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VendorPro
Marketing Service or Scam?
I
wonder how many of our featured and other bath and body
merchants have received unsolicited messages from
VendorPro.com touting their services? Most of our
readers may be unaware of who or what VendorPro
is, but many independent merchants have probably received one or
more of their unsolicited email messages like the one below:
From: "Adam Ward" <Adam@VendorPro.com>
To: <info{at}sudsreport.com>
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 10:56 AM
Subject: I want to sell your shea butter products through our
stores
I've spent a lot of time at your website and I think your shea
butter products are perfect for our stores. I especially like
your Shower Cream.
We work hand in hand with the largest stores in the country,
plus thousands of small to medium sized specialty businesses
stretched across the U.S.. If you want the opportunity to sell
your products through major retailers like WalMart, Target,
Nordstrom, Sears, QVC, HSN, etc ... plus the other 51005 gift
stores, 15840 health & beauty stores, 6088 craft stores, and
over 24000 mail-order catalogs ... check us out at http://www.VendorPro.com
Sincerely,
Adam Ward
VendorPro.com
Sorry Adam, We Don't Offer Shea Butter Products!
If
Adam had actually spent any time on SudsReport.com (I think it
was much less than 2 minutes), I'm sure he would have seen that
we only review
shea butter products at Bathtime Suds Report.
Seems that VendorPro changes the product line and the individual
item that they especially liked depending on the theme of your
web site.
I wonder how many merchants really would want a company that
sends unsolicited messages promoting their own business
representing them. I'm also curious about the name change -
VendorPro used to be known as BulkWorks.
Better Business Bureau Complaints
There have been a number of
complaints against VendorPro filed with the
Better Business Bureau. On
Jan. 1, 2006, VendorPro had a
Better Business Bureau Rating of F, which they
define as:
 "We
strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as
that they have failed to respond to complaints, their
advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance
with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their
complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the
company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business
practices."
The complaints received allege misrepresentation of services
offered, false advertising and unfulfilled contracts. Past
customers have complained that once the service fees are paid,
VendorPro makes no further attempt to contact them, services are
not provided and they have been unable to obtain a refund.
The Better Business Bureau also notes that VendorPro responds to
complaints by generally refusing refunds and reminding customers
that they are legally bound to the terms of the contract:
VendorPro contends that the contract clearly states that they do
not guarantee response rates or make projections on sales
increases.
On January 1, 2006 the Better Business Bureau listed the
following
Complaint Closing Statistics for VendorPro:
|
Complaints |
Response |
|
3 |
Making a full refund, as the consumer requested |
|
0 |
Making a partial refund |
|
8 |
Agreeing to perform according to their contract |
|
0 |
Refusing to make an adjustment |
|
5 |
Refuse to adjust, relying on the terms of the contract |
|
9 |
Unanswered |
|
4 |
Unassigned |
Filing Complaints
If
you'd like to file a complaint against VendorPro, you can do so
using the
online complaint form at the Better Business
Bureau's web site.
No Refund Policy
VendorPro used to offer a money back guarantee. We understand that they made it difficult to get your
money back once paid - you were told you had to wait a full year
(the subscription period) before requesting a refund.
When you then asked for a refund, they required you to send them
your complete email correspondence for the past year for their
review. They say they wanted to confirm that you had no contact
resulting from being listed on their web site.
It's pretty easy to track referrals from a site so I'm not sure
that this wasn't just an attempt by Vendor Pro to avoid
refunding your payment. Contacting your credit card company was
of no help as they are unable to reverse the charges after that
much time has passed.
Does VendorPro Target Independent Merchants?
From reading messages around the web it might appear that way.
Are they enticing artists, photographers, authors, jewelers,
crafters and other small merchants with the idea that their
products may be picked by major retailers just by having a
listing on their web site? Does VendorPro just take your money
and run? Is there any service after the sale?
Search Engine Results for VendorPro
Searching Google for VendorPro returns a number of
results referencing concerns and complaints against them. I've
yet to hear any positive comments from merchants regarding their
services, and have read a number of negative comments and
complaints posted on various news groups, blogs and web sites.
Here's a few you can check out:
Crafster.org
WritersWeekly.com
PaintersKeys.com
ArtScuttlebut.com
ScholarsCorner.com's experience
MilkFactory.com blog
Tolstoy, Conrad, Pynchon, Flowers
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