Internet Marketing Services
SFI Marketing GroupThis business is NOT BBB Accredited.
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Complaints
Customer Complaints Summary
- 5 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 0 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
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Submit a ComplaintThe complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.
Initial Complaint
Date:08/28/2023
Type:Billing IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
On 27 July 2023 when I tried to access my account I got a msg that something is wrong with my account and I submitted a ticket to Support Team. Their answer was: "Your account is currently being reviewed for fraudulent activity." I was shocked and very hurt to read such a serious charge without any reason at all. I contacted them again and again to ask for an explanation, to offer my assistance in their reviewing but they didn't even reply to my mail. After one month being unable to login, I stopped receiving any information about my account (that usually were arriving every day about activities on the site, about my earnings etc.) and I think I have been permanently removed form their program. I need to know what is happening, the reason why I had been blocked and removed. I left much of my 8 years earnings on my account and my *** bank on the site. That shows I trusted them more than I trust regular Banks. But being away from USA, means we remain almost hopeless to get any help in such situations. Can you, please help to clear this up? Attached are screenshots of emails we exchanged about being frozen. I am at your disposal to share with you every single transaction I did to invest in this site (money) and about the time, efforts, spent hours and hours, months and years to do everyday tasks, recruit more and more members for that company, etc., can not be capture by any screenshot... I am graduated engineer of Architecture, respected member of my community but my country is poor and we have to look for second income worldwide so this attack on my personality I can hardly accept, specially because I didn't make any mistake ever. Thank you in advanceBusiness Response
Date: 08/28/2023
Through a very detailed investigation we found that ***** was participating in a fraud scheme on our site. She was exploiting our system in an effort to steal funds from us. She participated in this activity with a number of others in our program who have also been removed from the program. Over the past several months, ***** was able to scam several hundred dollars from our system. If she is as reputable as she claims, and a pillar of her community, she would not have participated in such activity, and she will return those funds to us. I've attached a supporting document showing the funds that she has been paid.
Customer Answer
Date: 09/01/2023
Complaint: ********
I am rejecting this response because:No evidences or proofs were shown. Just their assumptions that are not even close to the truth. I feel hurt and injured. I don't like to be back to that fraudulent affiliate program ever again, I just want my accumulated funds and July's commission to be paid off to me( since I had earned them with a lot of hard work and efforts) and we may say Good buy to each other forever.
Sincerely,
***** ********** **********Business Response
Date: 09/14/2023
As indicated previously, we can not share our means of discovering the fraudulent activity without compromising our program further. The fraud was through the Jolt Auctions we offer. We have no further desire to do business with this individual.Customer Answer
Date: 09/17/2023
Complaint: ********
I am rejecting this response because:Thank you for the response.
I am not interested to continue any kind of business with untrustworthy company like SFI either. Already spent 8 years of my time, did so much effort and high stakes to start earning from my hard work there, but as soon as I started, they removed me. In fact they don't have any evidence against me, so they just hide behind the platitude "compromising the program". The only real reason is that they dont allow anyone to earn from them, using few paid maybe friends to advertise the site and to lure new members to invest their money in hope to earn few $$. But never let anyone to earn.
I wish I could afford myself to bring them in justice, and stop them cheating people more and more. And make them pay for all the insults and pain they caused to me. But as I see, it would be mission impossible. Such companies know how to play out the justice.
I would like to withdraw my funds from there (about 500$, I am sorry I cant give any evidence of the exact sum, since the login is forbidden to me, just attached e-mail about my July commission, never paid out. The rest of the funds were in ***coins in my *** Bank) and finish this really painful chapter of my life.
Sincerely,
***** ********** **********Initial Complaint
Date:06/08/2023
Type:Billing IssuesStatus:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
On April 22, 2021 I Joined SFI For An Internet Business Building Affiliate Marketing Program. I Invested Over ***** USA Dollars To Achieve The Highest Ranking Team Leader Position. I Paid ****** Monthly To Be A SFI - Triple Diamond Team Leader. I Also Was Required To Pay Monthly Business Building Money, To Recruit Others USA & Worldwide. I Could Also Purchase SFI Internet Store Products, To Meet My Monthly Member Requirement. I Was Awarded By: SFI Pres. Gery ****** - The Highest SFI Awards Possible In My First Year...!!! 1. SFI - 365 yearly Champion Team Leader 2. SFI - Badge Quest Master 3. SFI Triple Diamond Team Leader I Was Very Impreseed By The SFI Potential Income Producing Chart For Recruited Members. I have Over 1,500 SFI Current Members Today - Not One Dollar Has Been Made At SFI Since 4/22/21. Pres. Gery ******, Has Changed & Re-Organized SFI 2x Now. Most Recently On June 1, 2023. I Have Lost All Of My Monies, And Work To Make Any Money At SFI...2x since I Joined in 4/22/21. SFI IS A ************....!!! NO REAL COMPANY WOULD OPERATE LIKE THIS. I WANT ALL OF MY MONEY BACK FROM THIS ****....I WANT ***** DOLLARS BACK. IT COULD BE MORE. I HAVE SPENT SO MUCH MONEY, I CAN'T SEE ALL OF THE INVOICES ON THE WEBSITE ANYMORE. IT USED TO BE THERE - IT IS GONE NOW. CHERYL ** ******* 6/8/23Business Response
Date: 06/08/2023
Regularly throughout the past year or so Ms. ******* has sent us unprofessional messages through our support desk demanding answers. Each time we have politely written back to her with explanations of how the program works.
Frequently she wanted us to answer the question as to why others were not making purchases on her team. Unfortunately, as was explained to her on more than one occasion, we had no way of knowing why these individuals were not purchasing. I believe on at least one occasion it was indicated that we can't force people to make purchases.
First and foremost, our program does NOT and NEVER has required that anyone make a purchase. It has always been an option to purchase on our site. In fact, a purchase was NOT required to earn commissions if you referred retail customers who made purchases of any products on our site.
Ms. ******* repeatedly contacted us demanding to know why she hadn't earned any commissions. It was explained to her on each occasion that she had not referred anyone who had made a purchase. She was not responsible for any sales, and therefore, she did not earn anything. She was also referred to our compensation plan page, which gave a clear explanation of how to earn.
With regards to her purchases, she chose to make those purchases. She chose to purchase referrals from different vendors on our site and she RECEIVED everything she paid for. Our refund policies for each item are clearly noted on the tab marked REFUNDS for each item. Purchases of referrals are all Non-refundable. Upon completing the order, our system requires that the individual agree to our Terms & Conditions, which clearly outlines they will abide by the refund policy for each item.
As a courtesy, I have refunded this month's purchase by Ms. *******. I also refunded her last month's purchase. We have also sent her a formal letter of termination via our ticket system (which goes to her personal email as well) indicated that we have terminated her position with us. Her unprofessionalism and threats are not in line with how we wish to do business.
We have tried our best over the past year to help Ms. ******* understand how our program works. We have a full website of information on how our program works, we offer ideas on marketing and aids to help them reach out to others for advice or brainstorming. We provide a forum, where anyone can do the same. We also offer a knowledgebase full of questions and answers...and of course we offer live chat and support through our ticket system where questions can be answered/addressed in a timely manner.
We are well within our rights, as the owners of this business, to make any changes that we deem worthy. While she may not agree with the changes, it's not necessary to be insulting, rude and threatening. This was her doing, not ours. She chose to attack us in this manner and we have every right to choose to not do further business with her. (It's also outlined in our Affiliate Agreement, which each person has to agree to before they can join.)
She also is mistaken, we did not take anything away from her. We simply made a change to how the program works. Similar to how any business would change a pay scale, or the products that they offer. Any referrals that she paid for, recruited or received were still her referrals.
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