Elizabeth Traub Consulting Reviews (%countItem)
Elizabeth Traub Consulting Rating
Address: 19341 Towercrest Dr, Oregon City, Oregon, United States, 97045-7922
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We made the decision to hire this contractor based on the clientele they touted in their resume. We have since found out that the resume is full of lies. This consulting firm claims to have worked with clients like "American Idol". However, if you delve into this more, her "working" with American Idol was as a fan. American Idol did not pay her to consult them as she claims they did in her resume and interview.
We hired this firm based on the marketing skills and ability to handle groups of people. However, she failed to show up to any board meetings to give a report, and failed to show up to most of the sub-committee meetings which were also part of the contract. She also failed to file the annual report as required to keep our level of service at the state level. The notice to file was only sent to her email so no one else on the board was even aware a report was due until it was past due.
It is in the contract to file timely reports as well. After failure to show up again at January's board meeting, after rescheduling the meeting specifically so she could be there and meet with business owners, we decided to terminate the contract on Jan. 22nd for breach of contract. However, the contract has submitted a bill for the full month of January even though she was on vacation 2 weeks during the month and missed 3 meetings in the month, and cannot when asked, provide a list of work that was done for the month to justify payment of the full monthly contract. The contract states "up to $1700" based on the work done. But considering the contract was terminated 3 weeks in, we don't feel we should be responsible for the full payment.
February 17,th 2020
RE: Complaint ID: ***
1. On August 19, 2010 my resume was submitted via *** workplace. August 19th ***, President of Historic Willamette in West Linn, OR. reached out for a copy of my resume. On August 28, 2019 after meeting with the board letters of reference provided. September 16, 2019 signed a contact and hired. My resume is accurate as it states with contacts within each company I have worked with. Network TV shows typically hire outside marketing companies to promote and build their brand. American Idol hired a team to promote and build a fan base through social media. Please see attached letter that references both American Idol and Jason Mraz (Pop Artist). As you look into the work with most networks TV/companies, they will hire outside marketing companies
2. Concerning the “not showing up for board meetings”. During the interview process with five board members present I told them that I had five trips out of town booked and scheduled the first week of every month through March 2020. I am at a disadvantage to provide any proof or evidence as upon receiving a termination letter by ***, I was removed from the dropbox and email which would prove the accuracy of this statement. I forwarded an email to *** in September letting her know the days I was scheduled out of town. And later when asked again, sent her text that shows the upcoming dates for January as *** was trying to schedule an important meeting around my January schedule. Attached screenshot of text.
3. There were several meetings I did show up for around the community directly and indirectly related to the Historic Willamette organization as well as attending an out of town conference. An email, which was sent to *** asking what meetings, and emails threads should I be considering in this new position was sent for clarification. It was communicated that I am overseeing, and committee leads would reach out to me. Immediately upon starting this position there was a need for a driver to deliver checks and pick up wine from the vendors following a wine event. That lead on the wine project reached out. I share this as with this position each week there were various and different needs. Not an outline or template provided as to the needs of each individual team changes. Meetings for community projects were in fact attended. The Design Team requested that I not only attend an important meeting, then adapted the time for me in which I then attended events around the execution of a project. I could name all the communications and meetings however with the removal of email access I am not able to provide those. Furthermore, when asking ***, what was required, she did state to ignore the lengthy threads emails as they are to just keep you in the loop and did not require my attention unless I was directly contacted for a request by a sub-committee leader.
4. Failure to File the Annual Report. The request for this report was emailed the first week of October 2019. I had just started in this position and was scheduled to attend a trade conference for Historic Willamette out of town for three days. I forwarded the report to *** asking if this was something I should be working on. She specifically said that she would take care of it. Please note that the board was aware upon hiring me that I had not ever had a position like this. Thus, weekly, as emails came into the Historic Willamette email account, I would forward emails to *** asking for direction. One might think, as a president, an important detail such as the “Annual Report” would not be overlooked.
5. The question of payment in the amount of $1700.00. *** will argue that the contract reads, “up to $1700.00/month”. However each month a bill submitted for $1700.00. When I was first hired, I asked if *** wanted a detailed accounting on each invoice. She said it was not necessary and that some months will be more work than others. An accounting of a log of time is in the dropbox which I can no longer access which gives evidence to the hours of work on site at events, meetings, as well as the administrative work. Not once in any invoice will you see an accounting of time relating to the “up to $1700.00”. One might ask, “Why now? Why now is this an issue? The work more or less as the job is does not give or take away from one month to the next.
*** references “vacations”. I work will ever I am in the world. I happen to have a client in New York and one in LA. All trips scheduled around additional clients. If you look at my travel schedule over the past 20 years, I do have the freedom to enjoy myself no matter what location. Again this was expressed up front before being hired.
An important meeting was scheduled on January 22, 2020. The *** before, late, I tore my MCL and ACL. I was in the ER until 3am and texted *** to give her a heads up. An unfortunate accident. See attachement.
I want to note that not once during my time with Historic Willamette did, I ever receive one review or one ounce of discontent. Instead I would receive emails from team members thanking me. This was a new position for me. There have been two others in this position in the past two years and turn-over created many holes in process and procedures that were slowly being filled.
This position was more work some weeks and less others. Even while out of town, always emails were addressed, returned and work continued continuing the strategies and grow an organization. An email and dropbox log would indicate this.
As a final note, before I was removed from the Historic Willamette email all emails sent & received were removed prior to December 12, 2020. I did not remove those emails and it would have been through the communication of those emails facts could be provided.
Sincerely,
***
I also want to note that the contract does state if a contract is to be terminated that either party is to give 30 days’ notice.
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
First, I am only disputing the month of January. You were out of town for two weeks in January and did not attend the promotions committee meeting that was held when you were in town on Jan 9th. Your attached flights show you were in town from the 7th to the 13th so you should have been able to make that meeting. While I understand you had that fall, you were out of the hospital and were physically able to attend the meeting on the 22nd. Again, this meeting was required. This was rescheduled specifically for you. When a meeting is built around you, specifically for you to meet business owners and develop marketing ideas with special guests who were only attending this one meeting, you should have found a way to be there. Even if you couldn't drive, with Uber you could have found a way to be at the meeting if you cared. But you did not care to find a way to be there.
I asked for you to put together a work plan for what you did in January. You refused to do this, most likely because you knew that not much work was done this month. We terminated your contract on the 23rd for breach which does not require 30 days notice. The meeting, again, was required. Unless you were actually in the hospital, getting home late at *** is not an excuse for not being able to attend a meeting. You state that you are able to work from anywhere so even if you were on vacation, you could have produced a list of what work was done on vacation.
Secondly, your recollection of the annual report is not substantiated. I save a copy of all my sent emails and I cannot find an email showing I said anything about filling this out myself. Why would I give myself more work when it is the job of the manager? At best I would have replied I could help you fill it out. But to prove my position, I have attached the email in question. You can see that you never replied or forwarded this email to me in the first file and the only conversations attached to this email is with Sheri, the state representative, reminding you that this needs to be done. The second attachment shows the email where I forwarded it to you saying that this needs to be filled out and I would request an extension. You can see that you failed to even bother to respond at all to this email. If you were working on your vacation, you should have at least responded to this email. But it was 7 days without a response and this is the type of behavior that got you fired.
Going through the emails for the month of January, Jody asked when you would be highlighting businesses as construction was starting. You replied that you would be highlighting them on social media. But 22 days later (in January), not a single business had been highlighted on social media. You had posted three total posts in the whole month, again none actually in reference to what was specifically asked of you by a board member. This is not keeping our social media up to date which is what you were hired to do.
I see an email from the county tourism asking what meetings we had scheduled. Your response was "I don't know what you are talking about, can you clarify". Again, your job is to know when our meetings are and we indeed had that big meeting in January 22nd that you could have emailed to have the tourism board add to their calendar. If you were doing your job, you should know these things and be able to properly respond to requests. Going through the rest of the emails, most of your responses were to 5 emails and one line answers of "thanks", or "we'll follow up". The other emails were all in regards to your paycheck for December so I will not be counting these as work you did. From what I can tell, this amounts to about 3 hours of total work for the month. But yet you are expecting us to pay in full for 80 hours of work. This is not fair. I am willing to compromise and pay for 20 hours of work, even though I know no where near 20 hours of work was done for a total of $425. This would be my compromise.
In regards to all the non-peripheral stuff addressed in the reply, the letter attached proves that you did not work directly for American Idol. You worked for a consulting company who in turn worked for American Idol. The way you made it sound in your interview and resume is that American Idol hired you directly. This letter does nothing to disprove my claim that you did not work directly for American Idol. It is unclear of what kind of role you had with this consulting company, but you failed to grow our following. We hired you for your skills related specifically to American Idol hiring you directly. If we knew you were working for someone else, it would not have been enough to impress us over the other candidate. You were both close and we had a split decision on the board. You won out specifically because someone said if American Idol would hire you, we should. Which was still not the case I believe. Thus, this doesn't resolve the issue there.
But it is really irrelevant. We are only debating about the month of January and the work done in the month of January. We are a non-profit and need every penny. Thus, we are asking you to refund us for work not completed in January. We went ahead and paid after this complaint was filed to avoid your threats and driving down to accost me at my place of business. Thus, we are requesting a refund at this point.
Sincerely
Response to ID of ***here
It appears that the argument continues to be my "vacation" in January. I want to note that when I was hired it was clear of my travel schedule, and no work would be compromised. I was away three weeks in December, Two weeks in November, and two weeks in October. I was paid in full each month in the amount of $1700.00 As each month the amount of time and work varied, more some months and less some months. Not once was my work in question, or was there concern. All the allegations came after I incurred an injury and could not attend an important meeting which was scheduled around my travel schedule. A torn ACL & MCL.
I think there is something very wrong with this individual. I am beginning to wonder if there were financial obligations that came up and the money to pay a consultant just was not there. None of this makes any sense. I think that the facts & truth are all in both the emails and Dropbox. Without any communication in four months of work not one complaint, not one conversation about discontent this person now has a long list. This person removed the email and Dropbox and then asks for an outline of all my work for January, when it's all in a file in the Dropbox.
One might ask the question? You paid this consultant for four consecutive months $1700.00. No complaints or discontent was expressed? Then a missed important meeting due to an injury. A meeting that was scheduled around my travel schedule. One might ask again....a travel schedule that all were aware of and accommodated for a later meeting in the month. During all the time I am out of town, all work was taken care of. One reason I chose this position was the ability to be remote. Then after missing this meeting immediately the removal of email access & Dropbox and a very long laundry list to the alleged failings, discredit the work and integrity of an individual.
After multiple emails from this person attacking my integrity as a consultant and providing a very large list of things I should have done, I forwarded the emails to the Historic Willamette"s Treasurer, Brad H. His quick response instructed *** to pay me for the month.
If I had access to the emails and Dropbox I would be able to provide an outline of the work provided. I would be able to support my statements as well. As a business owner and leader I could understand an organization's frustration with the person that *** describes here. However as I have stated many times, not once during my time did I ever receive one word of complaint, instructions on improvement, or any concerns of my travel schedule. The evidence that I can provide is that simply scheduling a meeting around my travel schedule is evidence that this was acceptable as well as consistently being paid $1700.00 from one month to the next regardless of travel schedule. I am now believing that all of this is an excuse for financial issues within the organization. It is my sense that *** went deep and wide to build this case, removed me from any access ( email and Dropbox) to prove or disprove the allegations. Once I exposed her emails to the Treasurer, his short response was for *** to pay me and provide the 1099.
This person now using derogatory statements of threats of being accosted.
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
First, Brad and I had already discussed this. This is why he responded that you be paid. We discussed that we would pay to stop you from coming to my place of business threatening me. This is the only reason why you were paid. I was not going to tolerate you coming here and threatening me again. You threatened that my office was closed during business hours and you took a picture of my license plate. I don't know what you were planning to do, so Brad and I decided it was best to pay you to stop the harassment.
Secondly, this was not an issue of having any funding. We just hired someone to replace you as soon as possible.
Thirdly, I did express my frustrations to you several times. I can pull up those emails. You told us that you were only going to work certain days, along with you 2 weeks every month of vacation. I said this was unacceptable and that emails needed to be answered right away. Jody also express discontent several times with you not being able to make meetings. I also expressed my frustration earlier in January when you refused basically to send the newsletter I requested to be sent out regarding the meeting. You said you didn't think Mailchimp had enough open rate and wasn't worth it. But I had to basically force you to do it. I, again, also expressed that the meeting was basically mandatory. This in itself, was warning that if you did not show up, your job was at risk.
None of the reasoning here justifies the work done again which is what is in debate. Debating whether or not we showed any disappointment in the past is not what we are talking about. We hired you for a specific contract that states UP TO $1700 a month based on work done. You shouldn't need access to any files to be able to tell us what work was done. We asked for a list of work that was done for the month 3 weeks into the month. If you can't remember what work you did in the past 3 weeks without going back to files, then this shows some incompetence as well. However, like I said, I went back and looked at all the emails you responded to. I also just looked at all the history of the Dropbox files you had access to. There was only two files that were touched in the month of before the firing date. This was adding of a business card and the sidewalk cafe document to the dropbox folder. There was no modification to these documents. They were just moved or added to the folder. Again, a few minutes of work. If you read the sidewalk cafe document, that would take maybe 25 minutes to read. So again, we are talking about a few hours of work total for the month. Thus, we should not be charged in full. You worked many hours early in December with the holiday event. Maybe 20 hours. But not much the rest of that month. So there should be no carry over of hours from Dec for Jan. Thus, we are back to the issue is that only 6-7 hours of work was done for the entire month when we paid you for 60+ hours.
Sincerely