I have a small side business doing on-site computer service, and was contacted by a salesperson from this company back in June, offering me an opportunity to advertise on hole #2 of the Sunset Lakes golf course in Sunset Hills, Missouri. I was told they only selected certain categories of businesses, to ensure our competitors weren't advertising on the same course at the same time, and they need one computer service type business as an advertiser for this course. It was also pointed out that the type of clientele who played golf at golf club like this one would be far more likely than average to spend money on computer services conveniently done in their homes. Their "special price" they negotiated with me of $375 for a 36" x 12" full bench sign sounded worthwhile, so I paid in full (giving me a 5% discount over the $395 price they said I'd have to pay otherwise), and I was told I'd be mailed a contract to sign and send back, along with instructions for submitting artwork for the sign.
Since it's been almost 2 years since I went through all of this now, I don't recall ALL the details perfectly clearly anymore — but basically, I had a lot of issues with the artwork submission process. After sending in what I basically wanted (and asking for advice from their artwork person on any suggested changes it might need), I heard nothing for weeks and weeks. I had to make several phone calls before I was finally able to speak with the guy supposedly in charge of the artwork, and he basically made excuses about them being behind, but promised it would be ready in a few days. Eventually, I was mailed the contract along with the "proofs" (which looked ok), so I filed it all away and forgot about it, assuming all was well.
Not long after that, I was contacted by another salesperson from Bench Craft, trying to sell me on a smaller sign at a second golf course in the area. I initially agreed, but had second thoughts soon after I got off the phone, as money was tight for me and I wanted to see what results, if any, the first sign brought me before spending more on it. That's when I really had a struggle. All I wanted to do was credit what I paid towards a couple of their magnetic signs for a vehicle they also claimed to sell — but it took many phone calls and weeks to get that accomplished. They were very slow finally mailing me the magnetic signs too, but they finally arrived. They were so-so... Properly made up with my artwork, but really thin material and not worth the over $100 they asked for the pair of them. (I was only able to use them on my vehicle several times before the paint on them started peeling off in a few spots and they stopped sitting flush on my doors when affixed to them.)
As I'm not a golfer but I *am* very busy, I never did get a chance to go out to the golf course that presumably had my ad on the bench, to take a look at it. To this day, however, I never got a SINGLE phone call from a potential new customer who EVER said they saw that sign or found out about me from the golf course. On a whim, I did a Google search earlier tonight on Bench Craft, as they suddenly crossed my mind again — and I found all sorts of comments about them scamming people.
I guess it's too late to do anything about this, and I can't even prove if they ever did actually advertise for me as agreed in the contract — but I have a strong suspicion they just took my money and never delivered. I remember at one point, I did ask one of their people if my golf course bench ad had been placed yet and was given a story about "not yet, because we're replacing old benches for the course, which we do for free in return for them allowing us to put our ads on them". I drove past the course once, months later, and all the benches I saw sure didn't look new!
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