Video Professor is a SCAM

[Little Texan]

You know those Video Professor commercials you see on tv with the bald headed prick saying "Try my product"? Well, on the commercial this crooked cocksucker says that the CD's are FREE, all that you pay is shipping and handling. Anyway, my mother was going to start selling stuff on ebay, so I got the "bright" idea to give this Video Professor a shot and order these "free" learning CD's for her so that she could learn ebay. I placed an order for the ebay lessons on the Video Professor website, and after ordering it said that my credit card would be charged only the $6.95 for the shipping. Fine. Or so I thought. Next thing I know my credit card account has a charge for the shipping and like 3 or 4 other bullshit charges on it, including a $189.95 charge for these "free" CD's! Well, I called Chase to straighten this shit out and dispute the bullshit charges on my card. They gave me some instructions on what to do, then I called Video Professor and got some information from them in order to carry out Chase's instruction. The customer service rep told me this was a 10 day trial offer, which says absolutely NOTHING about on the commercials, and that in order to get free CD's, you have to send one of them back within the 10 day period, also not mentioned in the commercials. She then told me that since I didn't know that this was a trial, they could refund me $75 and I could keep the CD's. Not good enough. I wanted 100% of my money refunded since I had been deceived by these criminals, so I told her I wanted the RMA #'s and I wanted to send everything back. Unbeknownst to me, they had also sent me another package, which I didn't order, and she happened to mention that to me as well. She told me this ebay advanced set was included with the first set of CD's, and I wouldn't be charged for them. Well, a couple of weeks go by and I have procrastinated about sending this stuff back...received a shipping label from VP to send the stuff back, and a form to fill out from Chase demanding proof and additional info and this, that, and the other. Anyway, I finally got around to mailing all this shit off, and I logged into my Chase account to make a payment and to my surprise these fucking bastards charged my account AGAIN with another $189.95 charge for the ebay advanced CD's. I got on the phone with Chase again and told them about this bullshit, and got sent another one of those forms to fill out, which I did and sent back. During all this, I've been worried that these charges wouldn't be taken off and I'd be stuck with them, an expensive lesson I thought. Today I got my credit card statement in the mail and was dreading looking at it. I opened it up, and to my surprise the charges had been taken off! Halleluyah! Best news I've had in a while...made my month!

Yes, I know, I'm a stupid, gullible fool for falling for this shit, but I just wanted to share this with everybody so that nobody else would fall for this and have to go through the hell I've gone through the past couple of months to get this shit taken off my credit card. Let the ridicule begin.

[fryingdutchman]

Thanks for the heads up...and sorry to hear of your difficulty.

Hopefully most of us are discerning enough consumers to avoid products that are advertised at 2 in the afternoon in between "McHale's Navy" reruns on the superstation...

[Ally_Kat]

Oh man, that sucks.

I remember a guy on the bus loudly talking to some old lady going on and on about how awesome those CDs were and how he learned bunches from them.

[ZahZoo]

Next time you watch those commercials or any of those quick sell things... pay attention to the fine print that flashes on the screen for a few seconds. That's how they can do this legally... even though unless you recorded the commercial and freeze frame it you wouldn't be able to read it live...

Anytime you decide to make a purchase for some sort of "cheap deal". Always read the fine print and terms and conditions. Everything VP does is legal and spelled out in the T&C's.

Better yet... before you purchase. Do a quick google search on the product with the word scam added on. You'll find a lot of info that will probably help you decide not to waste your money.

[bueno bob]

Wow...

Glad to have read this - I was actually considering ordering some more advanced computer courses through them.

GLAD I read this first!

[Little Texan]

Next time you watch those commercials or any of those quick sell things... pay attention to the fine print that flashes on the screen for a few seconds. That's how they can do this legally... even though unless you recorded the commercial and freeze frame it you wouldn't be able to read it live...

Anytime you decide to make a purchase for some sort of "cheap deal". Always read the fine print and terms and conditions. Everything VP does is legal and spelled out in the T&C's.

Better yet... before you purchase. Do a quick google search on the product with the word scam added on. You'll find a lot of info that will probably help you decide not to waste your money.

I did look at the fine print closely on the ads, and it mentions nothing about being a trial offer or charging you $189.95 after the ten day period is up. It does say it on their website in fine print, but while it may all be legal wouldn't you agree that it is highly deceptive on their part to keep mentioning "free CD's" and "just pay $6.95 shipping and handling" on their commercials when it is in fact only a trial offer? These are deceptive business practices if I've ever seen them! And I did google VP, but only after the fact, and I felt like a total idiot because I didn't do the research before I ordered. Live and learn, I guess. I hate companies like this, and something needs to be done about Video Professor, the fucking thieving bastards!

[Little Texan]

Wow...

Glad to have read this - I was actually considering ordering some more advanced computer courses through them.

GLAD I read this first!

Glad I could help spare someone else the hell I just went through!

[standin]

I did look at the fine print closely on the ads, and it mentions nothing about being a trial offer or charging you $189.95 after the ten day period is up. It does say it on their website in fine print, but while it may all be legal wouldn't you agree that it is highly deceptive on their part to keep mentioning "free CD's" and "just pay $6.95 shipping and handling" on their commercials when it is in fact only a trial offer? These are deceptive business practices if I've ever seen them! And I did google VP, but only after the fact, and I felt like a total idiot because I didn't do the research before I ordered. Live and learn, I guess. I hate companies like this, and something needs to be done about Video Professor, the fucking thieving bastards!

Please make and file a report, so you can help more people.

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

Before You Submit a Complaint
The Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection agency, collects complaints about companies, business practices, identity theft, and episodes of violence in the media.

Why: Your complaints can help us detect patterns of wrong-doing, and lead to investigations and prosecutions. The FTC enters all complaints it receives into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database that is used by thousands of civil and criminal law enforcement authorities worldwide. The FTC does not resolve individual consumer complaints.

[ELVIS]

I'm sure you can learn something from "Try My Product" if you are totally computer illiterate...

But the $189.95 (if true) is a crime...

[Hardrock69]

Sorry you had to go through all that. They have had a reputation for years of pulling shit like that.

FUCK THOSE RIPOFF COCKSUCKERS!!!!

[SparkieD]

Man, I thought that "Try my product" guy was probably a crook, but fuck! $189??????? That dickhead needs a beatdown.

[ZahZoo]

I did look at the fine print closely on the ads, and it mentions nothing about being a trial offer or charging you $189.95 after the ten day period is up. It does say it on their website in fine print, but while it may all be legal wouldn't you agree that it is highly deceptive on their part to keep mentioning "free CD's" and "just pay $6.95 shipping and handling" on their commercials when it is in fact only a trial offer? These are deceptive business practices if I've ever seen them! And I did google VP, but only after the fact, and I felt like a total idiot because I didn't do the research before I ordered. Live and learn, I guess. I hate companies like this, and something needs to be done about Video Professor, the fucking thieving bastards!

Yes, I do agree it's a highly deceptive practice that's unfortunately legal.

It's also a very old practice that's been around for decades... remember the Columbia Music Club crap. Get 10 CD's for a $1.00 offers. You then agree to buy 3 more at regular club prices... then they send you a CD of the month that you can review or return. If you don't return in 10 days you're automatically billed. Same bullshit.

Problem today is once these jackasses have a credit card number or checking account number they can legally charge your account for their crap. If you can avoid paying for something without a credit card or personal check, then you can protect yourself if you can get them to accept a money order, cash or paypal.

Old saying applies... if an offer seems too good to be true. If usually is...

[free2free2]

Video Professor is a scam the owners are trying to hide

I went on the video professor website a few years back after checking out the commercials. I wanted to get the Excel CD. The webpage listed a low price and had an order button right below it. I clicked on the order button and proceeded to buy the CD, or so I thought. Later, I got a huge bill. When I complained, the customer service rep berated me for not reading before I ordered. They were so rude.

Apparently, if I had scrolled down PAST the order button, I would have seen the actual cost of the CD. I have never seen any website like that ever since. It was set up deliberately to deceive.

These people are shameful.
Look at the kind of stuff they try to pull:
The Death Of InfomercialScams.com | Techdirt

And if a video professor rep reads this, no, I'm not a competitor. I'm an angry customer.

[Kristy]

Man, I thought that "Try my product" guy was probably a crook, but fuck! $189??????? That dickhead needs a beatdown.

Always go with your gut instinct when it comes to people so eagerly willing to help you for free.



Golly! Founder and CEO! Yeah, he found some suckers all right.

Chances are this douche found a bunch of disillusioned Micro$oft techs paid them chump change, hired a low-budget video crew and ad-libbed everything else.

If you look around in your area, there are short-term night classes that teach this sort of stuff for reasonable prices. My company paid for my learning of Excel 2007 which was 2 nights for @$60 at the high school with ashtrays down the road (i.e., ye ol' local community college).

[Nickdfresh]

Who Sucks? - Video Professor, Inc. Sucks

What is fascinating is how this seems to be little more than legalized identity theft and a scam on the elderly...