Medicine Hat Media

Posts Tagged ‘StoresOnline’

Medicine Hat Media, being the forerunner of bringing scam alerts to public attention online, especially with our coverage of StoresOnline in 2008 and 2009 have another one to alert you about. Saying that, I would also like to state that this could very well NOT be a scam, but who has ever heard of anything good coming out of these workshops? Well, besides that cheap digital camera that they give you that will break after a month. Fortunately for us, CHAT TV has helped us with this one and released their video to YouTube.

Official Dean Graziosi Insider’s Edge Website

The gullibility of a certain older lady in the video is quite disturbing; however, this is the type of people that they thrive off of. I can’t speak to the content of the workshop or program as I did not attend the event; however, a simple Google search reveals many complaints against The Insider’s Edge, Dean Graziosi (he has a lot, but mostly his own trying to pad Google with his own sites/products), and their parent company, “Investor Education”. Here’s a couple of those:

Scam Review Dean Graziosi Article
Better Business Bureau scored Investor Education an F


StoresOnline was back in Medicine Hat tonight at the Callaghan Inn. I met pretty much everyone that attended the seminar while I stood outside the Inn passing out informational write-ups on their seminar from last year.

The purpose I was handing out the write-ups, if I did not explain it concisely to everyone, was to encourage potential buyers to research business they may never have heard of before to see if they are legit and something they really want to get involved with. As I explained to a few people: This is recession time, and businesses will always want to do business with you, so there is no need to rush into signing up for something that costs a lot of money.

The age range of this years attendance was different than last years. There were a few more younger people this year, around the ages of 25-35, as opposed to last years general 40+ year old attendance. Most people; however, seemed mostly interested in the free meal and MP3 player. Most people seemed thankful that I was outside and taking an active participation in the on-goings of the city. I even had a few people come back outside before I left to thank me, which felt pretty rewarding.

This year might have been different from last, though with the consensus around the country and throughout the USA, as depicted on the website StoresOnline-Reviews.com, it was probably the same.

To check out my previous posts on Stores Online in Medicine Hat last year, check out my First Article from 2008, and my 2008 Summary to prepare Hatters for the 2009 seminar.

Any comments from any of the people who went about their seminar this year?


Stores Online is coming back to Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Calgary to do their yearly Internet Marketing Conference.

Vaughn and I attended the conference last year when they were here and learned a lot about their practices, both in attending, and through the Internet afterward. We also learned that lots of people seem very taken in by the notion that they can make lots of money through the Internet with minimal effort. Do not forget to read the review on our attendance from last year. You can bet with their snappy dress codes, offerings of a free meal and MP3 player and encouraging words exclaiming “Anyone can do it, even you!” that their conference this time will be all about luring people in to get as much money as they can and offering poor website templates just as much as it was last year.

To summarize and make a few points, the last time they were here:

  • The entire crowd, except for Vaughn and me, was pretty much all people above 40 years of age. (An attempt to lure people in who may not have as much experience with eCommerce as newer generations).
  • They offered us a free meal for attending, which was poor at best.
  • They offered us a free MP3 player that ended up having multiple virus’s that installed automatically upon connecting with our computers.
  • They coersed people into buying their product by using powerful phrases like “You have to make decisions fast!” followed by “Some people don’t make any decisions ever in life.” to make people sound like failures if they do not buy in.
  • The website templates they offer look like they are circa 1998 at best.

There is a whole website dedicated to the review of Stores Online and has over 800 comments, which can be found here.

Last year, we had found out that Stores Online had received as Cease and Desist order from the State of Utah. Now upon Googling it, it seems they have received even more.

Vaughn and I might be at the conference again this year, as I received two free tickets to attend it through my place of employment. Oddly enough, to add their their unprofessionalism, they spelled both the first and last name wrong on the tickets I have.


On November 11th and 12th of 2008, the so-called entrepreneurs, StoresOnline, visited Medicine Hat for four Internet marketing seminars at the Callaghan Inn. Other seminars took place in Lethbridge and Calgary.

Before I start off, Stores Online is a scamming company that only wants your money and does neither encourage or even convincingly feign having healthy business-consumer relationships, which is the way to run a business. If you want to hear the truth about them, continue reading.

The StoresOnline logo

The StoresOnline logo

The invitations that were sent out offered users the ability to build their wealth with websites, a complimentary meal for you and a guest and a free MP3 player for you and a guest. The seminar lasted roughly 90 minutes with a collective audience of about 80 people per seminar, or about 320 people between the two days and four seminars. My invitation was full of typos, including the name of who the invitations were sent to. Is this professional? No.

The seminar kicked off with speaker Rich Putnam proclaiming his knowledge of Internet marketing with occasionally getting the crowd involved by raising their hands to questions. Maybe now is the time I should point out the fact that most of the crowd were all around their middle-ages, at least 40 years or older, and the questions Rich Putnam would ask were technologically related words such as “Hosting”, “Servers”, etc. Most of which, when asked, the crowd had a very basic understanding of, or no idea at all. Putnam would also randomly quote ancient philosophers, such as Aristotle (whom he confused with Albert Einstein somehow), which to me, seemed like a vain attempt at sounding intellectual and proclaiming false medical facts such as “It is a medically proven fact that raising your arm releases oxygen into your brain which makes you smarter and happier.” Rich Putnam also even went as far as to tell the audience to skip weddings and funerals to attend the Stores Online workshops. Apparently as well, the creator of Dell Computers’, Michael Dell, was at this event, but would not stand up. Sounds like a clever way to throw out a business name everyone knows, to ensure the crowd that the event is really important.

Stereotypical image provided by StoresOnline

Stereotypical image provided by StoresOnline

At the end of the 90 minute seminar, during of which, Rich Putnam had thrown out many technological and Internet-referencing terms to the more elderly crowd who seemed to not understand (based by the lack of raising their hands), the associates handed out the order forms. Encouraged by Putnam, about 15 or 20 people filled these forms out. The forms immediately ask you for your credit card number, debit card number or check number and Putnam encouraged the crowd to “Not worry about the price, just fill it in. Then you can start your website right away!” One lady exclaims that she cannot spend such a large amount of money in 3 minutes, to which Putnam replies “You have to make business decisions fast.” and when she shows opposition and says “Not that fast.” He shoots her down saying “… Well, some people don’t make any decisions ever in life.” Professional. Keep reading, it gets better…

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