For 15 years I have been advertising in publications large and small ranging from the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times to tiny community papers. The service received from Mobile Home Parks Magazine aka MHMLS was by far the worse.
First, let me start off by letting the reader know that I do NOT expect results or profits from every ad I place. Some work and some do not. I test market in areas and in papers and the ones that work I continue to use. However, what I do expect is professionalism, honesty, and integrity. Mobile Home Park Magazines offered the moon and stars and left me with dirt.
The advertising representative and the vice president did not return calls or emails, published an unapproved ad FULL of errors, attempted to cover this up, and made no efforts to apologize or fix the problem. What they did do was take my money.
10/20/06 I contacted Mobile Home Park Magazine inquiring about advertising in their publication.
What was offered by their sales representative, which later turned out to be their San Francisco Rep.:
Advertising in Southern California in their magazines: San Bernardino, Riverside, and possibly Los Angeles counties.
What I got:
Advertising in Northern California
What was offered:
Graphic designers who would help create a professional ad tailored to their readers.
What I got:
No assistance from their graphic design team. Graphic designers who could not duplicate a simple, all text ad.instead of running the ad I approved, they ran the incorrect ad with the multitude of errors all over it.
What was offered:
Tear sheets and copies of the ad to verify it ran correctly.
What I got:
Several indications ad copies would be sent, but after five separate requests plus their initial offers to send the ad, it was only sent AFTER I spoke with a woman in their 'accounting' department and it was not received until the end of December. This was far after the ad ran AND after the proof for the January ad was due.
What was offered:
Service and a correct ad that I had proofed, signed for, and paid $400 to have published in their magazines.
What I got:
An incorrect ad, no response or service from Mobile Home Park Magazine, numerous excuses, defrauded out of $400 and a potential loss of 40% - 60% of my annual gross as the December period is our busiest time of the year.in addition, their San Francisco representative and also their Vice President of Sales were clearly made aware of this and made absolutely NO effort to mitigate these losses by letting me know a problem had occurred, making any effort to correct for it, offering, like is customary in the advertising market, to re-run my ad at no cost and to offer a discount on a future ad, and no apology whatsoever.
In my opinion, based upon their total lack of concern, service, and professionalism I believe they only take care of very large advertisers. Personally I think if your budget is under $1,000 a month and you have no intention of advertising for at least year, you will not receive any assistance from their graphic designers, your ad could very well contain errors and/or look unprofessional when published (which of course will lead to poor results), you will have to initiate virtually all contact with them as their staff will not follow up with you, and you will waste precious time and resources.
Mobile Home Park Magazines and their staff cared so little about their clients and reputation they did not even bother to respond to the Better Business Bureau in their area...
03/27/07
Complaint ID#: 263877
Business Name: Mobile Home Park Magazines
The Better Business Bureau has made several attempts to contact the business regarding the above referenced complaint. We regret to inform you that we have not received a response from the company.
The Better Business Bureau develops and maintains Reliability Reports on companies in our service area. This information is available to the public and is frequently used by potential customers.in the case of your complaint, the company's failure to promptly give attention to the matter will be reflected in the report we give to consumers about them.
If the company has contacted you in the interim, please notify the BBB immediately.
Sincerely,
Cathy Jasper
Consumer Services
BBB Complaint Department
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