My Online Business Adventure

I love the internet, but no matter how careful you think you are, it can still be easy to be taken in by clever advertising and be the victim of a scam - and it happened to me recently.  Freelance Home Writers appear to offer a great service for people who are interested in earning money from writing: training, jobs, e-books and more.

They draw you in - often with an email saying you have been “selected” to register with a special $2.95 registration fee.  If you read the small print, you will find that this is a seven day trial period and there is then a monthly charge of $49.95.   However, they also state that if you are not satisfied, there is an 8 week money-back guarantee.

I joined, but found that most of the material on the site is easily found elsewhere for free.  There is no “direct connection” with employers - just a searchable list of jobs that you can find in many freelance writers’ databases such as Elance.

What I do find suspicious about this company is that there are never any follow-up emails, and because I became very busy after I signed up, I almost forgot that I had joined until I saw the money going out of my account!

Remembering the 8 week money back guarantee, I sent them a message through their online contact form asking them to cancel my account and refund my money.  I received no reply.

I then sent them an email, asking the same thing.  I have had absolutely no response.  My account is still active, and this month the second payment of $49.95 went out of my credit card account.

I have now contacted my bank and they have stopped any further payments, and are going to try and help me get my money back.

I have since come across this forum thread and found that other people have had the same problem with this company: http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/14_7144_0.htm  This thread also gives some good links to free sites if you are interested in freelance writing.

I have to admit that I did the very thing that I am often warning others not to do!  That is, sign up for something without doing any research or asking around.

But it goes to show that these people can make these offers look incredibly genuine.  Also their website does look legitimate - and a newbie could easily think that they are getting a good deal and be paying this ridiculous fee for months before realising that it is a con.

So - let this be a warning!  Don’t give your credit card details to anything until you have a) read the small print, and b) done your research!

And, whatever you do, stay away from Freelance Home Writers!

Ros Bott

PS.  Are you looking for a legitimate business opportunity that has a mission to change the world?  You’ve found it here.

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