Carisa Sanders, owner of Superior Telemarketing Services (aka Carisa Sanders Marketing) is, quite simply, one of the worst people I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. She and her company are the very definition of "ripoff." They will tell you everything you want to hear in order to get your money. Once they do, everything changes.
I needed to outsource a telemarketing campaign as part of the launch of our business. Most of the other firms I looked at were priced considerably higher than Carisa Sanders Marketing. That should have been my first "red flag, " but they seemed to be able to justify why their prices are so relatively low. I decided to give them a try, with a 50 hour calling package that included 10 hours of free calling for new customers.
The second "red flag" I should have been concerned about was the fact that they do not take credit cards. But again, they justified it by telling me that is one of the ways they keep their prices lower than other firms'.
When I chose to sign up, I did so under the condition that they would do everything they could in order to expedite the setup of my campaign. "No problem, " they said. I was told that waiting for the check to clear is the one thing that usually holds them up, so in order to ensure that I get the fastest start possible, they had me make a deposit directly to their account to cover the cost of the campaign. I complied in good faith, holding up my end of the bargain, and that is when the problems started. Take a look at the below email exchange, and see if you can determine who is being unprofessional:
Me:
Carisa,
This is ridiculous! You and I have been discussing a start date since last week. I emailed you, the president of the company, on Tuesday to let you know that we would begin on Monday as opposed to training a caller on Tuesday (this week) for calls to begin. You knew that it is important to me to have input with the caller (s), why did you not let me know early in the week that I needed to schedule time to train??? Now you are telling me that I could have gotten free training, but on Monday the training will come out of my calling hours I bought? You take no responsibility? I am beginning to feel like I made a poor decision.
Her Response:
noone said I was charging you for it! Where did I put that. I SAID it will be when your calls start, during that time. TIME, not charge.! If this is not clarified call me please I can clear it up for you better. Again please let me know.:)
By the way the welcome kit states all these details on call, I really recommend you reading that. I have put vial information in there because I can to read the kit to each client. Again, if you have questions let me know. What time Monday is good on your schedule for this conf call, the calls will start right after the call is over. Best part is, it is fresh in the telemarketers head when they get off the call. Gain noooooooooooooooooooooo chargeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Thanks
Me:
Carisa,
You dont need to communicate with me like I am your child. Thank you for not charging us for that time, we appreciate that. To clarify, in your previous email you said:... Or next Friday for free and I can book that today. I assumed that the alternative to for free was for it to be deducted from our hours. I hope you can see how I might have been confused. I apologize.
By the way, I did read the welcome kit thoroughly when I received it. Again, I was operating under the impression that since I was to have time to train my caller (s) on Tuesday of this week, it was apparent that I needed time on Friday for the same training.in the future I will be sure to request that time well in advance. Thanks for understanding.
Can we do 9:00am EST Monday? Do I call CSM or will someone call me? Thanks again.
Her Response:
Tim,
I have no kids. However I was asked to review my position and comment as you were yelling at me as you have been since communication began with you, and I simply responded as I am not your child, wife or secretary.
I will be refunding you as I do not have the need or desire to do business in the unprofessional manner in which you have been portraying. I am sure you will find a company to accommodate you since you have a free script and list now. Have a Blessed day
Carisa Sanders of
Carisa Sanders Marketing
1-800-879-4176
Fax 800-303-6027
Me:
Carisa,
Do you consider using language like I apologize Thanks for understanding, Thanks again, etc. Yelling at you? How can you say I have been unprofessional? Because I asked you to follow through on something that your own employees assured me would be done? Because I ask you to live up to what you yourself told me you would do for me? If anyone has acted unprofessionally here it is you. You and your company have failed to live up to ANYTHING that I was told by your salespeople in order to make the sale.
At any rate, if you are going to refund my money, I expect it to be in the same manner which you collected it, by deposit to my account at Wachovia Bank. If this is not acceptable, please advise how and when I will receive my refund.
Who the F taught this idiot the English Language???"as I do not have the need or desire to do business in the unprofessional manner in which you have been portraying." WTF??? What does that even mean?
This is just the first half of the story... The worst part was in trying to actually obtain my refund. See below:
Me:
Carisa,
It has been over a month since I was told (by you) that a full refund would be mailed to me on Friday 10/19. Over two weeks since it was allegedly mailed finally according to you and Emily (whose story was different on the second phone call, she said first that it had been sent, then that it takes 30 days to process... Which is it?). I will restate my position one final time: your failure to refund our money, which was promptly paid to you, has adversely affected our cash position and our ability to obtain replacement telemarketing services.
I am going to do my best to appeal to your senses as a business-person, and as a Christian operating a Christian-based business. Do the right thing, the Christian thing, and live up to your word by sending our refund. Just because we had a disagreement does not make it right for you to hold our funds hostage in order to do us financial harm.
If the appeal to your senses as a Christian does not work, maybe this will: If I do not have a full refund by Friday, November 30, I will resort to legal action in order to obtain a judgment against Carisa Sanders Marketing/Superior Telemarketing Services for the full amount of my refund as well as all costs associated with bringing a suit. As an astute business-woman, you know that the costs of legal representation in order to defend yourself will far outweigh the $720 you are holding from me. Also, having a judgment on your companys credit record will adversely affect your ability to obtain business credit. Further, it will be public record, which will surely cost you potential business in the future. I dont want to go this route, but I will in order to ensure that we get our money back.
I am not going to play the blame the USPS/the check is in the mail game for another month, or the Its the holidays game. I will gladly pay for a courier to pick up the check at your offices. Or you can deduct $15 to cover the cost of sending me the check via courier or registered mail. Please do not attempt again to send my refund via regular mail.
I am trying very hard to be respectful and rational with regard to obtaining our overdue refund. Please respect the fact that this money is important to us as a startup company. Please respond to let me know if/where I should send a courier to retrieve a check. Thank you.
Her Response:
You refund was sent out. I am not interested in your opinion on the mail system nor am I interested in your Christian sermon, I spoke to you on the phone I know what type of attitude you have you expressed it. So spare me, you need tons of prayer LOL but we all do. If you do not get it in the mail by the 29th call we will stop payment on it and then just do a bank transfer that will be the fastest way and will not cost anything on either part. Have a Blessed Holiday. Would have sent a copy to your girl, but no email was included. See ya!
How can somebody like her even pretend to be a professional?
If this posting is not enough to convince you not to do business with Carisa Sanders or her company, Superior Telemarketing Services (aka Carisa Sanders Marketing) just Google "Carisa Sanders WAHM" See what you find out about how she treats her "employees."
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