Heritage Funds RESP and St John Ambulance

nvm

I don't really know what you're asking, lol.

SJA being partially funded with monies from the Heritage Fund? Or...

nvm

dingohate said:

No, what they do is they are certified as techs and "volunteer" at clinics doing seat checks but they get all the parents to fill out a form that gives them permission to contact them later to discuss RESP options (Heritage Funds) The saleslady at our clinic mentioned there may be a career opportunity for me if interested. So I did a Google search to check out the company and of course I come across horror story after horror story. They seem to be ranked in the same category as private energy contract salespeople. Accusations of them being cons and deceitful are plentiful. I'm sure what they are doing IS legal, but their ethics sound sketchy at best.

Anyways, I thought it was kind of sad that SOME of these techs took a 2 day course and have no interest in car seat safety only to collect leads as a way to get more commission. The lady I was with seemed amazingly nice and was a decent tech but there were a couple of guys there that made me

I guess I'm wondering if this is common across Ontario/Canada with this company.

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WOW! No, this isn't done in Alberta anyways. I would guess that Heritage Funds probably operates locally and probably has some sort of structure that varies from location to location?

To be honest? I'm rather disgusted by the ethics myself.

What happens if the parents refuse to sign the form about sharing their info? These parents are out there looking for help and probably feel that they are supposed to just sign whatever they're given. I'm really actually very disgusted about this route of collecting leads. On principle, but also because people who are helping parents and caregivers with their seats should be doing it for the right reasons - not because they're there as a sneaky way to try and get names for leads. It's just wrong.

I'm disgusted that SJA is allowing that to happen if they happen to know about it. I don't have any other words for it - it actually kind of fired me up and has me ticked off. I'm sorry I don't have anything positive to say about it. I will be emailing a group I'm working with though to see who all is aware of this.

I can tell you one thing - if I found out any of my techs were doing something like this at a clinic I'd organized, they would either be required to provide all the "leads" to me to be destroyed and never request them again, or they wouldn't be invited to participate in clinics. And the words I would have for them would be quite blunt. (And for those of you who know me personally - I'm generally not harsh in the things I say, but this would certainly be one of those occasions. It's just wrong to take parents who need help and basically just take their information in an attempt to have personal gain.)

I see that you've deleted your post content... do you mind pm'ing me as to the reason you deleted it?

snowbird25ca said:

It's just wrong to take parents who need help and basically just take their information in an attempt to have personal gain.)

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:yeahthatmad:

Sorry guys... I got cold feet about posting the information online because if anyone from my clinic saw it, they would KNOW who posted it! I'm worried that it will be awkward for me to go to clinics and ACTUALLY HELP PEOPLE, FOR FREE... like I intended to do

To be honest, I was completely disgusted too (after reading about it online... there is an extensive thread on Red Flag Deals about Heritage Funds) and I'm surprised that SJA lets this happen too, which is why I was wondering if this is Ontario/Canada wide. Perhaps I will volunteer with the Barrie SJA, if they haven't been conned into this partnership as well.

In SJA defence, I don't think that they realize that Heritage Funds is such a sketchy company, I didn't. Talk about "Ambulance Chasers" Ugh. I feel gross.

And they've been doing this for years. 3.5 years ago when I went to a seat check as a parent in need of assistance I had to fill out the clipboard with the information on my vehicle etc. and then I got the RESP card. I can't remember details specifically about WHY I thought Heritage RESP was "sponsoring" the clinic, but I did. So when it came time to check off the box about whether or not it was okay for Heritage to contact me, I guiltily checked off YES because they were kind enough to help me with my seat, for FREE.

After reading about their aggressive salespeople I'm grateful that we moved into my mom's house and ditched out phone number the week before DS was born.

I'm sure I would have been suckered into contributing SOMETHING to these plans had they been able to reach me, and as a SAHM 3 years later... I'm sure I would have needed to contribute less, or not at all - which is a huge problem for Heritage and costs parents DEARLY. I'm sorry, but who the heck will know how their life will be for 18 years straight?

I'm sad that this happens.

dingohate said:

Sorry guys... I got cold feet about posting the information online because if anyone from my clinic saw it, they would KNOW who posted it! I'm worried that it will be awkward for me to go to clinics and ACTUALLY HELP PEOPLE, FOR FREE... like I intended to do

To be honest, I was completely disgusted too (after reading about it online... there is an extensive thread on Red Flag Deals about Heritage Funds) and I'm surprised that SJA lets this happen too, which is why I was wondering if this is Ontario/Canada wide. Perhaps I will volunteer with the Barrie SJA, if they haven't been conned into this partnership as well.

In SJA defence, I don't think that they realize that Heritage Funds is such a sketchy company, I didn't. Talk about "Ambulance Chasers" Ugh. I feel gross.

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I'm glad that you posted it. Chances are high that you're not the first person to feel this way, and it makes me wonder how many techs they've lost because of this.

I'm also glad you posted it so that you could hear that this is highly abnormal and most instructors would never tolerate something like this happening at a clinic. I've consulted with a group of instructor trainers, and the universal response was that something like that would never happen around their clinics.

The sad fact is, that SJA is making money off of the extra people taking the course. Whether they know the company is sleazy or not, it doesn't change the fact that there is a massive conflict of interest in using parents who are looking for help as a source of leads. They had to have an idea when the people started coming through the course - but sometimes the all-mighty dollar makes people make decisions that aren't in the best interests of the public.

I don't know about your clinics there, but I know that back when there were public clinics here we got a real mix of people at clinics here - some of whom were using seats that came from family members or garage sales because they couldn't buy a new seat - to add sales pressure tactics to those parents - to any parents really - it's just wrong. But it somehow seems even worse to put pressure on parents who could literally be financially ruined by a commitment they might not fully understand.