I am writing this letter as a formal complaint against a PR firm called Leonard Saffir and associates. I lost over $10,000 of my hard earned savings to Leonard Saffir. Some background info: I suffered a severe long term adverse reaction to a defective prescription drug. I have documented nerve and tendon damage. I was previously healthy and athletic with an MBA degree. I worked in the medical industry.
I was reading Mr. Saffir's PR book and I came across a section in his book about the use of PR to settle lawsuits. I contacted Mr. Saffir and he told me that I had a very strong legal case against the drug manufacturer. Mr. Saffir told me my lawsuit could be settled in a short amount of time with the use of PR. Unfortunately, I trusted what he said. He also emailed me and told me this same information. My family and I have copies of everything filed away.
Mr. Saffir told me about all of his incredible media campaigns that he generated over the years. He told me success story after success story. Because of all of this, I unfortunately entered into a PR agreement with him. I paid Mr. Saffir a $1,500 monthly retainer plus he was entitled to 25% of any potential lawsuit victory or court settlement of my drug injury legal matter and my Prudential legal matter. Much like a contigency basis, I figured if Mr. Saffir was entitled to part of a potential lawsuit settlement, this would motivate him even more to get very strong media results.
Prudential, my long term disability (LTD) company, denied me long term disability. Mr. Saffir said he would work on generating media over my LTD denial in addition to the adverse drug reaction legal matter.
In over a one year period, Leonard Saffir did not generate any media results on his own. Not even
One small newspaper article, local Tv appearance, or radio interview. Even though I have no experience with PR, I was still able to generate media publicity on my own by picking up the phone and calling some reporters. If a person like me, with no PR experience, can achieve some media results, there is no reason why Leonard Saffir could not have achieved results like the stories he told me prior to our agreement. He has been in the PR business for over 35 years. I was able to get on a national PBS news segment about what happened to me from the defective drug that I was prescribed.
Even though Mr. Saffir did not settle my lawsuits or generate media, he states that he is still entitled to his percentage of any potential settlement or lawsuit victory. I ended up losing over $10,000 to a guy who did very little work in over a year's time period. Leonard Saffir said he had established lots of important media contacts prior to me signing an agreement with him. He even talked about how he knew important celebrities. He mentioned over and over about how he generated lots of big national PR for a guy to win his lawsuit against an insurance company which was worth millions of dollars for his client. Leonard Saffir said that by getting media to cover my story, this would also help to raise a settlement amount. I feel that Leonard Saffir used dubious, unethical, and predatory business practices. Leonard Saffir deceived a person with disabilities, which is about as low as it gets.
After many months of no results, I asked Mr. Saffir for an activity report of names and media places he was contacting. Mr. Saffir refused to give me one. When I asked him for a monthly activity report, his reply back to me was verbatim "If you sue me, I will counter sue you." He even admitted this to my mother on a conference call with my parents. My mother is a retired RN. Mr. Saffir also said that he didn't keep any files on his media attempts for me. How can a person be so disorganized to not keep files on the media attempts that he made on my behalf. He did the exact opposite of what he states good PR people should do in his book. Mr. Saffir writes the following on page 30 of his "PR on a Budget" book: Make the agency give you a monthly report including time spent on a specific task. Mr. Saffir never did any of this.
I contacted the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) concerning Leonard Saffir. Arthur Yann, the Vice President of PRSA stated that I am absolutely entitled to a monthly activity report of media places that Mr. Saffir contacted. Mr. Yann stated that Mr. Saffir is not a member of the Public Relations Society of America therefore they couldn't sanction him.
I contacted more media outlets in two weeks versus what Mr. Saffir contacted in over a year. Mr.
Saffir had another PR associate in his firm in the beginning of all of this. The firm was called Leonard Saffir and Associates. Mr. Saffir told me that his associate would be reviewing my documention that I sent to his office. After some time had passed, I asked Mr. Saffir if we could have his associate help out. When I asked Leonard Saffir what his associate's name was, he got very upset. Mr. Saffir refused to give me his associate's name.
In addition to all of this, on one of the pages of Leonard Saffir's PR on a Budget book, Mr. Saffir mentions that one of his former clients was the manufacturer of the prescription drug that injured me. The page details a lot of work that Mr. Saffir did for this company that I have a lawsuit against. I was told that this represents a "conflict" and that Mr. Saffir should not have ethically taken me on as a client in the first place having represented this company in the past.
Mr. Saffir achieved no PR results on my Prudential legal matter either. I don't think Mr. Saffir even made more than one phone call or email to a reporter on my Prudential legal situation. It got to the point that I told Mr. Saffir that the Prudential situation was on hold. I didn't want him taking any percentage of a possible settlement when he wasn't even doing anything to get media publicity to force a settlement.
In addition, Leonard Saffir told me that I should contact my law firm to register his name on the lawsuit file so that if I happen to win a lawsuit or achieve a settlement, the percentage of funds for him can be sent directly from the law firm to his address. Unfortunately Mr. Saffir strained my relationship with my law firm.
I found out that Mr. Saffir was spending lots of time working on his Florida Hall of Fame Museum instead of making lots of phone calls on my PR campaign.in my opinion, there is almost nothing lower than taking advantage of a person with disabilities. My family is very upset over this matter. I would stay as far away as possible from Leonard Saffir and Associates. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter.
Sincerely
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