I've Tried That » Rebate processor jobs

Stay Away from Diana DeAngelo and Process Affiliate Rebates.

Steve — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:11:31 +0000

I can’t believe rebate processing ads are still around. We’ve covered this topic in depth time and time again. Every rebate processing job ad is the same old scam: they are building up affiliate marketing into something it’s not. It’s not a job in the traditional sense. You don’t get paid by big name companies to “process rebates.” And you most certainly will not make a six-figure salary working one-hour a day.

Diana DeAngelo and the Process Affiliate Rebates Scam

I’ll keep this review short because I thought rebate processing jobs were all but dead. Process Affiliate Rebates makes two important claims. You can make money by simply filling out online forms and that you will enter provided data into these forms, then get paid for your work. These are both outright lies. Here’s why.

Make money simply by filling out online forms. First, these aren’t regular forms. They are forms to create advertisements on sites like Google and Yahoo. That’s right. The form you are filling out will cost you money. A lot of money. You won’t make money by filling out the forms. You make money IF someone clicks on the ad you created by filling out the form AND THEN buys a product!
Enter the data into the forms that we provide you, click submit, sit back and collect the money. Again, it’s far from that simple. The forms are not “provided” for you by this site. They are part of the process of creating an ad. And you can’t just create the ad (i.e., “click submit”) and expect to make money. You have to somehow get that ad in front of LOTS of people so that someone will click and buy. There’s no “sitting back” involved. It’s a long and complicated process that could take years and thousands of dollars to perfect.

So let’s recap. You will be paying $150 to learn how to spend more money. You won’t be getting a job. You won’t get paid to submit online forms. If it was that easy, why isn’t everyone already doing it? Since this is a short review, you may be looking for more of an explanation. Click here to read our previous review on rebate processing jobs. That post can better explain

How to Get Your Money Back

800-818-7155 is the Process Affiliate Rebates customer support number.

After doing a bit of searching, I found this phone number: 800-818-7155 but there is a good news/bad news scenario here. Good news: you can get a refund. Bad news: they put you on hold for over 45 minutes. If you’re going to call, be sure to be ready to wait it out. Remember to keep your cool and don’t give up. Get back the money these guys stole from you.

Who is behind Process Affiliate Rebates?

Does ProcessAtHome or SiteReviewAuthority ring any bells? How about Angela Penbrook or Angel Stevens? That’s right. It’s the same company peddling the same crap with a different name. ABC News did a 20/20 segment on these guys which you can view here. How are they still in business? Better question, why aren’t they in jail? I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I can tell you one thing for certain. Stay far, far away from Diana DeAngelo and Process Affiliate Rebates.

Angela Penbrook Update

Joe — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:44:41 +0000

Dozens of people have stepped forward and left more than 200 comments on our Angela Penbrook and rebate processing posts. People who got burned, people who didn’t, people who got their money back, people who almost got burned until they found I’ve Tried That and learned from the sad experiences of those before them. All of you are helping lots of people save lots of money. That’s a thing of beauty.

New Dirt on “Angela”
With the help of our readers, we’ve learned a few interesting things about “Angela” and how she does ~~business~~ her dirty work. This is the kind of people you’re dealing with:

The ebook that some victims receive after payment (and which is available in html on at least one of her sites) is a copy of an older e-book, “Get Google Ads Free.” She is reselling something she didn’t even write (unless she’s the one who wrote the original ebook).
Carl believes that her site planted a spybot on his computer that regularly pops up a Penbrook window. Now that’s a pleasant surprise.
Judy posted all of the Penbrook contact information she knows, as well as filed a report with the BBB, and tells you how to do the same.
Jenn asks a provocative question about why Penbrook wants to know how much credit you have available. A word to the wise: Never give more info than is necessary.
Perhaps most important, Loretta was successful in recovering her lost money. Not from Penbrook, which would have been sweet, but from her credit card company. That’s cool too. If enough pissed off customers call their credit card companies, the banks will come down hard on the perpetrators.
When you call the customer service number and ask for a refund, they tell you it’s being processed and you’ll have it in 3-7 days…even if you didn’t sign up!. As one reader put it, they’re probably operating with a pencil and paper.
They often give out the same confirmation number to people asking for refunds.

Of course, none of this tells us anything that we didn’t already know: this is the most blatant scam we’ve seen since we started I’ve Tried That last year.

Angela Penbrook? Angel Stevens? A Scam by Any Other Name…

Joe — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:45:27 +0000

Hey, you! “Angela Penbrook!” We’re calling you out. You are deliberately misleading people desperate for legitimate work so you can sell your “rebate processing program.” We’re gonna expose you.

When we said we were going to review the “rebate processing jobs” that have become popular over the last year, one of the first commenters asked if we were going to look at Angela Penbrook’s system at myrebateprocessor.com or processfromhome.com. Or is it “Angel Stevens?” It doesn’t really matter because both “women” and their claims are equally misleading.

[Update March 10, 2009: ABC News's 20/20 program featured this scam on March 6. Click here to watch the segment.]

We didn’t sign up for her program because it was $197, while other sites are offering the exact same “opportunity” for as little as $29.95. And because we didn’t sign up, this is not a full review. It’s merely my opinion based on experience and based on the claims on “Angela’s” own website.

Read All About “Rebate Processing Jobs”
If you’re new to I’ve Tried That, you’ll want to click over to our full review of rebate processor jobs. We signed up for one of them and tell you all about what they’re really offering.

After you’ve read that original review, this one will make a lot more sense. It’s the same pig, just with different lipstick.

It’s Not a Job. They’re Barely Rebates
What Penbrook is offering you is not a job. You’re not going to get batches of work from Home Depot of Blockbuster or Netflix. It is internet marketing. And to call what you would be doing “rebate processing” is deliberately misleading. Here’s how the program is supposed to work:

The forms you fill out are used to create Internet advertisements for companies selling products through Clickbank, a large Internet marketing clearing house.
After you create an ad, you have to get lots of people to see it. You do this by spreading your ads all over the ‘Net. (Psst! That’s called “spam” and is frowned upon in polite societies.)
When lots of people see it, some will click on it.
When lots of people click on it, some will purchase whatever your ad is selling.
Then, and only then, will you get paid.
The “rebate” is you sending part of your commission back to the buyer.

Lots of Hype, Little Substance
Here’s a clue you can use to spot misleading “job” advertisements every time: look for the sales tactics. Why are sales tactics a clue that you’re about to be taken to the cleaners? Because the scammer led you to believe that you’re learning about a job. But if you read the whole page, do you have a good idea of what you will be doing?

Imagine going to a job interview and your potential boss tells you a sob story about how broke he was, how he finally “made it” and how you can make thousands of dollars a day. Wouldn’t you be suspicious he didn’t tell you what work you would be doing? The same principle applies to Internet “job” advertisements.

Here are the sales tactics Angela Penbrook uses at myrebateprocessor.com. See the looooong page that starts out with emotional hype? See the clock ticking down until your chance to buy expires? Those are designed to sell you something, not to get you to do legitimate work. Do you really think the positions are almost full and that “today might be the last day?” It’s a sales tactic. See the testimonials? See the pictures of riches and happy people? All are designed to push your emotional buttons to get you to click and buy.

The Full Truth About Some of Her Lies
$15 per rebate? If you make a sale from your Internet ads AND the commission is more than $15 AND you decide to send all but $15 back to the purchaser as a “rebate,” then yes, you made $15. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of “if.”

Three easy steps? Yes, you can sign up at Clickbank, create ads, and see who has made purchases that are eligible for refunds. I guess those are three steps. But they are NOT easy steps. They’re categories of steps, each one requiring countless hours and clicks. You’ll spend many hours just to get started, let alone the complex steps involved in getting people to see and click on your ads.

The reasons processing rebates is profitable. These reasons are about halfway down her page, after the table showing how much money you can make. They are deliberately written to make you think companies are dieing to “hire” you to work from home processing their rebates. I hope it’s clear by now that nothing could be further from the truth.

If You Don’t Believe Me, How About the Better Business Bureau?
The BBB report has this to say about myrebateprocessor.com:

Complainants allege false advertising, misrepresentation, inability to obtain refunds, and failure to honor their money back guarantee. Some customers complain that instead of receiving an employment opportunity, they received only instructions on internet sales tactics. Other complainants report they are unable to speak with anyone at the company or that company personnel is rude or fails to resolve their concerns. Most complainants allege the company fails to provide any information or instructions on obtaining refunds. All complaints are pending at this time.

And this:

We believe this company’s advertising is deceptive and misleading. They are not directly offering employment. They sell information, not viable work opportunities. In our experience, the only one collecting any money will be this company collecting your $197.00. We know of no work at home offer that has ever generated the amount of income implied or advertised in the offer.

Scrubbing the Ick Off
I could go on, but I’ve spent enough time with Angela Penbrook. I need to go take a shower now. I’m so thoroughly disgusted with her deception, I can’t even tell you. Here at I’ve Tried That, we hear from lots of people who are just trying to make a little extra working from home, and they get taken in by lying pages like this one. They usually spend money they don’t have to sign up for programs they don’t understand. Angela Penbrook knows this and plays your fears to make herself rich.

We’ve written a book that tells you how to find real jobs online and how to spot deceptive advertising like rebate processing sites use. Check it out. Yes, we’re trying to sell you something (the book), so don’t be surprised when you see the sales tactics I just warned you about. And anyway, it’s a lot cheaper than you probably think.

[Update: April 5, 2008]
This is very revealing. Connie in the comments called “Angela’s” 1-800 number to demand a refund. The rep on the other end of the line took her name and information, put her on hold, and then came back and said her refund was being processed. But Connie never signed up to begin with! “Angela Penbrook’s” operation is probably being run from a kitchen table somewhere with a pencil and paper.

Coming Soon: Mortgage Refunds Processing

Joe — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:31:12 +0000

Can you make money by processing FHA and HUD mortgage insurance premium refunds? I’ve Tried That is about to find out. Or rather, one of our Secret Agents is about to find out. (Note to self: It’s hardly “secret” if you’re publishing it on a blog. Response from self: So?)

According to the people who are pitching this opportunity online, there are hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in HUD and FHA accounts waiting for people like you to find the rightful owners. The money comes from mortgage insurance premiums that are due to be refunded to the signer of the mortgage, but he or she can’t be found. If you find the owner and put them in touch with their money, you get a cut of the refund.

At least, that’s how the story goes. A number of sites are ready to sell you software and instructions to help you get started in your own HUD/FHA Mortgage Insurance Refund business—for a price, of course. AmericanRefundServices.com and EagleSoftwareServices.com are among them.

But what do we always say? “No legitimate job will charge you before you can start working.” We still believe that’s true. But we also know there are some companies out there selling legitimate products that will help you do a job or establish a business.

Fany is our new Secret Agent. She writes:

I purchased your e-book, too, and I found it to be extremely helpful. I have found really good job leads since and am actively sending my resume to a couple of companies.

However, I replied to this one that I found on craigslist and they contacted me back but they are charging a fee for the software. It sounds legit and I did some research on the HUD site and it states, “Other ‘tracer’ companies are legal. But they do not represent HUD, and they will charge you a fee. You do not have to use a tracer to get your refund, if you are owed one.” The program I want to try is http://www.eaglesoftwareservices.com. I found some forums in which it states that some of these programs are legit and some that say this is a rip off selling you old lists from HUD. I could not locate anything on I’ve Tried That.
—Da Fanster, Private Eye

Doing her own research…bought our ebook, but one of the leads she found is charging her…searched I’ve Tried That for info first. Sounds like a winner! We’re going to sign her up, she’ll give the program a full trial, and we’ll post our results here! That’s what we do here at I’ve Tried That.

Update: Read the full review here.

How to Find Real Jobs Online
Until we get the word back on this program from Da Fanster, why not check out our ebook? It gives you the best information we know about how to find real jobs online. They won’t make you rich, but a couple hundred bucks per month can sure reduce the stress levels. Take a look!

Rebate Processor Jobs Are Scams!

Joe — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:55:38 +0000

[See our analysis of Angela Penbrook's rebate processing offer here.]

Steve is in the shower washing the scam off, so I get to write the full review of rebateprocessorjobs.com. Like absolute suckers, we had to spend $39 of our hard-earned dollars, signed up and prepared to make tons of money. However—surprise, surprise—it’s not what the sales page led us to believe. Here’s the short review: to say that these are “jobs” is a bald-faced lie. It’s affiliate marketing. The sales page says you’ll make $15 per rebate processed. What it doesn’t tell you is that the $15 is what’s left of your sales commission after you send a rebate—from your own money—to your buyer.

Here’s the long review:
Why you’re here
What the site leads you to believe
The truth
Inside Rebateprocessorjobs.com
Other rebate processor “jobs” sites
But Joe, don’t some people make money with affiliate marketing?
Together we can put misleading Web sites out of business

Why you’re here
You’re probably here because you’ve searched for ways to earn money online. The Google gods sent you to sites saying they would help you get a job processing rebates at home. You thought, “Hmmm…that sounds pretty good. I can do that.” But you decided to look around a little to see if the site is legit. You searched some more and that brought you to us.

You came to the right place. Unlike other sites that say “we’ve tried them all and THESE are the legitimate ones,” we are not an affiliate of rebateprocessorjobs.com. We try stuff out and give you the straight truth.

What the site leads you to believe
Rebateprocessorjobs.com targets people who are searching for online jobs or other ways to earn money from the Internet. It counts on you being a little bit desperate and it appeals to your emotions by telling you that your money problems can be over and you can have the lifestyle you’ve always wanted.

It claims that you can make a lot of money by processing rebates at home, and it leads you to believe that this processing is “a job.” Well, it kind of depends on the meaning of the word “job.” If it means “work in which you throw up advertisements all over the Web in hopes that someone will buy from your ad,” then yeah, I guess it’s a job. But Rebateprocessorjobs.com knows that you don’t think of a job that way, so it’s lying by intent. Note to Rebateprocessorjobs.com: Hey! Yeah, you, “Cindy Dalton!” Here’s what “job” means: An agreement with an employer in which you exchange your time and skill for an agreed-upon amount of money. Of course, they already know that. They’re counting on you thinking that. The sales page is expressly written to lead you to believe this.

The site leads you to believe that you’ll get a job processing rebates. You think, like I did, that such a job would involve companies telling you which customer have made a qualifying purchase, and then paying you to do the necessary typing and stuff. This is not the case. The “company” making the sale is you through your Clickbank ads. The “forms” you’ll fill out to “process” the rebates are the fields necessary to send your money to the buyer from your PayPal account.

Rebateprocessorjobs.com also claims:

“Make money simply by filling out online forms”
Enter the data into the forms that we provide you, click submit, sit back and collect the money
You’ll earn $15 per rebate processed
You can make this much money:
2 a day @ $15 each=$210 per week or $840 month or $10,080 a year.
6 a day @ $15 each=$630 per week or $2520 month or $30,240 a year.
15 a day @ $15 each=$1575 per week or $6300 month or $75,600 a year.
Opportunities like this do not come by every day.

The truth
All of these claims have kernels of truth to them, but they are intentionally misleading.

“Make money simply by filling out online forms.” This is a lie. You won’t make money by filling out the forms like you would if it were a real job. You make money IF someone clicks on the ad you created by filling out the form AND THEN buys the product!
Enter the data into the forms that we provide you, click submit, sit back and collect the money. Again, it’s far from that simple. The forms are not “provided” for you by this site. They are part of the process of creating a Clickbank ad. And you can’t just create the ad (i.e., “click submit”) and expect to make money. You have to somehow get that ad in front of LOTS of people so that someone will click and buy. There’s no “sitting back” involved.
You’ll earn $15 per rebate processed. Yeah, and my grandma’s a super model. Here’s how they came up with that number. IF you sell a $37 product from Clickbank and IF the commission is $23.50, and IF you offered a rebate in your ad for $8.50, the difference of $15 is yours to keep! Woo-hoo! What about the bajillion products in Clickbank that are not $37, and for which the commission is not $23.50? Rebateprocessorjobs.com doesn’t say.
You can make this much money:
2 a day @ $15 each=$210 per week or $840 month or $10,080 a year.
6 a day @ $15 each=$630 per week or $2520 month or $30,240 a year.
15 a day @ $15 each=$1575 per week or $6300 month or $75,600 a year.
This is utter nonsense. As you know by now, you won’t make $15 for each form you fill out, so all of these numbers are purely theoretical. They are only possible IF you put your ads in front of enough people AND enough people click on your ads AND enough of those who click make a purchase AND you’ve chosen Clickbank products with a commission of $15 or more.
Opportunities like this do not come by every day. Yes they do. Hundreds of them, day after day after day.

Once you’ve paid your money (which is nonrefundable), you learn the full story. Here’s how it all goes down:

You sign up at Clickbank, an online clearing house of thousands of products
You choose products you want to sell
You create ads for those products
You plaster those ads all over the ‘Net (this step could cost you money)
You somehow get people to see your ads. (the site doesn’t tell you this, nor how to do it)
You somehow get them to click on your ads, not the ~~dozens hundreds~~ thousands of other ads from your competitors (the site doesn’t tell you how to do this)
You only earn a commission IF someone buys the product you’re selling after clicking on the ad you created. Read that again!
You send part of your commission back to the buyer

Wait…where’s the rebate? Where’s the processing? You see the last step? That’s the rebate. The “processing” is when you look at the email addresses of your buyers and manually send them money through PayPal. Not quite the “job” you were expecting, is it?

Inside Rebateprocessorjobs.com
When you pay your $37, you get instant access to the member’s area of Virtual Training Solutions. The first page you’ll see in the “members area” is a list of other money making ~~scams~~opportunities. The generous folks at Virtual Training Solutions (which is the “members area” of rebateprocessorjobs.com) give you access to all of these for no additional charge! The links below are to I’ve Tried That reviews on each topic:

Paid surveys
Mystery shopping
Rebate processing
Pay to read e-mail and surf
Data entry, transcription, customer service jobs
Non-computer work from home
Hand out free samples
eBay and wholesale
Paid to drive your car with ads on it

If you click on the links in the members area, you’ll be taken down an endless road of the site’s affiliate links: things they are trying to sell you so they can earn the commission.

Continue to the Rebate Processing section and you’ll get full instructions on the steps I numbered for you above. The steps they outline are true, and the instructions are reasonable, but by now, a buyer will have realized that this is not a job like they were promised. There’s no way in hell you’re going to sign up for this bullshit “opportunity” and start pulling in money right away.

Other rebate processor “jobs” sites
Seen one, seen ‘em all. Folks, they’re all the same. I don’t care what the url is or what the sales page says. If they promise you big money processing rebates, they’re selling you the same stinky cheese. EZrebateprocessing uses identical images to show you how the program works, so I know the program is the sam. But it charges $197!! If you must throw your money away, I suggest flushing $37 rather than $197. Or better yet, send it to me via PayPal at joe[at]ivetriedthat[dot]com. I’ll at least say, “Thank you” and will still be here in the morning!

Be wary of the following individuals and sites:
Angela Pembrook (or Penbrook) at myrebateprocessor.com (BBB Report: F) (Also see our write-up of Penbrook here.)
Cindy Dalton and Rebate Processor Jobs at rebateprocessorjobs.com/ (BBB Report: F.)
Virtual Training Solutions at virtual-training-solutions.com/ (BBB Report: None.)
Angel Stevens and Process At Home at processathome.com/ (BBB Report: F.)
EZ Rebate Processing at internetprofithouse.com/

But Joe, don’t people make money with affiliate marketing?
Of course they do. A lot of people make some money. Some people make a lot and you can too. If you’re interested in learning how to make money through affiliate marketing, you need the proper guidance. That’s why we highly recommend the Wealthy Affiliate to every beginner who is looking to learn how to make money from home. Read our review on the Wealthy Affiliate by clicking here.

Together we can put misleading Web sites out of business
Scams like this one thrive on ignorance and emotional appeal. You can help put these guys out of business by spreading the word about this post and the dirty tricks of scammers that want to kick you when you’re down.

We Signed Up for Rebate Processing

Joe — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:06:46 +0000

We did it. Forked over our hard-earned cash and signed up for Rebateprocessorjobs.com. First impressions? Steve is quite direct:

You have no idea how incredibly used and dirty I feel for sending these scammers money.

It doesn’t look promising. PLEASE, if you’re considering any kind of rebate processing job, just wait a couple of days for our complete review. Here’s the short version: rebate processing “jobs” are not jobs at all. They’re affiliate marketing schemes. You’ll spend a lot of time and money and get nothing in return. Run fast, run far.

Until our review, be wary of the following individuals and sites:
Cindy Dalton and Rebate Processor Jobs at rebateprocessorjobs.com/ (BBB Report: F.)
Virtual Training Solutions at virtual-training-solutions.com/ (BBB Report: None.)
Angel Stevens and Process At Home at processathome.com/ (BBB Report: F.)
EZ Rebate Processing at internetprofithouse.com/

[2/23 Update: Read the full review of rebateprocessorjobs.com here.]

If you’re looking for a real way to make some money from home, then check out our guide to working at home. It’s a book dedicated to showing you the ins and outs of landing a real telecommuting job.

Next on Our Radar: Rebate Processor Jobs

Joe — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:59:19 +0000

Several people have written lately to ask us to check out rebate processing jobs. Are these new to the online “jobs” scene? I hadn’t noticed them prior to about four weeks ago. Either I was just browsing the wrong sites, or they’re a brand new animal—but I doubt that.

Two Web sites in particular seem to be attracting a lot of attention: EZ Rebate Processing and Rebate Processor Jobs. They look cut from the same cloth: stock photos of smiling, happy people, pictures of cash, testimonials, slashed prices, yellow highlighter, and yes, a countdown timer to get you to buy now because OMG! Can’t you see that time is running out?! You see the timer?? Only 30 seconds left!

The two sites even use almost identical images to illustrate the “job.” Check it out (click on the images to see the full size, nasty pictures):

Site A	Site B

Despite these similarities, there are some differences. One features pictures of a car, a jet, and a mansion to inspire you about the lifestyle you’ll lead. The other features a happy family to make the same point. But the important difference is this: one charges $197 for the secrets of getting rich by processing rebates, and the other charges $39. Guess which one we’ll be signing up for?

When you hear “rebate processing…”
I’m almost 100% certain these companies don’t deliver on what they’re leading you to believe. If you’re someone who might search online for a rebate processing job, you are probably thinking that big companies, like, say Best Buy, need people to do the paperwork and data entry associated with all those special offer rebates, right? That’s the expectation that the Web sites are cultivating with the term “rebate processor jobs.”

Before even clicking the sign up button, I’m suspicious. I’m suspicious because of the tell-tale signs of the presell page, which Steve warned us about long ago. I’m suspicious because, if this is really a “job,” why am I the one paying money? Shouldn’t I be receiving it after doing some work? Those warnings right there are enough to make me want to run away. But this is I’ve Tried That. We try stuff and show you what’s really going on. It’s what we do.

Stay tuned.

Update: We took the initiative and signed up for Rebate Processor Jobs. Click here to continue reading.

Update: Read the full review of rebatetprocessorjobs.com here.

Until then, check out our very own Complete Guide to Working at Home. We break down the steps you need to take to find a real, paying job that you can do from the comfort of your home. Best of all, you set the price you can afford to pay.