The purpose of this blog is to document my efforts to discover is if the Zaken Corporation is a scam, as so many sites say it is, or if it is indeed a legitimate business with a legitimate work-from-home plan that could benefit those associates who are willing to put forward the effort to make it work.

To Introduce Myself

My name is Lisa Reynoso. I live with my husband Rafael, in South Texas. We have been married a year and are expecting our first baby to arrive in a couple of months. My husband has been unable to find full-time work for over six months, and when the baby comes, I am not going to work outside the home. Therefore a couple of months ago I decided to investigate working from home. Because we don't have the money to waste on scams, I have taken my time and investigated as carefully as possible everything that came may way. And let me tell you, there sure are a lot of scams out there!

What interest do I have in this personally that would lead me to go to the effort to document everything we are doing and publish it on the web as extensively as I plan to do? None, really. But I have the time to do it (which many people do not have), and I figure that if it is a scam, it needs to be exposed, and in a way that answers the questions of anyone that cares to investigate it--without them having to go to all the effort I have (and will continue to do) to find answers. If, on the other hand, it is not a scam, then those who could benefit from being associates of the business but are skeptical, like I was, will have a chance to find out without having to go to the lengths that I did. I don't expect to be paid for my efforts by anyone, except maybe having a better standard of living if it is truly not a scam (because if it isn't, I'm sure my husband will make it work).

Searching for the Perfect Home Business

When I was searching for information on starting a home business, I must have agreed to receive some entrepreneurial magazine, because I got one not to long ago in the mail. I paged through it, but could easily see that most of the job offers were scams. I knew, however, that a well-written scam would sound very much like a legitimate offer, which is really to bad for those making real offers. One particular advertisement caught my interest--the one for the Zaken Corporation. What caught my attention is the fact that it didn't ask you to send money. My husband figured that $.39 for a stamp was worth it just to see what happened, so he filled out the form and sent it in.

We just got the material in the mail last Friday. It contained a cover letter and a magazine-style letter. On page three of the magazine, I discovered that there is a $148 fee for the training materials, which made it sound like a scam. However, I decided to read far enough to see what kind of business it was, at least. It claims to be a company that buys overstock and resells it. I know this kind of thing happens all the time. That's why we have places like Fallas Paredes, the Nordstrom Rack, and a variety of dollar stores, to name a few. The question is, Does Zaken Corp. really do that?

After reading about half the letter, I got online and looked them up in the Better Business Bureau. It gave them an F. Still, I wanted more information, so I typed "Tiran Zaken" into Google. Oddly enough, the first hit to come up was the Rip Off Report, which is a service of the Bad Business Bureau. They had a number of previously filed reports by people saying it was a scam, that they had been treated badly, etc. However, they had an update that they added less than two years ago. It was very interesting and enlightening. I shared with my husband the essence of what I had found, and he began to get excited. That surprised me, because he is naturally more skeptical than I am.

We Decide Not to Rush Things

The material said we should reply right away, or risk losing out on the opportunity. That is one of the things that make sound like a scam. So we decided to call the company. We decided to call the number listed in the letterhead of the cover letter (818-407-1225), instead of calling the order line. But first we prayed and asked for two specific things. Since it was about an hour before they closed on Friday, and since Monday is a holiday, we realized making a decision wasn't urgent, and that it would be good to take the rest of the weekend to pray about it and do more research. So we prayed and asked the Lord that 1) whoever we talked to not be pushy, and 2) that there still be a position open on Tuesday, if it was worth getting into. A positive answer to both petitions would not mean that we would for sure try it, but a negative on either one would definitely decide us.

So we called. We were impressed by the fact that the company had such a fancy automated system. It doesn't seem that a business that was nothing more than a scam would have so many options. When we mistakenly selected the wrong one, we were directed to another department. This gave us the impression that this was a real company with different departments doing different things. We had listened to the menu options and thought that we should select option 6. It turned out that we needed to have selected the option for customer service, and that's where we were sent. When we got someone from customer service, my husband gave his name and said that he wanted to let them know that he had received the information and needed a few days (namely, the long weekend) to look things over, and then he might call back on Tuesday. The lady was very professional. She assured him that there were still positions open, and that she would make sure there was one open for him on Tuesday, so he could take his time.

That sounded like a positive on both accounts to me, but we still didn't want to make a decision just then. It was just too early. We thanked the Lord for the answers and asked for continued guidance.

The Research Continues

Then Sunday morning I got on the Internet and decided to do some more research. Besides what I had tried before, I typed in a number of different search combinations into Google. I searched a couple of popular article sites (EzineArticles.com and SearchWarp) to see if anyone had written an article with the word "Zaken", and in both cases came up with 0 articles. The name Zaken appears to be Norwegian or something like that, because when I typed his name alone, it came up with a bunch of foreign language sites. But whatever the case may be, I found a lot of bad reports on forums and the like. It was next to impossible to find anyone saying anything good about it, though I did find this rebuttal (read last comment) on the Rip Off Report site. One thing that I noticed, however, is that nearly everything I found predated the update on Rip Off Report.

I reread the ROR update and decided to write the EDitor. Below is a copy of what I wrote him and his reply (which, surprisingly enough for a Sunday, I discovered in my inbox a couple of hours later):

I am wondering why your website is the only one I can find that gives a positive report on the Zaken Corp--at least, the update did. Why are there so many complaints and why can't I find satisfied associates posting independently on the web?

His reply:

The answer is very simple. If you have read what I wrote in the link below, ..I'm sure you did.. What part of that did you not understand?

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff91593.htm

I guess I can understand you still asking your question ... but..

Zaken clearly admits he made mistakes in the past. NO BUSINESS IS PERFECT...

Zaken definitely gave thousands in refunds to those who came to Rip-off Report in the past.

Zaken gives back FULL REFUNDS if the program did not work out, no matter what his stated policy says... Like any business, they would want their client / customer to make sure they give the program a good hard try, sooner than later.

Over the last several years Rip-off Report sent many consumers to Zaken to try out their program as a work at home business. None of the dozens or so people we sent their way have told us they wanted a refund. yet.. I will be surprised if no one contacts us.. Zaken's program, like any other business opportunity is NOT GOING TO BE FOR EVERYONE.... and Zaken clearly admits that.

Rip-off Report cannot change or help the entire world. What we can do is, - - anyone that runs across a business that is on Rip-off Report Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation and Customer Satisfaction Program, ... they WILL GET A FULL REFUND IF THEY WERE NOT SATISFIED. (Pretty much) NO QUESTIONS ASKED... If the business does not, the member business is off the program.

Where We Stand at the Moment

About this time, I decided that I was going to get to the bottom of this, if it was possible. We live in Texas, and the Zaken Corp. is California, which is two hours earlier than us. Also, my husband has a job interview Tuesday morning early, as well as some other errands to run, which means he won't be here when they open. I work from 10:30 to 1:30 that day, so it probably won't be until sometime after noon their time that we have a chance to get back in touch with them.

I have decided to ask them some straight questions, based on the research that I have done. Below is a partial list of questions.

• How do we find the companies to contact? Is this "inside information" free to us, or do we have to buy it?
• Why do you need associates in different states? Why not just build another office and hire local people?
• Suppose we look over the material and decide it's not for us. When does the 30 days start? When we receive it or when you send it? Or when our credit card is charged?

Steps That We Will Take

I am going to record the phone call, so I will be able to report accurately on what I learn. If they refuse to let me record the phone call, it will only be to their detriment, because not only will we not sign up for their offer, but I will report it here on this blog, and other places.

Then, based on the answers they give, if we decide it's worth a try, we will call and order a kit and evaluate it. As much as we can fairly share without giving away company secrets will be documented here. The promise is that we should be able to make a few thousand in the 30-day trial period. If we do, then we will report it here. If we don't, we will also report it, along with why (anything from, "because it's a scam after all" to "this kind of business isn't for us"). And after we have had a chance to make a determination as to the legitimacy of the company for ourselves, I will write an article summarizing our findings and publish it in those e-article sites I mentioned, among others. I will also post updates to any forums that come up on the first page of Google, and just maybe I'll submit an article to some magazine like Reader's Digest. Of course, one of the first places I will contact will be the Rip Off Report. And if my research puts the company in a positive light (whether we earn money with it or not), I plan on writing the BBB to inform them of our findings--but if it's really a scam, I won't bother them.

What Should You Do?

If you found this blog in your efforts to decide if the Zaken Corporation is a scam or not, then keep reading. If the blog has not been completed (the last post will probably be titled something original like "Last Post"), then bookmark this page and check back here often. When I post the last blog will be determined by the results I get. For example, if Tuesday gets me unsatisfactory answers to my questions, I will post the answers, write an article or two, publish them, add the links here, and be done with it by the end of the week. If, on the other hand, it is legitimate, it might take a month or two to finish our investigation, and only then will I finish this blog.

If you wish to contact me personally, you can send me an email to my personal email address and I will do my best to answer your questions. If you wish to speak to me personally, just include your phone number in the email and I will get back in touch with you.

I hope this blog will be of some help to you.