Have any of you had problems with this company?

They have come highly recommended by Mike Litman and others.

Here's what happened.

They set me up to sell my book. Everything is ready, or so I think.

I sell two of them. Then I received an e-mail from a US client telling me he didn't received my book, and he bought it 19 days ago. Turns out they didn't even ship it. Same thing for my other client. Why? I have no frickin' idea. They did not tell me why.

Everything was flawless on my end. I can't wait to hear this one explained.

They never told me there was a problem or a time constraint. They never sent me an e-mail to say that it would be shipped later than it was supposed to.

I could have gotten in hot water with the FTC for breaking the 30-day rule...
I sent them an e-mail a few days after the first one was to be shipped, asking for a confirmation that it did go out. I got no reply.

On my ''Thank You Page'' I specify that the book is sent out within 24-72 hours (that is what they told me). A few weeks later, and they still haven't been shipped. Pay several hundred dollars for a book only to wait. I look like an idiot.

Good thing I trusted my gut and took things slowly with them to start with. Make a few sales and see how it goes. Ouch.

I am ticked.

Here are the lessons:

1 - Take things slowly with new companies, even if they come highly recommended.

2 - Always trust your gut. My instinct has always been right.

I'll keep you posted on developments, if there is an interest.

DMA

If you notify them that their shipment is going to be late and give them an opportunity to cancel their order, you should be fine with the FTC. It's when you break the 30 day rule and don't do that where you can get into trouble.

That definitely sucks though. I'm not familiar with that fulfillment company, but I'd say it's time to start looking for another one.

John

Thanks for your reply John. I'll see what their reasons are. Took the time to calm down before asking for explanations.

If anyone knows a good company, please post here. I'll look into it.

Thanks,

DMA

No offense, but shouldn't you do your research first and find out why the orders were messed up. It doesn't make sense complaining about the company when you have no idea what the issue is. It could be any of a thousand issues, and honestly it could be on your end, not theirs. What testing have you done with them? I would hate if it were my company to find this complaint against my company before I had any chance to respond, or test it, or rectify the problem.

The thing is we are responsible for how our businesses run. Doesn't matter if we hire a fullfillment company, we still remain responsible. Especially when working with a new company, it's even more important to stay on top of the situation. It shouldn't be up to the customer to notify us 19 days later that they hadn't received their item. Even if you sent the email a few days after the order, that should have been your first hint that something was not going correctly. At that point, you might have to move it into overdrive, call, fax, email, mail, whatever it took to get in touch to verify that things were working correctly. I'd have called Mike Litman's office, and see if they knew alternative contact numbers, etc. I wouldn't take no for an answer. I once needed an answer from a partner so bad, who had his phone off, I took a round about method of calling everyone I knew who knew him, and finally tracked him down to a meeting in a restaurant and got the manager to give him the phone personally.

I know that if it was a company I just started with, I'd be following up immediately to track the order, and make sure it was fullfilled correctly. From business experience, I've realized that the very first time you do anything, is always when you should be most heavily involved. I probably would pay the price to dry run the first few purchases from dummy transactions(ie a friend or family), that way you can independently verify that everything works correctly. Even if it cost me $100 to test it a few times, it makes sense to do that early enough to catch any problems.

Just my thoughts.

MRomeo

It's surprising to hear this about this company. It has been recommended to me many times.

You definitely want to dry run your order process. Submit your own order and make sure everything from input to output is tight, before you unleash it on your clients.

Good luck.

Same here. I was literally speechless.

They still haven't replied to explain. I wouldn't have posted this if there wasn't several other things that happened. It all adds up. So now I really don't trust them.

I would have have been unrelenting if it wasn't for all the glowing testimonials I've seen from people I trust. My mistake.

Excellent post. Great ideas. Thanks for replying.

Think of it this way.

You just hired me as a salesperson for your company. I have glowing recommendations, everyone says how great I am. Are you going to put me out into the field with a stack of paperwork, and check up on me again in a few months? Or are you going to pay extra attention for the first few months, double-checking my orders etc. I'm sure as an astute businessperson you would do so.

The same goes with any other business transactions. Would you take your "big client" out to dinner and test out a credit card you just got in the mail yesterday. Or are you going to use a card you've already tested a few times before?

As far as the glowing recommendations, I don't really know this company nor do I have any affiliation with them. But, as you know in this field many times people stroke each other's ego's and cross promote. When's the last time you've seen a course/book review/testimonial that is actually a true critique. "I like MRomeo99's course, especially the ideas he had on pg 99-101 that I have used personally to bring in at least an extra $25,000 in 2005. However, I have tried what he promoted on pg 112, and that used to work two years ago, but is totally irrelevant now" Yanik Silver

You just don't see them anymore. I take all testimonials with a grain of salt. As I'm sure you will now as well.

For right now however, do what you have to do. I'd probably refund the money to the two customers, and still attempt to get them the product. And I'd call the company non-stop until someone answered. Although just for ****s and giggles I tried to do so myself and got no answer on three people's lines. Have you tried faxing them?

Fulfillment Central
808 Garmon Park Court
Loganville, GA 30052
info@fulfillmentcentral.com
Office: 770-266-2660
Fax: 770-266-2679

GL,

M

PM me and I'll hook you up with a great company!

Marc Goldman, CEO of Goldbar Enterprises and my partner at JVDealmakers.com recently "partnered" his ecommerce system with the fulfillment service I mentioned above. I'm a partner in the company. But, before I was a partner, I was a client... these guys bend over backwards to make sure every i is dotted, every t crossed.

Check out what Marc recently wrote to his list.

The truth is... there are TONS of things that can go wrong in fulfillment. It's nice to know you can trust the people who've "GOT YOUR BACK."

Here's a "short list" of some of the nightmares that can happen..

Again, PM me... and I'll get you in touch with Bill Karr at the fulfillment house.