Google Success Kit Complaints

NOTE: I hate to beat a dead horse, but I want to make clear that WorkAtHomeTruth has NEVER recommended any type of Google Success Kit trial offer. Why anyone would think that after reading our information about Google Success Kit trial offers is baffling.

Again!…WorkAtHomeTruth has NEVER recommended any Google success kit trial offer and based on what we know so far we never will. In fact, the chance of one coming anywhere near our top 10 recommended home businessest would be ZERO.

I’ve been seeing complaints about a product called “Google Success Kit” that seems to rival the product Google Money Tree in terms of how much people hate it. Of course, if it’s at all like the GoogleMoneyTree product I could definitely see why.

4/14/2009 update: There are so many products with different names that sound similar that it’s getting hard to know which product people are talking about. Therefor the updates below from February may or may not be about the product your looking for information on. You’ll need to read through the discussion, too. One person – Sarah – recently posted about a product called Instant Google Kit – also called Google Startup Kit which within the terms and conditions includes a subscription to a product called IPlanFinancial.

2/25/2009 update: This product has NOTHING to do with Paul Easton’s JustMoreWebsiteTraffic product.

2/10/2009 update: now the customer service for Google Success Kit seems to be bordering on excellent. So mostly the complaints seem to be about other aspects of the business.

2/2/2009 update: Google Money Tree (mentioned above) has made significant improvements (in my opinion) to their order process since this was written.

2/2/2009 update: so far based on the feedback I’m seeing, Google Success Kit for the most part is providing reliable customer service.

But I’ve been trying to figure out where people are getting the Google Success Kit. I’ve searched for it and so far I’ve been unable to find the version people are complaining about. The GoogleSuccessKit complaints seem to center around allegations of unauthorized monthly charges for $11.95 per month and $4.95 per month after taking a $1.00 trial offer.

Not, I’ll be curious to see if it says “trial” offer – just recently I was looking at another product called EarnCashFastWithGoogle where I actually had to look into the source code of the web page to find the word “trial”. :-0

If anyone can remember the actual PAGE where they filled out there information to get the Google Success Kit I’d love to see it so I can see what they are doing to generate so many complaints. Also, if warranted I’ll post the same information that I posted in the LONG discussion about GoogleMoneyTree here about where to file complaints, etc.

NOTE: WorkAtHomeTruth has NEVER recommended the Google Success Kit and based on what we know so far we never will. In fact, the chance of it coming anywhere near our top 10 recommended home businessest would be ZERO.

Apparently the Google Success Kit made one person so mad that they said that even if the product made them a millionaire they wouldn’t want anything to do with their company.

Which brings up another point about the “Google Kit” type products – 99.9% of the time the REAL company Google has NOTHING to do with them. They are using Google’s name without Google’s permission! But I’m sure the average person who sees the name GoogleSuccessKit doesn’t know that.

So far I’ve only found sites promoting the Google Success Kit that have a $1.87 charge. I haven’t found one with a $1 charge so if someone can point me to the one that has the $1.00 trial offer I’d like to see it.

Also, the only phone number I’ve seen about the GoogleSuccessKit product is 1-800-659-1473 which apparently routes people to quickcashsupport.com.

Obviously, if anyone’s had any success in canceling their Google Success Kit or getting a refund, please post how you did it in the comments and then I’ll move it up to this main section.

EarnCashFastWithGoogle Complaints

I’ve been tracking down numerous seemingly fake websites that are promoting various products that are generating a huge number of complaints.

One of the products many of those sites are promoting is a product called EarnFastCashWithGoogle. So let’s take a look at why EarnCashFastWithGoogle is generating so many complaints.

3/28/2009 update: This is NOT an endorsement or NON-endorsement of EarnCashFastWithGoogle, but I still cannot understand how people can miss the information disclosing monthly charges on their sites disclosing the terms of their offer. When I checked it was on ALL of the following sites that are used to promote this offer:

  • GoogleProfitTree – The version I looked at showed the monthly charges in a big blue box at the bottom of the page BEFORE the first step of the order form.
  • MakeCashFastWithGoogle – The version I looked at had “Risk-Free Trial Information” in bolded green letters DIRECTLY to the left of where you enter your credit card information. The monthly charges were spelled out there.

3/3/2009 Update: It is still baffling to me how people are missing the disclosures on the EarnCashFastWithGoogle site. This is NOT an endorsement of the product, but from what I’ve seen EarnCashFastWithGoogle’s method of disclosure has to be one of the most consumer-friendly one that I’ve seen. I have to agree with what they’ve now detailed in their advertising policy link which you can read here.

However, I don’t like the fact that you have to take ALL 3 services instead of being able to select – buffet-style.

I did just notice a separate issue: The second page of the EarnCashFastWithGoogle site is displaying the HackerSafe logo on the order page. The two issues with displaying the HackerSafe logo are:

  1. HackerSafe was bought out by McAfee and ultimately changed the HackerSafe logo to McAfee Secure.  Click here to read about the HackerSafe change to McAfee Secure, which be reading the comments looks like was done AUTOMATICALLY.
  2. A security seal like HackerSafe (now McAfee Secure) is supposed to be clickable so that you can verify the last time the site was scanned on a trusted 3rd-party site.

FIRST – I want to be clear that we have NEVER recommended the EarnCashFastWithGoogle product and based on what I’ve seen based on the sales page alone it would NEVER a chance of getting anywhere near our Top 10 Recommended Home Businesses list.

I just saw a lot of complaints about their “Earn Google Cash” type product and wondered what they were about.

2/4/2009 Update: While the sales page certainly has some strange things about it that I discuss below, one thing I can’t understand is how people don’t know they’ll be charged monthy after the trial period. On the page I looked at there was a gigantic blue box describing the terms of the offer – DIRECTLY above where you start entering your information. Is there a different sales page that I don’t know about?

Strange wording and bad grammar is available for “all who qualify”!

O.K. On page 1 I see that I “may qualify” for one of their free kits. I’d like to know who DOESN’T qualify for one of EarnCashFastWithGoogle’s free kits.

Also, the following sentence doesn’t even make sense in the context of the page:

“Google has earned people millions of dollars, time for you to get your share! See if you qualify for our free kit and start today!”

I can’t imagine what “Google earning people millions of dollars” has to do with EarnCashFastWithGoogle. While PEOPLE might be able to earn money by learning to use Google Adwords through a legitimate system like Matt Levenhagen’s CampaignBlast’s Training…The company GOOGLE isn’t earning ANYONE millions of dollars except maybe some of their employees and shareholders. :-(

To “Qualify” for My “Free Kit” I just have to “Order Now”. Huh?

Now, I know this is typically “marketing-speak” but it just seems alarmingly bizarre in the context of the previous claim that “I may qualify for one of their free kits”. So in order to qualify for my “Free Kit” I guess I just have to PAY.

You might also qualify if you habitually use poor grammar!

On the first page of the EarnCashFastWithGoogle.com offer I noticed this disclaimer by a testimonial from Kelly T. (Maybe he’s related to “Mr. T”?):

“*Results not typical.
Individuals has been remunerated.”

Well, at least they did put a dislcaimer, even if it’s grammatically incorrect.

“Important Notice” from EarnCashFastWithGoogle Limiting the Number of “Hand-Held” Experiences Available! Whaaat?

According to the “Giant Red Box”:

“Unfortunately, we cannot offer this to everyone. I am really sorry about this, but the offer is extremely limited!”

Hmm. I wonder if it’s only limited to people who ORDER? ;-) I guess those are the people who get the “excellent hand-held experience” mentioned in the “Giant Red Box”:

The Earn Google Cash system ensures that you will have an excellent hand-held experience”

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve actually been spending a significant amount of time trying to figure out what a “hand-held experience” could possibly be. Also, I hope I don’t drop it. ;-)

A REAL Two-for-One Deal: TWO baffling sentences on ONE page!

OK. On the SAME page I see these two sentences:

Sentence 1:See, even though we are releasing this for FREE initially, we are only giving away an undisclosed number of 14-day trial packages.” I wonder if the “undisclosed number is related to Graham’s Number?

Sentence 2: “Why Am I Giving Away This Earn Google Cash System For Free?”

Now Sentence 1 makes it seem like EarnCashFastWithGoogle will EITHER be free OR it will be a “14-day trial package”. And then Sentence 2 makes it seem like CURRENTLY the EarnCashFastWithGoogle system is free.

Let’s see if the EarnCashFastWithGoogle system is really free (don’t hold your breath)…

Amazingly, EarnCashFastWithGoogle actually puts the offer details right on the front page in a big blue box, although the print is pretty small. Even though I’m not at all impressed by their bizarre sales page, EarnCashFastwithGoogle’s disclosure of the trial conditions on the main page is WAY better than what most similar products do (other similar productst tend to link to the Terms & Conditions where you have to hunt down information about the additional fees).

So let’s see what the additional charges are:

  • $1.00 refundable processing fee
  • After your 7-day FREE trial period it’s $29.95 per month (automatically charged monthly at the end of the trial period).
  • A FREE fourteen-day trial and twenty one-day trial to the Fraud Protection Resource Center and Identity Theft Protection for just $4.95 and $9.95 a month thereafter (shows as “FraudProtection” and “IdentitySecurity”) should you choose not to cancel.

OK. So even though they initially presented a lot of baffling information at the beginning regarding whether their system was free or a 14-day trial, now they’re at least putting the offer details directly on the main page…although NOW it’s a 7-day FREE trial (I’m not sure what happened to the EarnCashFastWithGoogle free 14-day trial mentioned previously). Also, what if I already have fraud protection and don’t want theirs?

Although based on this page alone there’s ZERO CHANCE I would ever recommend this “Earn Cash Fast with Google” product to anyone, except maybe one of my competitors. ;-)

For example the product I recommend on the site for learning to make money with Google Adwords is Matt Levenhagen’s Campaign Blasts Method and here’s the remarkable thing about Matt’s sales page: it actually makes sense ALL the way through – unlike EarnCashFastWithGoogle.com’s sales page which seems to be a mix of nonsensical phrasing, contradictory statements, followed FINALLY by the REAL terms of the offer (at least they did get THAT part right).

OK. If for some strange reason I did actually get this product, how would I cancel or make a refund?

  • For EarnCashFastWithGoogle it says: “you can chat with live operator by calling (866)341-7163 within the first 7 days to cancel, and you will not be charged.”
  • During the PAID membership of EarnCashFastWithGoogle it says: “If for any reason you are dissatisfied, chat with a live operator, and you’ll no longer be charged.” OK.
  • OK. For the “Fraud Protection Resource Center” it says: “You have also unlocked a FREE fourteen-day trial and twenty one-day trial to the Fraud Protection Resource Center and Identity Theft Protection for just $4.95 and $9.95 a month thereafter (shows as “FraudProtection” and “IdentitySecurity”) should you choose not to cancel. Prior charges for bonus are non-refundable but subscription can be cancelled and future charges stopped at any time by calling toll-free 1-800-712-7226 and 1-866-342-2994.”

Fine, but I still want to know how EASY it is to REALLY get the services canceled.

Now I’m going to have to rely on feedback from other people on that because I have ZERO INTEREST in even reviewing this EarnCashFastWithGoogle offer based on what I’ve seen so far.

So if anyone wants to let other people know their experiences with canceling the EarnCashFastWithGoogle offer, let them know here.

Update: 2/1/2009: So far it seems that customer service handling EarnCashFastWithGoogle has been very helpful and prompt.

Also, if you initially signed up through a page other than the “EarnCashFastWithGoogle.com” page, I’d be interested in knowing what that page was.

Form on First page:

First Name :
Current Marital Status :
Annual Household Income :
Time At Current Residence :
Employment Status :
Year Born:

Note: I’ll be finishing the rest of this page later, but I’m going to go ahead and publish it to see what kind of experience people have had canceling and/or refunding EarnCashFastWithGoogle and how hard or easy it is to cancel and/or refund.

Note: Now there are some sites that seem to call this The Google Easy Cash System.

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Internet Income Initiative & Google Pro Kit Complaints

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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