER, AND SHE WOULD NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER, SO I CALLED THE CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER SHE HAD GIVEN ME AND IT WENT TO A COSMEDIT CO. IN FLRDIA,SO I CALLED MY CREDIT CARD CO. AND TOLD THEM I HAD BEEN SCAMED AND THEY TOOK ALL THREE CHARGES OFF MY ACCOUNT. It gets wourst! I put the CD in my computer last week and downloaded it and it had a TROJAN HORSE SHeur2.AVGN ON IT.This company needs to be put out of business any way possible. The CD is useless.Their address is GooglePro,5940 Rainbow Blvd,Las Vegas NV 89118. Their phone number does not work 888-657-8585,their internet address does not work. Maybe the federal gov.and the postoffice can revock their mailing permit Orem UT. Permit 343.for mailing information that is a flat out lie…
I saw the AD on the internet and just wanted to see
what it was all about. I applied for Google Pro Kit but it took a long time to arrive at my Post Office. I was busy with something else at that time and when it finally arrived I didn’t take the time to insert the disk and then forgot all about it. I have lost a pile of money over this and have gotten nowhere.
WOW, WOW, WOW!! thanks all you good people for WARNING about this HUGE SCAMM!!! I was actually considering doing this, and even recommended to my sister. . and it seems like these comments answered every question I had in mind! so thank you very much!!!
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK IN GETTING THEM OUT OF BUSINESS!!!
Google kits, all these stupid work at home programs are a total and complete “SCAM” Most sites will not tell you about the monthly fee, or it is in very small print. When you call and ask for a refund the people that work for these “MORONS” will not help you in any way, and even hang up on you, i than proceeded to go through my bank and get my money refunded to my account. I have reported these “IDIOTS” but of course nothing will be done, they will find another sucker to scam, that is why this world is so messed up because of “LOW LIFE SCUM” like these people who will drain you, or anyone from there savings. Someone needs to hang these people up on a pole so each one of us can stand in line and beat the holy crap out of these “JACKASSES”
I fell for it – Anyone know how to get rid of them? I signed up – Realized that it wasn’t what they said it was going to be – They already charged me $1.95 for said “kit” however, it’s NO kit. Not what they advertise it to be anyways. How do I CANCEL so that they don’t charge me in the future? Any help is greatly appreciated!!!!
@Brytnee:
Hello Brytnee. Unfortunately i did the same. I called and called and could not get a hold of anyone, i ended up and called my bank to dispute the charge, i have chase bank. The following day, and the next day after that i received two more charges on my Atm/Credit card, i had to dispute all three charges and i am thankful my bank reimbursed my money. First they said that the kit was $1.97 and charged me $2.97 than there was a charge for $74.97 than another charge the following day for $19.95. Who knows what would have happened if i didn’t cancel my card and have my bank issue me a new one. Around that time i found an email address and they emailed me back saying that this is not a scam and that a lot of people make seriously good money with this program, i emailed them back and had some choice words for them, also to let them know that i reported them to the better business bureau, consumer affairs, and rip off report. My advice to you is, if you don’t mind canceling your credit card, i would do it immediately, like i said they charged me three consecutive days for a total of $97.89 and they are probably going to do the same to you, they just pass on your credit card information to the next person, they have no conscious. I also see how they might work out of the uk, so it would be harder for them to get caught. I hope this helps, unfortunately we fell for the same garbage. Edward.
ripped off…ripped off….ripped off….i did it too. i called and could not get anyone to answer so i called my bank and reporting this as fraud. anyone who has done this needs to cancel your card before they take anymore money from your account. hopefully i will be reimbursed but atleast they wont be getting anymore of my money. i knew better but times being what they are who doesnt need extra money? desperation sinks in and there you go. good luck everyone and hope you all get reimbursed. teresa
It’s suprising this scam is stil going around just saw it today on some adverts. Surprised no one could tell it was a scam either they use obtrusive javascript to try and stop you leaving the site and btw google never pay to give links. Adsense worked like 5 years ago but now it pays very little money unless your a e-commerce book seller or something. Anything that says you can earn money through google is always a sham. Google gather their own links through automated spiders and do not require any help.
You can tell this scam cos they always come in the form of blogs with the same comments and same content just different author pic and bio. Hacked one of these blogs recently and was able to glean some information about what this scam is.
If you give them your credit card you cancel the card don’t just block the transactions.
their ip adress 69.20.55.192: , it says they are located in philadelphia (US) but i think its just a public internet cafe cause some old ips show they were from UK, these scammers are really annoying and more desperate people are getting tricked to their scams