Consumer complaint received 2022-11-11
Company: Upgrade, Inc.
State: TX
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
Towards the end of XX/XX/2022, I opened an upgradeXXXX card with a credit line of {$6000.00}. Now the account is currently at a balance of {$9500.00}, of which {$4500.00} is valid, because that was used for other purchases that I made, but {$5000.00} of that is through the lost chargeback case that's detailed below. 

I made a purchase of {$5000.00} for a coaching program that was sold through XXXX by an individual named XXXX XXXX, that taught experienced coaches how to make XXXX through XXXX, even though I had 0 experience as a coach. When I asked him for a refund on the 8th day within his 14 day unconditional money back guarantee, he sent a screenshot of his changed policy to 7 days, which I never even saw before paying and enrolling in the program. So he technically denied the refund and said he couldn't do it, because of the 7 day changed policy which I was never informed about. There are some other things that are detailed below, which also made me ask for a refund from him. When the refund wasn't granted, I filed a chargeback through upgrade.com and I sent their dispute team proper documents as requested on why I'm filing a chargeback and the nature of the dispute. They gave me a timeline of about 90 days to hear a response, so after about 3-4 months of waiting, I didn't get any sort of response through email from them or through a phone call, instead, I saw my credit line with a negative balance of a few XXXX XXXX and I assumed, it was because I lost the chargeback case. So I called them several times and they did confirm it was because of the chargeback case being lost. I asked them to re-open by chargeback case and their dispute team told me to forward them more documentation on why I would like to re-open my chargeback case. They mentioned that XXXX XXXX ( the merchant ) tried to re-schedule an appointment with me, that's why they declined my chargeback request, when that wasn't even the sole reason of filing a chargeback. It was because he didn't honor his 14 day unconditional money back guarantee, then randomly changed it to 7 days. It seems like upgrade.com didn't read my information that I sent in with many files attached with proof, instead, sided with the merchant from just one piece of proof that he provided, which wasn't even the sole reason of the chargeback, along with other reasons that are detailed below. Even if XXXX XXXX ( the merchant ) tried to re-schedule an appointment with me, in XXXX separate instances and dates, I never once received a XXXX XXXX  link to these appointments. I only received XXXX initial XXXX call for onboarding me into the program, but after that, XXXX. There were supposed to be XXXX one on one XXXX XXXX for everyone that's a client, but I only got XXXX. After sending upgrade.com proper documentation for re-opening the case, I called everyday for a few days, then they told me that they can't re-open the case, because of the same reasoning the case was declined in the first place for, which was, because the merchant tried re-scheduling an appointment with me. I have yet to receive any documents from upgrade.com regarding this decision. 

Here is some extensive info that was sent to upgrade as requested from them, regarding this chargeback : 1. A description of the product/service purchased and what was received- XXXX XXXX sold me a XXXX  day online coaching program that helps experienced coaches get clients for their coaching program within XXXX  days and double monthly profits and achieve stress free scale. It's an online course with XXXX  different modules that you complete on your own, get XXXX individual 1 on 1 coaching calls with XXXX and his business partner XXXX, and messenger access to them for questions. It's a {$5000.00} coaching program called XXXX XXXX XXXX 

2. A description of why the product/service was unsuitable for my needs- He sold the coaching program to me through XXXX XXXX , because I followed his XXXX posts for a bit about his program and was interested in enrolling, even though I have 0 experience as a coach and his program says it's for experienced coaches to double monthly profits, so I wasn't really qualified fully to get in his program, but he still enrolled me and I paid him the XXXX XXXX through XXXX 

There are 7 different reasons why his coaching program was/is unsuitable for my needs : a. When I saw one of XXXX XXXX ' XXXX posts about his coaching program and the 14 day unconditional money back guarantee, I decided to enroll ( please see screenshot attached ). I paid the XXXX XXXX on XXXX XXXX XXXX in the morning, but was actually enrolled in the program for the new cohort on XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX in the morning, so that's when the 14 day money back guarantee started. Then, when I asked for a refund from XXXX on the 8th day of actually getting enrolled in the program, which was XXXX XXXX XXXX, and I was still under the 14 day unconditional money back guarantee, even if it was XX/XX/XXXX of when it started, still the XXXX day if anything, XXXX said that it's not a 14 day money back guarantee, it's a 7 day money back guarantee, and he sent me screenshots of it saying it, but I never saw that, because those were from his future XXXX posts and workshops where he changed it from 14 days to 7 days, but I only saw 14 days. So he refused and he said let 's find a solution together and get on a call. I then just let it go and moved on, because I knew he wasn't going to give it. I also did make an excuse to get a refund from him, because I had a feeling he wouldn't give it. It consisted of how the loan needed more approval. 

b. Since everyone gets 4 individual 1on1 coaching calls, I tried scheduling one of my individual coaching calls on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX through XXXX XXXX ( please see screenshot attached ) for Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX in the morning and XXXX said that works for him in the morning, but he never sent me a XXXX XXXX in advance, nor did he send me a XXXX  link for the 1on1 coaching call on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX in the morning and I had to ask him in the afternoon to reschedule for another day and he replied a few hours later ( please see screenshot attached ). After that happened, we tried rescheduling the 1on1 coaching call on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX for XXXX XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX please see screenshot attached ), he got back to me with a loom, which is a video review for my assignments, but never sent me the XXXX  link in advance, nor did he send me a XXXX link for our 1on1 coaching call on Thursday, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

c. On XXXX XXXX XXXX, I asked in the XXXX XXXX XXXX if they'd be able to review my XXXX content assignment on the next call and XXXX said yes, but we never scheduled a 1on1 coaching call. He didn't schedule a coaching call for some reason from his end, even though he missed the last 2 with me as stated above. I didn't either, because I didn't want to schedule it and then him not send a XXXX link ( please see screenshots attached ). We have the group calls every week on Mondays, so I was just going to attend that one, but the group got a message that there's no coaching call for XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, because XXXX lives in XXXX and it was a national holiday there and he was traveling to XXXXXXXX. I understand that completely and that's okay, but this program is 45 days long, so we're supposed to get 6 weekly group calls, but he missed the one this past Monday, so that makes it 5 now, because once the 45 days are up. You're removed from the cohort and the next cohort starts. It would be okay if he rescheduled the missed coaching call this past Monday for either any other day of the week XXXX XXXX XXXX to make up for it, but he hasn't. 

d. One of the group members asked for one of the group coaching call recordings, since he wasn't able to attend, but he had to ask a total of 5 different times over a span of 3 days for XXXX to post the recording. I've been noticing that he cares a lot about getting clients for his own coaching program to make a lot of money, which is completely fine, but he doesn't service his existing clients in a fast manner and misses a lot of calls. Seems like he cares more about making money, which again is fine, more than helping people that paid him. 

e. I messaged one of my XXXX content posts on the XXXX group between me, XXXX, and XXXX for review on the morning of Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, but XXXX saw the message and XXXX didn't, and none of them still haven't responded. 

f. The course is a little bit unorganized in my opinion, because I feel some lessons should come before the others, there should also be actionable steps to take from watching the videos, but I didn't feel that, and there are a very limited amount of documents/spreadsheets to track data etc ... Kind of like you have to make/figure a lot of the stuff on your own. Also, when I was trying to access the course through the XXXX XXXX  about a week ago or so, because that's where you get access to the videos and other resources, it wasn't there anymore. I had to wait some hours before XXXX gave a reply and gave me access to a new login through a portal to access everything. 

g. I realized that a lot of the experienced coaches that come in the program already have some following that they can capitalize on to get clients within 45 days, but since I have XXXX  experience as a coach and don't have a following at all, it seems hard to get clients within 45 days. I wasn't really the best fit for this program, but didn't know at the time of purchasing until I got in the course and the XXXX XXXX 

3. My attempts to resolve this with the merchant - a. When I saw one of XXXX XXXX ' XXXX posts about his coaching program and the 14 day unconditional money back guarantee, I decided to enroll ( please see screenshot attached ). I paid the $ XXXX on XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX in the morning, but was actually enrolled in the program for the new cohort on XXXX XX/XX/XXXX in the morning, so that's when the 14 day money back guarantee started. Then, when I asked for a refund from XXXX on the 8th day of actually getting enrolled in the program, which was XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and I was still under the 14 day unconditional money back guarantee, even if it was XX/XX/XXXX of when it started, still the 14th day if anything, XXXX said that it's not a 14 day money back guarantee, it's a 7 day money back guarantee, and he sent me screenshots of it saying it, but I never saw that, because those were from his XXXX XXXX posts and workshops where he changed it from 14 days to 7 days, but I only saw 14 days. So he refused and he said let 's find a solution together and get on a call. I then just let it go and moved on, because I knew he wasn't going to give it. 

4. Proof that the merchandise was returned to the merchant. Please note, we have no recourse to pursue this matter with the merchant if the merchandise is still in your possession unless you have evidence that the merchant advised that a return is not necessary and/or the merchant refused the return - a. When I saw one of XXXX XXXX ' XXXX posts about his coaching program and the 14 day unconditional money back guarantee, I decided to enroll. I paid the XXXX XXXX on XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX in the morning, but was actually enrolled in the program for the new cohort on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX in the morning, so that's when the 14 day money back guarantee started. Then, when I asked for a refund from XXXX on the 8th day of actually getting enrolled in the program, which was Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, and I was still under the 14 day unconditional money back guarantee, even if it was XX/XX/XXXX of when it started, still the 14th day if anything, XXXX said that it's not a 14 day money back guarantee, it's a 7 day money back guarantee, and he sent me screenshots of it saying it, but I never saw that, because those were from his future XXXX posts and workshops where he changed it from 14 days to 7 days, but I only saw 14 days. So he refused and he said let 's find a solution together and get on a call. I then just let it go and moved on, because I knew he wasn't going to give it. 

Here 's some additional info that was sent to upgrade.com 's dispute team to re-open the case : XXXX XXXX XXXX, I had a call with one of your members on the intake team and they asked me to email the claims/dispute department at this email regarding my {$5000.00} chargeback. It seems like the claims/dispute team declined the chargeback I made, because the merchant provided proof that he reached out to me to reschedule an appointment, but to my knowledge, there have been no attempts made to reach out to me from the merchant 's side for rescheduling any appointment. I would kindly like to request from the disputes department to reopen this chargeback dispute, because I believe I've provided sufficient information in our communication before with proof and also right now. Is it also possible to please remove the {$5000.00} on my account, until the dispute is resolved? Attached here are 2 screenshots showing our last communication together - 1 is in a group chat where I last messaged one of my assignments to him to review and got no response and this was on XX/XX/2022 at XXXX XXXX, the other screenshot is of just me and him where I asked him for access to the new portal since they moved all the course material there and this was on XX/XX/2022 at XXXX XXXX 

Also, I asked for my money back on the 8th day under the 14 day unconditional money back guarantee that he posted about on his XXXX account, but he said he couldn't give me a refund, because he changed his policy to a 7 day unconditional money back guarantee, but I never saw that and he told me about it when I asked him for a refund. I only saw the 14 day one, that's why I signed up and then he just randomly changed it. Attached here are XXXX screenshots showing our communication about it, him messaging me the changed 7 day money back guarantee, and me showing proof of the 14 day money back guarantee. 

Also attached are 5 different screenshots showing our conversation in the group chat about scheduling a call - the 1st time it was scheduled in the morning, but never got a XXXX link from them the morning of, so I had to ask to move it to another date and still never got a XXXX  link, then XXXX says we need to schedule a call and we do for Thursday at XXXX XXXX, but never got a XXXX XXXXink again. He sent me 2 short loom screen recordings of my homework in which he rushed through them and he was talking as if he just woke up and was trying to rush it ASAP in substitution for the meeting. 

Also attached is a screenshot of him saying I would get unlimited 1 on 1 calls, but only received 1 in the beginning, and could never receive a XXXX link from him on 3 different dates as stated above. 

Also attached are a couple of screenshots showing how one of the members asked for a XXXX call recording several times over a period of a few days, but XXXX never responded in a timely manner. 

All of these screenshots that I mentioned above, are inside the file attached to this email. 

There are 2 files that contain a bunch of screenshots attached in the attach documents section below in reference to this chargeback case. 

Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation