Several people have asked how they can effectively make complaints about their experiences with either or both the ISN (David Wright's Innovators Group, Book-a-Speaker, etc) or Willow Mist which is Brenda Keefer's organization, separate from David Wright's organization.... Brenda used to work at ISN before... well... you can read about why Brenda's relationship with ISN terminated.
Here are some options for making your complaint as of early 2012:
• Complain to the Knoxville, Tennessee Better Business Bureau. You should know that ISN / Innovators Group changed their name, probably around 2010. When they were still called ISN, they had an F rating but now they just have a string of complaints, all presumably resolved. I'm going to guess that they were resolved like mine was - meaning - they lied to the BBB about my case and the BBB closed the case.
Willow Mist / Brenda Keefer currently has an F rating. Be warned.
• File a Ripoff Report They already have a file on ISN. They have several reports as listed under Innovators Group.
• File a report with the Complaint Board They have a file on ISN and Willow Mist here, too.
• File a report with the Tennessee Attorney General's office. You can do this for either the Innovators Group or Willow Mist.
• Willow Mist - one man in California is interested in having Brenda arrested for interstate web fraud.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Grief Saved and Grief Explained - Some End of Year Statistics and Notes
As 2011 comes to a close, I thought I would share some statistics with you about this blog, Burned by ISN, and its impact. My report comes on the heels of receiving yet another report of someone who was almost taken by ISN. It's always so good to hear from others who have been saved from their bad, and often illegal, business practices!
It's been almost 5 years ago that I started blogging about the International Speakers Network and how they burned me by taking almost $1000 of my money, then never producing what they promised. I signed on to get their support in building my speaking practice, I was supposed to be a part of a "Five Featured Speakers" program - which never materialized.
Not only didn't it materialize, but they sent me falsified materials trying to prove that it did! You can learn more about just how they duped me on this blog's first post.
But I'm a true believer in karma, and sometimes it's important to put karma into motion. Thus this blog, and dozens of posts over the years that have inspired even more comments from either people who have found us in time to save their grief, or others who have found us too late, and realized when they found us that they, too, had been duped by the International Speaker's Network.
What has transpired during these years? A few statistics for you:
Number of posts: 49
Number of visitors: you can see on the right hand side of this page. As of today: 10,824
Number of comments: 66 published, plus one that is unpublished. The one that is not published was sent to me a few years ago by a young woman who had just been fired because she had uncovered the ISN's wrongdoing. We have been in touch and I continue to hold her information in case it's ever needed.
Number of names that ISN has used over the years: 6 - or there may be more I haven't found. So far I know about ISN, International Speakers Network, ISNWorks, Innovators Group, Insight Publishing, Book A Speaker. If you know of others, will you let me know?
About Willow Mist Professional Services: Around June 2008, Brenda Keefer left ISN and started Willow Mist Professional Services. Evidently that's when David Wright, the owner and her boss at ISN, discovered Brenda was still on probation for stealing about $250,000 from a previous employer. So now Brenda is "helping" (or more like helping herself to the money of) people through her own company, Willow Mist. David Wright was smart to fire her. But now Brenda is making his life miserable. Perhaps more karma?
(Just FYI - I hear from as many who have been duped by Brenda Keefer as I do from people who have been duped by ISN - the emails run about 50-50).
Number of Lawsuits against ISN: I have no idea. I have heard reports, but haven't been able to take the time to research them. This comment from a reader explains the one about those famous authors they promise to pair you with.
By the way - don't let that BBB Accredited Business logo on their homepage fool you. In late 2010, The International Speaker's Network changed their name to The Innovators Group - and that meant their old track record at the BBB, an F rating, went away. Now they have an A+ rating through the Knoxville Better Business Bureau - but if you look at the record you'll see that many complaints have been "resolved."
I have to wonder whether those complaints were resolved as mine was - meaning - they were ignored, then lies were told, and in the end who knows? I call this my "naked picture theory" - meaning - someone is holding something over someone else's head. Once the BBB told me my complaints were 'resolved", and what I knew was that nothing had been resolved, and somehow my complaints had been swept under the rug, I lost all respect for the Better Business Bureau because of the way that was handled.
As long as I continue to hear from readers who have either had their money stolen like mine was, or realized ahead of time that they should not do business with ISN or Willow Mist because they found this information, I will continue to post from time to time.
What information would you like to share about ISN Works (or whatever they are calling themselves these days?) Shoot me a quick email: BurnedbyISN - at - hotmail.
It's been almost 5 years ago that I started blogging about the International Speakers Network and how they burned me by taking almost $1000 of my money, then never producing what they promised. I signed on to get their support in building my speaking practice, I was supposed to be a part of a "Five Featured Speakers" program - which never materialized.
Not only didn't it materialize, but they sent me falsified materials trying to prove that it did! You can learn more about just how they duped me on this blog's first post.
But I'm a true believer in karma, and sometimes it's important to put karma into motion. Thus this blog, and dozens of posts over the years that have inspired even more comments from either people who have found us in time to save their grief, or others who have found us too late, and realized when they found us that they, too, had been duped by the International Speaker's Network.
What has transpired during these years? A few statistics for you:
Number of posts: 49
Number of visitors: you can see on the right hand side of this page. As of today: 10,824
Number of comments: 66 published, plus one that is unpublished. The one that is not published was sent to me a few years ago by a young woman who had just been fired because she had uncovered the ISN's wrongdoing. We have been in touch and I continue to hold her information in case it's ever needed.
Number of names that ISN has used over the years: 6 - or there may be more I haven't found. So far I know about ISN, International Speakers Network, ISNWorks, Innovators Group, Insight Publishing, Book A Speaker. If you know of others, will you let me know?
About Willow Mist Professional Services: Around June 2008, Brenda Keefer left ISN and started Willow Mist Professional Services. Evidently that's when David Wright, the owner and her boss at ISN, discovered Brenda was still on probation for stealing about $250,000 from a previous employer. So now Brenda is "helping" (or more like helping herself to the money of) people through her own company, Willow Mist. David Wright was smart to fire her. But now Brenda is making his life miserable. Perhaps more karma?
(Just FYI - I hear from as many who have been duped by Brenda Keefer as I do from people who have been duped by ISN - the emails run about 50-50).
Number of Lawsuits against ISN: I have no idea. I have heard reports, but haven't been able to take the time to research them. This comment from a reader explains the one about those famous authors they promise to pair you with.
By the way - don't let that BBB Accredited Business logo on their homepage fool you. In late 2010, The International Speaker's Network changed their name to The Innovators Group - and that meant their old track record at the BBB, an F rating, went away. Now they have an A+ rating through the Knoxville Better Business Bureau - but if you look at the record you'll see that many complaints have been "resolved."
I have to wonder whether those complaints were resolved as mine was - meaning - they were ignored, then lies were told, and in the end who knows? I call this my "naked picture theory" - meaning - someone is holding something over someone else's head. Once the BBB told me my complaints were 'resolved", and what I knew was that nothing had been resolved, and somehow my complaints had been swept under the rug, I lost all respect for the Better Business Bureau because of the way that was handled.
As long as I continue to hear from readers who have either had their money stolen like mine was, or realized ahead of time that they should not do business with ISN or Willow Mist because they found this information, I will continue to post from time to time.
What information would you like to share about ISN Works (or whatever they are calling themselves these days?) Shoot me a quick email: BurnedbyISN - at - hotmail.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
ISN is now The Innovators Group - Reinventing Themselves So You Won't Find this Blog
The International Speakers Network must have done another one of their emails. I can usually tell because I watch the hits to this blog rev up (see the numbers below) - and I begin to get comments from people they have burned. But there's a new twist - their new names - The Innovator's Group and Insight Publishing.
I got a heads up on this in a comment from Alex - in which he says, "ISN keeps re-branding and changing its' name, to avoid showing up in threads like this one, and the folks that work for them adjust their e-mail addresses for the same reason."
So I looked it up and sure enough: Insight Publishing, a division of the Innovators Group - fomerly ISN, the International Speaker's Network. In truth, they've used these names for years - but now they are trying to shed their ISN ripoff image.
I found several other new businesses and people's names, too, as follows:
ISNworks - that's their longest standing Twitter handle
InsightISN -- that's their new Twitter handle
TracynDalton - is the twitter handle for Tracy Dalton who has worked there for awhile
donamerritt -- is the twitter handle for Dona Merritt - she's been there since they scammed me in 2007!
Wendy Tapp, is signing those famous "we need a speaker" outreach things. Interestingly, I found her on a website that talks about speaker information and scams.
(I wonder if any of them ever worries about being carted off to jail for their participation with ISN?)
It also looks like they are still using BookaSpeaker (got that from Wendy Tapp).
And don't forget the henchman - David Wright - who runs speaker workshops in the East Tennessee / Knoxville / Gatlinburg / Sevierville area. He's the owner or CEO of this entire Insight Innovators ISN mess.
If you go to any of their many websites, don't let that Better Business Bureau Accredited Business logo fool you. They've run way from the names they've used to distance themselves from this blog, and from the people they have scammed. But they can't change their stripes.
Here's the link to their old F rating - now removed:
http://knoxville.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=57&bbb=0533&firm=11488
Here are a few more links - others who have had comments to make about ISN, Innovator's Group, BookaSpeaker or Insight Publishing - whatever their name is:
From Cynthia Brian: http://www.redroom.com/blog/cynthia-brian/scam-potential-warning-for-authors-and-speakers
From Chuck Gallagher: http://chuckgallagher.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/motivational-speaker-scam-insight-publishing-something-is-not-right-in-sevierville-tn/
From Ripoff Report: http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/Insight-Publishing.aspx and http://www.ripoffreport.com/advertising-deceptive/insight-publishing-i/insight-publishing-innovators-c99ed.htm
And for anyone new to this blog, you are either:
1. Checking ahead of time to see whether your money is well-spent with ISN or Brenda Keefer. The answer is NO. Run, don't walk, from anything they tell you.
or
2. Checking after you have already been burned because ISN or Brenda made a promise to you, you gave them money, and they didn't follow through on their promises. I am so sorry. This blog won't make you feel any better about it.
Hope this has saved ANYONE some grief.
.
I got a heads up on this in a comment from Alex - in which he says, "ISN keeps re-branding and changing its' name, to avoid showing up in threads like this one, and the folks that work for them adjust their e-mail addresses for the same reason."
So I looked it up and sure enough: Insight Publishing, a division of the Innovators Group - fomerly ISN, the International Speaker's Network. In truth, they've used these names for years - but now they are trying to shed their ISN ripoff image.
I found several other new businesses and people's names, too, as follows:
ISNworks - that's their longest standing Twitter handle
InsightISN -- that's their new Twitter handle
TracynDalton - is the twitter handle for Tracy Dalton who has worked there for awhile
donamerritt -- is the twitter handle for Dona Merritt - she's been there since they scammed me in 2007!
Wendy Tapp, is signing those famous "we need a speaker" outreach things. Interestingly, I found her on a website that talks about speaker information and scams.
(I wonder if any of them ever worries about being carted off to jail for their participation with ISN?)
It also looks like they are still using BookaSpeaker (got that from Wendy Tapp).
And don't forget the henchman - David Wright - who runs speaker workshops in the East Tennessee / Knoxville / Gatlinburg / Sevierville area. He's the owner or CEO of this entire Insight Innovators ISN mess.
If you go to any of their many websites, don't let that Better Business Bureau Accredited Business logo fool you. They've run way from the names they've used to distance themselves from this blog, and from the people they have scammed. But they can't change their stripes.
Here's the link to their old F rating - now removed:
http://knoxville.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=57&bbb=0533&firm=11488
Here are a few more links - others who have had comments to make about ISN, Innovator's Group, BookaSpeaker or Insight Publishing - whatever their name is:
From Cynthia Brian: http://www.redroom.com/blog/cynthia-brian/scam-potential-warning-for-authors-and-speakers
From Chuck Gallagher: http://chuckgallagher.wordpress.com/2010/10/06/motivational-speaker-scam-insight-publishing-something-is-not-right-in-sevierville-tn/
From Ripoff Report: http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/Insight-Publishing.aspx and http://www.ripoffreport.com/advertising-deceptive/insight-publishing-i/insight-publishing-innovators-c99ed.htm
And for anyone new to this blog, you are either:
1. Checking ahead of time to see whether your money is well-spent with ISN or Brenda Keefer. The answer is NO. Run, don't walk, from anything they tell you.
or
2. Checking after you have already been burned because ISN or Brenda made a promise to you, you gave them money, and they didn't follow through on their promises. I am so sorry. This blog won't make you feel any better about it.
Hope this has saved ANYONE some grief.
.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Brenda Keefer and ISN - Never Change Their Stripes
This post was sent as a comment to a past post on Brenda Keefer, although it also refers to the International Speakers Network, too. It's worth pulling out of the comments pack to share with you:
As I said before - these ISN and Brenda Keefer zebras never change their stripes.
I've just discovered this site after a colleague sent me a copy of an appeals court judge's decision from 1999. It seems Brenda thought a sentence of 10 years in prison was too long for the (in her view, apparently) minor crime of embezzling $248,000 from a former employer. It isn't clear whether she's yet served any of her sentence, but she clearly should be locked up for a long record of theft and embezzlement.
I first had contact with her when she was part of ISN, which printed the first run of my book. It was a horrific experience, primarily because the entire lot of people there, from the owner down, were clearly not bothered by the complete incompetence of the staff and the non-fulfillment of their contractual obligations.Then Brenda left and opened her own business, continuing the tradition of promising a lot and delivering little or nothing. After requesting a number times that she remove me from her mailing list, I ordered her to remove my name and made it clearn I had no desire to ever hear from her again. And yet, I still occasionally get one of her e-mail blasts telling speakers of the great opportunities she has with organizations looking for speakers on specific topics.
Stay away!
Brenda's totally bad news, as is ISN and all the other business names under their umbrella. ISN continually creates new business names, apparently to mask the entity you're really hearing from, all the easier to coax money from unaware victims who are new to the speaking business.
As I said before - these ISN and Brenda Keefer zebras never change their stripes.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Never Ending Comments - Still Coming in for Both ISN and Willow Mist
Some new comments have come in over the past few weeks... Best just to link you to them:
Brenda Keefer, Willow Mist, a former ISN employee -- Still Ripping People Off
..................................
....................................
I am sad to say I fell for the scam. Maybe is was hope. Maybe just thinking- can be found in response to this post:
she was a nice person. But, I fell for it. Out good money too. I guess my hope
is for others to NOT fall for the same scam. If I can save one person $, I will
at least know my loss had some reason. I finally stopped the payments a few
months ago, but wow, was I wrong. My gut said don't do it, but all I can say is
I fell for it - hook, line, and sinker. Thanks for the BLOG
Brenda Keefer, Willow Mist, a former ISN employee -- Still Ripping People Off
..................................
Be wary of Tracy Dalton at ISN Works as well. She reps for International- in response to this post: This Time It's Brenda Keefer and Willow Mist
Speakers Network, and her e-mails come from ISNWorks.com. I've blocked her
numerous times with my spam filter, and she still seems to find her way in! The
formula is much the same. You're asked to pay a "reasonable" fee for mailings,
one-sheet, etc. without any guaranteed results, and then more fees are requested
for "premium marketing packages", "quarterly meetings", etc. You can rack up
quite a chunk of change in a short time without realizing it, and without seeing
return on the investment. The caveat here is that bureaus asking for
application/membership fees and/or different pricing tiers for marketing
packages can be SCAMS. Be sure to investigate anyone who approaches you, and
seek as many testimonials as you can. Best thoughts to all!
....................................
I did sign up as a member and have NEVER received any benefit. Thanks for thein response to: Getting Back at the International Speakers Network
warning although they have my inital membership money!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Brenda Keefer, Willow Mist, a former ISN employee -- Still Ripping People Off
The International Speaker's Network hates that I'm still talking about Branda Keefer on this blog -- but she was such a player in my own rip-off story, and she worked for ISN for so long before she started Willow Mist, that I still see them as one in the same.
Two comments to share with you:
From someone who heard from a new ISN employee -- Tracy Dalton -- an email received in April as a "call for presentations" -- which is no doubt as bogus as any of their recruitment pieces.
Here's the sad part about that. Tracy Dalton is probably a young woman who is sincere and thinks her new job with BookaSpeaker.net or the International Speaker's Network is a good one. She doesn't yet understand that she's working for a company that takes other people's money and doesn't deliver on their promises.
A second comment regarding Brenda Keefer and Willow Mist:
Two comments to share with you:
From someone who heard from a new ISN employee -- Tracy Dalton -- an email received in April as a "call for presentations" -- which is no doubt as bogus as any of their recruitment pieces.
Here's the sad part about that. Tracy Dalton is probably a young woman who is sincere and thinks her new job with BookaSpeaker.net or the International Speaker's Network is a good one. She doesn't yet understand that she's working for a company that takes other people's money and doesn't deliver on their promises.
A second comment regarding Brenda Keefer and Willow Mist:
I will report Brenda after reading comments. An ebook that I contributed to seems not to be getting published either. I am out $110 and much work. Such a pity that she claims to be such a Christian woman too. A page out of Tammy Faye's book.
Still up to her shenanigans, I see!
Thanks to all of you who feed me information. Both ISN and Brenda make sure I never show up on any of their lists -- so all info comes from those of you who have found this blog.
As of today, almost 7500 people have found my BurnedbyISN blog. While I'm sure the great majority found it AFTER they lost money, I have no doubt we've saved many others the headache of dealing with ISN or Brenda Keefer.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
A Typical ISN or Willowmist Email
Submitted by a blog reader who hopes it will help all of you realize why these folks aren't helpful.
If you have received this email, or one like it, you can see how to break it down from this earlier post on this blog.
Bottom line -- these conferences either don't exist, already took place, or ISN or Willowmist don't have any connections to them anyway. Yet they want you to pay upfront for marketing services that many people report they never receive -- including me. Great frustration. I would still love to have my money back.
Thanks to the person who shared! Here's that email.
If you have received this email, or one like it, you can see how to break it down from this earlier post on this blog.
Bottom line -- these conferences either don't exist, already took place, or ISN or Willowmist don't have any connections to them anyway. Yet they want you to pay upfront for marketing services that many people report they never receive -- including me. Great frustration. I would still love to have my money back.
Thanks to the person who shared! Here's that email.
We have a Property Management Group who is looking for 2 speakers for a Multi-housing Conference. Event will be June 9th & 10th, 2010. Need a keynote motivational speaker for each day. Attendees include apartment industry employees, managers, leasing, maintenance, regional directors, property management owners, executives. Looking for something motivational geared toward business. Wants someone fun and uplifting with info they can walk away with. BUDGET: $5000 plus travel expenses. DEADLINE TO APPLY: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2010.
Girls Scouts need a speaker for their Volunteer Retreat. Audience consists of troop leaders, volunteers, and parents. Event is October 9, 2010. They need someone who can talk on communication, diversity, teambuilding, leadership, etc.; any topic that would be helpful to a group of leaders. BUDGET: Negotiable. DEADLINE TO APPLY: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010.
Organization for High School Technical students needs motivational speaker to speak to 1500 students regarding on a topic that can be customized to relate to going to college, the job market or leadership. Event will be April 14th, 2010 – April 16th, 2010. BUDGET: $2500.00. DEADLINE TO APPLY: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010.
Leadership Conference for Christian leaders needs 3 speakers who can talk on various topics to restore, equip and inspire Christian leaders with new tools they can implement to be better leaders. The budget is negotiable. Attendees will be pastors, Christian leaders in the workplace, ministers, and church staff. There will be a total of 250 attendees. BUDGET: Negotiable plus all travel, hotel and transportation fees paid. DEADLINE TO APPLY: MARCH 9, 2010.
Association of Student Nurses needs a speaker to talk to 800 student nurses at their annual convention. They need someone with great personality that has a background in the healthcare field. They are wanted topics related to careers. BUDGET: Negotiable based on level of expertise. DEADLINE TO APPLY: APRIL 6, 2010.
In order to be submitted for an event with our firm, we do require that you are a participant of one of our marketing programs. If you are not a participant and would like additional information to become available for submission on any of the above bookings, please contact us at 865.366.7155 or respond to this email with your questions. You can also visit our website, www.willowmistpro.com. If you are already a member, and wish additional information, just drop me an email and request the submission form. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Brenda Keefer
Willow Mist Professional Services
P.O. Box 1312
Kodak, TN 37764
(865) 366-7155
www.willowmistpro.com