Following the delayed commissions after which the disabling of Financial savings Freeway International’s web site for nearly a month, proprietor Steve Gresham is now threatening associates who discuss it with authorized motion.
To interrupt down precisely what occurred final December, we flip to a January ninth YouTube video from Kyrsti Snyder.
Snyder, who has since left Financial savings Freeway International, describes herself because the “primary earner for over a yr and a half” within the firm.
Snyder reveals Financial savings Freeway cost issues started on or round December thirteenth. Following non-payment of commissions, Financial savings Freeway initially dismissed issues as unscheduled “programming updates”.
Whereas commissions have been ultimately paid on the thirteenth, that is the final cost that might exit for weeks.
Three days after the primary cost delays, Financial savings Freeway International’s complete web site went down on December sixteenth.
Gresham initially blamed the unscheduled outage on Plexus, a software program growth firm based mostly out of Chicago.
On December seventeenth, with Financial savings Freeway International’s web site nonetheless in accessible, Gresham then blamed “the internet hosting firm”.
As of December twenty first, Financial savings Freeway International’s web site stay offline. Gresham named and blamed BlueHost in an replace shared with Snyder.
We referred to as BlueHost once more. They haven’t been useful. They’ve additionally not responded to the e-mail.
We’re continued to maneuver ahead getting every little thing again up. I’ll replace you.
In a second replace shared later the identical day, Gresham moreover claimed;
Discovered right now that final week BlueHost was purchased be [sic] one other firm, laid off tons of individuals on Monday and terminated accounts that had any points.
Jeb spoke to somebody who obtained canned. I’ve a lawyer on it too.
“Jeb” refers to 5Linx co-founder Jeb Tyler.
Tyler was sentenced to 14 months in jail following a 5Linx prison case filed in 2017. Apparently someday after getting out of jail, Tyler joined Financial savings Freeway International.
BlueHost is a reasonably large area registrar and internet hosting firm. It was acquired by Endurance Worldwide Group in 2010 and stays a subsidiary to today.
No vital BlueHost layoffs have been introduced in December 2023. Nor was there any vital uptime.
Definitely on the earth of internet hosting, the place downtime is measured in minutes, a serious internet hosting firm going offline for per week (earlier than Christmas no much less), could be headline information within the tech trade.
Briefly, I wasn’t in a position to confirm and of Gresham’s BlueHost claims.
5 days later, Financial savings Freeway International’s web site remained offline.
On December twenty seventh, Gresham introduced that “new servers are put in and dealing”.
Regardless of Gresham’s declare nonetheless, Snyder claims it wasn’t till January seventh Financial savings Freeway International associates have been in a position to log into their accounts.
If you happen to’re maintaining observe, that’s twenty-two days of unexplained downtime. Oh and did I point out no person was paid something throughout this time?
After initially claiming that he was “importing information” into Financial savings Freeway International’s new servers, Gresham would later reveal that associates must replace their cost card particulars.
Snyder claims it is because Gresham “misplaced all the information” and “didn’t have a backup plan”.
They have been fully idiotic, I assume is a good way to place it.
Considerably amazingly, in a January third Financial savings Freeway International webinar (throughout which stay chat was disabled), Gresham patted himself on the again for the unscheduled downtime.
As quoted by Snyder, Gresham claimed “issues like this will take as much as 3 months to restore… however “he’s executed it in 3 weeks”.
From my very own private expertise, something in tech that takes quite a lot of hours to repair is a catastrophe. In a competently run firm, nothing in tech takes “3 months to restore”.
One further level Snyder makes is Gresham explaining no person getting paid as a result of Financial savings Freeway International had “no income”.
Since there was no income for this final pay interval, there won’t be commissions this week.
Snyder likens Financial savings Freeway International needing new income to pay commissions to a Ponzi scheme.
He wants new cash to pay out new commissions. That’s actually a Ponzi scheme.
BehindMLM reviewed Financial savings Freeway International on January twenty fourth, 2024. We weren’t conscious of the downtime and cost issues, however famous the present iteration was the third reboot of an present documented pyramid scheme.
To elucidate away Financial savings Freeway International’s web site happening and no person getting paid for nearly a month, Snyder and different prime distributors have been instructed to misinform their downline.
Right here is the message Gresham offered them Snyder and different distributors to share:
As you might know, our Financial savings Freeway International web site is at the moment present process a serious improve.
This course of started on Saturday, December sixteenth, and it’s almost full.
Throughout this server improve, billing for memberships was paused, so there was no income throughout this time interval.
Due to this, there won’t be commissions paid this week as there was no billing or income generated.
We’re about to renew billing, and commissions will movement as soon as once more!
What’s extra, in 2024, you’ll expertise even quicker payouts!
We actually admire your persistence and cooperation on this journey. Your help means the world to us.
An abbreviated model of this message was posted on Financial savings Freeway International’s web site.
If you happen to’re already uncertain as to what really occurred with Financial savings Freeway International over December and January, right here’s extra gas to the fireplace.
Apparently through the downtime, when the web site was down, Financial savings Freeway International was processing account cancellations and sending out affirmation emails.
Snyder additionally claims that in Financial savings Freeway International’s downtime, associates have been cross-recruiting her downline into TranzactCard (now FinMore).
And apparently the “financial savings calculator” on Financial savings Freeway International’s “new” web site is bogus.
Now that the positioning is stay, they’ve the financial savings calculator – screenshots of everybody’s financial savings – however they’re FAKE financial savings.
They’re estimated financial savings. However but, Steve Gresham tells folks through textual content and e-mail to go submit their financial savings quantity insinuating what they saves, after they haven’t.
Ultimately Snyder will get to the crux of Financial savings Freeway International’s downtime – the lack of cost processing companies.
Once you have a look at the brand new web site, there’s the annual membership now. However you possibly can solely pay via Zelle and crypto.
If you already know something about Zelle, it must be paid to somebody’s telephone variety of e-mail (usually quantity, simply as I pay my nail tech).
So now it’s important to belief that the one that will get paid goes to place the cash in accurately and disperse that out 10 ranges deep.
The positive print for annual additionally says “no refunds” obtainable for annual.
One other cost associated drawback is backoffice balances, which have been used to pay membership charges, have disappeared.
Gresham as an alternative required everybody to pay new cash into Financial savings Freeway International final month, no matter how beforehand unpaid fee balances had been amassed.
As per Snyder, anybody who didn’t pay new cash into Financial savings Freeway International was threatened with termination.
These developments prompted hypothesis from associates concerning Financial savings Freeway International’s cost processing companies.
To the perfect of my information, Gresham has to this point failed to clarify what occurred to Financial savings Freeway International’s cost processing account.
Summing up her video, Snyder claims she left Financial savings Freeway International on account of dishonesty, the enterprise itself being “very unsafe” and non-payment of commissions.
Naturally after almost a month of downtime, Snyder wasn’t the one Financial savings Freeway International affiliate talking out.
Gresham’s response has been to ship out letters threatening authorized motion.
As per a February fifth stop and desist seen by BehindMLM, Gresham, via a lawyer, equates discourse round Financial savings Freeway International’s latest points with defamation.
Pursuant to your becoming a member of SHG, you agreed to be certain by its Phrases and Situations.
You may have taken actions, individually, and in live performance as [redacted], in violation of the Firm’s Phrases and Situations.
Beneath the Phrases and Situations, you agreed to a number of issues every of which is of the utmost significance to SHG.
You may have revealed quite a few defamatory and disparaging feedback concerning SHG and its CEO Steve Gresham, and you’ve got inspired different SHG members to terminate their enterprise relationship with SHG and cross-recruited them to hitch different corporations.
Not solely does this conduct quantity to a transparent breach of SHG’s Phrases and Situations, it additionally in lots of situations quantities to defamatory conduct as a result of your statements are false and have brought on, and proceed to trigger vital harm to SHG and to Mr. Gresham individually.
Beneath risk of a lawsuit, Gresham is demanding recipients of the stop and desist, whose accounts have been suspended, to (quoted verbatim)
- take away any and all social media posts … or different revealed feedback or content material that’s disparaging about SHG or Mr. Gresham.
- reaffirm your obligations below the Phrases and Situations to stop making adverse, disparaging or defamatory feedback concerning SHG, Mr. Gresham, different SHG members or advisory board members.
An connected “Certification Declaration” is to have been signed and returned to Gresham’s lawyer by February thirteenth.
Failure to adjust to these calls for will end in additional harm to my consumer and can end in sure and speedy authorized motion in opposition to you.
First the apparent: There’s in all probability an excellent free speech protection in discussing Financial savings Freeway International going off line for nearly a month and the way that was dealt with by Gresham.
Subsequent, whereas a Phrases and Situations doc is out there on Financial savings Freeway International’s web site, as I perceive it particular person associates didn’t signal something particular.
There’s a checkbox indicating the unlinked Phrases and Situations have been agreed to upon signing up as a Financial savings Freeway International affiliate.
There’s additionally a query of integrity of the settlement. On the prime of Financial savings Freeway International’s Phrases and Situations, the doc states;
Efficient Date: November 17, 2006.
Time period: These Phrases and Situations shall take impact on and from the Efficient Date.
Financial savings Freeway International’s Phrases and Situations references a “Titanium membership”.
After I earn $700 or extra in 4 weeks, my account could also be upgraded by the corporate administration to the Titanium $199 month-to-month stage.
Relying on when my subsequent cost date is ready to happen, the corporate might elect to maneuver my subsequent cost date ahead.
As soon as upgraded, I’ll change into eligible to obtain entry to all advantages included with Titanium Membership.
BehindMLM first reviewed Financial savings Freeway International in November 2012. On the time there was no Titanium Membership, suggesting Financial savings Freeway International’s Phrases and Situations have been stealth up to date at the least as soon as.
That is probably problematic as, to the perfect of my information, Financial savings Freeway International doesn’t observe who has individually agreed to what.
I can see a case for an absence of particular person consent and altering renders Financial savings Freeway International’s complete Phrases and Situations doc nugatory.
Moreover, there’s a query mark as to when Gresham created Financial savings Freeway International’s Phrases and Situations.
Whereas right now there’s a hyperlink to the Phrases and Situations on Financial savings Freeway International’s web site, it’s a latest growth.
By way of the Wayback Machine, we are able to see that as late as October 2022, Financial savings Freeway International’s web site didn’t have a Phrases and Situations hyperlink.
In any occasion, I believe making an attempt to suppress public dialogue of Financial savings Freeway International going offline for nearly a month after which making an attempt to cowl it up isn’t legally actionable.
It’s a foul look and the threats from Gresham come off as despotic.
At time of publication Financial savings Freeway International’s web site suggests normal cost processing companies have been re-enabled.
What occurred on December sixteenth stays a thriller, however the strongest candidate is Financial savings Freeway International misplaced entry to processing companies.
Whether or not the annual membership remains to be non-refundable is unclear.