An advocate of hypnosis spent almost $2,000 to go to a seminar, but when she got there, the event wasn’t happening.
Susan Hudson of Reston, Virginia, says the power of hypnosis works for her.
“You can play a disc in your headphones at night and just the voice and the consistency and the calmingness of the disc will calm me right down, and I love that,” she said.
She’s a fan of motivational speaker and performance hypnotist Marshall Sylver, who is known as the leading expert on subconscious reprogramming and irresistible influence. When she learned Sylver was offering a seminar in Atlanta on how to create a turning point in her life, she jumped at the chance.
“I wanted to know more about his topic, which is how to use hypnosis in your life, in your business,” Hudson said.
She said she bought a ticket and booked a roundtrip non-refundable flight and hotel room-all for about $1,800.
But when she arrived for the event, it wasn’t there.
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“Front desk never heard of it,” she said. “Did not have it registered in their sales department. No registration table. No sign of any other person roaming the Sheraton looking for this event. Just me.”
She said she called customer service and learned the seminar had been canceled.
She said she never received notification of the cancellation.
“Including nothing in the spam folder,” she said.
Hudson wanted her money back. She said she called customer service and sent a letter addressed to Sylver and repeatedly asked for a refund but got nothing.
NBC4 Responds called Sylver, who said the event was canceled due to "lack of response." He said he had not heard about Hudson's issue and would take care of it.
And he did.
“I got a call from Marshall Sylver,” Hudson said.
He reimbursed her $1,900, two complimentary tickets to the seminar she had signed up for and a $2,000 credit to any of his other courses.
“He’s been very gracious,” Hudson said.
Sylver said he takes care of his customers, who come from all over the world.
He said no one else was reimbursed because no one else needed reimbursement, but apparently Hudson wasn’t contacted. Sylver said he's looking into a glitch in registration software to find out why.
Reported by Susan Hogan, produced by Patti Petitte and edited by Perkins Broussard.
