I opened an auto detailing business in May which focuses mostly on retail customers. I located an advertising agency in the city where my business is located as well as printed and distributed thousands of fliers myself. One of my fliers found its way to the car of Carl Winslow, a salesman for NAC aka. Video Reporter aka. Movies Sports and More, who called to set up an appt. To present his publication as a method of advertising. Mr Winslow scheduled an appt with an employee who had NO decision making ability.
My employee, who is no longer with the company, was added to my business bank account as a authorized user for any expenses he incured during business hours. Mr. Winslow presented his publication to my former employee who decided it would be a good investment for MY company to advertise with NAC. My employee decided to enter into a contract with Mr Winslow WITHOUT my consent totalling about $1,200 and proceeded to put a downpayment of $129.00 using my business check, WITHOUT my consent on May 24.
Aug 31 - I look at my online bank statement and see 2 ACH debits from my account totalling $1,175.00. After exhaustive research I finally track down the originator, National Advertising Center or Video Reporter aka. Movies Sports and More based in Canoga Park, CA.
I contacted NAC, speaking with Wendy in the legal department, and explained the situation. I explained to Wendy that I am the owner of the business and the only one authorized to make decisions based on the direction of MY company. I explained to Wendy that I did not authorize any debits from my account. When I asked Wendy who signed the contract she informed me that it was, infact, my former employee and that since he was, at that time, an authorized user on MY account I am "stuck with it". After arguing with Wendy for several minutes she told me she would not back out the ACH debits to my account and that "this is the way it's going to be" and then hung up on me. I then proceeded to call her back several times in which she refused to come to the phone. After calling another dept, billing, another rep.in the company treated me the same way. With absolute contempt and rudeness I was hung up on again.
My next step was to contact Dyton Corp, the company that handles delinguent accounts and ACH debits for NAC. I explained to Max, who was the most respectful person I spoke with all day, that the ACH debits would throw my bank account into a negative state causing all sorts of havic on outstanding transactions. I explained to Max that even if they kept the ACH debits as they were they would be returned for insufficent funds. After talking with Max we were able to come to an agreement that he would mediate between myself and the joke of an organization called NAC. Max explained that if the transactions were returned for insufficent funds legal action would follow. Max and I came to an agreement that he would back out the ACH debits and allow me to settle the balance in three monthly payments.
Coming to the understanding that because my former employee was an authorized signer on my account I had very few legal options except to pay the amount of the contract. Following this realization I decided to call NAC to find out exactly what I am going to be paid for. Having never seen the publication myself or the specific ad that is running I decided to go to the Giant Eagle where Movies Sports and More is SUPPOSED to be displayed as a free publication which sits on the Trader Publication rack just inside the entrance and exit. Not surprisingly I found that, infact, there was no trace of Movies, Sports and More anywhere to be found. I walked through the entire gorcery store only to find nothing, which infuriated me even more. My next step was to speak with the General Manager of Giant Eagle. Jim, the manager, explained that the Trader Publication rack did not belong to Giant Eagle so he could not tell me with 100% certainty that they do infact carry Movies Sports and More. He went on to explain to me that even though he can't be sure, he's never seen Movies Sports and More in his store and recommended I call Trader Publications for more info.
After speaking with Trader Publications I found out that the contract that NAC has with Trader Publucations specifically states that Trader Publications is not allowed to give out information regarding the location of Movie Sports and More. I'm curious why a company who is supposed to be promoting their publication would refuse to allow Trader Publications to tell consumers where the publication would be distributed. You would think that if this is infact a credible publication NAC would want as many people to know where to find Movies Sports and More as possible.
After a long day of dealing with the rudest people I've ever encountered I decided to look NAC up on the BBB. Not surprisingly there were a total of 79 complaints filed against NAC for almost the exact same thing.infact, several of those complaints came out of the same area my business resides dealing with the exact same salesman, Carl Winslow. Of the 79 complaints all were looking to have the contract cancelled and their money returned. To date, only 1 of the complaints were settled positively for the consumer. When reading the BBB complaints I found that NAC states that they stand by their contract and wil continue to enforce it.
My next step was to contact NAC to have them fax me a copy of the contract signed by my former employee so I could read the terms and conditions. When I read through the contract I NEVER SIGNED I was disgusted to find out that through the mumbo jumbo the contract essentially takes all liability away from NAC. Just as an example the contract states..."This contract is non-cancellable by the advertiser..." "Advertiser acknowledges he/she... Has not relied upon any promise statement or representation other then as contained herein..." To me this means that NAC is fully aware that their sales reps are misrepresnting their product by telling business owners Movies Sports and More would be in a certain location when in fact it is not.
Sept 1 - I got ahold of my former employee to find out exactly who the publication was presented to him. He explained that he told Mr. Winslow that he was not interested and that he did not have the authority to make these types of decisons. He also explained that Mr Winslow would not take no for an answer. When my employee told Mr Winslow we could not afford his price Mr Winslow asked if they could work something out in trade, which is a common practice in the advertising industry. My employee and Mr. Winslow came to an agreement that we would detail his BMW and use the proceeds from that transaction to pay the $129.00 downpayment and singed the contract without reading it.
Furthermore, my employee stated that Mr Winslow said the Movies Sports and More publication would be displayed inside the video store located inside the Giant Eagle. At that time the Giant Eagle was still in the process of being built. Mr. Winslow told my employee that he needed a decision today because he only had one spot left in the publication and that this publication would be seen by every customer of Giant Eagle especially the ones who visit the video store. Not surprisingly the Giant Eagle in question DOES NOT have a video store. This type of deception seems to be common place for NAC, especially Mr. Winslow according to the BBB.
I contacted the Vice President of NAC after finding his contact info on the BBB website. Speaking with Marty Hecht, I explained exactly what was going on as well as the fact that the publication is not in Giant Eagle at all. Marty said he would speak with the lady in charge of distibution to find out if the Giant Eagle in Pickerington, Ohio does in fact carry Movie Sports and More and that he would call me back. I also asked Marty what would be done with the last 2 months of publications that were supposed to be displayed but are nowhere to be found. He said that he would be willing to extend my contract 2 more months but would not give me a refund. I explained that I am not interested in doing business with a company that treats people the way they do and that I want my contract cancelled. Marty stated that he stands by the contract that was signed by my employee.
This issue is going to be a continuing problem because of the unwillingness of NAC to treat their customers with the respect they deserve. Unfortunately it seems I may be stuck dealing with this company for the next year. I DO NOT recommend any business owner advertising with NAC, Video Reporter or Movies Sports and More. If there is any other business owners that have dealt with the same problem I'd love to hear your story and maybe get in contact to see if their is a potential for a lawsuit.
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