11 responses so far ↓

• Sam // Jul 12, 2007 at 10:40 pm

  Hi Splork,
  I wonder where is Federal Trade Commission on this kind of deceptive advertising. FTC got Frank Garon, Stephen Pierce, Don Lapre and Vincent (of 12 month Millionaire program). Mike Filsaime and Carlos and Lupe should be next in line. About 2 years ago, I was ripped off by Jeff Paul Shawn Casey and Jim Fleck in their $3,000 coaching program of which I had paid $1,800 as down payment. I had to call my credit card company to get a refund when none of the links for download were working. I cancelled the credit card to stop recurrent billing.
  During AdSense fever of 2005-2006, Joe Comm, Michael Chaney, Len Thurmond, Andrew Fox Patric Chan and Kevin Huie and a British kid named Yates collectively got me good
  for over $5,000. They all knew that the game was over BEFORE selling all the AdSense automatic income programs. I should have had your cool headed “thinking it through” approach to the sales pitch. Keep up the informative and
  witty writing, Splork.
  ps. Is there anything bit easy and profitable (albeit modestly) online that you could recommend to me?
  Thank you.
  Sam

• Splork // Jul 13, 2007 at 6:46 am

  Hey Sam. Nothing about this business is easy and profitable unfortunately. The easy money was made from ‘95-’05. Now everybody is in it. It takes work. The competition is massive. You can surely make money in this gig. It just won’t be easy.

• Martin // Jul 13, 2007 at 8:44 am

  Hi Splork

  Mike Filsaime was the last guberu on who s list I stayed on.

  After the playboy mansion crap and this 7-Figure code I unsuscribed from his list as well.

  I am know on no guru s list anymore,and I must say I am enjoying it!

  Martin

• Marc // Jul 14, 2007 at 7:21 am

  Hey Splork,

  Interesting post as per usual, and always in your tone

  Let me play devil’s advocate for a little.

  Do I know Mike Filsaime, of course I do, who doesn’t.

  However let me go one step further by saying I have had the pleasure of dining with Mike on 3 seperate occasions.

  I did not buy his course, nor did I promote it.

  Though I can tell you one thing, Speaking with Mike in a different environment to the standard IM crowd environment has made me realise that he does know a lot about business and how to take things to the next level.

  I “believe” that this is what the 7 something something code is all about. Helping people take things to a new level.

  But its not for “newbies” (don’t take offense I was a newbie and still am in many areas). It’s for those that are a bit more advanced down the track and looking for some guidance to the next level.

  I do agree that there is way too much hype in this industry. Also that some people really need to watch out for the FTC, especially with some claims around.

  Regards
  Marc

• ramki // Jul 18, 2007 at 3:01 pm

  Splorky..you made me revisit those sales pages that shunned so long ago. I’m not against any ‘Gurus’ or so called preachers of IM goldmine, but it is disheartening, sometimes downright disgusting to see those long pages of ‘Hey, look I’m a millionaire…buy my [roduct and join my league’.

  And browsing through the butterfly garden (em, marketing), I was lost in the numerous testimonials claiming riches in less than the time it would take you walk a football field 10 times.

  I guess people need common sense taught well; get the basics right, experiment and then do it again.

  Keep it simple, stupid is what I like.

• Ern // Jul 21, 2007 at 9:21 pm

  Brand new to internet marketing, but as an offliner I have heaps of bus experience.
  What I see is these guys “forget” to mention their adword spend, don’t they?
  I am a bit surptised that the sales pages these guys create actually make sales. If I advertised like this offline, I would be laughed off the planet! I would also go to jail for fraud.

• JAN // Jul 23, 2007 at 3:07 pm

  That is to true Ern! These sales pages are hilarious. The hype is unbelievable; the testimonies ridiculous. I cannot these IMer’s get away with what they do. It really makes me sick. I was promoting a quality product on a popular IM Forum as a special…wso. I’m sure people here know where. I said what it would do… get traffic, no hype. No one was buying it. But every freakin product that had a ridiculous claim was bought! The more I try to learn in this business, the more I am disgusted by it.
  Rant over…

• John // Aug 14, 2007 at 2:44 pm

  Hi!

  Thought I’d chime in here on the 7 Figure Code. I’m trying to get started with an online business venture, so I ended up purchasing the 7 Figure Code on the 3 payment plan on 7/13/07.

  Needless to say, shortly after I purchased it, I decided it wasn’t for me and that I would return it completely shrink-wrapped as soon as I received it.

  I accessed Mike Filsaime’s help desk on 7/31/07 and they finally replied on 8/2/07 with instructions on how to return the product.

  I returned the product to the fulfillment company according to their instructions, and I cancelled my PayPal subscription for the product on 8/12/07.

  Today (8/14/07) I received an E-mail from one of Mike Filsaime’s people offering me all these free bonuses to continue my PayPal subscription. I had to laugh because I was expecting as much because it is zero marginal cost for them to offer me all these free bonuses yet they would still receive the revenue.

  Fortunately, I told them to take a flying leap and that I expected a refund of my first payment. Furthermore, I also told them that it seemed like they weren’t talking to their fulfillment company (to see if the returned product had been received) or to their helpdesk to honor my refund request.

  I liken these Internet marketers as the “used car salesmen” of the Information Age, peddling their one-shot wonders, one after another and taking advantage of people who are inexperienced, uneducated, or uninformed. In a way, they remind me of the elixir or snake-oil salesmen of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And, they are all now basically peddling the same information products with virtually the same content. We don’t see person after person peddling off-line direct mail list-building strategies or marketing techniques. They can get away with it because the Internet is a more anonymous way of transacting business. If they pulled that kind of sales stuff in their local community, they’d be run out of town right quick! And their online forums are a majority of mutual admiration societies. However, they would criticize that type of comment as me being jealous of them and their success. Just remember: “He who exalts himself shall be humbled and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.”

  What they don’t realize is the way to build a real business is to market a product or service that individuals or businesses genuinely need and develop a lifetime customer value relationship. Look at Nordstrom’s as a prime off-line example of lifetime customer service and value. A more recent major online shoe retailer has grown significantly because of their commitment to a similar customer service model with free shipping and free return shipping for customers. Can’t beat that for customer service!

  Sorry for the long post and I’ll get off my soapbox. I can keep submitting updates as to my 7 Figure Code refund process if there’s interest.

  P.S. I’m not writing this from some secret undeground location or seminar or as I’m waiting to board the space shuttle, international space station, or leaving on one of my weekly vacations to some exotic place to meet some famous motivational speaker, guru or other individual.

• Splork // Aug 14, 2007 at 2:51 pm

  No problem with the post John. You just keep ranting and we’ll read it. It’s instructional for all. Thanks for sharing.

• Jlewis // Aug 15, 2007 at 1:24 pm

  I too am now fighting with mike over his 7figurecode. I bought it on the payment plan and then tried to cancel my order within 24 hours. Here is a copy of my complaint to IC3.gov…

  I ordered an internet program marketing course from this company. Within 24 hours I cancelled the order (they have a 30-day unconditional money back guarantee on their site). They did not respond to my helpdesk message for 4 days, then said they were sorry but they had sme problems and to rethink my request for cancellation. I replied that I wanted a refund and received no response again for 3 days.I opened a dispute through paypal, the payment processor, but did not escalate the dispute to a claim because they finally responded to me and said that the package had been already been shipped and advised me to simply refuse it and I would be refunded the initial payment of $147.00 when they received it. The package was delivered and refused as per the company’s instructions on 08/01/07. I have had no contact from them since then, and now via paypal, they are attempting to collect another $197 subscription fee. i have contacted paypal and they are not able to re-open the dispute though they have blocked any further charges from bing applied to my account.

  There is no way to contact them, and if you try to post in his “say hi to mike” blog it doesn’t show (so they’re obviously monitoring THAT). No phone, no way to reply to the email sent by their “helpdesk”. If they don’t refund me soon, I’m going to the law…

• John // Aug 23, 2007 at 10:59 am

  Jlewis,

  Did you ever get your refund for the 7 Figure Code? I did, but only after I was very stern with them in E-mail replies and when I showed proof via a UPS tracking number that I had shipped back their product and it was received by their fulfillment house. I also commented in my E-mails how their willingness to refund the payments was in writing, which I copied in my E-mail replies and sent back to them.

  Since then, I have not received any more E-mails from them on this issue.

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