with social media gaming services such as OfferPal and SuperRewards. Users are offered in game currency if they sign up to receive a free learning CD from Video Professor. The user is told they pay nothing except a $10 shipping charge. But the fine print, on a different page from checkout, tells them they are really getting a set of CDs and will be billed $399.99 unless they return them. According to Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, Video Professor is an Internet scam. The company has been criticized for its CD-ROM sales and advertising practice. Some complaints center on an alleged lack of clarity regarding the nature of the continuity sales model and the "free" CD-ROM. Others are based on the lack of choice the customer has in subsequent offerings. The company says that such complaints are rare and promptly resolved. According to Video Professor, it is standard policy to take 30 business days to issue a refund on any returned items. The company is now focusing on its Video Professor Online lesson delivery where lessons are streamed directly to the customer's computer, with the customer having temporary access to the entire learning library versus owning individual lessons. Video Professor, Inc. is currently undergoing "reorganization," and has placed most of its employees on unpaid furlough. Their phone lines are also shut down. Consequently, existing customers are unable to contact the company for refunds, cancellations, technical support, or customer service. Despite knowing the company’s demise was imminent. Video Professor continued to accumulate debt with advertising and marketing companies. This, as well as other unethical business practices, has the company’s management under heavy scrutiny and criticism. Video Professor has also lost its rating with the Better Business Bureau In 2009, Video Professor tried and apparently failed to raise $10 million in cash. Despite its omnipresent cable television commercials in recent years, Video Professor's sales went from $140 million in 2006 to less than 1/3 that two years later. In May 2010, Video Professor apparently closed its doors, possibly for good. No one is responding to customers' calls, emails or letters, and neither the company nor John Scherer has acknowledged or responded to at least one recently filed lawsuit challenging the way in which they market their products through television advertising. Lawyers who have previously have represented Video Professor in court have not responded to recent inquiries. John Scherer's Denver area home