ZEEK REWARDS Zeekle Zeek Rewards took my $3,500.00 check and closed down my account, I can't get any answers. Lexington, North Carolina

Up Next For ZeekRewards Ponzi Scheme Victims...Clawbacks?
 
When the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused ZeekRewards (Zeek) and its founder, Paul Burks, of perpetrating a massive $600 million Ponzi scheme, hundreds of thousands of victims were shocked to learn that the healthy returns they had been receiving were the result of a massive fraud.  Many, lured by the promise of a steady stream of profits, had emptied retirement and savings accounts in efforts to maximize their gains.  Now, with the SEC arguing that Zeek was nothing more than an elaborate fraud, many wonder whether they will recoup any of their losses.  However, while thousands suffered losses, some victims were fortunate enough to profit from the scheme, withdrawing tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in excess of their principal investment.  While court-appointed receiver Ken Bell has not publicly commented on the fate of those  so-called net winners, it is almost certain that they will be the target of clawback lawsuits seeking the return of those profits.


Charles Ponzi, whose scam in the early 20th century has garnered lasting notoriety.(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A receivership is founded on principles of equity.  Because the amount of assets ultimately available for distribution to victims is usually insufficient to satisfy the total amount of victim claims, the receiver is tasked with ensuring that any distribution treats similarly-situated victims alike.  This includes ensuring that some victims do not receive or retain gains at the expense of other victims.  According to attorney Gianluca Morello, who currently represents the court-appointed receiver in a large Ponzi scheme, it would typically be inequitable to leave net winners from Ponzi schemes with their profits, and a receiver will almost always fix this inequity by pursuing clawback lawsuits against net winners to recover their profits.  To allow some investors to retain any gains they received from the scheme would be in direct contravention of the receivers mandate, as those gains are, in reality, not profits, but funds belonging to fellow investors.  By recovering these false profits from net winners, the receiver is able to increase the total amount of assets available for distribution.
Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down
Feds Halt Alleged $600 Million ZeekRewards Ponzi Scheme: How It Happened And What's Next Jordan Maglich Contributor
ZeekRewards Handed Over To Receiver; What's Next For Investors? Halah Touryalai Forbes Staff
Zeek receiver Ken Bell has not indicated whether he will pursue clawback litigation.  However, according to attorney Burton Wiand, who is acting as the court-appointed receiver in Arthur Nadels $400 million Ponzi scheme, Mr. Bell may have little choice.  The receiver has little discretion in his determination whether or not to pursue clawback claims, since those claims, and claims against third parties, are assets of the estate that cannot be abandoned without justification, said Wiand.  While victims with nominal amounts of gains may escape prosecution due to the cost of litigation, investors with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in gains may not be so lucky.
While obviously unfavored by investors fortunate enough to eke out gains from the scheme, clawback litigation is often the single highest source of funds recovered for victims.  By moving quickly to freeze Zeeks assets, the SEC was able to preserve approximately $225 million sitting in Zeeks coffers.  However, this figure will likely be dwarfed by total investor losses.  Thus, absent recoveries from any third-parties for their involvement in the scheme, clawback litigation is also sometimes the sole method of increasing victim recoveries.
Courts routinely favor the use of clawback litigation to recover false profits from investors under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (UFTA), which has been passed by nearly every state in substantially similar form.  Under the UFTA, transfers made to a creditor are deemed fraudulent when,  among other factors, no reasonably equivalent value was exchanged.  An investor is understood to give reasonably equivalent value, assuming they received the transfer in good faith, for any amount up to that investors total contribution.  Thus, an investor who received 100% of their total contribution usually cannot be compelled to return those funds absent actual knowledge of the fraud.  However, an investor who received funds in excess of their original investment is not as lucky, for in a Ponzi scheme, those purported profits are, in reality, simply the redistribution of other investor funds.  Allowing a fraudsters arbitrary determinations as to who is enriched under the scheme would be highly inequitable.
For example, consider an investor who contributed $10,000 to the scheme and, over the course of the investment, withdrew $40,000, netting a handsome profit of $30,000.  While the investor would likely be deemed to have given reasoanbly equivalent value for the withdrawals totaling $10,000, the additional $30,000 would be deemed false profits and likely targeted by the receiver in a clawback lawsuit.
The receivers immediate priority is the completion of his initial investigation, which will allow him to understand the extent of each investors gains or losses.  Typically, once this has occurred, the receiver may obtain court permission to contact those net winners before filing suit to see if the false profits could be returned without going through litigation.  Sometimes, a slight discount is offered as an incentive to avoid litigation.  With the number of net winners estimated to be in the thousands, this approach would seem likely in an effort to prevent litigation costs.  While some may hold out hope that the large amount of victims could possibly dissuade the receiver from pursuing clawbacks, this too seems doubtful. Kathy B. Phelps, a California lawyer who recently authored a book on unraveling Ponzi schemes, agrees that clawback suits are likely, but observed that the receiver could also take into account issues of hardship and collectibility.  Because the receivers investigation is expected to take several months, any clawback suits would likely not occur until 2013.  Until then, victims are relegated to a wait and see approach.

I'm also afraid of the horror stories. I'm holding to $4000 and truly, I don't know if I'll join just yet.

JC Ramirez. Queens NY

It ended just the way I predicted. The game is over, there will be lots of bag holders.

Update 3:52am 18th August, 2012 Citing Secret Service Special Agent Glen Kessler, The Dispatch are now reporting Zeek Rewards is being investigated by the Secret Service in co-ordination with the SEC.

The U.S. Secret Service has confirmed it is investigating Zeek Rewards as well as the companys chief executive officer, Paul Burks.
Special Agent Glen Kessler said the Secret Service, in coordination with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is working a joint case on Zeek Rewards, the companys affiliate program and an entity of Rex Venture Group LLC, which is based in Lexington.
When asked if the Secret Service had anything to do with Zeek Rewards shutting its doors, Kessler informed The Dispatch that the Secret Service does not comment on ongoing investigations.

http://behindmlm.com/companies/zeek-rewards/breaking-zeek-rewards-pull-plug-on-ponzi-scheme/#more-8983

I am a member of Vitel and we want to invite you and your team to be apart of Vitel for FREE! If you are down we want to lift you up.  Join Vitel for free do not allow the down fall from Zeek keep you down join now or call me. visit http://www.hart2hartserv.myvitel.com or call: 630-318-3266.. Continue to make your money and have perks.

I am suspicious of anything roy Dooly puts up, he used to be critical of Zeek and post skeptical video's but hit tune changed somewhere along the line. I don't think Mr. Dooly is an independant 3rd party. I mena he stepped in on a question during a radio interview to make sure Ms. Olivares didn't answer it.

http://behindmlm.com/companies/zeek-rewards/zeek-rewards-dodge-ponzi-concerns-on-aces-radio-live/

Check this out.
http://mlmhelpdesk.com/breaking-zeek-rewards-news-the-facts-behind-the-nc-doj-investigation-zeek-rewards-recording/

Zeek Rewards Issued CID By North Carolina Department of Justiceby Ray and Kevin's Blog Network | on August 12, 2012Zeek Rewards Receives Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the North Carolina Department of Justice . . .Yup.  It happened folks.  The North Carolina Department of Justice (NC DOJ) issued a formal Civil Investigative Demand to Zeek Rewards. 

Attorney General Roy Coopers Consumer Protection experts protect North Carolina consumers. We fight unfair business practices like scams and frauds. Weve helped hundreds of thousands of consumers like you get more than $80 million of your money back.

If you were to call the North Carolina Attorney Generals Office Consumer Protection Division today, regardless of your enquiry youd be met with a curious recorded message that presumes youve called to either file a complaint against Zeek Rewards, or ask the NC AGs office for investment advice regarding the opportunity. Incase you might not be familiar with US law enforcement hierarchy, the Attorney General is elected by the people of North Carolina every four years as the states top law enforcement officer and top lawyer. Powers and duties of the Attorney General are set forth in the Constitution and Statutes of North Carolina.

As head of the North Carolina Department of Justice, the Attorney General provides legal representation and advice to all state government departments, agencies and commissions. The Attorney General also provides legal opinions at the request of other public officials and handles all criminal appeals from state trial courts. When the states public interests are at stake, the Attorney General can take legal action on behalf of North Carolinas citizens.

Below is the message youll currently hear if you call the NC AGs office of Consumer Protection Division at the time of publication (note that the recorded message quality is a bit here and there so Ive included a transcript below):

Thankyou for calling the North Carolina Attorney Generals Consumer Protection Division about Zeek Rewards. We can not tell you whether or not to invest or participate in Zeek Rewards, or any other company. If you would like to file a complaint with our office, you can either leave a message with your name and address after the beep, and we will mail you a complaint form. Or you can visit our website at www.ncdoj.gov for an online complaint form.

Specific questions about how Zeek Rewards works should be directed to the company itself. Again, the Attorney Generals office cannot give you investment or legal advice and we do not endorse any program or business. However we always encourage people to do their own research before investing in any business. Many people have asked if we have received complaints about Zeek Rewards and we can confirm that we have received several complaints.

Thankyou again for contacting our office. Noticeably the Attorney Generals office refer to Zeek Rewards as an investment, despite the company repeatedly claiming it isnt yet offering a daily ROI to its affiliates. While its a safe bet to assume that the reason the NC AGs office have put up the message is due to the number of calls theyve received regarding Zeek Rewards, it seems that this might only be the tip of the iceberg.

Earlier today BehindMLM reader Al informed us that hed just got word that the AGs office has requested that Zeek Rewards provide them with documents so they can examine Zeek Rewards business practices. On Friday 3rd of August, one of Als friends sent the following to the North Carolina Attorney Generals offices Facebook account:

Addressed personally to NC AG Roy Cooper, the office sent back an official response on Monday 6th August as follows:

Specifically why the NC AGs office are concerned about Zeek Rewards, what information was asked for or when is unknown. To the best of my knowledge, Zeek Rewards has made no official announcement to their affiliates or acknowledgement regarding the NC AGs request for information, nor do we expect them to. From the language used in the reply however, its clear that whatever information the AGs office have requested From Zeek Rewards, theyre yet to receive it.

Stating that several complaints about Zeek Rewards have been received, it appears the NC AGs office have decided the warrant concern and an examination of Zeek Rewards business practices. As I understand it, requesting additional information from a business (which Id assume was not already public), is one of the first steps an Attorney Generals office takes in deciding whether or not to launch an official investigation into a company.

Not that Id be so bold as to instruct the NC AGs office on how to go about their business, but one would hope high on the priority list of the NC AGs office would be ascertaining whether or not Zeek Rewards daily commission payouts mostly consist of internal affiliate money.

When asked this in the past, Zeek Rewards CEO Paul Burks claims this is proprietary information and when then COO Dawn Wright-Olivares was asked to answer a similar question, it was claimed that should she answer it, the answer itself would put Zeek Rewards out of compliance.

In the meantime the NC AGs office recommends people to do their own research before investing in Zeek Rewards, a suggestion recently appointed Zeek Rewards COO Greg Caldwell is seemingly against. Two days ago, in response to the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union warning members and the general public that Zeek Rewards was fraudulent, Caldwell claimed that anybody who publishes criticism of Zeek Rewards is behaving unprofessionally by acting on false information.

Here at BehindMLM we naturally encourage people to conduct as thorough investigation and due diligence into any MLM company they are considering joining using any and all sources available to them.  Not to pre-empt the outcome of the NC AGs conclusions on Zeek Rewards but Roy Cooper might want to invest in a few extra boxes of tissues, lest he find himself on the receiving end of similar scathing commentary from Caldwell for going public with any criticism of Zeek his office might find.

Even if the false information the NC AG office base their unprofessional criticism on was requested and sourced from Zeek Rewards itself.

Why is it that no one whats to respond to the FTC story posted on this thread?

Zeekler may not have a cash flow problem, but they have a MUCH bigger problem than that when insiders are talking of FTC problems on conference calls and advising associates to have a plan B. And to think that his excuse for saying these things is that he didn't think the call was recorded or that so many associates were on the call. Heck, cash flow problems would be a good problem to have vs. an FTC investigation.  

I hope everyone is keeping up with this matter, or they could very well get burned by this very questionable business. It is not a good thing when the FTC is looking in to your business.   

MonaVie President: Zeek Rewards probably a Ponzi
Jul.20, 2012 in MonaVie, Zeek Rewards

 One of the more attractive qualities of a Ponzi scheme is that for very little effort, if any at all, members can earn a substantial return on their investments. Splice this in with a MLM compensation plan and let the word spread virally through the industry and sooner or later youre bound to attract the attention of other companies operating in the same sector.

With no strings attached membership wise, its no secret that many Zeek Rewards affiliates are involved primarily in other MLM opportunities that for some, forbid the cross marketing of any other opportunity to their existing downlines. The stricter of these affiliate/distributor agreements even prohibit the mere participation in another MLM company altogether.

Nonetheless, as VIP point balances swell those playing the multi-opportunity stakes in Zeek Rewards and other companies are no doubt finding themselves in the challenging position of weighing up their primary MLM business with that of Zeek Rewards.

Simply put, its hard to ignore the returns Zeek Rewards pay out daily for what can easily be deemed passive investment income (via purchased customers and ad placing automation). When you compare this to a traditional sales based MLM opportunity that relies on genuine customers (not harvested email addresses where the owners dont even know theyve been signed up and dont have to actually purchase anything to be counted as customers), it doesnt take long for the Ponziesque returns to overshadow the income derived from a legit opportunity.

With this unfortunately the inevitable happens and Zeek Rewards members look towards their own existing downlines  in an effort to grow their Zeek downlines. Theres no quicker way to boost your own investment returns than to convince people you know to also invest and reap the passive commissions this generates. 

Eventually enough members are involved in multiple companies that management can no longer brush aside queries from their field and in the most extreme cases, even find themselves being called on to make a public statement on the opportunity in question.

Two days one such executive was Monavies President of their North American and European markets, Randy Schroeder.
Blasting Zeek Rewards on a July 16th Monavie Leadership Mentoring call, Schroeder (who credits himself as being one who has extensive knowledge of the (MLM) industry) claimed that Zeek Rewards was a company that comes along and sweeps people into a trail that turns into a trail of devastation.

Citing numerous requests over the past several weeks seeking his opinion on Zeek Rewards (presumably from Monavie affiliates), Schroeder (photo above) declared on the 16th that Zeek Rewards is illegal, a pyramid scheme (and) probably a Ponzi scheme. Elaborating on why, Schroeder states that one of the best ways to predict the future is to carefully and critically study the past. He then goes on to reason that

companies whose compensation methodology is even remotely similar to the way people are compensation in the program called Zeek Rewards, falls way outside of the FTC guidelines in terms of whats legitimate in the network marketing or direct selling industry.

I mean way, way, way outside the guidelines. My hunch is that Schroeder is speaking specifically about internal consumption and that in its current form (and for the past year and a half), Zeek Rewards has operated with near 100% internal consumption by way of affiliates purchasing bids to give away.

Once these bids are given away, or dumped onto customer accounts (created with an email address, and in many cases where the owner of the email address has not signed up themselves or is even aware they are being signed up to Zeekler, Zeek Rewardss penny auction arm), the Zeek Rewards affiliate who gave the bids they themselves purchased away, then goes on to earn a 90 day ROI on their bid purchase.

The most notable company Schroeder compares Zeek Rewards to would of course be Ad Surf Daily, a Ponzi scheme that offered ridiculous returns claiming its members were purchasing advertising.

In Zeek Rewards, the company claims its members are purchasing penny auction bids and offers similar ridiculous returns, believed to be by and large funded by affiliate money. Zeek Rewards refuse to clarify if this is the case and/or release documentation proving otherwise. CEO Paul Burks claims that the make up of the daily ROI that Zeek Rewards pays out is a proprietary secret.

Based on this, Schroeder concludes that Zeek Rewards will come to grief in the relatively near future, not far into the future,

I think when people are being asked to invest ten thousand dollars into a program with the idea they need to do no work but will receive exorbitant returns, is screaming out in advance: Dont do it, dont do it, dont do it, dont do it!
And yet so alluring is the idea of fast money for which one need not work that alot of people are getting swept into that trail.

Now I would just to give you all my word of caution, its gunna blowup, its gunna be an ugly blowup, itll probably happen sooner not later and it will leave a trail of devastation behind it. Its illegal, its a pyramid, its probably a Ponzi scheme, its going to get shut down dont get swept up into it. Adding even more weight to Schroeders words is a brief look at the types of people the MLM penny auction niche has attracted thus far:

Zeek Rewards its no secret that many of the top earners in Zeek Rewards were top players in the Ponzi scheme Ad Surf Daily. Presumably a fair chunk of the initial investment seed money pumped into Zeek Rewards came directly from Ad Surf Daily

Bidify Bidifys Chief Creative Officer, Frode Jorgensen has a history with being involved in offshore income opportunites that strongly resembled Ponzi schemes. Several other founders exist, however they are shrouded in secrecy with Bidify to date not revealing the exact corporate structure of the company 

Bids That Give CEO and founder Randy Jeffers has had multiple MLM businesses shut down by US authorities

The most recent MLM penny auction to pop up on my radar is Igobidwin (also being marketed as Global Paradigm Shift, Ultimate Power Profits, Power Profits, Spinfinity and MyTurnOnTop), which is being launched by GlobalOne Companies LLC.

Not much is known at this point (the company is supposed to launch sometime in the next few weeks) but there appears to be potential ties between GlobalOne Companies LLC and the pyramid scheme feeder OneX. Members of Igobidwin who paid for their membership via credit card, noticed they were being billed by SIGNATURELIFE QLX, the same company that appeared on OneX member receipts.

OneX was a feeder into QLXChange, which in turn fed members into a world of shady closed-door investment opportunities, with participation only allowed if a non-disclosure agreement was signed. At the end of the day whichever MLM penny auction youre considering, they all operate on the fundamental principle idea that members invest $x, get some sort of virtual currency points and then earn an effective ROI >$x based on how many points they have, with the points expiring after a certain period of time.

Members can of course increase their points (and effective ROI) by re-investing the returns the company pays out daily, and/or recruiting new investors (affiliates) and getting them to invest. Nearly 100% of the revenue generated by these companies is via member purchases (investments in bids with the sole purchasing motivation being to convert them into points for the daily ROI offered) and thus the same is true of where the money these companies are paying out comes from.

This alone is sufficient analysis of the common core business model used by  MLM penny auctions (you wont ever see one of these launch that just pays out standard commissions on the sale of penny auction bids, because there are no genuine retail customers), but when you consider who is involved at the top levels of the companies in the niche, either at a management level or as top earners, the writing is on the wall.

No doubt efforts will be made to simply brush off Schroeders comments as jealousy, negativity or other dismissive labels, however little can be said to refute his claims. I mean you can do the whole pseudo compliance song and dance and *winkwink nudgenudge* call a wolf in sheeps clothing a zebra, but functionally this changes nothing.

No matter what front business you attach to it, no matter what you call member investments and no matter how hard you punish your members for using investment terminology under the guise of compliance, an income opportunity that pays out returns (guaranteed or not) based on how much seed money a new members injects into the scheme, which is made up of the money new and existing affiliates have both initially invested and continue to re-invest so as to grow their daily returns, is a Ponzi scheme.

How anyone who has been or is involved in the network marketing industry for more than ten minutes and can appreciate the idea of selling products to genuine retail customers and earning a commission on said sales can think otherwise, continues to baffle me.

NC credit union warns Zeek Rewards is fraudulent
Aug.03, 2012 in Zeek Rewards

 Early yesterday morning, hot on the heels of ex-Zeek Rewards paid consultant Keith Laggos warning that the FTC has  put out letters to the top big four banks asking them not to open up accounts for penny auctions, a report came in from a Zeek Rewards affiliate claiming that various affiliates in their downline had been contacted by the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union (NCSECU):

I had one of my downline call me yesterday and tell me that the (NC) State Credit Union called his wife and told her (since she got her money order there) that they were giving her a call because it had come to their attention that Rex Venture Group, LLC was fraudulent.

His wife went on to tell the bank employee why Zeekrewards is not fraudulent! Yearly 1099, Compliance Testing, can not be a pyramid in the way it works. And the bank employee said she had no idea how Zeekrewards truly worked. Then tonight another downline called me worried because (NC) State Credit Union had apparently gotten a letter stating Rex Venture Group, LLC is fraudulent and they wanted to pass that on to their customers.

The above was published on Zeek Rewards Facebook page on Thursday but has since been deleted by the company.
NCSECU operate out of North Carolina (where Zeek Rewards is based) and state they are a not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members, founded June 4, 1937 with 17 members and $437 in assets.

As of March 2012, SECU serves 1.7 million members with just under $25 billion in assets through 242 branches, 1,100+ ATMs, six Contact Centers. Naturally when an official banking institution starts calling up and warning their customers that a company is fraudulent, twice no less, people take notice and want to investigate for themselves.

In an attempt to verify the Zeek Rewards affiliates claims above, BehindMLM readers contacted NCSECU in an attempt to get some further clarification. Namely who was advising the credit union Rex Ventures and Zeek Rewards were fraudulent and what criteria was used to arrive at this conclusion.
Reader Al sent the following email off to NCSECU,

Is it true that your credit union believes that Zeek Rewards, based in Lexington, NC, may be a massive ponzi scheme and is alerting its customers to exercise caution?
and received the following reply:

Thank you for your inquiry. That is the latest information we have about Zeek Rewards. Thank you. Note that Al explicitly referred to Zeek Rewards as a Ponzi scheme, with the credit union responding that indeed that was the latest information theyd received on the company. From who NCSECU had received this information though still remained a mystery.

At around this time as this was happening, the Zeek Rewards affiliate who made the original now deleted post on Facebook made a further clarification on the call theyd received from their downline:

The downline whose wife was contacted by the bank teller said the bank had received an email regarding this situation. Again, exactly who had sent the email warning that Zeek Rewards was a Ponzi scheme to NCSECU was not divulged.

At this point I sent off my own correspondence to Leigh Brady, NCSECUs media contact representative, seeking my own clarification on the matter. While I waited for a reply, BehindMLM reader Mr. Wallace got on the phone and spoke to Cory from  NC Credit Unions Risk Managment. Cory did verify they (NCSECU) are telling there customers to be aware of Rex Ventures.

He would not tell me if they came to this on there own or if it came from AG or FTC. At this point we had no less than four instances of communications with NCSECU indicating that NCSECU were warning their customers about Rex Ventures and Zeek Rewards. The reply I then received from NCSECUs media contact representative however conflicted with all four of these accounts:

No we have not advised our members that Rex Venture Group is fraudulent. We do, however, recommend to members that they always practice due diligence in investor education. Curious as to the stark difference in position between NCSECUs media contact representative and their other staff, I sent the following in reply,

A Cory from NC Credit Unions Risk Managment has advised that NCSECU are warning customers to be aware of Rex Ventures (he wouldnt advise however who had provided NCSECU this information).

Additionally Ive been in contact with a Zeek Rewards affiliate who claims NCSECU called his wife up to warn and advise that NCSECU had information that led them to believe Rex Ventures (Zeek Rewards) was fraudulent. His wife then
Is it possible to clarify this information as it seems to differ from what youve told me.
Shortly thereafter I received the following reply:

Our Risk Management Group did have a call this morning. Again, SECU has not indicated the Rex Ventures is fraudulent.
SECU is simply asking its members to be vigilant in their due diligence of Rex Ventures.

Stopping short of stating Rex Ventures and Zeek Rewards were a Ponzi scheme and fraudulent as others had been warned, Brady nonetheless confirmed that NCSECU were indeed warning their members about Rex Ventures. Whether or not NCSECU warn their members about dealings with all companies or are specifically targeting Zeek Rewards and Rex Ventures is currently unclear.

Twenty minutes later after I received my final clarification response from NCSECU, BehindMLM reader Brad shared his own experience with NCSECU:

just got off the phone with a representative from the NC State Employees Credit Union and he did confirm that they are encouraging members to be careful about Zeek Rewards because Zeek is possibly fraudulent. The rep answered the questions directly and provided very limited commentary or insight.

I kept pressing him for additional information such as how the NC SECU came to this decision, but he did not say except they think Zeek Rewards is possibly fraudulent. Completely different to the reply I received from the media contact representative and again confirming NCSECUs suspicions about Zeek Rewards and Rex Ventures. Brad also sent in an email to NCSECU,

I have had a few Zeek Reward affiliates approach me to join their lucrative company. However, I have had some other friends tell me that the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union, and possibly other financial intermediaries, believe that Zeek Rewards is fraudulent.

Is that the NC SECU position on Zeek Rewards or are the people who told me this misinformed? Is Zeek Rewards a fraudulent company? I cannot afford to lose money and impact my securities licenses if it is. Thank you for any assistance. and received the following reply from Jeremy Pittman, curiously citing Ripoff Report and the Better Business Bureau:

Zeek Rewards is indeed a fraudulent company. Please refrain from entering into any type of business with this company as there have been several claims of fraudulent activity reported with Zeek Rewards. Numerous reports of fraud have been given to the Better Business Bureau and other reports of fraud are listed on scam reporting websites. Please visit the links below to familiarize yourself with the company and some of the things that have been said about them.

Thank you for your inquiry and have a great day!

ripoffreport.com/organized-crime/rex-venture-group-ll/rex-venture-group-llc-zeekler-bbb0c.htm

Language wise, Pittmans reply was the strongest against Zeek Rewards, specifically warning Brad to refrain from entering into any type of business with Zeek Rewards. With the exception of my own correspondence with NCSECUs media contact, who confirmed that NCSECU were warning people but not that NCSECU believed Zeek Rewards and Rex Ventures were fraudulent, all other attempts to contact NCSECU by readers since the original Facebook posting have confirmed that at the very least the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union are warning their members about Zeek Rewards and Rex Ventures.

At worst, theyve received information (an email from persons unknown) indicating Zeek Rewards is a Ponzi scheme and are urging members to refrain from entering into any type of business with either Zeek or Rex. Just to reiterate, its still not known who warned NCSECU and what criteria was used to verify Zeek Rewards as a Ponzi scheme and Rex Ventures as fraudulent. Should that information come to light Ill be sure to update this article.

In the meantime looking at the bigger picture, is it possible that Keith Laggos predictions have already come into fruition or are starting to? Im of course not privy to the inner workings of banks and credit unions, but Id imagine it would only be after a thorough investigation and consultation with their legal teams that theyd be willing to state and confirm that they believe a company is a Ponzi scheme and fraudulent.

At this stage Im unaware of any other banks or credit unions (in North Carolina or otherwise) warning their members against Zeek and Rex, however I have read numerous accounts of banks calling up customers to check whether or not credit card charges from Zeek Rewards offshore processors are legit or not. With allegedly millions of affiliates participating in Zeek Rewards, no doubt the volume of these calls going out might certainly have raised a few eyebrows in the banking sector.

Naturally Ill update the article if any further developments occur and in the meantime anyone who gets any further information from NCSECU regarding the situation is welcome to share it with us in a comment below. With uncertainty still looming over NCSECUs source warning them that Zeek Rewards is a Ponzi and Rex Ventures fraudulent, this is definitely one of the more stranger stories surrounding Zeek Rewards Ive thus far covered. Hopefully with time we can get to the bottom of it and find out exactly whats going on.

One would hope itd take much more than employees reading some reports over at Ripoff Report, the Better Business Bureau and scam reporting websites for them to start proactively warning their members against doing business with a company.

Update 4th August, 2012 Brad has received the following clarification from NCSECU, quoting one of their senior Vice-Presidents:

It has come to our attention that our responses about Zeek Rewards are being used to present arguments concerning the company. We have officially taken the position that NCSECU is not confirming our denying fraud, but that weve received several reports of fraud. One of our internal departments has conducted research on the company and received several negative findings.

It is the credit unions stance that we should always try to keep our members best interests at heart. The information is not to bash or incriminate Zeek Rewards, but merely to inform our membership of the potential dangers of investing in their company. One of our Senior Vice Presidents had the following to say about the company:

SECU has not indicated that Rex Venture Group is fraudulent. SECU recommends to members that they always conduct due diligence in investor education, and we are advising members to conduct due diligence of Rex Venture Group. Additionally, SECU recommends that members contact the NC Attorney Generals office with consumer complaints or the NC Secretary of States office with any investor concerns.

Still no clarification as to who sent NCSECU the reports of fraud theyve received or what negative findings their own investigation revealed. Despite what several employees have stated, NCSECU arent confirming or denying fraud but are warning members about the potential dangers of investing in Zeek Rewards, based on negative findings found when NCSECU conducted their own research into Zeek and Rex Ventures.

I think that speaks for itself. A third-party credit union has received information, conducted their own investigation and concluded that Zeek Rewards is worth warning their members over. When was the last time your bank called you up to warn you about money you were going to invest into a company?

Update August 4th, 2012 Zeek Rewards is claiming to have contacted NCSECU, who they state were slandering the company with information that was unfavorable to Zeek Rewards and false. Newly appointed COO Greg Caldwell claims he called the head of Risk Management to track down the origin of the memo.

Upon being discovered, the person responsible admitted he really didnt know anything about the laws regarding direct selling or how to identify a legitimate network marketing company or opportunity. This indicates that the memo originated internally and differs from NCSECUs initial claims that theyd received an email indicating that Zeek Rewards is fraudulent.

Caldwell claims Zeek Rewards has intervened and shut down the misinformation at its source, crediting Zeek Rewards attorneys for taking action. What that means in a practical sense and whether or not NCSECU will continue to warn members about investing in Zeek Rewards is unclear.

Caldwell advises Zeek Rewards affiliates that they are their own worst enemy, urging them not to publish any rumours or allegations about the company sourced from a third-party.

Checks were allowed to be faxed to Rex Venture Group for both subscription upgrade payments and sample bid purchases up until June 6, 2012.  With this thread having 98% misinformation I just wanted to throw that fact in the mix.

RVG has went from a very small company to a world wide phenomenon in a matter of months and it's amazing how many experts there are on this website that would know how to handle that growth smoothly.  And if there is one problem that the company does not have, it is CASH FLOW. 

This individual just arbitrarily decided to send an e-Fax even though that payment option was NEVER even offered for Zeek affiliates. I am a newer affiliate with Zeek Rewards and it took 15 days for my FedEx  Certified check to be processed because they are getting about a thousand envelopes per day.  I was told that it could take about 14 days for my payment to be processed and it showed up (yesterday) Saturday as they have employees working around the clock, even on the weekends because of the huge company growth. 

If this guy is making up his own rules he is going to be frustrated.  If he refers to this income opportunity an "Investment" etc. which it is not, he would be terminated immediately. The company is very strict and all new affiliates must take an online compliance test taught by a top Direct Selling Association attorney Kevin D. Grimes.
 
I was frustrated too, waiting for them to process my check to buy more bids, but I sure didn't go on here and start writing complaints. Zeek Rewards are hiring more employees as fast as they can because of the tremendous growth.
 And as far as a Nevada Corporation,  I have had a Nevada Corporation for years and I am in no way worried about lawsuits, nor am I a criminal.  There are tax benefits in Nevada and Delaware.  Have you ever looked at the skyline of the major cities in Delaware? There are many sky-scrapers with Bank Buildings and every major credit card company is a Nevada or Delaware Corp.  
 
This guy has either gotten his payment processed by now and didn't go back to cancel his SCAM comments or he was not acting in an allowed and compliant way and he was terminated, but they would not keep his money.  My bet is that he is satisfied and making money now and just didn't go back to tell this site. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to add my comments about Zeek Rewards!  I'm very happy with it and am now making money daily.

He obviously doesn't understand the compensation plan either.  He can make plenty of money without telling anyone about it.  If he'd like to earn additional commissions he must bring in 2 affiliates.   He will get plenty of help if he goes to ZeekSupport.ZeekRewards.com and finds an employee listed there with their photos who will help him with his category of help needed.  I wrote to Amanda and she got right back to me.  No Problem.
 
 Warm Regards to all.     

http://behindmlm.com/companies/zeek-rewards/keith-laggos-ftc-to-hit-zeekler-within-6-months/#comments

Aug.01, 2012 in Zeek Rewards As for the asinine comment on Dr. Laggos Yes he is a paid consultant. However, with a little due diligence, it is easy to see his reputation as an expert in his field is second to none.-Troy Dooly,

MLM Helpdesk Keith Laggos credits himself as a marketing and management consultant and claims to have worked with dozens of direct sales companies as well as to  other sales and distribution companies outside of the (MLM) industry.Laggos joined Zeek Rewards as a paid consultant around June 2011 and shortly after the company switched from guaranteeing a 125% ROI on every bid purchased, to paying out a variable ROI over 90 days.Laggos largely credits himself for instigating such changes, claiming on a recent promotional call for MLM company Lyoness that hes been able to help them (Zeek Rewards) change the comp plan to keep within the pyramid scheme and Ponzi scheme laws.With Zeek Rewards still refusing to divulge whether or not the daily ROI they pay out to affiliates contains mostly affiliate money (this is proprietary information), Laggos claims of being within pyramid scheme and Ponzi laws are naturally still questionable.That said, Laggos appears to believe that as far as being a Ponzi or Pyramid scheme, that Zeek Rewards are in the clear and has since shifted his focus to the penny auction side of the business.This shift in focus ultimately resulted in the abrupt and completely unexpected parting of ways between Laggos and Zeek Rewards last week.So just what happened between Keith Laggos and Zeek?It would appear the fallout between Laggos (photo right) and Zeek Rewards might have something to do with a recent call Laggos took last week, promoting the MLM company Lyoness.Lyoness allow members to make investments with the company, and after a specific number of investments have been made by people in your downline, the company pays you out a ROI to the tune of 730-1164%, depending on how much you invest.

Laggos claims that his Lyoness group is the fastest growing group in the history of the company [21:50], and when comparing investments in either Zeek Rewards or Lyoness thatYou put ten thousand dollars in Zeekler, if nothing happens over the next year, youll probably make twenty or forty thousand if thats all you do without building the front end.If you put the same amount of money in Lyoness and dont do anything else, without a single sponsored person you could probably make a quarter of a million dollars. [21:16]Not building the front end of course refers to the passive investment nature of Zeek Rewards, in that members can simply put ten thousand dollars in Zeek Rewards, purchase alleged retail customers (who are nothing more than email addresses) or create fake customer accounts themselves, automate the publishing of a daily ad and receive, according to Laggos, a return of around forty thousand dollars in 12 months.Opening the Lyoness promotion call by acknowledging listeners on the call were all in Zeekler [13:04] before strongly advising them to join Lyoness and make it their Plan B, one possible reason for Laggos leaving Zeek Rewards might be the blatant cross-recruiting that occurs during the call.This is not tolerated by Zeek Rewards, who state in their affiliate policies and procedures thatREX Representatives shall not sell or represent non-REX products or represent marketing opportunities from other companies to other REX Representatives.Zeek Reward warns that failing to adhere to their policies and procedures may be terminated for violating the terms of his or her agreement.Whilst Zeek Rewards and Laggos himself have confirmed he is no longer a paid consultant with Zeek Rewards,

Troy Dools today claimed that Laggos is still an affiliate [10:47].Laggos mentioned on the call that he has a Zeek Rewards downline of about 4,500 people and that his total income with Zeekler is only about $40,000 a month, before rhetorically asking you think I wanna lose $45,000 a month? [45:13].Infact, by all accounts it appears as if Laggos was taken completely by surprise and might not have left voluntarily (I wont go so far as to say he was terminated, as the nature of his consultant agreement and what exactly transpired between him and Zeek Rewards following the call is unknown).On the call, recorded last Tuesday just one day before Zeek Rewards latest Red Carpet Wednesday affiliate event, Laggos statedI told him (Burks) about Plan A / Plan B and weve had a conversation.He laughed and said I believe in Plan A / Plan B. I said as you know for most people that got involved Zeekler, Zeekler was their plan B and he laughed.He said yeah, the majority of the big hitters were all plan B for all of them I dont have a problem when it comes to Plan A and Plan B [39:23].Im going to be at the red carpet service on Wednesday [24:48].Zeek Rewards CEO Paul Burks didnt seem to have a problem with Laggos promoting Lyoness (his plan B), but sometime over the next 24 hours Keith Laggos ceased being a consultant for Zeek Rewards. Nor was he present at the Red Carpet event.Troy Dooly tried to get an answer from Zeek Rewards and was told by recently appointed Chief Operating Officer, Greg Caldwell that[2:26] Keith Laggos and Rex Venture Group have agreed to part company effective immediately.

We wish him the best and we wish him luck in his future endeavours.Troy, dont ask me about this ever again.Unless something else happened within 24 hours of the Lyoness call going live, the only other reason I can think of was Laggos spilling the beans on alleged FTC going after Zeekler (and penny auctions in general), and his appraisal of Zeek Rewards and its future.Citing contacts in the processing and banking sectors informing him of the FTCs actions, Laggos claims[14:06] The FTC has been taking action against all 32 penny auction sites. They put out letters to the top big four banks asking them not to, to encourage them not to open up accounts for penny auctions.They call them illegal gambling. Their idea is that you buy bids, you place bets with those bids and only the winner gets the pot or the prize, and the rest of the people lose their chips or bids.So they (the FTC) consider it to be illegal gambling online and theyre trying to stop it.They (the FTC) sent notices to all the major (payment) processors in the US (telling them) that they do not want them to process a penny auction site as of July 5th. And most of them quit processing, if not all of them, on July 5th for penny auctions. Wont do them, closed the doors the rest of them will go offshore.[14:55] I already had, as you probably know, moved Zeek processing to Hong Kong and other places outside of the US so it looked like it didnt affect them.

The reason it took them so long to get the processors in the first place, is because they (the FTC) were actively trying to shut em, block em (in the US) so we had to go offshore.Zeek Rewards stopped issuing checks to affiliates back in late May 2012, claiming their bank accounts had been closed because the company was too big. Since then, affiliates have experienced credit card charges originating from Panama, South Korea and Hong Kong (China), with many of these charges being initially blocked in the US for suspected fraud.Additionally the company currently only pays out affiliates via third-party offshore payment processors. Then COO Dawn Wright-Olivares even went so far as to tell affiliates that unless they deposited new money into Zeek Rewards e-wallet accounts, they wouldnt be able to withdraw commissions from them.The company does claim to currently have US-based bank accounts but to date refuses to divulge to their affiliates or anyone else who these bank accounts are with.Despite Laggos best efforts to help Zeek Rewards circumvent US laws and regulations, his predictions on the future of Zeekler remain grim:[15:20]

 Unfortunately I dont think the FTC is going to be satisfied with them (Zeek Rewards) going offshore.When they did the same exact action against online gambling with poker and they went offshore, shortly (after) they (the FTC) prepared regulations, calling it illegal gambling, and made sure that no poker sites could have paid gambling online in the US.Troy Dooly meanwhile claims that no such regulations exist, stating that the FTC has never regulated online gambling at all [4:13].Laggos seems confident they do though, and continues his frank assessment of the future of Zeekler and Zeek Rewards:[15:52] Online gambling in the future is going to be highly regulated and theyre going to apply that same law Im afraid to penny auctions. I dont know if its going to be one month, or three months or six months.[16:30] That is what Im afraid the situation is.

Ive got an idea to help Zeekler continue if they lose the penny auctions, with other ideas that would be equally good but no doubt what theres going to be a bump in the road followed by some loss in momentum. [17:08] I believe theyre (Zeek Rewards) are going to lose their momentum shortly.[35:50] The FTC caused problems for Zeekler by making sure they couldnt get their credit cards open for a long time, their merchant accounts, by causing them discomfort using the bank accounts they couldnt process orders, couldnt pay their commissions and that caused hundreds if not thousands of complaints (from affiliates) to state attorneys and the FTC.[23:50] I dont think its (Zeek Rewards) going to last. I think the FTC will take action within 6 months, maybe 3 or less. I dont think theyll go a year before they take action.[24:52] I cant stop the FTC but I can have plan B for Zeekler in place when the FTC does take action.I dont want to be alarmist but I know whats happening, I know whats coming down the pipeline, were taking action to defend ourselves, to protect ourselves and our families.Ive been teaching this for over forty yearsand if youve been in the industry for long you know what Im talking about and wont fault me for saying that, cause you know Im right.

Whatever Laggos contingency plan for Zeek Rewards was, by severing him as a consultant it appears they werent interested.I do however note the apparent similarities in Lyoness retail cashback frontend and Zeek Rewards much hyped to-be-released Zeebates shopping portal. Whether or not Laggos is behind Zeebates however is unclear.Although not confirmed, it appears as if Zeek Rewards members are going to have to find customers for the shopping portal to qualify for their daily ROI through Zeek Rewards, something many affiliates are not happy about.Laggos goes on to finish up by accusing the FTC of being willing participants in extortion (a federal crime in the US):[43:18] Even if they dont win in court, they (the FTC) know they can extort money from them (Zeek Rewards), legally extort money from them.Zeek Rewards has never made public mention of the FTC or any possible future action against Zeekler or penny auctions in general. If Laggos comments are accurate, in that he claims hes been reporting to Zeekler for months that the FTC has been becoming more active on penny auctions [2:42], this is something theyre well aware of and have known for a while.

In the meantime, while all this has been going on, the internet has been flooded with Zeek Rewards marketing from affiliates, making no mention of the difficulties the FTC have allegedly imposed upon Zeek Rewards and other penny auctions.Instead, the company has been busy running around ensuring its members dont use investment terminology to describe the business. Yet when push comes to shove, here weve got Keith Laggos himself publicly defining participation in Zeek Rewards by affiliates as simply putting money in.In his defense, Laggos told Dooly that he did not know they were recording (the call) or how many Zeekler people would be on it.Although I cant say Im surprised, I find the notion of simultaneously being a paid consultant and enrolled affiliate ethically abhorrent. How on Earth are you expected to consult impartially when youve got such a big potential financial conflict of interest always looming over your head?Then again, when it comes to Zeek Rewards one of the most worrying points of contention has always been that executive management in the company also have enrolled affiliate positions.With insider knowledge of pending FTC action and contact with regulators, Zeek Rewards financials and the company backend, when you consider it takes 90 days to fully withdraw earnings on VIP points they are wholly at an unfair advantage when compared to your average non-executive Zeek Rewards affiliate.Zeek Rewards management and Keith Laggos know whats coming, do you?

 Footnote: Troy Dooly broke this story a few hours ago and to his credit published the full Lyoness marketing call referenced in this article my thanks to him for that as its likely this important information would have been buried had he not gone public.All timestamp references contained in this article are in relation to Doolys video that accompanies his article, Breaking MLM News: Zeek Rewards Officially Parts Ways With Dr Keith Laggos After Recorded Call Goes Public.

Rapid growth doesn't change the fact that the company is attempting to pay for it's growth from the cash advances of new associates. History has shown that this is a VERY risky way to attempt to build a legitimate business.  The common result is a short fuse time bomb that destroys the business. 

I hope that is not the case for the many folks who have been attracted to this company, but the odds are not in their favor.

Freeman1  

Freeman1, thanks for steering clear and not getting in the way. In the business world how many times have you seen a tiny company go from unknown to within the top 1300 websites in the world out of approx 300 million sites on the planet. Alexa.com and other traffic monitors available. Keep watching!

This complete discussion concerns me about Zeekler, with the this last posting about lines at the office has driven me to this response.

I have been in the business world for a very long time and it has always been a big RED FLAG when a company is not prepared for the growth of it's business. This is even more of a concern with a TECH internet company. It has always been a sign of a cash shortage to drive the business, and having to "REACT" to growth with the funds of new members rather than "PREPARE" for growth as the result of a well defined plan.

Without a plan there must not be a long term vision for the business and the well being of it associates.

My wife told me about Zeekler just last week and based on what I'm hearing and seeing I have no plans to provide this company with funds in the HOPE that all will work out.

Freeman1  

I believe that Rex Venture Group with their Zeekler.com penny auction and Zeekrewards advertising program are not just the fastest growing MLM or internet company, but one of the fastest growing companys on the planet this year in any category. 

Rex Venture group has been in the MLM/internet sales business for 15 years, so yes, Miss Kitty could have certainly been an affiliate for the company for many years.  Unfortunately, I have only been an affiliate since May 2012 but wish I had gotten involved earlier.  We should be careful with accusing someone of being untruthful if we dont know the facts. 

Also, if you read the entire compensation plan, yes Hollywood Hits can make money WITHOUT buying any sample bids, but by the old-fashioned way, by working for it. Way to go and congrats on your income success without buying sample bids!

I live 20 minutes from the Lexington office, and yes I make money the easy way, by buying sample bids and placing ads everyday.  I do not work it hard like Hollywood Hits does.  The line to get in the home office is sometimes 2 1/2 hours long in the hot sun and everyone is happy and smiling.  When my checks are receipted in at the window and entered into my account, I can see mail tubs lining the office walls and hallway with FedEx, UPS, and US Postal Service envelopes in them.  They tell me that it takes up to two weeks to get to the current day's deliveries.  So the check delivery is signed for that day(I have seen them signing for them), then the envelope is opened at a later date.  If any one is getting any ideas, there is a Lexington city police officer at the door at all times.  They are constantly hiring more people, but I'm sure there has to be background investigations in order to handle that much money(much more than bank branches), then they have to be trained for their position.  I commend Mr. Paul Burks for keeping his department managers in place that have been with him for years rather than bringing in the big guns with more experience.  I believe he truly is for the little guy!

Zeekrewards is an awesome opportunity but it's not for everyone.  If you cant handle the stress of the growing pains of an exploding international company and have to have your issues resolved immediately or even within two weeks, then this phenomenon is probably not for you.  I dont mind waiting nearly a month on checks that I otherwise wouldnt have.  The delay has prevented many would be thieves from getting money that was not theirs. The would be thieves, or hackers, are the ones that have hacked accounts with easy passwords such as 123456 or mother.

Everyone have a Zeekful day!

Respectfully,

Darryl Hayes

www.bidsrfree.zeekrewards.com

You don't have any idea why someone would put in $3500 in Zeek?

You think he is paying his monthly fees in advance for a few years? LoL!

Dear, you can put in a max of $10,000 and purchase BIDS which converts to POINTS and you get daily cash rewards.

How do YOU make money in Zeek?

By the way, your monthly fee does NOT have anything to do with what you earn daily on your points.

Maybe you should buy more BIDS or simply READ the compensation plan.

Best to you
Faith Sloan
http://faithsloan.com

Hello,

I'm curious as to why you would send in $3500 to Zeek Rewards? Go to Zeek Rewards web site and if you want to become a member, you join at 4 different levels, one is a FREE member, the other is a Silver membership, which is $10 a month, then there's a Gold membership that costs $50 a month, then there's a Diamond membership that costs $99 a month.

So were you sending in this amount to be a diamond member, pre paying your membership for a couple years? I'm confused about this whole story and really don't believe it.

I have been a Silver member with Zeek Rewards for around 4 months now and I have had no issues what so ever with this company, and now I'm averaging around $10 a day. So that's around $300 a month, and I only pay $10 a month for the membership.

Plus your comments about bringiong in 2 people to be qualified. This is not true. Lets get to the real truth about your Report. What company are you working for, a Rival company perhaps?

I just want to respond to your correction on my post.

I posted:  Zeek Rewards is one of - if not the fastest growing company for home based businesses on the internet and with that growth comes growing pains.

If you re-watch the video of Kevin Grimes it is perfectly OK to call any MLM business a home-based business - it is NOT ok to call it a business opportunity. 

If you re-read what I wrote you will see that I called it a Home Based Business - and that is perfectly OK as that is what this is.

Thank you for taking the compliance serious as it is very important that we do so.

Shirley Crawford

ScottM - (Australia)

If you are serious about joining... email me stuntbabe@hotmail.com Join one of the LARGEST downlines in the company with the best support both personally and with the company. I can set something up for you and personally drive your opening bid purchase to the company and personally hand it to the correct people. I do not want to post my phone number on here... but if you would like more information just email. 

First I just want to mention Compliance to any & all affiliates with Zeek Rewards. In your back office you have the option to take the compliance course held by Kevin Grimes. I highly recommend this so you understand the proper wording when speaking about Zeek Rewards.

You can not call the company a "business opportunity" as it is an Income Opportunity. "AUTHOR: Shirley C. - Lansing (United States of America)"

Remember you can not say things like "no work" "guarantee results" "no selling" "membership" "investment" and so on. Zeek Rewards is nothing more then an income opportunity that takes work and dedication like any other job. If you work at the business you see great results. This is what will protect the company more then anything.


The only reason a Rip Off Report is at the top of Google is they are an Authority website meaning you can post about anything and it will go to the top of the search results 90% of the time.


To answer questions directly to this report:  The support system is being upgraded constantly and they are putting in new additions all over the world. I highly recommend you subscribe to www.zeekrewardsnews.com as they update everyone on any problems, issues, delays and new additions to the company.

When you are the fastest growing mlm company in the world understand how many people are contacting them with basic questions along with real questions. They are at 125% growth rate and they are now 263 in Alexa Ranking. A company doesn't gain this status if they are a Rip Off or a Scam.

This company is 100% legit, real and is doing everything in its power to add new features as fast as possible without disturbing current business. If you want more information or thinking of joining reach me at ZEEKSNOTASCAM@GMAIL.COM  (chris)

I am not a fan of writing in these forums, however I feel very strongly about the success of Zeek Rewards and the longevity of the company.

I have been a part of this wonderful company for almost a year now.  It is the best home based business opportunity on the internet.

Yes the customer support is seriously lacking right now, and I agree that it is very frustrating as I too have several distributors that are awaiting replies to support issues.  However, just because they need to ramp up their support does NOT make them a scam, nor should any distributor of Zeek Rewards be bringing their customer service issues, complaints or concerns to a forum such as this.

If you have a problem that needs resolved just be patient, have faith in the admin and what they are doing, which is working around the clock to service all of us.

Zeek Rewards is one of - if not the fastest growing company for home based businesses on the internet and with that growth comes growing pains.  

If you have a problem that needs resolved, consider making a trip to the Corporate Office, that is exactly what I did and the staff was friendly, accommodating and willing to do whatever it took to resolve the issues.

Do everyone a favor and please do not post in a rip off forum - when you have NOT been Ripped off. Zeek Rewards is doing an awesome job and rest assured that they will get every ticket answered, every issue resolved and nobody is being ripped off.

I am not part of the admin with Zeek Rewards, although I did volunteer my services months ago when they were looking for help, as I do have a lot of experience in this field and because I do and have done customer support for 20 years, I know the pains they are going through, and it's not a scam or some scheme to rip off anyone, it's a lot of work sifting through tickets, especially when people send in multiples for the same issues, I'm sure that is thousands upon thousands that they need to get through daily.  Send in 1 ticket, sit back and relax - it will get resolved.  Be patient give them a week even if they do say 24 -48 hours.  If you don't get it resolved, send a bouquet of flowers to Corporate along with your issue.  A bit of kindness goes along way - and think of the smile you would be putting on someones face while they corrected your issues, while being able to take a few minutes to stop and smell the roses.

If you work Zeek Rewards the way it is intended - the rewards are incredible.  This company pays like clock work and they do strive to do the best they can that is humanly possible in a 24 hour period 7 days a week and they strive to be the best as well.  

I for one am very grateful for this company, I cannot tell you how many hundreds and hundreds of people I have spoken to in regards to Zeek Rewards and the changes that are happening in their life and the lives of others.

No disrespect to this particular website, but by posting here, you are simply driving traffic to a site that could very well cause irreparable harm, or cause someone that really needs a company like Zeek Rewards not to join.  

So please for the sake of all of us Zeek Rewards Distributors, please don't engage in conversation here - unless you have personally been ripped off.  I can say with 100% certainty that nobody will be able to say that - because Zeek Rewards does NOT rip off anyone.

Everyone have a Zeekciting Day and be patient you will be glad that you did - All GREAT things come to those who wait.  You won't regret it.

Shirley Crawford

Yes, I have started a multi-million dollar business.

I co-founded http://lenos.com if you want to check for yourself. I was the CTO founder with 2 other women.  I opted out and received stock options. One day they will go public... LOL! If you don't believe me about my assertion, contact Patti and Debbie. They will tell you I was a founder who helped secure $3m in VC cash to run the company.

But that is besides the point, right?

Back to the subject at hand.

We can go back and forth but the fact remains that my support tickets are not being answered. I was demoted from Diamond to FREE because of their issues with SolidTrustpay.  I didn't receive any daily earnings because of that. And rather than wait a day longer, I decided to upgrade as a Silver member. I still have yet to hear from support as many others.

I am not upset.

I am not angry.

I am getting paid now because I chose to fix the problem myself with what I know. It is okay.

So it is not essential that you come here sharing with me that the world isn't perfect. I am fully aware of that.

That is another issue we can talk about at another time if you so desire.

If you have any idea how long it will take for me to receive approximately 8 days ( i forgot how many days. which shows that I am not stressing) back-earnings and to receive my $99.00 Solidtrustpay payment refund for my subscription, then GREAT! That is all I ask. If they say "Faith, you will get in within 3-6 months. We are sorry for our sucky support and lack of communication, then that would be GREAT!" But dear, to-date, I have received ZERO communication except for the automated email that says we have received your request.

LOL.

Why do people think that when there are problems with a deal or in life, that a person is being negative? No. I am just being factual and asking for communication or insider knowledge as to what is going on. Is that too much to ask for?

Don't take it personal honey. Detach the emotion from the deal. Life is truly grande!

Thank you
Faith Sloan
http://faithsloan.com

Have you ever opened or changed a business? A BIG business? How about one that takes off with massive growth where all of the growth happens in say 6-8 months? ALL business have growing pains.. I am aware that Zeek has had a few. If there is any large business owner on here that has not had a few growing pains.. please let us all know your secret.  The owner of Zeekrewards has been in MLM business for around 14 years and this program is a spinoff, reconfiguration... or whatever you want to call it of his former business. So yes its technical start date is different... Just like when Ford or Chevy is having problems selling thier cars... what do they do... have a meeting and say "What can we do to sell sell sell... we need profits.. profits.. profits.." maybe if we change something it will work!! ZEEKREWARDS was the change.

All of the issues you stated have been resolved or are currently being worked on. Unlike most businesses right now that are going under, these are great issues to have!

Anytime you grow quick you need to implement new things, bigger servers, different cc processors etc. Anyone that works in these fields can tell you things do not always go smoothly. Although everyone wishes they would.

Customers service.. has constantly been hiring and training, call center and live chat centers have been added. Training takes time. Providing good jobs, takes time..... live chat popped up just in the last month or s****.> CALL YOUR BANK... CC CARD COMPANY..... oh TRY ATG STORE ONLINE with a problem... see how long it takes it to clear up.. took me 4.... YES 4 months to clear up an issure with ATG Store online after ordering some furniture!! I cant even tell you how many hours I spent online (live chat) and on the phone trying to get missing parts!!

I used to work for a large company that has been around for 30-40 years. We always had computer issues, couldnt sign in remotely etc... My customers would get upset I couldnt handle thier issue "right now". Phone issues when they change phone networks... etc So again every business goes through this stuff.

I have also emailed the person with the problem as they did post thier email on an earlier post that I had missed, they have not emailed back. So I would "asssuuume" thier issue has been handled also.

Ms. Kitty, you are assuming a LOT.

Any comments about my issue?

Any comments about the GLOBAL issue of folks not receiving responses from support for months and weeks on end?

Any comments about the SolidTrustPay issues that even Zeek admits they are having?

Any comments about the subscription renewal issues that even Zeek admits they are having?

You couldn't have been with Zeek Rewards for YEARS. LOL! They started last year. REad their written words... http://www.zeekrewards.com/ZeekRewardsIncomeDisclosureStatement2011.pdf They started operations the latter part of January2011.

Come on now, Ms. Kitty!

Faith Sloan
http://faithsloan.com

I have been a member of Zeekrewards for many years, they are an honest company with great independent rep potentials.

I believe something other happened ...then what this person is compaining about or telling us the entire. If he sent a fax and quickly went and cancelled the check.. well I can see an acct being interupted for that.  His $3500 would not be "missing". And if the check was cleared there may have been a delay with the transfer to his Zeekrewards account. I do now based on the date of the complaint that durring that time frame they were moving the business to a new office and customer service answers where interupted/slower for a few days. He did not get an immediate responce.. and cancel the check is what it sounds like to me. This would also not "close" the account unless he requested it, just turn him into a free member.

Also sounds like he is getting bad info from the neighbor or just does not have a good upline support system, 2 preferred customer requirement is for affiliates that participate in the 5cc program.

I can help walk you through this and get you to the correct channels if you would care to provide your email address so I can contact you. I do not work for ZEEKREWARDS I am an Independent Affiliate that has worked with with Zeekrewards for a while and think they are an AMAZING company and appreciate everything thier program, customer support and help has done for me!!

I like BOTH Zeek and BIDIFY..

IF BIDIFY launches today with stellar customer service combined with their compensation plan, business model, and Mr. Thompson (top USA MLM Attorney) as their legal eagle, then Zeek had better get its act together.

I am still awaiting a customer response and it has been like 11 days, I think...

I did update all references to this incident online including at http://faithsloan.com

I too have joined Zeek but not bought VIP bids yet - I'm seriously considering it but absolutely petrified of having my $10,000 caught up in the issues you have mentioned. Its just too much money to lose or have entangled because of poor admin.

I also found zeeks service hopeless and very, very worrying. I don't feel its being unfair; their 'chat' support service - nobody seems to know anything or can help...and it "times out" after a fairly short while - while waiting for an agent to attend to your question or request.

The customer support number - I've never been able to speak to anyone, always a recorded message.

I too, had account problems and to their credit, support tried but were unsuccessful in fixing the account glitch affecting my subscription....also, others I know are experiencing account irregularities too - I sincerely hope Mr Burk can get this fixed.

Right now, I'm just going to hold on to my $10,000. I'm prepared to make a 'leap of faith' and join up - but not prepared to endure the mental torture others are going through wondering what is going on with their accounts and not having any satisfactory avenue of redress should there be a 'problem'.

I have joined Zeek but not bought VIP bids yet - I'm seriously considering it but absolutely petrified of having my $10,000 caught up in the issues you have mentioned. Its just too much money to lose or have entangled because of poor admin.

I also found zeeks service hopeless and very, very worrying. I don't feel its being unfair; their 'chat' support service - nobody seems to know anything or can help...and it "times out" after a fairly short while - while waiting for an agent to attend to your question or request.

The customer support number - I've never been able to speak to anyone, always a recorded message.

I too, had account problems and to their credit, support tried but were unsuccessful in fixing the account glitch affecting my subscription....also, others I know are experiencing account irregularities too - I sincerely hope Mr Burk can get this fixed.

Right now, I'm just going to hold on to my $10,000. I'm prepared to make a 'leap of faith' and join up - but not prepared to endure the mental torture others are going through wondering what is going on with their accounts and not having any satisfactory avenue of redress should there be a 'problem'.

I am a strong advocate of "Do what You can with what you can control and influence. Barriers are meant to Hop over. So Become a Hurdler"

With that said ...
I found out what was going on with Zeek by combing Google and checking out money making forums.

1. Zeek is having problems with subscriptions and this started around mid-April. 14April was when my SolidTrustPay subscription payment come out of my account. So this gave me FACTUAL UNDERSTANDING

2. Since I know their Support is sub-par, rather than whine, complain, and throw a tantrum, I chose to spend a measly $19.99 to avoid losing any additional cash. Thus all is well. I am making casheroos again

3. Since I am not promoting Zeek because I am much too busy, I discovered that I should NOT have been a Diamond anyway since I have a small downline! LOL!  So this 'problem' was a blessing in disguise. It 'TAUGHT' me a tad more about what I didn't know about Zeek. Thus I cancelled my $99 Diamond subscription and will remain a $19.99 Silver Affiliate.

4. I don't mind waiting til all infinity for Zeek to pay me for the 8 days where I earned zero and for the $99 they received from my Solidtrustpay (STP) account. It is alll good.

There you are!

p.s. Now I have to make sure I write this on the other TWO places I post an inquiry re: my situation. http://faithsloan.com is one of the places.

p.p.s. 10 days later and 5-6 responses to one ticket, still no response from Customer Support.

Oh well...

What have I learned... I learned about their customer support and now I know what to do in the future about things under my control. LOL!

Troy Dooly wrote that Zeek has just made headway in correcting the customer service deficiencies. So we wait ... Meanwhile I am making money again.  I never stressed about it... just sought answers and found them in multiple places online. It was like a puzzle coming together.

Faith Sloan Scam ?  Never Said Zeek Rewards was a Scam. Don't get Twisted.

@willhelpyou

I had someone in my downline (a close friend) send in a cashiers check for $10,000 last week. The check was sent via over night registered mail and was received by Zeek on Tuesday 4/23.  It is now 4/30 and the $10,000 worth of bids have not showed up in her account.  Online chat is not working, the 888 number is not working and anytime she gets through her call or chat are dropped. She has sent multiple emails with no response. Like the individual above, she wants it to work (it is working very well for me, frustrating though since I introduced it to her).

Please advise on how we can ensure her $10,000 gets deposited into her account.

Thank you

Spoke with someone via chat on the site Thursday who of course couldn't help me but claimed he EXPEDITED my prior ticket.

No email.

No response to the ticket.

Not even an acknowledgement that they will look into the problem

Again, I paid $99/month to be come a Diamond.

Last payment was 15April.

From 23April, I am designated as a FREE member.

I have to do some research.

Is it just happening to me or is it happening to those people who do not have 5-6 figures in Zeek Rewards?

Are they stealing smaller accounts to ward off a cashflow problem?

Software don't arbitrarily change status of member accounts.

PEOPLE DO!

I want my account back.

The value is only a couple thousand dollars but it is mine.

SPEND MONEY FOR A CUSTOMER SUPPORT DEPARTMENT!

username: reneefsiler

He said, Paul gave him more than he owed him for his troubles. Paul is the owner of the company. So he did not say the bank gave him extra money. If that happens, the end of the world is near because banks aren't in the business of giving you money. They are in the business of taking more than they should. lol

But I have a problem that occurred 4 days ago. I noticed that I wasn't receiving my daily earnings.I figured maybe because of the server issues etc.Then  I looked at my affiliate page and it no longer said Diamond member. It had no designation. So I logged in. There I saw that I didn't have access to the genealogy because I was not a paid member.

I pay $99/month as a Diamond member on the 15th of every month. I looked in my Solidtrustpay account and saw that I still have a subscription payment going to them. The last payment was sent to Zeek on 15April2012 and my next $99 payment isn't due until 15MAy2012.

So somehow ... somewhere ... they made me a FREE affiliate and for the last few days I received zero dollars. (cry) (cry) lol

I sent in a support ticket just a day and a half ago. But it looks like I will have to wait a week or more for a response. I then contacted them through their site chat on the public site and the guy was nice but he couldn't help me. He was able to escalate the ticket and hope with me that this will come to a quick conclusion.

All I want is to be re-activated as a Diamond and receive all of the money due me from the past few days. That is it.

And no I am not terminated from Zeek. I can still log in. I can also upgrade and pay a monthly fee if I click on the link. But I am not doing that. I have already paid.

So hook me up, Zeek.

Will keep ya'll posted.

username: reneefsiler

p.s. customer service response in a week's time is an abomination. You should strive for 24-48 hours. If you can't service tens of thousands of people in a timely manner, then you should rethink your business model and your company culture.

You say your banker sent you extra money for your trouble, never in my life have I heard of a bank doing such a thing. Something about that does not sound correct. In my opinion. 

Paul thank you for taken care of me, the faxed check wasn't Zeek fault, it was the fault of my banker but Paul Burke personally took charge and got my money back to me in 24 hours time. He also wired back more to me than I sent him to begin with for my troubles. Thank you Mr. Burke, sorry for the trouble. I have nothing bad to say about Zeek, they took care of me and exceeded my expectations!!! I told my wife I'm probably going to regret not going forward with this.

I just logged into my USAA Account and low and behold my account shows a ACH Withdrawal in the amount of $3,500.00 from Zeek Rewards even though I emailed them last week to notify them not to deposit faxed check if they got it as I was sending in a cashier check. Apparently the banker from USAA set up the stop pay to block the check but didn't do the part to stop it if it came through as an ACH. So now I'm back to square one and my account it over drawn. I just sent off an email to Paul and Dawn so I'm waiting for their response.

I read this entire report and I am quite confused on why your account was even shut down in the first place. Did you do something wrong or not putting something in this report? Stacking isn't allowed maybe this was an issue?



I am glad to see everything resolved & I hope this shows everyone reading the report that they are a 100% legit company. Unfortuantely with little help from a sponsor or an upline sometimes things get confusing.





If anyone has questions and wants to get things answered before joinining or taking the next step I'm always around to answer questions.



Reach me at CMFARCHER@GMAIL.COM

Zeek took care of me, my check arrived today and all refunds have been processed. I'm all set. I feel bad for having to make this report however after 5 days of spending hours on the phone / email / chat, etc.. I was getting nowhere and was out of patience. Anyway I'm 100% taken care of.

Adam

I just got my email replied to by Paul Burks, he assured me that my check will be going out next day air tomorrow via UPS. It is not my intention to defame Zeek Rewards, my neighbor has showed me amazing income and this might be something I regret. Paul pointed out that Zeek did everything I asked which is true, I did send in a message requesting my money be refunded and returned however I wasn't expecting that request to be honored as I also signed a document stating no refunds would be given. I will let everyone know when my check arrives on Tuesday to confirm my request has been met. I'm sorry that I had to make this post about Zeek to get the answers I needed but the customer service people at the 888 #  or the chat people should have been able to look in the system and give me all of this basic information, they couldn't tell me anything I needed to know and my emails were unanswered since Wednesday. Thank you Mr. Paul Burke for personally fixing this for me. 

Adam

dawn@zeeklers.com11:13 AM (10 minutes ago)to meHello and thank you so much for your email.
Due to exceptionally high volume in this inbox, there will be a delay in getting back to you.  If this is an affiliate services matter, please submit your ticket through the affiliate services form in your zeekrewards back office.   If this is a matter that only Dawn or someone from  her office can handle then, please know that her email turnaround time is approximately one week.  Thanks so much for your continued interest and support.

Dawn Wright-Olivares

I can't send a message through the back office as I cannot log in. So I guess I have to wait a week for the email to be responded to. : (

Hello, 

Looking over your message you're correct, I typed the wrong email address on the last message as I was very emotional and was not thinking clearly ,  after pulling my sent email file in Microsoft Outlook I show I sent the email to questions@zeeklers.com, this is the email address that I was given during the 4:00 PM conference call. Also I sent emails to: development@lexcominc.com per the instructions I received after waiting on hold for 30 min at 888-927-ZEEK. Please understand I want this to work, if I didn't I wouldn't have deposited $3,500.00 of my hard earned money and gone out to also purchased a diamond membership / video presentation / flyers / business cards. I have gone on a limb and my account has been shut down and my money is unaccounted for! The people at 888-927-ZEEK are clueless! I have sat on hold with them for 30 min and they have no answers, they tell me "we don't handle the money, so you need to call 336-243-1123" I called that number and I get a voice mail that is full, I can't leave a message! So per the instructions I emailed development@lexcominc.net and I am still waiting for a reply just as I am waiting for a reply to my 5 emails sent to questions@zeeklers.com. The customer service is horrible, you don't seem to understand the amount of sleepless night I have had and the amount of stress I have brought to my wife. I am a USAF gulf war Honorable Discharge Veteran who served my county during war time (Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm)

 I am only asking for the most basic form of customer service here. Like I said, my account is locked and my $3,500 cashier check is gone.

Message sent to questions@zeeklers.com @ 3/7 @ 5:34 PM

Hello,                
I faxed in a check today and I dont know if it went through or not, I was on the chat with a rep for 40 min however it dropped off without letting me know if you had received my fax or not. I wound up going to my bank and mailing in a cashier check for the same amount so please cancel the faxed check. I have attached the fax for your records. I will put a stop pay on this check as I already sent off a cashier check in its place. Again please cancel the attached check and try not to deposit as there is a stop pay on it.


questions@zeeklers.com 3/9 @ 10:25AM
Hello,               
My account is shut down and inactive, can you please advise me as to what is going on? I initially sent in a check by fax but my Efax came back saying it didnt go through, however I then got a conflicting message saying it did go through so I wasnt sure what the status was. I sent in two emails to questions@zeeklers.com to ask if this fax went through but they never got back to me.  As I wanted to get my account started right away I went ahead and put a stop pay on that faxed check
and then went to the bank to get a cashier check to mail in. I mailed that cashier check to you on Monday via next day air. Today I logged in to see my account it shut down and inactive, can you please advise as to what is going on
with my $3,500.00 deposit?

Sent to Paul.burks@gmail.com @2:00 PM on 3/9 

Hello Paul, please assist as I want to get my zeek account open.   My account  is shut down and inactive, can you please advise me as to what is going on? I initially sent in a check by fax but my Efax came back saying it didnt go through, however I then got a conflicting message saying it did go through so I wasnt sure what the status was. I sent in two emails to questions@zeeklers.com to ask if this fax went through but they never got back to me.  As I wanted to get my
account started right away I went ahead and put a stop pay on that faxed check and then went to the bank to get a cashier check to mail in. I mailed that cashier check to you on Monday via next day air. Today I logged in to see my account, it is shut down and inactive, can you please advise as to what is going on with my $3,500.00 deposit?

I hope you understand I would like for this to work for me, what I am going through should not happen. I would like to focus my energy on promoting zeek rewards but due to the horrible customer service I have no options left. I have tried for days to get this resolved but it goes unresolved! 

If this gets cleared up I will have no issue posting it here, I understand Zeek is growing and they are backed up, but they shouldn't bite off more than they can chew.

Oh, yes.  This should prove to be VERY interesting.  I indeed hope that the OP returns and posts EVERYTHING that transpires.

I just read through your posting again...

The reason why you never received a response to your emails is...

customers@zeekrewards.com and questions@zeekrewards.com are not valid email addresses, so no one ever would ever be able to respond to you, as no one ever received the emails you sent. 

I have put your information in the hands of someone that can help you, but if you would like to send an email to Dawn at: dawn@zeeklers.com   (and no I am not her either...I am just someone trying to help you) and follow up , I am certain that you will be taken care of, and may even speed up the process.

Hope this helps. When she resolves your situation, it would be nice that you mark this post as resolved with an update of all that transpired.

No, not an employee but I have just put your information in the hands of someone that can resolve your situation for you. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Are you an employee of Zeek? You can email me at adamgamz@gmail.com. My account is still on lock down and my money is gone. I even sent several emails to questions@zeekrewards.com to first asked if they got my faxed check, and after no reply I emailed again to let them know I was heading to the bank to do a stop pay and I would just mail a cashier check, still no reply. I updated them the entire way through. It has been 4 days since I sent multiple emails and I have yet to get a reply. This is not a fun experience, my wife is really pissed off right now as she told me not to get involved with this.

I can help. If you please post your zeek rewards username I can help you get this resolved right away.

I can help. Please post your zeek rewards username and I will get your situation resolved.