Author Marketing Experts Inc

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
There are several inaccuracies in the letter sent by AME.  This type of subtle MISREPRESENTATION of the facts, blaming me, and not taking responsibility for failure to follow through on promised actions was my primary reason for filing this complaint. I find the organization not trustworthy.  
Primarily, 
 
1.  I was NOT told about Basecamp or an online system during the pitch conversation.  I would never have selected this firm if I had been.
 
2.  In our initial conversation, I was told a follow-up strategy call would happen as soon as they received the contract.
 
3.  The questionnaire was delayed on my end —1. because I requested help with it that was not forthcoming; and 2) I expected to ask about it in the anticipated strategy call.
 
4.  Even after I completed the said 'questionnaire', there was still no follow-up strategy call.
 
5.  In the pitch call which was quite general, we only touched briefly on possible audience selection, which was absolutely key to the campaign.  The selection and discussion of the "nitty-gritty" audience selection was put off/ promised for the strategy call. The preliminary audience was put together provisionally for the sake of the contract— that is until I asked about adjusting it. I provided the email and Basecamp communications already to Revdex.com to back up the many times I inquired about this item.  The response that it was non-negotiable was the final deciding factor that I did not wish to continue working with AME.
 
5. I always responded to communications from AME.  Rather I often had to communicate my concerns more than once before they responded.
 
6.  I paid $3496 of $4995 which is 70% (not half) of the amount due.  (This if the type of inaccuracy reflected in the other comments). 
 
This was not my first book, by the way.
 
Regards,
[redacted]

October 14, 2014
Revdex.com
PO Box 6ooogB
San Diego, CA 92160
To whom it may concern,
We're very sorry that [redacted] continues to be unhappy with our response. In
order to expedite issues, I'm pasting her latest note with our response in this letter.
1. I was NOT told about Basecamp or an online system during the pitch
conversation. I would never have selected this firm if I had been.
**She was told about this, I always, always tell clients and it was reiterated to her when
she signed. But all of this is hearsay, since it was verbal. I will, however, include our
dialog around this project so you can see what was promised, timing of call, etc.
2. In our initial conversation, I was told a follow-up strategy call would happen as soon
as they received the contract.
**No, we would never do this, nor is that stated anywhere in the contract. What I did say
to her when we did our 2nd call was that we use a system called Basecamp which she
will be invited to the day she signs with us. That may be where the confusion is. We were
very clear when the conversation would happen. I will re-upload the docs sent
previously where I specifically outlined this with her. If you'll note in Exhibit #2, we
were still trying to get her paperwork on July 20 to schedule this call.
3. The questionnaire was delayed on my end -1. because I requested help with it that
was not forthcoming; and 2) I expected to ask about it in the anticipated strategy call.
**I do not show an email from her requesting help, except that we tried numerous
times to reach her (and had a lot of back and forth dialog, which is also included) and
she finally wrote me (see emails dated July 16-18- subject line: Whereforartthou?
4. Even after I completed the said 'questionnaire', there was still no follow-up strategy
call.
**This is because she still had items we needed, as is outlined in the paperwork she
received when she signed on with us. Also, once she sent in *some* of the paperwork.
Communication with this author became progressively more agitated as you'll see in
Exhibit #4B which starts on July 22, 2014.
5. In the pitch call which was quite general, we only touched briefly on possible
audience selection, which was absolutely key to the campaign. The selection and
discussion of the "nitty-gritty" audience selection was put off/ promised for the strategy
call. The preliminary audience was put together provisionally for the sake of the
contract- that is until I asked about adjusting it. I provided the email and Basecamp
communications already to Revdex.com to back up the many times I inquired about this
item. The response that it was non-negotiable was the final deciding factor that I did
not wish to continue working with AME.
[redacted]As was explained in the contract (previously uploaded to this complaint) the client
agreed to and signed on for a specific set of services. Certain things can be modified once
we do a campaign call, but we had not determined what that would be. She was very
upset about this when, candidly, it was not an issue really since we had not done the call
and the campaign had not started. Further, we asked her for a wish list of contacts she
wanted pitched (which we always do). Additionally, this was addressed with her directly
in the email dated May 28, part of Exhibit #4
5. I always responded to communications from AME. Rather I often had to
communicate my concerns more than once before they responded.
**Again, I refer you to the extensive correspondence with had with Ms. [redacted] around
this, we were always very responsive to her needs.
Thank you for your time and consideration, if I can supply any additional data, please do
not hesitate to ask.
Thank you.
[redacted]
President and CEO

September 30, 2014
Revdex.com
PO Box 6ooog8
San Diego, CA 92160
To whom it may concern,
We're very sorry that [redacted] decided to file vvith the Revdex.com.
As you'll see from the attached, we tried...

very hard to work with this author but in the
end, she was not a good fit. Perhaps she also did not understand the process, I
understand how this could have happened since I believe this was her first book. It was a
new world to her. We did our best to walk her through this and help her out as much as
we could within the parameters of the contract but Ms. [redacted] needed more assistance.
For your consideration, I'm attaching several docs these include:Contract with Author Marketing Experts: As you'll note from the red X on page
three, our cancelation is clearly spelled out for our clients. We retain the deposit which
we did in this case.Exhibit 1: Dialog with Ms. [redacted] over her concerns that she hadn't heard from us. As
you'll see we wrote her several times and never heard back from her.Exhibit 2: This doc is also highlighted at the top, this is a dialog document from the
campaign. Ms. [redacted] uses a lot of phrases like "I thought that's what you were doing"
and "I assume this is happening" which seems to indicate that she did not fully grasp
what she had signed up for. If Ms. [redacted] had said that, "I don't know" directly, we
could have addressed this issue directly at the time.Exhibit 3: In this email, she mentions that she's worried it's an automated system
which I explain to her that it's not. But it's a system that works to keep all of the pieces
together. A campaign like this can have up to twenty separate segments to it and
keeping those all straight is imperative. Basecamp is a communication system which we
explained to her a few times during her work with us. She mentioned she had a hard
time learning the system. Candidly we rarely, if ever, have this as an issue or we
wouldn't use the system. It's a very intuitive program which requires her just to log on
and see everything on her campaign right there. If it's helpful, I'm happy to also send in
the tutorial and screenshots.Exhibit 4: This doc also shows that the client was trying to almost reinvent the
campaign to a degree, wanting to change pitch targets that had already been defined and
agreed to in her contract (attached).Exhibit 5: Her cancelation letter and sign off.
Further, the client requested a brainstorm call with me (this was part of her campaign)
and when I spoke to her (just prior to her signing the contract) I made mention that we
use a reporting system (Basecamp) to keep track of all of the campaign pieces and also
to dialog with the client so we have records of what was promised, delivered, and
communicated. She was told that we can't do a brainstorm call until the author
questionnaire was sent back, which is a simple document. We try not to request a lot of
information but there are some key things that we need to execute a successful
campaign. We ask for the website to be promoted, so we are certain which one (some
authors have several). We ask for the author bio, a link to the book on Amazon (because
again, some authors have multiple titles and even multiple versions of the same book so
we need to be sure we are directing readers to the right version).
Also, please note that though her purchase price was $sooo she had paid just over half
of that, which is documented in the attached.
Thank you for your time and consideration, if I can supply any additional data, please do
not hesitate to ask
Thank you.
[redacted]
President and CEO

Review: 1) The principal was unwilling to acknowledge that she did not inform me I would be required to learn and use an online program to communicate with the organization;

2) She did not follow through with a crucial promised strategy call, or the personal service we discussed in the initial sales pitch/consultation call.

3) As time went on with no follow up call and many unanswered questions, when I finally did express legitimate concerns about these issues, rather than take responsibility for the misrepresentation and failure to follow through the response was to accuse me of attitude problems.Desired Settlement: Although contractually I agreed to forfeit my deposit with this organization, because the services were misrepresented, I would like the full amount refunded.

I wanted to be able to find a way to be neutral about my experience with AME, to assume this treatment was an anomaly, a bad match, a misunderstanding. I asked that they show their good faith by providing a full refund of the $3496 I was billed to compensate for the many frustrating hours and unpleasant treatment I endured attempting to fit into an automated system I had no idea was part of our agreement. They have decided to keep $1000 after having done virtually nothing on this account.

Short of that I believe others should be warned about about this tendency to oversell and then to deny the truth and make false accusations to justify the lack of responsiveness..

Business

Response:

September 30, 2014

Revdex.com

PO Box 6ooog8

San Diego, CA 92160

To whom it may concern,

We're very sorry that [redacted] decided to file vvith the Revdex.com.

As you'll see from the attached, we tried very hard to work with this author but in the

end, she was not a good fit. Perhaps she also did not understand the process, I

understand how this could have happened since I believe this was her first book. It was a

new world to her. We did our best to walk her through this and help her out as much as

we could within the parameters of the contract but Ms. [redacted] needed more assistance.

For your consideration, I'm attaching several docs these include:

Contract with Author Marketing Experts: As you'll note from the red X on page

three, our cancelation is clearly spelled out for our clients. We retain the deposit which

we did in this case.

Exhibit 1: Dialog with Ms. [redacted] over her concerns that she hadn't heard from us. As

you'll see we wrote her several times and never heard back from her.

Exhibit 2: This doc is also highlighted at the top, this is a dialog document from the

campaign. Ms. [redacted] uses a lot of phrases like "I thought that's what you were doing"

and "I assume this is happening" which seems to indicate that she did not fully grasp

what she had signed up for. If Ms. [redacted] had said that, "I don't know" directly, we

could have addressed this issue directly at the time.

Exhibit 3: In this email, she mentions that she's worried it's an automated system

which I explain to her that it's not. But it's a system that works to keep all of the pieces

together. A campaign like this can have up to twenty separate segments to it and

keeping those all straight is imperative. Basecamp is a communication system which we

explained to her a few times during her work with us. She mentioned she had a hard

time learning the system. Candidly we rarely, if ever, have this as an issue or we

wouldn't use the system. It's a very intuitive program which requires her just to log on

and see everything on her campaign right there. If it's helpful, I'm happy to also send in

the tutorial and screenshots.

Exhibit 4: This doc also shows that the client was trying to almost reinvent the

campaign to a degree, wanting to change pitch targets that had already been defined and

agreed to in her contract (attached).

Exhibit 5: Her cancelation letter and sign off.

Further, the client requested a brainstorm call with me (this was part of her campaign)

and when I spoke to her (just prior to her signing the contract) I made mention that we

use a reporting system (Basecamp) to keep track of all of the campaign pieces and also

to dialog with the client so we have records of what was promised, delivered, and

communicated. She was told that we can't do a brainstorm call until the author

questionnaire was sent back, which is a simple document. We try not to request a lot of

information but there are some key things that we need to execute a successful

campaign. We ask for the website to be promoted, so we are certain which one (some

authors have several). We ask for the author bio, a link to the book on Amazon (because

again, some authors have multiple titles and even multiple versions of the same book so

we need to be sure we are directing readers to the right version).

Also, please note that though her purchase price was $sooo she had paid just over half

of that, which is documented in the attached.

Thank you for your time and consideration, if I can supply any additional data, please do

not hesitate to ask

Thank you.

President and CEO

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

There are several inaccuracies in the letter sent by AME. This type of subtle MISREPRESENTATION of the facts, blaming me, and not taking responsibility for failure to follow through on promised actions was my primary reason for filing this complaint. I find the organization not trustworthy.

Primarily,