Galaxy Mall, Inc. dba StoresOnline.com misrepresentation of services Orem Utah

 

I attended a Galaxy Mall Internet Workshop in November of 1999. At this workshop I purchased 6 storefront certificates from Galaxy Mall for conducting e-commerce business on the Internet. At the workshop I was instructed one could not use the "free" web site services on the Internet, because the free services are not appropriate for conducting e-commerce. Additionally, one often does not have the option to take credit card orders at these free web sites. The Galaxy Mall storefront certificates I purchased from them also had a 1 yr. expiration date.

The cost of these 6 storefront certificates were $4,700.00 A month later I received a call from Jason Turley who stated he was with Galaxy Mall, Inc. I later found out this gentleman was with PMI (Professional Marketing Inc.) who pitched the Success Team package as a way to get my storefronts at Galaxy Mall up and running in a very short time. The Success Team package included a mentoring and coaching program as well as banner advertising from BannerSource to promote my storefronts. The total cost of the Success Team package was $9,030.00.

I was told by Matt Koehler (the director of the Success Team program at the time) that I could expect a $10,000.00/month immediate return on my investment by implementing the banner advertising included with the Success Team package. All the materials one purchases from Galaxy Mall have expiration dates, which are usually 1 yr. Even if you are experienced and can put together 6 storefronts in a year's time, you will run into delays getting your storefronts published and active on the Internet. All your time will be consumed working out technical problems with Galaxy Malls "professional" staff, but by then your certificates will expire. According to Galaxy Mall they routinely exchange these certificates for other services - but you never end up getting what you paid for.

At the Galaxy Mall workshops they lead attendees to believe the 128 bit encryption and secure socket layer is sufficient enough security for safely accepting credit cards over the Internet. However, if you end up being the unfortunate victim of credit card fraud, you will soon learn this is not true! You will also learn (an you will learn this by experience and not from any of their coaching programs) that you, the merchant are responsible for these acts of fraud. When this happens you not only have to deal with a chargeback to you merchant account, but you must also pay chargeback fees, discount fees, transaction fees, etc! These fees are never disclosed up front when you activate your merchant account. It is also never disclosed you, the merchant, are responsible for acts of fraud committed by credit card thieves.

According to reliable sources, Internet credit card theft is 10 times more than it is for brick and mortar retail stores, and credit card identity theft is continuing to rise. The anonymity the Internet offers only makes a credit card thief more brazen. They can hit a lot of web sites and do a lot of damage in a very short time - yet you, the merchant "pick up the tab" for all of this! NO credit card company I know has ever provided that information up front to those interested in purchasing a merchant account.

A merchant account package is also included with the storefronts one purchases from Galaxy Mall. When I became the unfortunate victim of credit card fraud at my Galaxy Mall storefronts, this circumstance forced me to close down my web sites after only activating them for less than a year. I found out one merchant lost nearly $15,000.00 in computer equipment that was shipped to a smart credit card thief in Romania - and this was just one credit card transaction! e storefronts I constructed at Galaxy Mall never had the ability to intercept credit card fraud, as this issue was never brought up or properly addressed.

The issue is NEVER mentioned at the Galaxy Mall workshops, or by their Success Team coaches. You will end up spending thousands of dollars on web sites and marketing materials (banner advertising) from this company, but will also end up opening your bank account to credit card thieves when they come to your web site to steal from you! Galaxy Mall knows about these severe problems first hand, but they choose not to say anything to workshop attendee's for the purpose of soliciting their business. Galaxy Mall was recently purchased by NetGateway, and is now conducting their Internet workshops as StoresOnline.com. I was recently invited to attend a StoresOnline = another Galaxy Mall Internet "workshop". This was in April of 2002, and still they have not changed any of their selling practices!

They now mention the problem of Internet credit card fraud in their workshop manual, but the issue is never addressed or brought up in their live workshop. This issue was never even mention in the workshop materials I purchased from them in 1999! At least now they are addressing the problem, but you may end up shelling out $15,000.00 before these issues are properly addressed. By then it will be too late - because all your storefront, banner, auto-responder and other 1 year certificates you purchased from them have expired!! I have consulted with a lawyer only to find out $15,000.00 will be difficult to recover economically through litigation. One can easily spend that much (or more) in legal efforts to recover that amount of money.

Additionally, to show how Galaxy Mall and their related companies and their alleged failure to notify one of the potential for credit card fraud on e-commerce sites is the actual or proximate cause of ones losses, will also be very difficult to prove. If you have done business with Galaxy Mall and are not happy with any of their services, please do not hesitate to send an email to: info@btcii.com. This company and it's related companies are making a fortune by misrepresentation of their services! One is lead into believing that they are aligning themselves and conducting business with a reputable leader and a professional Internet marketing company at their Internet workshops. My experience and the other reports I have read here prove otherwise.

Please send me an email if this company or it's affiliates has victimized you. I don't think we can win against this company alone by ourselves, but perhaps we can together. Mike Anamosa, Iowa Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Galaxy Mall / Galaxy Enterprises Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Storesonline