People stole my moms social money. I made a BBB claim also. I cant help it that mom likes bingo, they had no right to do that to her. I want moms $14 back or im going to get me a lawer
If you have normal or slightly larger…
Expensive and uncomfortable shrinking. I’ll never purchase these again. If you have normal or slightly larger than normal, these are not for you. I ordered quarters and they’re just too tight! don’t like seeing the indentations after 30 minutes. It felt like the circulation was hampered. I find this uncomfortable. This is my experience but not other type of less expensive. Not worth the money, a lot of hype.
Country United States
Type of a scam Other
Initial means of contact Not applicable
When you receive a call from Home Town Project, formally Veterans News Network, and Heroes Network, and Veterans Alliance, the very first thingSo the sales person will do is lie. Seriously, when they tell you their name it is a lie. All sales people reside in prison, and actually work for Arizona Correctional Industries, and the penal institution does not want incarcerated inmates using their actual name. Interesting, isn’t it? So, apparently in Arizona what is good for the goose is not good for the gander. It is a violation of the law to knowingly lie on telemarketing calls in Arizona, but because the State is benefiting financially, it is all of sudden ok. Secondly, this company does next to nothing for the Veteran community, and the touted $25,000 the “gave” to the Fraternal Order of Police wasn’t a gift. Rather, Home Town Hero entered into a agreement with the fraternity to use their name for a fee. A licensing agreement fee is not charity! And, even more disturbing is that when I was part of a call, the sales person implied that he was a police officer – when in fact he was sitting in prison making $100k a year, i.e. Jamie Price. Yes, that name may sound familiar because he was in prison for telemarketing related frauds. He then goes to prison, teaches staff in prison how its done, and viola, the State organizes the HomeTown Hero Project under the auspices of Scott Balsinger. Boy, the truth is always more interesting than fiction. Do your research. From what I was told, Jamie Price was banned by the State of Arizona from ever working in telemarketing, yet goes to prison and does just that from a prison in Tucson – making over $100K per year. Check for yourself.
They had candy at the front desk. (Not like Reeses or anything but more like those fruit-flavored Tootsie Rolls. Regardless, I thought it was a nice touch cause house hunting makes people hungry.) I sat down with “Greg” and told him I was looking for a 7 bedroom, 6 bath colonial and I had $50,000 to spend. (My Grandpa just died. Cha-ching!)
Right off the bat he told me that $50,000 was “unreasonable.” I pointed to one on the wall and said, “Well, what about that one?” / “That one’s $12 million.” This was my first indication that Sunshine Smile Real Estate was not on the up and up. “I’m hearing a lot of problems but not a lot of solutions, Greg.” I told him. “Also, to be honest, you could have better candy at the front desk. OK, what about THIS one?” I asked. “That’s the same one you just pointed to,” he told me. VERY FRUSTRATING! I just stared at him silently until he begrudgingly starting flipping through his book of properties. “WAIT!” I yelled when he flipped to the most beautiful home I’d ever seen in my life.
“Well,” Greg started “there is The Carver House…” As soon as he said the words “Carver House” a crash of thunder and bolt of lighting cut all the power in the office. “Well if that’s not a good sign, I don’t know what is, Greg! I’ll take it.” HERE’S WHERE I’LL GIVE SUNSHINE SMILE REAL ESTATE THE SMALLEST AMOUNT OF CREDIT. Greg told me that most people who buy a house like to go inside the house first. But the thing is, I was seeing The Martian at 4:45 and if I went to see the house, I would have been late. At the very least I would have missed the previews and I love the previews. This is the one thing that I’ll say is “on me.” Rather than actually going inside the house, I just told Greg to wrap it up. (He then told me that don’t gift wrap houses which — again — really bad customer service.)
Here’s where the story gets weird.
As soon as I walked inside, the walls started dripping blood. Some of it even got on my pants. “My last house never did this…” I thought. I should say I was having a really good day up until this point. (I really enjoyed The Martian.) I went to take a shower to kind of “center myself” but, guess what, that shot out blood, too. Sorry, but if I was going to deal with a constantly bleeding home, Sunshine Smile Real Estate should have told me that up front. I called them right up and was like, “Lemme speak to Greg!” and this see-you-next-Tuesday on the other line was like “We don’t have a Greg here. Greg’s been dead for 10 years and blah blah blah” I was like, “UMMMM, again I’m hearing a lot of problems and no solutions. This is becoming a pattern with Sunshine Smile Real Estate.” And then she was all, “Well what did you expect trying to get a 7 bedroom colonial for $50K” and something about the Carvers being brutally murdered in that house a few years back and it’s haunted.
A HAUNTED HOUSE. Who has the time for that?! Not me. I’m studying to be a model! So I was like, “Well if you’re not gonna give me my money back can I at least get a coupon for half off a new house or like free shipping or something” and she was like, “We don’t ship houses” or some basic bull[censored]. Honestly, I can’t remember cause it was around this time that all the furniture in the kitchen starting coming alive so I just hung up.
I did a Google search for The Carver Family (Does Google have a Yelp page too? Cause THAT is a good service!) and apparently the dad went crazy when his wife cheated on him and he chopped her all up along with the kids and I guess it was this whole “thing.” Huge, huge overreaction in my opinion. It’s like, “Just get a divorce, dude.” Cause in addition to all the murder, now I’m being inconvenienced. My Saturday is fully ruined and I’m a guy who needs his weekends. That’s my time. I work too hard during the week to have to deal with creepy dead twins in the hallway. (Oh, did I not mention the creepy dead twins in the hallway? They keep being like, “Where is our Mother?” in this British accent even though the house is on Bayonne, NJ, and every time they spoke, blood fell out of their mouth. It’s bad enough I have to clean up the blood from the walls, but now these chicks, too?! It’s too much.)
That night I was visited by my dead Grandfather — remember from earlier? The one that left me $50,000? It was actually kinda nice to see him again so I’ll give Sunshine Smile SOME credit for that. But the conversation wasn’t even that good. I thought he was singing me Sting songs but it turns out he was just speaking in tongues. The, finally, he was like “Thomassssss … leave this place … never return…” etc etc. I wanted to talk about The Martian cause I had questions about the science involved but he was too preoccupied with “This place isn’t safe! The Carvers eat souls” blah blah blah. (Full disclosure, I always liked my Grandpa on my Mom’s side better.)
In the morning I woke up fully nude, massively erect, and levitating above my bed. One of those Satan symbols has been carved into my chest and already scabbed over. “Oh well this is just [censored]ing perfect,” I thought. I was gonna go to the beach today! Now I have to be one of those weirdos who keeps his shirt on in the water! Not to mention it took me like a solid three hours to figure out how to get down. After I finished my blood shower (freezing cold) I caught my reflection in the bathroom mirror — maggots ALL OVER MY FACE. “Um, not shaving today I guess…”
I walked downstairs for seven hours before realizing the stairs never ended and lead to nowhere. Like that weird level in Mario Brothers. That’s when I was like “[censored] this” and jumped through my bedroom window (the only available exit) and headed to Starbucks to write up this review. (Oh, did I not mention there was no wi-fi in house?! There wasn’t.)
First off we all know that my home is no longer were itwas before and that really upsets me. For all of you to meanger in the bountiful ray of sunshine that once was my home is not to be tollarated now or in the past. im done with it.
For even more proof what has happended go to cnn.com and read about those dim lites we see at night – have you seen them? I dont want to even know why you cant see them and yet took my home .
Necklace broke right after i put it on. yikes.
Ordered a baby yoda. Never received.
It was awesome, im such a fuzzy and one day if im lunchy i might just write a real walrus
I had a very similar experience as Andre. It was my first time using them and found them to be helpful with creating a mobile ad for my real estate company. It really does help that our ad is seen by our clients & future clients in our area of LA. I keep telling my colleagues that all ads like this are a branding method/tool and not a lead generators, and for me at least works as great marketing campaign. I would love to find some service that actually sent me phone numbers of people who are going to buy a home and the number wasn’t already given to hundreds of other agents! But Ive spent an insane amount of $$$ on these services and gotten nada. At least with this geo stuff I get real people clicking on my ad.
Some dude named Nick called me and tells me how President Trump has signed a bill stating that Veterans can now choose their means of therapy for PTSD and other injuries brought forth by their services to our great country. I agreed and told him that I’ve heard of this and that at my Dr office I am currently massaging many Vets, and that they all appreciate my skill set to help with their pains and their sleep patterns. Also through my years I have figured out that all Vets have low back issues or soft tissue injury because of their running and doing drills with a 70 pound pack on their backs. I told him that today I currently own and operate my own mobile massage company and that I’ve just resigned at my office due to having to travel over 3 hours (round trip) for mere peanuts for what I do. And that I am a fully certified CMT and PTA that can bring medical massage along with physical therapy to all the Vets that most certainly can benefit from this. I told him that I was also eager to bring more therapists into working along side of me that are trained in the same medical massage modalities that I was.
He got all happy then and explained how they use this electronic tactic called Geo Fencing and that all the Vets within my area, which are thousands that I can choose from, would then contact me for services to be paid for by healthcare provider which is the US Government. Of course, if this is true, I am more than happy to give him my information and my small business at https://www.HWHMobileMassaage.com I was hoping to increase my clientele base, my services and revenue for the business and the therapists that work harc alongside of me. So he says that he will have their IT team work on my add right away and within the week all the Vets in my area, that no other therapists are working in, will be contacting me for services. He then goes into payment for building my add and maintaining the “Geo Fencing” so I will have more potential for work than I could possibly handle. He wanted my credit card info right away. I personally only have one credit card used for emergencies only and at that time I was kind of tight on my cash flow with just letting go of my 9 to 5 job so I explained to him my issue that I did not have those funds. It was $198 to build the ad and $149/monthly to maintain the “Geo Fencing” which reassured me that all the vets in a 20 squared mile radius would be using my services. He put me on hold for a bit and came back to say we can work with you. It would be only $1 to initially to build the ad. Following that I could use the ad and provide services for a month to make the funds needed to pay the difference back. So I gave him my Pay Pal business account card info that with draws money directly from my personal bank account if the funds are not there. Now I’m expecting them to build my ad, then I will approve it, and by the end of the week (it’s Tuesday) it will be all operational. Well no ad by Wednesday… Thursday… So I call and they mistyped my email address and they sent me the actual ad immediately. It looked like a cut and paste job from my Website with my phone number blown up a bit larger. I told them to link my booking platform to the ad because I do not have the time or man power to answer calls all day to book these services. It was done by Friday then and I approved it and it was going as I was told. Well in the first week not a single booking… I got concerned! The next week not even a hiccup of business so I continued to work with my clients and concern grew! So I did an Online search for Hometown Heros Project to find out about the scam. I then quickly contacted Pay Pal and reported that I lost my card. They quickly stopped all transactions to be processed by that card from that day forward. Well as soon as the month ended I started getting calls from Nick saying that their financial department reported to him that my card has declined payment, and that I owe them for the building of the ad and the monthly maintenance of the services received.
They are total scammers! They get small business people all excited about making an honest living and doing a good deed by helping our Veterans get services they need. Then we would be getting paid fir our servicez by another source which was a reliable source the US government. I should of been smarter than giving them my payment info prior to researching their organization, but I got lucky to only loose a dollar to these thieves. I hope the law can track these scammers down and they can refund everyone who has lost a lot more than me.
Got a call from them claiming they can get me in front of new VA clients, and can give me a 3 month special. I live close to a base and figured it could be a good way to help out service members and generate some new business. Guess what in my 2nd month and not a single call, they even made it sound like that they needed an agent in the area and would refer service members to me that were looking to buy in the area. BIG SCAM
I just got a call, but they told me the shortest term they had was 12 months. Kind of glad. I told him I don’t make a one year commitment to a company without doing some research. So he’s supposed to call me tomorrow. Guess that’ll be a no for me. For $200/month there’s other things I can do to get leads.
I received the same spill, you can cancel any time, you can make sooo much money having a Real Estate Banner, when I said I would like to research the company, he hung up on me. Lol
I just got the same call with the same details as everyone else. I’ve been around the block a few times and know that paying monthly for leads is a fools errand. Roy was his name. The fast-talking sales guy who I would never buy anything from. Told me the company has relationships with base commanders and that’s how he got a local number which is bs. I’m a slightly disabled veteran and when I told him that he got all excited. Thanks for the reviews everyone. I won’t be spending a dollar with this company.
I just got a call from a number that looked like a local number and when I answered it again introduced himself as a hometown heroes Rupp. He asked if I was a real estate agent and of course I said yes and he asked if I ever worked with a veteran before and I said well yes of course I’ve closed a lot of VA deals and he said good that’s what we’re looking for because a lot of agents don’t know what I’m talking about. I thought it was pretty hilarious because it somehow puts me in a class of agents that they aren’t used to talking to when I have simply closed VA deals as every agent has 🙂 anyway then he passed me on to the next guy in the meantime I had gone to Google and typed in hometown heroes reviews and was reading all of these inputs that people have been putting in very recently, as recent as three days ago.
So I told him that I’m plenty willing to work with them if they are willing to work on a referral fee basis because obviously if their system works and it is so much better than everyone else as they had said it is, that they would actually make out like bandits because I saw hundreds of houses a year and they would get a lot of referral fees. But I said if they charge a monthly fee or a start up fee or anything like that, but the incentive is all on their sales people are not on their results and I would not be interested at which point he said well we have to do that because we spent so much money and energy getting agents off the ground and we don’t know if they are ever going to do anything with it and I just told him if they ever change their program to go ahead and give me a call and if they will promote me and watch the results they’ll do pretty well and that was the end of that so I have found that with most of these companies wonder pressure is on for them to perform, With leads that will actually close, they are pretty quick to want to get off the phone when they realize they can’t just get paid for making another sale. I have found that the follow-through is horrible with most of these companies and I don’t know about this particular one but from reading the reviews it doesn’t look that impressive.
Hometown Hero Project is now a Public Benefit Corporation!…
Imagine if you could target your specific potential client demographic while simultaneously having your custom advertising seen in any physical location or geographical area you desire…with a GUARANTEE to be seen by thousands of consumer.
I feel they target us … when I asked why a local # 719-401-9127 showed up on my phone and voicemail left
…Hey my name is Keith, I was interested in Real Estate Services, ah. Give me a call back @ 520-371-5310 and again my name is Keith Rogers
I called back the local # and it said thank you for calling Home Town Hero Project, this call may be recorded for quality insurance. Then a woman name Elisabeth answered. I asked where are you located, she said out in AZ but we work out of 50 Staats. I asked why are you using a local # she said it makes it easier. I wonder if we report them to the Attorney Generals office? I hang up and now they called back and it showed the same # but my phone said Scam likely…
This is how our military people are getting used and abused all in the name for Companies to make a $ so sad. Do not fall for this scam, please.
Angie, did you check their website hthproject.com and read about who they are and all the Vets and teachers they have helped? Besides mobility vans for Vets they also just donated $25,000 to teachers all across America.
Bait and Switch. As realtors, we get bombarded with telemarketing calls all day long since is is necessary that our phone numbers are out on social media, zillow, etc.. Home Town Hero reps will leave a message (with a local looking number) and state that they are looking for a realtor. As any good realtor will do, we will return the call to find out it was nothing more than a telemarketer. I abhor that bait & switch approach. It is a disruption to my day, frustrating and I am already wasting my time writing this report. But I am livid by these tactics.
yes same hear. Local phone# showed up, but voicemail went to another staat #
Keith was very into the $1.00 start up. Thanks but no thanks
I was called Jan 13 . Passed through 3 customer representatives to be qualified as a real estate agent they would work with.. They touted numbers that I would be receiving in my market for $149 a month . needed to charge my account $1 to get started. In the follow up email first one was a do not reply, 2nd was a by clicking here I was obligated to the terms of service with no place to click to read them before accepting or signing to see what each party was agreeing to. Called to discuss, got Supervisor Terry’s voice mail. He called 6 hours later to remind me to approve my adwork etc etc. When I told him I 1) did not click through the email last week to agree to anything he says that does not mean I was not obligated. If I had no intention of honoring why did I say I would allow them. I told them I do not have a contract to show me their cancellation policy nor what they are to do in writing for me. Terry said that was not a reason. 2 ) he said I would have to pay $198 for the artwork they created. I told him to put it in writing to me and I would have my attorney look at it. I added was my reason in addition to the fact that I had done some online research and decided not to use their services. Called my credit card company and totally changed my card. THIS type of sales has got to stop.
Yes, had a local missed call. Listen to voicemail and was asked to call long distance.
Kinde of sound like someone in need of a realtor, but deep inside I thought this is a marketing call. So told Keith email me more info. He got pushy with this $1.00 offer, I told him if I tried my clients like this I will have complaints a mile long. Thank you for the reviews. I am out with this company. Bait and switch on phone # what else are they dishonest in. I can just imagine…
I am a real estate agent in Olympia Wa. I was contacted by Nick about helping me build my business within the Military Community. I was told that for $1 they would get me started and for $149 a month I would be given 8-12 leads a month. Once I made the $1 payment all phone calls stopped. I didn’t really know how to make contact because the emails are so vague. I talked about this around the office and was told I had been scammed. I finally found a number to call and was told in order to cancel I must pay $347. I got charged the $347 and have ZERO documentation stating i have canceled my account. I think it is important to investigate this company and warn anyone against signing up with them. They are BS!
Wau… they wanted $1.00 up front and
You need to consider this:
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Thanks but No thanks
Frank Anderson in the Tacoma WA area called me an promised me the moon also. I have not received one call on this process at all. What a fraud and I am a veteran also. I feel like this is one huge scam. Do NOT agree to contract with these folks. Total scam!
Victim Location 29401
Total money lost $464.16
Type of a scam Counterfeit Product
I was contacted nearly three months ago by someone named Larry Miller purporting to be with the Hometown Hero Project (a public benefit corporation that seems to masquerade as more of a non-profit) regarding real estate advertising and lead generation. He said they were going to offer me exclusive geo-fencing, advertising and leads from the area surrounding Charleston, SC. He talked it up a great deal, and promised I could cancel my advertising at any time (unlike some real estate advertising contracts, which require six mos. or year-long commitments. I figured I’d give it a shot, as it was a fraction of the cost of buying leads on Zillow and whatnot (though still hundreds of dollars a month), and it fit my budget much better. He also said how benefits went to veterans, schoolteachers, etc. as well. Being married to a schoolteacher and having many service members in my family, I thought that was an added bonus, so I verified them briefly on their website and agreed to sign up. I received a plaque in the mail- and that was it. Two full months went by without being contacted by a single lead, and I would know as my website shows the origin of all leads coming to me. I tried to cancel, saying that I hadn’t received a single lead and explaining that because of this and the fact their demographics did not really match my target market anyways. I was then told by phone and email that I could not, receiving the following message verbatim:
"Joey,
Hello, this is Larry with the Hometown Hero Project.
Recently you emailed us indicated and you wanted to cancel your order. In order to do so we do need to talk to you.
We understand you would like to cancel, normally, we would not object. However, after reviewing with the verification department, it was confirmed you agreed to move forward with the Sale and all charges thereafter that incurred. We have fullfilled our obligation and we ask that you honor your commitment to our Veteran Community.
I’m willing to do my part, are you willing to work with me?
If there is an issue with your budget we have many payment options available to help our customers.
Looking for our W9? Click here
Your financial support goes to help the following Veterans, Police, Fire Fighters, Teachers & 1st Responders. Please Click here to see all the great work that you’ve done.
Sincerely,
Larry .Miller
Customer Services+"
I responded that I could and would in fact be cancelling my advertising with them effective immediately, cancelling my card as well to ensure no further charges were incurred. I am not necessarily seeking restitution (although I certainly wouldn’t decline it), rather I find it more important to warn others against conducting any business with them in the future.