I recently signed up for TCA and I am thouroughly disappointed so far. There doesn't seem to be any info out there about anything so I am not sure whether to recruit people still, or if the company has already given up and didn't let anyone know. Very frustrating. On the other hand, I found another site called Moolala which has the same concept, but is already up and running and people are already getting paid. It's nice to see they already have live deals and are in contact with their team members.  Check it out.

http://share.moolala.com/r/8WWX3BZ

This site seems much more promising than TCA. Good luck,

Hello Avalon,yes this company, Groupon and of course the new Moolala are all similar companies that offered discount links. I think that many people are being hard on The Customer Advantage however, as I do not see it as having been a scam. I believe The Customer Advantage gave it a fairly honest shot but that things simply didn't pan out the way they had planned. Companies rise and fall all the time and there are sometimes looses and the inability to pay what needs to be paid. It is a difficult economy all over the world, and it is natural that some businesses will simply not succeed. I feel that The Customer Advantage was something of a prototype, and that companies like Moolala will simply utilize the mistakes made and learn from them. That is basically how some of the best services in the world evolve into what they have become.

Namaste

Were these the guys that offered huge discounts to people or am I thinking of Groupon, I'm a bit confused..

Heya Kland, thank you for introducing Moolala, I just did a small review on them and they definitely seem like an interesting new addition to the club. As for The Customer Advantage, I'm still thinking they are going to be mediocre at best, assuming the banks keep it alive much longer.

Hi Wallace,

I wonder the same thing about the closure letter...I guess we will find out soon.  (Hopefully!)

Not sure if you noticed my previous post, but you should really check out Moolala.com.

Same model as TCA, but I am already getting paid!

It's worth checking out if you have a chance...good luck!

-krisin

So I wonder...is this a situation in which there will be no official closure letter? So hundreds of the slower minded people will just hang and try to recruit people for like another year until they finally accept it? That's too bad if so, because its not looking good at all as far as this company amounting to anything..

I too joined the Customer Advantage and have been disappointed....but there is another great site called Moolala.

They already have thousands of members making significant money.  It’s 100% free.  It’s a really straight forward model that pays you 2% for life for anyone you refer (5 levels deep). It’s not as confusing or misleading as other sites I’ve joined.  (some claim to offer 5% but the fine print indicates otherwise)

Moolala has tons of great deals LIVE and most importantly… I’m already getting paid!!!

http://share.moolala.com/r/LC521PT

Hey fellas, I recall doing a bit of reading about TCA awhile back, and honestly I'm not sure I think this is as much a scam as it is some type of internal issue that either involves funding or some type of inner company conflict. I tried to find some information on John Milanoski, something negative in particular, and aside from seeing the work he's done in other areas I just can't seem to find anything that suggests he would be involved with anything illegal. I haven't exactly gone on a super search but nothing seems to jump out at me. I recall all the hype about  the Marketing Millionaire training system, and I don't know if that was successfull or not but it sure was popular on the internet.

I have seen some evidence that John never actually came up wih the concept, because it seems like there are tons of other companies doing the same thing. I reckon any MLM company could be designed as a scam, obviously, because how many companies would actually collect on the entry fees and have no clue what direction to take next? In this case, it sure seems like there is an overall lack of information, and even a lack of leads to information. I am most suspicious that Milanoski hasn't directly addressed any of the concerns in a non-robotic way, but I think yall should still give it a bit more time before you worry too much about a scam. It seems more like something internal than grabbin the money and running. The bottom line though, no company should ever sit there silent when its some 1000 members are all wondering where their 75 dollars went.

The one thing troubling me is that I can't seem to find any legit contact info for these guys, where is the company phone number and contact info, any of yall have it?

[quote user="JohnyTop"]

The Customer Advantge is all hype no substance.

[/quote]

Sounds more like all hype no product.

This is not unusual in this industry, and doesn't necessarily make The Customer Advantage a "scam". Unfortunately, many companies have tried to launch web-based business initiatives with grand plans and huge initial member bases ( AllAdvantage and AGLOCO for example ) but were never able to deliver.

Based on the email exchange above it looks like there is no tentative launch date, no test offers in place, and no definitive responses from daniel at the Customer Advantage.

I give credit to these marketers who decided to step back and assess the situation and decide to walk away with the loss of time already invested and not continue to invest where they can't seem to get a straight professional answer to reasonable questions.

 

I hear you. I joined to get more info through a marketing group. Just got notified they are dropping out.

This is the email ( redacting names ) but is sounds like even as top builders they couldn't get any information from what you call "The Customer Advantage Scam":

We wanted to send you an update regarding the Team Builders.  We have been inundated with questions and problems regarding the pending launch of TCA.  It has gotten to a point were we are putting in too much time trying to answer questions of which, we do not have all of the answers.  We have tried to contact the corporate office to get some answers and have been mostly unsuccessful.  We have made suggestions from weekly updates to leadership calls so the team leaders can share the informational updates with their teams.  All of our suggestions seem to have fallen on deaf ears.  We did receive a response from the corporate office this week to some of our questions.  We were not impressed with the answers.  We included the latest email response for your review.  

 

Due to inability of the company to communicate with us, we are putting our TCA business on hold.  We still firmly believe in the concept of The Customer Advantage but we can't honestly continue to invest or time to the extent that we have over the past month.  We have put our lives on hold to build this system and our organization.  Throughout this time, we have received limited support from the corporate office.  Our issues are with lack of communication and support, lack of corporate updates, planning, and deadlines.  

 

We will leave the Team Builders site up and keep it running.  We will not be moderating the forum and we are cancelling our weekly conference call.  If you continue to recruit new members to TCA and plan to use the welcome letter, please adjust it with this information.

 

If you would have questions or problems (or getting questions from your downline), we suggest you contact either support@thecustomeradvantage.com or daniel@thecustomeradvantage.com.

 

We wish you the best of success with all of your endeavors!  We also hope that TCA launches and is hugely successful.

 

Thanks,

Team Builders

 

This is the email exchange that seems to have triggered it all:

Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2011 4:59 PM
To: daniel@thecustomeradvantage.com

Subject: follow up to your voice mail

 

Daniel,

 

<redacted> and I wanted to get back to you as a follow up to the voicemail that you left for me earlier today.  We have put together a significant organization over the past 4 weeks and have really put a lot of time and effort into a duplicable system for our team members.  Our drive and efforts were based on the assumption that the company would be launching at the beginning of March in the Seattle area and launching other cities in the near future.  This was based on the information shared on the corporate conference call by John.  We were very disappointed when you told us the middle or end of March and John said some time in March.  When we shared the change of plans from beginning of March to "some time in March", it created seeds of doubt towards the company.  We have put our effort into a holding pattern until we get more information.

 

I am not aware of John or myself making any commitments beyond that there will be test deals run in specific areas in March and growth from there. I apologize for any misrepresentations or confusion.

 

We have the following questions and concerns (and are getting beat up by our team looking for answers!):

 

1.  There does not appear to be a definitive launch date.  Is there a date set as to when the company will launch offers?

I understand that you would love a definitive date. John and I would love that also! The system that is being created is unique and never been done before. TCA is moving forward as quickly and accurately as possible.

 

2.  We do not know what it will take to launch a city.  What are the corporate parameters to launch offers in a city?  Time frame, number of businesses, and number of members

There are no specific parameters in place at this time re: what will launch a city. TCA will look to member business quality, member saturation, and quality leadership to determine the sequence in which each area of the country and beyond will launch. I am sure clear parameters will be established once a few beta test areas have been completed and TCA is clear what is truly needed.

 

3.  Why is the company working on a video email and video conferencing system when we still don't have a launch date or offers available?  We are not interested in these tools at this point.  They may be valuable down the line but we are interested in getting the offers launched.  The members can not earn commissions till the offers are launched and that is what most people are looking for, not video conferencing tools.

The video email and conferencing system is a tool that a member business has brought forward and TCA is glad to be able to build the opportunity to give this great tool for FREE to the membership. It is in no way distracting from or delaying a launch. The manpower and resources that are organizing this FREE tool are separate from the other TCA teams.

 

4.  There seemed to be some negative postings on the community forum lately that did not include moderator follow up.  Then the forum was taken down.  Members are curious if the corporate office is hiding this dissension among the ranks?  There was a lot of good information on the forum for new members and now it is not available on the forum posted in the back office.  Out of the few posts in the "new" forum, there are questions regarding launch dates with no corporate response.  It seems like the company is trying to hide something from us.

TCA development is in the process of building a parallel Support and Community Forum site. This is the site that is accessed through the Help Desk in the back office. TCA Support staff was directed to monitoring and response of this new system. The previous Forum was not user or administrator friendly. The new format has more extensive tracking and will provide a better tool for member interaction.

There is nothing being hidden by the “company”. TCA is not able to give a firm launch date until all is complete. Any other statement is speculation. The day that there is a solid launch date we will no longer be in pre-launch!

 

We have built a large organization and have been in a leadership role to this group of members.  We have put our names and integrity on the line.  We feel there should be better communication between the team building leaders and the corporate office regarding any company updates or reasons why there is not any updates.  We are beyond the hype and fluff, we are sold on the idea.  Our team is in need of some facts and solid information.  

I agree that TCA corporate can do a better job of communication to the members through leaders like you. That is the reason that I originally reached out to Ken and then you. The input of you and all TCA membership will determine our current and future path to the goal. Feel free to send any questions or concerns that you have and I will do my best to respond timely and clearly.

 

We hope the corporate conference call will address some of the "issues" for the general membership!  Any answers to our questions listed above would be appreciated.

   

 

The Reply:

From: Daniel Smith
Date: Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 9:40 AM
Subject: RE: follow up to your voice mail

Hi  <redacted>,

 

I am sorry to hear of your frustration and I want to be very clear.

 

TCA is in PRE-LAUNCH. This is a period of time that has great potential for those involved and does require patience. There WILL be glitches and adjustments as this is built. I am glad and excited to work with you and Ken in this process.

 

See my responses below and feel free to call me if needed.

 

Thank you for all that each of you has created.

 

Daniel Smith

The Customer Advantage

Business Processing & Promotion

daniel@thecustomeradvantage.com

 

The Customer Advantge is all hype no substance.

Tried to get info for weeks on launch, product, anything just got runaround.

Instead of debating TCA....check out another great site/company: Moolala.

They already have thousands of members making significant money.  It’s 100% free.  It’s a really straight forward model that pays you 2% for life for anyone you refer (5 levels deep). It’s not as confusing or misleading as other sites I’ve joined.  (some claim to offer 5% but the fine print indicates otherwise)

Moolala has tons of great deals LIVE and most importantly… I’m already getting paid!!!

http://share.moolala.com/r/LC521PT

[quote user="megansavatt"]

Thanks for the advice?   I'm just not certain why you are so concerned about my success or misfortune. 

[/quote]

Let's say you see a kid playing on the railroad tracks. And you hear the train whistle coming. But the kid doesn't. Maybe he's deaf. Maybe he's never seen a train.

You've seen other kids hit before. And it's not pretty.

Do you ( Megansavatt ) just stand there and go "Hmm. Interesting. But I should not be concerned"? Even if you can't get there in time, do you still shout "LOOK OUT" and wave your arms and point to the oncoming train?

Granted, getting hit by a train and losing time and effort and money promoting a business that may or may not succeed are two different things. But I've seen too many good people scammed over the years to not shout and wave my arms.

I'm also the first person to admin I'm wrong if and when I'm wrong about a company. 

I haven't labeled The Customer Advantage a scam, but I do have concerns about any company that creates so much hype BEFORE they actually have a working product or a fixed launch date.

So I simply hope you proceed with your eyes ( and ears ) open to any oncoming trains, and honestly hope The Customer Advantage model is the one that breaks out of the pack and that you have much success.

I would say you need to excercise some patience, but based on your outlook you are clearly not involved with The Customer Advantage.   So what puzzles me is "why do you care?'   Have you been scammed in the past.   I am not financially tangled in this business and yes my time is money but to spend it on a potential plan for the future is good use of my time.   Maybe it will make us a lot of money and maybe not but if someone just gave you 1000 shares of stock in XYZ, for free, would you take it or not? 

The more information I try to find on a set launch date, the more I am beginning to think this is a big load. If you type in The Customer advantage "launch" scam, review, or any other typical term, you get the same exact review having completely flooded all of cyber space, and you can tell its "the one" because they all say: "This is an unbiased review of...".

Who really wants to be financially tangled with a company that can't deny or confirm a launch date, it's absurd.

When you do call people out on it and show a little concern, they get visibly agitated almost as if a small part of them knows something isn't right but they have put so much effort into getting things started that they are going to ride it out understandably. No one likes negative feedback unless they're the ones dishing it out, especially when it comes to MLMs. Obviously, I sincerely agree in hoping that The Customer Advantage is all it's been hyped to be, because there sure seem to be a lot of people that were once gung ho about it and are now starting to run. I think if this company pulled some of its attention out of creating those fake "Is The Customer Advantage a Scam" blogs and articles, and focused its efforts more on whatever is holding up the launch date, it would probably be launching by now.

You are right time is money!

Thanks for the advice?   I'm just not certain why you are so concerned about my success or misfortune. 

[quote user="megansavatt"]

The launch this month is discussed on conference calls.   I expect there to be bumps in the road and glitches on starting something new of

this magnitude, but thats ok.     I have nothing to lose and everything to gain regardless of the launch date.    In the meantime, I will continue to build a team.

[/quote]

No offense, but this sounds somewhat naive. Do you have much experience with MLM or Internet businesses? Often, the bumps in the road hide canyons that even Evel Kneivel can't jump. At least one experienced team has exited stage left. Several companies with this kind of hype have come and gone...

And yes, you do have something to lose. The time invested in building a team if the company doesn't actually launch as planned.

I sincerely hope they do and are everything they claim, but don't be a lemming or drink the conference call kool-aid. Weigh in the good and the bad so you don't get taken by surprise if things don't work out.

 

The launch this month is discussed on conference calls.   I expect there to be bumps in the road and glitches on starting something new of

this magnitude, but thats ok.     I have nothing to lose and everything to gain regardless of the launch date.    In the meantime, I will continue to build a team.

But you are saying the company has made an official announcement that they are launching this month? Or is it just a rumor? Because a large group left because they couldn't get a definitive answer about the launch or the online coupon product.

Could you post a link to the announcement, or the content of the email if it was announced by email?

Yes, the company launches this month and no date has been given.    The email "daily deals" will begin when the company launches.

Currently, there are over 50,000 members.   There will be scam rumors just like Groupon and Facebook had when they were building.

The Customer Advantage concept just makes sense.  

 

Is it really launching this month?

Has The Customer Advantage announced the actual launch date?

Are any email offers being sent yet?

Any updates on the issues mentioned in The Customer Advantage Scam thread?

The Easiest way to get the Best Deals at premier restaurants, extraordinary offers from Local businesses, spas, area getaways, boutiques, amazing activities, products and services of all kinds.   The company launches this month!  Don't miss the boat!

FREE to join!  Tell your friends to join for FREE and when they take advantage of the daily deals you get a commission!

www.fightdiabetes.thecustomeradvantage.com

Save 50% or More, get an email a day with great offers.  

 

Thanks for the great post!  I couldn't agree with you more!  

The Customer Advantage has eliminated some areas that keep individuals from being successful with traditional MLM and network marketing businesses.

1.  With The Customer Advantage, there are no products to "sell".  The majority of people today would admit to not being a great salesperson.  With this program, you are just sharing the discounts.

2.  The Customer Advantage does not have any monthly purchase requirements or "autoship" options.  Many individuals do not like being forced into buying products.  It is the old saying, "people love to shop and buy things but they hate to be sold something".

3.  The Customer Advantage has no costs or fees.  It is free to register and there are no ongoing fees.  You are also provided with the corporate website and a back office.

These things alone do not ensure success but it opens the opportunity up to many more individuals!  Our team is setting up some simple systems for our team members to plug into and utilize to better their opportunity for success.  As you said, this is only as good as the people that utilize them and the work ethic of these individuals.

Time will tell regarding the overall success of The Customer Advantage but due to the items listed above, I believe the chances are much greater for a hugely successful company.

If you would have any questions about the program, you can reach me through my site:  http://idoc.thecustomeradvantage.com or http://www.wix.com/tcapgh/socialmediatrend.

 

Thanks again!!

 

 

Over the last month, I've seen The Customer Advantage being promoted pretty consistently all over the place.  A good friend of mine sent me an email asking me what I thought of the program, after replying, I decided to post it to this forum just incase anyone could use a little guidance in considering whether or not The Customer Advantage is a potential business opportunity.

John Milanoski

The Customer Advantage was founded by John Milanoski, an Internet marketer and entrepreneur  pretty well known for his Marketing Millionaire training system.  Spending a great deal of his time studying marketplace trends, he was able to observe how much potential social media had in influencing the local marketplace.  It wasn't long after this realization that he combined a working socially driven consumer service with a network marketing structure, which sets his company apart  from the two forerunners in this marketing division.

The Customer Advantage Business Model

The basic idea behind The Customer Advantage Business Model is that a new member is sent an offer from a local business to provide a product or service at a considerable discount, usually in the range of 50% off.  If the offer is worth taking advantage of for the member, they simply purchase the corresponding coupon.  As this process carries on, the business gains new customer traffic  and potential sales volume while the member gets a great deal. In some ways this is similar to Living Social, and Groupon.

Like most other network marketing systems, The Customer Advantage is built around the personal referral of new members, whom each receive a replicated web site which aids in the enrollment of new members. When your referral makes a purchase, you end up with 5% of that sale, in addition to a 5% override commission on all members in their downline through 5 generational levels. Should you enroll a local business, you'll end up with 2% commission on all sales made through the offers generated by that business.

Right now, the company is still in pre-launch and pretty much focusing on gathering members and businesses so the coupons have yet to be offered, but are expected to begin soon.  These kinds of pre-launch situations come with a pretty standard amount of uncertainty, regardless of the company, and they come with the opportunity to really make a killing, or completely fail, due simply because you just can't predict a company's viability. It all depends on the leadership abilities of those in charge of the company, as well as the ability to gather market shares from the leaders.

The way to success is no different here than any other potential MLM opportunity, and it relies on the ability to build relationships with other potential members. The average person relies solely on the package they receive from their company with the cloned web site, hoping to make a thriving business, but to really go above and beyond takes originality and creativity, especially in presentation. The actual business concept is tried and trusted in the marketplace, so this could very well be a less risky opportunity for any beginning network marketer.

I definitely see potential.