Brent Worley Blog

I just finished posting about Vista Print trying to rip off my wife, but feel one more is needed to add to the watch list: DirecTV.

Now, I will say that I LOVE my DirecTV service.  I don’t feel anything they have done is intentional, but their billing software lacks something to be desired.

Some history:

We moved last November to our new house.  When I scheduled the move, I was given the offer for 3 free months of their premium service and the rest of the NFL Sunday Ticket at no cost and could cancel at the end of the term.  I accepted, mainly to watch HBO and Starz over the holidays.

The nightmare begins

After cancelling the premium package without issue, I notice I have an extra $65 (roughly) on my bill.  I look it up and it is for the NFL Sunday Ticket.  I call, have a long round of discussions with the customer service, and they agree to remove it (after all, it was their boiler room that misrepresented the deal to me…had I known they would charge me for it, I would have canceled as I do not watch that much NFL football).

In May/June timeframe, I notice they have charged me again.  I get back on the phone with them, go through the same process, and they remove again and credit me what they had charged me.  They are being responsive (although it took an hour on the phone with them to get the problem fixed).

And here is where it gets really, really bizarre….

I look at my recent bills.  Not only am I getting charged for the NFL Sunday Ticket, but I am getting charged for two services:  the HD DVR and the HD DVR with no locals.

They started billing me this way in June.

The HD DVR with No Locals (I have locals, so not the one I use) is $69.99/month they were overcharging me, including a partial billing cycle.  The billing system had things so screwed up that the customer service rep said it would take them about an hour to get it straightened out.

Now, I do not think DirecTV is trying to scam me with their dual billing.  I believe that is a fault of the billing system and not something done intentional.  The NFL Sunday Ticket deal has been a pain and I believe that I personally was misrepresented on that offer.

But this entire ordeal has me thinking…How many people are paying their bills by autopay that might not immediately notice this issue?  I know I would not have noticed for a few weeks unless I was monitoring my bank account.  I don’t think DirecTV does this purposely, but I know that some other places might.

So buyer beware - monitor your bills to make sure something screwy doesn’t happen.

And DirecTV, if you are reading, please make sure I am not billed again for the NFL Sunday Ticket.  Thanks.

My wife had recently ordered business cards from Vista Print.  She paid for shipping only with their free offer.  All was fine and dandy until last week:

She had a $48 charge from them.

She threw up the red flag and called her bank.  The bank froze her account and began a fraud investigation.  They called Vista Print inquiring about the reason for the charge.

Here’s the scam, folks:

They try to secretly sign you up for other services (i.e. they cross sell you and your information and make it extremely difficult to know what happened).  My wife made sure to not accept any of the offers, and yet was still charged.

Many users on the Internet have reported similar problems (Rip-off Reports has several people complaining about it as well as many blogs detailing the issue).

Luckily for them, they willing gave back the money actually withdrawn….$19.95.

But wait…where did $48 come from?

When my wife talked with them they did not see any charges, much less $48.  Why did it show up as this and not $19.95?

The bank fears that someone at Vista Print might be scamming on top of the scam.  They could be (not confirmed, and just pure speculation) overcharging customers on top of the never-approved cross sold services and pocketing the rest.  Is this happening?  No one knows for sure, but the bank found it extremely odd that this was occurring.

Buyer, beware!  If you are using Vista Print, you may be getting charged more than shipping on your order.

As for us, we’ll pass on Vista for any future needs.

With everything I am learning about Internet Marketing, I figured it was time I was nice and helped the wife (April) out with her BeautiControl business.

So we did some keyword research, put together a sales page, and are in the beginning stages of getting a fully-functional Internet marketing system down for her.

Feel free to check out her site:

Spa Quality Products

Her goal is to find ladies who want to look good, feel good, and like spa products but don’t always have the time or money to go to the spa.

We worked on the sales copy together….not super-pro standards, but functional.

http://www.spaqualityproducts.com

Brent

When passion meets opportunity, you have a recipe for success.

So many people trade off one or the other.  They see a job as an opportunity to provide for their family or their needs, but it is simply not what they are passionate about.

Others find passion about something but there is not a market for it.

However, when the two collide, it creates something very exciting and often something very big.

I’ve learned that I really have very few passions in life, but there is one that I have routinely found the most gratifying:  Being a leader.

Now…being a leader, from my perspective, has nothing to do with power, authority, control, recognition, or any of the typical thoughts that come up with the word.  Instead, I believe the most important things that a leader does are empowerment and encouragement.

I have seen a lot of people want to be a “leader” for all of the wrong reasons.  When I was younger, I was the same way.  In fact, I remember in high school wanting to be the section leader in my band just so others would look up to me.  I see others want to be a leader so that they will be viewed better than others.

But as I have worked on leadership development, I have learned that the recognition is nice (in fact, I have dreams and goals about one aspect of recognition, probably my only selfish thought in this regard) and being respected is nice, but what makes me excited is the ability to see others grow, transform, and become something that they might not have been had someone not taken the time to pour into their lives.

For me personally, my business is exactly what I want to develop a leadership role in.

Why?

Again, I won’t deny the fact that I want one form of recognition from this company.  It has been a dream of mine for some time, but not for the “look at me” reason.

But I do want to be an inspiration to someone.

I want to be an inspiration not so others will talk highly of me, and not so that others will want to put me on a pedastal, but so that maybe my story would lift someone else up to become something more, to work harder, to achieve more, and to be on that stage with a similar goal.

My passion is to lead others.  It is to help others fulfill what they are capable of, to achieve a life-changing success in their own lives, and to have a positive impact in their lives.

I’m fortunate that my passion has found the opportunity to attach itself to.

This opportunity presents not only a chance for people to become financially independent, but also for them to develop themselves, their abilities, their personalities, and more.

To me, that makes my recipe for success that much stronger.

I must admit….

I am a little bit bored tonight so I thought I would find fun or useful apps for my iPhone that I could use while I attend Energize ‘08.

That’s when I found the Wordpress app.

So this is the first of many post coming from my phone as I cover the conference and some interviews with some top online and offline network marketers.