I'm going on a rant for a second. This is directed at one review site in particular. No, not because I ended up with a bad review. In fact, I've gotten all GOOD reviews from this company. I've no complaints towards the reviewers or the reviews.
I'm complaining about the fact that I paid for an ad, for two months, and I got no response. No thank you. No emails letting me know when it would go up. I've since emailed and asked, still no response. This isn't the first time this has happened to me. It's not as if this was an email glitch. This same company has done this to me before. It's beyond frustrating.
I caught myself practically begging them to put up my ad, or at least reply to my email. I'm so tired of begging! I paid, the least you can do is respond. Even to let me know it'll be a few weeks before the ad goes live. I would appreciate knowing if you even got my payment! I'd appreciate a little customer service here! Why is that a lot to ask? And just to clear up any confusion this is the ONLY site that has ever done this to me. Most review sites reply right away when you give them money for an ad. Most review sites say thank you! Most review sites will let you know when the ad will go live! However, this site feels they're above that I guess. I'll never understand it, and I won't be placing ads on their site again, never. This is the last time I deal with them.
In the past I wanted to give them some slack. Maybe they're a family run company and they only have one or two people to handle things. That's understandable. But, when I send not one, but three emails and get zero response, I'm wasting my time and my money. They are NOT the only site that offers advertising to authors. The others are nicer to me. They're more prompt. And I don't have to beg!
I'm not going to say names here, because I AM an author and that would be like asking for trouble. But, I will give praise to the sites I enjoy working with. Sites who treat me with the same respect that I treat them.
The Romance Studio--this site is wonderfully run
Wild On Books--prompt and the reviews are always well put together
Dark Angel Reviews--wonderful reviewers who know their stuff
Fallen Angel Reviews--their prices are great, reviews are always quotable. When they misspelled my hero's name and I pointed it out, they fixed it and thanked me for letting them know! I love a company like that, don't you?
Joyfully Reviewed--another well run site with well written reviews
Two Lips Reviews--ditto above, well run with beautifully crafted reviews
Coffee Time Romance--prompt, easy to submit reviews.
Enchanting Reviews--a friendly bunch to work with here
Romance at Heart--another friendly bunch
Just Erotic Romance Reviews--I've had very good dealings with them and they sure seem to know erotic romance!
Romance Reviews Today--not sure if they offer advertising, but I've always been pleased with their reviews/reviewers
Night Owl Romance--one of the best places to have a chat, if you ask me. Easy to work with and lots of participation during chats!
Manic Readers--Most of you know I'm a part of this site, so none of my books will ever be reviewed here, nor can I truly be unbiased, clearly. However, I can say our tech guy is prompt and fixes problems right away, and the person who handles the advertsing end will never ever make you beg!
A few places that makes it easy to advertise:
All Romance Ebooks--always a pleasure to work with these folks
Erotic Romance Writers--a great place to advertise and not at all pricey. I've never had a book reviewed here, so I can't say to that end of things
Okay, that's my experience. If you have or know of a site that I forgot to mention, please speak up! I'm just shouting out the ones I've worked with over the last year.
17 comments:
Bad customer servise drives me crazy! You mentioned all the ones I can thing of.
I'm almost afraid to mention a review site for fear it's the one your speaking of.
But here goes... Romance Junkies
Kelley--It does me too. I have to admit, it makes me appreciate GOOD customer service though!
Maynard625--Thanks for commenting. :) By the way, I was at your blog and saw your TBR list. Dang! That's some list! LOL!!
Geez, Maynard625...and I thought MY TBR list was long! More power to you:)
I've only gotten up the nerve to send my books to one reviewer...and still haven't heard back yet.
I think I know exactly the site you;re talking ab out, becausse I also had trouble. and I also am not going to cut my throat and bleed all over the Internet by naming them. But...They'd better be careful. I totally agree about all the sites you praised. They are great and easy to work wioth./ I;d recommend any of them.
Hi Molly--It's so difficult to send your baby to a reviewer, isn't it?. We want everyone to love what we write and if they don't we're crushed. Here's hoping you get good news very soon! :)
LOL I know the list is long and the blog is woefully neglected. I dropped my laptop and have falling incredibly behind.
I have read some of the books on that list and sadly have added even more.
With so many good books in print and ebook coming out ever week a reader will never be caught up.
Oh and on another note I'm very excited to see that another Vaughn is on the horizon as well as the follow up to Getting Lucky with Luciano.
Which will add even more books to my evey growing list. LOL
Biggest pain in the world to pay the money and get no RESPONSE. I would write and demand my money back. Guaranteed, if they are treating you that way they are doing it to others too.
Hi Judith, I think we all know the site in question, huh? *sigh* It's so annoying. And they must be aware of it, considering I've heard complaints about their poor customer service in the past. Guess they just don't really care.
Thanks so much Maynard625! I'm excited about Merrick's story. I hope readers like it! *bites nails*
Regina--I actually thought about asking for my money back. I really wanted to. Still do! grrr
In the end I decided not to make waves though. What I am going to do, however, is not give them any more of my books or my money. I'm done with them! I'll never recommend them to friends. If I get any reviews from them (good or bad) in the future I won't post them nor will I link to their site. Word of mouth can go a long way. It really can make or break a company. I won't go to the extreme of bad mouthing them in public, but I sure will do my best to turn unsuspecting authors away from their site in private!!
That is piss poor customer service. Did you pay with a check? If so, check and see if it has cleared. If it hasn't, I'd do a stop payment on the thing. I'd ask for my money back too or at least they could do what you paid them to do; put up your ad.
No kiddin', Jen. That would sooooo TICK ME OFF. Check Anne. If I hasn't cleared do a stop payment on it. Great idea!!!
The romance community is a pretty small community when it's all said and done, isn't it?
Well, I haven't had experience with a paid ad...but I did end up with strange interaction on one site that offered 'free' types of promo. You know, interviews, that kind of thing.
I got a first email with info about the free promo, even a week when this free promo would appear, and then nothing more. Which doesn't make me want to spend any money with this particular site, personally.
Why offer any 'free' kind of promo, if it doesn't really exist?
I have a feeling it's the same place. Sigh....
Yikes! I would be upset too. Especially since money has changed hands.
Playing devil's advocate, is there any chance that maybe it could have gone to Spam? I know I've had spam filters block email from my own inbox that I would have been mortified to have missed. Heck, Yahoo sometimes puts email from myself in spam!
This may not be the case, but it is a thought. If you haven't already, you might try sending to them from a different email address or perhaps sending to a different email account if you have one for them. The Pollyanna in my hopes that perhaps this is what happened and that they aren't just ignoring you.
*crosses fingers for Anne*
On a side note, thanks so much for the snaps to Wild on Books! And I am very flattered by the company you have put us in. There are some wonderful review sites in your list... :-)
Speaking of reviews... You should have a link to one in your email box from little ol' me tonight. If it didn't go to spam, of course! LOL
I posted the above comment without reading the other comments first... It sounds like my ideas may not be valid in this case if this company has a habit of treating others like this too...
Still crossing my fingers, though.
Jennifer, I did get that email! Thank you, you've made my day! :)
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