ComplaintsforRank Works

• Initial Complaint

  10/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Payment was made for a service that was never provided. Rankworks illegally changed my password and login info to my website domain and backend provider. I pad them fro their services and they locked em out of my own website illegally. I will be pursuing charges and a lawsuit.

  Business response

  10/08/2023

  Hello,

  I am honestly unsure why this is coming in as a complaint.  The client has declined payment for website hosting services multiple times and we have followed the terms as outlined in clause 24 of the signed Docusign agreement.  We have tried to communicate with the client but he has refused to reply to our emails or answer telephone calls trying to determine why.  

  I can understand the clients concerns but we are unable to continue to provide hosting services without payment for said services. 

  The clause in question clearly states the following:

  24. FAILURE TO PAY
  Payments are made automatically by credit card at the start of each month’s service. Should automatic payment fail, CLIENT will be notified of payment failure. PROVIDER will then attempt payment a second time three days later. Should automatic payment fail a second time, a third and final attempt will be made five days after the second failed attempt. Technical support and training services will not be provided after a second payment failure until payment is received. All service including website and email will be frozen after a third payment failure until payment is received. PROVIDER reserves the right to discontinue service at any time.

  Once the client's account returns to good standing the site will be reactivated on our servers.  

  Regards

  ******** ******

• Initial Complaint

  21/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  This started March 8, 2023 with a call from ******* ****** who promised that I could get a $2400 government grant for website development, I was told nothing would begin until I got the grant. I began setting up the account then changed my mind which I informed *******. She did make a personal call to my place of business which I took as a sales call on March 17. That was the day I discovered Rank Works had charged my credit card $564.88. ******* told me that the amount would be refunded. Instead they charged my card $3750.24. They say they have voice recordings of me, which were unknown to me, agreeing to the service. I never gave consent or returned the final authorization papers requested of me.

• Initial Complaint

  30/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unresolved

  More info

  I have 3 contracts with this company. The 1st was to build a website and host it. The 2nd one was to provide 3 months of social media posting and create accounts for 3 months. The last one was to provide 3 months of marketing, advertising, and social media posts. They did 1 and 2. The 3rd one is under dispute because the account manager knew that I did not want to go past 3 months without discussing progress. Behind the scenes, they rolled over the contract and charged 3 more months. The background to that is that they started 1 month after 1st payment (January 2022) and then recommended to stop the after the 1st actual month because they said Facebook was not the right platform for my product. They recommended google ads and charged me additional money to set that up. They started google ads on April 1. At that point, they had already charged me for Jan, Feb, and March with only 1 month of work. The account mgr told me that don't worry, there is still money that has not been used. I trusted him. So the campaign ran for April and May. All the time during the timeframe, I asked him how its was going. I was supposed to get reporting each month. I only received 2 reports. In May/June, I called and asked for meetings to discuss. The account mgr was out on a family emergency. The person running the ad campaign was out with covid in May. I asked them to stop doing anything with my account and so they did, but they would not refund the overcharge of 3 extra months. They charged 6 when jan and march had no work. April and May would be 3. June... no one would answer me. July the acct mgr now worked for another group in the company and wouldn't talk to me (very strange). Same ad mgr was out with Covid again. They also charged me in Canadian $$$ and the contracts said USD. I've had many fees added and overpayment. They refuse to provide final hosting bill, give me my site, or my social media accounts. They will not refund the 3 months.

  Business response

  09/09/2022

  Hello,
  
  Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the client concerns.  
  
  We received a cancellation request from the client on July 5th, 2022 and work was stopped at that time.  The client requested a refund of services already rendered which is not possible under the contract the client signed.  The client took it upon herself to charge back $2097.00 worth of services that were previously rendered by our team so we are unable to release accounts containing work we were not paid for.  The chargeback has also caused her account to go into default.
  
  Were there COVID related communication delays?  Yes, many businesses have had to cope with staff being out sick due to COVID and yes people can get it multiple times.  Is this something that we would consider the norm, no.  It’s not something any business wants to have happen and we are sorry for any delays the client may have endured. 
  
  We remain willing to help the client, however at this point we will need to wait for the resolution of the process the client initiated.

   

  Regards

  Customer response

  09/09/2022

  
  ********** ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:  It is inaccurate and missing a lot of details of the service that they provided to me.  I have asked for proof of ad spent for the 3 extra months that they charged me for and they refuse to provide.  I asked for reports for 6 months, which they were supposed to provide per contract.  They only provided 2 reports.  They disregard  that I told them account manager that I did not want more than 3 months before we reassessed.  They had two breaks on my account when they started Facebook advertising and moved to Google ads.  The restarts took a big portion of the original 3 months and I was told by the account manager not to worry about that because we were still on the original 3 months.  They mention that my account in default, however, they refuse to produce a final bill for my hosting.  Instead they wanted me to sign an agreement not to disparage their company.  We are in a disagreement and they are not understanding that until the disagreement is completed, that I will not pay them.  I was okay to pay the hosting break, but they won't send a bill.  They overcharged my credit card by charging me various amounts and not in USD and a set amount as written in the contract.  Rankworks is in non-compliance our of agreement on multiple fronts.  They refuse to give me items that I paid for separately, like my pictures and video.  They did  not post the adequate amount per the contract on my social media accounts and then have locked my accounts by using their emails and not the one provided them for use for the accounts.

  All in all, the company delayed and delayed me, is holding my website hostage, will not produce a final hosting bill for me to pay, will not account for what was spent on my account and/or compensation for the delays when they were not servicing my account at all.  They speak about COVID delays as an excuse, but it was a constant issue for this company.  No one wants COVID to hurt any employees or wishes bad things on someone (extended emergencies) but when a customer, their customer, is delayed, and no responses are provided to the customer in a timely manner, the company has a responsibility to recognize it and compensate for it.

  At this point, Rankworks has stolen my money and will not produce anything that I paid for.  The site was 100% paid for and they won't give it to me.  The Social Media accounts were 100% paid for and they won't give them to me.  The pictures and videos were paid for and they won't give them to me.  They did not produce their required monthly reports for the site.   If they did the work, they should have proof and it should be specific to my account and not general ad spend across all clients.  They won't produce a final hosting bill so I can settle that.  They won't refund the overpayment by not charging me in USD.  My disputing their 3 months of advertising that I did not authorize and specifically told the account manager that I did not want until we discussed has allowed them to steal everything that I paid for and not give it to me OR to correct their wrongs.  

  Again, I asked for a final hosting bill, I asked for them to refund overcharges and fees because they did not charge in USD per contract, I asked them to produce a report of the ad spend on my account tot FB and Google, I asked them for my social media accounts, I asked them to refund 3 months of ad work that they did not do because they have admitted to stopping the campaign and restarting it.  They asked me to sign an agreement not to talk about their company (attached), but they won't put verbiage in that I requested.

  At this point, they breached our contract and have stolen the work that I paid for.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ********

  Business response

  12/09/2022

  Hello,
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to respond to the client.  There are numerous false representations in the clients complaint.  The client signed a contract with clear terms as to duration and amounts owed.  The contract also clearly stipulates how to terminate the agreement.  Reports were delivered by email and by phone during one on one consultations to discuss strategies.  The ads were paused momentarily to switch platforms between Google and Facebook, a step the client approved.  

  At the time of the clients request to terminate services on July 5th, 2022, there was a $200 credit remaining on ad spend.  It was agreed we would utilize the credit, adjust any foreign transaction fees incurred by the client and the deduct from the amount owed to close out the account. In essence, we had found a way to close off the file at no additional cost for the client.  The client instead chose to charge back work that was completed in April, May and June instead of honouring the original agreement they signed.  I encourage the client to read the contract.  Once the account is back in good standing we will be more than happy to help resolve any outstanding issues the client may have.

  Regards
  
  
  

  Customer response

  13/09/2022

  
  ********** ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  
  I am rejecting this response because:  Again, they stretch the truth to follow their side.  "Momentarily paused is proved to be over a month"  The start was not from the first charge either.  The terms were clear on the contract, but in a "one on one" with the account agent he was told "ONLY 3 MONTHS".  Then they sent only 2 reports.  They reviewed those 2 reports on the phone.  Now they want to say that they gave reports for the other months in one on one conversations.  They will use whatever means they have to try to say that they are not at fault.  I can't have one on one conversations that are acceptable for my "3 months" only, but the company can use the excuse that they gave me info in one on one conversations.  They are just bending that truth at every turn and to make them have no blame.
  
  I want to see 6 months of ad spend to google or Facebook specific to my account that says they used that for my site.  They WON'T produce it.  Wby can't they do that?  I believe it is because they did not use the money that they collected for my site.  If you did it show it.  AND the report must be verifiable.
  
  I want to get a final hosting bill that I can pay and get rid of them.  They won't produce that either.  They just keep saying that I am in default.  Produce the bill.
  
  I want them to adjust the charges that they overcharged my account.  There was a set amount in that contract and they charged over that every single month.  They did not charge in USD and I was charged fees and costs that are incorrect.  The company won't do that either.
  
  Why are they refusing to do that is required of them?  They know they are in the wrong on many things, but continue to say that I am breaching their contract.  It works both ways.  They need to provide proof of ad spend, readjust for all overcharges, send a final hosting bill.  In the meantime, they are holding everything hostage, which is illegal.  Pictures and work that I have already paid for should not be held.  But they are holding it and refuse to give them to me.  I paid for the site, I paid for pictures, I paid for social media accounts.  They took the social media accounts and redirected them to an email that was not given to them by me.  I sent proof of that already.  They have my pictures and won't send them.  I paid for development of the site.  I don't have that site.  All they keep doing is taking my money and excusing their poor service.  They don't want to close this out unless it goes their way.  My conversations with my account mgr were clear and were 3 months only.  And they provided nothing on that contract to prove otherwise.  Where are the reports???  The contract says "Each month".... I got 2 and nothing additional by phone.  It can't work both ways Rankworks.  Give me proof and the things I'm asking for.  That is what a business does for their clients.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ********
  
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩