Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/25/2024

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed a contract with **** on June 28, 2024, for a Sept. 11 radio show. My complaint is brought to address the manner of business, rather than the agreed-upon content. Dealings with several employees there lacked honesty and integrity. I wrote candidly to the president regarding my dissatisfaction twice. He responded dismally to my second email, entirely overlooking my thoughtful, candid points in lieu of touting his pride in what they offer. From the outset delivery of services was an inconsequential matter because such would not warrant a refund of the monies paid as is set forth in the signed Talent ************ two main complaints: (1) I was contacted by their talent scout/producer and, in retrospect, was given an overzealous, exaggerated sales pitch, in particular that I should get ready to have my calendar flooded with client bookings. There was also the mention of 24 million listeners for further baiting. Such claims may be based upon the website analytics they provide, which clearly do not constitute a benchmark for new business. (2) Contained in writing in several different documents was, "the host will call you from the studio about 10 minutes prior to your show to establish a bit of a rapport with you, and to go over any last minute questions or concerns you might have...in the unlikely event that you do not hear from *** five minutes before your show..." I was counting on that timely call to inform *** that I would be truncating my submitted script due to its lengthiness, which dealt with an unanswered question I had posed to their script writer the week before. I finally called the studio three minutes prior to the show airing; and, with lines crossing, I would find that the host had left a lengthy voicemail whilst I was calling him. I finally got through to the announcement that we were going live! Absent that prior discussion, the result was awkward silences on ***** ******* addition, I dealt with major shoddy performances by the script writer.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/28/2024

  *** ****** willingly signed our Radio agreement after she was interviewed on the phone by my Talent coordinator. *** ****** received all marketing material that was outlined in the agreement. I also added Three more months of driving traffic to her website at no charge.   I would hope my salespeople are enthusiastic on the phone We have been providing our podcasts and videos to over ***** clients to date. As far as *** ******* not calling her on time this is a false statement, he called her phone and left her a message. The Radio show went off without a hitch and *** ****** and *** ******* had a great show together. *** ****** was provided the link for the show to utilize in her own marketing efforts such as social media platforms and her website. To date she has not uploaded her radio show to any platforms but expects results. 

  Her claims are not valid and should be removed from the BBB platform.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/30/2024

  Dear Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  *** ******** has answered this complaint in the same manner in which he answered my follow-up email I sent him regarding my dissatisfaction with the manner of business, rather than the delivered content. His responses to the following are moot:  (1) **** ****** willingly signed our Radio agreement..." which I have not disputed. (2) **** ****** received all marketing material that was outlined in the agreement. I also added three more months of driving traffic to her website at no charge." Again, inconsequential to this complaint, and such an offer lacked complete meaning given the aforementioned results. (3) "As far as *** ******* not calling her on time this is a false statement, he called her phone and left her a message."  Indeed, as stated in the complaint, he called and left a one-minute message at 2:57 pm, not at 2:50 pm as I had been promised in three different documents. (4) **** ****** was provided the link for the show to utilize in her own marketing efforts such as social media platforms and her website. To date she has not uploaded her radio show to any platforms but expects results." A blatant, unsubstantiated lie.  On September 9 I posted on my ******** timeline (********************************************************************** I would be featured on their show, and afterwards I put the radio link in my ******** bio.  Additionally, I also added the link to my website on my "About **** ****" page. Those two are my only present social media outlets.

  As far as his talent scout goes, I repeat that his claims were overzealous exaggerations that, in retrospect, were indeed misleading and now made an attacking point by *** ******** through his response. The reality of the situation is that the entire premise of my radio interview is the onus of this complaint.

  Sincerely,

  **** **** ************************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/15/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  In January 2022 I received a hard sell from someone representing CUTV News, **** for a video shoot to be followed by a year of marketing and booking me for speaking engagements. I had done two radio shows with **** about 6 months earlier. This person said he also represented [famous author], who would be retiring that year, and that he would be presenting me in [author]'s place for high-paying speaking gigs. While I had some red flags of "too good to be true" and feeling a used car salesman vibe, I chose to invest in the opportunity. The video shoot went fine, though the salesman had exaggerated some aspects. The year of marketing to corporate clients was supposed to start upon my approval of 4 short video clips from the full video interview, which happened in early May 2022. The next thing I heard from the salesman was a month later, when he offered me the opportunity to spend thousands more dollars on a magazine cover/article and ************ spot, though I had not seen any activity or followup from the video and original marketing investment. In that conversation he told me the year of marketing to corporate clients hadn't started yet and that it would start at an unspecified time after he had reviewed the video and I had another radio interview. Another month later, he asked me where things stood, though I was still waiting on him. He said he would review my video the next day and get back to me. Two months later I had still not heard anything. I called and he offered me another opportunity to spend thousands of dollars on an interview (GMA this time) and ************ spot, despite no progress on the initial investment. At this point I contacted **** directly, who made additional assurances that work would progress. I did more radio shows, but there was no progress on speaking gigs, and six months after being told the salesman would call me "that week," I've heard nothing. I contacted **** in late April and have received no response. Seeking at least 75% refund.

  Business Response

  Date: 05/15/2023

  We produce a HD Studio video for Client which she was pleased with and approved for distribution. Her production package included five video which are posted on You Tube. We have been marketing her videos and the four we marketed have over 5k views so that clearly shows we started the 12-month marketing campaign her website also received over 11k views. There was one radio show included with the video agreement We actually gave her two free radio shows no charge to her. A total of 5 radio shows were completed. Original agreement we produced two radio shows August 26th & September 2nd.2021 We than produced Three more shows no cost to her November 16th, December 2nd & 20th 2022. I've also enclosed Video Agreement please see line 4. Return of Talents Money: If Talent elects to cancel this agreement once production starts, all previous payments are non-refundable.

  When client emailed me that she was not happy i offered her a ************ ********** at no charge, unfortunately PR ***************** that was handling that for my company Cision no longer provides the services,  the pricing became to high .to be feasible. The client never paid for the Time Square i was offering it in good faith. If you review the attached agreement and emails we met all marketing outlined in the agreement. The client signed agreement and all work has been completed. Her video can be viewed on You Tube .

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/16/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  It did not address the primary issue, which was the disparity between what was promised as "marketing to corporate clients" and what was actually delivered. I was told in the very first conversation that they would be booking me for speaking engagements paying $15k each and that I would be presented to the clients of [famous author], and my understanding from that conversation and later email communication was that this meant actually talking to an established list of event organizers to arrange speaking gigs/book promotions. If I had known that I was signing up only for videos and video view counts, I would never have invested in this. Regarding the view counts the business claimed: when I contacted them in October 2022, my video on their site had generated 24 views since early May (about 5 months). 15 days later when I heard back, they stated there were now **** views. To me it seemed that was only likely if some kind of automated click strategy was used, though I present that only as a potential conclusion and not as fact. The web traffic report they showed said my website had 11k clicks, but my own website analytics (attached) show nowhere near that amount, with fewer than 10 clicks most of the time and never more than 100 clicks. My website analytics system excludes bots. The two extra radio shows that were included because I was dissatisfied did not make up for the disparity in marketing work. I didn't ask for the Times Square spot, it was offered as consolation and I agree I did not pay for it. At the same time, I was also never informed that it wasn't going to happen. Again, my primary complaint is that what I DID pay for (or *thought* I paid for) did not happen: the actual direct booking of speaking engagements and book promotions. Nor was communication followed through with as I mentioned that it was 6 months of silence after I was going to receive a call "that week" to go over the plan that was already 5 months late. Regarding the non-refundable clause, there is a difference between cancelling the service and not receiving what was promised. I feel it important to make sure other potential buyers are aware that the promises they receive from promoters of this service may be significantly out of proportion to what is actually delivered.

   
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************
  
  
  
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/13/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  ************************* was canvassed by this company for the purpose of producing an interview. The price was **** USD. Shortly after that, ***** changed her mind, so she communicated this to **** and asked for a refund. No work was done, nothing was completed, no interviews took place other than a few emails regarding the date on when the work would start. From that point on ***** was ignored. So far we have requested a refund 5 times via email, on top of multiple calls to ********************* and ***********************, to which we get constantly sent to voice mail with no response. Emails were sent on Sept 22, Sep 29, Oct 4, Oct 10 and Oct 13 and are attached.We are constantly ignored, and avoided. We have made every effort to get this done with the best intentions, but we are starting to think that this whole company is a scam or a sham, designed to get people to pay them at all costs.Their own emails state If for any reason you are not happy with our services we will refund your money in full.Since no work was even done, no services were rendered, it is clear that we should be refunded in full.Nowhere was it ever stated or communicated that our payment was non refundable if we changed our mind after paying and before any work was done.It is unquestionable and obvious.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/14/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.  We have found that this complaint was the result of emails that were either lost or not read / received.  The complaint could have been avoided if a few more days had passed and more discussions happened.  All is complete on our and and we are fully satisfied.  Thank you for your help and I apologize if there was any inconvenience.

  Sincerely,
  
  *************************