Parkfield Commerce - Richard Emanuel & Thor Berntsson Theft, Nonpayment, Misuse of Funds, & Constant Excuses

We partnered with Parkfield Commerce to manage digital marketing for several of their clients on a revenue share basis, where we would get a percentage of revenue for managing the services and they would receive a percentage for account management.

First of all, they don't actually manage the accounts or have any marketing knowledge. They did not have regular meetings with clients and relay any information back to us, essentially not fulfulling their management responsibilities and taking a large percentage of the revenue. Which is disappointing, but not illegal.

Their team was also constantly unable to implement recommendations. All they seemed to do was know how to install plugins.

Early on, you could just tell that taking care of contractors wasn't a huge priority. They paid invoices, but late, and didn't have a grasp on accounting. They went through several bookkeepers and billing people, often changing every month or two so there was no consistency on who was supposed to be taking care of it.

Then they got behind on payments. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, so we extended some credit and set up a payment plan to get them caught up. They made little effort to follow it at all. We made a new one, and again they didn't hold up to their end of the bargain.

What makes it scarier is their apparent lack of understanding that what they're doing is wrong. It's baffling to me. We essentially extended a loan to them after they stole money earmarked for us based on a revenue share program and think "we don't have any money" is a rational justification for not making payments.

Meanwhile, Richard Emanuel was redesigning the website and planning company retreats. Even if they didn't end up flying people in, the fact is that was the priority in his mind than making good on his debts. Again, I just don't understand the mentality to treat people doing work for you not just poorly, but illegally.

So we will be filing public complaints and taking the company to court, but this should serve as a warning to both potential contractors and clients that this company is unethical and that your time is spent elsewhere. Please support honest, talented businesses that work hard for you and pay their people as promised.