Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/20/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Community Influencer (***** *****) has a blog post with a youtube video "How to DIY a Real Estate Website". In the description, it states: you will learn today... "How to Install our Web Design Kit". When I got to this point of the video, I clicked on the link "Get the Design Kit". The link goes to a paid subscription to the Community Influencer training at $167/mo. I emailed the business and their response verbatim: "To clear things up, the templates are available exclusively for members of Community Influencer® Academy. If you're interested in joining us, please follow this link to our sales page!" I asked where on the post or video a paid requirement was mentioned. Their response: "I agree that at no point in the video it was mentioned that you should join Community Influencer® Academy to access the design kits, we're currently working with our team to address that. Your site will still be functional, you will just have to utilize the free templates in Elementor. You'll still be able to see incredible results, and in no time..." I responded asking for the detailed video to use the free templates to create my real estate website OR to email me the templates promised. No response. I posted on their FB group and I was blocked from commenting. I tried to comment on their FB page, I was also blocked. My last email to them requesting the templates was 9/17. My original email inquiring as to where to find them was 9/15. I followed the first part of the video as it led me through downloading a new theme (Elementor) for my Wordpress wordsite. Without the templates, my website is non-functional. I joined the Elementor FB help group and found a post by ***** ***** advertising for "We’re looking for an Elementor expert that has a ton of experience with IDX - namely, Showcase IDX, iHomeFinder, and IDX Broker." and "...we’re looking for someone who knows real estate websites backwards and forwards." They did not provide the product promised and I cannot create it "easily".

  Business Response

  Date: 10/04/2022

  We acknowledge that we have received an email from Ms. ***** ****** on 15 September 2022.

  
  Ms. ****** said she has watched * **** ******* ***** *******l, “How To DIY A Real Estate Website with WordPress + Elementor (2022)” from our official Youtube channel (Community Influencer), which is publicly accessible. 

  
  

  She has then repeatedly insisted on our social media platforms (Facebook and Youtube) that we ought to provide her “free” access to our members-only templates (“Web Design Kits”).Below is our response to Ms. ******** claims:

  
  

  1. Please note the video has specifically mentioned in the introduction that the web design is accessible to members of the Community Influencer Academy:

  
  

  a. [Timestamp 4:51] “You can build this entire site without using my design, but members of the Community Influencer Academy can access it for free, as part of their monthly membership.”

  
  

  b. [Timestamp 5:26] “Throughout this course, I’ll give you links to purchase things - like your website domain, theme, and hosting plan.”

  
  

  c. To clarify, the web design templates are the intellectual property of our company and are only provided exclusively to our paying members. 

  
  

  d. Since Ms. ****** is not a paying member but only availed of the online tutorial from a free platform (Youtube), she is, therefore, not entitled to gain access to the said web design templates.

  2. On her request for a detailed video on how to use the free templates, it is also clear in the video that viewers have been advised to contact the creators of the tool - in this case, to contact Wordpress or Elementor.

  
  

  a. [Timestamp 4:40] “If you need help, please reach out to the tool developers.”

  3. When she mentioned that she didn’t have extra hours to learn from the free templates, and demanded us to share the web templates as a non-member of our Community Influencer Academy, our conclusion was that we were not in the position to attend to such concerns outside our responsibility. 

  
  

  a. Aside from the available free resources online and from Wordpress/Elementor support that she can avail of, our promise of premium support is provided to Community Influencer Academy members only.

  
  

  b. [Timestamp 5:06] “Academy members also get premium access to support, templates, courses, and more.”

  
  

  We hope that these answer the issues raised in the complaint. If you have further questions or clarification, please let us know.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/06/2022

  The business' response is rejected.
  
  Bait-and-switch/bait advertising is legally defined as: a fraudulent or deceptive sales practice in which a purchaser is attracted by advertisement of a low-priced item but then is encouraged to purchase a higher-priced one. Bait-and-switch advertising is a violation of the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.

  
  

  Just because there was not cost to view the video, this does not absolve Ms. ***** from liability whatsoever. Her company has caused damages such lost time, income, prospective clients, etc.

  
  

  More background on my experience: I built my former website through one of Ms. *****s prior free tutorial video a couple of years ago and I was not required to join her paid online coaching/membership community in order to finish it. I had no reason to expect otherwise with this video, in fact, she directly compares this video to the two others she has offered prior. I followed her step by step until I realized I couldn't get the templates. I clicked on the link in her description and it brought me to a site with information on joining her "waiting list". Only after I emailed for clarification, I received the link to join. I have absolutely no intention of joining her paid online coaching community based on the deceptive practices I have experienced. 

  
  

  The video states the templates/kit is accessible to community members, but not ONLY to community members. Ms. ***** verified in her response to me, as well as in the video,  nowhere in the video did it say the templates are ONLY available to her paid community members. Further, Ms. ***** did not mention that the templates/kit are required to finish her tutorial. In fact, she leads one to believe quite the opposite, as shown below.

  
  

  
  Words within quotes are either direct quotes from Ms. ***** or direct wording from her video slide. Screenshots of the slides are attached.

  
  

  Time stamp 0:0 

  Section titled Site Demo: "So here it is, your brand new website and we're going to go ahead and build this together. This is going to be an online magazine that is going to be a valuable asset for your entire community." Ms. ***** then outlines 10 features of her template (no mention of cost or that it's even a template) that will create value for the person following the video. She outlines the unique features of the 8 different pages from the tabs. After the Site Demo section she talks about her online community, but no mention of required membership to build the site shown.

  
  

  Time Stamp 3:26 

  "This is the third version of this course that I've taught and we've had over 100,000 real estate agents take this course over the years. They've built stunning websites using this simple tutorial and you will too."

  
  

  Time Stamp 3:41 - 3:47 

  Ms. ***** states what is displayed on her slide: "Here's what you'll learn today... How to install the website design kit we provide for you. How to customize your kit so your website is unique". No mention of required membership to build the site.

  
  

  Time Stamp 4:11 

  "Let's talk about cost. The domain is typically $1/mo. Hosting is about $40/month. Website theme is $4/mo. So that makes your total investment just $25/mo." 

  
  

  Time Stamp 5:35 

  "Interested in joining? Just go to community influenceracademy.com." No mention of required membership to build the site. "Throughout this course I am going to give you links to purchase things links to purchase things like your website domain, theme, and hosting plan." No mention of template at all. "These links are affiliate links, meaning that I may get a small commission for referring you to these platforms. In most cases, these links also contain exclusive discounts." No mention of templates, cost, membership to her community (which is not an affiliate link).

  ... "And like you, I work hard for my commissions." Ms. *****'s membership to her community is not a commission. There's no reason to suspect membership is required for what is being shown/advertised.
  

  
  

  Time Stamp 4:52 "You can build this entire website without using my design, but members of Community Influencer can access it for free, as part of their monthly membership." No mention of required membership to build the website as she has described in detail up until this point in the video. One cannot build, "this entire website without using my design" in the manner she has presented, simple and quick: "easy as pie"... agents have built websites using "this simple tutorial". 

  
  

  Time Stamp 4:59 "So all you have to do is plug and play. And that means you can complete this entire course and have a fully functioning website within hours." This is a false and deceptive claim. "Academy members also get access to premium support, templates, courses, coaching, and more!" No mention of required membership, it's an aside at the end of the list, this is not a statement of required membership.

  
  

  Time Stamp 6:02 "Your next steps: Scroll down for helpful links. Follow this video tutorial. Complete your website." Where is the step to join Ms. *****'s paid community? Again, no mention whatsoever. She does not emphasize the importance to review the links to educate oneself on the additional cost, the verbiage is extremely casual and describes the links as "helpful", leading one to believe they support what she has already presented thus far in the video.

  
  

  Ms. ***** then goes right into the extremely detailed step-by-step tutorial for the next 20+ minutes until she goes right into uploading the templates/kits with still no mention of the paid online community. 

  
  

  As I followed the tutorial within my current Wordpress website (from her previous tutorial) my design was deleted, as were all plugins from the site, and all page content, headers/footers, etc. other than posts. My website is still unusable as it stands.

  
  

  Ms. ***** had numerous chances to notify the watcher about the additional need of her design template/kit and the cost of said item. She deliberately and deceptively chose not to. She deceptively presented the tutorial as quick and easy, and that the viewer would create the website she was presenting, there was no mention otherwise. 

  
  

  The video was designed in order to obtain more members to Ms. *****'s paid community. There is NO tutorial on how to use the free templates included within the wordpress theme. She promised instructions from beginning to end and did not supply them. If I were to create the same website promised in the video, I could not do it myself. Ms. ***** herself hired experts within the platform to create the design templates/kit for her, likely at a great cost, proof of which was included with the initial complaint. There was nothing quick and easy to her creation and hiring of experts to create the website she repeatedly propounded she would provide the tutorial how to build.

  
  

  I am a top-ranked high producing agent and team-leader. My business has suffered and is continuing to suffer damages as a result of my website not functioning currently as a result of Ms. *****'s deceptive business practices. She continues to refuse to provide the product needed to complete the site as described throughout the video. If Ms. ***** offered the templates/kit as an additional cost, and disclosed it in the video, I would have been more than happy to pay it. I have no intention of receiving coaching from this program after coming to the point of the bait-and-switch. I have no intentional of supporting this deceptive practice by paying Ms. *****'s membership fee, out of principal.

  
  

  I will not accept any response from Ms. *****'s business other than the templates/kit to complete the website as promised in the video.