Homeschool M.
False misrepresentation and misleading…
False misrepresentation and misleading intentions. If you are just trying to get registered with the SAM for US Federal Government grants, please beware of the misleading strategies the USFCR may use to deceive you into believing they are a program that works for the government, without exactly stating it. The following is the basic outline of how I was misled to pay for a service that is actually free. After looking on BING for how to register for the SAM, I had a call from the Registration & Contract Specialist, named Johnathon Vogel. The Registration & Contract specialist claimed “They are the way to register for the SAM.” I clarify if they worked for the government. Mr. Vogel stated, “This is a real program, and they are the way to register for the SAM”. In various conversations he strategically implies this is the way to register for the SAM. At no point in any of our calls did he clarify they are not representing the government or that the SAM registration is free. Instead, he strategically made statements to mislead me and redirect my questions. I had a bid due Aug 9th and I needed both to be registered and complaint. Mr. Vogel directly sent a one-time payment link to my email. No receipt, no contract or anything else was stated about the services or provided to me in writing. I simply continued to operate on the understanding of the services provided by Mr. Vogel's calls. On August 9th I was not registered as the owner of my business with the username nor password in SAM and despite writing my own bid, US FCR making no attempt to help me become compliant. I was confused about what USFCR was so at 10:20 am PST I called Mr. Vogel and clarified. He strategically avoided clarifying statements and put his sales manager on the phone. I was surprised to be talking with a sales manager because Mr. Vogle had not represented himself as a salesperson. At around 10:30 am PST the sales manager Stephanie Desautels, stated they were a consulting firm. I asked to speak with the management. I was surprised, the sales manager Stephanie Desautels seemed to be strategically aware of the misleading behavior because she aggressively dominated the conversation. I simply tried to explain the misunderstanding and I requested a refund. Mrs. Desautels desperately held onto the funds, as if they needed them so badly. She talked down to me about how I should have been more prepared for the deception rather than apologizing and investigating the strategically deceptive calls. This leads me to believe this is either a big mistake based on two employees behaving inappropriately or it’s a part of the marketing plan to strategically deceive clients to believe they are a government program to register for SAM. After realizing this call was so horribly managed by Stephanie Desautels, I followed up in writing with upper management to request the refund. At the end of it all I was never provided with the services; I was told I paid for. I believe USFCR may have started doing things inside the SAM on behalf of my company, which I didn’t authorize. As if they took my SAM registration and claimed it for themselves. It seems someone else is working inside the SAM without direct communication to me about the specific details. This appears to me like it might be illegal behavior, but I would like to believe it’s a big misunderstanding. I hope the whole company really upholds honesty and these were two bad apples in the company that worked together to strategically mislead me. I not only feel they misrepresented themselves, but I also paid for the false representation of services I never received. All the behavior makes me feel, like I was robbed. I am waiting to see how they handle the refund. I'm still investigating if they strategically mislead clients (like me) by deceiving them to believe they represent the US Federal Government program for registering people with the SAM or if this is a big misunderstanding.