Robert Allen Institute Refund?
Has anyone tried to get a refund back on their $2995.00 tuition? After reading different comments about the training program I am conviniced there are better ways to get the information. I just singed and paid for my tuition today because of their money back guaranty which I hope is true. Has anyone had to deal with this?
I went a couple of weeks ago to one of the presentations, The cost was 4995.00. They insisted after you go the first day and you did not like the information you could get a full refund. I had no intentions of paying. I wanted to get motivated again. Here is part of a letter I sent. I did receive a reply,
I was a little bit disturbed about Scott Lamm,
a. First the newspaper implied you would be present to discuss your program. This was a let down to begin with. You may want to indicate one of your associates would be making the speech.
b. Second when I got up to get a drink of water, Mr. Lamm interpreted this as though I was leaving and made some remarks that might offend others. I will give him credit he did apologize.
c. It was obvious his speech was rehearsed and when someone asked him a question, it was short and than made it clear questions were not welcome.
d. After listening a few minutes it was obvious he was leveraged heavily and his cash flow was selling your program and not necessarily selling real estate.
e. Towards the end Mr. Lamm indicated he would have a question and answer section for about 5 minutes and than cut it after two questions. I believe this irritated some.
f. Mr. Lamm also indicated he was not willing to talk to you afterwords and immediately left. In turn the crowed followed suit and also left.
g. I believe Mr. Lamm turned several people off by his comments and actions. He may want to rethink his personality approach.
I was disappointed in the program to say the least,
run like he11 from this organization. It is a GIANT INFOPRENEURING business disguised as real estate investing.
While I am grateful to RA for introducing so many newbies into the world of REI (which he did for me), the info products are general, and NOT worth 10% of what I paid for them, which is a lot more than the two figures mentioned here.
His pitchmen are a classic example of creating economy through hype and sizzle, and forcing sales through those methods, which I believe is unethical and slimy. They are glorified hucksters, and they are VERY GOOD at what they do. Watch out......
Dave, who WOULD you suggest?
I would suggest PORING EXHAUSTIVELY through this site and learn more about all the aspects of real estate investing there are to learn here, which are many, and then get a flavor for the niche, or niches that appeal to you most.
Then I would look for people who seem to consistently know what they are talking about and professional and start asking some questions, and then the next step will be revealed to you, which should include going to your local meetings and talking to investors there making money doing what you want to do in REI.
Hope this helps, Dave
I think we all know somone who has had problems with Robert Allens group. I have friends who signed up for the mentoring program (lot's of pressure) and finally got their money back when the mentor would not return their calls.
Robert
Thank you everyone who responded. I received my refund for the full cost of the class but I had to call back several times. My two friends who attended believe they can make the robert allen system work but they can not really explain what the system is..My thanks to everyone who saved me $3000 dollars[ Edited by rhouse on Date 10/08/2004 ]
I sure hate to be different, but I throughly enjoyed and benefited from my Robert Allen Class. Sure it cost money, but what doesn't. Sure I could have studied and asked questions for a year or 2 and found most of the information for free, but who is going to do that? Actually, my money was well spent!!! One thing is for sure, if you read his books you will be motivated to do something. If you listen to his words you will learn how to do real estate investing. There are a ton of disciples who first got started on his Nothing Down book of years ago! Now these disciples and hopefuls are leading others to the simple task of what they CAN DO, not all the HOW TO's!!! Sure the classes will give a lot of HOW TO's, but not every detail and nuiance. Something has to be done by those who want to do something first!! How Big is your Want To?
I am appreciative of my hard earned money spent. I will receive that and more back and actually have already. If you approach Real Estate Investing in how much you can get versus Win-Win, then you've already lost!!! I'm sorry, but most of the people on this forum and really any others as well are those still thinking about doing something versus actually doing it. Theory vs Actual!
Don't get me wrong here, there is a ton of good information here and a lot of it came from people who paid their money up front to get ideas from those like Robert Allen or John Locke or Peter Conti or ....
Basically, if you think you deserve something for nothing you probably will have nothing in the end! (Maybe you should read Rich Dad Poor Dad before you go to any class. Attitudes have killed more investors than a lack of knowledge!!!
Good Luck!
Ray
BTW, my instructors were Billy Cannon and Kevin Shortle. (Yeah I've read disparaging things about each of them, but let me tell you from my experience they know what they are talking about and they did an excellent job.)
Ray, he is a motivational guy, that is how he gets such outrageous fees from people. And of course, there you go regurgitating the getting something for nothing, GUILT RIDDEN crap they spew.
Look, you do have to pay for education sometimes, but I am making a living as a note broker of owner financed notes and I spent $100 and a TON of due diligence and time, so you don't have to blow thousands to make money.
RA has helped many people for sure, but the high pressure sales tactics, high fees, has got to tell you something about how he does biz - it is just not right