Internet Speedway

WHAT THEY SAY

Pitch

Internet Speedway package that enables you to start and manage a home based Internet business! Gives you all of the tools to design, develop and manage your own store on the Internet. You can add your own products or choose from “thousands” of products.

What do they offer

This company offers a business opportunity selling products on the Internet. Some of these products include health and beauty items, ladies’ apparel jewelry, men’s apparel, designer sunglasses, cookware, customer luggage equipment and sports apparel.

How does it work

IS gives you a virtual store that is hosted by their servers. They charge you for hosting on a monthly basis. You select products from a warehouse of thousands of products. Add the products you want to sell on your store. When you sell the product on your web site, you collect the payment and THEN you pay the warehouse for the product. The warehouse will ship the products directly to your customer as if the product came from you. The Starter Edition gives you 10 Web Pages and the Turbo Edition gives you an unlimited number of web pages

Franchise or Independent Business Opportunity

This is a independent business but there are monthly charges that you will have to pay.

The Cost

Internet Speedway has a somewhat complicated pricing structure, which is the source of much of the criticism against them. The Starter Edition comes with an introductory offer for $9.95 (shipping & handling). You get a package containing: 1 start up CD, 3 booklets on selling online, getting customers, and how to use auction sites and a coupon to upgrade to their superstore. If you decide to continue its $350 paid in five monthly payments of $69.99 (Another source of criticism,keep reading). If you upgrade to their superstore there are more costs involved. Here’s a list of the charges I could find, there could be more:

Turbo Edition: $349.95 
Monthly Hosting Charge: $30.00 
Warehouse Membership Charge: $20.00 per month 
Super Affiliate program $29.95 immediate purchase (After $129.95)
Traffic Seeker $34.95
VIP Priority Support: $149.99/year or $99.99 for 6 months
Internet Shopping Mall, “iMall”: $39.99/month

Do they offer a money back guarantee

Yes, they do offer a 30 day money back guarantee. From their site:

Pay nothing more unless you decide to keep Internet Speedway after 30 days. If within your 30-Day Introductory period you are not completely satisfied, you can request your return authorization number and instructions and owe nothing more.

However, there are numerous reports of people having difficulties trying to get their money back. Check the ‘What People Are Saying’ section of this report for more information.

What kind off support do they offer?

Unlimited online technical support for no additional charge.
60 Day Priority Support Upgrade for $19.95.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT…Internet Speedway

Based on the research conducted there’s one overarching opinion of Internet Speedway…It’s a scam. There are literally hundreds of posts on several forums and websites that detail a long list of bad business practices of this company. The complaints run the gambit from deceptive sales tactics, poor customer service, frivolous billing, poor product design, and more. Here are just a few quotes from what real people are saying:

“My example is: I bought a Silver site solely based on the promise of 24,000 hits a year to my site. I thought with that many “hits” I would sell my share and at least pay for the site and get it off the ground as a legitimate business. I am 65 and really need some extra income to survive. I naturally assumed that the “hits” would be legitimate third party hits and that they had the software and methods to get people to my site. Well I am getting thousands of “hits” as they promised. Problem is , what they did not tell me was that the “hits” would be generated by them, directly from their website and url. Their own records show that. I hired an outfit six weeks ago to help me. They say the site and the way it is built is very unfriendly to search engines. “
 -Posted on www.scam.com
 
“Internet Speedway is one big SCAM. You sign up to get information on it and guess what? They have you signed up to BUY a website, already having your credit card number because it cost you $7.95 for s/h to get the information. Of course you have NO IDEA you’ve bought anything. You take a quick look at some of the material and decide that isn’t what you were looking for and discard it. Months later you discover they have been stealing your money from you and they absolutely REFUSE TO REFUND 1 CENT. Also when you call, it is a company called MONTEREY FINANCIAL. BEWARE OF THESE CON ARTISTS.”
 -Posted on www.scam.com
 
“..In October, I was contacted by a sales person who claimed to be an employee of Internet Speedway. He convinced me to purchase a training program which included classes and tools to make me successful in building an internet business. I purchased the program because it included 10 classes with a coach and a year of technical support. I have my Master’s degree in IS and I thought that I would certainly be successful if I used all the tools that were provided to me. The first “red flag” that came up during this experience was after I had provided my credit card information for the purchase of the program. The assistant who summarized my bill notified me that I had actually purchased both a membership to Auction Advisor and a “platinum upgrade” of Internet Speedway. I didn’t realize that I was getting an upgrade of Internet Speedway. I was satisfied with the version that I had…”
 -Posted on www.compliantsboard.com

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  I check other sources like Ripoff Report.com, they have 104 reports on IS. Honestly, I didn’t read all of them, but the top 20 are all negative. But there are people out there trying to make this work for them.  For instance:

Good luck William. We think you’ll need it 

BBB

At this point you probably won’t be surprised by the fact that Internet Speedway does not have a favorable rating with the Better Business Bureau. Here’s a portion of what’s posted on the BBB’s site

Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB due to a pattern of complaints.
Complaints concern billing or collection issues and refund issues. Complaints allege that after paying the initial fee of $9.95 for the software, the product is never received or is received several weeks later. Additionally, complaints allege that although the service is cancelled within the 30 day free trial period, the company either bills the consumers for 5 payments of $69.95 or the company drafts funds from the consumers bank account without authorization. The company’s website states “You do not need to know anything about HTML, computers, shopping carts or even e-commerce to design your very own professional-looking Web site using Internet Speedway’s SiteBuilder. Our user-friendly Express Set Up Wizard will take you through a very simple five step process to get your Web site up and running”; however, consumers experience technical difficulties and allege the website set up is confusing.

You can read the full report here 

Final Say

In sum the opinions expressed by the majority of information found on Internet Speedway is negative. The products and services the company provides are not unique and are widely available at lower costs. The tactics that company uses to gain customers and upsell them more expensive product and service offerings are considered illegal by a lot people.

Overall Grade: F