Article by Charlie Wright
Welcome to the bonus issue.
I say bonus…. but thinking about it… this is a weird thing to say, considering my email service is, and always has been, free.
It’s like giving someone a bag of satsumas for nothing. And then handing them another satsuma, tapping your nose, and whispering:
“That’s a little bonus for you.”
“But why didn’t you just put that satsuma in the bag with the others?”
“Because it’s a bonus.”
“Oh.”
Anyway, ANOUGH ABOUT SATSUMAS!
Onto the business of today…
Watch out for this pyramid scheme
First up, here’s something you need to stay away from in the run up to Christmas… no matter how tempting and “easy” it appears to me.
Last week a reader asked me about a website called “letgoodthingshappen”.
The headline asks:
“Do you realise that there are people all over the World who work away quietly from home and never have to worry about money or whether they can make ends meet this month?”
Well, yes…. yes I do!
Unfortunately, this website won’t help you join them. Because this has nothing to do with starting a genuine home business.
It asks you to join for a fee. After this simple act you’ll start receiving money… as if by magic.
Nothing else is involved. No work. No ideas. No product. No buying or selling.
This means, of course, that it’s a pyramid scheme.
The trick is so simple, it’s almost irresistible. You send money up the chain. The people at the top get richer. And the idea is that at some point loads of people will then send money to YOU. And then YOU get richer.
That’s the idea anyway.
It might work, perhaps. That is, if you’re early enough and lucky enough to get in near the top.
But by the time the likes of you and I see these American-based pyramid offers, there’s absolutely NO CHANCE we’re in any privileged position.
The only way to make money from an illegal, unethical pyramid scheme… is to start one yourself.
(Not recommended, by the way!)
Next up, a piece of feedback regarding refunds…
Bought something through Paypal?
Then read on
A reader emailed me to say:
“On Nov 12th you referred to Paypal refunds and asked for any readers` experiences. I don`t know if you regard Clickbank as being in the same bracket but I have just received a refund from them, very promptly and on grounds which I thought might well be be insufficient.”
That’s good news indeed. And the reason for this prompt refund is that Clickbank are strong on money back guarantees, even if one isn’t stated in the sales copy.
My readers continues:
“Looking back, I see that in July 2007 I had another, from Paypal@clickbank, followed by another in April of this year, followed by another in July and another in October. In each case it was simply that the glowing promises in the sales e- mails were nowhere near borne out in practice and although it was Clickbank who refunded, the initial approach by me was made to Paypal.”
In my experience, when you buy through Clickbank using Paypal, you can get a refund no problem.
But if you use Paypal to buy ? for example ? a manual from an unknown American publisher, that’s where you are on shaky ground.
In non-clickbank cases, many of my readers have struggled to get refunds from Paypal.
So how can you stay safe?
My best advice is to buy products made by well- known UK publishers who are accountable, with phone numbers and addresses. Agora, FSP, Canonbury, Oxfordshire Press, ADK Publishing, Streetwise… these are all established companies you can trust to offer proper refunds.
For anything outside of these, choose companies you’ve dealt with successfully before ? or if it’s a weird one you’ve never heard of, check whether it’s been recommended by me or any other reviewers that you trust.
Okay, now onto a name that makes people scratch their heads…
Who is Chris Munce?
A few readers have asked if I’ve any feedback on Chris Munce. This is a tipster who claims to have had fantastic write-ups in the tabloids for his betting antics.
Well, I couldn’t track down any mention of him in the online versions of the papers.
Mind you, he’s a tricky character to investigate on the internet. The reason being that there’s a very famous jockey called Chris Munch. And he’s been splashed over the papers many times over in recent months.
Why?
Well, last month Munce was released from a Sydney prison after serving a 20-month jail term for leaking “tips for bets” to a punter in order to make extra cash on the side. Leaking info to punters?
Tut tut.
But this ISN’T the same Munce.
This particular brand of Munce offers a betting service. Sign up, he sends you a package, including an 0905 number you call to get your tips. These are based on a point system of 1-6 points. Munce advises betting £50 per point.
So is it profitable?
While I couldn’t get much information online… or from any of my mates or contacts… I did find a couple of biz opp websites who’ve heard of Munce.
The good folks at Business Opportunity Review UK signed up and tracked the performance.
According to their testers, the service is all above board. You get email and phone contact and the tips come as promised.
At the end of the run they weren’t in profit.
This isn’t necessarily an indictment of the service, as even the best tipping systems can have bad runs.
As Santa says:
“Ho ho ho, past performance is no guarantee of the future, and never bet more than you can afford to lose. MERRY CHRISTMAS. Ho ho ho.”
Actually, Santa doesn’t say that. Not unless he’s working for the Financial Services Authority these days.
But I thought it would bring today’s email to a festive close.