Australian Women Online has spoken to several women who say they have been let down, ripped off and in some cases, verbally abused by Hollie Turner, who is reportedly in the United States at present and can’t be reached. When reports surfaced last week that the TV program A Current Affair, were interested in doing a story on the Online Diva, Hollie Turner silenced her critics by promising to pay what she owed. But more than a week later, creditors say they are still waiting and that all their most recent attempts to contact Turner have failed.

I have to admit I never really liked the ‘Online Divas’ concept. Firstly, I think the name “divas” sends the wrong message. How many times have we heard an over-demanding, tantrum-throwing celebrity described in the media as a Diva? As a business woman, this is certainly not the message I would want to send to the business community.

Secondly, women’s business networks such as Online Divas, encourage women to network amongst themselves, instead of getting out there and mixing with the wider business community. Although it’s nice to see women supporting each other, the reality is that men still hold the majority of senior positions in business and therefore, it makes absolutely no sense for women to network only with other women.

Thirdly, I don’t think it’s fair to charge people for advice they could just as easily find online for free. I also didn’t appreciate being screamed at by Hollie Turner after I told her that I wouldn’t be promoting the launch of her website on Australian Women Online.

But despite my personal feelings, it really doesn’t give me any pleasure to have to report on the problems that have arisen in the Online Divas network.

Web designer, Lisa Taliana (www.talianadesign.com.au), says she is still owed $1,200 by Hollie Turner for services she completed for the Online Divas website back in July this year.

Lisa told Australian Women Online, “I took over from her previous web designer and she paid me very quickly for the first job. But she never paid me for the second job – where I basically designed her email template for her and also got her Drupal content management system back up and running.”

Although Hollie Turner has denied owing her the money, Lisa says she can prove she is owed the $1,200.

“I have saved all the emails where she agreed to pay me and I’ve also saved all the transcripts of our chats on Skype,” said Lisa.

In addition to the money she is owed for work performed for the Online Divas website, Lisa Taliana has joined the long list of Australian women who are demanding a refund of the $75 membership fee they were charged by Online Divas.

“I actually went to one of the first events they had and I wasn’t impressed. It’s just really bad advice that they give to people. I was actually a panelist at one of the events and the other girls who were there were just basically encouraging women to go off and do it themselves. A shopping cart isn’t actually easy to do on your own and a blog isn’t going to make you an entrepreneur,” said Lisa.

“There’s nothing happening with the website at the moment and she’s offering nothing to people as an incentive. She offers discounts to events but they get cancelled and she doesn’t return the money.”

The winner of the ‘I wanna be an Online Diva’ competition in 2008, Penny Flanders from www.missmoneypenny.net.au, says although she received free web design, she hasn’t received much else from Online Divas.

“I was also promised a laptop computer, Peep Toe Shoes, an Online Divas membership, mentoring and a Blackberry. Although I did receive the web design and the Blackberry, I had to sign up to a plan for the Blackberry so I was never able to use it,” said Penny.

“I’m still not listed as an Online Diva on the website and I am yet to receive the laptop, the shoes and the business mentoring. These promises are why I launched my business and now I’m left without knowing what to do.”

After the producers of A Current Affair were contacted, Hollie Turner did promise Penny she would deliver the laptop computer. But then in a strange twist to this story, the person Turner had been staying with in San Francisco, reportedly said their laptop had been stolen.

Like Lisa Taliana, Penny says she is fed up with Hollie Turner’s empty promises and wants her experiences to serve as a warning to others.

Sam Winter from www.sassisam.com, says she too is waiting for a refund of her $75 membership fee.

“Hollie has agreed to give me back my money but I haven’t seen it yet, so it could be just another empty promise. I also want to know from her why she charged some girls and not others to join Online Divas.”

Although only Hollie Turner knows her reasons for charging some the membership fee and not others, I would say the most likely explanation is that she wants to encourage women who have a high public profile to join the community – a strategy that has worked well, with Samantha Brett from AskSam, Lauren Smelcher from Cosmopolitan, Kylie Little from Essential Baby, Melanie Silva from Google and many others who can lend credibility to the site, featured on the home page of Online Divas.

We have been told there are many more women who are dissatisfied with the treatment they’ve received, but for one reason or another, they are afraid to come forward and talk about their experiences publicly. All three of the women I spoke to said that whenever they complained to Hollie Turner, they would often receive an abusive email from her.

“I do know many girls are unhappy with Online Divas and Hollie Turner. The difficult thing is getting people to talk about it,” said Penny Flanders. “Hollie knows this and she relies on it.”

UPDATE:
12:30pm, 4 December 2009
Hollie Turner from Online Divas has contacted myself and the three women mentioned in this article. Hollie has refunded the membership fee owed to Sam and is currently making arrangements with Lisa to repay the money she owes for web design services. Hollie is also negotiating with Penny to deliver on her promise of a laptop computer.

Hollie has also asked that we remove the article from the website.

Recently I was alerted to the fact that someone had taken an article of mine, changed ‘VA’ wherever it appeared to their company name, and then uploaded it as their Benefits page. This is NOT okay.

I found out because I attempted to post my article online and was told it that it could not be accepted as it did not comply with editorial guidelines, and the editors thought I had taken the content from this particular site – and provided me the URL. Does this damage my reputation with that article directory? It sure does! They now think I’ve taken content when in fact it was the other way around.

Changing it ‘just a little bit’ does NOT make it yours.

This trend is not new. VAs around the globe have found that newbies are visiting their sites and taking content to build their own sites. The excuse is invariably “Well there’s only so many ways to describe what a VA does”. Perhaps that’s true, but you should always write your own content – or at the very least ask whether you can use what you find elsewhere first and provide appropriate author acknowledgements.

With the emergence of Filipino and other Asian and English-as-a-second-language outsourcing companies, plagiarising content is on the rise.

What you find online is the intellectual property of the site owner. Everything on that site is copyright (and an annotation to that effect will be on the site). If you find information in online article directories, there are terms of use for that content. You can’t just take it and use it as if it’s your own.

Which brings me to the problem for clients. Just because it’s written on a VA’s website doesn’t make it true. If you’re looking for a VA make sure you check their credentials and what they say. Certification badges should be linked back to the organisation that provided the certification. Testimonials can be put up by anyone – legitimate testimonials will always include a link to the person who provided it – either to their email or website for contact information so you can verify it.

The particular site owner who ripped off my content has a Code of Ethics on their site which includes amongst other things:

Apply ethical business practices in administrative and financial aspects of the service.
Comply with all legal obligations to provide professional services including, but not limited to, copyright laws.

Well I guess they probably took those from another VA’s website too because they certainly didn’t comply with copyright laws when they took my article.

Now imagine you’re a client and you find this service provider online. Everything looks legit right? But do you really want to partner with them when what they’ve actually got on their site belongs to someone else because they lack the ethics, intelligence or motivation to write it themselves? What does that mean for how they’ll handle your work product and issues of confidentiality? Can you trust them?

Be careful! If you’re a client check the legitimacy of the VA you want to partner with, do your due diligence, speak to them, check their references. Don’t just believe what you see online as it may not be theirs to begin with.

If you’ve had content taken what can you do? Most industrialised nations are signatories to the Berne Convention, which forms the basis of copyright law internationally. In the US you may be covered under their Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The location of the perpetrator will be your stumbling block so seek legal advice.

If you’re starting out as a VA or are an outsourcing company, just because you find it online does NOT make it yours to take. Write your own content, or ask the author for their permission before you use something and try to pass it off as your own. You will be found out. You will be asked to remove it or face possible legal action. And you will damage your reputation before you even get started.

About the Author
Lyn Prowse-Bishop, MVA, ASO is Australia’s first certified Master Virtual Assistant (MVA), an EthicsChecked VA, VACertified.com VA, Accredited Secretary Online (ASO), 2007 Business Achiever’s Award winner for Professional Services, and 2006 Thomas Leonard International VA of Distinction Award Nominee – has been in private practice since February 2000 as owner/manager of Executive Stress Office Support, providing remote executive assistant, office support and admin services to independent consultants and professionals around the world.

One of Queensland’s most respected virtual assistants, Lyn is also founder of the Australian Virtual Business Network, is a founding member and served for three years on the steering committee, and speaks at, the annual Online International Virtual Assistants Convention, and also serves as Australian representative on international committees looking at standards and certification for the VA industry.