ComplaintsforWallspop Marketing and Communications Group

• Initial Complaint

  03/24/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  We asked to cancel the event and asked for our deposit back 4 days after booking for an event over a year away. ****** said she would give us a partial refund in the amount of $1715 over a month ago now. We asked for an itemized receipt for the amount of $1785 that she is deducting for 4 days worth of work. We have yet to get an itemized receipt or the promised refund. *********************** has been ghosting us for about 2 weeks and has not provided the refund that she said she would. We tried contacting her multiple times and really wished to have solve this matter amicably.

  Business response

  03/30/2023

  Hello,

  Clients ******* and *****'s statement, is untrue. I have email communications with us communicating regarding the refund. Whenever I replied, they had more requests for regarding the refund. I also asked them to please give me ***** hours weekdays to respond to all emails each time. I also wanted to finalize this amicably, but they have given me a bad reputation on ******* Bark, and BBB, which could result in a loss of Business. We have been in Business for 15 years and have not EVER had a client complaint about our professionalism, our deliverables, and our work ethics. Let alone being called a scam artist and thief. 

  The client did not cancel ******* four days. When the client requested the cancellation for a refund, I informed them there would be a deduction, which caused them to communicate back and forth. I have also emailed the client, letting her know when we'll start working on the event. The client also sent me a guest list, which we worked on. We did not ghost them. 

  I'm in the process of downloadign all commuications via text and email including the contract and snd over to you. 
  
  Thank you! 

  Customer response

  03/31/2023

  Please see below for full timeline and supporting documents:
  

  We met with *********************** and her team on 01/27 at 6:30 pm during which she asked to schedule a house walk through on 02/09 at 6 pm and they said they wont start planning till they dont see the space
  

  On 01/30 we signed a contract and started making Zelle payments (Bank statement attached)
  

  On 02/01 *********************** requested our guest list

  02/03 we finished paying our deposit

  02/08 - *********************** re-requested our guest list (See attached email)

  02/09 - At 3:09 PM *********************** called and cancelled the walk through citing child sickness and said no work will be started till we dont send our guest list over (See phone log attached).
  

  02/12 - We sent over the guest list which she confirmed receiving and said they will start working on it next week
  

  02/14 - She promised to reschedule the walk through by the end of the week but there was no further followup from her. She also did not mention starting any work on our event at this point.
  

  02/21 at 2:07 pm (Please see attached phone log) - We called and left a voicemail to cancel the event

  She called us back at 2:07 PM and said they had not done a lot of work so its a good thing we called in a timely manner and that she will start the refund process after deducting the amount that was worked on.

  02/28 - We sent a follow up email as we have no heard back for more than 72 hours as she requested and per the contract, they have 5 days to cure any concerns after a complaint has been notes (See attached email exchange)

  She came back on 03/02 saying they have spent over half of our deposit - this did not align with what was communicated to us prior via phone calls and emails (See attached) so we requested an itemized receipt on 03/02

  Due to lack of response 48 hours later we sent a followup email on 03/04

  On 03/07 ***** listed out 7 items but did not provide how 21 hours were spent on these task
  

  03/09 -  We re-requested an itemized receipt per our consumer rights for 21 hours worked as it did not align with what was being communicated to us prior to cancellation initiation. 

  03/15 - 13 days after our initial request, she acknowledged and said would get back to us

  03/20 - After waiting for more than 72 hours per her request, we sent a follow up asking for an update

  After waiting close to a month since our initial cancellation, when we did not get a refund as promised and an explanation how our money was spent, we decided it was time to get someone else involved to help us resolve this matter and warn others of the practice as *********************** is in breach of her company's own contract.

  03/28 - ****** sent us an email telling us she will not be honoring our consumers right for an itemized receipt (Please see attached email). or cooperate since we reported her to BBB. *********************** has yet to offer an explanation on how our deposit was spent or refund us.
  

  Business response

  04/10/2023

  That is NOT TRUE! Why fabricating lies. I did NOT cancel the walkthrough due to child sickness. I did not discuss child sickness with the client. ****** called me first, asking if we were still coming for the walkthrough, and I informed the client there might be a miscommunication from our last Zoom meeting because we wanted her to work on the guest list and do it the following week since she's been traveling. AGAIN, I DID NOT NOT CANCEL!!!!! We have no reason to lie. 

  There's no voicemail left regarding cancellation. AGAIN, THEY DID NOT LEAVE A VOICEMAIL.  I noticed I missed a call from my *******, I called right back, and that when he informed me of the cancellation and I informed him of the dection as well. 

  BELOW ANRE THE RESPONSES FROM WHAT SHE SENT. YOU'LL ALSO FIND BELOW MY RESPONSE TO THEM AFTER SHE FILED THE COMPLAINT. 

  We met with *********************** and her team on 01/27 at 6:30 pm during which she asked to schedule a house walk through on 02/09 at 6 pm and they said they wont start planning till they dont see the space:

  Not true!!! we did not say we won't start planning. We said we can still start working on other logistics, but to finalize the design we;ll need tosee the house. 

  That's correct. She make the deposit on 4 different time due to zelle's tranfer limitation. 
  
  On 02/01 *********************** requested our guest list and I also told her we'll start working on the planning. See email below. 

  Hello ******* and *****!
  
  Happy early Anniversary! 
  
  The planning process starts next week! I'll need your zip code to start working on the hotel room block and getting quotes on the transportation. *****, can you start working on the list for the out-of-town guests? Sectioning the list would be great - couples, families, and individuals. 
  
  Feel free to call me anytime if you have any questions. 
  
  Thank you so much!

  ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  Here's the email sent to *****. Work done for the deduction: 

  Absolutely. Below is what we have worked on. I understand the event is a year out, but we needed to start working on the planning to secure the venue and hotel block and start working on the logistics to stay under the 20k budget. Below is a list of what we have worked on. 
  Event logistics team meeting
  Event designer meeting to discuss the decor and budget
  DJ and videographer outreach to secure early booking
  Guest list review
  Hotel list curation
  Venue list curation
  Transportation company outreach and list curation
  Please let me know if you have any additional questions; if so, allow me up to 48 hours to respond. 

  _____________________________________________________________________________________________________

  We worked on the planning logitics. Below is the email sent to the client. We spent our time calling, planning and creatinf hotel block list including strategizin on the tight budget for all of the item they want to included. 

  Hello! 
  
  Thank you again for your patience. We started working on the planning and logistics of the event on Feb 4th - an email communication was sent to *****. 
  Our hourly rate is $150/hr; however, I'll only charge $85/hr.
  
  My team spent 21 hours working on the planning before the cancellation. $1785 will be deducted from the deposit, and $1715 will be refunded to you. 
  
  I'll be available to talk to you if you have any questions tomorrow after 4:00 pm. If not, our account payable will start the refund process. I'll follow up with the actual refund date.
  
  Thank you! 

  ________________________________________________________________________________________

  Here's the last email sent to the client: 3/28/23

  Hello, ******* and *****, 
  
  I hope you are doing well. My manager just informed me we had received a complaint from BBB, and a review from ****** stated that we are a lousy business, a scam artist, and we have ghosted you regarding your refund. It also noted that the refund was requested four days after signing this contract. 
  
  *****, as you already know, your statement is untrue. I have email communications with you and email communications regarding the refund. Whenever I replied, you had more requests about the refund. I also asked you to please give me ***** hours to respond to all emails. I also wanted to finalize this amicably, but you have given us a bad reputation on ******, Bark, and BBB, which could result in a lot of business when we have been communicating. We have been in Business for 15 years and have not EVER had a client complaint about our professionalism, our deliverables, and our work ethics. Let alone being called a scam artist and thief. 
  
  I'll contact BBB and provide them with all of our communications. I will no longer water time providing more info on this refund. My accountant will start processing the refund stated after the adjustment upon her arrival from vacation next week. 
  
  Thank you again for trusting us, and we wish you nothing but success in your future events. 
  
  ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

  Here's a section of the cancellation when cancelling: I've attched the agreement. 

  3. TERMINATION
  Suppose either party materially breaches a material provision of this Agreement. In that case, the other party may terminate this Agreement upon five (5) days' written notice unless the breach is cured within the notice period. The Company also may terminate this Agreement at any time, with or without cause, upon ten (10) days' notice, but if (and only if) without cause, the Company shall, upon termination, pay the Consultant all unpaid and undisputed amounts due for Services completed before notice of termination. The Company may communicate such obligations to any other (or potential) client or employer of the Consultant.

  Customer response

  04/12/2023

  
  Complaint: 19848644
  
  I am rejecting this response because: 
  1) I am not lying - I have attached evidence of my claims in my previous response and have included entirety of my communication history with this vendor, including the phone logs and delivered voicemails documented by the phone company with timestamps and durations. 

  
  2) The original complaint has still not been addressed by this vendor whose focus was the following:

  
  We have yet to understand how over half of our deposit was spent. She has yet to give us a breakdown on how much time was spent on these 7 task that took up 21 hours of her time. I am not refusing to pay for their time, but I before I agree to give up over half of my deposit, I want to understand what exactly was done during these 21 hours and why was none of this work communicated to us in real time. In our correspondence attached in my previous email from both parties, she clearly states she will start working on our event the following week (i.e., 2/14). How does an event planner plan an event for 21 hours without running a single item by us? She claims to have been in business for over 15 years, wouldn't she have a binder with preexisting vendors' information? Why were 21 hours spent on curating something when she claimed she had a ********** to go to during our initial Zoom call with her and why were we not kept in the loop? 
  
  The second part of the complaint had to do with the partial deposit refund - she has yet to initiate it even after committing to do so twice.
  
  At this point, we are just going in circles, and I am not sure where the hostility towards us is coming from.

  What I do know is that 2 months later I still don't understand how over half of our deposit was spent and why the vendor is giving us a hard time instead of providing a simple explanation on hoe he business was handled for this event. She claims to have a response time of ***** hours, but even during this interaction, she has taken well over a week to respond. She is not honoring her own company's policies, let alone our time and our money. I fully agree that we may not be entitled to our full deposit, but I do believe we are entitled to more than half of our deposit. The current deduction amount without a clearly explanation seems highly unreasonable.

*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. ↩