Exec Rank is a scam outfit. They cold call you and tell you that they have numerous board of directors opportunities for you. They build your ego by claiming to have done intensive research on you. Then the hammer drops for a one month trial of $195.. yes, you have to pay them.. They also don't tell you that in the rare event they do land you a board seat, they that take another 2.5% of your earnings. They also don't tell you about some very fine print that you have to find on your own that says if you don't cancel within 15 days of renewal, you will be charged for another month and so.
So, although I am a CEO of a company, highly educated and have "been around the block", I got scammed. Not only do they change your appointment to get started several times, I suppose so they don't have to actually pretend to have done anything, there are no board positions. I found one on their website which required me to sell myself. Come to find out that the board position was with a firm who had 2 employees in CA, and no money to pay for such services. So, I by the end of the month, I had received absolutely nothing from this outfit except a lot of hassle, my time and such, so the day before the month was over, I wrote to cancel.
They they start a new sales pitch claiming that if I would pay them for 2 months, they would give me an entire half year.. Wow, they must be hard up for money. I was not interested and asked them to not charge my card again.. They not only told me that they had to charge me for I violated their 15 day policy that they claim is clearly visible on the bottom of their website (It is not there at all), but I would be charged. I warned them to not do that, but clearly they don't care, and charged me today. I had to file a dispute with VISA and I filed a complaint with the CA Dept of the Attorney General Consumer Fraud Division.
This is a slick scam outfit. Stay away if you value your money and time.
What did you expect to happen in one Month? No recruitment service anywhere can react that fast. Does your company that you are CEO of take a totally unknown product or service and turn it around that fast. I don't think so.
I have to say they have great sales people. They know how to sell and they know how to take your money. Unfortunately this is the only good thing about them. They failed to deliver every step of the way. First they scheduled in interview in 10 days (btw what I discovered later they would not refund after two weeks), then their consultant person suddenly got sick for another ten days. Apparently he was the only one in the whole company who could do that. How big is a company I would ask? After he finally recovered he called and told me that I should be in front of my computer during this what they called interview. Unfortunately in all his previous correspondence he somehow failed to mention that. Surprise. Well, I was on the road and told this consultant that I could talk to him in two hours. Guy said no problems, two hours are fine (after checking with his calendar). Then in two hours his manger called me to notify me that they do not have time this day or next day and may be in a few days. At this point I asked for my money back, where they transferred me to the third and fourth person who both told me that due to the fact that 14 days are over they will not be able to give me my money back, but are willing to extend my service (service they failed to provide in a first place). Wow.
ExecRank is a scam. I wished I had checked the reputation of the company prior to signing up. I cancelled after I realized that none of their so-called board positions were real, or at least none of the ones they connected me to. After months, I found no connection, and most of the positions that were even close to my skills were mysteriously filled prior to discussion. The few connections I made through ExecRank wanted money from me. And, as others online have mentioned I still got charged for one more month (another $200) because I did not cancel on the day before the billing cycle. This, of course, is contrary to the sales pitch they give you when they talk you into joining the service where they say you can cancel "at any time." What is the good of being able to cancel "at any time" ? In actuality you can cancel the day before they charge you for the following month. You get a one day window to cancel (I cancelled the day after that one day window, hence my chagrin). They claim the reason for that policy is that they don't want people "poaching" opportunities. If ExecRank were a reputable company, they would be getting opportunities on a regular basis, there would be no arbitrary monthly tempo associated with "new" opportunities coming in. So, forcing members who have resigned the service to arbitrarily pay for the next month after they resign goes counter to their concern about poaching. If they really get "new" opportunities on a regular basis it would make the poaching risk even worse since that member, who knows he's resigning, gets exposed to those (allegedly regularly coming in) opportunities. If they were really worried about poaching, they would let you go as soon as you know you want to go. Given this, I can only surmise that the majority of their revenue is gained from exploiting this hook in their contract and squeezing an extra $200 for those foolish enough, as I was, to join their service. It's not the money. I am ashamed to admit it but I have paid over $200 for a tie. My advice: don't do it. Months into it, nothing but emails and meetings that go nowhere. Essentially, I paid ExecRank money to set up meetings with people who further solicited me for money. I have relatives for that, don't need to pay ExecRank.
The site contacted me about signing up with their service, which I did. I completed their entire resume upload, background profile, expertise, everything. ExecRank offers these "forums" where a candidate searching for a board position can participate in a call with other candidates. Initially pitched as a great way to give companies a chance to gauge your expertise and demeanor, what they really are is a bunch of other semi-bewildered candidates wasting their time talking to one another about nothing in particular. Anyone with the tiniest expertise in a given area will immediately know that the others on the line are either actors or candidates who are participating, but with no real understanding why. I was a member for 6 months (until my credit card expired, thankfully). In that time, I applied to 30 positions. NOT ONE returned any interest. When I separately googled the names of the companies I was supposedly applying to, they were either tiny companies with no budget for a "board" who appear to have been given the same line of crap I was, or they were looking for a sales rep, or they were completely fictitious. In the six months I was a paying member, I didn't receive a single call or e-mail from the "relationship manager" until my card hit the expiration date - and THEN they were all over me with calls and offers of mysterious opportunities that only they could find on their site. What a CROCK.
Thanks to all who posted comments. I too have been heavily recruited by this company. Sounded like a great opportunity for someone semi retired yet has much experience and knowledge to share which is where I fit in. Fortunately, call me a skeptic but I went outside of the information they provided for additional research into the company and quickly came across these reviews. Confirmed my doubts and I did not sign up. As someone else has said they do have great salespeople who understand how to pump up the prospect and push to close the deal.
Execrank markets itself as a on-line placement service for advisory and board positions. I purchased their services for six months which included them selecting and sending my profile, resume and related information for propsective board opportunities. During that time I received many emails about my opportunties and submissions for positions. I had one very unproductive call with my 'relationship' contact. Otherwise, no other communication. I found over time that the quality of the opportunities were sub-par and some seemingly far-fetched. In six months, I did not receive one lead, not one interview. Exiting from the relationship is also cumbersome. Contact numbers provided on their web site were not working or non-responsive. Email responses were equally slow and non-responsive. Upon giving notice of cancellation and finally receiving a response, I was informed that I would be charged another month because I had not given at least 15 days notice. Execrank is a sham service and a borderline scam. Stay away from Execrank.
Beware! How does Execrank collect money? Not from companies that hire it looking for board members! No it is from falsely claiming that they have been retained by companies to find board members. They start off the call talking about the typical pay for a statutory board member or an advisory board member. Of course this ploy is designed to make the monthly $200 fee charged to candidates seem small, and entice you to sign up. The reality is $200 a month is a fortune for what you are getting -- completely ripped off!
Look on LINKEDIN on the people handling your case -
Some were massage therapists, baby sitters, worked in a coffee house, etc. No real executive experience. My niece almost got involved in a similar group
Like so many of the others, i wish i had read the online comments as well before jumping into this and signing up for the financial commitment. Like others, i too am a seasoned (30 year) executive and was sucked in by the evangelizing of the sales person. I went through the initial call and then never received the promised "write up". I inquired through email and was told they couldn't provide a status or estimated delivery time but it usually would take "15 business days turnaround". Well that is enough to allow you to flow into the next billing cycle, so i got suspicious and after searching online made the call to cancel this fraud. I was able to reverse the initial $395 charge on my credit card even though execrank told me that could not be done. I asked them to terminate my membership for any future charges in the next month and then they informed me there was a 15 day cancellation period and that i was outside of that time frame so i would in fact be charged through one additional cycle. I will be disputed this charge if in fact it shows up and notified them as such and suggested that they not try and charge my card again. Glad to be done and to have avoided 6 months and the fees as i have original thought would be the case. Thanks to those willing to go online and post about this to make others aware.
David Kavrell who claims to be a graduate of U Chicago Booth School calls people to offer them Board roles and is smart enough to con them to give away the credit card number and promised to revert and then I did not hear from them at all. Any organization that charges $2400 annual respects its members. Not Exec Rank. It just cheats.
I foolishly did not learn my lesson for longer than other writers. I did learn a great way to get $200 a month from executive suckers. Who says seniors are the only ones who get scammed.
Execrank misrepresents and oversales their product as a 3 month process with a minimal time commitment during the sales call. Once you've paid your unrefundable first month dues whichis not disclosed) you quickly discover it's a year long process, a $2,400 potential payoff and a 10 to 15 hour time commitment which is also not disclosed.
If you are unsatisfied as i was, there is no refund even when canceling even within 2 hours of initially signing up.
I never do business with companies who won't guarantee and support their product.
Save yourself some time and money don't entertain the idea of signing up with execrank otherwise you too will become a victim of their unethical business practices.
To add to what others have said — I consider it a scam. I was approached by one of their agents, named David Kavrell, and just like Jon Weber commented below, I got a highly scripted presentation that claimed I was an ideal candidate, would get all sorts of offers, etc. At no point was I asked if I had any questions, just went straight to the closing.
I had a question, however. I wanted to know why they used a subscription model of $200/month, rather than the more traditional model whereby they take a commission from successful matches. This question obviously upset him, as he quickly turned defensive, and made a rather obvious attempt at the whole “withdraw the offer” sales tactic.
That ended our call, but I got a really friendly email afterwards about how much he had enjoyed our conversation, and encouraging me to follow through. I then had a brief email exchange with him, which I am sharing here, verbatim, for everyone else:
My Email Response and Proposal
Dear David,
I am writing to let you know that I will no be signing up for ExecRank, at least not based on the pitch you made. And I wanted you to know the reasons.
I could go into the online research I've done about ExecRank, which has revealed a rather incredible level of unhappiness from past users. However, I wish to take a different approach.
I asked you one question during our talk, a question that I consider critical to this whole equation -- your income model. You make money exclusively from signing up members for your services. You do not make money from actually placing them successfully on a board.
And that means one thing -- that your sales must be driven by signing up as many members as possible, regardless of the actual qualifications, experience, or ability of those people. In fact, when I looked at the complaints that some of the people had about your site, I found that many of them were dreadfully unqualified, and highly unlikely to ever be considered for a position on a board of directors -- but they'd received the same sales pitch I did, promising all sorts of wonderful things.
Now, in our interview, you said that you were confident that with my background and experience, I could get board positions. And I do think that I have valuable and unique experience and knowledge to offer, especially to those interested in doing business in China.
So here is my proposal: I don't pay you a cent. You guys help me craft my resume, and you guys present it to all those thousands of boards that you claim to have lined up. And for every board position that you successfully place me on, I will pay you a commission of 20% of the value of the first year's salary for that position.
Now, according to your own sales pitch, I should be expecting to be getting at least $50,000 per year from each board position. 20% of that would be $10,000. Which would be equal to four years of membership fees at $200/month. If you get me two such positions, that's $20,000 for you guys. That's a shitload more money than you will ever make from charging me a $200 monthly membership fee.
Here's the thing -- If you truly believe that my qualifications are suitable, and that you can find me board positions, there is no reason whatsoever not to accept my proposal. The only reason not to accept it is that you are, in fact, not confident of your ability to get me a role on a board of directors.
And if you are not confident in your ability to do so, why the hell would I pay you $200/month?
His Response
Thank you for your well thought out and thoroughly explained proposal. You are entitled to your opinion, but you are wrong. The reason we can not do as you asked is that it would be unfair to our current 10,000 members. I am sure that you can understand that. There are many reasons for people to write bad reviews, but I will leave you with just one thought. We are a month to month model, why would we do that if by letting you on and giving you access to all of our members you could find out how miserable they are?
I wish you all the best, but to determine not to proceed because of what a bunch of strangers say seems illogical to me.
Thank you for your time.
My Conclusions
His response only confirms my opinion. His claim that my proposal would be “unfair” to their members is patently nonsense — how is it “unfair” to pay a company for actual results, compared to paying them a monthly fee even if they do nothing whatsoever for you? Not to mention that the model I proposed is one that is used by hundreds of companies, and I don’t hear people complaining that it is unfair.
“If you get me results, I pay you. If you don’t get me results, I don’t pay you.” How is that “unfair”?
Then there’s the fact that, both in our phone call and in this email response, he fails entirely to address the question of why I should trust him, given that the company’s obvious business model is to sign up as many people as possible, regardless of their qualifications, since that is the only way that they can make money!
He also obviously misses the irony in criticizing me for listening to “what a bunch of strangers say”, while simultaneously expecting me to believe him — a stranger who profits from getting me to buy his service.
As I emphasized in my email to him, were this company’s services legitimate, and were they confident in getting board positions for me (and their other clients), they’d be idiots not to use the pay model that I proposed, as they’d make far greater profits. They’d get far higher revenue, while also significantly decreasing the complaints from their clients. After all, who’s going to complain? If they’re not successful, I pay nothing — and have nothing to complain about. If they are successful, I pay them a previously agreed fee, and I have a board position — again, nothing to complain about.
The only reason for them not to use this model is that they know they cannot deliver on their promises.
Appears, all too many scams and frauds hit the web, cell phones. How is your info obtained you may wonder? Past few years, many companies personnel files have been hacked!! Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Yahoo, ATT, OPM-& other government agencies, Verizon, Sony, EXPERIAN CREDIT SERVICES and some several times and still have NOT voluntarily updated their Cybersecurity (I understand that Microsoft is very good about being safeguarded and PROVIDING safeguards). President Trump had to issue executive order MANDATING Computer and Cybersecurity UPGRADES while government agencies lay vulnerable
to attacks for YEARS!! exposing all of us to college educated computer programers/engineers/etc gone rogue!!
Forget Buyer Beware??
Scam and Fraud Artists have been around for many centuries as long as there have been assasins!!
As Society modernizes so do the crooks, thieves and killers, etc. Nothing but the venue has changed.
Thus, Beware & Keep Reporting and being a "Good Person".
Karma and Circle of Life keeps track of these persons so we do not have to.
Know that justice will come full circle to those deserving persons.
Agreed, when I spoke to the interviewer about my experience and told them facts that anyone who listens to the nightly news would understand, my gut instinct was this is really bad. Their board training segments did not list risk management as a responsibility. I asked three senior professionals in the outplacement and retained search world about this company and they had never heard of them.
How can a reputable company have an office in an airplane hanger? Steer clear. Thanks to everyone for the heads up about cancelling membership
Well, they did try to place me as an advisory board member with an investment firm run by a convicted felon. :) When I mentioned their vetting weakness to them I got essentially an "oops."
BTW. another scam is (albeit less expensive) is BoardProspects. NEVER a response...into a blackhole in hyperspace.
I am actually on the board of several industry associations already, so ExecRank found me through my linkedin profile. As many have noted, ER has a very hard sell, is extremely flattering, and fit squarely in the "too good to be true" category. The one "proof-point" she kept repeating over was a recent article in "Inc." that said that ExecRanks was "one of the fastest growing companies."
Which of course, means absolutely nothing in terms of quality of service.
When I held off and said that I wanted to do my due diligence, that's when things turned ugly. "If you're going to be on the boards of directors," the recruiters snapped, "you're going to have to make quick decisions."
Being on several boards, however, I know that we table items far more often than we actually vote on them, so this tactic had the exact opposite of its intended effect. "Members of Boards of Directors" should/do not allow themselves to be bullied, either, so all kinds of flags were raised.
I contacted a fellow Board Member, who said he had tried them and gave the exact same advice that everyone else here did: stay away. So I did.
Thanks to all who wrote in with their stories. I believe I dodged a bullet thanks to you.
I spoke with Chris at ExecRank (if that is his name) and it was the typical, set an appointment on Monday and E Voila, Monday morning TOO busy to talk need to reschedule. Actually rescheduled twice, and finally connected on Tuesday morning. Touting thousands of opportunities due to my extensive background. Then he asked what my background was (he only knew of ONE position I held 4 years ago. But they had "vetted me thoroughly"). Seemed a bit fishy, but I listened for about 20 minutes to the spiel and all the flattery (after all who can't use some flattery, even though nakedly shameful) then the HAMMER. "Best case scenario is $1995.00 for a year and you will be so inundated with offers, I will be congratulating you on your success this time next year!" We don't work on commission its merely our job to get you in the best position to succeed" "After all your first interview will pay your $500.00 back on that investment in possibly 2 weeks."...…..WOW! Anyone who falls for this certainly does not need to be on the Board of Directors for ANY Company!...…… IMHO
How is a company like this able to keep going? I feel embarrassed that I didn’t look at reviews online before signing up and falling for their sales tactics... they’d been bothering me for months if not years. What a joke the companies are who supposedly need advisors. And no paying positions. The sales lady lied blatantly to me. If it was a decent service, they wouldn’t have to push with constant calls and cram it down my neck. Listen to the reviews! A little research could have saved me a lot of hassle! At least I learned a valuable lesson to always read online reviews before any transaction.
I cancelled the "initial phone consultation" after reading some reviews. they made you give a reason for cancelling, for which i put "reviews online indicate this is a scam, $200 monthly "fee" should be disclosed upfront." I received a few not so polite emails in response. I mean, really, if this is a reputable service, employees wouldn't resort to such tactics. felt like i was dealing with a used car salesperson when you walk away from what you know is lousy deal.
thanks all for posting, i hope linkedin drops them as an advertiser as that's where i originally saw them.
WOW! So I am supposed to get a follow up from the ExecRank people next week. I told them that I needed to do research on them. They are not a BBB business, and, the only BBB report on them is BRUTAL! As here, their reviews are similar around the world of the web. How can they remain in business?
Oh well, I have a surprise for them. I am a seasoned Project Manager, an ex police officer, and I was a drug and alcohol program advisor in the US Navy. I have heard many scams and am ready to be entertained by more.
Excellent posting of the truth! Keep it up, and please read/post on trustpilot.com and the employee Glassdoor.com one-star reviews... I was scammed!!! By the glossy website marketing and the carrot of easy money... pure nonsense sales pitch. These sales people lie. The compensation on offer by every weird opportunity I looked into was NOT EVEN CLOSE to the $20-50K mentioned in the sales pitch. There’s also no way I’ll ever see the $500/hr fee. For a bizarre interview that seemed like it was getting questions answered for free. After two no-show interviews. Bad. Let’s put it out of business!
I have received so many emails from this company. I am glad I saw these reviews now. I also read employee reviewed on the glassdoor which really confirms the information here. This was very informative. I was confused about the advisory boards they keep mentioning, I already have a job so why would I do this.
Wish I had found this site BEFORE I gave them my credit card. 5 minutes on the phone and they charged me the $195 for the first month and a $200 setup fee (Which they did not tell me about). I called the next business day and asked to withdraw my application, which they did, but they couldn't give me my money back. I agreed to their terms, blah, blah, blah.
They have provided absolutely no service. The total of the time spent with me was taking my credit card over the phone.
I spent 5 minutes on the phone with them. They took my credit card and immediately charged my the first month's subscription ($195) and a setup fee of $200 (Which they claim they told me about, but did not).
I called the next business day to withdraw my application and asked for a refund. They refused to give me my money back as I agreed to their terms.
All they did was take my credit card. They provided no further service. I have opened a dispute with my credit card company.
ExecRank, Inc. Reviews
Executives Beware
Exec Rank is a scam outfit. They cold call you and tell you that they have numerous board of directors opportunities for you. They build your ego by claiming to have done intensive research on you. Then the hammer drops for a one month trial of $195.. yes, you have to pay them.. They also don't tell you that in the rare event they do land you a board seat, they that take another 2.5% of your earnings. They also don't tell you about some very fine print that you have to find on your own that says if you don't cancel within 15 days of renewal, you will be charged for another month and so.
So, although I am a CEO of a company, highly educated and have "been around the block", I got scammed. Not only do they change your appointment to get started several times, I suppose so they don't have to actually pretend to have done anything, there are no board positions. I found one on their website which required me to sell myself. Come to find out that the board position was with a firm who had 2 employees in CA, and no money to pay for such services. So, I by the end of the month, I had received absolutely nothing from this outfit except a lot of hassle, my time and such, so the day before the month was over, I wrote to cancel.
They they start a new sales pitch claiming that if I would pay them for 2 months, they would give me an entire half year.. Wow, they must be hard up for money. I was not interested and asked them to not charge my card again.. They not only told me that they had to charge me for I violated their 15 day policy that they claim is clearly visible on the bottom of their website (It is not there at all), but I would be charged. I warned them to not do that, but clearly they don't care, and charged me today. I had to file a dispute with VISA and I filed a complaint with the CA Dept of the Attorney General Consumer Fraud Division.
This is a slick scam outfit. Stay away if you value your money and time.
Aren't we The Eager Beaver
What did you expect to happen in one Month? No recruitment service anywhere can react that fast. Does your company that you are CEO of take a totally unknown product or service and turn it around that fast. I don't think so.
I have to say they have great sales people. They know how to sell and they know how to take your money. Unfortunately this is the only good thing about them. They failed to deliver every step of the way. First they scheduled in interview in 10 days (btw what I discovered later they would not refund after two weeks), then their consultant person suddenly got sick for another ten days. Apparently he was the only one in the whole company who could do that. How big is a company I would ask? After he finally recovered he called and told me that I should be in front of my computer during this what they called interview. Unfortunately in all his previous correspondence he somehow failed to mention that. Surprise. Well, I was on the road and told this consultant that I could talk to him in two hours. Guy said no problems, two hours are fine (after checking with his calendar). Then in two hours his manger called me to notify me that they do not have time this day or next day and may be in a few days. At this point I asked for my money back, where they transferred me to the third and fourth person who both told me that due to the fact that 14 days are over they will not be able to give me my money back, but are willing to extend my service (service they failed to provide in a first place). Wow.
ExecRank is a scam. I wished I had checked the reputation of the company prior to signing up. I cancelled after I realized that none of their so-called board positions were real, or at least none of the ones they connected me to. After months, I found no connection, and most of the positions that were even close to my skills were mysteriously filled prior to discussion. The few connections I made through ExecRank wanted money from me. And, as others online have mentioned I still got charged for one more month (another $200) because I did not cancel on the day before the billing cycle. This, of course, is contrary to the sales pitch they give you when they talk you into joining the service where they say you can cancel "at any time." What is the good of being able to cancel "at any time" ? In actuality you can cancel the day before they charge you for the following month. You get a one day window to cancel (I cancelled the day after that one day window, hence my chagrin). They claim the reason for that policy is that they don't want people "poaching" opportunities. If ExecRank were a reputable company, they would be getting opportunities on a regular basis, there would be no arbitrary monthly tempo associated with "new" opportunities coming in. So, forcing members who have resigned the service to arbitrarily pay for the next month after they resign goes counter to their concern about poaching. If they really get "new" opportunities on a regular basis it would make the poaching risk even worse since that member, who knows he's resigning, gets exposed to those (allegedly regularly coming in) opportunities. If they were really worried about poaching, they would let you go as soon as you know you want to go. Given this, I can only surmise that the majority of their revenue is gained from exploiting this hook in their contract and squeezing an extra $200 for those foolish enough, as I was, to join their service. It's not the money. I am ashamed to admit it but I have paid over $200 for a tie. My advice: don't do it. Months into it, nothing but emails and meetings that go nowhere. Essentially, I paid ExecRank money to set up meetings with people who further solicited me for money. I have relatives for that, don't need to pay ExecRank.
Execrank is a complete scam, top to bottom
The site contacted me about signing up with their service, which I did. I completed their entire resume upload, background profile, expertise, everything. ExecRank offers these "forums" where a candidate searching for a board position can participate in a call with other candidates. Initially pitched as a great way to give companies a chance to gauge your expertise and demeanor, what they really are is a bunch of other semi-bewildered candidates wasting their time talking to one another about nothing in particular. Anyone with the tiniest expertise in a given area will immediately know that the others on the line are either actors or candidates who are participating, but with no real understanding why. I was a member for 6 months (until my credit card expired, thankfully). In that time, I applied to 30 positions. NOT ONE returned any interest. When I separately googled the names of the companies I was supposedly applying to, they were either tiny companies with no budget for a "board" who appear to have been given the same line of crap I was, or they were looking for a sales rep, or they were completely fictitious. In the six months I was a paying member, I didn't receive a single call or e-mail from the "relationship manager" until my card hit the expiration date - and THEN they were all over me with calls and offers of mysterious opportunities that only they could find on their site. What a CROCK.
Did my research thankfully
Thanks to all who posted comments. I too have been heavily recruited by this company. Sounded like a great opportunity for someone semi retired yet has much experience and knowledge to share which is where I fit in. Fortunately, call me a skeptic but I went outside of the information they provided for additional research into the company and quickly came across these reviews. Confirmed my doubts and I did not sign up. As someone else has said they do have great salespeople who understand how to pump up the prospect and push to close the deal.
If it quacks like a duck ...
1. Hard pressure sell
2. No success rates or metrics to show actual placements
3. Slick telemarketers well trained in inflating egos
4. Dubious business model preying on said inflated egos
If your internal compass didn't steer your clear, you probably shouldn't be on a board anyway ...
Execrank markets itself as a on-line placement service for advisory and board positions. I purchased their services for six months which included them selecting and sending my profile, resume and related information for propsective board opportunities. During that time I received many emails about my opportunties and submissions for positions. I had one very unproductive call with my 'relationship' contact. Otherwise, no other communication. I found over time that the quality of the opportunities were sub-par and some seemingly far-fetched. In six months, I did not receive one lead, not one interview. Exiting from the relationship is also cumbersome. Contact numbers provided on their web site were not working or non-responsive. Email responses were equally slow and non-responsive. Upon giving notice of cancellation and finally receiving a response, I was informed that I would be charged another month because I had not given at least 15 days notice. Execrank is a sham service and a borderline scam. Stay away from Execrank.
They promise you that they'll help you find board positions but all they really do is take your money.
This is a patently dishonest company that preys on people. They take your money and deliver NOTHING.
Beware, they have a 30 day cancellation requirement and when you get nothing from them insist on exercising it.
Frankly it's not the money that got me so upset it's the fact that they played me. Don't make the same mistake.
Fraudsters
Beware! How does Execrank collect money? Not from companies that hire it looking for board members! No it is from falsely claiming that they have been retained by companies to find board members. They start off the call talking about the typical pay for a statutory board member or an advisory board member. Of course this ploy is designed to make the monthly $200 fee charged to candidates seem small, and entice you to sign up. The reality is $200 a month is a fortune for what you are getting -- completely ripped off!
Look on LINKEDIN on the people handling your case -
Some were massage therapists, baby sitters, worked in a coffee house, etc. No real executive experience. My niece almost got involved in a similar group
Like so many of the others, i wish i had read the online comments as well before jumping into this and signing up for the financial commitment. Like others, i too am a seasoned (30 year) executive and was sucked in by the evangelizing of the sales person. I went through the initial call and then never received the promised "write up". I inquired through email and was told they couldn't provide a status or estimated delivery time but it usually would take "15 business days turnaround". Well that is enough to allow you to flow into the next billing cycle, so i got suspicious and after searching online made the call to cancel this fraud. I was able to reverse the initial $395 charge on my credit card even though execrank told me that could not be done. I asked them to terminate my membership for any future charges in the next month and then they informed me there was a 15 day cancellation period and that i was outside of that time frame so i would in fact be charged through one additional cycle. I will be disputed this charge if in fact it shows up and notified them as such and suggested that they not try and charge my card again. Glad to be done and to have avoided 6 months and the fees as i have original thought would be the case. Thanks to those willing to go online and post about this to make others aware.
David Kavrell who claims to be a graduate of U Chicago Booth School calls people to offer them Board roles and is smart enough to con them to give away the credit card number and promised to revert and then I did not hear from them at all. Any organization that charges $2400 annual respects its members. Not Exec Rank. It just cheats.
Scam
I foolishly did not learn my lesson for longer than other writers. I did learn a great way to get $200 a month from executive suckers. Who says seniors are the only ones who get scammed.
Execrank misrepresents and oversales their product as a 3 month process with a minimal time commitment during the sales call. Once you've paid your unrefundable first month dues whichis not disclosed) you quickly discover it's a year long process, a $2,400 potential payoff and a 10 to 15 hour time commitment which is also not disclosed.
If you are unsatisfied as i was, there is no refund even when canceling even within 2 hours of initially signing up.
I never do business with companies who won't guarantee and support their product.
Save yourself some time and money don't entertain the idea of signing up with execrank otherwise you too will become a victim of their unethical business practices.
Michael baca
It's a Scam -- Here's My Conversation With Them
To add to what others have said — I consider it a scam. I was approached by one of their agents, named David Kavrell, and just like Jon Weber commented below, I got a highly scripted presentation that claimed I was an ideal candidate, would get all sorts of offers, etc. At no point was I asked if I had any questions, just went straight to the closing.
I had a question, however. I wanted to know why they used a subscription model of $200/month, rather than the more traditional model whereby they take a commission from successful matches. This question obviously upset him, as he quickly turned defensive, and made a rather obvious attempt at the whole “withdraw the offer” sales tactic.
That ended our call, but I got a really friendly email afterwards about how much he had enjoyed our conversation, and encouraging me to follow through. I then had a brief email exchange with him, which I am sharing here, verbatim, for everyone else:
My Email Response and Proposal
Dear David,
I am writing to let you know that I will no be signing up for ExecRank, at least not based on the pitch you made. And I wanted you to know the reasons.
I could go into the online research I've done about ExecRank, which has revealed a rather incredible level of unhappiness from past users. However, I wish to take a different approach.
I asked you one question during our talk, a question that I consider critical to this whole equation -- your income model. You make money exclusively from signing up members for your services. You do not make money from actually placing them successfully on a board.
And that means one thing -- that your sales must be driven by signing up as many members as possible, regardless of the actual qualifications, experience, or ability of those people. In fact, when I looked at the complaints that some of the people had about your site, I found that many of them were dreadfully unqualified, and highly unlikely to ever be considered for a position on a board of directors -- but they'd received the same sales pitch I did, promising all sorts of wonderful things.
Now, in our interview, you said that you were confident that with my background and experience, I could get board positions. And I do think that I have valuable and unique experience and knowledge to offer, especially to those interested in doing business in China.
So here is my proposal: I don't pay you a cent. You guys help me craft my resume, and you guys present it to all those thousands of boards that you claim to have lined up. And for every board position that you successfully place me on, I will pay you a commission of 20% of the value of the first year's salary for that position.
Now, according to your own sales pitch, I should be expecting to be getting at least $50,000 per year from each board position. 20% of that would be $10,000. Which would be equal to four years of membership fees at $200/month. If you get me two such positions, that's $20,000 for you guys. That's a shitload more money than you will ever make from charging me a $200 monthly membership fee.
Here's the thing -- If you truly believe that my qualifications are suitable, and that you can find me board positions, there is no reason whatsoever not to accept my proposal. The only reason not to accept it is that you are, in fact, not confident of your ability to get me a role on a board of directors.
And if you are not confident in your ability to do so, why the hell would I pay you $200/month?
His Response
Thank you for your well thought out and thoroughly explained proposal. You are entitled to your opinion, but you are wrong. The reason we can not do as you asked is that it would be unfair to our current 10,000 members. I am sure that you can understand that. There are many reasons for people to write bad reviews, but I will leave you with just one thought. We are a month to month model, why would we do that if by letting you on and giving you access to all of our members you could find out how miserable they are?
I wish you all the best, but to determine not to proceed because of what a bunch of strangers say seems illogical to me.
Thank you for your time.
My Conclusions
His response only confirms my opinion. His claim that my proposal would be “unfair” to their members is patently nonsense — how is it “unfair” to pay a company for actual results, compared to paying them a monthly fee even if they do nothing whatsoever for you? Not to mention that the model I proposed is one that is used by hundreds of companies, and I don’t hear people complaining that it is unfair.
“If you get me results, I pay you. If you don’t get me results, I don’t pay you.” How is that “unfair”?
Then there’s the fact that, both in our phone call and in this email response, he fails entirely to address the question of why I should trust him, given that the company’s obvious business model is to sign up as many people as possible, regardless of their qualifications, since that is the only way that they can make money!
He also obviously misses the irony in criticizing me for listening to “what a bunch of strangers say”, while simultaneously expecting me to believe him — a stranger who profits from getting me to buy his service.
As I emphasized in my email to him, were this company’s services legitimate, and were they confident in getting board positions for me (and their other clients), they’d be idiots not to use the pay model that I proposed, as they’d make far greater profits. They’d get far higher revenue, while also significantly decreasing the complaints from their clients. After all, who’s going to complain? If they’re not successful, I pay nothing — and have nothing to complain about. If they are successful, I pay them a previously agreed fee, and I have a board position — again, nothing to complain about.
The only reason for them not to use this model is that they know they cannot deliver on their promises.
Thank you all for these reviews
I was just contacted by these guys and started to do research on them. Thank you all for your reviews I will stay clear of them! ;)
Too Good to be true??........
Thank you all for commenting with heads up!!
Appears, all too many scams and frauds hit the web, cell phones. How is your info obtained you may wonder? Past few years, many companies personnel files have been hacked!! Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Yahoo, ATT, OPM-& other government agencies, Verizon, Sony, EXPERIAN CREDIT SERVICES and some several times and still have NOT voluntarily updated their Cybersecurity (I understand that Microsoft is very good about being safeguarded and PROVIDING safeguards). President Trump had to issue executive order MANDATING Computer and Cybersecurity UPGRADES while government agencies lay vulnerable
to attacks for YEARS!! exposing all of us to college educated computer programers/engineers/etc gone rogue!!
Forget Buyer Beware??
Scam and Fraud Artists have been around for many centuries as long as there have been assasins!!
As Society modernizes so do the crooks, thieves and killers, etc. Nothing but the venue has changed.
Thus, Beware & Keep Reporting and being a "Good Person".
Karma and Circle of Life keeps track of these persons so we do not have to.
Know that justice will come full circle to those deserving persons.
Be Well, Be Smart, Be Alert, Beware.
Hutche
DID NOT UNDERSTAND RISK MANAGEMENT
Agreed, when I spoke to the interviewer about my experience and told them facts that anyone who listens to the nightly news would understand, my gut instinct was this is really bad. Their board training segments did not list risk management as a responsibility. I asked three senior professionals in the outplacement and retained search world about this company and they had never heard of them.
How can a reputable company have an office in an airplane hanger? Steer clear. Thanks to everyone for the heads up about cancelling membership
Yes, a scam...
Well, they did try to place me as an advisory board member with an investment firm run by a convicted felon. :) When I mentioned their vetting weakness to them I got essentially an "oops."
BTW. another scam is (albeit less expensive) is BoardProspects. NEVER a response...into a blackhole in hyperspace.
Thank you
I am so happy I looked up these reviews. Thank you esteemed colleagues for saving me a headache.
Gratefully yours
DJ Almeda
Thanks to all who wrote!
I am actually on the board of several industry associations already, so ExecRank found me through my linkedin profile. As many have noted, ER has a very hard sell, is extremely flattering, and fit squarely in the "too good to be true" category. The one "proof-point" she kept repeating over was a recent article in "Inc." that said that ExecRanks was "one of the fastest growing companies."
Which of course, means absolutely nothing in terms of quality of service.
When I held off and said that I wanted to do my due diligence, that's when things turned ugly. "If you're going to be on the boards of directors," the recruiters snapped, "you're going to have to make quick decisions."
Being on several boards, however, I know that we table items far more often than we actually vote on them, so this tactic had the exact opposite of its intended effect. "Members of Boards of Directors" should/do not allow themselves to be bullied, either, so all kinds of flags were raised.
I contacted a fellow Board Member, who said he had tried them and gave the exact same advice that everyone else here did: stay away. So I did.
Thanks to all who wrote in with their stories. I believe I dodged a bullet thanks to you.
All about the CLOSE
I spoke with Chris at ExecRank (if that is his name) and it was the typical, set an appointment on Monday and E Voila, Monday morning TOO busy to talk need to reschedule. Actually rescheduled twice, and finally connected on Tuesday morning. Touting thousands of opportunities due to my extensive background. Then he asked what my background was (he only knew of ONE position I held 4 years ago. But they had "vetted me thoroughly"). Seemed a bit fishy, but I listened for about 20 minutes to the spiel and all the flattery (after all who can't use some flattery, even though nakedly shameful) then the HAMMER. "Best case scenario is $1995.00 for a year and you will be so inundated with offers, I will be congratulating you on your success this time next year!" We don't work on commission its merely our job to get you in the best position to succeed" "After all your first interview will pay your $500.00 back on that investment in possibly 2 weeks."...…..WOW! Anyone who falls for this certainly does not need to be on the Board of Directors for ANY Company!...…… IMHO
Scam for Sure
How is a company like this able to keep going? I feel embarrassed that I didn’t look at reviews online before signing up and falling for their sales tactics... they’d been bothering me for months if not years. What a joke the companies are who supposedly need advisors. And no paying positions. The sales lady lied blatantly to me. If it was a decent service, they wouldn’t have to push with constant calls and cram it down my neck. Listen to the reviews! A little research could have saved me a lot of hassle! At least I learned a valuable lesson to always read online reviews before any transaction.
Glad I looked at reviews- its a scam
I cancelled the "initial phone consultation" after reading some reviews. they made you give a reason for cancelling, for which i put "reviews online indicate this is a scam, $200 monthly "fee" should be disclosed upfront." I received a few not so polite emails in response. I mean, really, if this is a reputable service, employees wouldn't resort to such tactics. felt like i was dealing with a used car salesperson when you walk away from what you know is lousy deal.
thanks all for posting, i hope linkedin drops them as an advertiser as that's where i originally saw them.
Exe Cranks
The name says it all..
Seriously?? How can anyone be so naive...
Reviewing the reports...
WOW! So I am supposed to get a follow up from the ExecRank people next week. I told them that I needed to do research on them. They are not a BBB business, and, the only BBB report on them is BRUTAL! As here, their reviews are similar around the world of the web. How can they remain in business?
Oh well, I have a surprise for them. I am a seasoned Project Manager, an ex police officer, and I was a drug and alcohol program advisor in the US Navy. I have heard many scams and am ready to be entertained by more.
They probably will not bite at my proposal...
CROOKS!
crooks! stay away from these leaches. Not sure how they can sleep in their skin every-night.
Name change to AdvisoryCloud
The name has changed to AdvisoryCloud from ExecRank, and TheExecRanks.
Look at Glassdoor & trustpilot too
Excellent posting of the truth! Keep it up, and please read/post on trustpilot.com and the employee Glassdoor.com one-star reviews... I was scammed!!! By the glossy website marketing and the carrot of easy money... pure nonsense sales pitch. These sales people lie. The compensation on offer by every weird opportunity I looked into was NOT EVEN CLOSE to the $20-50K mentioned in the sales pitch. There’s also no way I’ll ever see the $500/hr fee. For a bizarre interview that seemed like it was getting questions answered for free. After two no-show interviews. Bad. Let’s put it out of business!
Thanks for Helpful Reviews here
I have received so many emails from this company. I am glad I saw these reviews now. I also read employee reviewed on the glassdoor which really confirms the information here. This was very informative. I was confused about the advisory boards they keep mentioning, I already have a job so why would I do this.
SCAM!!!
Wish I had found this site BEFORE I gave them my credit card. 5 minutes on the phone and they charged me the $195 for the first month and a $200 setup fee (Which they did not tell me about). I called the next business day and asked to withdraw my application, which they did, but they couldn't give me my money back. I agreed to their terms, blah, blah, blah.
They have provided absolutely no service. The total of the time spent with me was taking my credit card over the phone.
DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM!!!
I spent 5 minutes on the phone with them. They took my credit card and immediately charged my the first month's subscription ($195) and a setup fee of $200 (Which they claim they told me about, but did not).
I called the next business day to withdraw my application and asked for a refund. They refused to give me my money back as I agreed to their terms.
All they did was take my credit card. They provided no further service. I have opened a dispute with my credit card company.
These guys are crooks.