"I am so pissed off [at Trek Alliance]"

"The claims about making so much money had clouded my mind."

April 2001
By someone looking for a job after graduation

I am a social worker and was looking for a job after graduation. I put my resume on many Web sites including Monster.com. I received a phone call from someone who said he was looking for people that were "really open" and wanted to "make a lot of money." I called him back, but he did not tell me much about the job. But I decided to go for an interview (what could it hurt). When I told some friends they were skeptical.

I ended up getting lost and missed my appointment, so I called on my cell phone and said I was having car trouble. But the man insisted that I come in because he claimed I was needed right away as a "team leader." I was still uneasy about this job. The only thing that kept me interested was the money.

I was pumped up when I went to my interview. I finally found them through the building directory under the name "Premier Innovations." When I entered their office rock music was playing. A woman was standing at a desk/podium. She asked who I was to sign me in. A couple minutes later the man on the phone came out. He said hello, but made me wait. I asked the receptionist some questions about the company, but she only said all of my answers would be answered in my interview and then quickly changed the subject. My contact came out to greet me and took me into a room with about 15 desks where everyone was standing around talking. Music was blaring and I was really nervous and skeptical, not saying very much. He quickly moved me to another interviewer in the room. I thought I was going to have a one-on-one interview, but since they had told me earlier I would be working with a team, I figured they did everything in "teams," including interviews.

They had us all sit down in a group of six. I tried to seem interested and enthusiastic. The woman who checked us in told us that she had no idea what to expect when she was sitting in our place six months ago. She told us her personal story. She said she had cleared over $50,000.00 in six months. She had hated her old job and wanted to make more money. She then told us about the business. This is where the catch came in. She said we would be selling products, but that these were "amazing products." Not having any business experience I was confused and didn't question her as she flew through the presentation.

Then we were shown a video of people making money and introduced to the head man. He was extremely tan with a nice suit and a lot of jewelry. He gave me a funny feeling. But I still tried to seem interested, though I just could not shake off the funny feeling I had about all this. When he showed me the products, I purchased two gifts. He started talking about a training session coming up in two weeks. He said that my money would be refunded for the training if I wasn't satisfied on the last day. I felt that if I didn't act now he would forget about me. I put the training fees on a credit card and paid by check for my two gifts. I spent over $300.00.

A loud bell rang and I had to stand up in front of everyone and sign my name on the board for the training trip. I was totally embarrassed and left the office feeling weird. My contact called me at least 3-5 times a day to check up on me. I almost felt like he was stalking me. He called to make sure I was okay and at the end of any conversation always said that he was excited to be working with me. I told my friends about it. They all said it was a scam and told me to get out. But I made up excuses saying that I would make a lot of money and that the money spent for training was refundable if I wasn't satisfied.

There were more messages from my contact. I let friends listen to these messages. They said he sounded strange. I assured everyone if I had a bad feeling I would back out.

I returned to their office and had an uneasy feeling. My contact asked me how I liked the products I had purchased. I told him that I had not used them yet. He seemed perturbed, but pressed the fact that he wanted to get me trained in so I could start making money as soon as possible. He had me fill out an application. The application cost $45.00 and then he had me fill out a purchase order. I had to pick out items to sell. Then I had to sign over my credit card number. I read the fine print and saw that I would be paying every month. He assured me that this was all part of the business. I asked many question about this and he actually go angry with me. He said I needed to trust him.

I bought more even though I was skeptical. He phoned the "Number Three" money maker in their business who said he would see me and introduce me to key people at a conference. I was excited. My contact said not to discuss this with other people because they would try to talk me out of it. I left feeling really great about my new job.

More messages were waiting for me at home even though I had just left his office. He said a big money maker in the company was totally pumped up and looking forward to meeting me on the weekend and working together. Another message about one of my purchases said they needed the last four digits of my credit card. I called back and gave it to them.

My mother was mad when I told her about my new business. She said my uncle and cousin got into this business and hounded all the family to buy products. My mom forbid me to sell to the family. But I assured her that it was a good deal. She asked me about receipts for my purchases, if I had signed any contract and what research I had done on the company. But I hadn't done any research so I went on the Internet to check things out. I could not find anything at first except their Web site. It had all this great information about their company. I called the Better Business Bureau and they warned me to be wary, but had no negative reports about the company.

I then searched the Internet for Trek Alliance, an alternative name for the company they initially identified as "Premier Innovations." That's when I found negative articles. I started reading and I couldn't believe it. There were stories about people who had gone through exactly my experience. Right down to the music played in the background at their office.

The claims about making so much money had clouded my mind. I wanted to vomit.

I immediately called my mom. Then I called the credit card company and asked them what I could do. They told me that the $45.00 purchase and a $225.00 charge had cleared only hours ago. But $104.00 for another order had not cleared. The credit card operator canceled both my credit cards and said they would send me new ones. This would stop any further charges. Now I wanted my money back for the training trip.

I called my contact and he was full of energy until I told him I couldn't go on the trip. When I said I wanted my money back he advised that it could apply to another training. I told him this would not be a good idea for me right now and he totally ignored that statement. He said he would call me tomorrow and we would figure it out.

The next day he never called so I called him. He told me he was on a long distance phone call and to call him back in an hour. I called back and he said that he had spoken to the owner of the company and they would just credit my money to another training. I again told him that I did not want do this and he repeated again we would work it out and that he would call the owner and to call him again in another hour. He later left a message saying that he was really excited to be working with me and that my money would be credited to another program. Then he said we should set up a meeting to discuss starting back to work.

I am so pissed off. I understand that I have to pay a price for not listening to everyone and shelling out my money. But I have quit and my contact will not listen to me and refund my money like he promised. I want to tell everyone not to fall for this. I only lost about $400.00. Others have lost much more than this. Trek is targeting people. People should be aware of this. If my story helps only one person I will be happy.