Prospectmatch.com

[altonite]

Anyone else try these guys recently. Got a lot of leads but many had bad contact info. Either bad phone number, physical address or email address. If you tell them within 10 days, they give you an internal credit (not an actual credit card cash credit) and then give you a replacement lead. I still found the same issue with a lot of the replacement leads. The next problem I had was once you accumulate $200 in billable leads they charge your credit card. This can be worrisome if it happens over the weekend and you come in and find a bunch of leads (like 10 or 15). Finally, once you start, you can't "pause" the system to catch your breath or see what quality of leads you have, until after you have been on the "system" for 30 days. If you cancel and want to come back, you have to pay the $149 setup fee. If you are not successful with their leads, you are told it is because you are not following their system. It is hard to be successful if you can never reach or get the leads to call you back, email you back or write you back.

Years ago there was a similar system started by a guy Named Larry Klein who ran NF Communications. That company disappeared and the next day a company called Javelin Marketing started offering the system. There appear to be a lot of similarities between those systems and the Prospect Match system. All of these people or companies can be found thru Google searches for those of you who might be history buffs.

The bottom line is, I would not recommend Prospect Match.

 

[2112Greg]

Bummer. Sorry to hear that. I was actually curious about this outfit several weeks ago when I got a spam email about it and checked them out. Glad I didn't pull the trigger. Thanks for the post...hope others heed the warning.

 

[TRSecurity]

I posted about this situation months ago and on several threads. Unfortunately, those have all since been removed from this forum.

 

[LGilmore]

One thing to do when you're unhappy with a leads company is cut your zip codes to one and ask for a daily limit for leads received. Limit your exposure to bad leads until you can reslove what you want to do.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Easy. Get a separate debit card and especially with the new credit card law, don't opt into overdraft.

Use that card to buy leads. Only keep enough on the card to pay for upcoming charges. So if you plan on being billed $200 on the 15th, have $205 on the card.

Aside from putting money onto the card the day before payment is due, keep 10% on it. All problems solved.

This tactic saved me around $200 and a lot of headaches when I cancelled a vendor over the phone and by email. I was assumed my acc't was cancelled. However, I got a notice that they tried to process my card a few weeks later and it was declined.

When I called back they admitted their error....but what they didn't have was my $200.

 

[Guest]

We all have several credit cards.

I reserve one that I use for what one might call "dubious" purchases that involve a recurring payment of some kind... like a leads company or other subscription services that I don't know much about and that don't come recommended from a trusted source (like a Healthagent or Dave020 or a Frank, etc. on this board... guys who have been here 'forever' and have a reputation of honesty and integrity.)

If I run into a problem with the service and they won't reverse the charges and give me a credit, I simply call the credit card company and say I'm not paying the charges... they can cancel the card, sue me, put it into collections, contact the credit bureaus... whatever they wish but "I WILL NOT PAY."

Of course it does not happen often but when it has over the years I've never had a credit card company do anything but drop the charge off of my statement.

(And this is a reason I don't have even ONE debit card.)

EDIT: Having read John's post above, doesn't a debit card simply draw from your checking account? Can you put an "max amount" on these things? Can you limit them to X dollars before they are "not honored" by the merchant or service charging them?

Al
Find me here

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Totally agree Al. As stated, it's especially great for any recurring billing when you're clearly getting burned.

I had one - tried to cancel a recurring acc't and was informed that I was locked in for one year. I said that's nowhere in their TOS. They agreed but said it was simply their policy.

I cancelled the card. They threatened to turn me over to collections and I said without recurring in their TOS I'd sue. Never hear another word, they never turned me over and it was a "throw-away" debit card.

Yes, you can do that with your normal credit card but mine's tied to a lot of accounts and I'd have to set every one of them up again. Too much of a pain. Get a "throw-away" debit card.

 

[Guest]

Get a "throw-away" debit card.

I have never heard of a "throw away" debit card but they do exist and you can buy them at lots of places. They look to me like "gift cards" you can use anywhere.

This tells all about them:

Visa Prepaid Debit Card - FAQ | Personal | Visa USA

What the above does not answer is if they charge you a fee when you buy the card. Does it cost $105 for a card with $100 of buying power?

One bad thing is it looks like these things expire like some gift cards do.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Well, I don't mean pre-paid. I just mean getting one from your bank that you don't care about. If there's an issue, cancel it, cut it up and throw it in the trash.

Many merchants don't authorize recurring from pre-paid cards.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

I just use pre-paid visa and mc debit cards from netspend for any recurring/online/vendor purchases.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Many merchants don't authorize recurring from pre-paid cards.

Right. I believe Ring Central won't accept pre-paid debit cards. Which is funny because what's the difference between a checking account with a debit card and a pre-paid debit card? Pre-paid I can still get direct deposits, transfer money....of course that's a simplified card....but if your just using it for lead purchases, it's good.