I called Westbow Press once to find out about their fees, and the salesperson was very aggressive, encouraging me to write a book and self-publish it. She said it was better than looking for a company to publish it and that this was the new way of doing things. I told her I couldn't do it, and she said she would follow up. She kept calling me every week, pressuring me. I wasn't even ready with any book; it was just a thought in my mind, and I didn't even know if I wanted to do it or not. I told her I wasn't ready for it, that I hadn't even written anything, and that anyway they were asking for too much money, up to $6,000.
She kept calling, and one day she called and said they had a good deal: I could self-publish for only $2,399.40. I told her I didn't have all of the money, but she kept pushing and calling me every week. She called again and told me I could make the payments in three monthly installments of $824.80, and I didn't have to have anything written yet; they would wait for me for as long as it took me to write the book. I don't know what I was thinking, but I gave her my credit card number and signed up for it.
Days went by, months went by, and I finally realized what I had done. I could not be writing a book under pressure to self-publish. I'm not even ready for it. Maybe I will be someday, but not now; I'm too busy to even think about sitting in front of a computer to write. I called yesterday, 5/13, and told them I wanted to cancel, and they refused. The same girl kept pushing and pressuring me, telling me that it didn't matter if I wasn't ready, that I could still do it, that I had paid the money already, and that I could just take my time and do it when I was ready. I told her no and to cancel, and she said she couldn't because they do not accept cancellations past the six-month period. I told her they were a rip-off because they were taking my money without providing any type of service and that they had done nothing, absolutely nothing, for me.
I spoke to the supervisor, who said he was going to try to do something about it. He was supposed to call me back today and he did not. I called, and he wasn't there. I left a message, and he never called back. I called my bank, and they are treating this issue as fraud. These people are a rip-off; do not do anything with them. They are worse than email scammers. They tell you that you can trust them because they serve the Christian community, but in fact they are taking advantage of Christians. They are thieves stealing from good people in plain daylight.
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