July 22
Re: Breach of Contract Complaint Against Qualified Leads
To Whom It May Concern:
As background, we are Sopexa USA a full-service marketing and communications agency headquartered in New York City and belonging to The Sopexa Group, a worldwide network implanted in over 40 countries and in March we hired Qualified Leads* call center services.
Our objective was to secure RSVPs utilizing Qualified Leads' expertise for a series of special events organized on behalf of several clients in three US cities in April. Following our dealings with them (see chronology below), it is clear to us that Qualified Leads is a fraudulent operation which unfortunately was successful in bilking Sopexa USA of $7,456. It is currently our intent to alert other PR and marketing companies as well as US regulatory authorities to steer clear of Qualified Leads, or else risk suffering a similar fate.
Above and beyond Sopexa USA's specific complaints with regards to Qualified Leads, it is important to note that the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) lists Qualified Leads as having an F rating, strongly questioning the company's reliability. Moreover, usacomplaints.com details reports from other businesses that encountered surprisingly similar experiences with Qualified Leads as we did (for example: usacomplaints.com/reports/ripoff143017.htm).
To follow please find a concise chronology of Sopexa USA's dealings with the fraudulent Qualified Leads:
Sopexa USA initially contacted Qualified Leads in March after locating them on VendorSeek.com.
Following several telephone conversations with Alex Morga, Qualified Leads New Business Development (480-614-9708; Arizona), Sopexa USA signed a contract to engage the company's services, and paid Qualified Leads upfront a 50% deposit of $7,456, on March 16 (the check was cashed 5 days later).
A detailed brief was given on March 16 to Mr. Morga and Angel Jones, Qualified Leads Account Manager (505-352-9728; New Mexico). Sopexa USA requested and Qualified Leads agreed at that time to provide daily updates on calls for the duration of the contract. This would allow Sopexa USA to monitor RSVP status.
OCalling of contacts (with call lists supplied by Sopexa USA) was set to begin on April 1.
On April 4, Sopexa USA received from Qualified Leads a list of confirmed attendees for only one of the three cities.
On April 5, the need for daily updates on calls for all three cities was reiterated to Qualified Leads, but no daily updates were provided. Sopexa USA left multiple voicemail messages with no response (phone calls were never answered by a live person at Qualified Leads).
After continuing to leave messages, Sopexa USA was informed by telephone on April 7 that Ms. Jones was taken off the account. A new Qualified Leads Account Manager, Linda Martinez (505-804-6144; New Mexico), was assigned to Sopexa USA's business.
On April 8, Ms. Martinez sent Sopexa USA an email listing only the number of event RSVPs, without sending the actual names or lists.
Over the next few days, in response to Sopexa USA's repeated requests, Ms. Martinez sent lists with names of RSVPs. Upon verification by Sopexa USA, these RSVPs were found to be largely bogus. Qualified Leads claimed that, for example, out of a list of 105 contacts, 100 people RSVPed — a statistical improbability. Sopexa USA team members randomly called numerous contacts on the lists who had supposedly RSVPed to the events, and were dismayed to learn that these RSVPs were either never contacted regarding the events, were planning to be out of town the day of the events, or no longer worked at the company!
After Sopexa USA's VP Director of Marketing and Client Services, repeatedly requested that a senior level manager contact Sopexa USA to clarify the situation, one phone message was finally received from Todd Richardson of Qualified Leads (877-614-9700; toll-free number, location unknown). However, Mr. Richardson could never be reached in person at the telephone number given, and he never attempted a second time to contact Sopexa USA's VP.
Interestingly, Qualified Leads' Corporate Headquarters in LA, as listed on their website, is actually a Mailboxes Etc (this factoid is obviously not a fraudulent one, but nonetheless is somewhat deceptive).
In sum, Qualified Leads (not surprisingly) never requested payment for the remainder owed, never provided any of the services contracted, never provided any type of refund, and never contacted Sopexa USA again (despite numerous attempts on our part).
Based on our unfortunate experience, we strongly recommend all companies to NOT utilize Qualified Leads, and urge that the appropriate US authorities investigate further — this is not a question of mere incompetence on Qualified Leads' part, but of blatant, fraudulent non-delivery of services purchased.
Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by using the rebuttal box below.
Best regards
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