Inquiry regarding ClickIncome Program

i have just been to the southampton seminar for empwronline.and must say
richard hoffmann can talk the talk about his product, i can see why people could be sucked into signing up for the scam. as soon as he asked you to
sign up for the advanced workshop for £20 on sunday; using your credit card, i could tell it was a scam. i offered to pay by cash, but they refused.
so at the interval i left the room, and did not return. i think i had a lucky escape. if you are going to the next seminar, please have a good look at the
agreement before you authorize your credit card to be used.

I filed a complaint with the Utah BBB and it went nowhere. Someone at Clickincome responded telling me I was past the deadline to receive a refund (which I was) and offered me 6 more "free" training sessions. I say "free" because I had already paid them $4995 and had nothing to show for it. My story is posted here earlier. I also filed a complaint through the State of Utah Department of Commerce Division of Consumer Protection using their Consumer Complaint Form sending copies of the checks and never heard a word.

I like so many others I have seen posting here am a senior and I too fell for their promises. I sure wish someone could help us get our money back. We were promised a digital camera too that was supposed to be free if we would pay the shipping. I have a copy of that check too that they cashed but I never saw the camera. I got nothing for the $4995 I paid, money we had to borrow from my wife's 401.

Can any body think of a way to help us?

Yes, call the Utah DCP at 801-530-6601 or toll free at 1-800-721-7233.

Ask to speak with Mike Pitt.
He's the lead investigator on them.

Clickincome / Auction Success Inc. and the principals have already had multiple charges filed against them.

Here's the latest from last month at http://blogs.mcall.com/watchdog/file...tion_11508.pdf - definitely worth reading!

Roger, I really appreciate your help here. I opened the pdf file you listed and I see I am included there but only for the camera I paid for and never received so I did as you suggested and called Mike Pitts. I got his voice mail and left him a message. I hope to hear from him soon.

Again, thank you very much for your help.

John Donovan

You're very welcome! :)

You could also ask Mr. Pitt about Utah's Business Opportunity Disclosure Act:
http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE13/13_15.htm

And whether Clickincome / Empwronline put the info required to be filed by the seller at the bottom of the contract you signed with them?

"CAUTION

No guarantee of earnings or ranges of earnings can be made. The number of purchasers who have earned through this business an amount in excess of the amount of their initial payment is at least _____ which represents _____% of the total number of purchasers of this business opportunity."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RogerB

You're very welcome! :)

You could also ask Mr. Pitt about Utah's Business Opportunity Disclosure Act:
http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE13/13_15.htm

And whether Clickincome / Empwronline put the info required to be filed by the seller at the bottom of the contract you signed with them?

"CAUTION

No guarantee of earnings or ranges of earnings can be made. The number of purchasers who have earned through this business an amount in excess of the amount of their initial payment is at least _____ which represents _____% of the total number of purchasers of this business opportunity."

---

RogerB, long time no chat. I worked as a technical coach at Clickincome for a few years, and you were actually my mentor. I should have listened to you years ago and got out of there before the company imploded. They laid off pretty much all of the old team, Phil, Candice, Summer, Me, Eryn, Jenn, Jennifer, Jordan, and those who didn't get laid off have quit, like JD and Stephanie, the old CS/Clickclub manager. I love customer service, and teaching about the internet, but when the sales team was belligerently lying to our customers,over booking the coaches, and then expecting my service team to continue the illusion of smoke and mirrors and lead people to believe they would be successful with Clickincome products was the last straw for a lot of people.

The website Clickincome charged $5k for, you can get for free, or pretty close to it. The merchant account Aria financial sells for 2k, you can get for 100 dollars at charge.com, or you can use Google checkout or Paypal even cheaper. When I recommended to development to include a Paypal option in our shopping cart, I was told that would "decrease the sales of our Merchant Accounts" The mentoring info that they charge thousands for, you can find at ezinearticles.com or by smart use of google or browsing forums and blogs. Sickens me to my stomach that even after they get fined and ruin so many peoples life they are doing it again over seas. As if the rest of the world needed any help in developing their dislike for American business.


There were many times refund requests would sit on managements desk and they would pick and choose which ones to refund or not because if they put too many through it would cause problems with bank accounts since they already paid out commission on the sales, they also had so many charge backs they almost lost the ability to have a merchant account. We were featured on the local Fox Utah news for shady business practices and the "free website affiliate program" in the 3 years I worked there never heard one click rep call a lead generated by that for a potential upgrade/commision, and people have almost lost their eBay accounts by following the advice of Mike Symes. People who did not sign up for a big package, or only bought the "$99.00 package" had their info sent to the out-bound aggressive sales team to convince them to max credit cards if necessary to upgrade the package, purchase mentoring, buy Mike Symes ebay kit, etc.

They put up a huge ad that says "ebay, ebay, ebay, and get a free camera!" to target people who don't know much about the internet, and once they are baited by the eBay promises they quickly switch and make you believe eBay will not work without spending thousands to Click. I don't know how many phone calls I took from people who never even got the "free digital camera". The 2 double A batteries that came with that camera were the most valuable thing in the package, and anything you need to do with eBay you can do on Ebay.com, IMO the Clickincome eBay method actually made listing items more complicated than using the interface Ebay has spent millions developing, and out of the thousands of Clickincome websites out there, Clickclub would be lucky to get more than 5 orders a month total, and half of those never showed up on time, ruining peoples eBay reputation.

Would highly recommend doing some research and finding alternate solutions for learning about ebay, building a website, or buying a merchant account.

-51/50

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CI Support

We would like to also address that there is currently a common misconception that has been put out there by a former disgruntled employee Clickincome is affiliated with the company EmPwrOnline. While both companies do both offer similar services and operate out of Utah, they are actually different companies.

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Nice choice of words, Aria financial and Clickincome were also different companies no? yet they were both in the same building, had the same address, and the paychecks were signed by the same person.

I find it funny how you try to disassociate from this company, yet if you look at the testimonials page on the EmPwr website, http://empwronline.com/EmPwrOnline_Testimonials.php

You will see a testimonial from MR Miller, I talked to him many times as a Clickincome customer, even met him in a Vegas Symposium if I am not mistaken.

Also is a testimonial from a Mrs Masters, she was a well known client of Clickincome's, she called in often and anyone who used to work there would know she was a Clickincome Customer.

The templates they use were created by Marc and Diego, the Click designers.

Mr Gallegos gives EmPwr a testimonial, I personally coached George on his 4 tech sessions.

Take a look at EmPwr's portfolio. Here is a picture of a project they built called "Podstrike.net"

http://forums.smallbusinesscomputing.../2009/02/1.jpg

I helped beta test that service when it was controlled by Clickincome, If you look at the contact address of Podstrike.com,

* World Net Services, Inc.
* 9543 South 700 East, Suite 200
* Sandy, UT 84070
The exact address of Clickincome. How did a picture of a project developed at Clickincome end up on a portfolio for EnPwr if they are not associated?

Also both Clickincome and EmPwr claim to be based out of Sandy, Utah. So either all the old Clickincome customers all the sudden switched to Empwr and Empwr is borrowing Clickincome's testimonials and portfolio projects, or they are in fact the same company, with a different name. Pretty clever, or deceptive some might say.

I could not believe it but about two weeks ago someone named John B. called me wanting to know how my new ClickIncome Business was coming along and I had a few words with him. He did all possible to convince me that I was wrong about my opinion and he was here to help me. After about 3 phone calls I was starting to believe him and that is when he hit me for additional $3,000.00 dollars so I could really start to see the benefits. I just hung up the phone. I guess the $4,995.00 I paid is money lost.

Looks like they are at it again. This time they are calling themselves Live Auction Workshop. These people are unreal and shameless. How many times do they think they can pull the same stunt again. I was going through my newspaper and there was a picture of that same goofy guy that sits there and stutters if you ask him a question that he doesn't seem to want to answer. Mike Syme what lies are you going to tell this time. About how you make all this money on the internet but yet if you go to eBay and look up Mr Syme all you see is how he's a sham and lies to people. I went to a seminar of his a couple years ago and he is pretty convincing with his I'm dummie and if I can make it, so can you routine. I have two friends that invested in his program and they did EXACTLY what he told them to do and they got their accounts suspended and deleted by eBay. Mr Symes and his people don't know what they's talking about. So avoid these seminars in Florida this month and spread the word. Mike Syme is conn artist and all he wants is your money and won't help you or talk to you again. Maybe if my husband and I get up and stutter a lot we can get you to spend lots of money with us too.

Here's the site [Live link removed]

Don't fall for Mr Syme's tricks and lies!

I am glad people continue posting comments about Micheal James or Symes and Emporw/Clickincome (they are definitly the same company). In the U.K, they are now being investigated by the Office of Fair Trading and hopefully they won't be scamming people here or elsewhere....Any body from U.K, having been scammed by them?????????????

So I called the number they had for the seminar to register for it and it was a different company. So maybe Mr Syme has moved on to a different company. One of my friends tried to email Mr Syme this week and it came back saying the email doesn't exist anymore . So seems Mr Syme is trying to cut and run and pull a new conn scheme. I can't post the number for the seminar but look for Live Auction Workshop and that's the site. Go to these seminars and ask michael symes how he can sleep at night taking people's money and lying to people. He's a dishonest person that makes promises that the company he represents can't keep. I feel bad for people that have to answer for the lies he spews out of his mouth.

Michael Syme is a horrible person and I hope he gets what's coming to him. I'd love to see the police show up and arrest him for what he does to people. One can only pray it will happen.

Here is a WhoIs lookup on the domain http://empwronline.com/

http://who.godaddy.com/WhoIs.aspx?do...rog_id=godaddy

Registered to World Net Services, aka Clickincome, and the address listed is the same as Clickincome.

I believe the old VP of Click, Troy Stevens, and Mike Symes may have left Click/World net and started their own business, which most likely is this "live auction workshop" or "Thrive Learning Institute".

I wish I knew how to shut down this whole show. It's just dispicable to me that this Troy Stevens and Mike Syme are allowed to run around stealing peoples money and lying to them. Looks like it's a new company then that they've started and I wish they could be shut down. They are nothing but crooks. So look out troy stevens and mike syme we're watching you and we are going to tell everyone about you and your new thrive business.

I too would like to see them stopped. I would really like to find a way to get my money back too. As you see from my last post 6 or more months later and they have someone else from Clickincome call me to try to get another $3,000. I too appreciate folks keeping us updated here.

So Mr Mike Syme and this Troy Stevens person have made a company called Thrive. If you google Live Auction Workshop it gives you the option of logging into ThriveReseller website. You have to have a password and username. It makes me wonder what is going on behind there. What are they trying to hide now?

If you go to the Thrive Learning Institute website they look pretty legit but I'm sure they have this smoke and mirrors thing down pretty good. Mike Syme and Troy Stevens your Thrive business isn't going to work just because you open a new business it doesn't mean what you have done to others in the past won't catch up with you. Haven't you both hurt enough people? Why don't you go learn to do something more honorable and actually help people? Why don't you give back to all the people that you stole from and have hurt? How do you two look at yourselves in the mirror and sleep at night? It must take a special kind of person to be able to do this. I find it shocking that you aren't in jail for what you've done. I hope you both get what's coming to you.

FYI - you can find Troy Stevens on Linkedin (a networking website). His profile still says that he is the VP at Clickincome. In fact, it appears that he has more than one listing on that site (4 to be exact).

My friends and I called Clickincome today and both Troy Stevens and Mike Syme haven't worked for the company since the first of December. I asked where their next seminar is and they said they don't do them anymore. Interesting that Mr Stevens and Mr Syme seem to have a need to go out on the road to steal more money with a new company. Sounds like the root of the problem might have taken on a new form.

Look out Bend and Portland Oregon, Mike Syme and his Thrive Learning company are coming your way. Or is it Michael Jame? I get so confused with all the names you go by, you probably have a new name now. I think this borderes on some sort of illegal business representation when you have to change your name because you lie to people so much. You steal their money and don't do anything that you say you will. Mike Syme you snake, stop hurting people you and your partner Troy Stevens lie to people and don't have any intention of doing what you say you will. So avoid Thrive Learning, LiveAuctionWorkshop, Mike Syme, Troy Stevens and company. They will all be liars and steal your hard earned money. I hope that you get arrested and go to jail for a very long time for what you do to people all over this country, they will probably run up to Canada and back to the UK if they get enough heat here.

If you have bought from them, demand your money back! Don't give Mike Symes another dime make him go out and find real jobs like the rest of us. If you're going to his Portland or Bend, Oregon classes. Ask him to show you his eBay, Amazon and Craigslist ads. Tell him you want to see his websites and how he does business. Make him write things out on paper and give you his word in writing that you'll be successful. He won't and he can't. He'll get mad and ask that you be taken out of the room or he'll start stuttering. Tell them you want a 6 month money back in writing promise from him! He won't do it! He's a horrible person that needs to be stopped so spread the word to stay away from Thrive and Mike Syme.

2-19-2009- I attended a 2 hour meeting today about ebay. Richard Hofmann was the speaker. I had to pay $20. to be able to attend a 4 hour meeting tomorrow with Michael Symes. I was planning on attending, then I went online to get the "free book", which turned out is actually an ebook, not what I wanted or was expecting. I told my husband then, well it has already started, they did not tell us it was an ebook, assumed it was a regular book. Decided to go online and look these people up, am I glad I found this website with all this info. They are now using the name Thrive Learning Institute to prey on people. I wish I knew how to get ahold of the people that are planning on attending tomorrow so I could warn them. I wonder if the police are looking for them. Is this illegal? If anyone knows it is, they are in Rogers Arkansas the next couple of days at the Embassy Suites. Hope they are arrested if it is. Let me know if you call the police on them.
Edit by admin: no contact info permitted on the forum, thank you

I doubt it's illegal since it's been going on so long and so many people have already complained. Caveat emptor ...

Thanks for the warning. You (Kathy Wo and Seachelle) have any links to share?

That is the shame of it, they stay just above the law and they are very careful in how they phrase their promises. They don't give up either and there are always others like me who will believe them and give up our money because we believe we can finally be successful just like they say they are. If anyone ever comes with with a way to legally get back at them please count me in.

best wishes for u!

Look out Canada, Thrive Learning aka Wealth Fusion Academy are bring you a crook by the name of Mike Symes. He and his partner Troy Stevens are coming to steal your money and lie to you. They are going to be in the following cities. Looks like in Canada these crooks go by the name BBT.

Victoria Canada Feb 24 & 25

Brampton March 2nd

North York March 3rd

Richmond Hill and Toronto March 4th

Burlington March 5th

Also the articles written by Robert Morris and James Ryder are made up out of lots of different stories it even says so at the bottom of their ads. And they won't give you the book they tell you that they will, it's an eBook. So they really give you NOTHING for going and listenting to the 4 or 5 thousand dollar sales pitch that is nothing but a bunch of crap that you could get for a couple hundred dollars else where in the internet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KathyWo

Look out Canada, Thrive Learning aka Wealth Fusion Academy are bring you a crook by the name of Mike Symes. He and his partner Troy Stevens are coming to steal your money and lie to you. They are going to be in the following cities. Looks like in Canada these crooks go by the name BBT.

Victoria Canada Feb 24 & 25

Brampton March 2nd

North York March 3rd

Richmond Hill and Toronto March 4th

Burlington March 5th

Also the articles written by Robert Morris and James Ryder are made up out of lots of different stories it even says so at the bottom of their ads. And they won't give you the book they tell you that they will, it's an eBook. So they really give you NOTHING for going and listenting to the 4 or 5 thousand dollar sales pitch that is nothing but a bunch of crap that you could get for a couple hundred dollars else where in the internet.

---

Kathy, I asked you before, in another thread and possibly on another topic, if you had any links to support your position/accusations. You never responded. Do you have any links to support either THAT one or THIS one?

As per the rules of the blog.... we are not entitled to give out personal names and make accusations. I am requesting that this be reviewed carefully. I will hold back my forum response until I hear how this situation is managed. My response would cause only more of the same and be a waste of energy and ugly comments. There are always two sides to stories and unhappy customers.
Sales people are not customer support. The person who takes your money at Mcdonalds, does not make the hamburger.


thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pawnee

As per the rules of the blog.... we are not entitled to give out personal names and make accusations. I am requesting that this be reviewed carefully. I will hold back my forum response until I hear how this situation is managed. My response would cause only more of the same and be a waste of energy and ugly comments. There are always two sides to stories and unhappy customers.
Sales people are not customer support. The person who takes your money at Mcdonalds, does not make the hamburger.


thanks

---

Great response ;).

Pawnee, you make valid points. May I add though, if the person who takes your money at McDonalds charges you quite a bit extra then puts that into his/her pocket it is still deception and wrong. That is what we are saying here about the folks at Clickincome.

Thanks.

your so right Sogent, There should be a level of expectation for service. Even when I buy a Coke at 7-11 and know its 3-4 times what I would pay for at the grocery store, I am choosing to buy that because of and service and convenience. However, the sales person does not set the price.

I bought from a guy Named Duane. I don’t know who this Mike guy is, sounds like the company had different sales people and that Clickincome is the culprits. Reading through this blog, there seems to be enough of us, if we all got together we could get a great class action lawsuit against the owners of the company. The company is registered under the names Brian McAdam and Deric Gurley, Lets go after them, they have our money not the stupid sales people or employees.

http://cashflowsystems.ca/ Mr Roger Brown that use to work at Clickincome along with another former employee have been doing some digging and found this information about these new seminars. The Old Sarge, this is VERY similar to the ad they ran down here in florida a few weeks ago. I hope this helps make my point that they are out there under a new name.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Old Sarge

Kathy, I asked you before, in another thread and possibly on another topic, if you had any links to support your position/accusations. You never responded. Do you have any links to support either THAT one or THIS one?

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gromit

Clcik---

you paid them $11K a year ago and still hven't made a sale yet? Am I missing something here? It sounds liek a huge rip off -- or is your site complicated and it's taking that long to build?

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News like this one makes me stay away from such programs and not even give it a second look. :mad: What a shame. I guess opening a thread on how to classify and avoid scams would be very helpful in here. Any second on that?

Wow Kathy,

Yes ....here is some more information that I found on a google map search of this Brian Mcadam and Deric Gurley who seem to be the owners or CEO's of Clickincome and other company's.

http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_ghp9jh

http://www.spoke.com/info/p8fXoAV/DericGurley

http://www.scam-reports.com/ClickIncome.Com.html


http://www.authorize.net/state_resel...=1500&state=UT

Clickincome, Inc
9543 S 700 E Ste 100, Sandy, UT 84070-3495
Contact Phone: (801) 571-0016
URL (web address): www.clickincome.com
Business Category: Computer Related Services in Sandy, UT
Industry (SIC): Computer Related Services, NEC
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The ads are not affiliated with Clickincome, Inc

Business Information
This company profile is for the private company Clickincome, Inc , located in Sandy, UT. Clickincome, Inc's line of business is computer related services.

Company Name: Clickincome, IncIs This Your Company?
Address: 9543 S 700 E Ste 100, Sandy, UT 84070-3495 (Map)

Alt Business Name:
Location Type: Single Location
Est. Annual Sales: $450,000
Est. # of Employees: 6
Est. Empl. at Loc.: 6
Year Started: 2002
State of Incorp:
SIC #Code: 7379
Contact's Name: Brian Mcadam
Contact's Title: Chairman
Parent Company: Pangaea Group, Inc
NAICS: Computer Systems Design Services
Data above provided by D&B.
Click on the reports tab at the top of the page to research company background, detailed company profile, credit and financial reports for Clickincome, Inc.

Let me just say this.

The best incomes in the internet are the ones you haven't paid for. You agree with this right?

Efforts are all you need to invest really, but for those who really want it big and have a little extra money to spend, then go ahead. It's stil is a good thing as long as your earning.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KathyWo

I wish I knew how to shut down this whole show. It's just dispicable to me that this Troy Stevens and Mike Syme are allowed to run around stealing peoples money and lying to them. Looks like it's a new company then that they've started and I wish they could be shut down. They are nothing but crooks. So look out troy stevens and mike syme we're watching you and we are going to tell everyone about you and your new thrive business.

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You are asbsolutely correct! They are a scam and in fact they are presently in Burlington, Ontario Canada at the Hilton Garden Hotel because I just got back from their seminar. I am very pleased with myself that I didn't fall for it but I did notice a lot of desperate faces in the crowd. They are now going by the name of Thrive and the host's name is Richard Hofmann (a good ole' mormon boy from Utah so he claims). He went on about the $20 charge to meet with Michael J Syme tomorrow night at the Mississauga Novotel Hotel. The seminar begins at 5:30pm. Since I know that they are going to be there, I wish there was someone that we could contact to get them busted!!!!
It really makes me sick to my stomach see these people getting scammed. Most of them were older people and immigrants desperate to subsidize their incomes and these "jerks" are robbing them of $40 for this seminar. If anyone knows who I can contact to "rat" these guys out, please let me know before tomorrow because they are in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada tomorrow night at 5:30pm
Thanks

Thanks Kathy for the Clickincome info. I attended the meeting you posted in Canada in hopes that I could get my $5500 I spent with them refunded. But it wasn't Clickincome meeting at all. It was a different company. I was missed lead by your post. The Clickincome meeting I attended, preseners names where Tiger and Lance Robins. Lance Kept me out of the meeting the whole time selling me a lousey business that does not work. Clickincome service is terrible, they never answer their phones and never return emails. I am all for getting all us Canadians together and let sue the owners of Clickincome, Which appear to be Brian McAdams and Deric Gurley. They are the ones that have our money. I want my money back!

Wow...... you guys are right about legal action....It seems it has begun. Here is a link to the document. it appears that many different people are being represented from all over America and Canada. Regarding Brian Mcadam and Deric Gurley and their businesses.

http://blogs.mcall.com/watchdog/file...tion_11508.pdf

I just want to say ,so many people are doing business online ,I hope every 1 has his own idea !or they will fail !

Thanks Servicesucks,

I am glad Clickincome is getting their just reward, for ripping people off!
My boyfriend worked at Clickincome for Brian McAdam and Deric Gurley.
I am disgusted with what he told me, that the two owners, Brian and Deric, where doing to former employees, trying to demonize them.

Kathy Wo who has logged in and posted some very mis-leading comments on this blog and others, claims to be a woman from Ft. Meyers, Florida. Kathy Wo is actually a man and an employee of Clickincome name Eian.
If you check the "IP Address" that Kathy Wo registered under, it originates from Sandy, Utah. Not Florida!!!!!! Sandy, Utah is the home of Clickincome.
I think it is dishonest and slimy of the owners to try and mis-lead people by attacking former employees, when they are the ones totally responsible for their terrible service and having an illegal policy of not refunding peoples money.
I am glad that the law suits against Brian McAdam and Deric Gurley, Filed by the Utah Attorney General have been posted on this blog
so people can read the truth about them and Clickincome.
If you have not read the law suit filed Nov of 2008 and would like to read it, click below.
http://blogs.mcall.com/watchdog/file...tion_11508.pdf

I went to the "seminar", I paid $100 to reserve a site. I checked it out, decided not to go forward. They then began to bill me $29.95/mo and have threatened my credit rating. I called "EVA" in accounting, she was very hostile. I'm going to complain to the BBB and the Utah State Attorney.



Merchant Services

I'm from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and have been fighting with Click Income for close to 6 months now - I financed my package through Monterey Financial (or is it "Aria" Financial???? your guess as good as mine). I demanded a 50% refund from Click Income because what they preach is either lies or doesn't work in Canada. They never would contact me back...or they'd say the "financial" person has to decide about my refund - and she's "very" busy. I even had one of their people tell me they hadn't done "proper research" before entering the Cdn. market. She wouldn't put that in writing though! So I contacted the Utah BBB, and filed a complaint. They tried contacting Click Income 3 times with no luck, and so they added my complaint to the growing list against Click Income. Now I'm refusing to make my monthly payments to Monterey, and have told them if they want me to pay, they'd better have Click Income cooperate. Of course they are getting nasty, but I've already contacted our Cdn. credit bureau and told them that if they get anything reported to them, the whole matter is in dispute, so I'm not too worried. I'd dearly love to be involved in a lawsuit, so if anyone is starting one that Canadians could be involved in, feel free to contact me!