Amazing Pet Expos A E Group, LLC Canceled Pet Expo and Won't Refund Booth Fees or Expenses, Despite Promises of "the Check Is In the Mail" Nationwide

While I know that the back-and-forth on this could go on indefinitely, I've responded the best that I can to the facts that surround this complaint. 

Our BBB grade is an A and the remaining "facts" that Ms. Halbert refers to are heresay, taken out of context and based on opinion - they are not factual in nature. At no point have I personally insulted her - or anyone else, for that matter - and I have no plans to start doing so now.

I do believe that posts like this and her other online allegations dated on Friday (2-20) were in retaliation for our filing suit against her and her companies on 2-19-2015. In fact, nothing would have been said by me publicly at all if not to offer a brief defense to the serious allegations Ms. Halbert makes against both and me and my company in this forum.

At this point, I've said all that I can to address Ms. Halnbert's allegations and will trust the courts to determine the outcome of how the matter is handled.

I really am sorry that the situation deteriorated to this point - there was no need for it to; in my opinion, situations like this do nothing but give a 'black eye' to the entire pet community and it saddens me to be a part of this kind of dispute - there are so many positives in the pet community and it's those efforts that I wish we could solely focus on. 

Again, I'm happy to address this directly with whomever would like to contact me. I can be reached at 314-481-7342 ext 106 and srilenge@amazingexpos.com.

Kindest Regards,

Sheila Rilenge, President and CEO

Hmm.  There are so many falsehoods and half-truths in the reply from Sheila Rilenge of Amazing Pet Expos (A E Group, LLC) that it's difficult to know where to begin, so I guess I'll just address them point by point.  Sorry for being so lengthy.

1) I looked up the case record she listed, and indeed, as of *today*, she appears to have filed in small claims court against me in St. Louis.  I also noticed that as of today, their company is involved in 3 other suits in just the last 2 months alone, as either plaintiff or respondant (go to , courts.mo.gov/casenet/cases/nameSearch.do and type in the business name "A E Group" without the quotation marks).  I have not received any formal notice of filing.  I will be *happy* to respond in court, where documents and facts will be made a matter of public record.  I will, of course, be requesting a change of venue, since our business was conducted here in California.

2) They did in fact notify exhibitors of the cancelation on 11/28/14, via a generic group distribution email which went to spam folders for many people due to it's generic language.  Subsequent investigation reveals that they likely knew that the event wouldn't happen earlier than that date and failed to notify us.  The venue canceled their reservation 11/21/14 for non-payment.  Plus they never did the promised advertising, which suggests possible knowledge even sooner.

3) Sheila did in fact respond to my first email quickly, making vague promises that things would be put right, but without any details.  I had in the meantime begun to research her company and discovered that this last minute cancelation was a pattern and that many would-be exhibitors received vague promises but no refunds without a protracted struggle.  (See the Better Business Bureau listing for the company at , bbb.org/stlouis/business-reviews/trade-shows-expositions-and-fairs/a-e-group-in-saint-louis-mo-310466334/complaints )  So I basically said that I hoped she'd do the right thing, but I was in wait-and-see mode until she delivered on promises.  Because the reason given for the last minute cancelation had to do with political/social unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, and the details didn't entirely match up, I did say to her that her stated explanation "strained credibility."  When she responded in a righteous fury, I decided to apologize and give her the benefit of the doubt, since at that time I did not have hard facts at that time to back up that statement.

4) My one media appearance on a local news station was part of a news story about how local businesses and residents had been affected by the Pet Expo cancelation.  I said *nothing* negative about her company, on or off camera, and simply explained how I had been impacted.  The news report *did* include the cancelation email from Amazing Pet Expos, which I provided to them, and the report included a quote from Sheila.  At the time of that filming, I had not received any specific refund offer from Sheila.  Sheila emailed *later* saying that the booth fees would be refunded at a later date, and that she might be able to include my other expenses in an insurance claim she said she was filing.  I again took a wait-and-see response.

5) I sent her copies of my receipts plus detailed spreadsheets, per her request, immediately via email, fax, and certified letter.  She acknowledged receipt.  I did provide a letter saying that "All included items were purchased and/or made for the sole purpose of using them or selling them at the December 6, 2014 Sacramento Pet Expo.  At this time, I do not have any events or promotional opportunities scheduled, or any sales venues available, which would allow me to use these materials elsewhere."  It was *my* idea to remove business card expenses and a branded logo apparel for myself from the list of expenses, since I did feel that although I would not have ordered them at that time or in that quantity, I would be able to use them somehow.  I chose not to say that I *couldn't* use the other items anywhere else, because I didn't know, and felt that I would be forced to try to find some use for some of them, even if I had to take a loss, or wait 6 months or a year to find another way to use them.   

6) I was part of an email discussion (not initiated by me) between a couple dozen vendors affected by the cancelation.  We were sharing information, concerns, etc.  I made no untrue statements.  The email which Sheila refers to was an email from someone else with a subject line "Anyone heard from Sheila TODAY?" [emphasis added] to which I responded "Nothing yet," which was true at the time I wrote it.  Sheila did not mention her concerns to me until weeks later (after already falsely promising to issue a booth fee refund), and I responded by email to her and her attorney, and provided them screen shots of every single email I had sent in that private discussion, to show that I had not said anything untrue.  I did not include copies of other peoples' emails because I was unsure of the legality of sharing things not written by me.  And guess what?  Even if she disagrees with anything I wrote, it doesn't change the fact that her company owes me a refund, and she lied about issuing that refund.

7) On 12/12/14 (10 days after this email which supposedly upset her), she told me that the booth fee refund check would go in the mail via UPS on 12/15/14.  

8) She did not respond to my subsequent emails asking for updates on the whereabouts of the promised check until 12/23/14, when she made false allegations about me and referred all further communications to her attorney. 

9) On 1/13/15 I emailed her attorney and copied her, sharing my portion of all my private communications to prove that her allegations were false, and giving a deadline for my promised refund of 1/27/15.  I have never had any response -- no email, no letter, no nothing --  from her or her attorney, until her (indirect) rebuttal here today.  

10) She appears to have filed suit against me today after I posted a public accounting of what transpired.  She also filed suit against another vendor who chose to speak out about the last minute cancelation of *another* pet expo.   

11) Another small business owner tweeted a link to this Ripoff Report today, and within hours received an email from William Rilenge saying that his attorney had alerted him to her tweet, and implying that she could be entangled in legal proceedings because of her tweet, so she should contact him.  Huh? 

To sum up:  Sheila Rilenge, and Amazing Pet Expos, canceled a pet expo within one week of the scheduled event (not for the first time).  They promised refunds which only materialized for a few of the would-be exhibitors.  I attempted to resolve this matter in good faith directly with Amazing Pet Expos, and it is only after not hearing from them for over a month that I posted a true, factual, *verifiable* account of my experience online here and with the Better Business Bureau (my complaint there won't be publicly listed until the business has a chance to respond).  They responded to public complaints with outright lies and with personal insults.  I urge people to read all the information available both here and elsewhere, written by me and others, and decide for themselves.  All I want is the refund which was promised.   The facts and documentation will bear me out.  

In the past five years, we’ve been able to touch the lives of more than a million people and their pets who’ve attended our events; we firmly believe that it’s our positive relationships and partnerships with the entire pet community that have allowed us to make such inroads in the communities we serve.

As part of that, we’ve made it our policy to avoid saying negative things about other businesses who we know are usually just trying their best in what can be a very tough industry. Unfortunately we’ve been put in a position where we have to defend the false and/or factually incorrect statements made above.

There are so many things that could be said in response to Eden Halbert's complaint, owner of Sierra Dogs and Sierra Luna Photography, but rather than make allegations that can't be independetly verified, I'll only refer to the facts surrounding this issue. Readers should also be aware that suit has been filed against Ms. Halbert in the City of St. Louis (Circuit 22, Division 27) with case #1522-5100056. This can be easily verified by calling the City of St. Louis' Circuit Clerk's office.

On 11-28-2014, our company, Amazing Pet Expos, was forced to cancel the scheduled Sacramento Pet Expo due to issues beyond our control.

I made it my business to personally contact every exhibitor, as well as immediately respond when contacted by anyone with an interest in the event cancellation. I addressed exhibitor concerns around-the-clock and did everything in my power to quickly issue full refunds and also do whatever I could to assist our exhibitors with any other challenges they may have faced from the cancellation. As a result, we've made some wonderful new friends in the area and also strengthened a number of relationships.

With that said, from the very first contact that I had with Ms. Halbert, she was abusive and condescending to the extent that I've rarely dealt with. More than once, Ms. Halbert would apologize to me after an email exchange because she knew the statements she'd made were out-of-line and unprofessional - not to mention incredibly insensitive and hurtful. 

After the event cancellation, on 12-2, Ms. Halbert created posts online, contacted local Sacramento media outlets and made statements on television (that she lost more than $5,000 from the event’s cancellation, that she had no idea if she’d recoup any costs, etc.), none of which reflected the fact that she had already agreed to a satisfactory resolution with both me and our company by Sunday, 11-30. I immediately contacted her by phone and asked why she'd appear on the news, etc, when she'd already been pleased with how I'd resolved the matter (or so she'd said) and then why she didn't provide her interviewer with that informaton as well. I was told that she did tell that "part of the story," but the news station chose to leave that out of the story. As someone who works with the media before every event (and as of today, we've produced 99 large events), I could believe that, and so I gave her the benefit of the doubt.

I agreed to quickly issue her a full refund, advocate on her behalf by including her expenses in our event cancellation insurance claim, and a number of other benefits - all of which she accepted on 11-30. 

When I requested that Ms. Halbert provide me with an affadavit on her letterhead which stated that the items she purchased for our event could not be utilized for any other purpose and, as a result, caused her a loss that could not be recouped, she refused to include that language. She did provide me with a letter that stated that she purchased items for our event - but she would not affirm that these items could not be used otherwise. Although the claim that she purchased materials for our event which were now useless and caused her a major hardship was the crux of her media interview and other public statements, when it came down to it, she wouldn't state that in writing for our insurance company. Then once I received copies of her invoices to provide to our insurance company, I saw that much of what she purchased included branded t-shirts, business cards and other materials that are typically utilized in the course of doing business. 

I continued assisting Ms. Halbert and had even processed her refund check, when I was contacted by a fellow exhibitor who wanted to make me aware of Ms. Halbert's actions behind the scenes, so to speak.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, Ms. Halbert has been promoting her media appearance online and via email; she was part of a large email chain of affected exhibitors and when numerous exhibitors began posting that they'd heard from me and that it appeared as if I was doing my best to resolve everyone's concerns, on 12-2, Ms. Halbert then posted that she hadn't heard from me. I had spoken to her by both email and phone no less than 12 times at that point.

I was shocked and upset and didn't immediately respond to Ms. Halbert's next message because I wanted to ensure that I didn't react emotionally. I did then respond to Ms. Halbert, told her that I had been contacted by others and was in receipt of a number of her emails to others that had been forwarded to me and, at that point, under the circumstances, she needed to work with our attorney instead. I never heard from her directly again - I assume (hoped) because she was embarrassed by her actions. And, yes, I then held her refund because I suspected that our damages would far outweigh what she'd initially paid us - I'd let the courts decide.

We then filed suit against both Ms. Halbert as an individual and her businesses. Those are the facts and I'm quite confident that, through the correct legal channels, Ms. Halbert will have to answer for her actions. Until that time, if you're reading this, I urge you to please carefully consider the entire situation before assuming that what Ms. Halbert is saying is true.

We would not have wasted the time, money or resources to file suit against Ms. Halbert if we didn't have the documentation to back up every single statement that I've made. Fortunately, civil suits are public record so others can see the evidence as well if our credibility is in question. 

In the meantime, I would be happy to discuss this issue with whomever would like to contact me directly. I can be reached at 314-481-7342 ext 106 or at srilenge@amazingexpos.com.

Sincerely,
Sheila Rilenge, President and CEO