T.J. Telemarketing

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:First, I will address what TJ Telemarketing, sadly, seems most concerned about – the alleged “smear campaign.” There was nothing slanderous about the claims that I made about TJ Telemarketing and I, as well anyone else that felt frustrated with the experience we had with this company, are well within our right to review a company in the forums that are set up to accept such reviews – including TJ Telemarketing’s own Facebook page – and protect others in the industry from getting involved with this company Nowhere in the response to our complaint, does TJ Telemarketing address the actual issue at hand: the quality of the leads they sent us or the concerns that we voiced very early on in the campaign I will not consider this complaint closed until the following is directly responded to in this complaint and resolved appropriately: We were lied to about the target of this campaignIn an email dated 6/21/17, Mr [redacted] confirmed that the leads came from calls made to small business owners When asked again on 8/9/17, Mr [redacted] stated that they, in fact, do not only speak to small business owners, instead they call small businesses and simply ask to speak to the person in chargeThis, in and of itself, should be grounds for a full refundThe leads were of very poor quality and not a single one resulted in an appointment with our advisors Combined with the issue presented in #1, our concierge team received several comments from the leads we called that they either Did not give permission to be called or Felt tricked into giving permission for a call TJ Telemarketing’s only solution to the lead quality issue was to try to set appointments on the contacts they provided us themselves which we could absolutely not allow as they do not have any knowledge of our business, or how to have an educated conversation about a prospect’s planning needs and told us that all they would do is get someone to say yes to an appointment (which I’m certain would utilize the same suspicious tactics used to get someone to say “yes” to a call from us) We are in the business of helping people plan for a better retirement and future, not tricking them into sitting down with usThe contract we signed did not include language about refunds not being provided There was zero communication before entering into our agreement that we could not halt the campaign or get a refund for poor quality leads If we had known this, we would have realized that TJ Telemarketing does not stand by their product and therefore is not someone we want to enter into a partnership withOutlandish reasons were given for not receiving a refund In a phone call with Paul S [redacted] , I was given two main reasons that we would not receive a refund: The territory we purchased could never be used by another client– Upon pushing Mr [redacted] on this issue, he backtracked and stated that “yes, after six months, it would be released to another client.” And That they had to hire new people to handle our account – If this is even true, this is the cost of doing business and not remotely close to a legitimate reason to not give a dissatisfied client their money backPaul [redacted] and TJ Telemarketing is focusing this entire issue on my negative reviews of their business instead of standing by their product I would like to hear their response to other reviews on the internet by people not associated with my company (collection below) TJ Telemarketing seems more intent on keeping their social score high so that they can keep selling a bad product and refusing to treat their customers right [redacted] Marketing Manager Sincerely, [redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:First, I will address what TJ Telemarketing, sadly, seems most concerned about – the alleged “smear campaign.” There was nothing slanderous about the claims that I made about TJ Telemarketing and I, as well anyone else that felt frustrated with the experience we had with this company, are well within our right to review a company in the forums that are set up to accept such reviews – including TJ Telemarketing’s own Facebook page – and protect others in the industry from getting involved with this company.  Nowhere in the response to our complaint, does TJ Telemarketing address the actual issue at hand: the quality of the leads they sent us or the concerns that we voiced very early on in the campaign.  I will not consider this complaint closed until the following is directly responded to in this complaint and resolved appropriately: We were lied to about the target of this campaign. In an email dated 6/21/17, Mr [redacted] confirmed that the leads came from calls made to small business owners.  When asked again on 8/9/17, Mr. [redacted] stated that they, in fact, do not only speak to small business owners, instead they call small businesses and simply ask to speak to the person in charge. This, in and of itself, should be grounds for a full refund. The leads were of very poor quality and not a single one resulted in an appointment with our advisors.  Combined with the issue presented in #1, our concierge team received several comments from the leads we called that they either 1. Did not give permission to be called or 2. Felt tricked into giving permission for a call.  TJ Telemarketing’s only solution to the lead quality issue was to try to set appointments on the contacts they provided us themselves which we could absolutely not allow as they do not have any knowledge of our business, or how to have an educated conversation about a prospect’s planning needs and told us that all they would do is get someone to say yes to an appointment (which I’m certain would utilize the same suspicious tactics used to get someone to say “yes” to a call from us).  We are in the business of helping people plan for a better retirement and future, not tricking them into sitting down with us. The contract we signed did not include language about refunds not being provided.  There was zero communication before entering into our agreement that we could not halt the campaign or get a refund for poor quality leads.  If we had known this, we would have realized that TJ Telemarketing does not stand by their product and therefore is not someone we want to enter into a partnership with. Outlandish reasons were given for not receiving a refund.  In a phone call with Paul S[redacted], I was given two main reasons that we would not receive a refund: 1. The territory we purchased could never be used by another client. – Upon pushing Mr. [redacted] on this issue, he backtracked and stated that “yes, after six months, it would be released to another client.”  And 2. That they had to hire new people to handle our account – If this is even true, this is the cost of doing business and not remotely close to a legitimate reason to not give a dissatisfied client their money back. Paul [redacted] and TJ Telemarketing is focusing this entire issue on my negative reviews of their business instead of standing by their product.  I would like to hear their response to other reviews on the internet by people not associated with my company (collection below).  TJ Telemarketing seems more intent on keeping their social score high so that they can keep selling a bad product and refusing to treat their customers right.    [redacted]Marketing Manager
Sincerely,
[redacted]

During the week of August 14th, 2017, Financial Engines engaged in a smear campaign over social media aimed at my company, TJ Telemarketing. Once the campaign was uncovered, on August 18, 2017, we requested that [redacted] and Financial Engines redact their slanderous claims. At that time, we...

carefully documented the full extent of their campaign. Within 72 hours of sending our request by email, Financial Engines had removed all their slanderous posts and reviews. The only remnants of the smear campaign that remain are the 2 most recent reviews posted here on the Revdex.com page at the direction of [redacted], as well as this complaint. The timing of this notification leads me to believe that the employees of Financial Engines did not have the ability to remove these complaints. At this point in time we have completed the full contract. In accordance with our internal policies, we will maintain a back-up of all audio files compiled during the Financial Engines campaign. Additionally, we have fully documented the aforementioned smear campaign and are maintaining those files in back-up. I am confident that if contacted, [redacted] and Financial Engines would readily redact this additional complaint. As always, I am available for further consultation.

TJ Telemarketing is an American owned and operated call center operating as an industry leading professional lead generation company. Our exclusive telemarketed leads have a consistent record of closing for our clients since we were founded in 1995. Over this time, we have worked with more than 11,000 Insurance Agents and Financial Professionals. We employ on staff not only a Licensed Financial Professional, but our Production Manager is a highly trained sales expert with over 20 years of experience. Beyond generating leads, we have always supported our clients with ancillary (and free) services including, but not restricted to, helping to fine-tune contact scripts to maximize returns. Because of this over 75% of our clients reorder once their campaign is concluded. TJ Telemarketing’s Terms of Use are available on our website for review. Our Terms of Use are also prominently displayed during checkout. Purchasers of our business services must click to confirm that they have read and agree with the terms of sale. Because of this, our terms are upfront, must be read, and are always available. [redacted] agreed to our terms of sale herself on July 20th, 2017. [redacted] contacted us on May 24th, 2017 about our exclusive retirement plan lead program. On May 30th, we emailed the actual calling scripts we use to generate leads. Between May 30th and July 20th, we exchanged 54 emails. In these emails we agreed upon the start and end date of the campaign, the geographic regions to be called for the campaign, and the number of leads that needed to be generated in each region. It should be noted that none of these emails or the proposal mention this campaign’s target as owners only. During this time [redacted] worked on the script to be used in the calls.  On June 26, she submitted an approved script to be used for the purposes of this campaign. We used this script while we called on behalf of Financial Engines. It should be noted, asking for an owner was not included in this script. After we had agreed on all details of the campaign that was to be executed, [redacted] placed the order on July 20th. At this point, the job went into pre-production as agreed. TJ Telemarketing purchased all the calling data for the campaign and began all necessary preparations for the lead generation phase. We entered the lead generation phase of this campaign for Financial Engines on August 7th, 2017, and completed lead generation on August 30th, 2017, as agreed. Only after we started this campaign were we informed these leads were being sent to another call center operated by Financial Engines for further qualification, with the intent of directing each lead to nearby Financial Engine’s storefronts to speak with advisors. Usually when our clients work our leads, they hand them directly to advisors who follow up personally to schedule appointments at the prospects location. Despite this unforeseen hurdle, we offered to call the leads we generated, qualify them further, and set appointments for Financial Engine’s advisors in their offices. In this way TJ Telemarketing stands behind the quality of the leads. Regarding the smear campaign that [redacted] and Financial Engines ran against my company. It is unethical as well as against the law to spread malicious and false statements online. Financial Engines directed employees to spread false information about TJ Telemarketing. This smear campaign shows [redacted]’s and Financial Engines’ willingness to engage in unethical and illegal business tactics. We will not stoop to this level, and this response to [redacted] and Financial Engines is based on facts that are readily verified by call recordings and emails we maintain in backup.