Do NOT use Britt Phillips, AffordableCovers.com or the WorldWideAdNetwork.com for ebook covers!
Britt Phillips...
What can you say about a guy who flashes a bunch of fake $100 bills? I say buyer beware!
Would a real Christian wouldn't be flashing hundred dollar bills to try and prove that he was successful. I also wonder a little bit about men in their 40s with hair so long that they tie it in the back. (He looks like he would be more at home riding a motor cycle than donating money to the 700 club or to feed children... It always worries me when a "good Christian" uses his faith to try and prove that they're a good person.
I link to a lot of good sites and services. I always promote good sites and services that I find and use, especially if they're small businesses. I think you have to do that. But at the same time, I think I really have to help people and alert them to scams when I find them too. I really hate to have to do that. Everyone that knows me knows that I'm easy to get along with. Unfortunately I've had the displeasure of dealing with someone that turned out to be not just a crook but such an absolutely nasty person that I really had to put something up for anyone doing research on him.
I sincerely hope that you find this before you use him and aren't doing it after the fact because you've had a problem.
It's not that Britt Phillips really cost me so much. I admit that Britt Phillips is cheap. It's also not that he can't do a good job. He probably can in some cases. But in the end, Britt Phillips turned out to be such an ass (sorry there's no other way to describe him in this case) in my case, that I had to try and warn a few people.
Everything seemed fine at first, but after AffordableCovers.com did some work, Britt Phillips seemed very eager to push me out the door. I didn't say anything and I guess I let him assume it was done, in that I didn't say anything either way. That was on a Friday, and when I came back to him on Monday with two extremely small changes to the work that he did, he demanded $20 just to make two small changes. Britt Phillips went on to claim that he had deleted the ebook cover that he made for me, just two days before, so that's why he had to charge me an extra $20 because he had to redo two small adjustments.
I clearly wouldn't go to all this trouble for $20. I'm not hostile by nature. I actually tried to let things drop a couple times and save myself the several hours this has wasted. Despite my clear misgiving about his extorting more money from me to make two tiny changes, I just sent it. But being the true arrogant ass that (in my opinion) he demonstrated himself to be, he then refused to accept the money from paypal because he insisted on having it in a more totally guaranteed form. I've worked with a lot of different professionals in building my business over the years, but I've never run into an individual that seemed to turn so suddenly from an apparently nice person, into someone so totally different. Worldwide Ad Network, Inc. Sucks!
I thought about and considered several things afterwards, but I think that although they're certainly circumstantial, they do help to show a potential problem. Unfortunately I didn't see this until it was too late, but hopefully you aren't reading this after having similar experience, but can avoid this type of problem.
Ask yourself, why does any successful business take only paypal and not credit cards. Paypal was recently in news (3/04) for acting like they had credit card company style assurances but failing to protect the consumer the way a credit card does.
Credit card accounts aren't that hard to qualify today for even the smallest company but they do require some accountability, which I think could be a problem for him. Also why does he require the full payment up front before doing any work at all.
In my case he demanded an additional $20 after he told me the original price in order to unlock the images. That probably should have been a warning sign but I was very eager to get it, even though it wound up costing more than he had said it would.
Why would Britt Phillips need to lie about so many things?
Another thing worth considering, is why does AffordableCovers.com go so far out of his way to keep you from knowing his physical location. Britt Phillips goes out of his way to tell you on his website how he has been so incredibly successful at his business that he lives in a 6,000 square foot home. He even used this as his proof that he was more successful than I was so he wasn't going to apologize or finish the work he didn't want to. The truth is that the address he lists is a PO Box. It you look it up on a regular search engine you'll find a wide variety of businesses there at that address, but if you look it up in a good phone directory you'll find the following results (several different mail box store names and numbers).
Britt Phillips half million dollar 6,000 square foot home is a mailbox at the UPS Store!
Take a look what a little research uncovered about his address...
(Here's his actual address in case you're interested too)
Britt Phillips aka: Simmon Zelma
Ph: 804-897-2274
Address: 11812 Blakeston CT Richmond VA 23236-4163
Worldwide Ad Network, Inc., 13146 Midlothian Turnpike, #106, Midlothian, VA 23113 is clearly just a post office box at the UPS store (formerly Mail Boxes Etc).
(MasterFiles is a great tool by the way. You have to pay a little for it, but it's well worth it. I learned this from some private investigators that use it all the time.)
I am Christian, but it always worries me when people use their faith to try and prove that they're a good person. People should know that you're a Christian from your attitude, not from things you put on your website.
The truth is that he is putting up the 700 club logo and Feed the Children logos to create an image that is very far from the truth. The truth is that anyone with real money realizes that, having money doesn't prove you're better. It's only people that don't have money, that think flashing money and claiming a incredible success and a humongous home prove that you're somehow successful.
Would a real Christian wouldn't be flashing hundred dollar bills to try and prove that he was successful. I also wonder a little bit about men in their 40s with hair so long that they tie it in the back. (He could be successful, but to me he looks like he would be more at home riding a motor cycle than donating money to the 700 club or to feed children.)
I have a lot of long emails from him which show my story, but emails are easier to make up and I wanted to stick to clear facts that are documentable and aren't subject to liable.
Being nasty doesn't prove that he's a crook though, any more than some of these other things do. But all these things are clear warning signs but you know I wouldn't take the time to write all of this if out if he wasn't so absolutely nasty to me. And I think people that are as nasty as he was to me deserve to be talked about. This all rose out of his refusal to make just two minutes worth of changes (the only changes I ever asked for) to the ebook cover he made for me. Unfortunately this type of person may very likely do or say things in retaliation to me, for writing this out, but if he does, I'll post that here as well. I'll put just one link to it for now. If he tries to retaliate, I will probably just add some more meat to this and put more links to it and post information and links to it on related ebook and designer forums too. I certainly hope it doesn't come to that, but I need to make sure he realizes that this page alone will probably only wind up reaching a couple customers but there are several more things I can do if he attempts to retaliate against me for telling people about his attitude.
I made this whole page and posted some of the story here to give people out there as much warning as I could.
The bottom line is, you should be very careful and use Britt Phillips, AffordableCovers.com, WorldWideAdNetwork.com and Computermillions.com at your own risk. Things may not be quite as he would like to make them seem.
I don't know if this is actually his name or not, but here's his actual address:
804-897-2274 Simmon Zelma 11812 Blakeston CT Richmond VA 23236-4163
Worldwide Ad Network, Inc., 13146 Midlothian Turnpike, #106, Midlothian, VA 23113 is clearly just a post office box at the UPS store (formerly Mail Boxes Etc).
Additional links of interest:
Http://www.robertslaw.org/no.htm - (cached version here) Does this sound like a good honest citizen??!
Http://usacomplaints.com/reports/ripoff93756.htm (cached version here) Just more examples of people who've been ripped off by this slime ball.
Bill
Salt Point, New York
U.S.A.
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