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Report: #1357704

Complaint Review: Very Drone - Pompano Beach Florida

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  • Reported By: Jason H. — Pompano Beach Florida USA
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  • Very Drone 2101 N Federal Hwy d201 Pompano Beach, Florida USA

Very Drone Reviews - Chargeback Fraud by Owners Josh Barth & Benjamin Bardy Very Drone Reviews - Josh Barth & Benjamin Bardy committed chargeback fraud of $1,900.00. Pompano Beach Florida

*Author of original report: Very Drone Reviews Update

*Author of original report: Response to Another Claim by Joshua Barth

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Very Drone Reviews - Chargeback Fraud $1,900.00. 

If you are searching Very Drone Reviews in Pompano Beach, FL; it is critical you take the time to read this. In my opinion this shows the character of the owners. You will see their comments which came from their account along with factual responses which can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt with evidence. I am going to share with you my first hand experience of dealing with Benjamin Bardy & Josh Barth. They have stolen $1,900.00 from my company via chargeback fraud. I will give you their direct reasons why the feel it was OK to steal $1,900.00 from my company. 

I have personally tried calling Josh to work things out prior to going online about my experience and opinion of this company based on the facts outlined below, Josh Barth or Benjamin Bardy's exact words, etc; only to have my call ignored. 

Around July of 2016 Joshua Barth found our website because we rank #1 for very competitive terms relating to SEO company, PPC management, etc. We in no way solicited them, this can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt with phone call tracking software we have. 

In our initial correspodence, there is email proof advising Josh Barth my partner Sergio is a drone enthusiast and is very well known in the drone commmunity, specifically FPV racing. This is a very important point, please keep this in mind. Josh Barth chose to work with us after we gave him a free consultation advising on what he needed to do to fix his website. It was awfully slow which can cause poor conversion rates, it did not have his phone number (and many people like to speak to someone before dropping $2,000 on a drone), etc. They took our suggesstions and came back months later ready to go. 

They were sent a credit card authorization form outlining our terms and conditions. We do not lock clients into contracts, if anyone is unhappy for any reason, all we ask is for a two week cancellation notice. This is more than fair as some companies lock clients into 6 month or yearly contracts. 

I will copy and paste their reasoning for the chargeback fraud of $1,900.00. They never denied stealing our money. In fact, they are hiding behind an attorney who has sent us a cancellation letter. Now they have robbed us of $1,900.00 of our earned money. 

Very Drone Reviews - Why VeryDrone.com, Very Drone, Benjamin Bardy, Joshua Barth Thinks it is OK to do Chargeback Fraud of $1,900.00

Josh Barth or Benjamin Bardy, after we advised the fact we've been robbed of $1,900 for setting up a campaign and investing well over 40 hours of our service into this company, they advised to us on Instagram in a response which we have a screenshot...

From Very Drone - "..Be sure to mention how we paid for your services while you're in direct contact with our competition" - As mentioned previously, Sergio, an avid drone racer buys parts from a company that stocks parts that Very Drone does not carry. So yes, Sergio is in direct contact with another company in the same industry because he buys racing parts that Very Drone does not sell. In fact, Sergio gave the other company (not VeryDrone) a shoutout in a Youtube video for being a local company that carries the parts he needs. This has also been screenshot that they do not carry these parts. Even if VeryDrone.com did indeed sell those parts, it is a free market and Sergio is able to purchase Drone Racing Parts form any website or vendor he chooses too. So as you can see it is obvious why Sergio was in contact with the other company, to buy parts they didn't carry!

"Used advertising to lure in clients" - Yes, all businesses use advertising to lure in new clients. We hope any business does this. (I actually believe but could be wrong the original message said false adverstising when they found us, so go figure, we've been shortlisted for nationwide awards, featured as experts on leading marketing websites, have clients that been with us for 5+ years on a month to month agreement, rank page one #1 for one of the most competitive keywords, etc)

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Their reasons why Chargeback Fraud Was OK Cont.

In a seperate post by Very Drone (Joshua Barth or Benjamin Bardy) - "..how about when you were about to run the campaigns with "DIJ" rather than "DJI" typo, that should of been the first red flag" - We have requested Very Drone to prove this as our campaign manager Dustin actively flies drones and knows how to spell DJI. Very Drone has yet to provide proof of this false claim. This too is Libel. 

"or the fact that campaigns ran late because you were unaware of DJI's Adwords copyright policy" - Each manufacturer has different requirements. Very Drone never mentioned special requirements from DJI as we've never worked on a DJI campaign before.  It is impossible for us to know every single manufacturers requirements. Nonetheless, we went above and beyond...having our Google rep expedite the review process. Emails from Google's team available as evidence to this point. 

"or the fact that Miami SEO headquarter's office is a faux" - Faux definition - made in imitation; artificial. In Jan 2016, we had an amicable partnership dissolution. To this day, we still visit our prior headquarters and have a good working relationship. These things happen in business which I guess Benjamin Bardy & Joshua Barth are not aware of. We have proof of payment for well over 3 years to counter this claim. So this is a blatent lie in an attenpt to spread libel about our business. 

"or the fact that your "main client" is a fake business you own". 100% libel. This business has grown beyond belief and we have plenty of proof. It is now a nationwide leader with sales volume in excess of $500,000.00 per year. This is a very real business with profits coming in. This 100% libel as well. 

"or the fact that a majority of the work in your scope was never completed" 100% libel. We have proof these activities were completed. Futher, we advise our clients they can obtain a refund for any items we are not able to complete due to different CMS's, website codes, not being provided assets like banners for remarketing, etc. The campaign was built and we have emails from Ben indicating his satisfaction. Therefore, this is 100% libel. 

"The list goes on and on..." - Which it does not because they have said nothing else. 100% libel attempting to ruin our reputation due to a misunderstanding pertaining to parts they do not carry and became angered by this. 

Very Drone has not gotten back to us. This has all occured on instagram under the account SurgicalFPV. All their lies which have been quoted above has been screenshotted because they will likely delete this information as it contains libel material about our business and defame our character. 

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Very Drones (Joshua Barth) Communication with Me via Email

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In a private email, which I will not post for Copyright reasons, in short Josh Barth advised they did tell us about their displeasure. This was after 3 months of billable work and a lenghtly setup, Sergio even had a positive phone call with Benjamin Bardy 5 days before their 4th billing date where they requested pricing on additional services. If our services were so horrible as they describe above, why would they request additional pricing? 
 
As stated above, we have a 15 business day cancellation policy. Therefore, we could have charged them again per our credit card authorization agreement. However, we did not as we usually try to work with all of our clients as sometimes circumstances change. 
 
To shorten the original, Joshua Barth advised Sergio knowing the owner of another Drone Shop and possibly sharing confidential and business information did not sit well with his legal team, credit card company, etc. - Once again, VeryDrone.com does not sell Drone Racing Parts. They have no proof of this action. The owner of said competitior tried reaching out to Josh and/or Ben to explain. They wish to turn their backs and not listen. Also, no offense but they really do not have any confidential or business information, they have been open for 3 months. We beg VeryDrone.com to prove we shared any information. Lastly, we never signed an NDA or non-compete agreement. We are able to take on any client of our choosing. If VeryDrone was so worried about us working with a competitor knowing Sergio's interest in racing Drones, perhaps they should have found a company in which no one had any interest in their product. But once again, this is not the case and we beg them to prove us wrong. 
 
Also, Sergio accepting sponsorship and hanging out with the owner of one of our closest competitors and possibly sharing confidential and business information did not fly with our credit card company or our attorney as well. Lost revenue due to shared confidential information with a direct competitor was mentioned by our attorney as well.
 
Joshua Barth continues to argue that we utilized fraudulent advertising techniques by a company we own a percentage of. Records with the State of Florida show the timeline of us working on this account, it growing so fast, we offered the business owner to buy into it. Sunbiz.org can verify this claim as the company is older than our own company. This is the company he previously called fake that is now doing over $500,000 per year in revenue. 
 
Joshua Barth continues to to argue a majority of the work was not completed. Once again (my response taken from above) - 100% libel. We have proof these activities were completed. Futher, we advise our clients they can obtain a refund for any items we are not able to complete due to different CMS's, website codes, not being provided assets like banners for remarketing, etc. The campaign was built and we have emails from Ben indicating his satisfaction. 
 
Joshua Barth continues to advise his traffic was lower since we were brought onto the account. This is correct. The traffic was more targeted as he was getting a 50% conversion rate on the clicks for directions because he (Ben) specifically agreed with Sergio that it would be wise to start on a local budget only. 
 
Joshua Barth continues with lawyer threats. Advising us to expect Cease & Desist. We are sharing our personal experience of being a victim of chargeback fraud and encourage any cease & desist as it will not hold up. We are doing nothing illegal. See below definition for cease and desist. If you commit chargeback fraud against my company, I am letting the world know and encourage other victimes of chargeback fraud to do the same.
 
Cease & Desist - "A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to halt purportedly illegal activity ("cease") and not take it up again later ("desist")." - Wikipedia
 
Joshua Barth continues to indicate we run a Ponzi Scheme! This one made me chuckle. See below for definition of a Ponzi Scheme. I think he meant to say we are a fraud company? Well, we are a Google Partner, featured as experts on leading industry websites, have been shortlisted for 2 national awards under the direction of Sergio & I, outrank every SEO company in Miami at the time fo writing this, have had some of South Florida's most respected business owners for well over 5 years on month to month agreements, etc. Once again, I am happy he had the sense not to make this public as this is another form of libel that would have been added to the list. 
 
Ponzi Scheme - "a form of fraud in which belief in the success of a nonexistent enterprise is fostered by the payment of quick returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors." - Wikipedia
 
Lastly, he advises I should visit the Broward Sheriff's office rather than Pompano Beaches. As I indicated I will be going to the police because in the last 5 years I have been in this industry, no one has ever done chargeback fraud to my company or partners. 
 
You be the judge if you want to support a brand new company who has been around less than a year and already committing this type of Chargeback Fraud on a local business. In my opinion people are smart and educated, they will see what he has done and choose whether they wish to support a business who operates the way VeryDrone.com has elected to operate given the circumstances. 
 

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Very Drone Reviews - How did Very Drone Commit Chargeback Fraud?

From Wikipedia Chargeback Fraud - "Chargeback fraud, also known as friendly fraud, occurs when a consumer makes an online shopping purchase with their own credit card, and then requests a chargeback from the issuing bank after receiving the purchased goods or services"

By definition Josh Barth and/or Benjamin Bardy of Very Drone committed chargeback fraud to the tune of $1,900.00. We worked on the account for around 3 to 4 months. Charged a $1,300.00 setup fee and months of work $600 worth of subsequent management fees. Our credit card authorization form indicates all sales are final and there are absolute no refunds. They violated this agreement among other agreements which they agreed to when signing our document. 

Does the above make it right for Very Drone to do a chargeback of $1,900.00 on every second we put into the account? Is that right? No. It is against the law and known as chargeback fraud by definition. Any reasonable person would likely agree. Keep in mind, we have proof to the contrary of every false piece of libel they are spreading as indicated above. They have spread libel (lies intended to do harm) against our company. We have proof to the contrary on every point mentioned above that they have made public and communicated via email. 

I have worked with well over 300 campaigns in my career  and never had such an unpleasant, unprofessional, negative experience with a client like Joshua Barth or Benjamin Bardy in my life. I know you cannot satisfy everyone but you hope not to get taken advantage of via a chargeback fraud.  Again, I tried calling them but they didn't wish to handle this like businessmen over the phone. Rather, send threats via lawyers when to the contrary, we've done nothing wrong but share our first hand experience. 

Please make your own judgement on whether or not you choose to support a business like this based on the information I provided. 

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 02/22/2017 03:04 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/very-drone/pompano-beach-florida-33062/very-drone-reviews-chargeback-fraud-by-owners-josh-barth-benjamin-bardy-very-drone-re-1357704. 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 Author of original report

Very Drone Reviews Update

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Friday, April 07, 2017

Benjamin Bardy Verydrone Review - Update on Chargeback Fraud Against Our Company

My Ben Bardy Verydrone Review As of 4/7/2017 - The Better Business Bureau has sided in our favor. They have found Verydrone to be in breach of contract despite Verydrone's pathetic attempt at justifying their chargeback fraud / theft. This is why they now have a B-. 

Benjamin Bardy Very Drone has also lost their 1st chargeback. The bank sided with us and returned all the money that Verydrone has wrongfully taken.

Benajamin Bardy doesn't stop with his chargeback fraud against our company. They are knowingly doing false and deceptive advertising as if they have 7 stores in South Florida even though they have one. They are trying to give the perception of a large multi-location company when they have only been in business about one year and have one location. 

Read more about Verydrone Reviews - False & Deceptive Advertising here. 

Benjamin Bardy of Verydrone Inc. has elected to do a second chargeback so the funds were again withdrawn from our account. We have compiled all evidence once again and anticipate on winning the 2nd chargeback they have done as we will release far more detail about their participation in the transaction, the contract they agreed to, the authorization to start work, the delivered work, etc. They tried to hire someone who doesn't even have a website, not featured as an expert, etc; to talk smack about us who has no major industry accomplishments and even confused SEO with PPC. This is laughable.  

TL;DR - Verydrone Inc. lost the first chargeback (banks usually side with cardholder but they sided with us). Verydrone Inc. lost the case with the Better Business Bureau (an unbiased third party who sided with us). This proves what they did is clearly wrong. Benjamin Bardy is actively doing false and deceptive advertising to mislead consumers as if they have over 5 more locations which they do not. 

Simply put, Benjamin Bardy is a total crook in my opinion. His actions disgust me. I will continue spreading the word about Benjamin Bardy's chargeback fraud against my company. He is the ultimate scammer who is trying to use a loophole in the credit card system to attempt to steal money our company earned. We will continue to spread the word about our first hand experience with Verydrone and actively promoting assets to inform the public about what they have done. 

Benjamin Bardy foolishly submitted proof of all the work we've did. Good job Ben Bardy of Verydrone Inc! 

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#1 Author of original report

Response to Another Claim by Joshua Barth

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Wednesday, February 22, 2017

This is not new correspodence from Joshua Barth from VeryDrone, I did not give response to this in the original write-up. Very Drone Reviews - cont. 

"Also, Sergio accepting sponsorship and hanging out with the owner of one of our closest competitors and possibly sharing confidential and business information did not fly with our credit card company or our attorney as well."

Great way to carefully word your sentence. "Possibly." Because you know it never happened and that single word protects you. Sergio (SugicalFPV) is able to race drones whenever he chooses to, wherever he chooses to. If a drone store owner who sells racing parts that you do not attends these racing events, that is fantastic. That is what a business owner should do, attend events where people break parts that he has to sell. Accepting sponsorships from any company occurs when you are up and coming.

When one places 1st place, 1st place, 2nd place in the last 3 sanctioned Multip GP races, it is wise to offer that individual a sponsorship for parts they frequently break as more business will come from the sponsorship. You cannot control what vendors do on their own time or who they hang out with. Lastly, if Very Drone was so concerned about this remote possibly, they should have had their attorney who they seem to be in contact with frequently, request us (or any other marketing company) to sign a non-compete or NDA. 

The credit card companies will allow anyone to dispute anything, for any reason. We are actively fighting the chargeback fraud. Maybe this is their first credit card dispute. Your attorney must not be aware of the entire story, only your biased side which has been dispelled above. There was no confidential information to be shared, there is nothing confidential about their business model which has been around since Lastly, if Very Drone was so concerned about this remote possibly, they should have had their attorney who they seem to be in contact with frequently, request us (or any other marketing company) to sign a non-compete or NDA. 

"Lost revenue due to shared confidential information with a direct competitor was mentioned by our attorney as well."

Prove any information was shared. Fact is, none was shared. Once again, we beg you to prove otherwise. You have a brand new business that has barely done any revenue. The other business has been around longer. What is confidential about a business that re-sells products from the most well known drone manufacturer in the world from a retail space and online store? Surely that can't be confidential.

The other company that sells drone racing parts that your company does not, has been doing adwords since March 2016. They have far more data than you have so you surely are not referring to sharing confidential information about your PPC campaign. Since you do not know about marketing with Adwords, the larger the data sample the more accurate the information. Further, the longer a campaign runs, the more fine tuned it is with negative keyword management, bid settings, historical converesion data, etc. So surely you are not referring to lost revenue via shared confidential adwords information. Once again, if any confidential information being shared was a remote concern, this should have been communicated. Further, you should have requested our company to sign a non-compete or NDA, which you did not. 

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