Additional Information for Netbrands Media Corporation

BBB files indicate that this business has a pattern of complaints concerning poor quality products, has delivery issues, offers poor customer service and falsely advertises their products. Consumers allege products are often received with different color variations from what is displayed online or after placing an order they are contacted by the business and told they need to pay additional money because the website gave the wrong price. If the additional money is not paid, consumers allege they are threaten with their orders being cancelled. Additional issues reported by consumers allege when Netbrands Media Corporation is contacted regarding these issues, company representatives offer a resolution but does not follow through. Consumers also allege orders are partially received or are received long after the promised delivery date without an explanation.   Current customer reviews and complainants are alleging that when they told the company they will be filing with the BBB, the representative became irate and stated they weren't allowed to say that.  Another customer review reported when they spoke to a representative that sounded as if he was from overseas and when they inquired, the man became nasty and hung up.

On October 3, 2019, BBB submitted a written request to the company encouraging them to address the pattern of complaints.

The company provided the following response;

"Product Quality 
The products we sell are for promotional purposes only and each order is customized to meet the clients’ needs and criteria. We print on products we purchase from other manufacturers, vendors, and suppliers, who strictly maintain the industry standards for material goods, and we customize those products to be sent to the customer. Although we try our best to create the products in exact accordance to the customer’s expectations, due to certain limitations, we do mention in our terms, which all customers must agree before confirming every order, that “Please note that the products we carry are intended purely as promotional items. Products that have minor imperfections visually or in size are not considered defective or flawed.”  Furthermore, we have an enforced Quality Assurance team who are constantly reviewing products during and after production to ensure that the optimum quality in maintained. 

Delivery & Timeframes 
We offer both Standard and Rush turnaround timeframes. Per our terms, Standard timeframes are only ‘estimated’ timeframes that may give estimated delivery but do not guarantee any specific in-hands deadline.  
Our Standard Production time is typically 7 business days after the order is confirmed and approved by the customer. Due to the nature of the products, we need customer’s approval on their designs before we can start production. Standard Production time is ‘estimated’ and their order will not be considered late if production has exceeded 7 business days due to the delay in the customer’s response. If for any reason, the order was placed during one of our holidays, Standard Production can be delayed up to several additional business days. Ground Shipping will take anywhere between 3 to 7 business days when shipped inside the continental US. When you place a rush production order but then opt for ‘normal’ or ‘ground’ shipping method, customers are advised that the delivery date will only be ‘estimated’ and not guaranteed, as shipping companies do not offer guarantees for ground shipping. 

Rush Production - Rushing an order's production is the only way we guarantee a production time. If an "in hands" date needs to be met this option should be selected. Rush Shipping will guarantee the order is received within the selected time after production is concluded.” 
If there is any uncontrollable factor such as natural disasters or other unexpected events that impede the transportation access, there might be delays in carriers' pick-up and delivery. In the past several years, Houston has been impacted severely with several hurricanes and floods. We have been working our best to operate and optimize our production while maintaining the safest working conditions for our employees. While most of our customers are very understanding, some might still feel unsatisfied with their order delays. In all cases, we always try to offer our customers several solutions to resolve their concerns. 
In some cases when customers choose Standard turnaround timeframes (which are estimated only) and later state they have a specific in-hands deadline, our representatives duly recommend upgrading their order to Rush as Rush timeframes is guaranteed. In such cases, the rush upgrade fee is calculated and conveyed the customer. The additional charges quoted are generally due to upgrades or changes in the order. Customers cannot expect a free Rush upgrade after initially choosing and paying for Standard timeframes. Depending on the production stage and how many more days we still have left, we would try our best to meet the new delivery deadline. If the new deadline unfortunately cannot be met, we would compensate the customer accordingly.  

Customer Service & Dispute resolution 
We provide round-the-clock support via Live Chat, Call Lines and the Ticketing System. Per our terms, all claims must be reported within 7 calendar days upon receipt of the products. In many cases, we even offer our flexibility to consider claims reported after the 7-day claim period has passed. As the entire communication is done electronically, customer's continuous responses and cooperation are needed for us to verify the claims. Occasionally, we have customers not willing to cooperate. They cannot provide proper images of the "defective" products or no longer have the products in hands to return back for us to verify the claims and make an offer accordingly.  
All customers are equally important to us and we understand we will not be able to grow without our customer support. Therefore, we are constantly training and re-training our service representatives, both new and old, to improve our service quality while adhering to company protocols and policies.    
False advertisements/Color Variations 
Our company's mission is to do everything we can to continuously improve our quality and ensure our customer's satisfaction. We strive to match the products as closely as possible to the website previews and digital images; however, as the previews are merely computer-generated images there will be some differences between these images and the actual products. For color variations, several digital factors such as screen resolution, contrast, and brightness play a crucial part in visual expectations. We thus state clearly in our terms under the Color Matching section that; “Exact PMS color matches are not available. We try to match your color selections as closely as possible using PMS numbers as a reference only. An exact match cannot be guaranteed for some products such as silicone wristbands, lanyards, can coolers, buttons, coasters, and napkins. In-stock colors will also not be an exact match from a past order, but we will still do our best to match it.” We are always adding new shades of each color, so customers have a larger selection base to choose from and try to incorporate the digital images as closely as possible.   

Cancellations 
Please note that we never ‘threaten’ our customers to have their order cancelled. We always try our best to keep every sale and to deliver accordingly. If in cases where the customers need to change their order or upgrade the order after the production of the order has already started, we duly convey the current production status and requirements for the upgrade. We provide customer the options to either upgrade the order by choosing to pay this rush fee or keep order as per their initial invoice and receive the order how they initially intended. Please note that these upgrading processes differ from one order to another. A very common example is when a customer chose Standard timeframes and halfway through production customer requested order to be delivered within 2 days. We would suggest the customer to upgrade the order to Rush timeframes to fit into our Rush production schedule and make it possible to meet the new delivery deadline. Carrier companies charge higher for faster delivery. Therefore, rush fees are higher than standard fees and customer would need to pay for this difference. Under circumstances where the customer themselves want to cancel, cancellation fees may be applicable depending on the stage of production. Sometimes customers contact us to make changes or request for cancellation when the production is almost or already finished. As these are custom products and cannot be restocked or reused, changes may not be possible and cancellation fees may be applicable depending on the stage of production at that point."