POSTED: 5:34 p.m. PST January 31, 2003

Wayne Havrelly
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Consumer Investigatorr

The dot-com bust devastated people in our area, but you'd never know it if you listened to a high-pressure pitch at a seminar that was just in our area.

More On This Story More information from the Utah Better Business Bureau

A quick background check on this traveling company turned up some disturbing information.

Our Consumer Investigator Wayne Havrelly decided to use hidden cameras to expose some outrageous claims.

It certainly sounds enticing!

Thousands of you who attended these seminars heard some amazing success stories.

But our KIRO 7 Investigation reveals not all those tales are true, and there are some sad stories you won't hear in the seminars.

"You need a place where you can take thousands of orders at the exact same time," said a speaker at the seminar.

We took a hidden camera inside a traveling road show put on by a company called Storesonline. The Utah company helps build and market websites.

KIRO 7 Consumer producers are undercover so you can hear the high-pressure pitch.

"How would anybody like to make $39,000 in one day? Anybody?" [laughs.]

The man running the show claims websites he designed after attending this same seminar have been making him rich -- sometimes nearly $40,000 a day.

Many who fell for this pitch tell different stories. Stores on line was purchased by a company that also owns Galaxy Mall, which used to operate similar seminars.

We've uncovered that at least nine states and the Federal Trade Commission have launched inquiries and investigations into the business practices of these companies.

And we've discovered hundreds of Galaxy Mall or Storesonline customers who claim they were misled, some in the Northwest.

One Tacoma woman is out $4,800 and is so ashamed she's hiding her face.

"I said 'I have a computer but I really don't know the fine points of it.'"

Havrelly: "And what did they tell you?" Answer: "'It doesn't make any difference. We'll help you.'"

She hired Galaxy Mall to build a website to help her sell doll clothes.

Havrelly: "I see here from the bills that they were taking money out of your checking account every month. And you didn't have a website?"

Answer" "No, not for months."

She claims her website didn't pop up on the Internet for nearly a year. And when it, did she says it didn't work properly.

The Washington State Attorney General's office eventually intervened and the company stopped taking her money.

I met up with some Storesonline employees outside a recent seminar, but they didn't want to talk about their company's long history of complaints.

Havrelly: "There's just been a lot of complaints about your company all across the county."

Answer: "We've enjoyed being out here in Seattle, but I'm actually going to have to ask the hotel security to escort you out."

Back inside the seminar, our hidden camera catches the speaker bragging about a surfer named Pat Weber. He says Pat got rich from the surfing school website Storesonline built for him.

"Three hundred seventy five thousand dollars in one year. Is that pretty good money for a hard core surfer?" said the speaker at the seminar.

But I spoke to Pat Weber in San Diego. He says he didn't make nearly that much money.

In fact he claims he quit using the company seven years ago because it was too expensive.

The cheapest package Storesonline sells at the seminar is $2,400. But you have to pay that premium every year. The Utah company calls it a "maintenance fee."

"Divide out $2400. You're looking at $200 a month for no hosting, just for the code. Yeah, it's pretty steep. It's really steep," said Jason Williams.

Williams works for Seanet, a local company that designs and hosts commercial websites.

He's never heard of an annual maintenance fee and says a basic e-commerce website can be made professionally for less than $400 -- many people even do it themselves for free.

"I'm so sorry I ever got into it, because if you want to throw your money away that's the way to do it!" the former customer said.

Storesonline responded in a statement saying, "our company's business practices have been thoroughly investigated by the Federal Trade Commission over a very long period of time. The FTC closed its investigation last year. We have cooperated in every way and to our knowledge all questions and issues have been resolved."

The FTC won't tell us whether their investigation is closed or ongoing.

Storesonline officials say they don't guarantee success and customers who purchase products or services must acknowledge that fact three times in writing.

Regarding the surfer Pat Weber? Storesonline says all comments made about him are based on a thank you letter they received from Weber in February of 97.