Yes, Trump University Was a Massive Scam

The National Review ^ | February 27, 2016 | Ian Tuttle Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/432010/trump-university-scam

[Cincinatus' Wife]

But according to the New York complaint, none of the instructors was "handpicked" by Trump, many of them came from fields having nothing to do with real-estate, and Trump "'never' reviewed any of Trump University's curricula or programming materials." The materials were "in large part developed by a third-party company that creates and develops materials for an array of motivational speakers and seminar and timeshare rental companies."

We were in Myrtle Beach years ago strolling through one of the open air shopping malls with some time to kill. A woman was handing out small brochures at a kiosk asking if we'd like to take in a free show while we were in town.

The catch was you had to go listen to a short "time share" pitch. We'd heard about "time shares" and wondered what all the hype was about so thought we could kill 2 birds with one stone - learn about it, take in a show and (third) fill an hour.

We'll it was an entire day of high pressure sales and a real education in "you deserve it," with sleaze bucket sales people working in tandem to make the sale - even down to the last guy sitting across from the window where we picked up our "free" tickets" - "ppssst" he calls from his office and then approaches us with kind assurances about how he knows those others were over the top aggressive but that he could set us up with something....

Cincinatus and I wouldn't give up those 5 hours of "education" for anything. It was a real eye-opener in how people are pressured by professional scammers to part with their money.

When I'd pointed out to the overbearing "floating" salesman who'd been brought over to the desk (there were rows and rows of desks with couples) where we were sitting that we had been promised before we came that there would be no "high pressure sales" he said "Who told you that!?"

I took out the brochure and showed him where it was printed in black and white. He walked off.

From the beginning we told everyone that we had no intention of buying anything and were willing to listen but all we wanted were tickets to the show.

I guess they hear that from a lot of people.

BTW, the show was pretty awful.

So I have a fair idea of how these "seminars" go.

Listen to that linked video above of Trump giving his pitch. There are other videos linked at the OpEd source link.

[Windflier]

Ted Can Fix It!

[kik5150]

[Gene Eric]

This is essentially an attack on capitalism.

[glock rocks]

NR.

[DB]

Seriously?

[Dagnabitt]

Sleazy stuff and we’re not done hearing about it. Not by a long shot.
Come the general election, the media and HRC are going to make “University” Donald’s last name.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

[FredZarguna]

You have not answered an accusation simply because you've impugned the source.

Please point out what in this article is untrue. That's how rational argument works.

[Gene Eric]

First thing first, Trump University was never a university.

What else do I need to point out?

[DoughtyOne]

Folks, if you're reading this, you know what needs to happen.
It doesn't take a big contribution. Pick your comfort level and
please join others to help put the FReepathon to rest. Thank you.

The above note was first presented to you on 02/25 at around 11:00.
The goal shortfall at that time is depicted to you on the left.
The graphic on the right reveals our status as of 02/26 22:30.
We can finish this by Sunday night. Let's do it.

Let's give Jim, his crew, and us a full month to rest up.

Jim, his crew, and every other FReeper thanks you.

[glock rocks]

That’s what trials are for. In the meanwhile, NR.

[Williams]

Yeah. The article is as much hype as they claim Trump University was.

These class action lawsuits are as much a scam as any motivational lecture series.

I guess the product you are selling gets higher scrutiny if a “single mother” purchases it.

And a dozen other obvious ploys in the article.

[P.O.E.]

Tell me Hamburger University isn’t a real university and all my illusions will be shattered.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

[DB]

So isn’t that false advertising? Because it was called Trump University.

[stormhill]

My family also went to a time share presentation. In our case, there was a time limit given and the sales people seemed shocked that I made them adhere to it.
The whole thing was an obvious scam and I broke it down to the sales lady how bad the deal was even before you considered the "maintenance" fees which were in themselves an absolute outrage.

[ObamahatesPACoal]

Why didn’t they demand they meet with Trump before handing of 10k’s worth?

[DB]

Okay, I’ll give you points for that.

[Williams]

Exactly. That it was not an accredited institution of higher learning is rather obvious in that it was a series of a few lectures by successful people on how to develop real estate.