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Report: #639263

Complaint Review: EMSI - Clearwater Florida

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Arron — Sonoma California United States of America
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  • EMSI 1127 Grove St. Clearwater, Florida United States of America

EMSI EMS Incorporated, Steve Friedman Want to get duped, lied to and ripped off on your advertising campaign? Call EMSI. They're great at it! Clearwater, Florida

*UPDATE Employee: Complainer says he's sorry to EMSI

*UPDATE Employee: The Facts

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On or about July 5th, 2010 I received an advertisement in the mail from EMSI that says; "Is the media talking about your company and products?", so I sent them an e-mail asking for more info. About 2 days later I get a call from Steve Friedman, the president of the company. He told me all about the company, what they do, how they do it, etc. and then we talked about the products and business I wanted to do the PR campaign for. He said what I had (my products and business) is perfect for this campaign.

A day or so later he sent me a questionnaire to fill out, so I did, and I listed EVERYTHING about my products and business that I wanted to do the PR on, and I made it VERY clear that this PR campaign was about my products and business. Well... after he schmoozed me and lied to me and got me to sign the agreement and send him the $7,445.00, he arranged a conference call about a week later with the EMSI staff. We did the conference call and during that call I was told that the campaign will have a turn in directions, that it will NOT be about my products or my business, but rather about "me" and my expertise in my field and that MAYBE I could get my products and busines "mentioned" during the interviews and write-ups, but there would be no guarantees.

This is NOT what their ad says, it is NOT what I was EVER told before signing the agreement, it says NOWHERE in the agreement nor ANYWHERE that directions can (and will) change, and now they say since I signed the contract (that says "no refunds" in it), I am stuck having to pay the $7,445.00 for something I do NOT want!! Had I have been told BEFORE being lied to and coaxed into signing and paying, I would have NEVER signed up for such a campaign. "I" don't need nor want any PR... my products and business need the PR!! This is what they say they do in their ads, in conversations on the phone, in e-mails, and so on, and then they change directions and expect you to still pay for it. 

Who in their right mind would pay for something they MAY get? I mean, COME-ON!! These guys are RIP-OFFS and CROOKS and they need to give me my money back!

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 09/09/2010 07:22 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/emsi/clearwater-florida-33755/emsi-ems-incorporated-steve-friedman-want-to-get-duped-lied-to-and-ripped-off-on-your-ad-639263. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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#2 UPDATE Employee

Complainer says he's sorry to EMSI

AUTHOR: Marti - (United States of America)

POSTED: Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Following is an email from Arron Johnson in which he says he's sorry.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Arron Johnson"
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:59:44
To: 'Steve Friedman'
Subject: RE: Your Refund

I was advised by my lawyer to not communicate with anyone for any reason.
Maybe not the best advice I've ever gotten. I am sorry things didn't work
out well. I WILL remove the complaints on-line. The one's I am not able to
remove, I will post a comment that the problem was resolved and a full
refund was issued. Please know that I DO thank you for the refund.

Arron

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#1 UPDATE Employee

The Facts

AUTHOR: Marti - (United States of America)

POSTED: Friday, September 10, 2010
This complaint from Mr. Johnson came as a complete surprise, especially since EMSI partner Steve Friedman, immediately upon learning of Mr. Johnsons concern about the contracted publicity campaign, has been attempting to reach Mr. Johnson.

The following information should fill in important data that Mr. Johnson did not supply in his complaint.

Steve Friedman sent 2 emails and left 3 phone messages trying to reach Mr. Johnson.  In the phone messages he assured Mr. Johnson that there was no question that we were prepared to give a refund. However, Steve received no response from Mr. Johnson to either the emails or phone messages.

EMSI offered to give Mr. Johnson a refund even though there is no contractual obligation to do so per this excerpt from the agreement that Mr. Johnson signed:  If Client cancels campaign, EMSI will book media equal to the amount of money remaining on account.  If client prefers to not do any further media upon canceling the campaign, any funds on account will be deemed non-refundable.

The service Mr. Johnson contracted EMSI to deliver was to arrange interviews on talk radio and online and offline print coverage through which he, as spokesperson and an expert, would be able to give his message that would tie into his products and how they would be of benefit to listeners/readers.  The number of radio interviews and print impressions/viewers per month is guaranteed and EMSI has been doing so with clients for more than 20 years. 

It is false for Mr. Johnson to say he filled out a questionnaire in advance of signing his contract stating he wanted to only promote his products.  No such questionnaire is ever used as part of the sales process.  Its only given to someone when they sign a contract, pay for our service, and officially become a client.  Mr. Johnsons Agreement was signed July 15th and his questionnaire was received in our office on July 23rd.  

As publicity experts for over 2 decades, EMSI includes as part of our standard marketing and sales the education of prospects that publicity is not the same as a paid infomercial or advertising and there is no guarantee of what the media will air or publish and no guarantee of resultant sales from publicity.

Steve provided Mr. Johnson with this information prior to signing the contract, both in phone conversations and also in a document describing our company and services, emailed to Mr. Johnson in May.  In addition, Mr. Johnson has been getting our email advices on publicity for years, about what publicity is and how it differs from advertising.  

So it is disingenuous for Mr. Johnson to say he wasnt provided with information about what his publicity campaign would entail. 

Its unfortunate that Mr. Johnson didnt respond to our attempts to reach him, so this matter could have been amicably resolved and clarification could occur.  We value our clients and our mantra is to service them and foster great relationships with both current and former clients, as evidenced by our longevity in the business and testimonials we have garnered.  When our clients win, we win.

As Mr. Friedman stated in his voicemails to Mr. Johnson, we intended to give him a refund and have done so.


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