Mike Rao called our company in January asking our company to buy an ad in their new magazine. We told them at the time we couldn't fit it in our budget. Mike called back in March asking for our business again. Having purchased advertising in many magazines previously, there was nothing about our conversation that seemed out of place. The only concern was that it was a little more high pressure than I expected.
We finally settled on a price of $900 for the advertisement which included an advertorial. We paid the money at the end of March. A woman named Jennifer subsequently emailed us to get the artwork, and submitted it and the copy for the advertorial by the first day of June. A man named Noel was supposed to provide the proof for the article and the magazine was supposed to go print on June 1. Mike told us that we had just made the deadline.
We never got a proof from Noel and never heard back from Mike. We emailed and called repeatedly over the next month and got no replies. There is a long lead time in advertising and in our business, so we didn't think too much of it. Eventually enough was enough. We did another internet search and found information that convinced us we had been ripped off. We saw that their Facebook page had not been updated since May. Their website looks exactly like it did the first day we looked at it. Except, of course, the sports tickers that automatically update.
We have disputed the charges on our company credit card since there is no evidence that any magazine was ever printed and nobody from the company has communicated with us since the supposed date of publishing. I advise anyone that is contacted by Mike Rao or Mulligans Magazine to hang up the phone immediately and save your money.
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