Trying to get a refund for advertising

shailesh

I need some help.

I had a call 6 weeks ago about advertising my business on a website. It's a complimentary site, I asked what I thought were all the right questions in terms of visitors, other advertisers etc.

I was given a 4 month trial and was guaranteed 35 sales per month or they would give me an extra 3 months free. Looking at the figures I only needed a small amount of these each month to cover my costs.

It sounded good so I took the plunge. 6 weeks in, only a dozen click throughs and not a single sale. We've had a couple of conversations about this, and some tweaks have been made to where the ad appears and how.

I rang again today to enquire about the possibility of cancelling and receiving a refund and was refused. I was told if this had been discussed in the first call then yes, I was given a great rate etc etc.

I've turned around and said I am prepared to go to just over half-way through the four months, but if there still is not a single sale then I will want cancellation and refund.

It seems obvious to me that he will not entertain a refund even in a few weeks. Where do I stand?

Any help appreciated.

CKdesigner

Hi, Sorry to hear your story. We get calls from people wanting us to advertise with them online or other places all the time. We always ask them to put it in writing and then we would consider their offer, very rarely does anyone ever do this!

If you haven't got their promises of the extra business in writing then I think you will have trouble getting a refund. Did you get a contract to sign? If so have a good look at it, but it is probably going to be all on their side. I don't believe any advertising company could ever offer guaranteed extra business!

On a brighter note - have you seen www.freeindex.co.uk its a free directory website. We have had a listing for the last 4 months and have had quite a few click throughs. Anything for free is worth ago!

bordercars

sorry to hear this, it's all to common. all us ordinary folk se working hard and then a ltd co offers us stuff with all the back up of a legal team, what chance do we stand. have a read of my thread here.. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1430109

i spent just over a grand, the ad is still running, it had a specific line in it that would identify it , guess what not one reply, a hard way to learn but now i just say my advertising budget has been set, and spent for this fiscal year.

paulwf

Check the written contract, but if you have paid upfront it doesn't sound good

Online advertising is tricky as anyone can and will set up a listings site using off the peg templates, and they can look very impressive. Be wary of numbers as they are not independently verified and even if they are website statistics generally don't mean much (but that's a whole other topic).

Either stick to advertising on sites that you use yourself and so know are good, or better still if you have a webshop start up an affiliate scheme. This is where for every sale generated from a clickthrough from the site they get a referral payment from you (usually a percentage). You get to pay out only on results so if the site doesn't have effective advertising it wouldn't cost you anything.

pelirocco

bordercars wrote: »

sorry to hear this, it's all to common. all us ordinary folk se working hard and then a ltd co offers us stuff with all the back up of a legal team, what chance do we stand. have a read of my thread here.. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1430109

i spent just over a grand, the ad is still running, it had a specific line in it that would identify it , guess what not one reply, a hard way to learn but now i just say my advertising budget has been set, and spent for this fiscal year.

Lol thats what I say , they very rarely have an arguement for this excuse

shailesh

Thanks for the replies. I'm realising it's going to be one of those lessons that you learn from, albeit an expensive one.

This was one of the first calls I had like this and I guess I got drawn in. I have it in writing that I will be given 3 months free advertising if targets are not met, but thats pointless if it doesn't lead to any sales.

Funnily enough I too now just say that my advertising budget has been used up.

zax47

shailesh wrote: »

I need some help.

I had a call 6 weeks ago about advertising my business on a website. It's a complimentary site, I asked what I thought were all the right questions in terms of visitors, other advertisers etc.

I was given a 4 month trial and was guaranteed 35 sales per month or they would give me an extra 3 months free. Looking at the figures I only needed a small amount of these each month to cover my costs.

It sounded good so I took the plunge. 6 weeks in, only a dozen click throughs and not a single sale. We've had a couple of conversations about this, and some tweaks have been made to where the ad appears and how.

I rang again today to enquire about the possibility of cancelling and receiving a refund and was refused. I was told if this had been discussed in the first call then yes, I was given a great rate etc etc.

I've turned around and said I am prepared to go to just over half-way through the four months, but if there still is not a single sale then I will want cancellation and refund.

It seems obvious to me that he will not entertain a refund even in a few weeks. Where do I stand?

Any help appreciated.

TouchLocal by any chance?

An interesting thread about these (alleged) thieves with sharp business practices (lying on the phone about "trial periods" and repeat debits of credit cards and bank accounts) here;

TouchLocal Help needed - from Digital Spy forums

It's worth a read!