Has anyone had any success in getting a refund for a three day investment seminar that they were not happy with right from the start and if so how did you go about getting one successfully?
I doubt you will get a refund. You would probably need to write a very suavy letter or have an attorney request it in writting and highlight points of why you want refund… But its not there job to give money back. They probably offer you some Cd’s or something
What was the seminar on??
Did they offer a refund if not satisfied before you signed up? did you ask for a refund? if yes, how soon after the seminar? and what was their reply?
They usually give a refund within certain period after the seminar. They would have disclosed it before you attended.
the only experience i have is getting a refund from a tax lien program i bought at the last NY learning annex. not the same as a three day seminar but ive learned to almost never trust anything about refunds/no risk from seminars. they basically said the 1st 30 (or so) people that sign up now will get a 1 year money back guarantee, i was on the fence but that pushed me over the edge (as i watched tons of people rush the credit card machines). i loved what i heard about tax liens and how “easy” it was and over and over about how you never have to go see the house in person so you can pick the best states and work their laws and make lots of money and blah, blah, etc. i got it in time for the 1 year gaurantee. of course it meant i had to try this system FOR A FULL YEAR, no less and use a mandatory web search service in addition (i believe that was like $40-50 a month too), i should have read between the lines, anyway after getting the materials home i dove in deep listened to the dvd and read the literature, ironically a large portion of the dvd and literature talked about how you have to BE CAREFUL about what properties you approach and GO SEE THE PROPERTY IN PERSON, and how to map out the neighborhood so you can drive around all day looking at the properties, and take pictures of every house and if some sketchy neighbor approaches you that you should say your there for a survey (basically they told you to lie) and drive away very quickly or to the local police station, do you believe i spent almost $1500 on this. well that killed me, the biggest reason i liked the system to begin with was cause i was told by the INSTUCTOR/SALESMAN that you dont have to waste time looking at houses in person. i called the learning annex 2 days later (thank god) and they seem to have a global policy that you can return anything you bought at the expo as long as its postmarked within 3 days of attending, i sent it off and got refunded, whew close one, i already have my guard up not trusting many people, this just put one more nail in the coffin. lesson of the day - some bootcamps/seminars are worth it and some aren’t BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK and pray you can get a refund whether they say you can or not.
PS-i did buy david lindahls apartment system and as much as i still havent made my first investment, i love what he has to say, some stuff i knew, some stuff i didnt, but im still a fan and i belive if i use all the knowledge my gut agrees with i will be successful.
Not to sound negative on the seminar in question for the refund, but why do you want the refund??
Problem many new investors have is they goto these seminars thinking they will walk out rich and have some secret investing technic taught to them that no one else has. They do not want to take the time to apply what they have learned which can take months to even 1 yr or more to properly apply the method. The seminar is about giving out some knowledge but not holding your hard thru the whole course.
Best thing is to goto a local REIA club and see about getting a mentor thru there. SOmeone local that knows the market and is doing what you want to do.
If you do not like Rehabs, but want to be a wholesaler, find a mentor for wholesaling. Do you try and learn 2 to 4 different investment methods for REI. First learn 1 and master it. Once you know how to wholesale, move on to something else like rehabs or REO’s and preforeclosures. I would save tax auctions for one of the last things to learn. People think it is simply but not really. There is alot you need to learn and if you do not you can get burned badly.
If you were not happy right from the start, you should have asked for a refund 5 minutes into the seminar and left right then.
I can’t think of any reason they should give you your money back after you have already taken all the product that you paid for.
You are talking about paying for a seminar, taking the seminar, hearing all the information, and then thinking you don’t have to pay for it. It’s not like you can return all the information to get your refund. They gave you what you paid for and you took it and there is no way to give it back.
You made a bad choice. You didn’t do your research. Pay up for your mistake and learn from it. Don’t sign up for any more seminars unless you know what you are buying.
A seminar is education. One of the guys that works with me has a bachelor’s degree and a law degree. He doesn’t work as a lawyer but he can’t get his money back.
When you sit in a class there is this knowledge stuff that floats from the instructor at the front of the class and flows to the back of the class. The students pick some of the knowledge as it passes by them. As it gets farther to the back of the room there is less of the knowledge available since most of it goes to the people in the first 2 or 3 rows (if you find out who get the best grades it is the students in the front and the people who fail sit in the back). So you are actually paying for the instructor to put the knowledge into the air, you are not paying to pull the knowledge out of the air. So you need to sit in the front and after the class apply what you learned. My buddy should practice law and you should invest in real estate like your instructor said.
Thank you all for the responses to my question. I just want to clarify for some who responded and may have misunderstood, thinking that I actually sat thru the three days and then decided that I did not want to pay for it. In fact after the first hour I realized that the seminar was not what I had anticipated. The sales pitch that convinced me to sign up for the seminar led me to believe that this was an informative seminar and yet in actuality the speaker was not an investor but a motivational speaker. I then spoke with the team leader early on in the first day and explained that this was not the content that I had expected and he said he was not authorized to refund me but that I should call the office which I did and then they told me that I need to make my request in writing which again I did. I am now waiting to hear back from the office and that was on the first of this month. I now realize that the mentor route is the only way to go and with that said I would again like to thank those of you who did respond with words of wisdom. It is very much appreciated.