Prosper Learning;  Robert G. Allen Ripoff Provo Utah

The year before March, 2006, was hell for our family due to my husband's having Parkinson's disease, upon which was added extremely painful trigeminal neuralgia, and finally West Nile virus. An less than helpful neurologist added to the stress. This all ended up with my husband being put in a nursing home.

He did not adjust easily, was basically kicked out of one home because they said his behavior was a potential hazard to the well-being of other residents. The doctor who was in charge of the residents also said he didn't any longer need the nursing home level of care. As his care was more than I was able to handle, we put him in an assisted living facility.

Within a week he was kicked out of there because he needed a higher level of care than they could provide. We found another nursing home, where his behavior made us fearful that they, too, would kick him out. The stress of all of this and the financial strain it put on me made me unusually vulnerable to some of the hype for earning an income on the internet.

In March, 2006, I purchased some books from Robert G. Allen. In some of the further information that I received either with that purchase or following it, was the offer of personal mentoring to guide you into earning huge amounts of money on the internet. It sounded like only a few people of the thousands who applied would be chosen for the mentoring. All they required of you (besides doing what you were coached to do) was to allow them to use your success story to promote their business.

I filled out the application for the Internet Coaching program (I was interested in information marketing via e-books, etc.). The application went into a lot of detail about my life goals, why I would be a good one to be mentored, what good things I wanted to do with the money I earned, and my financial situation. I had filled out similar applications for other coaching possibilities which I had turned down because I discovered they were too expensive for me. But at this point I had no clue that there was a cost for this mentoring other than letting my story advertise the program.

A short time later I received a call from Chris S** from Prosper Learning in response to that application. I was told they were interviewing me in their selection process. This very professional sounding man asked me many of the same questions that were on the application, and I was finally pronounced a good candidate for the training. He told me he would put in a good word with the person who would be making the final decision.

I was put on hold for a number of minutes while that conference was purportedly taking place. He then got back to me and said he would transfer me to this person in the Registrar's office and wished me luck. I was then transferred to Josh C** who said he had gone over my application and talked to Chris S** and that he felt I was an excellent candidate and that I had been accepted.

Both of these gentlemen were very professional sounding in the way they presented everything. They made me feel very confident in the program and in Prosper Learning.

Psychologically, this was an excellent way to approach things because it made me feel so successful and hopeful, especially after all the stress of the last year. In fact I felt so buoyed up that when he transferred me back to Chris a financial guide, I only gave a silent gulp and batted my eyes a few times before I agreed to let them put $9,385 on a credit card. But I understood them to say there was a guarantee that I would make back the tuition amount in a year, and if I didn't this money would be refunded, assuming, of course, that I kept my part of the agreement to spend at least 10 hours a week on the program, keep my scheduled appointments with my mentor, do what I am taught and follow through on the homework assignments.

Later (when I was a ways into the course and my husband had finally mostly adapted to the nursing home so I could think a little more clearly), when I reread the Enrollment Agreement that I signed, I discovered that they only promised to keep educating me until I recouped the money. But what if that takes 10 years? And what if the education isn't very good? Not a guarantee I would have signed if I had not been so stressed out!

Mr. S** also advised me on transferring my credit card balances to other credit cards to take advantage of promotions that would give me 0% interest for a while. Of course if you make these transfers there is a charge, usually of about 3%, to make the transfer. He didn't mention this, although he did offer that I could call him if I had any questions or problems with the credit card procedures!

However, I excitedly waited until I got my materials and had my first mentoring session. I was taken aback when the materials arrived because of the 7 big notebooks I received, only 1 had to do with internet marketing. The others were Personal Financial Power (2 volumes), Entrepreneurial Power (2 volumes), The Bookshelf Lawyer, and Tax Power. I was not interested in paying for that information at this time, but I was afraid that if I refused that part of the program I would lose the whole thing. So I bravely went ahead.

So far I have had 11 of my 14 mentoring sessions. (I had initially understood that I would be mentored for 6 months. I see that other folks got 19 coaching sessions in their programs.) My sessions have all been recorded as 45-minute sessions, but at least two of them were only 30 minutes and one was only a few minutes because the phone cut off and we could not reestablish the connection. Another has been listed as missed. I had rescheduled it because I had to handle an emergency with my husband, but the date it was missed is still listed as one of the 14 sessions. The rescheduled date is also listed as one of the 14 sessions.

My interest in internet marketing was in e-books and information selling. I made that very plain on my application, although I have to admit I said I would follow their guidance because I assumed they knew a lot more about these things than I did. I mentioned to my mentor on the first session that I was most interested in marketing information, but he glossed it over and we never discussed it. I was directed to pursue selling a product that could be dropshipped.

During the course of these sessions I have realized that I already had almost all of the information in my possession, and that all of it is free on the internet. If a person can't find the free information, there are several programs available to buy which give all of the same information; the combined price of those programs is under $200.

I have had my site up and running for at least 3 months now and I have yet to make a sale. The mentoring gave no help in web-site design or copywriting other than getting me connected to Site Creator Plus, a site that helps you get a site up and acts as your web host (UI must admit it is a great site).

I discovered that my mentor (who is a nice guy, by the way) has had his site up for 4 years and last year did about $12,000 in sales. But since he only earns a portion of this (the rest is for paying the manufacturer/dropshipper), I suspect he did not earn more than $6,000 max for the year. This information did not encourage me that the Prosper Learning course would really help me earn a living.

Incidentally, one of those programs mentioned above led me to set up a website as an affiliate for the program. I have yet to promote that website because of time constraints, but in one month I have earned $63 from it (2 sales)!

Anyway, back to Prosper Learning, a few weeks ago I got a phone call from a different company that offers mentoring. I told them I was working with Prosper Learning. There was a long silence before he wished me luck. I didn't think much about the silence until a couple of weeks later when I got a call from a third company that offers a mentoring program. When I told him that I was working with Prosper Learning, he groaned and said he was sorry to hear that. He has a friend that he now works with in his mentoring program who used to coach for Prosper Learning. This friend told him that many of the mentors don't have a site of their own and that they don't really know anything about internet marketing. They follow a script for each lesson, and are often stuck if you ask them even a simple lesson. These two men recommended that I look on the internet regarding this company, and that I take steps to get my money back.

I did go to the internet and found a lot of folks who were just as unhappy and disillusioned as I.

I am terribly frustrated and realize that I am not likely to ever earn my investment back. I am not only unhappy with Prosper Learning, but with Robert G. Allen. His advertising for this mentoring program led me to believe that it was he and his associates who would be doing the mentoring. I plan to purchase the How to Get Rip-Off Revenge and get my money back. I will be more than happy to return all of their books!!!

Mary Lou Rapid City, South Dakota
U.S.A.