The contentious matter of the ‘refund movement’ targeting ‘get-rich-through-internet-marketing’ salesman Shaun Stenning … and revealing how he and his associates deal with dissatisfied clients … is unfolding.
Shaun Stenning in Geekversity promotion mode. Is history repeating itself?
The by-all-reports persuasive Australian spruiker Shaun Stenning and various members of his family and colleagues (including ‘Mr X’ Dean Letfus and Shaun Stenning’s former Geekversity confederate Ian Naylor) apparently spent 2009-2010 hyperbolically pitching internet marketing ‘products’, ‘platforms’ and ‘education’ as a pathway to rapid wealth for ordinary people.
A series of live events was held throughout Asia and Australasia, with local promoters including Success Resources (Singapore and Malaysia) and TWD (Indonesia) and other operators portraying Shaun Stenning as a successful internet marketing ‘expert’. Promotions were run also targeting Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Viet Nam as well as Australia and New Zealand, apparently.
All this despite the fairly-public implosion of Geekversity in Australia and NZ (at a AUD$5.5m loss) following a virtual stampede of dissatisfied customers (and their lawyers) demanding refunds for the non-delivery-of-promised-benefits Geekversity ‘product’. Things don’t appear to have worked out any better for those persuaded by Shaun Stenning’s enthusiastic and inspiring spiel this time around, judging by the latest ‘refund movement’.
Here’s one disappointed client’s story (from Jen Huei who blogs at www.guizai.com):
Guizai.com (click)
Well, they gave an iron-clad guarantee that whoever made 10 websites within 90 days and see no result afterwards, they will refund happily. They are very sure that it will not be the case else they won’t be giving this guarantee. So I think, with the guarantee, why not? right?
Truth is… I made 13 websites within 30 days. Up till now, all websites together made me $0.01, in Adsense. Pathetic…
Without result even though I tried the link wheel method, outsourced articles writing, put up unique content… Well, you may not know… this is NOT mentioned during that sales preview and what they mention is only 7 minutes creating a website with “duplicated content” and your website is ready to make money. I gone for extra miles and implement those SEO stuffs to make it work.
Few weeks back, I asked for refund. Shaun Stenning agreed and well… he honors his word at least. But in return he asked me to sign a release agreement which is obviously is rubbish contract that a lawyer would be laugh our loud after reading it. It’s not a contract at all. Along with the failed Twalk program which even Shaun Stenning admits openly in their official blog that this program is NOT working as expected and a high volume of un-satisfaction is received. So, he is offering a refund for everyone who requested, and on 1st March 2011, he sent out a crappy agreement and ask everyone to sign on it.
The lawyer advise us not to sign because if we signed, we will NOT get our refund back, and worst we may get into defamation suit if we ‘complain’ publicly.
If you are one of the customer of Shaun Stenning, or thinking to be one… read this blog thoroughly if you don’t want to lose your money. [Comment: Thanks for your reference to thePaepae.com JH, – P.]
As of today, the Twalk website is suddenly offline, their Dollar Rose company website is also offline…
So, what is that all sounds? Shaun Stenning said that he will take the path as a winner to take all the responsibility and refund to everyone, 100%. But then he made a lot of sneaky tricky thing to purposely cause the refund process to be a bumpy journey, and now he even shut down the website and so all the refund evidence is gone.
Is that a winner behavior? I don’t think so… — Guizai.com
A series of conflicting messages and so-called ‘deadlines’ for a “100% refund” has been published by Shaun Stenning who operates various businesses under the names Dollar Rose, Surefire Marketing, SS&SJ Marketing etc and using the brands twa.lk, sni.pr, Flawless Content, Quality Backlinks etc. — some of these in tandem with his brother and junior ‘internet expert’ Matt Stenning.
In response to what they see as complex, one-sided and confusingly-written ‘Release Agreement’ and ‘Statutory Declaration’ documents — issued by Shaun Stenning as part of his supposed twalk2 ‘refund process’ (the “crappy agreement” referred to in the blog above) — a number of his clients in various countries have formed alliances in an attempt to:
Guizai — post with DO NOT SIGN recommendation (click)
(a) get good legal advice and
(b) negotiate better arrangements for the promised refunds.
[Disclosure: I have been approached by some in Malaysia with a request that I act as a ‘mediator’ between them and Shaun Stenning. I have agreed to assist if I can, pending Shaun Stenning’s agreement to my involvement.]
Blogger Jen Huei updated his blog with this simple advice about the documents: “DO NOT SIGN.”
As noted in the blog above, a number of Shaun Stenning-associated websites seem to be ‘suddenly offline’, including
and
and
and
This sudden ‘Unprofessional Unavailability‘ of websites (temporary or not) and erratic communication from Shaun Stenning must, surely, greatly reduce people’s confidence in Stenning-related enterprises and offers. That’s a natural consequence, it seems to me. And that’s what another Stenning client and fellow blogger Lee Pei Ru demonstrates.
I’ve quoted Ru’s Life Journal before, her article ‘Shaun Stenning: The Expensive Lesson – But is it really over?’ … in this post, Another voice on Shaun Stenning. This, below, is her muted and rational-sounding follow up:
Ru's Life Journal (click)
Read Ru’s full blog post here.
Dollar Rose Investment pitch (click to enlarge)
—
On another front, the Stenning sales troupe also, apparently, sold USD$10,000 per unit ‘investments‘ in their company Dollar Rose — pitched in these terms on a still-operational-at-the-moment website by Shaun Stenning’s brother/business confederate Matt Stenning:
Let me give you the highlights of this investment opportunity:
- Minimum Investment Amount is $10,000USD
- Investment return can be guaranteed fixed return of 100% (eg: invest $10000 USD and receive $20,000 USD)
- Investment return can be not-guaranteed with a share holding in the company
- Investment secures you a share in a Dollar Rose Investment Company
- Investment is secured via a Share Lien and Loan agreement over the intellectual property of a Dollar Rose Operational Company
- Investment will be used in the software development of a new Internet Marketing Software
- Investors will receive a free copy of the software upon launch which will retail at around $5000 USD.
I don’t know how many people chose to take up the Dollar Rose ‘investment offer’. (I personally wouldn’t.) They say they sold out two earlier ‘Opportunities’. Nor do I know how that has worked out so far —especially the ‘guaranteed fixed return of 100%’ aspect — but from some of the 300+ comments in the ‘Is this how Shaun Stenning handles a request for a refund?‘ thread, and the non-functioning Dollar Rose website, one is entitled to wonder, don’t you think?
Can anyone shed light on this? – P
Facts are stated to the best of my knowledge and commentary is my honest opinion. Corrections or clarifications are always welcome by email. Comments are open.
– Best wishes, Peter Aranyi © 2011 All rights reserved.
Other relevant posts:
1. Is this how Shaun Stenning handles a request for a refund?
2, In defence of Shaun Stenning — (update: FAKE) Jennifer from Oz
3. Q: Is this a Shaun Stenning product? A: Er, cough. Well, yes and no …
4. Anonymous comment vs IMPERSONATION
5. … including but not limited to internet blogs …
6. The Stenning Tweebs try to roll with the punches
For Twalk, Licencee clients..yes Shaun has agreed to refund, and there seems to be negotiations going on ..but what about Dollar Rose investors? Who will protect them if Shaun does not comply?
Taiwan alone …has 20 investors in Dollar Rose 1 which means ….20x US$10,000 = US$200,000…now that is a LOT OF MONEY AT STAKE HERE…Now is March 17th…the retweet.com site has changed to VideoClickAction…
Dollar Rose 2 is based on SNIPR where Ian Naylor attempted to sell the website for US$56,000…
no update from Shaun about these ….somethings do not seem right here…
Thanks for your comment. It seems to me it was a pretty risky proposition investing in Dollar Rose — phrases like ‘guaranteed fixed return’ notwithstanding.
Does anyone have a copy of the ‘Information Memorandum’ referred to in the sales offer on Matt Stenning’s site?
That would be interesting reading.
If so, email it to me, please at the address here: http://www.thepaepae.com/about/
I don’t understand why is it so difficult to give refund for a faulty product? What’s with all the complicated Release Agreement? Shaun, You claim yourself to be a millionaire, an honest businessman, and yet you’re circulating this biased, flawed, “Entrapment Agreement” to safeguard only yourself and trying to rob even more from your participants. No wonder you could be a so-called millionaire.
If you are truly ethical, just issue all the refunds, no questions asked, and apologize to all the participants and I’d say you’re a truly honest business man.
If not, you’re just making yourself look more like a fool for trying to retaliate customer’s demands.
Your reputation along with all your partners are already screwed. If you want to redeem yourself, this is your chance.
He does not have the money to refund! That is the truth!
What sort of “MILLIONAIRE” is he referring to himself as?
With the money spent in hiring multiple people with big titles, there is hardly anything left for him to cater for such happenings.
I am interested to know the results of the dialogue between SR and Shaun..wonder if there is any update? Perhaps more lawsuits coming out of it since that seems to be his “Weapon Of Mass Destruction” ?
Since Shaun loves to sue or threaten to sue everyone including his own clients – this is the best time for him to witness the capabilities of his lawyers…
I think mass calls for refunds such as those being faced by these companies would prove challenging for any business.
Any claims made in marketing (“Millionaire” etc) if proved to be untrue would be a separate problematic issue. I would assume they’ve been very careful with the wording of such marketing claims.
@ Shauking: You said (addressing Shaun Stenning):
I said in this post http://www.thepaepae.com/more-reasons-to-research-investments/15030/
Interesting. I’ve been thinking about this ‘reputation’ aspect for a while now and last week I got this book out of the local library… very interesting.
I’ll review it when I’ve finished. – Peter
Such coincidence. Do let me know bro. Will await your review.
And thank you for all the great work you’ve been doing here.
Yeah I agree..without Pete and this blog, the whole twalk massive movement would not gain the momentum that we are experiencing now..I hope this is a great lesson to all those liars out there…let’s make Shaun as a shining example of what would happen to these other aspiring spruikers if they try any of these stunts to any innocent people out there..
(be it Internet Marketing, Real Estate etc)
“Happiness is not the absence of problems but the ability to deal with them – Someone Smart” – from Shaun’s facebook status update.
@Shaun – “Happiness for us is the day you go down in Internet Marketing history. We all will be very happy if YOU are absent from our lives forever – Someone who is smarter than you.”
The Hong Kong chapter of TRT is now officially formed.
Our objective is simple: we seek 100% refund from Shaun Stenning and Success Resources, for all expenses incurred for the Twalk program, with no further delays.
We believe that the objective of the chapters in Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and elsewhere are identical, so we in Hong Kong are willing to work with our overseas colleagues.
Needless to say, due to jurisdictional differences, there might be slight variances in our approaches towards meeting this objective. However, there should be no doubt whatsoever in the minds of Shaun Stenning and Success Resources that, with us all willing to work together as a team and with the law on our side, our objective will be met!
Lastly, we are touched by Peter Aranyi’s acceptance to mediate between the parties, and thank him most sincerely.
TRT Hong Kong can be reached here: refundhongkong@gmail.com
Dear TRT HongKong & TRT Taiwan,
Welcome aboard!
To keep everyone informed, TRT MY has provided Shaun Stenning today, with the details of our lawyer, as requested by him – to negotiate on the Terms of the Deed of Release and Termination. The ball is now in his court. Shaun is to initiate negotiation communication by 25th March 2011.
Peter has graciously agreed to play the part of a Mediator with our legal advisor present.
Like what TRT HongKong has written, we may have different approaches to getting our money back but rest assured, our mission is unified and one of the same.
TRT MY
Can anyone tell me what TRT stands for? EG TRT HongKong & TRT Taiwan?
[Comment: ‘Twalk Refund Team’, perhaps? – Peter]
Perhaps? Maybe? If you are Mediator Peter – shouldn’t you know? Can TRT Hong Kong respond to this question please?
Hi Mike, emails to me have been signed:
I said ‘perhaps’ lightheartedly … but I don’t think they’re formal bodies — more collectives of dissatisfied customers … check the evolution in this thread around here:
http://www.thepaepae.com/shaun-stenning-refund-demands/12161/comment-page-1/#comment-4152
Cheers, P
Much obliged Peter.
Sure thing. What’s your interest? – P
There is a trail of unpaid debt and frustrated clients and contractors in NZ too.
Interesting facebook page here! http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/profile.php?id=100002209093587
It’s getting more interesting: http://www.facebook.com/pages/NOT-A-FAN-of-Shaun-Stenning-the-Con-Artist/110237402391816
Oh I see Mike. Some people using Facebook to trash Shaun Stenning … I guess chickens are coming home to roost.
How did you find this? Or are you behind it?
Interesting to see Ian Naylor’s harshly worded testimonial for his ex business partner.
No I am not behind it. Not IT savvy enough to know what to do I’m afraid. But glad to see “The Revolution” has started. I got sucked into this Snipr stuff too! You live and learn. 🙂 C’est la vie
I found it by doing a search for “stenning” lol
I am one of those who believed Shaun so much that I managed to convince my husband to join me in Twalk. So both us paid for Twalk through our noses. We even bought our flight tickets, booked our hotel, rented a car and paid our tuition fees and attended the Phuket 1 in March 2010. In one of the nights On stage, Shaun cried and hug Ian Naylor and said he is so blessed to have Ian as his business partner, unlike in the past where he got screwed by others and now Ian is THE guy with him, etc. He seemed so real then, all those stories and tears. So very tragic to see how things have turned out today. He gave hope, hopes for financial freedom. Hopes for a better life in our families. We PARTICIPATED in his drama all this time for goodness sake!!
I know some people who actually quit their high-paying jobs to focus fully on Twalk, Dollar Rose and etc too!! How about that!
Yet Shaun just does not care and keep lying and making false promises…Ian has known Shaun since the Geekversity days… [snip]
OMG, I didn’t know the situation goes like this. I should come this place before i signed the agreement.
does this mean I lost the chance to get refund ?
so up till now, who got their refund already… still a blanket of silence for me…
How can we contact Shaun Stenning to get our refund? Anyone from Australia? His team has ran away with our precious money. If he is a winner, he should apologize to every client and send us a paid cheque.
No refund here in malaysia yet. same story as everywhere. Some big promise, and then lost contact.