Masterplans.com
Reviews and Complaints

Masterplans "business plan" writing service is a SCAM! My business partner and I are literally exhausted after 2 months of fighting tirelessly with Masterplans to try to salvage something for the services that we paid $1265 dollars for! After receiving a half attempted business plan we took the document to a gentlemen at the SBA to review it and be sure it would stand up to the scrutiny of the bank lender. After review he discovered and described 21 major structural errors within the plan that are not only a must but are also considered standard in the most basic business plans. When we politely took these changes to masterplans to be corrected our planner was conveniently always away from her desk and eventually "out of the country". After a week of the excuses we were contacted by a second employee who said he would be taking over the project for us. He continued to argue with my partner and myself, defending the initial plan and refusing to extend our editing time even in light of the need to basically start over. In an attempt to move the process along my partner and I did all of the necessary research and rewrote the entire plans major components and corrected the incorrect financial calculations. We then emailed it to the new planner, asking him to simply format the text to fit the format recommended by the gentlemen at the SBA and maybe add a little beef to the core document. He proceeded to argue with us, act annoyed, and eventually hang up on us! I then called the supervisor complaining of our rude ridiculous treatment and asked him to refund our money. He then assured me that he would continue to fix the document to our satisfaction until it was up to the lenders standards, and would extend our editing time until it was accepted by us. Unfortunately 5 days later when I received the updated draft he had fixed only minor grammatical errors and still did not format the document to the simple format we were asking for. When I emailed him thanking him for his efforts and ask that he only finish the formatting correctly and we would accept it, he went off on me in an email and told me he washes his hands of our project and for me to no longer contact him and by the way "good luck at the bank"! I have never been treated so rudely or unprofessionally in my life. Not only are these business writers kids fresh out of school that have no idea what they are doing but they constantly argue with you and refuse to custom your plan the way you or your bank request it to be done. They not only ripped us off for over 1200 dollars but they also caused us much pain and anguish and delayed our start date by months. Please do not use this company and if they have already ripped you off PLEASE report them to the BBB. It is the only way to take a stand against scammers like Masterplans.

I entered into a contract with MasterPlans to provide me with a "ready business plan" as per the "Scope of Work" stated in my project contract. While Masterplans insisted on 5/30/2012 that I sign the pre-authorization for the remaining payment of $1, 750.00 via my credit card, I refused advising them I would not give them the authorization to bill my credit card until I'd received the draft and "approved" it.

MasterPlans "baulked" but finally acquiesced by changing the "original" standard agreement... to the binding agreement to read: "$1, 750.00 due at the draft delivery (With Approval)". I did not sign the "Payment Information and Authorization" until two days later (6/1/12) when MasterPlans had agreed to my new terms requiring my approval before billing my card.

It should be further noted, that their Terms and Conditions paragraph 3; 3rd, 4th & 5th sentences... "The second payment will be pre-authorized prior to delivery of the rough draft to ensure the card on file is still active. Once the rough draft is delivered to the client, the transaction will be conditionally settled electronically. As used in these Terms and Conditions "Rough Draft" shall refer to Scope of Work as per attached page one."

On Friday, June 15th, 2012 at 3:43 PM EST (15:43 hours), MasterPlans "swiped" my card billing my credit card without my approval and prior to providing me with the "Rough Draft". Approximately five (5) hours, 8:38 PM EST (20:38 hours) after billing my credit card, MasterPlans emailed me the "Rough Draft".

My contention is that MasterPlans violated the contract by not delivering the rough draft and getting my approval before billing my account. MasterPlans knowingly and willfully defrauded me by providing me with a sub-standard/elementary product that MasterPlans knew would not be accepted or meet the "approval" that was necessary for the charge.

While it is my position that the aforementioned is more than sufficient to support my case for non-payment of the monies in question, reviews of the MasterPlan product and recommendations to terminate MasterPlan contract by a well-respected third party that has vastly more experience in business plans... and a complied list of extensive number of nine (9) pages of consumer complaints and emails concerning my case addresses the secondary issues of an unacceptable product.

I contended that I should be refunded my investment in MasterPlans being that they have violated the contract that was set forth and agreed to by both parties. In addition, now that I have spent my money and received a product that was obviously known by them to be sub-standard (why they charged my card violating the terms of the contract in the first place)...

I have also had to spend valuable time to drop all projects to redo the business plan to include hiring my CPA to do a professional project financial analysis. Anyone who decides to use this supposed "well-qualified and reputable company" should definitely think twice. I have written many business plans in my lifetime in over 30 years in business. Deciding to choose this company to lighten my load has actually caused me more of a burden than I thought possible.

Charged Credit Card without delivery of the "rough draft" and receipt of prior approval as stated in contract. The Draft finally delivered was a joke. Inconsistencies, irrelevant out dated statistics, financial reports that were totally inaccurate, etc.
Totally not what was contracted for nor what is advertised. Total Rip-Off !

I just contacted Masterplans.com and I spoke with a nice lady who explain me what they offer, the price $4, 400.00 (50% at front and the other 50% at the end). Always I do researching before giving money out to a company. My present husband was scammed several times and I told him that we have to be careful. The first image of masterplans.com was a professional company. They have so nice designed business plans online. When I started opening the samples they sent by e-mail and research for the websites mentioned in their plans, they didn't exist. I made more investigation regarding masterplan.com and scam. For sure I will not move forward with this company. Thanks for all this complaints I am able to open my eyes. I have been doing research for years after I hired a company that scammed me . Hopefully someone can stop this fraudulent company. They still doing dirty businesses and is sad that they still in the market.

I requested information on a business plan and was contacted by Tom Martinez who talked fast and explained the business plan process. It was like he was rushing through his script to get to the credit card information. Like an idiot I bought into the idea of saving time and the ordeal of doing the plan on my own, and gave up my CC info and in 2 seconds the charge for half the plan was debited. I received an email a short time later from Leah Wing with the agreement. Too bad I signed it. Obviously at this point my mind is more focused on the needs of my business and being able to secure financing with a plan that is much better than I could do. Boy was I wrong. After faxing this information to them, I received an email from Paige Short - Project Lead. When we spoke I provided lots of information about the products, sent my resume, and an idea about what I wanted to do. Then I did not hear back from her for over a week. Finally I get a draft that has financials done by a 5 year old. They do not make sense at all, almost laughable by myself, let alone a lender I'd have to sit in front of and try to explain. I emailed Paige back with some estimations. First just to give you an idea. I really need about $20, 000 in funding. The plan called for $120, 000. The gross margins, revenues, net profit, cash flow, balance sheet, made absolutely no sense for my business at all. You could tell it was cookie cutter, some kind of spreadsheet that just filled in random numbers.Mind you since this was my draft, as soon as it was emailed another $450 came out of my account. And in the email was a statement saying I have 21 days to request revisions. When I emailed Paige back and advised that these were off, she said she would work on it. Then again 5 days go by and finally I get a Word Document and PDF file. The changes were barely made, if none at all. The financial statements were ridiculous and made no sense. There is no way anyone could walk into a bank and think they can get a business loan, line of credit, or request from the SBA...So the rest of the plan anyone can get from the internet basically - and even I gave them the product descriptions, my background. The executive summary is cookie cutter. The demographic research I'm sure they can afford to pay for that additional info, but most of it can be found by googling demographics in my area... as I type this I feel stupider for not even making the attempt to do this myself - lessons learned I guess, but I want anyone who even thinks of using Masterplans.com to be aware and STAY AWAY FROM THEM...once they get your money they don't even want to give you time on the phone to go over the plan revisions step by step, they just try to stay away and send emails out every few days. Or if you even mention a revision after you receive your draft, they take 4 or 5 days to make some minor changes that way those 21 days you get, go by fast! THE BIGGEST SCAM IS RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF OUR EYES. The reality is is that no one else knows what kind of plan someone else gets so they just think they are the only one, or don't understand how it's like every other plan more than likely. And the financial statements MAKE NO SENSE AT ALL - you are better off going to an SBA or Business Workshop and taking the time to write your own plan at least that way it will be the way YOU NEED IT AND PLAN IT TO BE. I will never again pay someone else to do something like this again.

If you are a victim of masterplans, masterplans.com, Brian Howe, Sente, or Sente Inc. file your complaint here. Review other complants against them at: http://www.complaintsboard.com/?search=masterplans.com

Better Business Bureau, BBB, processed a total of 12 complaints about Sente Inc (who owns masterplans.com).