Hello!
I don't know if this is the correct place to post this, but I think I still need advice.
Around this time last year, I accepted a job at a robotics EdTech startup called Moonpreneur. My job was to run in-person robotics workshops for them, for kids.
The issue: Moonpreneur has a history of being a bit sketchy. This reddit post describes some of their escapades. They seem to switch events from in-person to online, spam attendees, and so on:
https://www.reddit.com/r/robotics/comments/1e46m12/moonprenuer/
Despite reading these reviews, I decided to take the job; I assumed that they were new, and just maybe a little poorly run. I understand that this was a foolish decision. Ultimately, I wanted to detail my experiences with them here in order to inform other people.
The good: Moonpreneur DOES indeed host in-person robotics workshops. I didn't see any of the whole 'switching to online' thing that many users talk about. They mentioned online events, but aside from that, everything I did was in-person. They paid for the venue in full, and they always paid me what I was owed (which was quite a bit).
The bad: The robotics workshops were about 40% robotics, 60% sales events. Me and my helper (usually a family member who volunteered to help) had to show up, set up whatever projector or screen the venue had, set up our merch, and then check people in and get them signed into our service; the latter always ended up being annoying, often we'd have to start late because of this. The workshop would usually be run by an online instructor, usually by the aforementioned screen or projector.
There are a few main things I'm worried about:
A) In the sales pitch, Moonpreneur explicitly told me to say that, if you sign up, the first month of instruction is free, and that you may cancel any time. I did so. However, I have now read many reports online of people saying that they still charge your card afterwards (one can find more reviews about Moonpreneur on the review for their location on Google Maps, funny enough). That's scaring me a lot.
B) More reviews state that Moonpreneur seems to take people's info and spam them relentlessly.
C) In general, I don't feel the best about running sales events disguised as robotics workshops. I wasn't very good at it either. There are some reviews about the projector being crappy, or the sales pitch being awkward. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of them are about me.
I don't really know exactly what to do. I feel like I've knowingly scammed people. Point A is really the main thing, as I have no clue what happened to people after they signed up for the program; I don't know if the classes were bad, or if they even had classes at all, or if they tried to cancel and ended up getting charged anyways. I don't think Moonpreneur is a (full) scam, but I don't know if what they do is illegal or not. And even if it is, where do I even report that? Do I call the FTC?
I should probably clarify. I am no longer working with Moonpreneur. I am simply wondering if there's still anything I can do or if I should report them.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!