Starmedia Communications Non-Paying Agency! Dollard-des-Ormeaux Quebec

I would like to weigh in on this page. Over the years, I have worked with Moe and Rockstar on fourteen (14) projects to date, including three (3) nationals throughout Canada and two (2) in the US. Moe and his team have always delivered! His work ethic and attention to detail is unmatched, and this is also reflected in his staff.

RipOffReport.com is a site to discuss companies that have defrauded, neglected payment, or ripped off others. If the Starmedia communications company falls in this category, then the initial report has every right to be here. I think Moe was respectful to not mention Starmedias owners name in his first post, but it is shameful that the Alex C attempted to slander Moe & Rockstars name to cover up for his own faults. Ignoring personal privacy by using his full name and visiting his familys home shows a major lack of professionalism and conflict resolution skills. Alex Cs rebuttal was written with the intent to hurt Moes reputation, instead of written to address and rectify the ripoff report against his company. How a person deals with conflict speaks volumes about their character. Based on his rebuttal, it is clear that Alex C has yet to learn proper tact or basic customer service skills.

Also, any agency that has not provided street marketing services in the past should clearly understand what they are getting into. Covered posters are part of the business. It happens every single day, but any good crew (like rockstar), will get them back quickly. If Alex C and his staff were not prepared to accept this, they never should have tried to venture into street marketing.

Ive worked with Moe & Rockstar for many years and offer my absolute highest praise. It is rare any of us get the opportunity to work with someone as creative and hard-working as Moe Arora.

If Mr Cholela and his Starmedia company want to gain some form of positive reputation back, they should try to actually resolve this matter, and not point the finger back as a blanket excuse.

I worked at Starmedia for a few months. I got the job through a friend who worked there too but we both left because the environment wasnt comfortable anymore. I only had a problem getting paid once, but it was fixed in a few days. I didnt leave because of money problems but the environment there became uncomfortable and there was a lot of tension there everyday. The thing about the staff changes is kind of true. I think theres maybe only 1 guy who was there for long but I saw a few people come and go while I worked there. The thing about Alex visiting the parent's house is really too bad if it's true. A few of us used to wonder if he was involved in something else, but a lot of people have that gino personality so I thought maybe it was just the way he talked but I didnt think anything more of it. Hes very charming with customers and employees but theres also a lot of internal problems at starmedia and they not really handled too well so maybe this was just one of those situations that got out of hand. I dont really think Alex tries to be a bad person but he does get in over his head sometimes and doesnt handle things the way he should.

Richard, if you had properly read the entire discussion, you would realize that he found my parents' address on my employment records - it was not my company's billing address. I used to use their address on employment records at a time I was moving around and needed a fixed address. Please make sure you read carefully, and understand the full situation before forming an opinion.

And your mention of it makes it seem as if it's okay to make late-night visits to anyone's home to resolve a heated dispute. Your disregard for an inexcusable action causes me to not take your post seriously.

As I stated earlier, I have no doubt that there are some clients who have good relationships with Alex Cholella and Starmedia Communications. However, I also know my own experience and those of others whom have contacted me since my initial posting; so I do know I am not alone with my terrible experience.

My initial post was a simple post on a website that's main purpose it to share stories of companies that have ripped off consumers and vendors. Seeing that Alex Cholella had ripped me off; I decided to share my story. I would much rather have received the money rather than participate in a back-and-forth debate with anonymous keyboard aliases, who may or may not be aliases of Alex Cholella supporting himself.

Again, I can respect those whom may have had a good working relationship with Starmedia Communications; HOWEVER, to try and attack me for sharing my experience only counters your point, as it shows your support is blind and without fair and proper judgment.

As I stated in my previous post, I am not interested in getting into a juvenile game of finger-pointing with Alex Cholella. I am simply providing you with facts of my unfortunate experience with him.

Of the people whom have contacted me to share their bad experiences; none were as sever as mine. Maybe my experience was the worst side of Alex Cholella which he rarely shows; however, does it justify his actions with me? No, it doesn't.

The point of the initial report is to share my experience and give fair warning to others; not to go back-and-forth with anonymous people. For that reason, I won't bother replying to those that offer nothing to the actual situation. The next time I update, it will only be to indicate if Alex Cholella reaches out to me, to agree to some kind of mutual agreement. Until he does so; I hope others read through this thoroughly and can understand my experience.

Thanks

I've been in business for the last 15 years and have been working with Starmedia for the last 5 years only to say good things about there firm. I would like to take this opportunity to say that I have worked with many advertising agencies over the years and have never run across one as professional and honestly as Alex Cholella and his team at Starmedia Communications.

This post show me 100% lack of professionalism by Mr. Moe Arora. If he is a serious businessman he would take Starmedia Communications to court like any other businessman would do rather then play games online. How serious is this company to even have is mothers address for billing.....

This is completely out of my code of ethics. My deepest sympathy to Mr. Alex Cholella and his team at Starmedia Communications. CONTINUE THE GREAT WORK!!!

In response to the commercial printer who posted above, Dan - he was the same printer who delivered us the posters for this campaign. Although my experience with Dan was brief, I know other design agencies who work with him and have heard great things about him and his professionalism.

I respect Dans support of his longtime client, and am sure he has a good relationship with them; although this truly was a worst-case-scenario-type experience that I had with Alex Cholella and Starmedia Communications, and deemed it necessary to post as fair warning to others.

When filing my initial report about Starmedia Communications on RipoffReport.com, I made a very conscious effort to exclude the owners name out of a respect for his personal privacy.

Unfortunately, the owner of this agency decided not to show the same level of class, and decided to post my name in a weak attempt to divert attention away from his negative reputation.

Thankfully, a few people whom have come across this post since his reply have found me online and contacted me about my experiences with Starmedia Communications. Some shared similar stories of payment dilemmas, while others told me they were in talks with the owner of Starmedia Communications, Alex Cholella, and asked me for more insight before they continue.

Ive decided to post an update in reply to Alexs post above, in hopes to help even more people before getting into bad business with Alex Cholella and Starmedia Communications.

*** Quick heads up: this post is quite lengthy, however its important that I address a few issues so Ill break down the paragraphs so you can read through it easily.


Alex Cholella and Daniel M (the marketing rep he had delegated this account to) called me frantically one afternoon while I was attending an event in Toronto, panicking that their client was driving around the city and did not see any of their posters in the locations which I confirmed were done. I immediately contacted my street team members about this issue, while reminding Starmedia Communications that due to the nature of street postering, competitors often cover posters without second-thought, and that is why we keep a reserve of extra posters to recover those areas.

Alex Cholella called me back after a few hours, yelling, that the client had torn the posters down and saw nothing underneath, other than the bare boards, and claimed that my team had not posted any posters at all.

Within a few hours, the street team supervisor emailed me a video showing the EXACT same boards that the client checked (the posters he tore were visible in the video). Turns out, the client had torn straight to the board. He didnt bother peeling away the top layer.

My team members peeled away the top layer, revealing that the posters we posted on behalf of the client were in fact there, only to have been covered by someone else. All of this is documented on video, which I sent to Alex Cholella, Daniel M and their client.

I still have that video.

Thankfully, I resolved the clients panic quickly, and we had those boards recovered within a few hours; at which time the client himself apologized for overreacting. This situation could have easily been avoided, had Alex Cholella and Daniel M communicated calmly with their client and I; as opposed to panicking due to their failure to understand my previous notices of this common occurrence.

I reminded Alex Cholella and Daniel M that in the initial agreement, as well as in several emails, I continuously repeated that in street postering, competitors covering our posters is a common dilemma, however this is why we kept a reserve of additional posters, in order to compensate for situations like this. I also asked that the both of them remember that as professionals, they must manage their clients emotions professionally, rather than fueling them with misunderstandings and assumptions.

Keeping on that point, as Alex Cholella mentioned I was in fact in Toronto at the time, attending a trade event. His inference that I had left without notice or that I abandoned them, is 100% completely inaccurate, as he was well aware of my trip. Not only did I tell him about my short trip, but he also referenced it several times, to the point where he even told me the timing or length of my trip was not a problem at all, and in the event that I returned early, to come to a party so I can meet the client in person.

I repeatedly mentioned that if Alex or Daniel cannot get a hold of me at first call, then to simply leave a message or send me a text message, and call them back. His comment that they were only able to get in touch with me the next day is 100% false, as I walked out of a conference seminar to answer their call, since I noticed they were calling me non-stop for 30 minutes. I was not unable to get a hold of until the next day - I made myself available and resolved the situation the same day.

Anyhow, even though the situation with the client was resolved that same evening, I decided to cut my trip short and head back to Montreal to attend to them since Alex Cholella and Daniel M were both proving incapable of managing their client.

Through our email and text messaging correspondence, I have FULL PROOF of all of this.

Regarding his comment that I was working for another firm and not attending their needs - this is an outrageous comment, as I went out of my way, providing Starmedia Communications with 24/7 service, as well as going beyond my contracted duties to compensate for Alex Cholella & Daniel Ms incompetence.

This was not a major campaign by any means, and yet, I had to babysit Alex Cholella & Daniel Ms needs more than nearly any client I have ever worked with. The amount of attention they required is usually something given to the provincial and national campaigns I work on - not short-term, local contracts. Regardless, I make it a point to give every project my 110%, and I did just that for my contract with Starmedia Communications.

This campaign required this level of attention, not because the campaign was highly demanding, but rather because Starmedia Communications focuses more on obtaining clients than they do on managing and servicing them. This behavior results in overwhelming demand on a small staff that simply cannot deliver - one of the many problems that plagues Starmedia causing its employee turnover to be as high as it is.

Since this was the first time Starmedia Communications was doing any form of street marketing, I made myself readily available to them, to assist in any way I can. I even gave them a lower rate because Alex Cholella insisted that he was seeking out more clients to offer street marketing services, and wanted us to build a long-term business relationship.

For this reason, I knew this initial contract with Starmedia Communications was important and I made myself fully available to him and his client (even to the point of answering their phone calls and text messages in the middle of the night), while offering a much lower rate which barely did any more than cover my costs.


In response to Alex Cholellas comment: his small business is too small for his competition - Alex Cholella and Starmedia Communications are the ONLY client that we ever had this problem with.

Over the past 4 years, we have worked with businesses ranging from small, local businesses to major national and international corporations - we have always delivered. Never once have we dealt with as much incompetence as we did with Starmedia Communications.

The simple fact is that Alex Cholella and Daniel M simply could not manage their account (street marketing was only a portion of a larger contract that this client hired Starmedia Communications for).

Their account spiraled out of control due to their own mismanagement of an overall branding campaign, which they failed to deliver on. Alex Cholellas attempt to point the finger elsewhere is just one of the many indicators of his irresponsibility
and the overall unprofessional atmosphere at Starmedia Communications.

Rather than resolving his debt with me, as he should, he has decided to weave deeper into his web of deceitful behavior.

After weeks of chasing Alex Cholella for payment, I finally received a partial payment - which unfortunately bounced.

Upon my follow-up of this bounced cheque, Alex told me that his marketing rep, Daniel M, had cheated him and was now working for the client that this campaign was for.

Alex Cholella detailed how he discovered that Daniel M was working with the client behind his back and is the reason this campaign spiraled out of control.

After telling me this story, Alex asked if I could understand his situation. I told him I could and that I would give him a some more time to gather the remainder of the payment.

Despite the extra time I gave him and my several attempts at collecting, he never paid. He cowardly screened and avoided all my calls, attempting to ignore his debt.

From reading his above response, I find it incredible that Alex Cholella conveniently forgot to even reference Daniel M; since his excuse to me placed Daniel M as the primary reason for this entire dilemma.

I know this post is already quite lengthy, however there is one more issue I would like to mention which I believe is vital to make public knowledge due to how incredibly unprofessional and highly immoral it is.

*** A few days after I posted my initial post on RipoffReport.com in January 2009, I received a phone call from my mother (yes, my mother), saying that Alex Cholella had made a late night visit to my parents home "looking for me". (He had access to their address as I used to use it as my permanent residence on employment records.)

He did not call or email me to discuss my post on RipoffReport.com - instead he decided to make a late night visit to (what he assumed was) my residence.

Visiting a persons home in an attempt to intimidate is amongst the most irresponsible and immoral actions thinkable. Regardless of what excuse he may possibly reply with, it is an inexcusable action, that even those with little sense know better not to do.

My mother was understandably shaken up, and even more worried about why someone like Alex would be looking for me. I assured her it was nothing to panic about and emailed him the following day to confront him about this highly improper action.

Rather than addressing his cowardly attempt at intimidation, he instead tried deferring the conversation by demanding that I remove my post on RipoffReport.com or I will be sorry. I replied, telling him I would be more than willing to post a positive update to my initial report if he was willing to come to some form of agreement and understanding (even if it was only half of what he owes me). He sent me a one-worded reply and was only heard from again when he posted his above rebuttal, 8 months later.

By the way, in that email, he also demanded that I remove all posts on Craigslist attacking Starmedia Communications. My post on RipoffReport.com was the only form of online complaint I have ever made about Starmedia Communications, LogoTree, About Logo Design, E Company Logos or Express Logo Design.

His comment proved that there are in fact others who have decided to speak out about their disgust with Alex Cholella and Starmedia Communications.

I emailed him rather than called or visited, because as Ive learned, when dealing with Alex Cholella/Starmedia Communications, it is vital to keep records and proof of all communication with him, to ensure he cannot go back on his words.

I have kept copies of every email, SMS text message and Blackberry Messenger conversation that I have had with Alex Cholella, his staff and his client. If something was said over the phone, I would summarize it over an email that I would send the same day.

I still have all that proof.

If you are already involved with Alex Cholella, Starmedia Communications, LogoTree, About Logo Design, E Company Logos or Express Logo Design, make sure to keep records of all communication with him to ensure that you have proof when he attempts to change his story.

If, for some reason, you are considering working for Alex Cholella (under any of his company names) make sure to enter a P.O Box number on your employment records so he doesnt surprise you, or any of your relatives, with his wannabe goon impression, late at night.

Let be clear, I am not interested in getting into a juvenile game of finger-pointing with Alex Cholella. I am simply providing you with facts of my unfortunate experience with him, which I can easily back up with proof.

He didnt pay, he lied, he still didnt pay, and then when I posted about his non-payment, he visited my parents home looking for me - and then 8 months later decided to post a rebuttal without mentioning the excuse he fed me about his marketing rep being the reason for our dilemma.

I would prefer to actually resolve this issue with Alex/Starmedia, rather than post about it, however my attempts to do so went ignored.

If Alex/Starmedia is ever interested in finally resolving this issue, I will gladly post an update indicating so.

Sorry for the lengthy post, however as you can see there's much more to this story and I wanted to make sure I addressed everything to give fair warning to others. Nobody else should have to experience the same problems I had dealing with Alex Cholella and Starmedia Communicatons.

I am a commercial printer and have been associated with Starmedia for the past 7 or 8 years. I have nothing but praise for their professionalism and business practices. I find this report to be completely out of carachter for their company and highly improbable. They have created several art projects for me, and have always acted in a professional and knowledgeable fashion. IOney has never been an issue. I am certain for every malcontent, Starmedia has created hundreds of satisfied and long standing clients and suppliers.

Rockstar Branded / Moe Arora was hired for postering around the city from May 26 2008 to June 27 2008. We gave them a 50% deposit to start work. Within the first 3 weeks our client noticed that our agreement was not being respected from Rockstar Branded. We were advised that there were no posters up in the city. I took the initiative to drive around the city to the following locations which the street marketing was supposed to be taking place:

- Downtown core (Rene-Levesque W & Atwater to

Sherbrooke St E

& Berri)
- GayVillage
- Plateau/Mile-End
- St. Michel
- Park Extension
- Villeray
- Chinatown
- St. Henri
- St. Jacques
- Border of Old Montreal
- Point St. Charles

We discovered that our client was right. There were no posters up, which we documented with photos. We tried to contact Mr. Moe Arora but as he claims he was in Toronto in business meetings, we were unable to get a hold of him until the next day. With time we came to realize that Mr Moe Arora was working for another firm and not attending to our needs, much as he did while working briefly at Starmedia. Mr Moe Arora apologized as his competition was sabotaging our street marketing, postering over the few posters that were put up. We gave him another try but there was no way a little company like Rockstar Branded could compete with their competitors as the competition has the manpower to cover over the little work that they actually do. We then agreed to pay another 25% but stopped the work on June 2 2008. The final 25% cheque was issued but then cancelled as the work Mr Arora promised was never completed nor was it done professionally. We still dont agree that we should have paid him 75% as we estimate the total number of posters put up were less than 45% of the contract. As you can see we are not dealing with a professional hence our rebuttal on Ripoff Report.

 

To conclude, never hire Rockstar Branded for your street level marketing in Montral because as Mr Moe Arora claims on this report his small business is too small for his competition.

Also if anyone would like to hire Mr Moe Arora for employment, be advised that he likes to collect a paycheque while working for his own company while dedicating very little time to his supposed employment