In August of our company was approached by Advanced Media Publications to advertise in their Golf and Leisure magazine. We agreeed to an ad for $500. We were told by the salesman that our money was needed ASAP because the magazine would go to print in October. Not being familiar with the company, we opted to send two separate checks instead of giving them our credit card number. After the money was sent and the ad was approved, we did not hear from them for almost the entire month of October.
When we contacted them in October, we were informed that our salesman was no longer with the company and the magazine would come out "in a few weeks." Our new contact there never returned any phone messages we left. We spoke with the creative director, who toldus the magazine would go to print the week after Thanksgiving. Then the date was pushed back to December, then January, then mid-Jauary, and so on. Every time we hear the same thing, "it's going to be great, we're waiting on a few more ads, the bookhas gone to the printer"...
There was no customer representative reaching out to us. If we had a question, we would have to track this company down to get any answers, and we were always getting the run-around. Many messages were left before anyone would return a call. We were finally able to reach the company's owner, Charles O'Reilly. He assured us that the magazine would come out and offered to increase our ad size. At this point, we started to realize that this entire company is one big scam and we were probably going to lose our entireinvestment.
We contacted the local BBB, as well as the localSheriff's Dept and the state Attorney General. When a localSheriff visited the company, at first no one would answer the door, even though it was obvious people were inside. The owner then spoketo the Sheriff and told him he would refund our money. Over a week later, we still have not received a check, and I doubt weever will.
This company is full of rude people that provide ZERO customer service. Once they have your money, you will not hear from them. If you needinformation, expect to leave several messages until maybe someone will call you back. I would advise against advertising with this company, especially if you are out of state. We were lucky enough to find a Sheriff that would help us out, and I think he's the only reason wearesupposedly receiving a refund from Advanced Media Publications.
Lastly, when I contacted Charles to see when the check was sent, he had the nerve to insinuate that our company was trying to take advantage of them! Even if we do receive a refund, we will continue our efforts to file official complaintswith various agencies in Florida so no other business has to deal with what we have dealt with.
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