I can’t believe I missed this press release as I’ve been following this companie for years now, wondering how it was getting people to hand over so much money despite the large volume of existing complaints and what seemed to me at the time questionable business practices.

From the News Release:

“Kristi Chadd, of Clarkston, paid more than $5,500 to StoresOnline after attending a sales presentation in Spokane. A car crash left the former traveling nurse with a back injury that limits the type of work she can do and the number of hours. Although she doesn’t even have an e-mail address, Chadd was convinced by the sales agents that she could start a successful online sales company. She said they told her she didn’t even need a product to sell; they’d help her find one. She said they showed her a video where children and a woman who could barely speak English talked about the money they were making online.”

One person who claims to be a victim of the StoresOnline business has posted about her experience with StoresOnline.com here and put together a list of other companies she claims to be related to StoresOnline at this blog. (Note: I haven’t verified her story or the accuracy of the list of sites she posted).

You can read the original Washington State AG’s press release here.

Important information for people over 65 (this is something I hadn’t seen before):

“Tassi said today’s agreement should help ensure that any consumers contacted by StoresOnline in the future understand what they are – and aren’t – getting for their money. State law allows consumers to cancel a purchase made during a seminar at a hotel, for example, within three business days. The state’s agreement extends those refund rights to ensure that all consumers have at least a full weekend to examine the StoresOnline product and that consumers 65 or older have 15 days to rescind a purchase.”

I haven’t checked to see if any of the other states offer similar extensions for consumers over a certain age.

I don’t mind broken promises…

To quote one of Jack Handey’s Deep Thoughts:

“Broken promises don’t upset me. I just wonder, why did they believe me?”

Here’s the promise the companies have made in their agreement:

“The companies, which cooperated with the investigation, also agreed to restrictions that prohibit them from engaging in deceptive business practices in the future.”

We’ll see…