Product: Prosper Inc.
Site: http://www.prospering.com/
Price: $8,000-$15,000
My Recorded Phone Call with Isa (the screening process)
My Recorded Phone Call with Jason (the actual salesperson)
I was asked about Prosper Inc. by a follower a couple of weeks ago and decided to investigate it since Ben Moskel and Dave Clabeaux referred users to it through one of their products, Six Figure Program, which I blasted last week for being a complete waste of money. When I initially called, I thought it was Ben and Dave’s personal coaching program but quickly discovered they are coaches for Prosper, but they apparently don’t own the company.
I have included both of my calls (there’s an “approval process” first where they screen you, then you are passed on to the actual salesperson) at the top of this message. You are welcome to download them and give them a listen to hear everything that was discussed. I posed as a person that was familiar with affiliate marketing but couldn’t break through and start making money, which is why I was seeking a coach.
It’s important to note that I have a lot more knowledge and experience than I let them in on and have made a full-time living in affiliate marketing for almost four years next month as I’m writing this. I didn’t want to give the sales representatives full knowledge because I felt I would have a more realistic experience this way.
Highlights from My First Call with Isa (the Screening Process)
“We understand we’re not perfect.”
This is what Isa told me when I mentioned the fact that there were 270 complaints filed with the BBB. I’m not sure that’s good enough for me if I’m going to pay upwards of $10,000 for coaching. Walmart has 595 filed complaints and just like Prosper, they are all closed. Walmart pisses me off pretty frequently, but the difference between the two is you spend $200 for some groceries rather than $15,000 for coaching. I suppose with the volume these guys are doing, 270 isn’t too bad. But for me to sign up, having half as many complaints as Walmart is quite a few too many… like 250 too many.
“I just want to make sure that you’re committed to yourself, okay?”
Throughout my conversation with Isa, he made me commit to statements like this around 10 times. Keep in mind they record all of their calls, so if they get you to verbally agree these statements, they have legal proof that you knew what you were signing up for. If you don’t agree to these statements, I’d imagine they don’t pass you through to the real salesperson
That’s about it for Isa
I don’t want to spend too much time talking about my conversation with Isa because, frankly, he didn’t really have any information. He is a screener. His job is to make sure they cover their legal bases and that I’m not a waste of time before passing me through to the real salesperson.
Highlights from My Second Call with Jason (the Salesperson)
“That’s the thing… Ben and Dave, you know, they’re great guys and you’re right they did make the majority of their wealth after the first. Because they have documented. They made their first million with affiliate marketing solely, um, with all their sites. But I’m talking a hundred plus sites that are involved. So with that, um, you know after that a lot of it does come from the Six Figure kit – the $27 purchase the (obscured) Cash Program, and all their other affiliate links”
This is after I told Jason that I would be very unhappy if I received coaching from people like Ben Moskel and Dave Clabeaux. I know the information they teach is out of date because the product they sell people for $27 is godawful. If I’m going to pay someone $15,000 for coaching, I better not get coaches that I know are ripping people off in the affiliate marketing world. The interesting thing is later in the conversation, Jason spoke as though he knew Ben and Dave personally and made it sound as though he was directly affiliate with them. Uh oh. That’s a really big deal in my opinion, and Jason flat-out admits here that these guys make the majority of their money by selling their out of date “Six Figure Program”. I’ll get into more detail about Jason be affiliate with these guys in a couple of moments.
“Ben and Dave… They’re not the coaches. They look to these coaches and they learn from the coaches.”
Again, something Jason told me to put my mind at ease about these guys being on the coaching staff. This is just a flat-out lie though, because Jason and Ben are clearly listed on the Prospering.com website as coaches. Now someone is lying to me, and that’s a REALLY bad sign when I’m talking to someone about spending around $15,000 for coaching.
“A warranty has contingencies whereas a guarantee is steadfast.”
This is toward the end of the conversation when I asked Jason about a guarantee. He explained that they do not give a guarantee, but instead they have a warranty. Their warranty is this: If you don’t recoup the entire value of your tuition a year after you sign up, you’ll get another year for free. There is no money-back guarantee. Jason told me he likes to compare it to the Greek general that burned the boats before he and his men went to war. This way you’re sure to fight very hard and not lean on a money-back guarantee. Again, and I hate to say this because Jason genuinely seemed like a nice guy, that’s just not a good enough “warranty” when I’m talking about investing $15k. Far from it, actually. This means if I pay up front and get a coach that I’m completely unimpressed with, THEY GET TO KEEP MY HARD EARNED MONEY. Nuh-uh, that doesn’t jive with me.
Other Important Notes
First, I want to direct you to one of the most incriminating things I found concerning Prosper Inc. I found a post from an ex-employee that discusses what Prosper is like behind closed doors.
Behind closed doors in our boardroom, and guiding our crafty lawyers, is this motto: “Your credit cards are our business. Making us prosper is yours.”
Source: http://reviewopedia.com/workathome/prospering-com-reviews-legit-or-scam/#comments
When I came upon this, I was extremely concerned. This doesn’t seem like someone making stories up and I can’t imagine why anyone would make something like this up in the first place. Take it as you will, but when I see things like this and there’s $15k of my money on the line without a money-back guarantee, it’s enough to keep me from buying.
Another thing I didn’t like about the coaching program is something Jason and I discussed. Your coach will call you once a week, but you will be able to call in to a hotline whenever you want and you will speak to the coach on staff. That’s not really the best setup in my opinion, because it’s like being passed to someone on a technical support call without the first associate briefing the second associate on what you’ve covered. It’s important to always be talking to the same mentor that’s familiar with your situation. For $15,000 I would fly to my student’s home and stay with them for a month while working eight hour work days with them the entire time I was there, let alone splitting their coaching between myself and several of my colleagues. But maybe that’s why I’m not a coach.
Finally, and I mentioned this earlier, something I found very fishy was Jason’s apparent association with Ben Moskel and Dave Clabeaux. I have reviewed one of their products, the Six Figure Program, and it was absolutely horrible. When I was discussing the flaws within that program, Jason referred to himself included with Ben Moskel and Dave Clabeaux by saying, “we”, “our”, and “us” when talking about decisions made with the product. That was very strange to me and he didn’t it too many times for it to be a simple slip-up. It makes me wonder how big of a role Ben and Dave play in the Prosper coaching program, and if their role is big enough I would undoubtedly avoid it like the plague.
The Final Verdict
So is the Prosper Inc. program a scam? Is it worth signing up or not? Well, I can’t tell you for certain because I was too uneasy with it to pay the $15,000 to test it. There were too many funny things going on and not a strong enough guarantee to protect me if I was unsatisfied.
Regardless of whether or not the program is a scam, it’s fairly difficult for me to justify a $15,000 price point. Even the low end of things, $8,000, is pretty massive in my opinion. You can buy a lot of products, a lot of tools, and get in a lot of learning for $8,000-$15,000. A lot of the things you would be learning in the first few months are things you could easily teach yourself (basic web design, basic SEO, basic PPC, etc…), so rather than spending six months with a coach that you speak with once a week for $7,500, spend a couple hundred bucks on good information products and software.
Also, I’ve seen several very legitimate affiliate marketers offer coaching clubs for $1,000-$2,500 in this industry which makes it infinitely more difficult for me to justify this giant $15k price point.
So all-in-all, is it a product I’d be comfortable spending $15k on? Definitely not. Otherwise I would have done it! Anything this closely associated with internet marketers that I know make money ripping people off like Ben Moskel and Dave Clabeaux with their “Six Figure Program” (they’re on the coaching staff for Prosper) is something I am very uncomfortable investing in. Unfortunately I can’t tell you for certain whether or not it’s a ripoff, but my instincts (which are very sharp at this point since reviewing scam products is what I do full-time) tell me that it’s too high of a risk and too much money.
It really all amounts to the fact that you could do SO much in this industry for $8,000-$15,000. You could have a massive amount of content built on any topic of your choice, have a brilliant website designed and built for you, have someone install your Adsense ads on there, and pay for a ton of SEO with that kind of money. Then you’re almost certain to have a website making a couple thousand dollars per month if you hired all the right people. Then you’d have a small full-time income so you could buy all the information products your heart desired and study/learn affiliate marketing full-time! That’s what I’d do with the money if I had it to invest in the early days of my affiliate marketing career.
Do you have questions or comments about Prosper Inc. that I didn’t answer in this post? Have you personally signed up for coaching with Prosper Inc. and had good or bad experiences you’d like to share publicly? Just leave a comment below, email me, or connect with me on Facebook or Twitter! I love to hear from my readers, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything.
Summary: VERY expensive coaching not AT ALL worth paying for
Description: Prosper Inc. will charge you a TON of money (up to $20-$30k) and leave you with almost nothing to show for it. Details in this review (and comments)
Rating: 1 out of 5.
BE VERY CAREFUL with Prosper. Luckily I have now built my own business and brand but wasted a ton of cash with these guys. The great thing I learned was WHAT NOT TO DO! YES you read that right. As a coach and marketer I have learned from the worlds top coaching academy and even though I wasted $5k thinking I was going to work with Joe they didn’t know what the F*** they were doing. I could have ran that company better with a bunch of 5 year olds. STAY WELL AWAY!
I too tried to get rembursed and spent well over $4,000 to build my website which never got finished it was excruciating dealing with different coaches and a few competent ones. I never was able to finish the website it became too frustrating after dealing with it for six months, and taking so much time away from my normal business.
I also tried to get reimbursed after signing up but had passed the three day deadline according to them.
I have never seen such a crookied outfit that is still allowed to be in business after so many complaints as since 2008 there have been complaints.
So may people desperate for money mostly thinking that they will be able to get back on their feet but just got more into debt.
The better business bureau was no help, I even tried with the Chamber of Commerce in Utah to no avail.
My advice stay away from Prosper, this however was in 2012 when I signed up. I just came upon this review and can’t believe they are still allowed to do business.
I’m really, really sorry to hear about your experiences, Francyne. That’s absolutely terrible, but thank you very much for taking the time to share what happened to you with the rest of the community so that people researching Prosper can learn from your experiences.
I really wish I did my research online before paying Prosper money, but I signed a financial agreement to pay them the $2k that their services had costed me. It was the worst $2k I have ever spent. They make you go through these so-called interview process and they tell you that you have been chosen to be coached. The coaching sessions were bad. I didn’t feel any connection to the coach, and he was terrible. Plus I would tell him to call me on my cell phone because I would not be home on time to answer my land line. He tells me okay, but still calls me on my land line and starts reprimanding me on my answering machine that I wasn’t there to answer the call. Plus he was about 15-30 late minutes calling me each time. Not only were the sessions ineffective, but the coach was rude and consistently late. I just want to warn anyone looking into buying coaching sessions with Prosper, please do the research and don’t make the same mistake I made.
Hey Ian, I know this article was published years ago, but I stumbled across this while looking into this issue. I had been in different fields of sales and heard about prosper from a friend who said he did very well there. I ended up taking a job with them, was doing very well, but after about just 3 months of working there, I starting really thinking about what I was doing and who I was working for. I felt extremely uncomfortable with the company, felt it wasn’t honest, and I was being very dishonest working for them and informed them that I was quitting as this was how I felt. I certainly felt it was pretty “scammy” and I couldn’t maintain my integrity while working for them. It was good to see that I didn’t quit that job straight up for a completely misguided reason.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences, Matt! It’s really incredible to get insight from a former Prosper salesperson. Would it be alright with you if I copy/pasted this comment and worked it into the review somewhere so that people are sure to see it? Not everyone scrolls to the bottom of the page to read through the comments and I think this is important enough that anyone researching Prosper should see it. Please let me know and thanks again for taking the time to read and comment!
Thanks so much for putting this up. I’m half way through the interview process and I just had to trust my intuition to look further. The Law of Attraction is what got me here and I’m glad I kept going with what I was attracted to. I know my 15,000 dollars will be put to better use to attracting the truly useful opportunities in my life! Thank you once again!
I’m very happy to help, Dom! Let me know if I can help with anything else – thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Well I’m glad I read this! I actually have an interview with them this coming Monday to become an employee for them, and thanks to this I won’t be doing that.
I have a hard enough time as it is as a sales consultant for a moral company, I could never do something like this to someone.
I’m very happy that this gave you some “inside information, Johnny! I’ve thought about that in the past, and I wonder what they must be telling people at job interviews to get them to agree to selling this service. Thanks for reading and commenting, I’m glad this helped!
A family member and I made the mistake of falling for “Prosper.”
I’ve been in sales and I’m familiar with the process but these guys were some of the best smooth talkers I’ve ever heard. The high pressure from them and their subsequent “partners” was like nothing I’ve ever heard. I’ve had zero success, I found their “support” team to be a joke and I’ve now filed a complaint with the FTC. Any advice you can give as to how else I may be able to go after them is much appreciated.
Hey Rachel. Yes, they have a very effective sales pitch, unfortunately. Have you contacted your bank or credit card company? It would also make sense to file with the Better Business Bureau and RipoffReport.com in the meantime. Make sure you only state the facts and don’t accuse them of any criminal act, however. There have been lawsuits where the complainant files a report on RipoffReport.com calling them scammers, criminals, etc… and actually got taken to court for over $1M. Best of luck to you, Rachel! Let me know if I can help with anything else.
NOOOOOOO!! I just purchase prospering, for $3500, I was happy thinking I start doing something for changing my life, ( I haven´t had any coach session) do you think I still have my money back!!! ?????
Hey Pao, the only way to know for sure is to get on the phone with them and ask. They will be persistent and do EVERYTHING they can to keep your money though, so just be very firm and tell them that you decided you no longer want the coaching and you would like your money back.
Wow I wish I had seen this before I invested in this program…and I say that loosely! I was trying to learn how to sell on e-bay and watching the video training, when I noticed that the training wasn’t up to date with e-bays changes. On the next call with my “coach”, I told him that they needed to update the videos becasuse the content didn’t match current time, my coach was greatly offended and I haven’t heard from them since. I am however still paying for the “school”. I have to say that right now I am laughing hysterically to the point of tears!! I think I am going to make a phone call tomorrow….LOL Maybe two…one to the BBB! Thank you for the information you have provided here….
Good for you Paula! If I can do anything to help in the process, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
I am so glad to see this site. but unfortunately the guy lied to me and I have to pay $2000 within 12 months. is there anyway I can cancel this agreement please…I have sped $700 for my coaching already. I don’t want to spent any money for nothing.. thank you.
I’m not exactly sure how to terminate an agreement if you’re already in one. I might contact your bank or credit card company, not only about how to make sure they don’t take any more money out of your account but also how to get back the $700 you’ve already paid. I’m not sure you’ll be able to get that $700 back, but you should at least be able to prevent yourself from paying the remaining $2,000.
I don’t really care no more about my $700 back because I got coaching for 4 times for 30mins each. It is o.k for me even though it is really not worth it. I am glad that at least I got something for my money.
My real problem right know is to prevent myself from paying $2000 for nothing. I made a called last a few days a go and he put down the phone when we are in the middle of the talk when I was asking him why did he lied to me.. And I made a second call since we don’t finish our conversation, but the other guy pick up the phone and said you can’t talk to him. It was really frustrated.
The Monterey financial company make me a call almost everyday to make a payment. I have paid once but I realize I am stupid enough that I gave my money for nothing.I don’t want to pay it anymore and no longer pick up their phone calls. I don’t want to be the guy who don’t want to pay his payment. I want this to end this nightmare by going through this not by turning around. But this kind of thing happend my very first time in my entire life, I have totally no idea how to solve this problem. I really need your idea Ian. I have a part time job and I have multiple bills to pay. Not only I don’t want to pay my money for nothing, I really can’t afford this thing. I really need some advice from you. I am really appreciate for your time. Your help mean more than everything. Thank you.
The best advice I can give you is to answer the phone, tell them you are no longer interested, and threaten to report them to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and BBB (Better Business Bureau) if they keep calling you and harassing you to make any more payments. I wish I could help more, but I am not a lawyer and this is a legal matter, so I have no ability to give you a firm and definitive answer. If I were in your shoes, that is what I would do.
Thank you!! Damon from Prosper called after I’d purchased an information set on wealth as a coach. I thought at first he was with the company I had purchased from. He wasn’t. While on the phone, recognizing all of his hypnotic language trying to convince me to buy something from him – I quickly searched and found you & the warnings against working with Prosper.
Thank you for being honest & providing this information. I got out of the call gracefully & know not to go any further with them!
I’m glad you did your research, Esther! And I’m very happy that I could help you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything else!
Unfortunately, I was trapped by Prosper for a good 2 months, where I spent roughly $1,500.00 and I ended up with zero in cash flow. My experience with Prosper is one the worst ever.
After 2 months I found out that their goals was to make them prosper and make me poor. I then called them to cancel my membership and asked for a refund. As my last last payment was ongoing, it was that last payment they did refund.
My great deception was my interaction with some guys from the same church and leaders in the church. For God sake…
In one word they are not what they pretend to be unfortunately. Stay away from Prospering.com
Thanks, I was skeptical when they asked me what my credit limit was and when I told ‘April: that I don’t have any credit card(I’m proud to say) she said well are they still open and when I said yes she asked what the total limits would amount too. I wanted some help in changing negative behavior & thoughts but now that I heard some reviews I think I can check out some library books and watch some YouTube videos or something else that will cost less money. I want to get ahead but not at the cost of going into debt. Thanks for the heads up.
Good call Erin! And good for you for doing your research. There are a lot of good books out there to teach conversion optimization, email marketing, writing sales copy, etc… and they will add up to a MUCH lower price than anything you would have to pay for Prosper 🙂 Best of luck to you!
I signed on, everything they came up with was stuff I already knew, or cost money I don’t have.. They want to charge me almost $200 a month, for the ” money they put up for me ” I haven’t made one dime… How do I get out of their contract?? I told them it wasn’t working for me, and I’m done but they say I can’t get out.. Can you email me and tell me how to break it without ruining my credit?? Also the contract was online, I did not receive it through mail…
Hello Ian.
thank you so much for your review of Prosper.
I did a google search last night for scam and prosper company. I am across this review almost at the top of the google search page.
I listened to both of your recorded phone calls on this page.
I had someone phone me from Prosper originally about 8 weeks ago. They had found me through Anthony Morrison. Anthony Morrison is an internet marketer . I joined his website program for $19. Then there were all these extra costs involved, for upgrades which i did not have the money.
I filled out a form on Anthony Morrison’s site about coaching.
A few weeks after I filled out the form I got a call from a man from Prosper, similar to Isa who you first spoke to.
Then I spoke to a sales person after. I don’t have much money. They were willing to work with me. They had agreed that I could pay $400 to start and once I made some money I would need to reinvest in Their company. I had to go to my bank to take out $400 and put it on my pre paid credit card. I don’t use regular credit cards anymore because I am in $6,400 debt. I went home after going to my bank and my intuition said go and do a google search for any scams with Prosper. I did that and saw all of these complaints.
I never phoned back the sales man as I had promised to so with my pre paid credit card to give him the number and expiry date of my pre paid credit card.
So now fast forward 8 weeks to yesterday morning.
I spoke to another intake / screener person, named Jeremy Jamison.
We spoke for about 30 to 40 minutes on the phone.
He first said that he was following up as he said I phoned Prosper a few months ago but did not have any notes of my last interaction with Prosper.
I am very gullible and very naive and for some reason spoke to Jeremy for a long time and he told me that the complaints to the better business bureau were all closed.
so i felt more comfortable.
Jeremy had told me to phone back today (Friday March 1) at 11:30 am and he would go to bat for me to see if $200 would be enough to get me started. I told him all I could afford was $200 at this time to get started.
He asked me to write down my weaknesses that may get in the way of me being successful with one of his coaches and phone him today to first discuss this before I would speak to an enrolment officer, which is what they referred to as their sales people.
Thank you so much for this detailed review, Ian. this is what I needed to NOT almost make the same mistake I almost made 8 weeks ago with first talking to a sales man at Prosper.
Now My question to you, Ian is how does someone like me make money on the internet. I mean a lot of money.
I am a member of Mike Filsaime’s Micro Model Business System and James Stone (Doc Stone) does all of the training live on webinars.
I am also an upgraded member with contact List builder with Janet Legere.
and I am a member of Joel Therien’s GVO hosting/ auto responder and affiliate marketing.
I know you have heard of Mike Filsaime as you mentioned it on your recorded call on this page but did not like him because he sends so many emails.
He is always trying to sell something.
Have you heard of Janet Legere and Contact List builder or Prospect Geyser which is her other company.
Janet Leger is known as the List building Queen on the internet.
she is very nice and helpful. Most of what I need to learn is on recorded webinars.
she is not aggressive at all Like Mike Filsaime.
Joel Therien is now promoting Pure Leverage which he claims that many people will make $100,000 per month after 1 year.
I am so lost as I have NO business or internet marketing experience at all.
I am a certified Raw Vegan Chef and Health Coach (Health Education Consultant)
Raw vegan foods and health are my passion.
I went to this school In Roswell, Georgia 1 year ago.
I have not done anything yet with it because I want to first walk my talk so to speak.
Ian, I apologize for this very long comment.
But you seem to be s0 experienced in internet marketing I thought you may have some good sound advice for me.
I would be very greatful for any advice you can give me.
If you can email me with the email address I provided you on this comment post I would be so grateful.
THANK YOU!
PEACE!
Im greatful for checking on these scam reports before deciding to deal with these vultures! Thanks Ian for your detailed investigation. Ive been burned before for six grand by “Q the cash gifting expert” and I cant afford to get burned again. I also got burned for close to 10 grand by Nightingale Conant some years before tbat through a similiar coaching set up. Yup, they got me and prosper claims to be a partner of John Commuta aka Debt to Wealth, and John Commuta is affiliated with Nightingale Conant, go figure. Thanks again and I hope my input is helpful.
Thank you very much for the information — i just had first (last)interview last night and word for word what you said was said to me. Scheduled second interview is for Monday and I will not be taking the call. Thanks for saving me a ton of money that I can ill afford to lose.
I’m so happy that I could help Mary! Just to let you know – they will HOUND you until you give them a firm no. And after that, they will sell your information to about anybody they can for “work at home” services. I can’t be certain it was Prosper, but the timing seemed to line up perfectly. It’s been months and I still get calls from people asking if I’m, “still interested in learning how to work from home”. Funny enough I literally just got one as I was typing that sentence! Just tell them to take you off of their list and the calls will decrease over time.
But most importantly, it’s VERY good that you found this review before paying them a huge sum of cash! Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you ever have any other questions about internet marketing.
I too purchased the Prospering Inc. program/system for over $10,000 and was scammed. I suffered a workplace injury. It stated in their agreement that should I be injuried where I camnnot work that I’d receive a full refund, where I did not. Only half of my money was reimbursed leaving $5000 still charged on my credit card collecting, and I paying, a high interest for promises Prospering Inc. never met. If I wanted half a refund from them, I had to agree that I would not take my complaint to the credit card company, which I did, onlt b/c of the injuries I had sustained in the plane crash, and the fact that I was drugged out and just wanted to get it over with. I am still trying to pay off my debt incrued thru them but cannot get my head above water since the accident that has left me disabled for life. Prospeering Inc. just kept getting me to buy into other sites and spend more money I didn’t have with the false hope of making a 6 figure income online. My advise to you is STAY AWAY FROM PROSPERING INC b/c it’s a SCAM…I can’t say it loud enough…A SCAM!!! Prospering Inc will take advantage of anyone they can stating all kinds and styles of false hope…I don’t believe I will ever see daylight again. I really believed them….I am suck a sucker!!!