Has anyone heard of a new home store that is called GSN? I was sent a postcard in the mail that gives me a 3 day 2 night stay at a Holiday Inn and a $500 shopping spree. All I have to do is attend a 30 minute seminar on a new GSN home store that is to open up in my area. I have never heard of this store and have not been able to find anything online.

Never heard of them either...sounds phishy to me....like time shares @ Branson or something like that...

i thought GSN was game show network.

sometimes you can get a "free lunch" but of that magnitude...doubtful. gotta be some catch. maybe it's just a chance to win, or awarded to the first attendees or something?

They want my husband and I to come to a 30- 45 minute seminar on Sat in order to get these "prizes". If I at least knew they were a legitimate company I would not have a problem going, but I don't want to pay for a sitter for a scam. They said that no matter what if I show up I get the trip, shopping spree and Outback certificate.

Hi, we just came from a GSN presentation last night.

Someone told me you should always start out a rant with something nice to say so I will say here that the people that greeted us were nice and there was no heavy sales pressure, but that's about where the nice stuff ends and the mysteries begin.

I'll give you the bottom line right now and you can read on if you like.

- Bottom Line - - -

The free hotel and dinner on the postcard costs $14.95 for shipping and handling. You send your check to Florida Leisure Products in Houston, TX (don't even ask me how Florida ended up in Texas) and within 30 days you will get your vouchers. So why not just give us the vouchers at the presentation for FREE? And then we could all save on the postage and handling? The mysteries are only beginning.

Also there is a $75 deposit you must make to the hotel of your choice during the reservation which you will be refunded once you stay. I guess you get a free stay for letting them use your money for a while?

And the $500 shopping spree actually costs $145 in shipping and handling if you order $500 worth of products from a website that has limited choices of anything. I guess shipping and handling is that catch-all that makes you think that what you are getting is free. And by the way the same DVD player on this shopping spree site is about $100 more expensive than the one we found at a retail store.. by the way GSN, your whole presentation was how not to pay markup. Ha, what a joke.


- More to read at your leisure -

The presentation was promised to be 30 minutes and I believe that's about what it was... but we really didn't get out of there for 90 minutes.
There were four couples in our group watching a PowerPoint presentation and a nice gentleman explained extremely fast how the company works to get us deals at manufacturer cost instead of retail pricing. Lots of free vacations and rewards tucked in the presentation too.
Afterwards they file each of the couples into a cubicle and another nice gentleman simply asked how we want to pay for it. Pay for it you ask?
Yes the privilege to buy costs something. The Gold package was $3999 and the Silver was $2999 (incidentally the Silver does not come with all those neat travel packages so magnificently described in the presentation) and both would require a $199/yr continuation fee.

From the time they told us it was $3000-$4000 to buy into the program to the time they asked us how we wanted to pay - was about 3 minutes.
The sticker shock comes at the very end of the presentation before you are whisked into the other office, where you have to make a decision now, or never get the chance again to join. Something tells me if I walked into their office tomorrow and plucked down $4000 in cash that they would probably take it.


I hem hawed around just getting it so I could re-sell some of the stuff at a profit but they said they didn't condone it, and if that was going on they didn't want to know about it. So yeah you can do it but don't tell us. Afterwards I realized that they cannot guarantee price on anything. Their motto is that by the time you have spent $9000 through buying products from their manufactures that you will have saved the $3000 it cost to get the Silver package.. I don't know about everyone but we are not in the market for anything but groceries right now and I could probably make a lot more on a different $3000 investment that I could by waiting till I spent $9000 They will give you the option of $199 down and paying the rest of the $3000-$4000 off with a 10-18% loan from them but that isn't my bag either.

In the end we decided to go home and take our "free" gift. The one that costs us $14.95 and a $75 deposit to use.

I became curious who these people were and could not find a stitch of information readily available on them. To top it off the presenter said there were 2 million members. I do pretty good searches for my job and you'd think with 2 million people I would have found some significant info on the company but this bulletin board question was just about it.

The office space was sparse and bare, and I had a fleeting thought that I could jump into this and the company could disappear in the two hours it took them to pack up what little they had in there. Not saying they would, it's just that there was nothing in the office space to show they were settling in for a while.

Since the presenter did mention DirectBuy (about why GSN was a little different than them) I decided DirectBuy was a company I could look up and after reading quite a bit of reviews, realized this GSN was pretty much the same thing minus the marketing effort. I did not find glowing reports about DirectBuy about how they were saving people from themselves buying retail. Instead I found the same old reports about people feeling like they were getting a few deals here and there, barely getting deals on some things, but overall not what made me stand up and say - let me BUY a package.

I even found contradictions in terminology about what you are supposed to do and not do when it comes to dealing with home contractors that are supposedly working "with" GSN or DirectBuy.

All in all they were nice people, pleasant and not heavy pressuring, and trying to earn a day's wage, but the $3000-$4000 price tag was not a good investment for us.

Did I know the FREE hotel, dinner and $500 shopping spree were not really going to be free? .. Well I figured for a half hour of my time I would go, but now you know the rest of the story.

Wow, that's some experience! Thanks for posting such a detailed report... I had never heard of these people before reading this.

Thank you so much for the info. I did some pretty indepth research online and I could not come up with anything on them, so I cancelled my appointment. I am sure glad that I did. Sounds like an overall waste of time.

nairb, did you ever get your coupons for the free hotel stay? We sent in our 14.95 and have heard nothing. Probably a hoax too??

hi tshenk,
No i did not send them in yet. I know since i have the chance to get the hotel for $14.95 i should just do it and i probably will soon, just have not mailed it in yet. I was told it could take up to six weeks. I'll post back here when i send it in and we'll see how long it takes.

Hi... I just wanted to let you know that I came back from the exact same presentation you just described, except that it was called WSN. They also said they had 7 million customers, but even the gift certificates and mode of presentation was the same. Thanks for posting. It made me feel like I wasn't the only one who spent time going to this talk.

Thanks so much for this information. I too knew that you don't get something for nothing however I made the phone solicitor named Sarah say at least 9 times that the gifts were absolutely free. Not that that holds them to anything, just re-affirms that in the "come-on" world there are no holds barred. I will not keep my appointment. The presentation I was to attend is in Spring Texas.

I called Marriott hotel and they haven't heard of anything about this company.
I don't want to send my check for $14.95 to Houston for my voucher and then get NOTHING.

Has anyone gotten the voucher?

This sounds like a total MLM scheme. DON'T fall for it. I'm quite sure you will never get your "voucher" without being asked to pay additional cash.

GSN - Global Shopping Network, is that what they called themselves?

I don't know about this GSN being real. I do know a bout DirectBuy and DirectBuy seems 100% more legit then GSN. I also know that DirectBuy can save you a big chunck of money. But, DirectBuy is not for everyone. First, DirectBuy's membership costs you $5,000, not 2999, 3999, 4999; Second, you do your shopping via catalogs, not the store, so you have to know what you want as there are no sales people to hel you; Third, you pay cash, check, or credit card, there is no payment plan or layaways from them. In all honesty, if you know how to use DirectBuy and you buy large items (i.e. Appliances, furniture, even cars) you can benefit from this membership. If you don't, you are better off buying at your local stores.

About GSN: I went to their presentation, which lasted about 60 minutes. At the end they sent me to a cubicle, and the salesman asked me if I was interested and said no. The salesman handed me this self generated cupon that could had been printed from a bubblejet printer (low quality). No hassle, no questions asked, nothing. That was easy.

No, I haven't sent the $19.99 to Florida Leisure Products at 16903 Red Oak Dr. Suite 199, Houston TX 77090. However and since I am local to Houston, I will pay a visit to this address and ask them about this cupon. I will also contact my local BBB (http://www.bbbhou.org/) to inquire about GSN and Florida Leisure Products. If I have the time, I may contact the Attorney General of Texas (http://www.oag.state.tx.us/).

I'll keep you posted.

******** MUST READ *********

BBB Results for GSN:

PLEASE NOTE: There have been 4868 requests for a reliability report on this company in the past 36 months. Of those, 3519 requests were made in the past 12 months. - Now that's a lot of complaints.

Global Savings Network
Yahoo Map
16903 Red Oak Road Suite 199
Houston, TX 77090

The Better Business Bureau reports on members and non-members. Membership in the BBB is voluntary. Members must meet and maintain BBB standards. If a company is a member of the BBB, it is stated in this report.

Original Record Open Date: 09/17/04
Principal: B Davis
Phone Number: 281-248-8502
Fax Number: 281-445-9486
Email Address: gsnmhunter@aol.com
Membership Status: This company is not a BBB member
Type of Business: Buying Clubs
Travel Agencies & Bureaus
Undetermined Businesses
Additional Business Names:
Florida Leisure Products
Global Savings Network North of Houston
Global Savings Network South of Houston
GSN Of Houston



NATURE OF BUSINESS

This company is a buyers club that offers travel services as well as furniture, appliances, home improvement products, restaurant, automotive services, etc if you join their membership.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaint(s). This company has 6 pending complaints. The Bureau reports on closed complaints only in the total number of complaints listed below. Please check back with us in 30 days to find out the outcome of these pending complaints.

This company has an unsatisfactory report for a pattern of complaint activity. Although the company resolves most of the complaints it has failed to correct the underlying reason for the complaints.

This company sells memberships enabling its members to order merchandise from the company's Web site and their access kit for delivery at a later date. The company offers inducements to get both a husband and wife to visit the sales office to hear a sales pitch on the program. Memberships are expensive so be certain you understand what you are buying. Do not be pressured into signing a contract without carefully evaluating this company's program. The agreement is not cancelable; however the company's agreement does state, "the members must recover the entire cost of [their] access kit with savings or up to the entire purchase price if fully refundable."

Although this company is not a member of the Better Business Bureau of Houston, they continue to tell people that they are members during their presentations that are made in the Houston area. The BBB has asked on numerous occasions for this practice to cease.

There have been 4868 requests for a reliability report on this company in the past 36 months. Of those, 3519 requests were made in the past 12 months.

When evaluating complaint information, please consider the company's size and volume of business. The number of complaints filed against the company may not be as important as the type of complaints and how the company handled them.

The Bureau processed a total of 54 complaints about this company since the firm's BBB file was opened in September of 2004. Of the total 54 complaints since the firm's BBB file was opened in September of 2004, 41 of those were closed in the last 12 months.

Complaints Concerned
Advertising Issues: 7
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 5; Administratively Closed: 1; No Response:
1

Sales Practice Issues: 11
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 8; Unresolved: 2; Administratively Closed: 1

Delivery Issues: 6
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 5; Unresolved: 1

Service Issues: 11
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 5; Unresolved: 4; Administratively Closed: 1;
No Response: 1

Guarantees or Warranty Issues: 2
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 2

Product Issues: 1
Outcome of the complaint -
Resolved: 1

Refund or Exchange Issues: 6
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 2; Unresolved: 3; Administratively Closed: 1

Contract Issues: 3
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 2; Administratively Closed: 1

Billing or Collection Issues: 4
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 2; Unresolved: 1; No Response: 1



ADDITIONAL TRADENAMES, ADDRESSES AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS

This business also uses the following names, addresses and/or telephone numbers:

GSN Of Houston
1120 Nasa Road One, Suite 420 (281) 248-8502
Houston, TX 77058

Global Savings Network
440 Benmar Drive Suite 2010 (281) 248-8502
Houston, TX 77060

GSN Of Houston
16903 Red Oak Drive, Ste.
Houston, TX 77090

(281) 248-8500

(281) 445-3325

(888) 338-2226

(281) 397-9400

This is not necessarily a complete list.

COMPANY MANAGEMENT

Additional company management personnel include:
Robert Cohen, Vice President of Accounting; H Wilson; Melissa Hunter, Administrative Assistant; Victor Geild and Matt Willson, Assistant to the VP.

ADDITIONAL FILE INFORMATION

Consumers are charged approximately $3000 for joining the club and have reported that they are required to sign a contract after the company presentation if they decide to join.

REPORT DATE: 09/25/2006

COPYRIGHT DATE: 2006 Better Business Bureau

The information in this report has either been provided by the company, or has been compiled by the Bureau from other sources.

STANDARD DISCLAIMER

As a matter of policy, the Better Business Bureau does not endorse any product, service, or company. BBB reports generally cover a three-year reporting period, and are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment. Information contained in this report is believed reliable but not guaranteed as to accuracy. Reports are subject to change at any time.

BBB reports may not be reproduced for sales or promotional purposes.

Thank for you the information. We just went to the presentation last Saturday. I had the same feeling as you guys have been talking about: The office space was sparse and bare, which made me think they can disappear in any minutes, and the coupon doesn't look like real because of bad quality in printing. The no-pressure sale even made me think that the purpose of the presentation was not to sell the membership but to get our information. I wasn't sure I should send in my $19.99 for the coupon, and so searched on google about GSN, which brought me to this website. I even found this website(http://www.boxerproperty.com/houstonofficespace.asp#) that is renting out the office property where the coupon is sent to for Florida Leisure Products. Their office(Suite 199) seems big and probably they just rented it recently because the website still shows that suite 199 is available. The property can be rented month to month, that made me think that they can take money and run away. Anyway, I don't think I would send in the coupon, but I may pay a trip to the office because I'm local. From BBB report, it seems that they're doing the business as they talked about.

We have done one of the "free" vacations like this before, although it was several years ago. We got it as one of the incentives for a time share presentation. I think it was from the same FL leisure Products group as well. It is a legit vacation package that is offered as a marketing gimick to various companies. The catch is that you have to be sure when you book the vacation that you will be able to go on those dates. Any changes you make or try to make to the itinerary will cost you extra money.

We were going to FL anyway to visit an in-law and I figured that it wouldn't be bad to have an out if needed. We did stay at a nice hotel and got to pick from several places for a free dinner (we actually got 2 free dinners and 2 free breakfasts) and also got free tickets to Disney and several other attractions. I had tried to call to change the dates and then found out about all the charges they would add. We also had to pony up $400 once the actual reservations were made at the hotel for us and that money was refunded, but not at the hotel. They sent a check for $475 to us that arrived 3-4 weeks after we got back home. This really pissed me off as I was expecting the refund upon check in and ended up having to put money on credit until we got home and the check came in the mail.

Would I do it again? No.

We still do timeshare deals in VA Beach because thre are two competing companies there and you can play one off the other to get better incentives and line up the two deals so that you get a free week at the beach with free meals, gas and cash. We usually end up making a deal with the hotel for a better room and paying the difference out of pocket, which isn't very much as the time share companies pay them pretty much for just a three night stay. Since both time share places use the same hotels on the strip if you ask them nicely you can usually arrange to stay at just one hotel and not have to switch halfway through the week. The last time we ended up with a penthouse suite for just $70 out of pocket for a week, on the beach. The kids had their own rooms and it had a full kitchen and Continental breakfast brought to the room every morning.

Yes you have to put up with two presentations during the week, but like kkicker said if you just say "NO" up front they wisk you out pretty quick.


But one thing kkicker said is incorrect:

Those are not the complaints, those are just the inquiries about the company that have been made to the BBB, probably made by folks before they gave this fly by night group any money.

It looks like these guys are at it again. I received a very similar postcard for a company called FLP (Florida Leisure Products). I called the number and they tried to set up a meeting in San Antonio TX. I got the same song-and-dance that you all have reported by this group under the name of GSN and WSN.

Everything about these guys is fishy. I asked them straight-out "Will you all be having a store front here in San Antonio Texas?" to which they replied 'sure - yes we will', but it sounded fake and their pause was cause for doubt. After their pitch, I told them no thanks. They responded with several challenges such as "I guess you don't want to save money?" followed by "Well, I'm glad you have so much money that you can just throw it away!".

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for taking the time to post and I hope others will find this information and get educated before agreeing to see this shady company.

so did u finally goit the membership?
I did and not sure yet, but yeah, is an scam

I wish I'd done my homework first! Apparently, this is a legitimate company with questionable practices, and affiliates or d.b.a.'s.
I got the yellow postcard, which did not bear the full name of the company, as they reported to Better Business Bureau that they had amended it to be less confusing. I attended an FLP invite, and yes, it all looked good; except the less than professionally dressed presenters. They were friendly and complimentary. They clearly stated that they were consumer supportive, and that they were all about anti-markup. The presentation was short and to the point, and then came the individual sessions. They said they were a "Tier 1 travel agency". They used all the methods learned from timeshare plans. I asked dozens of questions. They had answers for just about everything I asked, and most were plausible. They took me to an internet site where I could see their webpage which offered just about anything I could want, and more coupons than I could afford to take time to browse in a normal lifestyle and average lifetime; they said I could get a grocery coupon for virtually anything, in almost ANY grocery store. They pulled up a Better Business Bureau site showing that they had no complaints on them. They offered me $500 discount for being single (I'd never heard of that, but the married couple next to me probably got the same for being married). They gave me another $500 discount to pay in full up front. They had blacked out the $14.95 fee to accompany each of the 2 meals and Holiday Inn or Sheraton stays that had been mentioned in this topic page. They said nothing about my having to send $145 to make use of the "FREE $500 shopping spree" (also mentioned in this topic; only that I would have to pay for shipping and handling on the item(s) selected. The presenters had no ID badges. One had a full name that he signed, the other went by a nickname. I asked for a physical address of the company, and was given a Dayton suburb address as the Home Office. There was no physical address on any of the materials, only a PO Box, and a 1-800 number, which can be changed as easily as dirty underwear. They gave me a plastic card with no company name on it that had internet access and account numbers hand-printed on it. They called it "software". They wanted personal information, but didn't care if I gave them my Social Sec. #. They said that they were a private company (unlike Direct Buy) and thats why I hadn't heard of them. But they had been around since 1984, and had over a million members. They provided no information regarding cancellation, generally required by the State of Texas. Instead of asparsely furnished "office", they used a conference room at a Sheraton Inn. They said they were investigating putting a "store" in San Antonio. They had already said they didn't have stores or "catalogue stores". I checked them out on my own. Just go to Better Business Bureau sites. They also use the names Global Savings Network, GSN, and WSN.

Well Look sharp folks; cause the "Home Office" address was listed as "closed" by BBB, and every BBB site I went to had complaints and unresolved issues on them. I saw the complaints on this topic page (I'm curious: is it 1 million, 2 million, or 7 million members). I saw that they were affiliated or connected to GSN. I went back to the presenter who gave me the reportedly closed office address and he denied any connection to GSN or WSN; nor some other company mentioned in the BBB report; but then his "associate" named the company by it's initials and said "Yeah, they're a credit collection agency"! Oops!!! He got angry. Then he said "well, yes, you can cancel" So, I got my check literally thrown back at me and was literally told I was FOS, and to get out. So, yes, you can cancel but I almost missed out on that; so it's best to never take any deal that has to be signed on the dotted line without being able to research it first.

I was one of the lucky ones who didn't get sucked in...

I got a yellow postcard about a week ago from "FLP" out of Dayton, OH. It turns out FLP stands for FLORIDA LEISURE PRODUCTS. Curiosity got the better of me and I called, pretty much knowing it would be a scam. The toll free number was called and a gal read from a card telling me that I had been selected to attend a free presentation for a "nationwide home and garden store" that is moving to my area. If I would attend the marketing promotion, under the guise of querying my likes and dislikes for home products, I would receive a 3 night stay at any Marriott, a $500 shopping spree, $30 fuel card and dinner for two at a Red Lobster or Olive Garden. I knew I could sit through 45 minutes of BS for the payoff...

The "seminar" was held in a small conference room at a local hotel. I was the only single. There were three retired-looking couples. Once they put us all in the conference room, they made sure we were not left unattended until the presentation was ready to start. I'm not shy, so I very boldly asked the couple across the aisle from me if they were told they were invited about a new home and garden store coming to the area. They said yes. I told them, right in front of one of our hosts, that I thought this was a scam. He immediately got the head guy in the room. When I asked him about a new store, he very slickly told me they were only doing site surveys at this time. The whole thing was a bunch of crap. An hour later, they told us about the Silver Package and the Gold Package, which was outlined by an earlier reply. The head guy, "Matt Williams", if that's his real name, quickly separated me from the rest of the group when he was done. He knew I would be trouble. He handed me off to a gal and told her to give me my gifts (and to get me out of there). She gave me two coupons. One is for a $500 shopping spree with KESHOPPINGSPREE.COM. It even says right on the card not to Google their name! Of course, I did when I got home and found pages and pages of complaints about them. KESHOPPINGSPREE is a scam, too...just like the other comments explained. The Marriott certificate requires that I send a $19.99 MONEY ORDER plus a $75 registration fee (untraceable as to who has cashed it) for "document delivery", which will take 10-12 WEEKS....but I was told that was just because of the holidays - even though it's printed right on the form. That's hardly free to me.

I asked for business cards from all the staff and of course, no one had any. I asked the desk clerk on the way out if the group was here a lot, and they said a couple of times a year for about three weeks straight. I know they're here again this weekend. They'll be in for a surprise. The girl who called to confirm my attendance very stupidly called from her home phone. I have Caller ID and found her in Ohio. I have her physical address, name and phone number. I plan on filing complaints with Ohio, Florida and South Carolna Departments of Consumer Affairs. Florida Leisure Products shows an address on the web of 4851 NW 103rd Avenue, Sunrise, FL 33351 with a phone number of 954-741-8464. Don't bother wasting an hour of your time. You'll regret it - especially if you open your wallet up to these crooks.

Thank all of you so much for the information.....you saved my husband and I a bunch of money.. We live in San Antonio and also received the yellow card but it was not GSN it was FLP later to find out it it stood for FLORIDA LEISURE PRODUCTS.... we too sat through the presentations at a local Marriott and they were very convincing... we bought and came home and thanks to you guys we found out they were a fraud..... We then went to the Better Business Bureau pages of Houston and found out exactly what you said ...they hop from city to city changing their names...we found out that they go by:
GSN of Houston, GSN of Sugarland, Global Savings Network, Global Savings Network North of Houston, Global Savings South of Houston, WSN and Florida Leisure Products...
The BBB report said that they continue to tell people they are members of the Better Business Bureau which they are not and have told them numerous times to stop telling people that they are...when they start getting over 4,000 contacts about them...they change their name..and move on to a new city..... anyway ... we woke up the next morning and hurried down there to tell them we wanted to cancel.... they told us it would take until Wed.blah, blah, blah.. We went back later in the afternoon and took a police officer with us.... they told us they would refund our money on WEd.because of the holiday... we'll see.... long story short...we too got the speech about "Matt Williams" which you will find on the BBB report that his real name is Matt Wilson.... and when we told the "head guy" Rob that we were concerned because we had 15 pgs. off the internet showing that they changed their names often for example from GSN to Florida Leisure Products...he didn't know anything about that....interesting reaction we told him that that was interesting because they had the same address and phone number,, he was at a loss for words.... with the policeman standing there... I showed him where it has his name as a head person for all the Houston companies listed above GSN, etc.... he was speechless.... So THANK YOU so much for saving us ....if it wasn't for this website we would have been "suckered"....Thank you so much and for all you people in San Antonio...watch out for FLORIDA LEISURE PRODUCTS.... don't fall for it.... I'll let you know the outcome on WED..... Thanks again!

Never have posted anything on a message board but definately wanted others to know that GSN (also known as FLP and other names) is a scam! I was making copies of my parents contract with GSN and complaint that they have filled with the Better Business Bureau to send to the Attorney General to see if they can have their payments stopped or any money refunded when I found your site. Now I know it is not just a local scam and will try to take action.Has anyone out there been able to get their money back or more payments stopped after the 3 day (or whatever it maybe in your area)right to cancel a business transaction? If so, please post how you go about doing this to help others in this situation!!!!
My parents got the card, went to the travel agency looking office and unfortunately joined to save on cruises and other trips as well as other things they might be able to buy for less. They saw the sign and also believed the presenter that they were members of the BBB and thought it was legit. They paid their $1500 down and have $32 a month directly coming out of checking for the next 48 months. My mom did notice that the name taking the money from their account kept changing but didn't have time to give it much thought because soon after they had bought into this my dad found out he had cancer so several months went by before they tried to contact GSN to buy anything. When they did decide to see if they could get travel discounts while they were out of state for my dads treatments, they couldn't get ahold of anyone. All of the phone numbers for them were not in service and when they typed their member number in on the website it was denied. I was shocked when they told that they had joined and what was going on because it isn't something they would have normally done. When my brother found out he was upset too because he had joined quite awhile before they had and lost money and was too embarrased to tell us and never thought they would fall for it. My husband and I are now trying to help my parents and have tried to contact GSN with no luck (we don't know what to do). My parents have written a complaint with the BBB and the BBB has tried to contact GSN with no luck either. They also said they cannot do anything about them falsely using their standing with them (which I don't understand). The letter from the BBB says to contact the Attorney General which my parents have done and they want some info. but they have already had 100 complaints in our Indiana area and I don't think anything has been done. I went to the GSN office and it is still there with the BBB sign posted right on the door. Someone was in the office but wouldn't come to the door so I know they are still scaming people. Which makes me furious! Can't something be done to stop this! Please post help if you can and if you are looking into joining this "company" DON'T!

I have been reading this blog and I was shocked to see this discussion about GSN/FLP. I have been a member now for almost 5 years and I have saved thousands of dollars with GSN. My husband and I were skeptical at first about joining the membership because of the cost but I can tell you that it was the best 3000.00 dollars we ever spent. We built a home about 2 years ago from the ground up and we saved tons of money on everything from plumbing fixtures, appliances, furniture, cabinets, windows, counter tops even small electronics from dvd players to tv's. I have never had 1 problem with GSN/FLP. All my experiences have been positive. I referred friends to GSN and most of them joined the program. When I was reading through the blog posts I noticed that all the people that left responces were non-members that just went to the presentation but did not join. I don't understand how any one can talk about a company that they don't even belong to if they have never been able to use the service. It seems to me everyone is going off of what other peoples thoughts are and that is fine, everyone is entitled to their opinon. But you can't really knock something until you try it.

Too many complaints to the BBB for me. While I am glad that you had a positive experience, everyone else that I have spoken with has said that this company is a sham and people should run as far away from them as possible.

PLEASE DO NOT FOR THIS SCAM. I RECIEVED THIS CARD IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY AND IMMEDIATELY TOLD MY WIFE TO CALL OUR PARENTS AND LET THEM KNOW NOT TO FALL FOR IT. IT WAS TOO LATE THEY HAD RECIEVED THEIR YELLOW POST CARD ON DEC 20TH AND WENT TO THE MEETING ON THE 23RD
AND WERE RIPPED OUT OF $900.00. THEY RECIEVED A BINDER FULL XEROX COPIED LITERATURE THAT HAD VENDORS IN DIFFERENT BUYING CATAGORIES THAT HAVE BEEN OUT OF BUSINESS IS SOME CASES OVER 15 YEARS. SO THEY ARE USING THE SAME RECYCLED INFORMATION FOR ATLEAST THAT LONG IN THE SCAM. MY INLAWS ACTUALLY PRINTED OFF A COUPON FOR 50% A NIGHT OF ENTERTAINMENT AT A COMEDY CLUB ONLY TO DRIVE TO ADDRESS PROVIDED AND FIND OUT THAT THE CLUB HAD BEEN CLOSED / OUT OF BUSINESS. I HAVE PLENTY OF INFORMATION ON THESE SCUM BAGS, AND WOULD BE GLAD TO SHARE THE INFORMATION UPON REQUEST. CALL ALL YOUR NEIGHBORS AND SPREAD THE WORD.

After reading all these negative comments about GSN, I got very upset. My family and I have been members of GSN for two years now and have had no complaints. I had been interested in joining this type of club for about a year before I went to this presentation. I had gone to many of them including Direct Buy but did not join any of them because they were way too expensive and said we had to shop out of a catolgue. We went to the presenation of GSN and were happy to join. Not only do they offer travel, they were less expensive, and we get to shop at the stores like we noramally do (so we know what we are buying). They were very professional and expalined things well. To this day the sales reps and customer service reps are very helpfull and are always there to walk us through any questions we may have. My husband and I are retired and we love to travel. The GSN travel department is great. With the money they save us and with the great commissions we receive, we are able to bring our children with us on vacation! Many people that are making the negative comments about GSN are not even members, so show do they even know what they are talking about? To make this clear GSN is not a MLM scam, and not a scam at all. To your comments about the complaints on the BBB, every store has complaints, look at Wal-Mart for example, I'm sure they have a thousand complaints, are you going to stop shopping there?

this reeks scam all over it.

Please keep posting your experiences with this company so others can be saved a lot of grief of having lost lots of money.

I suggest keeping records of the people you dealt with. Names, times, places, etc. Keep copies of all the documentation you were given.

______________________________________________________________________________

You can submit all of this information to the BBB.org, FTC.gov, and the attorney general of your state. I'd suggest all three if you want to gain critical mass with your complaints.

Better Business Bureau Online Complaint System
http://www.bbb.org

The Federal Trade Commission

by mail:
Consumer Response Center
Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20580

by web:
http://www.FTC.gov

by phone:
1-877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357)

National Association of Attorneys General
http://www.NAAG.org
Find your state attorney general's contact info, and call in a complaint. AGs will take action if they see a pattern.

GSN Home Store SCAM. I'm curious how a satisfited customer like "marie85" and "mrsbailen26" happen upon this information about this scam. Could they be part of the GSN team? As for the positive comment from "mrsbailen26" posted yesterday (1-9-2007) Im not sure how she could make the comment where she stated "I have been a member now for almost 5 years" of a company that was started in 2004. Just like all the other information it does not add up. Consumers BEWARE!!

I was just reading through the new comments and for indana765 I joined GSN in June of 2002 in Huber Heights OH. So I have been a member of GSN for almost 5 years. I understand how most of you are skeptical about a things like this but I gave it a try and it has been great for my family and I. Like I said before you really can't knock something until you try it.

When you're about to throw away hard earned money to a scam, you can definitely "knock" something

By your logic, we should all start sending money to nigeria.

hi, my name is Jackie, and my parent just purchased into this program this past Saturday....so in my research I found this website. I am hoping that this is not a scam, because my parent are a retired couple, but they purchased this for me and my brother. I have put in a price request on a trip to Mexico that I am planning on taking, and also a tv. I will keep you updated as to the results!

jackieO78 Could you tell me what state your parents live in?

It is fairly obvious that gsnhome is buyer beware and no amount of "positive" comments from one person is going to change this. This thread, with its comments and warnings will serve to warn people of gsnhome. Since it is on google, more people will search and be informed.

Folks; My wife and I attended a presentation by FLP today. We live in Las Vegas, NV and our group consisted of 4 other couples, all local residents. The leader was a dynamic chap named Ritchie who said that he had been promoting the FSL brand all over the country for the past 21(!) years. He then said that this was his first visit to Las Vegas! Then he said that he was staying at the Tropicana, a now-run down property where no one stays or admits to staying. After his pitch, I asked him to price a new car that I had been considering and gave him the exact specifications. He sent an assistant to check he reported a price approximately $8,000 less (!) than I had been quoted by two dealers the previous week. I asked why this seemed to be a Florida organization but had its headquarters in Houston, TX while having its money processing center located in Dayton Oh? He said thats the way they do it! I also asked why it takes 10-12 weeks for delivery of the documents. Richie said that they close for three weeks vacation and there has been a terrific input of new business.
We left and compared notes with the other couples. One said that they were buying today, primarily to book a major travel event. The rest of us chuckled and said, in effect, NO WAY.
I did not have a chance to Google this organization prior to the meeting. If I had, I never would have attended!

Florida Leisure Products,AKA GSN, is also based in Pompano Beach Fl. The BBB in the area is Southeast Florida BBB. I would encourage people to file a complaint through this BBB. FLP has been asked to leave hotels in SC and currently are not doing their promotions in SC. Take the time to file a complaint with BBB and notify local hotels where they are working. This is definately a scam and FLP is going from community to community until they are found out.

They are attempting this scam again here in Houston (Katy) Texas. The company name is APS or Allied Purchasing Solutions. We received a card in the mail promising us 2 nights at a Sheraton or Westin Hotel, dinner at Oilve Garden or Red Lobster and a $30 gas card. I called the number to hear what it was all about (I was suspicious but thought what the heck!). The person on the phone told me that APS was opening a new home improvement store in Katy and wanted to introduce the store to us and that all we had to do to get our prize was to listen to their 30 minute presentation in the hope that we would eventually shop at their store.

I asked if this store required a mebership fee to shop but was told no, so I agreed to go listen to their presentation which my wife and I (& 2 kids) attended yesterday. After 15 minutes the presenter mentioned that he would be through in 45 minutes. I looked at my watch and he questioned me. I told him that I was told that the presentation was supposed to be 30 minutes. He said the operator must have made a mistake. I then pointed out what she said about no membership required and that I had already been lied to twice so far. He became agitated, left the room for a couple of minutes and then returned asking if I wanted to leave.

I should have cut my losses at that point but I sgrred to listen to the remaining presentation. This guy came from Miami so I guess that could be the connection to FLP or GSN, I'm not sure. After my kids had 2 potty breaks and 1 nursing break and no supper, they were not too happy and I think they had already picked me out as a troublemaker! At the completion of the presentation, the other 3 or 4 couples were taken to different offices or cubicles. We were taken to the "main" office where this other guy asked us if we had any questions and explained the silver and gold membership for $2999 or $3999 and payment plan etc. The whole scam was the same - we couldn't go home and think about it; they could't give us any literature only verbal promises. I asked for some pricing examples to support their 30% savings claims. Everything I asked for he kept saying, "It depends .. there is such a variation depending the exact model, etc?" I finally asked the price for a specific piece of A/V equipment including the model number he said "He didn't know maybe 15% less than the store." Which store? Why couldn't he look the price up on his computer? Because it is SCAM. Tha't's when I left with my "coupon" to be mailed in for my free 3/2 vaction for 19.95.

Different name - same scam. Stay away! By the way did anyone ever get their holiday package?

Sounds like they are changing their name when they get caught. Take time to file a complaint with BBB

Embarrassing as it is, I have to say that my wife and I bit on the promise of saving money on major purchases. We attended a presentation in Sugar Land, Texas back in August. I think the presenter's name was Rob and he did a very good job with the presentation. When it was over, we were asked if we wanted to hear more about the program and when we said yes we were taken to an office and introduced to another gentleman named Vic.

Vic explained the two different memberships both of which seemed extremely costly. He told us about the process of making home improvements and how being a member could save us lots of money on materials. All we had to do was shop around and get some quotes and then give him a call with the details and he would come back with his quote. Since we were planning a new floor project in our home, my wife thought being a member might work out to our benefit.

We have not yet done the floor project but we have shopped around and gotten some quotes. Vic put us in touch with a wholesale flooring source and has an installer available when we need it. The savings for this project will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000.00.

That all sounds really good, but I have some sore spots regarding our membership. Our daughter lives in California and we asked them to come visit at Christmas. I called the service center and asked them if we could use the air travel vouchers that came with membership to help our daughter out with the cost of travel. We were told we could but the voucher was only redeemable after the actual travel took place and the voucher had to accompany a copy of the actual ticket. My daughter submitted the vouchers in late January and we still have not received the rebated $50 for each ticket. When I inquired earlier this week, I was told by a customer service agent that she would have to check with accounting and would call me back. That was on Monday. Around noon on Tuesday I called her back and she said she hadn't heard back from accounting as yet. When I asked he what was taking them so long, she said it usually takes at least a full day to get a response from accounting on issues of refunds. Friday came along and she still hadn't called me back so I made another call only to be told that she was on the telephone with a travel agent booking a cruise for another member and would be at least 20 minutes before she could call me back. They close their service center at 6:00 PM Eastern time so the 20 minutes would make it beyond closing time. You guessed it! No call.

Another issue. We shopped all around for some patio furniture and found what we liked at a Lowes store. I submitted my request for an e-quote through the website and had an answer by the next day. I placed my order around the first of March. I received an email thanking me for the order and saying that the product would probably ship in about 3 weeks and delivery would be made 7 to 10 days after that. I got my American Express statement in early April and there was a charge from Florida Leisure Products for the price of the furniture on March 23rd. I assumed that this was the date the product ship since I had been told that no charge to my credit card would be made until shipment. April 13th I called the service center to find out why I had not received the products since a charge to my account had been made almost 3 weeks earlier. The agent told me she would have to call their supplier to check on it. Several phone calls and emails later, I still do not know where my furniture is.

On my way home from work yesterday, I decided to swing by the office building where we had attended the presentation to speak with Vic to see if he could offer any help in getting satisfaction for my purchase. There were unfamiliar faces in the office where GSN had been and a gentleman told me that GSN had vacated the office in about mid December aparently in the middle of the night. He said several other people have been there over the past months looking for GSN as well and were told by the landlord to file a complaint with the BBB.

I will admit that we have saved some money on some purchases and they have not all been as convoluted as this one on the furniture, but my overall experience where their customers service is concerned has been very dis-
heartening.

As far as the $500 shopping spree that was given for attending the presentation, I too have looked at what is available in that website and find that most of the items are basically things that no one would normally buy in a store. I did find a sports duffle bag that I wanted valurd t $79.95. When I submitted an order for it on line I was given the opportunity to charge $34.95 on my credit card to cover shipping and handling. No thanks.

Maybe we'll know better next time.

OMG How far can people go to take your money I guess you should always fall back on the if it sounds to good to be true it is.

These people have moved on to Florida, Naples in fact and I set thru what was susposed to be a 40 min. introduction that ended up being an hour and a half. And he contradicted himself many times. They are very good at what they do as all scammers are.

I was getting two free tickets anywhere I decided to go. I got a voucher and am to send in 29.99 in the form of a moneyorder and wait 10 to 12 weeks for it to arrive. (I am not doing this)

Lesson learned I value my time too much to do this again. The lady on the phone told me I did not pay the 30 bucks until I decided to use them and had up to a year. Lies it is all lies.

They also told us they would come around with laptops and let us browse the website. That did not happen either. lie number two.

The guy that came over to talk to us smelled like he had been on a two day drunk, nobody strike a match.

I attended a session in Houston on Saturday. I don't make snap decisions and always check out companies on the Internet. I was told that I could not do this. They gave me this voucher that I am supposed to send a $29.99 MO in for processing. I think that I will count my losses with a quarter tank of gas. I am more concerned for the retired couples that were really being drawn into this hype. My parents have been victims of a similar scheme and it was painful that someone would actually take advantage of elderly people. How do they keep from going to jail? The presenter was very slick, he kept mentioning that he had purchased a home in Cinco Ranch and then quoting the Bible. I will be looking forward to hearing that they have been stopped.

I think my parents may have been at this same meeting -- in Katy, TX close to Houston -- except they fell for it and bought into it!! The lure for them was the promise of free airline vouchers. My siblings and I are really upset about this and have now convinced my parents through internet research, etc. that this whole thing is a scam, and they now want to figure a way out of it (but I'm really not sure that's possible). So, I have a couple of questions for people --

1 - Has ANYONE had ANY good experiences with this group? (Esp. the people calling themselves "Allied Purchasing Solutions" or "Access Development Corporation" -- the multiple names is such a red flag!!) Do they EVER deliver on ANY of their promises (or is it outright fraud??) One person has posted that they have received some discounted products - but that was through GSN, not APS or whatever it is ...

2 - Has ANYONE attempted to get out of the contract, and if so, how? Was it successful?

3 - Has ANYONE tried to dispute the charge for the contract on their credit card, claiming that it's a fraudulent company?

Right now I am feeling down on humanity that people exist out there to prey on honest, retired people.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

They are now called Allied Purchasing Solutions or Allied Purchasing Service. Allied Purchasing Services shows a file open date with the BBB as of April 30th 2007. Please check out the local houston BBB website at http://www.bbbhou.org and use Allied Purchasing as the search string. The results will have both the names. Allied Purchasing Service has the address where I went for the 50 min. presentation, however the door had Allied Purchasing Solutions as the name of the company.

I received a post card in the mail stating that I will get 2 FREE airline tickets to anywhere in the US. It said to call the 281-398-4248 number. I called and spoke to them. They are a customer support center for 4 organizations as the lady on the phone said. She said that Allied Purchasing Solutions would be opening a new store called APS and would like to have a pre-opening celebration. Since this is only for couples, you would either have to be married or engaged. I thought that was interesting. She said that I would have to go to the corporate location called Corporate Park West. The address to the corporate office was 1718 N. Fry Rd, Suite 460 HOUSTON TX 77084. She gave me a choice of dates and times and I opted for the July 7th @ 2pm. I went there with my wife and 3 kids (4, 2 and 9 months). When we showed up, the door said "Allied Purchasing Solutions. Appointments ONLY". So we took the card and went into the office, there was a hefty guy there with a goatie who took the card and escorted us to the back of the office space with sparse furniture. All they had were 2 office desks and one 32" LCD TV mounted on the wall. They had chairs there for the presentation. Quite a lot of people showed up, most of them were elderly or approaching retirement. A guy called Ritch came and claimed to be the head hancho. He said that we should be nice to him otherwise he would not give us the FREE airline tickets. The show started and he said all these things about us buying stuff at retail and then poped the example of sunglasses. He showed sunglasses that sell at Walgreens and other retailers for $14.95 and asked everyone in the room what the wholesale price would be. The next slide claims the wholesale cost of the glasses to be $0.95. He went on to say that he bought a cadillac with 52k miles for $7k and 2 years later sold it for the same price. He used the money to put down on his RED 525i BMW which be bought for $22k. His monthly payments were now $160/month. Wouldn't we like to own a BMW and do what he did? He was a smooth talker. His assistant John was there too. I wish I had taken his license plate number down, I could have run it in the HPD database to find out his real name. If anyone goes out there again and see's this guy and a red BMW, year 2004 or or, please note the plate number and post it here. I will run the plates.

He went on to talk about vacations and the packages that we pay. He also said that he owns a house in Cinco Ranch and had some renovations done to the house, and that he had saved thousands of dollars. He also mentioned that he loves to work out and goes to 24 hour fitness. This guy was sharp and really good at reading people. He knew whom to scope out in the room. Luckily I had by BlackBerry and ran a search on APS which landed me on this page. I read all the comments here and started questioning him. He said "Please do not disturb the session. All my questions will be answered in the session. Once the session has finished we will all be split up and he will answer any further questions. This is so that we can respect everyone else's time." As soon as the session was over, he told 2 guys in the back to follow him and I knew it that those 2 youngsters are going to be in trouble. I told the rest of the crowd that this was scam and most of them left. I started asking questions about his name and "Michael Brown", GSN and he declined each and every one of them. He had the "REDEMPTION CERTIFICATE" printed out with some age old ink jet printer and handed it to me to mail it in for the FREE AIRLINE TICKETS. The certificate said to include a MONEY ORDER for $29.99 payable to Allied Purchasing Solutions, P.O.Box 842055 HOUSTON TX 77284.

This is all a HOAX and means of getting you to pay the $2999 Silver package or $3999 fo the GOLD package or the $4999 for the platinum package. These guys have done this numerous times under different company names, aliases or Sobriquet and are really good at it. They just want to sequester funds from INNOCENT and HONEST people like me and you and then do what they did when they were GSN and vacate the premises in the middle of the night. Be aware and PLEASE DO NOT FALL INTO THE TRAPS. Please spread the word.

I have contacted Local 2 investigates about this and gave them all the details that I have outlined here.

Hello and thanks for all the info here. I too got a postcard today - offer is for 2 free RT tickets in the USA. I called and the girl said "company is FLP, making presentation at local comfort Inn, nothing to buy - they only want to provide information about their store coming to Knoxville to compete with Home Depo and Lowes. Trying to get the word out about them in this manner."
Well, I own a timeshare so I've been down this road at least once, and decided it was most likely a "pitch" with a sales tag of some sort. Had I known what I do today about the yearly maintenance hit on the timeshare costing as much as a weekly rental, I would have walked away from that "deal". Still, I've had some great vacations I might never have taken.

Anyway, thought I'd research it a bit and am seeing lots of concerns about this company on the net. I have absolutely no intention of buying into this thing , but I am interested in the 2 tickets. Question: Has anyone yet received the tickets, and is it always that they have to be "sent off for"? Because the gal on the phone said "you pickup your tickets and leave after the presentaion.

My eyes are wide open on this, so I know I could lose not only my time but my $29. Anyone out there who didn't buy the program ever get their airline tics?

Thanks, GweninTenn

Looks like these crooks are back at it. They took my inlaws in December of last year. Luckly only for $1000. We are currently working with Postal Authorities for possible postal fraud charges. Everyone needs to call their elderly relatives and warn them of this scam.

The tag number on the BMW is xxx-xxx and comes back to a Richard Alan xxx. His date of birth is xx/xx/xx and if you check that name in the Texas Dept. of Public Safefy sex offender database you will find a record (Indecency w/child sexual contact,female victim age 6)and photo of Ritch. That tells me all I need to know about him and his company.

Removed personal information (replaced with "xxx") from post. Please refrain from posting full names and addresses of GSN personnel in this thread. Please do share your stories and details with law enforcement personnel and/or states AG in your local jurisdiction, if you feel that illegal activity took place. Thank you.

BlueTDimly
Bargainshare Moderator

If anyone plans on attending the GSN sign up spiel in hopes of receiving their "free" travel vouchers, read carefully. Having gone through the GSN sales pitch mill to receive my "free" hotel stay, meals and gas voucher, I mailed in my $$$ for the "delivery charge" (Florida Leisure Products told me I did not have to pay to receive my hotel registration form) and was ultimately upgraded to free airline flights and hotel opportunities in some exotic locations. What I asked for was hotel accomodations in Michigan. This fiasco with GSN0 started in February and it is now August. After numerous phone calls to GSN and their call centers and being shunted from one location to another I finally connected with a lady in "collections" supposedly a GSN number who offered to replace my registration form with the correct one. Mailing would take six to seven weeks. Finally after a long wait, another call and I was told the form would be in the mail shortly. When I received the registration form, it was dated July 2 and mailed July 16. Later when reading the fine print I discovered the form had to be returned within 30 days along with a money order for $75.00 (refundable after using the hotel stay I sent a registered letter for my refund.) Again calling "collections", asking why the two week delay, I was told they were looking into the problem the the postal service holding up their mail. Has anyone ever had their first class mail delayed. A replacement was offered if I returned the registration form. A six month wait, multiple telephone calls, and a promised 30 minute seminar from GSN that turned into an hour and a half. Anyone want to sign up?