Rick Watson

Review of Palm Beach Research Group

PRO: The company provides so-so to decent informa...

PRO: The company provides so-so to decent information. CON: The one-star rating I've given is because they are extremely shady in their business practices, so buyer beware. I signed up for one service a couple of years ago. Immediately they begin inundating your inbox with marketing email offering to upgrade you "for life" to "all of our publications that we have now or will offer in the future". They call it "Infinity" because it includes "EVERYTHING", "FOREVER". Only it doesn't. I found out the hard way, and thousands of dollars later. Turns out "lifetime" actually just means until they decide to stop publishing something or offering a particular service, which they've done several times since I signed up just two years ago. Then it turns out that "everything they publish or offer now or in the future" doesn't exactly mean the same thing as when you or I say "everything". Some services are still separate and cost WAY more.

Even after you pay thousands for whatever service(s) you sign up for, they still have an "annual maintenance fee". Fine. OK. I knew that when I signed up. I figured the value of the information would be worth that $200 annual fee. Imagine my surprise when I got a bill the other day saying this years annual fee was coming up and it would be $500. I called into customer service to question it and was told they emailed me about it last year. This company sends no less than 10-15 emails a day and at least 90% of them are marketing emails offering get rich quick schemes. Apparently last year they sent one saying how they were discontinuing one of my services that was supposed to be for life, but that I shouldn't be concerned because they were subbing in another service for it. Buried somewhere deep in that was that they were actually subscribing me to another service from a "partner" company, and because of that, now they want $500 for the annual maintenance fee. I didn't agree to it, but that doesn't matter. When I called to ask why my fee was now $500 a year instead of $200 a year, I was told that my implied consent has obligated me to continue paying $500 or the alternative is that I can cancel all of my subscription and thereby forfeit the thousands of dollars I paid for it. They say it's "impossible" to downgrade my subscription to what I actually signed up for.

So, buyer beware. If you sign up, prepare to pay thousands up front and read every single one of the hundreds of marketing emails you're going to get, including the small print, because they'll get you. And you don't have to opt in. They do it for you and charge you for it. And remember, it's "impossible" to go back to just what you signed up for to start with.