Complaint Review: Mastermind Software INC - Franklin Tennessee

The definition of the word misrepresent and its synonym distort is as follows:

To present information in a way that does not accord with the truth. MISREPRESENT usually involves a deliberate intention to deceive, either for profit or advantage. DISTORT implies a purposeful twisting or emphasizing of certain statements so as to produce an inaccurate or misleading impression.

The word Misrepresent accurately describes my experience with Mastermind Software.

I purchased Activator for Microsoft Outlook in March of 2007 for the exorbitant fee of $1861.95. I feel as though I have been scammed by Carl Thompson, President of Mastermind Software. For the last 18 or so months, I have made every effort to implement and utilize Mastermind Software in my business. I am a computer expert. I have 7 years of experience as a systems Administrator and I am Microsoft certified as an expert. When I purchased Activator for Outlook, I was promised a sales automation program the integrates with Outlook capable of supporting multiple users. Also included was unlimited support and update package for which I paid $295.00 and what is termed a Sales Action Plan for general sales and Mortgage Marketing. After experiencing extreme difficulty implementing and using Activator, I opted to pay additional fees totaling $793.00 for what was termed a Super group for configuration and implementation support. In addition, I paid $250.00 for a landing page setup that Mr. Carl Thomson said I could have for free. I have spent a whopping $ 2904.95 with Mastermind Software. It has been by far the worst mistake buying software I have ever made. Mastermind Software has failed to live up to the promises made to me by Mr. Carl Thompson, who misrepresented the capabilities of the software and the support available to me as a paying customer in the following ways:

The Sales Action Plans are advertised as ready to go. Mr. Carl Thomson told me specifically that using the sales action plans provided with the software is ready to go from day one. They are not. None of the templates provided are in any way related to sales. Each and every template must be extensively re-written. This process requires hundreds of hours of work by the end user. The Sales Action Plans are not useful ay all. The end user must create his own plan to make it work.

The content of the action plans are complete BS. They consist of series of Thank You notes and other irrelevant correspondence that has no relationship to the service my company provides. Who is going to read 300 variations of Thank You and respond by purchasing my service? No One that's who. The value of these Sales Action Plans is completely misrepresented by both Mr. Thompson and the information on the mastermindsoftware.com website.

I was sold a support and upgrade (conveniently called an update package). The support personnel are incompetent. Not one of the people responsible for helping me implement the Activator software have any technical background, experience, industry certifications, or work experience qualifications whatsoever. I heard the phrase I don't know anything about Microsoft Outlook at least a dozen times from Mr. Ron Mock. Mr. Mock is responsible for supporting Activator. Mr. Mock is an experienced Sales professional but he is not technically qualified to support the Activator product that is designed for use with Microsoft Outlook. He is in the position along with Michelle Brooks for providing the support I paid for. I made my original purchase in March of 2007. I made every effort to implement the software and get support. 6 months later I called Mr. Thompson to get help and he convinced me that I needed to purchase an upgrade package called Supergroup and version 4.0 I had already paid him for upgrades but somehow he weaseled his way into my checkbook again. Purchasing this upgrade package is decision I thoroughly regret

My continual requests for support implementing the software have been ignored for days if not weeks. For the almost $2700.00 I paid to Mastermind Software, I expect courteous and timely response. This is not what I received. It too anywhere from 10 days to 2 weeks for her to respond to my requests for help. In addition, on more than one occasion Ms. Michelle Brooks was rude and condescending on the phone with me. She acted as if my questions and requests for support were an imposition.

The Activator software does not allow the Microsoft Outlook user to share a contacts database, but Mastermind Software sells what they call Network Seats. By labeling additional user licenses Network Seats they imply that Outlook users can share information and collaborate on the sales process. This is not true. The Activator software will only access the personal storage (contact database) of a single user. This means that you can purchase additional software user licenses, but the contact data cannot be shared. The word Network in relation to the function of Activator is false and misleading. But that doesn't stop Mr. Carl Thompson from representing it as collaboration software when he is trying to convince you to spend money on his crappy software.

Mr. Ron Mock makes continual negative references to Microsoft Corporation, its Outlook product, and Mr. Bill Gates on a continual basis. This is unprofessional behavior for a representative of a company that sells software that integrates with Microsoft products. His attitude towards Microsoft Corporation makes it difficult to get implementation support I paid for.

To sum it up, Mastermind has my hard earned money and I have software that does not do what it is supposed to do. I paid for support and upgrades I never received. Mr. Carl Thomson lied to me to get me to spend my money with him and he and his company did not keep the promises they made. I would warn anyone thinking about doing business with Mastermind Software to be very careful. These prople are not to be trusted.

Keith

Phoenix, Arizona

U.S.A.