ComplaintsforWLCMMA

• Initial Complaint

  03/17/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  This is a separate issue from my original case. As you can read from an email sent from the owner, I am no longer a student. They claim they are waiting for the funds to be put back into their account from the dispute. As you can see the transaction with PayPal took place on March 4th. Either they have funds and are holding them out of spite or Stripe, their carrier hasn't released them. Regardless my bank and myself have done everything to expedite the refund process. I have made calls and been in contact with both financial institutions. However, I do not have a business relationship with their bank and the fact, if true, that their bank is holding funds is not my problem. They decided I am not a student and they would refund the money. They have not lived up to that statement. I need that money ASAP!

• Initial Complaint

  02/22/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am a freelance wedding photographer with 10 years experience. I saw an ad for WLMA's service that offered relevant client lead generation. This business promised a Client lead generation service and free coaching. I fell for a telephone sales scam where they promised a refund policy of money back, no questions asked if the service/coaching program didn't work for me. I was told that if I purchased right then on the phone they would give me a $1,000 discount and I would be emailed the policy information and access to the coaching program / lead machine after the phone call. I never got the policy in writing and I wish I hadn't been so trusting. The course was not at all the service promised, but instead an information slide show just saying to run targeted Facebook ads (much of which was outdated and irrelevant due to Facebook privacy policies), blog about Weddings, offer free Engagement sessions, and hope that clients hire you. They scammed me into a basic information course for something I already knew how to do. I tried to give it an honest shot and studied the whole course, but the information was worthless to me and not what was promised at all. The coaching calls I scheduled to find a resolution were very unprofessional. I was left waiting on zoom calls for a coach that never showed up twice, and one was late. The coach I spoke with told me I was scammed and was asking me for artistic advice relating to my quality of work. He told me I should get a refund and sympathized with me saying that many others were also unhappy. I reached out via email and tried to peacefully get my promised refund, but the wife of the owner replied saying that they would not honor the refund policy and that it "works for other people". I've spoken with other photographers that were also lied to about what they were purchasing and the refund policy was not honored. I've tried to dispute through my bank and get a refund through WLMA for some time to no avail. This program is a scam

  Business response

  03/21/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/02/22) */ Hello BBB thank you for reaching out, We had contacted ****'s bank concerning her dispute with our company term's & policy's and the authorities at the bank handled it accordingly. If you would like, email us and we will email you ****'s activity logs, receipt, lifetime access she has to our program and coaches and legal contract he signed with our company with his signature. Our company works by agreements and not unsaid expectations. As coaches it is important for both us and our students to understand the difference between these two. The WLMA Program is run by a team of successful wedding photographers. Most of our coaches were former students who found a ton of success in our program and believe in what we do, so the claims on what our coaches would say is out of character. If you would like to talk to coaches and students please let us know we will send them over to you :). In our company policy it states that our company and coaches agree to teach our business marketing strategies for wedding photographers through our WLMA Program, zoom calls with our coaches, mastermind community of students, and bonus live events if students choose to come. **** currently has lifetime access to all of this at the moment right now. In the case our coaches are unavailable due to emergencies beyond our control we have instructed students to simply email us and we work with our students schedule ASAP. All our students who follow our company policies agree that it is their duty and responsibility to complete the entire course before 6 months, meet with each coach twice (8 meetings) so we can ensure correct implementation. All of our students to who stick to this agreement find great results which you can see on our website www.wlma.co. Every student who joins our program is aware of this. Every student who joins is aware of our implementation policy where if in 180 days of implementation, and they have not gotten any results, and can show that happened after completing the entire course and scheduling 8 meetings with our coaches, they can claim a refund. It is the students responsibility to implement to this standard. This is our fair standard to ensure students do not take advantage of the value we offer. All students who implement in full get results as shown on our website. We have already contacted ****'s bank who reviewed our policies, our student results, and our program and they rejected her dispute because they have a clear understanding of what we do. If you would like to see our company policies, please let us know we'd love to send it all over :). Every student is aware of it before joining the program. So we can ensure a client has access to our program and coaches and so we can ensure a client does not take advantage of that. Linked here is a demo of what **** has lifetime access to: *********************************************************** Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Our company is not a scam. We have been teaching wedding photographers for almost 5 years growing their businesses with a ton of success. We love serving the wedding photography community. You can research real students on our website www.wlma.co. You can contact them and hear their raving reviews of the support and value we offer to the wedding photography industry. I appreciate BBB for reaching out to ensure businesses are serving their communities. ******************************************************************* Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/03/09) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) It's really unfortunate to me that the owners of WLMA choose to operate in a way that's so dishonest. The refund policies listed are not only nebulous, but this is the first time I'm hearing of them after months spent trying to get a refund based on the promises made when I initially purchased. The simply lack the honor to stand by the policy and false pretenses this was sold to me under. As a business owner myself, even dealing with the nature of digital media deliverables, I can't IMAGINE taking a clients money if I didn't deliver what I had set the expectations for and they were unhappy with my product. It's just a matter of integrity that this company lacks. I've already invested so much time and had countless chats with them regarding how to make it work, and it simply isn't helpful for my business and the idea of requiring more invested time and meeting calls before entertaining the idea of a refund is a system that sets you up for more lost time. They didn't communicate these things to me at all. I recently spoke with several other photographers that experienced a very similar bait and hook deception method and they were also talked down to and blamed. It's truly disappointing and I feel taken advantage of and lied to. I hope that others will not make the same mistake as me and take into account the fact that as the business has (newly) stated --- If you purchase something that wasn't what you expecting, what you were promised, or something that works for your business -- you're locked into a commitment to do x-amount of coaching calls and just continuing to invest more time into something that already cost you time and money to discover wasn't what you were told it would be. It's an insidious plan to get money out of trusting people like myself. I wish I'd trusted my gut and not been sucked into empty promises and refund policies they won't even honor. This has significantly impacted my life financially and it's been discouraging to try and stand up for what's fair and right and get no where. There are other educators out there with integrity and I still hold out hope that they will do the right thing, but so far I don't believe this to be anything more than a scam to take advantage of trusting people.

• Initial Complaint

  02/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  I was contacted by Jordan, one of the CEOs of this group. He promised one on one help with marketing and growing my business. He gave a 180 guarantee over the phone that if I didn't book a wedding he would refund me. Right off the bat they weren't available due to a retreat and the the next week vacation, I asked for a refund as it wasn't 180 days and was told no, that I had to complete the course and speak with all the coaches twice before 180 days and then I have to prove I did everything. This is impossible simply because they don't even return emails. The bottom of the email reads consults aren't required and pretty much they don't have to do them, but they are required for the "guarantee". This company is a scam! They say they will return your email in 24-72 hours - I've currently been waiting 6 days. I can't get a consult set up and a month has been Easter already. Their "guarantee" is false advertising as it is impossible to obtain. All they've done is lie and drag things out so they don't have to pay. This is a bait and switch tactic and deceptive.

  Business response

  03/07/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/02/18) */ Hello BBB thank you for reaching out, We had contacted **** *** bank concerning his dispute and sent his bank a legal contract he had signed with our company's terms & conditions as well as our refund policy. If you would like email us and we will email you **** *** activity logs, receipt, lifetime access he has to our program and coaches and legal contract he signed with our company with his signature. Our company works by agreements and not unsaid expectations. As coaches it is important for both us and our students to understand the difference between these two. In the contract **** *. signed it states that our company and coaches agrees to teach him our business marketing strategies for wedding photographers through our WLMA Program, zoom calls with our coaches, mastermind community of students, and bonus live events if he chooses to come. He currently has lifetime access to all of this at the moment right now. In the case our coaches are unavailable we have instructed students to simply email us and we work with our students schedule ASAP. One of our coaches actually reached out to **** to set up a time for a coaching call after he complained about another coach on well deserved vacation, and he never set up a new time. All our students who sign the contract agree that it is their duty and responsibility to complete the entire course before 6 months, meet with each coach twice (8 meetings) so we can ensure correct implementation. All of our students to who stick to this agreement find great results which you can see on our website www.wlma.co. **** * is completely aware of this and has agreed to it with his legally binding signature stating he understands it is his responsibility to learn and implement what is taught. In the contract **** G signed he agreed to our refund guarantee stating that IF he has completed the entire course and met with our coaches, and after 180 days of implementation has not gotten any results and can show that, he can claim a refund. This is our fair standard to ensure students do not take advantage of the value we offer. All students who implement in full get results. Even though **** signed and agreed to this legally binding contract of being in the program for 180 days, finishing the course, 8 meetings with coaches, implementing the entire course, and only claiming a refund if he gets no results... He has only been in the course for 32 days, finished the welcome/onboarding lessons that are pretty much a welcome in the beginning, and scheduled an onboarding call which is actually not a coaching call. He has broken our legally binding contract that he signed. We have already happily contacted ****'s bank sending over his activity logs, legally signed contract, membership access, receipts, etc and are currently allowing the bank to handle the situation. If you would like to see, please let us know we'd love to send it all over :). We have all our clients sign this contract for these type of situations. So we can ensure a client has access to our program and coaches and so we can ensure a client does not take advantage of that. Linked here is a demo of what **** has lifetime access to: ************************************************************ Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Our company is not a scam. We have been teaching wedding photographers for almost 5 years. We love serving the wedding photography community. You can research real students on our website www.wlma.co. You can contact them and hear their raving reviews of the support and value we offer to the wedding photography industry. I appreciate BBB for reaching out to ensure businesses are serving their communities. Jordan C******* - Co-Founder of wlma.co ******************************************************************* Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/02/22) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The response to BBB is the response I received as well. However, the original conversations where not clear on this. That said it would be fine and I would run it if I could actually get a call or email back. Their guarantee as a call it is completely unfair and set up to where if they don't want you to hit it you won't hit the guarantee. I strongly believe it is just a formality for the scam that they have going I have an email I sent over 10 days ago I've not got a response to to set up a time the first week they were on retreat the second week I was told again contact somebody whomever else to get in contact with was on vacation and then I was told to get in contact with the first person in which I tried to do and it's been another week and a half now with no response . Contract or not it's bad business as I see it right now until something changes until I'm contacted until they are fulfill their promise which they are not doing, I will view this as a scam and they use car salesman tactics to get you into a contract. They May have me by a contract but doesn't mean they're ethical or a good business. I believe the contract is written unfairly due to this one 80 day subjective guideline and I will have that reviewed by an attorney. Consumer Response /* (3000, 9, 2022/02/22) */ I have now been removed from the discord and Facebook group. Still no contact through email or otherwise. I assume this means a refund as I'm not getting the services promised...

*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. ↩