Cover Graphics, Inc.

Review: Cover Graphics sold us advertising that has not, in over a year, been published. We would like a full refund.

On 4-26-2012, one of Cover Graphics representatives came into our [redacted] office to sell us advertising on book covers that were to be printed and distributed to the local school system. We agreed to place an ad, and paid $700 with check #5082. As of 04-30-2013, these book covers have not been printed or distributed to the schools, and the principals that we spoke to have never heard of Cover Graphics. Our local rep [redacted] is no longer with the company, and her boss [redacted] is not either. We have made several efforts to directly contact Cover Graphics and its owner Robert Hale. We have faxed, emailed, and called repeatedly. We have never been able to directly discuss our ad with them, and only breifly received any email correspondance. We have demanded a refund because the product that we paid for has not been provided, and we feel like we have been a victim of fraud. We provided all of the logos, graphics, and other input as to the direction of the ad, and have never seen a revised, acceptable ad copy. They just refuse to even deal with us.Desired Settlement: We would like a full refund of the money that we paid over a year ago for advertising that has never materialized.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response

Thank you for your email. I have forwarded a copy of this to Mr. [redacted] since you addressed it to him and also to our Customer Service Manager. We have also been in contact with the client since your communication. We are generally an "electronic" company so I am not sure what would have happened with your original mail but apologize if it was ignored as we are not used to getting much of that type of mail as our complaint rate is nearly ZERO. We pride ourselves in superior results well ahead of our industry and are very protective of this.

The original file according to our records was held up for MANY months as the customer refused over and over again to send us the required ad copy. We finally designed a generic ad as the contract permits and the customer was not happy with it and wanted it rewritten. We normally charge significant additonal fees for doing so but waived those fees as a courtesy despite the fact that the delay was the client's fault. Once we received the ad copy (again, months later) we put together a new ad at no additional charge. We have since printed the product and are ready to distribute it. I am not handling the file personally as it has been escalated to another manager but believe we nearly have a resolution. We have also indicated that we will offer this ad again at renewal should we choose to perpetuate this product at the next cycle FREE of charge as a courtesy for the client despite their original delays in getting us ad copy that created the delay.

We do have ONE issue that is NOT the fault of the client though. We recently discovered that our software program had erroneously linked their contact information to a different franchise in their organization so as a result much of our communication was erroneously directed to the wrong entity. This happended significantly AFTER we finally received their ad copy and even after the product was ultimately printed so I beleive their frustration is warranted but only AFTER the contract terms were already fulfilled. It is my view that Mr. [redacted] and [redacted] represent a good organization but there have probably been some errors from both parties.

Consumer's Final Response

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

Your communications towards our company have been misdirected to another [redacted] franchise for quite some time. This was verified when we were able to finally contact your company via your facebook page. We never recieved you "last offer", via, phone, email, carrier pigeon, or snail mail. We were told to expect a certified letter, and never received it. I have personally communicated that to you multiple times, as well as the correct contact information. The last time we spoke to someone at your company was some time last year when we spoke to [redacted]'s wife telling us that he was in the hospital and no longer with your company, and would not be responding to us. Otherwise, we have gotten sporatic email communication after we have initiated contact to inquire as to what happened to the money that we paid you. We asked for a simple phone call MONTHS ago from someone who could tell us what was going on with our order, when to expect it, and if not when we should expect our money back. We have taken this "direction" with the Revdex.com because of lack of communication on your part. If you are communicating - WE AREN"T GETTING IT! Your company has admitted to sending correspondance to the wrong CT franchise. We emailed all the info that we were asked for up front for your company to create an ad for us. In return, you directly copied our Yellow Pages ad and sent it back to us to approve. We didn't think that was an appropriate ad for a high school book cover, and expected more creativity than that. We even emailed back ideas that would be more in line with something that might work for us. Then went for months without contact. We have not been in the wrong at any point on this deal unless it is wrong to expect a product in a timely fashion for the money that we paid. If it is "so little money" as you have said, you are welcome to just return a check for the original amount to us. Since you refuse to pick up the phone and settle this matter, we have been left with no other choice but to pursue it in any way that we can. We have no intention of just letting you have our money and not providing the product that we paid for, and frankly we don't feel that you are capable of doing that. As a company, all you have to do is to provide the product that you sell your clients to them in a timely and acceptable manor. If you can't do that, you have damaged your own image. You might or might not be happy to know that we have already consulted an attorney, and WILL be pursuing legal action and fraud charges if this can not be settled to our satisfaction immediately. We were promised a product, at a specific price, in a certain time frame when we purchased the advertising from you. You have not provided that - plain and simple. This is fraud, and across state lines no less. Now you don't even have local reps for us to deal with.

Business' Final Response

In response to your email, we had hoped to contact you earlier this week, but, honoring the direction YOU have chosen, we are again redirecting our reply to the Revdex.com instead. As you have likely already deducted, we have a VERY strong reputation as demonstrated by the very low complaint rate to the Revdex.com. We are VERY protective of our reputation and as such our focus is on Revdex.com clarification since this is the venue you have chosen. Furthermore, you stated there is "misinformation" in your Revdex.com reply. It was YOUR delay and procrastination that was the root of this problem, not ours. Nevertheless we did and do want to do the best possible for you under the conditions. his has been perpetual in our relationship with your company and that is why we insist on written communication so there is no ambiguity of content. We will reply to Revdex.com and once that is updated and corrected, we intend to contact you directly. Our last offer does still stand though and you might be happy to know we are leaning against taking any legal action for damages to our image as we simply don't tend to be very litigous.

Review: I paid $5196 for advertising for 4 schools with Cover Graphics in 2013 and they did not deliver. I have tried to communicate through the rep [redacted]. She had left the company. I had emailed people on their website and called. Neither mode of communication worked. 8/2014, [redacted] - who kept insisting that she will send the ad to print "soon". However she had yet to deliver . 9/2014, [redacted] promised to deliver and send me poof. Still no results. 11/2014, [redacted] promised to help with delivering proof. However still no results. In 12/2014, [redacted] was given "strict" orders to complete my ad and deliver proof. I got a sample that had erroneous errors. I believe [redacted] and Cover graphics mockingly made up an ad with errors to delay the process more. 12/2014, [redacted] accidently sent me an email that showed how they got paid which was 40% of the sale. It also mentioned how they would not actually deliver any product in order to dupe the customer.12/2014, [redacted], the owner, called me to apologize for not delivering. He admitted and acknowledged that he has my money and had not delivered on one of my advertising campaigns. He promised I will be treated correctly or I will get a full refund. A week later he said there was no progress and things would be slow because of the season. One email stated he could not get to my work and was too busy, then stopped hearing from him. I emailed him 20+ time and he did not respond to any of my emails since Jan, 2015. I also called him and he did not respond to any of my voice calls.3/2015 I receive an email assuming I was happy with the progress. I responded that I was not happy with the service and how [redacted] had been avoiding my phone calls and emails. I asked for [redacted] to contact me but he has not yet. Last email I got was "Sorry sir, but your file has been escalated to my supervisor who will contact you and bring it to final closure."Desired Settlement: We would like a full refund of $5196. This is money we paid for in Dec 2013 for advertising that has not been delivered.I have paid $5196 to [redacted] Cover Graphics and they have not delivered. The owner acknowledge their failure to deliver but then cut off communication with me.Do not pay these people with checks. Use a credit card so you can dispute charges when they fail to deliver.