#CaryPress and the Better Business Bureau
I promise, my blog will turn back to reading and writing soon, but I want to share something I learned that may be of use to others who have problems with businesses.
If you read my blog, you know that I’m frustrated with my first publisher because they haven’t fulfilled the contract I signed with them. I had emailed a time or two a year to request the statements and royalties owed, to no avail. When I learned that they featured my book on their website as having been ghostwritten by them, I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and emailed them to request the statements and royalties owed, and that they remove any reference to my book being ghost written from their website. In response, Dr. Robert Bassett responded with an unbelievably unprofessional email.
Robert Bassett also filed a response with the BBB claiming that their publishing program had been “terminated” in 2016. He also stated that I had harassed, threatened and blackmailed their employees. Apparently sending a businesslike email asking for what is contemplated in a contract is too much for CaryPress to handle. He also stated that they had terminated my contract.
Boom! That right there is what I have requested on multiple occasions.
It seems simple, right? If they want to keep the contract going, then they needed to send the statements and royalties as set out in the contract. If they didn’t want to keep the contract going, all they had to do was let me know.
ARGH. Frustrating as all get out.
The Better Business Bureau then closed the complaint. They show it as satisfied, even though CaryPress has not fulfilled their contractual obligations. That’s when I learned a very important tip. The BBB doesn’t do any investigation. My complaint, just as the others before mine, is considered “satisfied” simply because it exists and they responded. And now that I have filed a complaint, I am unable to leave a review on the BBB site. There is no warning out there to others who might fall prey to their unethical business practices.
In hindsight, I wish I had simply written a review. I suspect that most people who file a complaint with the BBB do so in an effort to protect others from doing business with a company with questionable business practices. However, if the BBB does not allow an individual with a complaint to leave a review, it seems that it would skew reviews to the positive side.
Tell me – have you ever filed (or considered filing) a complaint with the BBB? Do you check with the BBB before you do business with a company?
