I own a small day spa. I was approached with what seemed like a great "marketing opportunity" for my spa. The AD-EFX rep was a smooth talker, told me he would handle everything, (this was just before Christmas... I did not have any time to worry about this form of advertizing!)
I agreed to allow Ad-EFX to sell 500 "spa packages" at $55 each (they retained all of the money) I was told that this is a great way to increase traffic into the spa, and promote my business.
I was a little apprehensive, since I only have ONE massage therapist, and one Esthetician on staff. The sales rep assured me that everything would be fine.
They sold the "spa packages" and quickly returned to their base in New York, in less than two weeks. They sold 500 spa packages at $55 each, making a profit of $27,500 that AD-EFX profited from. I did not get a dime.
I immediatly began receiving phone calls from customers that purchased the spa packages. They wanted to book appointments immediatly, when I told them that the spa packages were not available until January, they were infuriated, because the sales rep told them that they could use the spa packages anytime, no need to book an appointment.
I informed them that they were misled. The customers were Infuriated at my business, because they assumed that the day spa sold the spa certificates. I continued to get calls from people that people wanted to cancel their purchase, because they were misled, and when they read the "stipulations" on the back of the certificate, it did not match what the Sales Pitch was from the sales rep.
It is now late January, and I have had to do "damage control" for the misrepresentation that the AD-EFX sales reps did to my company. The representatives from AD-EFX will not return my calls. My company is losing money every day because I have to pay my employee to do the services that I did not get any money for.
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