Best Version Media

Who reads a magazine anymore? Obviously this is a Scam you will be locked into for years. Use Digital advertising that on many platforms you can get for free.

I have almost two years with advertising with this company and I have not received one viable lead or any leads for that matter! It has been a total budget killer and I have a little over one year left of setting my money on fire! I would like to know if anyone has had success getting out of their contract? If so how you did it!

I have had a 1/2 page ad with this company for over 2 years now and have not received a single call (I ask every customer how they heard about me). I called to see if they offer early termination and was told I would be held to the terms of the contract. So if you just want to throw some money away, this is the place to do it!

Carol the representative came to our office and discussed what BVM could supply advertisement for our company. We are Medical Clinic and wanted to get the information out to the community we serve. She kept stating we only advertise in affluent areas and that BVM would give the company the full front page and have her photographer and writer help with the ad. Initially, after looking at the magazine we attempted to review the contract. I stated that I would need to review the contract prior to signing anything. She stated she only had the contract on her phone and would send to me. I questioned why she would not have a written contract example available and why the contract can only be signed for 3 year increments. I explained that no one has a 3 year commitment in this business. Albeit, our company was loosing money and were trying everything to stay afloat by promise of advertising to our local community. Desperately I signed the contract then had second thoughts and did not push the submit button since as I thought about the 3 year commitment. Carol pushed the submit button and never has written anything, no photos, no ad and that was November 2019. I asked her to cancel this since I didn't even push the submit button and she never sent me a contract to review (all on her phone). This business is a scam! Do not trust their representatives, they lie and in this case she actually submitted it! I tried to stop the payments through my credit card company once I saw they had the nerve to charge it. Never have they had an ad or anything for our company. Not even a word from the representative. My company lost so much money that we went out of business as of Dec 30,2019 and still they are charging the credit card. This is the worst company and fraudulent. Stop charging us for nothing!
Don't even consider this company! Covid has put most clinicians out of business and yet this company still charges for nothing! Fraud! You don't even deserve 1 star. We are contacting the BBB and lawyers to investigate this $1521.45/month charge for nothing!

The worst advertising money I have ever spent. I should have just stood on the street corner handing out cash. Contract was said to be 12 it was really 18..they let me out early after complaining A LOT because my rep quit and there was no local mananger. still "owed" one month..leading into COVID my small business was crushed BVM didnt care and even added interest on the payment I couldnt make Nice way to support your community BVM. BVM doesnt "care" about anythinG except the money STAY AWAY

Be very careful with what your local rep tells you, especially when it is written down and compare it carefully with the contract you sign with them.

What was written down did not match the product I received. This is after I signed a 36 month contract so I'm stuck with them for another 30+ months. As of now I do not recommend this company for marketing.

Kathy Christian is Deceitful, dishonest and a liar. I have a paper she had written all the features and a price. I sign the contract thinking it was all included. I'm paying the price she wrote down but none of the features written. Kathy tells me the deadline is the 5th of each month. I have emails from her art designer David Wood telling me different deadline dates each month.
Their art designer David Wood is absolutely terrible. I had to hire an outside ad designer for my ads.

I do not want any new business owners to fall for this dishonest company.

Do not work with this company. When the advertising doesn’t work, they refuse to cancel your agreement. They seriously want an unhappy small business to pay them for advertising that doesn’t help their business! Stay away and don’t sign anything!

YIKES! I was checking into this company because I know someone who is going to the training in WI but just as I thought is sounds like a scam. I’m going to tell him to stay far away. What is sad is when people make a complaint, they respond with a very rude and condescending attitude. I also don’t believe they have SO MANY positive reviews. I believe they are done by the company themselves.

Best Version Media ad has run for 17 months. ONE call, NO business. It does NOT work for most companies. You are better off joining a networking group for a fraction of the cost. I will stop payment to them and see if they pursue me. They make verbal claims they know are false, then lock you in to a long-term contract for zero benefit. I purchased the right to publish an article as an expert once per quarter. Only one has ever been published in 17 months.

I am not happy at all. I've been locked into a 36-month plan that 10 months in has produced nothing. I was terribly nervous to sign in the first place and told the rep so immediately after signing. I'm a small dog walking company. I may not survive as an entity that long! The rep could have helped me right then and there. But she didn't and now I'm stuck. The monthly amount is a lot for me and is the largest bill I have to pay. I have a lot of health issues that makes this all the more difficult. I should never have been locked into this NEVER. I've GOTTEN NO BUSINESS WHATSOEVER FROM BVM. I am sure if they truly knew about my situation, this wouldnt have occurred. The first couple of publications they had my contact information completely wrong. Oh I see YOU can make mistakes, but no ones else can. Where's retribution for that? Do not get sucked into this company I'm telling you it's going to ruin me.

After visiting my sons shop last week I was asked my opinion of him advertising his company with Best Version Media. After coming across the complaints on Revdex.com I warned him it was a scam. Being a retired business owner myself I had come across this fraudulent act several times. People running your CC with no proof of service. The following day Jr. called me and told the local representative would like to sit with both of us and put my concerns to rest. Early the next morning I was introduced to a firecracker. A very vibrant young lady sat at the desk across from me with a grin from ear to ear. She pulled up this website and personally explained the complaints. She then went over the contract and the renewal process. She never once seemed agitated with my relentless stream of questions. I hate to admit the fact that I was sold. After signing a contract the young lady finished with, "Sir, I'm a Christian and could never sell anything I didn't stand behind 115%". If that isn't customer service I don't know what is. In this day and age not to many sales professionals would be willing to take time out of the day to ease the worries of an [redacted] like myself. I must say I was very pleased and look forward to publication.

I have had a great experience with Best Version Media. They have a refreshing approach to media and they are very responsive to the needs of their clients. The individual publishers work very hard to make each campaign successful.

Review: After being approached by a BVM sales rep about advertising in their local magazine "Ashland Living" we signed up for 12 months on 12/06/14. Since then there have been several problems with this advertiser.

1. Our styles of advertising do not seem to mesh. Everything that we have submitted has had to be heavily edited (often in very arbitrary ways) to fit the "vision" of the Ashland Living Magazine. This has not been our experience with other advertisers such as the Locals Guide, Google, etc….and it makes it very difficult for us to get the messages across that work well for us with other advertisers. We believe that its not a good fit for either of us.

2. During the sales pitch for the Ashland Living Magazine we were told that at some point over the year we would get a cover page spot and write up done on us. We were then later told months after signing up that that would not happen as we do not live in the right Ashland neighborhood. So part of why we signed up was under false pretenses.

3. In 6 months of advertising with the Ashland Living Magazine we have had 1 and only 1 referral. This same referral told us that she got the ad from Ashland Living Magazine but that most of her friends don’t like it because its “too snobby” in her words. This concerns us greatly as this also impacts our image.

4. At 1 referral per 6 months of advertising the Ashland Living magazine is our least productive advertising being out performed by every single other avenue of advertising we are doing, Locals Guide, Datasphere, Google, Facebook etc….. It is also the most expensive per month on top of being the least productive.

Given these issues we decided to look at our contract with BVM and have discovered there is no way for us to terminate it. However BVM may terminate our agreement for its convenience. We are asked given that the Ashland Living Magazine does not work for us at all to have BVM choose to terminate this contract on 6/03/15. A few days later we were contacted by the local rep and told that BVM will not elect to end our contract!Desired Settlement: I would like the remainder of my contract canceled, and to cease advertising with BVM.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

I signed up with BVM to advertise my business. The rep was wonderful to start with but after paperwork was signed I never heard from him again. In fact, it took me numerous emails and calls and about a month later I finally heard from someone. I hadn't been receiving any calls off the advertising and I was advertising in multiply publications and I thought it was odd. At this point, they tried to resolve the issue by giving my business a cover story. Fast forward 5 months and now again, I am trying to get hold of someone and again, no response. I then started receiving calls from other business owners asking me if I was having issue's with BVM. Turns out I wasn't the only one. After getting 3 calls I heard the same thing...no one calls you back, I have never received a call off my ads, if you ask for postage and printing receipts to prove they are doing their job they don't send them. These business owners told me to contact my lawyer. Which I did because BVM kept charging my credit card but no one would call me back. On the advice of my attorney, he told me to dispute the cc charge and that should initiate a phone call. It didn't what so ever. All BVM did instead of calling me was to ignore the fact the cc wasn't going through and in turn reported me to collections. I finally did get in touch with someone in the office and I wanted out of my contract. Which they didn't let me do. Then I asked for proof of printing and postage receipts. I asked repeatedly for several months when I finally got them 2-3 months later. When a client call me wanting to see their account balances I get them that information immediately the same day. The fact that they didn't do that when I asked makes me question the validity of the receipts. My contract is now down with them but I have a $2000 bill I owe them. This is by far the worst company I have ever dealt with regarding the product they offer and the customer service. I spent over $4k and never received one call just headaches trying to deal with them.

Review: We did Adverting with a company called Best Version Media. We have a signed contract that approved our advertising to be run for three mouths, March, April,& May. Before the end of the 3rd month we informed the sale rep, that we would not be renewing our advertising. We told him we were finished and did not see any results. Without our permission, the company continued to automatically withdraw 275 a month from our bank account without our permission. They used the routing number from a check we had originally given them. It took us 3 months before we noticed they had taken the money and were able to cancel it through the bank. We are still trying to get reimbursed to this day.Desired Settlement: To get back the money they took from out Account.

Business

Response:

When our publisher sold the account, the customer was notified that we have a rate protection policy and an auto-renewal policy that work together. If he let the auto-renewal run through then he will keep his rate as long as he does so (we have clients who are paying rates from five years ago, so its a nice perk). If he wanted to cancel, he needed to send written or email confirmation within 60 days of the auto renewal. He failed to do so. Our contract allows us to draw from an ACH is a client fails to pay. We did so and he disputed it. Rather than take him to court for collections, we opted to stop running his ad and move forward. So this is a case of us honoring the agreement but the client being delinquent. AKA, he owes us money according to the contract.

Consumer
Response:

Review: We were approached by [redacted], a representative of your company, in December, 2015 regarding advertising in a magazine, “Neighbors of Sunset Beach”, which we were told encompassed the entire town of Sunset Beach, NC. At that time, we agreed to run a three month ad which would be the full back cover.

Since then, we have found many falsifications and misrepresentations:.

1.The publication does NOT encompass the entire town of Sunset Beach,, it only goes to CERTAIN housing developments in that town. The contract states: AREA: SUNSET BEACH, NC.

2.The top part of our ad was crooked the first month. We notified your representative who stated they would make sure it is straight for the next publication. IT WAS THEN PUBLISHED CROOKED A SECOND AND THIRD TIME!! It actually looks like they just took our rack card, and cut and pasted it on a page and made a copy of it. Very unprofessional and not what anyone would expect of a professional publishing company.

3.The contract says FULL BACK COVER, and we barely have a half page.

4.We thought we signed a 3 month contract. When we finally got a copy of the contract, two months later, it says 36 months. (our store lease is only for one year, so we would not have signed a 36 month contract)

Due to these misrepresentations, I feel this contract needs to be terminated. I am very disappointed a company of your caliber would allow these issues to happen. This whole ordeal has been very unprofessional and dishonest, besides potentially ruining our company’s reputation by placing ads crooked MORE THAN ONCE!

We tried to call your head office quite a few times and got no answer. Therefore, we have advised our credit card to hold any transactions by your company until this matter is resolved and asked that no more ads be placed.

We have since February 29 been emailing back and forth with [redacted] and various members of your company. We were told last week, March 29, that [redacted] was out of town and would call us Monday. It is is now Friday and no answer from the company. This is very unprofessional. We just want to get this whole matter resolved.Desired Settlement: We feel this contract needs to be cancelled due to the fact that we signed a contract with a "3" month contract, and two months later when we asked for a copy, it says "36"'; the publication was printed THREE times crooked, even after we told them the first time; the publication does not get delivered to the entire town of Sunset Beach, NC as stated on the contract; we do not have the entire back cover as stated on the contract.

Business

Response:

We have been working on this issue with our client for multiple weeks now through numerous telephone calls and emails. Unfortunately, the client appears to be making a desperate attempt to get out of its contract—despite the fact that BVM has lived up to its end of the contract and has run high-quality ads for the client every month in a beautiful magazine. We will address each point raised by the client: 1. The client claims that the magazine would distributed in the entire Sunset Beach area. This is not true. The ad agreement says “AREA: Sunset Beach, NC” but that does not mean that every single home in Sunset Beach is covered. The magazine is being distributed consistent with the exact words of the contract—it is being distributed in the Sunset Beach, NC area. Our sales representative specifically told the client what neighborhoods were covered, and the specific number of homes the magazine is sent to. She provided a “leave behind” that she leaves with each and every client she visits with this information. There was no ambiguity as to where the magazine would be distributed. 2. The client claims that the ads that have been run are crooked. This is not true. The ad is straight and, as an attention getting device, the name “Wholesale Flooring” is set at an angle. This was intentional. Furthermore, this ad was sent to the client for proofing before the ad ever ran and the client did not respond. Pursuant to the contract, “Client agrees that all ad proofs sent by BVM or its agent to Client shall be deemed approved unless Client notifies BVM in writing of any objections or changes within 3 business days of the proof being sent to Client….” The ad was thus deemed approved. That said, the ad has been redesigned per the client’s request for future publications. 3. An email was sent to the client before any ads were run giving them the exact dimensions of the ad. The client was given the choice to switch to an interior ad that covered an entire page. The client declined and said they still wanted the back cover—fully knowing the exact dimensions of the ad. 4. The client claims that it thought it was signing a contract for 3 months of ads. This is not true based on the plain terms of the contract. On the front page of the ad agreement, which the client signed, it specifically states “36 months” for the number of months for the contract. There is nothing ambiguous about this. In fact, we know the client knew it was a 36-month contract because that was part of the negotiation that earned the client the maximum advertising discount we offer. The client even told our representative that they would sign a 4-year contract if they could a better rate (however, we don’t do 4 year contracts). In the end, BVM is willing work with a client with their concerns. However, the contract needs to be honored. We have done so and we expect our client to do the same.

Review: I purchased 24 months of advertising with Farmington Connections Magazine through Best Version Media. The name of the Magazine changed to Farmington Living part of the way through the contract. Shortly after that, I was informed they ceased production of this magazine all together leaving one year of my contract unfulfilled. This was a group advertisement between myself and some other colleagues. Attempts have been made to get a refund back from Best Version Media since they didn't fulfill their part of the contract. I have called and left several messages. I have sent numerous emails. I have also sent an inquiry via their website. All of which have been ignored. When I call ###-###-#### or ###-###-#### to resolve this directly with them, I only get a voicemail. I have not had an opportunity to speak to a live person to resolve this issue. There is about $849.00 owed back for the remainder of the contract that was not fulfilled.Desired Settlement: I would like someone from Best Version Media to contact me to resolve this issue.

Business

Response:

We had a representative who left our company and this was one of her clients. We have been in contact with this client and the money has been refunded per their request.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. This has been resolved. I received my refund from the company today. I am now satisfied with the end result.Thank you for your help in this matter.

Review: The supposed publisher, [redacted], of the [redacted] edition of [redacted], presented an ad agreement for a small business-card size ad to be published in [redacted]. In reality, [redacted] worked for Best Version Media, LLC., as their local publisher of a small neighborhood newsletter-type publication called [redacted]. It turns out that [redacted] was not then, and is not now, an actual representative of [redacted] and was not authorized to sign a contract on their behalf, and actually was signing as agreement for Best Version Media, LLC., dba [redacted]. Unfortunatly, I did not realize this deception of the bait and switch magazines, until I saw the second publication that my ad ran in - the first physical publication seemed to never made it to my address. After many calls, I finally received a copy of both the first and second publication that contained my ad. As soon as I saw the actual publication, which was titled as [redacted], I questions [redacted] about the name of the publication and stated that "this is not the magazine I signed an agreement for". [redacted] told me that "the name had had to be changed due to legal reasons, but it's the same magazine." Not being satisfied with that answer, I contacted [redacted] again, and she referred me to her Corporate Headquarters, [redacted], who was the [redacted]. I indicated to [redacted] that there was a serious problem of misrepresentation that had occurred, and that the original publication had been presented to me as [redacted], and never was there a mention of [redacted]. I also stated clearly that [redacted] was not the magazine that I agreed to advertise in, as seen on my agreement. [redacted] stated that she would "run it by her superiors and get back to me". Of course, she never did. After more phone calls and email messages to both [redacted] and her "corporate headquarters" - Best Version Media, LLc, [redacted], and others at Best Version Media, Llc., I realized that I had been scammed and that they had every intention to continue to deduct money monthly from my bank account. In order to stop these fraudulent charges from being deducted from my account, I closed the account. Now Best Version Media, LLC., employees are harassing me with emails and phone calls and threatening collection notices and invoices. Please note, [redacted] no longer works for Best Version Media, LLC., and there is a new local publisher, who was not advised of this situation by his Corporate Headquarters. When the new publisher called me this past week, I informed him that I did not, and would not ever do business with Best Version Media, Llc., or any of their affiliates again, and that the constant calls and harassment to pay their fraudulent charges must cease and desist. Today, February 17, 2015, I received yet ANOTHER email invoice from Best Version Media, LLc.. As such, I immediately contacted [redacted], and told her that I was not going to pay a dime for their misrepresented advertising agreement, and that if the credit harassment for these fraudulent charges did not cease and dismiss immediately, I would contact every regulating agency necessary to report and stop their bait and switch practices and harassment. [redacted] laughed and hung up on me.Desired Settlement: 1) I want all charges and billing invoices completely discharged and I want a current invoice stating that NO BALANCE IS DUE to Best Version Media., Llc, or their associates. 2) After that , I want NO further contact from Best Version Media, LLC., or their affiliates ever again. I desire a complete cease and desist.

Business

Response:

Dear Revdex.com,

Review: In May I agreed to do a full page ad in the SE Ocala issue of BVM. Dawn Bowman sold me the ad; the price was $455.00 with a 40% discount. Dawn gave up her commission in exchange for me doing her hair. I agreed to run this for a year, ending June 2014. Dawn left this company a week after I agreed to do the ad. In October I sent an email to Tina that is based in Ocala. I explained that the ad was not working, I didn't know why as in 20 years of doing display advertising I never had an ad not work. I stated that I wasn't trying to cancel, however could we do a half page ad instead to reduce my cost. She responded around 9 that evening stating only that they do not offer a cancellation. I immediately emailed her back stating I wasn't trying to cancel could the ad be reduced to half page. She never responded. I phoned her the next morning and left a message and she never called back. I phoned her again in a couple of days and left another message and she didn't return my call or my emails. I phoned her around 4:30 from my cell and she answered. She didn't know it was me. She stated that she was waiting for a call from the corporate office and that she would contact me over the week end. She further stated that she would place my ad in another issue. I explained that I wasn't paying any more money and she responded saying that she would over ride the charge. She again, never called me over the week end as promised. On that following Monday I phoned her and left a message stating that I wanted to speak with her about an ad change. She never called me back. I sent emails she never responded. On that Thursday Kristi who does the ads for the company contacted me about any ad changes. I sent her an email stating I was very unhappy that Tina wasn't returning calls or emails. Kristi was very kind and expressed her concern for the problem I was having. The following day, I texted Tina stating that I needed the November issue. Every month that this issue went out I always had to contact Tina about getting my issue. She then texted me back and asked if 352-687-8873 was a good number as she texted me the day before at that number. This is my shop number after 5 months she doesn't know that this is my shop. I know she lied about calling the shop as she was not on the caller ID if she tryed texting. She then stated she knows that I'm upset and that she never got my emails as they went to the corporate office and they then sent them to her. This is another lie from Tina as I have had the same email for her since I agreed to this ad. I phoned the corporate office and left a message stating that I would like an email address and a persons name to file a complaint. They in turn phoned Tina and told Tina to take the complaint and she could then forward it to them. I was outraged. I can not believe that a corporate office would not be interested in knowing about a problem within the company. Tina left me a message telling me to file the complaint with her or Kevin. She then stated on her message that she had been sick, etc. I do not believe anything Tina says. After the ad was finished for December I texted Tina and asked her where she was putting the ad. She responded that it was going in the same issue that to put it in another issue the ad would have to be cut in size. She never told me this before. I sent Tina an email, (I prefer emailing her as I have caught her in many lies and prefer documented communication) . She stated she sent me an email and I never got any such email. In the email I sent her I told her I never had an email from her. I expressed to her that I wanted to know the ad sizes and prices for a different area. I further explained that the ad I have is $455.00 with a 40% percent discount and we needed to keep that in mind. I also explained to her that I was very unhappy that I have a very low opinion of BVM and I was sorry I ever got involved with them. She has NEVER responded to this email. I told Tina previously that in 20 years I've never done a display ad that didn't work. I further explained that I did in September a very small ad with ocala style magazine which was very expensive. I felt at the time I did it that I probably made a mistake. I was very happy when the issue was published the very first week I had 2 new customers and after the next issue came out I was still getting calls. Again this was a very small ad, not full page that I have with BVM. I am fully aware that no one can give any guarantees on advertising. I agreed to do this as I was that confident in the product. With all the lies I have caught Tina in, how do I know that these issues even go out. I can not deal with a company that has no customer service. In addition, I can not deal with a company who has a representative that lies and has nothing but excuses. I've been in business 20 years and I have never, ever, seen a situation like this. Tina feels that ignoring me I will go away. What a great way to try and help a customer. They feel that since I signed a contract that they will get there money and have no regard whatsoever for me. They are not helping me with this in any way.Desired Settlement: With all that has happened, I want the remainder of the contract, January 2014 - June 2014 cancelled. I will not pay anymore money.