The N.A.R.s first gamble with eSphere is that the bankruptcy court will allow them to fulfill their new contract, giving the N.A.R. control of the revenue stream from e-PRO signups. Their second gamble is that eSphere will fulfill its specific performances contract to the N.A.R. So far, eSphere is off to a rocky start, according to insiders at the N.A.R. and some agents who have purchased WebSuite products. Will poor customer support taint e-PRO signups? According to some agents, it already has.

According to Lynda Haneman, CRS, ABR, GRI, WebSuite/eSphere should have told agents up front that it is in a "transition period." Haneman, who owns a WebSuite Web site just renewed in July, is also in the middle of her e-PRO certification. When she couldn't access her Web site Wednesday, she was concerned. When she couldn't access e-PRO either, she grew alarmed. When she found that the customer service number for WebSuite was disconnected, she called Realty Times which immediately put in a telephone call to Dennis Calverts, eSphere's new CEO. According to Calverts, the WebSuite/e-PRO servers were temporarily down, and he obligingly supplied a new customer support number for eSphere 888-241-8193. The next day, the site was back up, and Haneman reported that she had also received a letter from customer support apologizing for the problem.

However a quick visit to WebSuite shows that the incorrect customer service number is still being posted. A visit to eSphere shows no customer support number at all. When asked in the interest of customer service why a working customer service number, a directory of principals, a description of product offerings and company mission among other commonly posted company information isn't posted on the site, Calverts told Agent News, "We don't need those things. We have all the business we can handle."

Tell that to frustrated agents who have received no notification from WebSuite, eSphere or the N.A.R. that the company is changing hands. How are they supposed to know what to do when they need help?

"This has been a roller-coaster ride," says Haneman. "Now the site is up, but they are here one day and gone the next. At least once a month, we haven't been able to access our accounts. What I don't understand is why don't they have a phone number that you can find through directory assistance?"

Server problems are a part of doing business on the Web, but it shouldn't take a call to a journalist to find out the correct customer support number to get help. Haneman explains that she has contacted the N.A.R. for help when the e-PRO site couldn't be accessed. A N.A.R. support person associated with e-PRO did not wish to go on the record, but explained that he was growing frustrated with eSphere's inattention to e-PRO subscribers. When the N.A.R. has directed Calverts to return calls to irate e-PRO subscribers, he doesn't, says the source.

It could be that the company really isn't in business yet. According to insiders who have recently left WebSuite, there is only a skeleton crew of people, and the support team is nothing more than an answering machine. WebSuite's life support system is on automated pilot while it takes its creditor-contested equipment and moves it to Las Vegas. Or at least that is what one WebSuite customer was told.

After viewing the results that a fellow Prudential agent, Rob Levy, had with his Web site in a recent issue of REALTOR magazine, San Diego agent Bob Wilson was impressed that Levy's $300 template site from WebSuite helped him generate over $150,000 in commissions. When Wilson saw that WebSuite was also the same company powering the e-PRO certification course for the N.A.R., he concluded that WebSuite must be a reputable company.

No novice to the Internet, Wilson decided to stray from his long-time site designing company, Advanced Access, to give WebSuite a shot at a low-cost FSBO site he was planning to add to his list of satellite sites that were already bringing him 260 unique users a day.

In October, Wilson says he paid WebSuite $300. "They took my money, but failed to get the site transferred to my domain name, www.SanDiegoForSaleByOwner.com," says Wilson. "Customer care made promise after promise, but nothing happened. They wouldn't return phone calls or emails and now their 800 number is disconnected. Last week I finally got through to a tech named Chad who told me that he worked for the company that was taking over WebSuite. The server problems would be corrected that day. The next day still nothing. Chad assured me everything was going to be ok. The servers would be fixed ASAP. He explained that on December 21st they would be down again for a few days while they move everything to Las Vegas.

"Now I can't get through to anyone," says Wilson. When he began having trouble with the company, he started to look for more information on the WebSuite site. He reports seeing an FAQ section which included a message board for real estate agents.

"There were at least four complaints from agents who had given WebSuite their money for the e-PRO and haven't heard anything for months," says Wilson. "If this company is an example of what an e-PRO is, I'll pass."

The FAQ message board could not be found on the site.

"I'm upset that the N.A.R. is continuing its hypocritical support of this fraud of an operation," complains Wilson. "Everybody's targeting us, even our own trade organization. We're nothing but a revenue stream. How much money does it take to run a lobby group anyway?"

Wilson, already certified as a Prudential "e-cert," the franchise's Internet certification, is exactly the target market for the e-PRO but because of his treatment at the hands of WebSuite, he may be lost forever as a customer for the N.A.R.'s version.

"If you ask anyone to explain what the difference is between a real estate agent and a Realtor, they would tell you it is that we have a code of ethics," says Wilson. "But the N.A.R. is not adhering to its own code of ethics. I think the N.A.R. should have just shut the whole e-PRO thing down until the equipment transfer was over and put up some kind of an explanation. I'm just like any client who responds to good service."

According to Bob Goldberg, the N.A.R. official who contracted with eSphere to take over the WebSuite/e-PRO contract, eSphere has only had the e-PRO contract for two weeks. "Out of fairness," says Goldberg, "there have been some problems because the company has inherited a lot of problems from WebSuite. They shouldn't be painted as not fulfilling their contract because they have to have time to work things through.

Even now, N.A.R. affiliates are continuing to deliver their members to eSphere for e-PRO sign-ups.

According to Dave Cleveland, the man who is contesting the transfer of assets from WebSuite to eSphere by filing a motion with the bankruptcy court, says that the world's largest trade organization is trapped, because it signed a bad agreement with WebSuite in the first place.

According to Cleveland, the N.A.R. doesn't even own the rights to e-PRO, according to the original contract. He says the contract that the N.A.R. signed with WebSuite only allows the trade organization's name to be used to promote e-PRO as a real estate certification and that is why WebSuite had such control over the development and deployment of the e-PRO course. "In order to be released from its contract with WebSuite, the bankruptcy judge would have to grant the N.A.R.'s motion for relief of the automatic stay. That is a motion that asks the court to relieve them of their contractual obligations to WebSuite, and allow them to walk away. Until they have that relief, they are stuck with WebSuite," says Cleveland.

"I think the N.A.R. had a fiduciary duty to protect our interests as members and people they were soliciting and they didn't do that," says Wilson. "They are still soliciting people to sign up for WebSuite's services and putting their members in financial jeopardy. I believe that there had to have been some way for them to say we are finetuning it and suspend things for a while, and they could have used that as an excuse to let Michael Russer make the course more challenging and sort it out in the meantime. I'm just glad I didn't sign up for e-PRO, too, or I would be really upset. That is the bottom line."

Goldberg says that attempts to appease unhappy e-PRO customers are being made and that they are being offered generous extensions to their six-month completion dates.

Meanwhile, Wilson is going back to Advanced Access and says he plans to avoid using any products promoted by the N.A.R. with third-party providers. "We give too much of our business away to others," says Wilson, "what I hope comes out of this, is that people remember that we are customers, too." Editor's note: As of 12/16/2000, there is more information available on e-PRO support. For those in need of technical support or those who may have questions regarding e-PRO, please contact Stephanie Boyer Klinkhammer at stephanie@espheresupport.com.

Published: December 15, 2000

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.

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