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:10/24/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore 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 started working with ***** with Talk Plus Tell in May of 2021 to help me launch my book. Since then she's lied to me about the things she was getting done and not actually doing them. I didn't find out about it until the launch date came and she didn't have my deliverables that were supposed to be done. She provided less than half the things listed in her proposal, and she did not follow through with the things she told me she would handle which were not in the proposal. What she provided was literally just enough to string me along so that I would keep giving her more money. She told me she reached out for testimonials, but I reached out to the people on her list that she said she contacted, and of the ones who actually responded none have heard from her. She said she got me into book stores, I called them and my book is not on their shelf. She said she had influencers to target for reviews, if she did I don't know who they were. She told me she had contacts she would put me in touch with, which never happened. My book launched in March and no one knew about it. My last payment was $500 in January and she never spoke to me again after I paid it. I gave her multiple opportunities to back out if she felt she had to too much on her plate in order to help me, but she insisted that we've made so much progress. I had an unpaid maternity leave coming up and I needed that money to help me get through it. I asked for a refund once I found out how much she didn't do, but she never replied. Right now I'm looking to unpublish my book so I can relaunch it. So not only did she not help me when I paid for her assistance, but she also cost me money because I had to do damage control afterwards. I tried reporting before but I didn't have her address, but now that I found it I'd like to go through with reporting her. I uploaded the proposal which Ive color coded. Blue is completed, yellow was partially done, red was never completed.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/30/2022

  It is regrettable to read this complaint since we work very hard for all of our authors. We should first clarify what service the client paid for. We have three types of services for authors. 
  - The first is $500 a month for coaching. 
  - The second is $**** a month for one campaign at a time.
  - The third is $2500 a month for managing 100% of the authors book. 
  
  
  The client did one month in May for $****. For $****, We worked to set them up for success. This means creating a strategy and plan for their book. Here is the list of services provided in May. 
  Bios 
  Book descriptions 
  Tagline
  Graphics
  Publishing timeline and strategy (including publishing accounts)
  Marketing/PR strategy and Steps
  Press kit/sales page
  Website content
  Over **** media, library, and influencer contacts have been vetted
  
  
  The client then disappeared for a few months and came back for coaching. She then paid $500 a month in September, October, December, and January for coaching services. The coaching service means the client does the marketing and PR outreach and all associated tasks, not us. Instead, we are here to help guide her through the process. 
  
  As per our contract, she can end things at any time. So we only request payment at the beginning of each month. For coaching, though, we met with her weekly to coach her toward launching and marketing her book. This means she does the bulk of the work, and we help her with timelines, contactsetc. We know she was pregnant, and items were slow to finish - so we helped her with some of the items as we wanted her to succeed and still do. 
  
  Extra items we provided for her outside of the coaching were:
  - Sent her book out to over 50 official reviews ***************** book page, Midwest book review, etc) 
  - Sent it to 200+ media/influencers 
  - Library outreach
  - Lists of media/influencers contacts
  
  Unfortunately, we had not heard back after January, so we had to assume things had ended. However, we do have everything saved for her on the drive and documented. We are happy to share more information. 
  
  In terms of her screenshots. She shared emails we sent that included a list of action items. Unfortunately, she only sometimes completed the tasks we recommended. Even though we provided all the tools, she needed to perform them. We did provide and finish every action item/task that we said we were going to over email. We did finish and shared with her all of the tasks that were listed in her screenshot, which are as follows: 
  - All the book awards we recommended she apply for 
  - Taglines
  - Additional list of Book Reviews to submit to 
  - List of Cover Artists
  - Publishing Timeline (always changing)
  
  In terms of the screenshot labeled as Screenshot****************** *******. The client never went forward or paid for our full marketing service, which would have included implementing a full PR and Marketing strategy. She paid only paid for the following:
  One month to set up her book strategy for $****
  Book coaching for $500 a month
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/03/2023

  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:

  [Your Answer Here]

   I find it ironic that the business says what was purchased was not what was provided in the screenshot, yet anyone reading the title of the screenshot will see that it is clearly labeled "Coaching Package". Three quotes were provided and the "Coaching package", as displayed in the screenshot, was the smallest package available. 
  The business also claims that "Per our contract" I could have canceled at any time, however the direct quote from section 1.2 in the contract says "Contractor shall provide consultation, coaching and direct services in the fields of marketing, branding, public relations and digital marketing for author, for the Company,_____. Book Publishing and ********* services will be $**** for the first month and $500 per month for coaching with a minimum of three months. The marketing services can be paused and continued at anytime though." So no, per the contract, I could not cancel. I would have liked to have canceled after the first month, which I suggested in an email on 5/18 (Attached to this email), and again in a zoom call in November when I told her that i didn't feel like things were going strong enough. I didn't ask for a refund either time, I just suggested we not continue. Yes, I always expected to do the bulk of the work, but direct services were also quoted from the beginning in both the contract and in the quote, and they were constantly being listed in their tasks that they were working on. This section gives further credence to the quote that I purchased being the screenshot provided because the amount quoted in this contract matches the coaching package screenshot ($**** for the first month, $500 for the subsequent months).
  Section 1.2 also states that services can be paused and continued, which was actually suggested to me in the original correspondence (attached to this email). During that time we kept in contact, so I did not "disappear". We did pause for one more month than expected (until September rather than August) due to unforeseen circumstances with my job at the time, and because the Beta readers fell through and we decided to continue once we had the beta reader feedback. 
  
  As for what she said was completed...
  Bios- I wrote my own Bio without much help. Which was honestly an awful bio, so I definitely could have used more help. Their "help" was a 4 sentence, bullet point type summery taken while I talked to them. It was never an "Edited Bio" as was mentioned in the quote.
  
  Book descriptions- Yes, **** helped me with this, and then I adjusted the final version based on beta reader feedback.
  
  Tagline- Again, **** helped with this. This was in the same document as above so isn't really another "task" that was completed. 
  
  Graphics- No graphics were ever provided or discussed in any way. All graphics on social media were done by me without help or input. ****** design created my logo, bewitching book tours and Xpresso book tours created some promotional images, RedxDesigner on Fiverr created the book trailer, and Covers by Christian (artist whom I found on my own) created my book cover.  This is something I asked about in my email on 2/27/22.
  
  Publishing timeline and strategy (including publishing accounts)- This was done for the first month but never updated after resuming. 
  
  *********/PR strategy and Steps- This is a 200 word cut and paste document that has two steps. Step 1: Testimonials, Step 2: Have influencers read the book and review. A preview on a ****** search for ***** marketing steps" has more insight and doesn't cost $****. 
  
  Press kit/sales page- Another thing I never received even though I asked about it. I did receive one from Bewitching book tours... a service that I purchased after realizing that outreach promised by Talk+tell was never completed. 
  
  Website content- This is just laughable. ****** design created my website and everything on it. The website has been taken down after I removed my book from the market, but anyone is welcome to verify with ****** that *** was the mastermind of the website. Unless they are talking about the book description which appeared on the website? In which case, this is also a duplicate of one task that has already been listed. 
  
  Over **** media, library, and influencer contacts have been vetted- What is this even referring to? I didn't make any contacts through talk+tell. Not one. She did name one bookstore that she supposedly contacted, but I called that store, and they didn't have the book on their shelf, nor had they ever heard of it before. 
  
  
  
  Extra items we provided for her outside of the coaching were:
  
  - Sent her book out to over 50 official reviews ***************** book page, Midwest book review, etc)- An example of a promise never fulfilled. 
  
  - Sent it to 200+ media/influencers - Another thing I wanted proof of but never received
  
  - Library outreach- I don't have any evidence of this either. 
  
  - Lists of media/influencers contacts - Again I never made any contacts through talk+tell. 
  
  
  
  Claiming that something was done doesn't actually mean it was done. I heard over and over and over that this was all happening, but when I asked about it, I was constantly told "It's coming", or "I'll share when I have everything". She says she had a list of testimonials coming in, yet I don't have any of them. Absolutely none. I didn't expect much of any response, and if she would have said that no one wanted to give a testimonial or review, then that would have been one thing. But I was told that the inquiries were sent out and there were responses. It doesn't matter if she says she received them, because the task isn't complete until I have it. If I wrote an essay for school and never turned it in, would I get a grade on it? No. Similarly, if a project isn't turned in to the client then the task isn't completed. I've already attached the responses from people who she said she reached out to. None of them had heard from her. And I have a hard time believing that she didn't receive one response, because I hired Xresso Book tours and Bewitching Book tours to do the same thing, and between the two of them there were 73 responses. 
  
  
  
  Us meeting every week is also not true, but I did make sure that we had at least 4 meetings before paying again. We were supposed to meet once a week but she always treated me like she didn't have time for me. She only worked during weekdays and wouldn't meet later in the day, and I had a commission sales job at the time where I worked 10 hour days with no reliable lunch break. I could only take breaks when I didn't have a client in the store. So that left only one day a week for us to meet. She knew that was our only day available but would make weak attempts to meet with me on those days, while sometimes promising a day but not a time, and then never meeting. So I would waste a whole day waiting around for her to contact me. Then she would tell me to contact her when I go to lunch on a day later in the week, and since it was always so spontaneous, she typically wasn't available. I told her twice that I wasn't happy about that (Once in an email during the first month, and again during a zoom call in November). After the first email we set up a reoccurring meeting up until we put a hold on services, but she went back to bad habits after we resumed. These are the "coaching services" she said I purchased, yet it was like pulling teeth trying to get a meeting. I wanted to discontinue but she used the apparent progress that we made with testimonials and outreach to convince me we'd made so much progress. So those promised items were the only thing I found valuable at that point. 
  
  
  
  She also says... "Unfortunately, we had not heard back after January, so we had to assume things had ended." 
  
  This is already clearly a lie because I have already shared two emails that I had sent after January trying to resolve the issue privately, which she chose to ignore. I paid my last $500 on January 21st, and I did not receive my month of services or any of the deliverables she promised. Only excuses as to why she can't meet or get things done. No matter how the contract is interpreted (whether it's coaching alone, or ****** services as well), neither was provided. If I pay for something and don't receive it, then that is theft. I paid for services, and she never delivered. She got her money and then "Assumed things had ended". 
  
  
  
  I'm sending a folder with a video of all items in our shared folder since it won't fit as an attachment.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

   

   

   

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

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