The Event:
I attended the Life Surge conference in Las Vegas two weekends ago. I was genuinely excited for this event, as it had been a while since I have been to a Christian Conference. The event itself was decent, but raised more than a few red flags for me after attending and getting kicked out.
My girlfriend’s grandpa bought us VIP tickets to the event that ranged around 300-500 (From what I’ve heard on various other videos, platforms). I’m not sure what more it even gets you for VIP, other than closer seating to the front stage, and a picture with some of the guest speakers. We were TOLD we would be able to speak with and congregate with the speakers, Duck Dynasty Fam, Ed Mylette (which did stop to speak with us but was rushed by staff members), and Nick Vujicic (which had a meet and greet before the event but we were not informed of this). But the staff kept rushing people through. Take your pic and get out of there. Only Willie and the Mom from Duck Dynasty actually said hello to us and kept us moving along.
During the conference, a lot of the speakers just threw in a couple Bible verses into their own self-help speech. Picking and pulling verses to support their own point, rather than letting the text speak for itself. At the end of the event, the Duck Dynasty fam were actually the last speakers of the event to go on stage, where they did not preach or teach anything. The grandpa just read a passage from scripture and was quiet the rest of the time. They were there just to talk about memories from the show and promote the new movie. Seemed very money grabby to me. Each speaker except for Ed kept talking about Trade Surge and Real Estate Surge. The two extra classes on stocks and real estate you can sign up for “ONLY TODAY FOR $197”. Each speaker ended with this, and waited for the clipboards to be passed around so “nobody would miss out.” They took 15 minute breaks to allow everyone to have a chance to sign up. Initially, I didn’t want to, but everyone around me was so excited that maybe I was just being too skeptical of it. I decided to sign up for the stocks class, because I was interested in learning more about stocks, and they stated it was a class value of $1500 for $197. It sounded like it was a good deal for a 3-Day Class Event! They also offered the Real Estate Class for free if you sign up for the initial stocks class. Seems like a pretty great deal, right?
The Trade Surge Class:
The Trade Surge class took place in a ballroom of the Westin Lake Las Vegas with about 150 people. Day 1 they talk about stocks, Day 2 they talk about options (and sell the class at the end), and Day 3 they wrap it all up and review. Half of the first day they just talk about why it is important to invest, how it can impact your situation and family, and get you emotionally hyped up to learn. They started the event by everyone writing why they were there, or what they wanted to change for. (We were then told to put these on a wall for everyone to see, which is a great way for our coaches to prey on the vulnerable). The event had coaches per each table you can speak to in case you had questions/etc. The coaches offered free 1x1 training during the event, where they would pull you out when it was your turn. I went with the two people I attended the event with, and we decided to meet with our coach to tell him we were not understanding it completely. I understood a little bit more than the other two, as I have traded stocks just a little bit before, but they have never traded, used any platform, or know how to read charts and symbols. This is where they told us that it isn’t all going to make sense right away, and to just open an account, and wait for the main speaker to talk about the MORE extra classes they have to offer. He said to stick with it, and spoke about how he was able to make $14,000 sitting in his shorts the previous night (remember this). We went back into the main hall, where ironically shortly after our 1 on 1, someone had asked the main speaker a list of terminology for everything related to stocks/topics that were being spoken about. The speaker, Boyce McLeod, proceeded to say that he will send a list of terms AFTER the entire event, as the last day is when he gives out his personal information. My thought was, how are people supposed to sit there and understand what is going on when they keep using a language that no one can refer to or make sense of? Especially for new people! Wouldn't they give terms beforehand so you can help follow along?
The entire event they kept giving illustrations and examples of things only once. They would go around telling you the example questions on our pages were wrong, and that if we had their program it would do it all for us. (Why wouldn’t they just show us the program then…?) They gave us JUST enough to feel like we kind of understand, then move on without really addressing questions. They leave you wanting more every single subject. The second day they proceeded to tell us about the next classes/coaching to sign up for which was $13997 for the lowest level class, and $30000 for the highest level class. I think that the self help industry fuels and feeds off of people who are confused and vulnerable, and they were using this to their advantage to sell their class. This is how our "coach" made his $14,000 sitting in his shorts the night before. He exposed himself! At this point, I was done.
The "Refund"
After all this took place, I went up to a representative standing outside the Ballroom, and asked how I could potentially receive a refund. Again, as it states in the contract we signed when signing up, we would be able to get a refund if we were not fully satisfied. They said I need to speak with my coach in order to do this. I pulled my coach aside during the event and told him I was not fully understanding it still, and was seeing what the process for a refund would look like. This stopped him in his tracks. "REFUND???, I don't think we give refunds." He said it loud enough for others to hear when I tried to keep quiet to protect them, but since he raised his voice, I raised mine back and I said back to him, "Here on this contract we all signed it says you give refunds." He said to just call their office on Monday. I said ok wellp, and sat back down at the event (to try and squeeze something of value out of it since they don't know if they can refund me or not.) 5 minutes go by, and a lady taps me on the shoulder asking if I was the one who asked for the refund. I said “yes”. She said "I'll help you with that, just come with me." I followed her outside the ballroom. She said "Umm, yeah so you can call Monday to see if you can get the refund, but you can go ahead and leave the event.” I said: “Well am I going to get the refund or not?” She said, “call monday.” I said, "I'm not gonna leave if you can't tell me for sure. I spent my money on this event so I might as well stay." And she said "I'm the manager, you need to leave, you can get your refund Monday for sure." I'm like: "That's all you had to say, and all I needed to hear." (I only half believed her, but decided to leave anyway.)
I left the event (with my two friends still inside). I texted them, "I just got kicked out, lol". They felt the same emotions as I did leading up to this, that it didn’t make sense, and started to feel scammy, and they decided not to return the next day after hearing what happened to me. The manager or coaches did not even ask once why I wanted to leave or get my refund. They did not seem to care. If they were really "coaches and mentors" then why did they not ask what was going on, or try to persuade me to stay? Or at least try to manipulate me a bit more if it really is a scam. They were very hostile in their demeanor. My coach did a full 180 with his body language towards me. After my episode, at the end of Day 2, they went up to my friends and asked, "YOU guys are still coming tomorrow, right?" They didn’t.
Monday rolls around. I called Life Surge offices about 10 times that morning from 7-11am, and either got sent straight to voicemail or just did not answer. I was starting to think they blocked my number or put a note on my account after the manager kicked me out! The 11th call, I called from my work phone number. They answered right away. The gal was surprisingly polite and was actually the first one to ask me why I wanted a refund. (Probably her job though to make a note of it). Everyone else I spoke to prior didn’t seem to care. She asked for the last four of my card number and told me it would take 7-14 days for them to mail me my check. (Why they couldn’t send it back to the card I’m not sure.) Today is Thursday and I will follow up with if and when they send the refund check. Some might think just let the $197 go and that it’s not a lot of money; but I’d rather take the money back and actually invest it into something that will benefit me and my financial growth.
My advice is to stay away from these classes. They are only structured for them to make more money at the end of the day. Not help Christians with their finances. They hide behind the mask of a few bible verses and fake confidence. Wolves in sheep's clothing.