The line between what is a legitimate service and what is a scam can be very hard for new people to see. There is no doubt that there are scam artists out there who take advantage of believers, but we don’t want people to flag everything they doubt. For many professions, you can simply rely on public opinion. With these services however, the public idea of fraud is usually:
- “he couldn’t tell me my detailed future”
- “her spell didn’t work the way I wanted”
- “I thought he could heal my ___”
- “Why cant I see it then?”
- Customer: It is supposed to keep me safe on the road, but I have had nearly 3 accidents. The last one was so close I don’t know how I didn’t get hit.”
- Salesperson:…. So you haven’t actually been in an accident?
- C: No! But it isn’t working! I need a new one!
- Everyone listening: *Face palm.*
The point is, magick, charms, divination, energy work, and other things do not work as Hollywood may advertise. We want to make sure that you, as someone new to the community, new to the type of work, or a veteran with questions can easily tell a fraud from a genuine person.
We want you to make sure that you know what to expect – that a safe driving charm doesn’t eliminate near misses, but may create more near misses than…well….not misses. We want you to know that astrology is more like a weather forecast, not a roadmap, or that divination is sometimes just talking to your subconscious.
Over the years, we have gathered warnings and great advice about what to look for and NOT to look for in an energy reader or practitioner. Below we have listed some of them for you to learn about what to definitely stay away from, and what signs can be very promising. If you have more, let us know so you can help others!
Red Flags
- Unsolicited warnings – especially of curses
- Increasing costs per visit for the same service
- Unexpected costs or services needed to “fix” whatever issue
- Dire warnings with costly fixes, especially with unexpected extra appointments
- Promises of specific outcomes – especially dates
- Constantly checking guide books and resources for answers to your questions.
Green Flags
- Public reviews or personal word of mouth
- Advertised and fixed pricing
- Set number of appointments with understood outcomes
- Explanations of choices and their possible outcomes
- Confident and helpful knowledge of the methods they are using in answer to your questions.
Things to remember before flagging a practitioner.
You are always allowed to have your own opinion, especially on whether or not an individual’s services are right for you. However, stating someone stole money from you is not an opinion. It can be an accusation*. Accusing someone of fraud when there is no case can be libel, and your account may get flagged*. Both sides (fraud or libel) will be able to dispute their case if someone gets flagged*.
Here are some situations that hopefully won’t come up, but if they do, how we define them*. This does not include all situations but hopefully will give you an idea of when we will flag someone for a scam vs when we will flag someone for a false accusation.
- You signed for a $25 fee, got charged more than that and after you contacted the person, they refuse to refund your money.
- You should report them here, BBB, consult a lawyer/pursue legal action*. You could also add those details to clarify. However, please do not post these things until you have at least attempted to speak with the individual in question!
- You didn’t like how much they charged, but you knew what the price was and paid it.
- If you call this theft, this may be libel. Your review may be flagged and removed if this is the case.
- You were promised an outcome for….
- Woah. Stop right there. Please review the red flags above! If they match those red flags, you may want to report this person to us!
- The service(s) you were charged for.were never completed.
- This is also another situation you need to flag here and possibly contact legal counsel*. If attempts have been made to reschedule and they refuse to complete the services you paid for, unless you have broken their terms of service, please flag their account. If however, you broke a term of their service (like a no-show, cancellation, etc) that they state they do not reimburse for, do not falsely flag their account.
- You believed the service would be more effective, though no promises were made. You just heard…
- As with any service in the world, you need to make sure you know the outcome by asking questions and verifying your expectations are the same as the promised results from the person performing the service. If the expectations you had were verified by the service giver, and the results did not match, then you have a case.
- Otherwise, this could be similar to asking a nail technician to paint your nails and then being surprised when they did not perform a full manicure, or asking a mechanic to check the oil during a tire rotation and being surprised when they didn’t change the oil.
*We are not a legal entity, and cannot answer legal questions or define legal terms. Our outline is how we may respond to flags in the future when our rating system is in place. When our system is in place, a full outline will be available for review. In all cases of dispute, please take all legal questions to legal counsel.*