Charlie investigates Simmons and the case of the missing £100
Today's Adventure in the Biz opp Jungle:
'In which Charlie turns into Sherlock Holmes
and investigates Paul Simmons and the case
of the missing £100, and offers some advice on
choosing a racing tipster.'
Hi,
I live at the wrong side of London to be a modern
Sherlock Holmes.
He was based in Baker Street, northwest central
London, near Madame Tussaud's. I'm out in
beyond the East End, among the marshes, tower
blocks, and kebab houses.
Besides, I'm too short to be Holmes. And I look
RUBBISH in a deerstalker, despite many attempts
to wear one while striding through Hackney town
centre.
But today's a special day...
I'm happily donning my cyber-deerstalker and
picking up my virtual magnifying glass. Yes, and
I'm taking a massive snifter of Mr Holmes'
infamous "marching powder".
Why?
Because I'm on the hunt for some missing cash...
and I need to find out more about a dodgy tipster
who's not playing by the rules.
And the big question is...
Where in hecking crikey is Mr Paul
Simmons?
One of my regular readers, and forum users Alan
Olive, sent me an email the other day, asking for
my help.
He wrote:
"I want to alert you and your readers to a Paul
Simmons. I, along with, I don't know how many
people, sent Paul £100 to trade the horses for us
on the promise that he would double our money
every month and then take a commission. That
was three months ago and no money has been
forthcoming and Paul does not answer e-mails."
He got involved with Simmons after being
recommended his service by someone who was
selling Simmons service as an affiliate.
When Alan challenged this affiliate marketer, he
got this response:
"He has also vanished with around £600 of my
money which he owed me in commissions. I would
never do business with this man again, he is a con
man. Apologies for recommending his product to
you, he and the product seemed legit at the time."
Not to cast aspersions on this particular affiliate
marketer who sold to Alan... clearly he's been
stung himself here... but I have VERY strong
views on this.
If you're going to sell products on commission, you
MUST check out a product and its creator or
publisher thoroughly before recommending it to
other people. Otherwise you're as bad as the
scamsters you unwittingly promote.
Especially if the victims are subscribers to my
email service. Because then I get really angry.
And then I have to write emails like this.
Ignorance isn't really an excuse.
If I went by how a product "seemed" in its
advertising, or by how charming the creator was,
I'd have become completely unstuck by now.
My readers would have fallen foul to scams and
dodgy deals. They'd have unsubscribed to my
service in droves and vilified me across the
forums.
This is a good point for ANY reviewers,
commission sellers, affiliate marketers, list
holders, publishers out there....
If you're going to recommend something, you've
got to check and double check the refund
guarantee, and - well - do a bit of investigating
into the service.
Anyway, all this is a bit like locking the stable door
after the horse has bolted... so...
Here's what we do...
If you've got any information on this Mr Simmons -
or indeed if you ARE Paul Simmons and you're
reading this now - email me at:
Charlie@bizoppjungle.com
Yes, this could all be just a mix up or a case of
bad customer care. Either way, there are some
annoyed and out of pocket people. So a bit of
communication and EXPLANATION might be the
order of the day.
A final tip: how to avoid getting stung
As I said in a recent issue of The Biz Opp Jungle
avoid situations where you hand over money to a
tipster to play with.
Far better to sign up to an information service that
offers tips, or a system you can learn at home,
placing your own bets and controlling your own
risk.
Even in these cases, only sign up if there's a
money back trial period and it's publisher has
been vetted by someone you trust.
Or if you want to buy something on Clickbank from
an affiliate, that's fine, as Clickbank has a strict
refund policy.
As I pointed out the other week, Clive Keeling, the
betting expert over at What Really Wins Money
has good advice on this subject:
"Never, ever, give your money to any third party
for whom you have not done any due diligence
and who is NOT accountable to an independent
regulatory body who will act on your behalf should
things go awry - and things WILL go awry! You
simply don't have a leg to stand on when entering
in these relationships with people you have never
even met."
I'll leave you with those words of wisdom. I'm off to
smoke a pipe, bully a portly side-kick and talk
endlessly about things being "on the contrary".
Later alligator,
Charlie Wright
The Biz Opp Jungle
www.bizoppjungle.com