The Tribe Michael Steinberg Screw Am. Firms with Small Flacid Scam Rancho Santa Margarita, California

In response:
1. It is and was pointless to supply more information to the rep hunting firm because there is nothing it can do.

2. I  have been in sales for more than 20 years - I am well aware what it takes to both  sell and to generate real orders. Taking months to do so is not the problem - taking money, not communicating, not responding to emails, phone calls, failing to file a single solitary report of activity is.

3. There is a signed agreement by the way but its strength is directly dependent on our desire to spend thousands of dollars to enforce it. Like any agreement, it requires the good will and intent of the signatories.

4. I did receive one phone call finally, a voice mail message that said our money and merchandise would be returned at the end of October. It is now November 21st - no check, no merchandise, no more phone calls; no emails.

I am the President of Manufafcturers-Representatives.com and I would like to shed some additional insight into this matter.  Our service connects Manufacturers with Independent Sales Reps from virtually all industries.  Unfortunately, we were unaware of this situation until after this report was posted online or we would have tried to help resolve this issue earlier.

We maintain a high level of integrity for all of our Manufacturing and Rep clients and we actually turn down clients every day that we feel do not fit or represent our service well.  If any of our clients ever feel there is suspicious activity by any company or sales rep, we always highly encourage them to notify us right away with any details so that we can investigate the matter and try to help resolve the issue quickly.

In this particular case, Gary notified us that he found the Sales Rep, Michael Steinberg, of Road Warriors through our service.  Gary said he paid a $1000 retainer for this reps services and that Steinberg had not made any sales, had not returned his calls or emails, and was a rip off artist.  Gary then asked us to cancel his account with our service, which we did right away.

When we reviewed this issue, we found that only 2 months had passed between the time Michael Steinberg first contacted Gary and the time this complaint report was posted online.  I personally emailed Gary and cautioned him that, depending on the circumstances and the industry, it is not uncommon for it to take 3-4 months to begin receiving sales for a new product line.  Next, I asked Gary if he had a signed Rep Agreement or Contract with Steinberg before he paid him the $1000 retainer.  Paying a retainer is not uncommon, however, we always highly recommend having a signed Rep Agreement in place prior to paying any Retainer Fees or shipping any valuable Product Samples.  With a signed contract in place, you are able to protect yourself legally if someone does not provide a service you paid for.  I went on to ask Gary to provide more details including what date he agreed to work with Steinberg, what date he sent the retainer, and the estimated value of any product samples that were sent.

We also contacted the Rep, Michael Steinberg, at the same time with a summary of this complaint.  Steinberg had only been registered with our service for a short time and had not received any prior complaints.  We instructed him to contact Gary right away and we informed him that his Rep account had been Inactivated and would remain this way until Gary confirmed this matter was resolved.

In the end, neither party responded to our inquiries.  Garys account was closed as he requested and Steinbergs account has been permanently inactivated.