eEnglish Reports & Reviews (1)
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SCAMPULSE
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SCAMPULSE
If you know any contact information for eEnglish, help other victims by adding it!
Scammer's address 111 North Bridge Road, Singapore
Scammer's email [email protected]
Country United States
Victim Location WV 26501, USA
Total money lost $29,000
Type of a scam Investment
I signed up after I was referred to one of their ads by a family member who said he thought of me when he saw it. We had an two interviews before I was accepted and given the license to market courses for 80% of the proceeds from said courses in exchange for a "franchise fee" of 30,000USD. I was given a specialized referral link and an online dashboard to manage my referrals. I referred several people I had met, but never seemed to get credit for any of them. Assuming they just hadn't actually purchased, I continued by hiring a professional marketing team to do my advertising for me. I also attended the free training event in Bangkok, Thailand and received a free iPad in exchange for my franchise fee. I began marketing the TEFL courses, but I was informed by the director that they were rolling out a new line of products they were calling "eEnglish" and they would be changing the websites. I decided to continue marketing the TEFL courses at the old website, as my marketing team was very reluctant and hesitant about marketing a product with such a high price tag but was happy to market the lower-ticket TEFL courses, which had no accreditation and which the company claimed was accredited by "The International TEFL Organization", despite the fact that this was simply the former name of their company, not an independent accrediting body. They literally claimed to have started the company in a video on their website and then, at the bottom of the page, claimed that this same organization was the one accrediting and regulating their TEFL courses for educational quality.
After making one sale and marketing for over a month, I began to become leery of the product and the organization, as Jimmy kept telling me that sales would pick up soon and I should just keep marketing the courses. At the same time, my marketing team was lamenting the fact that they had tried almost everything and nothing seemed to be working although it should have been at that point according to their normal strategies and the results they usually acquire. I finally called off the campaign after Jimmy advised me to fire the agency I had hired, whom he initially agreed knew what they were doing because they had a "bad image" of the company and product. I then asked for my money back, as there was a money-back guarantee if I did not make $50,000 in revenue in the first year and I had only made less than $1,000 despite all of the effort. They promptly denied my request for several arbitrary reasons including not taking advantage of their "inner circle" membership for a cost of $3,000. I threatened legal action and they relented and offered me a "Settlement Agreement". They signed a physical agreement with me and agreed to pay me back at a rate of $250/month. I received two bi-monthly payments of $500 each, after which they accused me of contacting one of their franchisees and slandering the company, after which they immediately withdrew any offer of a refund just one month before they claimed they would settle the entire balance and completely cut off all contact.
It appears their TEFL course is simply a front for an elaborate pyramid scheme in which they recruit franchisees for the sake of helping them recruit other franchisees while also selling a few TEFL courses here and there despite the lack of accreditation. They also appeared to be stealing referrals from franchisees who personally knew their customers and knew they had signed up using the franchisee's referral link but never got credit for the sale. This happened to many franchisees, and after several weeks of wondering how I had been scammed, I discovered that there were at least 20 of us in the same boat and several more afraid to come forward and speak out about their victimization. This company has carried out an elaborate scheme in which they promise high returns, but they franchise is never meant to succeed because the franchisee takes 80% of the profits, and most of the money is made off of franchise fees paid by the franchisee.
They also violated the franchise agreement, in which they stated they would stop accepting new franchisees forever after October 31, 2018 and would retain no more than 50 active franchisees. Despite this, they continued recruiting franchisees and again made the same claim in August of 2019 as a marketing ploy, encouraging people to sign up before the last licenses ran out.