PR Newswire

Review: Unauthorized or wanted this service.

D&L Communication Syste** has never authorized or wanted this service. On 2/**/2014 They sent an invoice for $195.00 for service between 2/2014 - 2/2015.

This invoice went to our accounting department and had a check made out to pay what look like a legitimate bill. We put a stop payment on it but it is very frustrating to be receiving a bill for something we did not order. I can only imagine how many other companies are also going through the same process.Desired Settlement: If a Company does not order your service "Don't Send Them an Invoice". This is not the way to stir up business nor have good PR with potential customers.

Business

Response:

On behalf of PR Newswire, I wanted to acknowledge the Revdex.com complaint made by D&L Communication Syste[redacted] I am not sure if [redacted] is familiar with PR Newswire. D&L became members of PR Newswire in 2010. D&L has used our services and continued to pay for membership through this past year.

The membership fee automatically bills on an annual basis upon an organization becoming a member. Often times people movement in our customers organization can create confusion, where the person who was familiar with our service is no longer employed. There is no way for PR Newswire to know this without contact. [redacted] is not listed on the account. This may have been how this confusion occurred.

The invoice in question in this complaint is for the next year of service. We understand from this complaint that D&L Communications no longer wants to remain as members. We have credited the account and cancelled their membership. This will eliminate further invoices.

If D&L Communications would like to continue their relationship at any time, they would be welcomed back and can contact us and we can reactivate their membership.

I am happy to answer any other questions.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here]

From: [redacted]

Sent: Tuesday, March [redacted], 2014 2:57 PM

To: Complaints

Cc: [redacted]

Subject: Re: You have a new message from the [redacted]

D & L has not used PR Newswire Services

We became a "Member" in 2010 for services performed for that year only. For 2011 and forward our service was cancelled.

Although we requested cancellation, they continue to send us a bill even though they can see we are not using their services.

We believe their billing methodology is misleading and do not want to continue to receive bills. This is our third request.

Respectfully,

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to [redacted]. I apologize for the difficulty she has had with cancelling her account. I do not have any knowledge of why it would take three requests to cancel her account. We are a sixty year old business who is considered a leader in our industry. We base our reputation on our relationship with our customers and I can see from [redacted]'s perspective, this reflects poorly on us, I can assure you that the account has been cancelled and that there is no outstanding membership charges. The membership charges continued each year due to the account not being cancelled. This is clearly the problem and I apologize for her frustration.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.

Review: I tried for over 1 week to reach someone at this company to get correct information about their services and get answers to many questions. Instead I was bounced around the company, treated rudely and answers I was given were not consistent with what other people at the company had previous told us. Overall, this company has zero people skills and only care about money and their egos. They are not concerned in the least about us and our press release that we wanted to put out. They only care about saying anything and everything to try and convince us to buy into their company through a membership. The more we spoke to people, the more we realized they will have an excuse for everything and don't hear a word we say.Desired Settlement: I would like a manager or director of the company to personally reach out to us who can care about more than just money and actually work with us without all the sales mumbo jumbo.

Business

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the complaint by [redacted] has spoken to a few people in the organization and in each instance he has failed PR Newswire’s vetting process. New member vetting is a necessary part of PR Newswire’s process to establish authenticity of an account and a clear relationship between the person setting up the account and the company they claim to represent. Despite numerous attempts, PR Newswire was unable to establish a relationship between this individual and the company he claimed to represent. Upon speaking to an employee at Sonic Entertainment Group offices, PR Newswire was told that there was no John Shea associated with that company. As a result, PR Newswire declined to do business with [redacted].

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[This company's response is nothing but lies. First, let took it upon themselves to assume we were affiliated with a Canadian company by the same name. We specifically told them we were not. despite our informing this company we had no affiliation with that Canadian company, they still contacted them and tried to connect us. This company clearly has customer service and communication problems. We managed to set up an account with one of their competitors without issue. After realizing this company and it's staff did not understand english, we emailed them immediately and told them we had no interest in dealing with their company. ]

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

It is disappointing to us that [redacted] had what he considers to be an unsatisfactory experience with PR Newswire. The company successfully vets and adds hundreds of accounts each month without incident. We stand by our due diligence in attempting to verify authenticity of this particular account and regret the inconvenience caused to [redacted].

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[It is very disappointing that this company are incapable of setting up our account and went out of their way to be difficult and rude towards us. We had zero problems setting up an account with another agency and issue our release despite this company and the unprofessional treatment. ]

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Review: Sales rep misrepresented product/service as better than competing company. Turns out their product/service was equal or lesser, but much more costly.

I'm disputing $731 of the invoiced $1,100. $731 represents the difference between the $1,100 and the $369 payment I have already submitted.

After a conversation with a PR Newswire "sales rep", I purchased a press release package for $1,100. The sales rep described the package as one that's much better in comparison to the $369 package I normally purchase from competing company [redacted]. Naturally, I was expecting more from this purchase for an additional $731 over [redacted]'s $369 press release product, but PR Newswire failed to deliver.

When the press release went live, I was surprised to find that PR Newswire's release was equal or lower quality than what I normally get from [redacted]'s $369 product. I can describe what I received from PR Newswire as follows:

* Countless press release postings on low quality, replicated websites which only exist to host press releases submitted by unsuspecting press release customers

* Syndicated distribution on countless, irrelevant TV news channel websites in areas that benefit from little or no exposure

* Totally different from what the sales rep describes

PR Newswire is supposedly known as a reputable press release company, but their sales reps prey on small business owners by pitching false hopes of "better than average" PR results. I could have (and always have in the past) received the same results using [redacted]'s $369 package.

These circumstances have prompted me to deny PR Newswire of the $1,100 they are requesting. I have already submitted payment to PR Newswire for $369, the fair market value of the services delivered. If a second step is necessary, I am also prepared to launch a "PR Newswire Review" search engine optimized website, using freedom of speech to describe my experience and warn potential customers of this PR Newswire pitfall. I have now learned to review such sites before purchasing press release services, and I'm assuming other small business owners are already doing the same. Such a website would definitely cause PR Newswire to lose several potential customers and thousands in revenue.

I encourage PR Newswire to accept the $369 and close this matter. I'd also ask PR Newswire to train their sales reps to minimize the blatant deceiving of prospects to make sales. It's not worth it in the long run.Desired Settlement: Accept $369 as full payment vs. the $1,100 invoiced. PR Newswire failed to deliver a reasonable $1,100 service. The $369 is the price I would have paid for the same service at their top competitor [redacted].

Business

Response:

[redacted] contacted the Revdex.com about the results achieved when using PR Newswire's services. Attempts were made by PR Newswire to reach [redacted] to review reporting, but our calls were not returned. This complaint clearly notes [redacted] dissatisfaction with his release results. I am sorry that [redacted] was not satsified with our services. We believe that our services are better than the competitor he uses as a comparison.

[redacted] is a new customer and noted that he felt oversold.

PR Newswire is a 60 year old company with a long tradition of excellence in our products and in our customer service. We wish to maintain that reputation with [redacted] proposed that we accept his payment of $369 as paid in full. On this occasion, we are willing to accept this arrangement. [redacted] can consider his account paid in full. A credit will be issued to wipe out the outstanding balance.

Please let me know if there are any questions.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved. Further, I understand that PR Newswire has been in business for a very long time with a reputable standing, but I'd call this experience a good example of how just one of PR Newswire's sales reps can make the company look bad. Be up front and honest about the results a customer can expect and don't make the service sound better than it actually is. I'm glad we've mutually agreed to close this case as "paid in full", but I still feel sorry for all the small business owners wasting $1,100+ when they could get exactly the same thing elsewhere for $369. Just goes to show that some companies and some sales reps still prey on "uninformed" customers. Consumers need to start standing up for themselves more often to protect their hard earned money from this type of practice, regardless of whether the company in question has been in business for one year or one hundred years.

Sincerely,

Review: I overpaid this business by $970.00 on Aug **, 2013 and my account manager kept assuring me, over 6 weeks, that the refund check was in the mail. Each time I called him, he told me that. I called the billing office 3 weeks ago, and they said they were going to refund my money, along with an overpayment by my client within a couple of weeks. Total due: $1940.00.

I have not received payment to date.Desired Settlement: I want a refund check ASAP.

Business

Response:

To Whom It May Concern;

Regarding complaint ID [redacted] from [redacted] of the Prewitt Group, we have gotten verbal confirmation that the refund has been returned to the client. We are reviewing this situation internally to understand if there are areas where we can learn and improve. We are certainly concerned that [redacted] files a complaint and feel confident that we were working towards resolution for her the entire time.

The account representative for this account, [redacted], spoke with [redacted] on Thursday, October **, 2013 who confirmed the repayment via check.

Please let me know if you need any additional information.

Review: I have purchased press and news releases before. I was needing a high end press release and was willing to pay more for a better product. I read about PR Newswire. I did an online search for prnewswire and clicked on the result. I read about Pnewswire from some online blog or advertisement and it seemed like the perfect solution with a reach of more than 10,000 U.S. news outlets. I paid $393.00 . Which is a fair price for such an advertised reach. I believed that I was buying a prnewswire news release. I later learned that I had not purchased a prnewswire news release but an I reach release. I clicked on [redacted] ( see screenshot attached) I contacted PR NEWSwire and explained to them that I believed I was purchasing a prnew3swire news release, I clicked on the url. shown [redacted]. I asked if they could release my news release to the prnewswire news outlets advertised. I was told that I would have to pay again. I asked for my call to b3 escalated to a manager for a call back. No call came, I received an email from an employee name Brian and I replied asking again for a manager to call to discuss this problem, As of 3-*-2015 no call. This is very misleading. I placed my order days before it was to be released, PR NEWSWIRE is aware that this is misleading. If aq person sees [redacted] that is the site they want to land on and buy from. Instead I see that they advertise in the ad on [redacted] but when a person clicks they actually get take to the ireach page but if you simply enter [redacted], you are taken to their actual page to order a newsrelease. I want my money back. This is baiut and swich, advertise 1 url yet send an unsuspecting visitor to a totally different page to buy a totally different product other than a pr newswire news release.Desired Settlement: I would like my money refunded and for PR Newswire to correct their advertisement so unsuspecting consumers especially a senior citizen as myself will not be shown 1 url in an ad however when clicked taken to buy something different at a different redirected url.

Business

Response:

I want to thank [redacted] for bringing this issue forward. I have used her note and description and retraced her actions. The complaint notes areas that caused confusion for her and I apologize for that confusion. In addition, I apologize that she was not responded to promptly. Clearly, there was research done and that this product was not what the customer wanted. Due to that confusion, I am happy to refund the cost of the release ($393). This will be processed right away. I want to make sure that [redacted] understands that iReach is a press release service that is created, owned and managed by PR Newswire. PR Newswire has a wide variety of options for customers to use so that they can target their desired audience. iReach, is an online distribution made available to members of PR Newswire and non members. If [redacted] is interested in learning more about our distribution options, I would be happy to have someone call and discuss with her. I also wanted to let her know that I will be looking into the [redacted] search function that directed her to the iReach landing page as opposed to www.[redacted]. I can see how this was confusing. PR Newswire is a 61 year old company who prides itself on delivering exceptional service to our customers. I apologize that this was not delivered in this case. Please let me know if there is any more I can do.