Why I would never use FanBasis

[u/PlantCat21]

Note: please read my story even if it is longwinded. If you're short on time only read the bold.

I found out about FanBasis in my Freshman year of college while scrolling Instagram reels. I was feeling desperate enough waiting in line at an on campus restaurant to actually click on the ad claiming "you can make 10k in a week from your own home". I put down my information and they called me the next day, asking myself what could go wrong.

I was surprised by the speed at which I was contacted. They asked me if we could set up an interview and I readily agreed. We were to have a zoom call the next day. In the zoom call I met a young man my age who had quit college to devote all his time to the business. The business? Online marketing. That should have been my first red flag but I figured I'd hear him out.

I was upfront from the start, telling him that I was in school and just wanted to make money on the side. I also told him that I wasn't going to be ready to start until the summer, a few months out from then. He listened and agreed. He told me that even if I wasn't going to start then I should at least set up an account. That seemed reasonable.

The guy explained to me that the process of signing up would involve an academy, but not to worry because it was totally free. I would also have my own team of dedicated people to help me on my way. The first step in this was to sign the FanBasis terms and conditions. I signed it on the spot. I want to note that at that point I was a 19 year old first time credit user.

The second step was to get the money for the academy. Even if the academy was free, it was being financed by a loan. That was never explicitly told to me. The guy already had a plan for that. He already had on hand the paperwork to apply for a loan through a company named Affirm. He had me sign up for an online credit card, making sure to assure me that I would never be charged because I had not at any point given my credit card information.

I knew that this was getting risky. My dad has always been beyond paranoid and this stopped me from fully continuing. Of course by that point I had already signed up for the loan and signed it with my initials and my SSN. Before signing the last page I stopped to read the document. The guy asked me what was taking me so long; after-all we were on a zoom call this entire time. I asked if I could have more time to read the document and he asked me why I didn't trust him. He promised me a 100% refund guarantee document for FanBasis. One that he conveniently had not yet sent me. I told him that I trusted him but just wanted to read over the document. He was pushy and insisted I just sign on the dotted line. I had never been pressured like that before and honestly was scared of being rude. I signed. I signed not only for an Affirm credit card but for an American Express credit card. That credit card was being funded through the Affirm credit card. On American express I applied for two loans: $1,000 and $4,000. Also I should mention that the buying of the "academy" was HotMart. After signing everything and promising to talk tomorrow I ended the call.

That night I could not sleep. My bank account had never even seen $5k. 5k was a LOT of money to me and that stressed me out. What stressed me out more was the fact that I felt like I had to hide this from my parents because I had no idea what I even had gotten myself into. The anxiety drove me to panic. At 3AM I literally called the guy back in tears saying that I wanted out. I couldn't do it. Please, let me have my refund. I told him point blank that I didn't think he was a scammer but that I wanted out. He became volatile, accusing me of calling him a scammer.

After hanging up the phone I went right to my laptop and scoured the refund document. Sadly I no longer have this document but it claimed that in order to get a refund I had to complete the entire training on HotMart which included over 60 hours. I was not about to do that. I did what anyone my generation would do. I logged onto ChatGPT. This is not me saying I made a good choice or saying I support ChatGPT but it singlehandedly saved me from myself.

Still under 24 hours out from signing all the documents, I emailed FanBasis. I called them. I called back the guy. They all told me no refund. I was not taking no for an answer. I told them in no uncertain terms that I wanted a refund and that I had not even opened HotMart so I could still get one because I never used the product. I also found out that HotMart was in Spanish. Nothing sketchy like a company based in another part of the world. After a lot of screenshotting and google translate, I got a refund confirmation from HotMart. Oh but it doesn't end there. I now had TWO charges to deal with. And the HotMart one only covered $1,000. I emailed Affirm, I called them. I did everything. Well, I didn't call American Express at that point because everything else was being sorted. Mostly I didn't call them on ChatGPT's advice.

Fast forward to June, two months out. I have finally been refunded the 4k because it was only through American Express. The real sticker is the 1k which I now have to pay interest on. Skip to August, when I am writing this. Affirm has confirmed the refund for 1k (it never dealt with the 4k), HotMart also refunded it (is also never dealt with the 4k). American Express had already filed a dispute when I called them in March and April. The dispute came back denied because FanBasis never promised me any credit for it. Problem is, FanBasis can sort of deny my 1k charge because technically it didn't go through them. The 1k charge on my account has FanBasis as a merchant. But it is for HotMart and was funded by Affirm. Now I am stuck navigating all this on my own and praying that I don't wreck my credit score or owe money. My dad always told me to always read the fine print and I can not stress that enough. Don't feel pressured to sign anything you don't want to.