On 9/26/15, I arrived home from work early in themoning with pains. I was exhausted and decided to Google my symptoms.
A site appeared on a list called AskDoctorParker.com. He looked legit. He provided a contact phone number, address, which I Googled, There was another physician on his site who also had good internet credentials.
I put in my symptoms and answered questions. The program asked for my contact info. As I typed in my name, the site populated all of it's fields with my address, phone, and email. I didn't have to type any of it.
The site reapatedly told me not to leave or close the site - that the doctor was preparing my information and would email me within 30 minutes and no laer than 36 hours.
I came back to my comptuer after an hour,thinking my diagnosis or advice would be there. but the program was still timing down with the same messages. There was a message added that they would be charging me $1.49. After entering my credit card info, a new message came up stating that they will charge me $19.95 per month for a year. They didn't ask, they told me.
It then reminded me of a compuyter re-imaging program that harvests information for about an hour in order to clean and re-load the hard drive. I thought they might be harvesting, so I shut down the program and called my credit card provider.
I never did receive a diagnosis email. But later in the day I went to pay a phone bill online and received a message that my computer had been compromised and that the phone company's emcryption software won't allow me into the payment site until the intruder is gone.
Don't trust these sites. I still ended up going to the emergency room, plus now I have to fill out forms for my cred card, requesting an embargo against that company. Not to mention that I have to do this Rip Off Report. And I don't know what else will come from this because I made a bad decision. It's taken me extra effort and I had to go to the emergency room anyway. I should have just gone there in the first place.
I just encountered a truly egregious manipulation called "AskDoctorParker.com"
I'd experienced a slight medical nuisance and somehow found this site that offered 'live doctors (8) available to answer your questions". No price was mentioned but there was an invitation to ask my queion.
The site is cleverly designed to keep you busy (i.e. distracted) by suggesting that some 'live' doctor is 'processing' your information and forming a response. At this time, no mention of any fee for this answer has been made.
I continued along with some equally innocuous requests for data -- like did I want to have the answer emailed to me as well? Did I have access to a printer? etc. Very engaging and very distracting. I almost hate to admit that I had to admire these guys ability to engage me with their site.
The next thing that happens is I'm told that my 'answer' will be ready to deliver and I was told they would need to charge my credit card $1.49.
At first I thought, "Oh, this is BS". But then I did a quick search on Google and, sure enough, some good-sounding reviews were found on page 1. It was enough to make me risk $1.49 to see what the good doctor would tell me about why a muscle in my hand was so sore when I hadn't injured it.
A few more screens later and a screen shows up. It says something to the effect that, "The nature of your question requires a medical consult to answer properly . . . and I can get that for "only $49". I had the option to 'accept' or 'decline'.
Feeling there was a 'bait-and-switch' going on from the $1.49 to $49 fee to get the answer . . . I clicked 'decline'.
Then a new screen appears that tells me, "Your credit card has been billed $1.49 for asking my question today and will be billed $19.95 each month for an annual subscription to access this service". WHAT?!!! More like WTHeck!
I actually almost missed that screen's message as it was pushed by me so quickly. But I did see it and immediately went to the TOS and learned that their EULA is longer than Apple's or Microsofts (at least it seemed that way!).
Anyone who has to have an uber-long TOS has it for a reason . . . to protect the guilty!
Anyway, I did send an email to "[email protected]" as it suggested and requested an immediate cancellation of the BS subscription which I was TOLD I had and which I never ASKED FOR.
I probably deserve to lose $1.49 for being so damned gullible to believe this site would deliver what it suggested. It was too good to be true and, sure enough, that old adage has been proven correct once again.
I do hope this site is not more evil than I suspect. Any site that operates in such a deceitful manner should not be trusted and avoided at all costs. The sad part is that I'm sure people who sincerely seek a medical opinion -- I just wanted to know if my symptom suggested a visit to my doctor or a couple of aspirins would be most appropriate -- are going to get side-tracked by these people who seem to have had more desire to compromise people than help them.
It's great to offer advice in exchange for money. I'm a consultant and I do that for a living. But I don't game people out of their money and make presumptions about their desire to pay a monthly retainer when that was never offered and only assumed. That's bad Karma boys . . . and I hope that catches up with you.
I worked for ask dr Parker for one month and answered several queries. But they never give me my payment and suddenly stopped communication at all levels.
Scams - do not trust- they will only take your money
i went on this said site last year and at first they said it was free and then they asked to pay $1.00 and i did with my credit card. when i received my bank statement that month an additional $100.00 was deducted and i contacted them and they said that i signed up for their magazines which i did not. i am living in guyana and i know how long these things take to get here. i tried to negotiate with them for the refund and they kept pushing me around and then my bank got involved and so i gave them my address and did so on many occasions and noted its South America and they did the cheque to South Africa. come on, they dont know their geography. that cheque got to me 10 months after. how can i negotiate it when they are only valid for 6 months. these are not trusted people. no one should use this site. all their good reviews was probably just a set up to make them look good. i am pretty upset about this.
Stay away from this predatory site. It asks for $1.49 up front, and then sneaks in a $19.95 recurring monthly bill without asking. The only way to cancel the recurring $19.95 bill is to go to the "contact" information located in small print at the bottom of "ask doctor parker" web page, access the live chat, and ask to have your newly-made "account" cancelled. The chat will ask for your sign-up information in order to cancel the account. It's a lot of work to untangle an undisclosed $19.95 monthly recurring fee.
Ask Doctor Parker Reviews
On 9/26/15, I arrived home from work early in themoning with pains. I was exhausted and decided to Google my symptoms.
A site appeared on a list called AskDoctorParker.com. He looked legit. He provided a contact phone number, address, which I Googled, There was another physician on his site who also had good internet credentials.
I put in my symptoms and answered questions. The program asked for my contact info. As I typed in my name, the site populated all of it's fields with my address, phone, and email. I didn't have to type any of it.
The site reapatedly told me not to leave or close the site - that the doctor was preparing my information and would email me within 30 minutes and no laer than 36 hours.
I came back to my comptuer after an hour,thinking my diagnosis or advice would be there. but the program was still timing down with the same messages. There was a message added that they would be charging me $1.49. After entering my credit card info, a new message came up stating that they will charge me $19.95 per month for a year. They didn't ask, they told me.
It then reminded me of a compuyter re-imaging program that harvests information for about an hour in order to clean and re-load the hard drive. I thought they might be harvesting, so I shut down the program and called my credit card provider.
I never did receive a diagnosis email. But later in the day I went to pay a phone bill online and received a message that my computer had been compromised and that the phone company's emcryption software won't allow me into the payment site until the intruder is gone.
Don't trust these sites. I still ended up going to the emergency room, plus now I have to fill out forms for my cred card, requesting an embargo against that company. Not to mention that I have to do this Rip Off Report. And I don't know what else will come from this because I made a bad decision. It's taken me extra effort and I had to go to the emergency room anyway. I should have just gone there in the first place.
Thanks
You saved me just in time
I just encountered a truly egregious manipulation called "AskDoctorParker.com"
I'd experienced a slight medical nuisance and somehow found this site that offered 'live doctors (8) available to answer your questions". No price was mentioned but there was an invitation to ask my queion.
The site is cleverly designed to keep you busy (i.e. distracted) by suggesting that some 'live' doctor is 'processing' your information and forming a response. At this time, no mention of any fee for this answer has been made.
I continued along with some equally innocuous requests for data -- like did I want to have the answer emailed to me as well? Did I have access to a printer? etc. Very engaging and very distracting. I almost hate to admit that I had to admire these guys ability to engage me with their site.
The next thing that happens is I'm told that my 'answer' will be ready to deliver and I was told they would need to charge my credit card $1.49.
At first I thought, "Oh, this is BS". But then I did a quick search on Google and, sure enough, some good-sounding reviews were found on page 1. It was enough to make me risk $1.49 to see what the good doctor would tell me about why a muscle in my hand was so sore when I hadn't injured it.
A few more screens later and a screen shows up. It says something to the effect that, "The nature of your question requires a medical consult to answer properly . . . and I can get that for "only $49". I had the option to 'accept' or 'decline'.
Feeling there was a 'bait-and-switch' going on from the $1.49 to $49 fee to get the answer . . . I clicked 'decline'.
Then a new screen appears that tells me, "Your credit card has been billed $1.49 for asking my question today and will be billed $19.95 each month for an annual subscription to access this service". WHAT?!!! More like WTHeck!
I actually almost missed that screen's message as it was pushed by me so quickly. But I did see it and immediately went to the TOS and learned that their EULA is longer than Apple's or Microsofts (at least it seemed that way!).
Anyone who has to have an uber-long TOS has it for a reason . . . to protect the guilty!
Anyway, I did send an email to "[email protected]" as it suggested and requested an immediate cancellation of the BS subscription which I was TOLD I had and which I never ASKED FOR.
I probably deserve to lose $1.49 for being so damned gullible to believe this site would deliver what it suggested. It was too good to be true and, sure enough, that old adage has been proven correct once again.
I do hope this site is not more evil than I suspect. Any site that operates in such a deceitful manner should not be trusted and avoided at all costs. The sad part is that I'm sure people who sincerely seek a medical opinion -- I just wanted to know if my symptom suggested a visit to my doctor or a couple of aspirins would be most appropriate -- are going to get side-tracked by these people who seem to have had more desire to compromise people than help them.
It's great to offer advice in exchange for money. I'm a consultant and I do that for a living. But I don't game people out of their money and make presumptions about their desire to pay a monthly retainer when that was never offered and only assumed. That's bad Karma boys . . . and I hope that catches up with you.
Fake for all
I worked for ask dr Parker for one month and answered several queries. But they never give me my payment and suddenly stopped communication at all levels.
Scams - do not trust- they will only take your money
i went on this said site last year and at first they said it was free and then they asked to pay $1.00 and i did with my credit card. when i received my bank statement that month an additional $100.00 was deducted and i contacted them and they said that i signed up for their magazines which i did not. i am living in guyana and i know how long these things take to get here. i tried to negotiate with them for the refund and they kept pushing me around and then my bank got involved and so i gave them my address and did so on many occasions and noted its South America and they did the cheque to South Africa. come on, they dont know their geography. that cheque got to me 10 months after. how can i negotiate it when they are only valid for 6 months. these are not trusted people. no one should use this site. all their good reviews was probably just a set up to make them look good. i am pretty upset about this.
Scam
Every independent review I have read, including my experience, has said scam! Don't use them!
scammed
just got scammed by the same site.
Misleading enticement for "Ask Doctor Parker"
Stay away from this predatory site. It asks for $1.49 up front, and then sneaks in a $19.95 recurring monthly bill without asking. The only way to cancel the recurring $19.95 bill is to go to the "contact" information located in small print at the bottom of "ask doctor parker" web page, access the live chat, and ask to have your newly-made "account" cancelled. The chat will ask for your sign-up information in order to cancel the account. It's a lot of work to untangle an undisclosed $19.95 monthly recurring fee.