Complaint Review: Barry Promotions Incorporated

A few words of advice for the contractor above -

NEVER buy anything for a promotion/demo out of your own pocket. Equipment, spoons, heating pan, napkins, anything... even if asked! Getting reimbursed is not a guarantee and will probably be like pulling teeth. As a contractor, that is not your responsibility. Make do with what you have or improvise, or ask for the company to provide these items.

NEVER work a job without a CLEAR contract and a CLEAR timeline for payment. Get everything in writing.

Please "google search" each and every company out there. There are no qualifications for starting a promotion agency. You can be a crook, a felon, or just plain disorganized and not ready to pay people. Only work for reputable agencies with good references and good reviews. That's the only way.

Good luck!

I worked several events for Barry Promotions out of the Jacksonville, FL area and despite whatever setbacks happend, I always got paid to the dollar exactly what I was owed. Some of my checks were often expedited to me because I was working promotions back to back, and Susan and Chris would fully reimburse me for any gas expenses to the dollar. The payroll does take a while, usually about a month and a half but in the beginning, you sign an agreement that you understand that. If you can't wait to get paid, don't sign the paper and work for them. From what I understand, they cannot pay the employees until the vendor pays them... either way... they do pay, these negative remarks are from either the blue moon cases where the paycheck may have gotten lost, or people who wrote these comments before they contacted Susan or Chris or even let the time frame that they agreed to lapse.... it's pathetic to bring up their divorce as ammunition against the company. Its no ones business what Susan or Chris may be going to and it's terrible to judge. Everyone has bad days, and every business makes mistakes. Both Susan and Chris respond to emails immediately and are very professional. The company pays very well for the work required, and makes it very easy. If you are seriously going to gripe because you had to buy some paper plates?? Comeon. Seriously, get something better to do.

Over the past 16 years, we have paid thousands of hard working event staff. However, it is inevitable that rare circumstances occur now and then that cause a temporary dissatisfaction with event staff. Whether the office was closed for the holidays, or event staff feel that they should have been paid in a timelier manner, sometimes people become disgruntled for reasons beyond the company's control. In the day of the internet, these situations can be broadcasted for the world to see on sites such as RipOff.com. While it may seem like a good outlet to warn others of bad companies, it is the false or rare situation that represents the company, and will try to destroy its reputation.

If bad business is actually conducted, it is fair for people to take action through legitimate state agencies. However, on sites such as RipOff.com, the truth is not taken into account, and anyone or competitor of our company can post viscous attacks on any company they want. We have learned this first hand, as the first negative post was in 2005 and wasn't even by someone that had directly worked for us.

As a company, we owe it to our clients to verify that work has been completed; yet some event staff do not comply with the instructions and standards that are required. Consequentially, when we end up paying staff that have not followed the correct procedure, a deduction is taken from the client's payment for not following the rules of their contract.

Over the years, this pattern of event staff behavior and the desire of Barry Promotions to resolve it has cost our company tens of thousands of dollars. What's more important than the money is the stress of the unwarranted and untruthful personal attacks on a company that cares so much about their staff and clients.

The true victims are the small businesses run by honest and hardworking people, like ourselves, who have no way around the RipOff.com website. In a time where people are free to publish anything they want through the internet, it is unfortunate to find such an ugly side to it. Innocent business can only hope that the law catches up to these sites one day, and brings justice.

For now, we have to accept these lies while dishonest people continue to hide behind a computer.

Chris Barry
Barry Promotions
732-775-6075

I would like to submit this rebuttal for Barry Promotions. I have read others stories who are less fortunate apparently than my agency however---Barry Promotions is a client of mine. I own an agency in Indianapolis. Barry Promotions has given us 2 gigs one was totally awsome. A promotion at Macy's.

After the promotion was over, I gathered all paperwork and submitted with an invoice to Barry. It took longer than 60 days for payment but payment was made in full. I have read one story on here where Susan Barry is demanding. Ladies...she HAS to be. As an owner of an agency if you don't have some kind of seriousness you will never get anything done. A lot of responsibility falls upon you as the owner to comply with the agency client--it's a circle believe me.

Barry Promotions has been good to me and my agency.
They have PAID every invoice........Chris & Susan Barry have always been completely professional when communicating with me and have done exactly what they have said they would at any given time.

I look forward to working with them again.

Prefer to remain annymous for professional reasons.

I would like to submit this rebuttal for Barry Promotions. I have read others stories who are less fortunate apparently than my agency however---Barry Promotions is a client of mine. I own an agency in Indianapolis. Barry Promotions has given us 2 gigs one was totally awsome. A promotion at Macy's.

After the promotion was over, I gathered all paperwork and submitted with an invoice to Barry. It took longer than 60 days for payment but payment was made in full. I have read one story on here where Susan Barry is demanding. Ladies...she HAS to be. As an owner of an agency if you don't have some kind of seriousness you will never get anything done. A lot of responsibility falls upon you as the owner to comply with the agency client--it's a circle believe me.

Barry Promotions has been good to me and my agency.
They have PAID every invoice........Chris & Susan Barry have always been completely professional when communicating with me and have done exactly what they have said they would at any given time.

I look forward to working with them again.

Prefer to remain annymous for professional reasons.

I would like to submit this rebuttal for Barry Promotions. I have read others stories who are less fortunate apparently than my agency however---Barry Promotions is a client of mine. I own an agency in Indianapolis. Barry Promotions has given us 2 gigs one was totally awsome. A promotion at Macy's.

After the promotion was over, I gathered all paperwork and submitted with an invoice to Barry. It took longer than 60 days for payment but payment was made in full. I have read one story on here where Susan Barry is demanding. Ladies...she HAS to be. As an owner of an agency if you don't have some kind of seriousness you will never get anything done. A lot of responsibility falls upon you as the owner to comply with the agency client--it's a circle believe me.

Barry Promotions has been good to me and my agency.
They have PAID every invoice........Chris & Susan Barry have always been completely professional when communicating with me and have done exactly what they have said they would at any given time.

I look forward to working with them again.

Prefer to remain annymous for professional reasons.

I would like to submit this rebuttal for Barry Promotions. I have read others stories who are less fortunate apparently than my agency however---Barry Promotions is a client of mine. I own an agency in Indianapolis. Barry Promotions has given us 2 gigs one was totally awsome. A promotion at Macy's.

After the promotion was over, I gathered all paperwork and submitted with an invoice to Barry. It took longer than 60 days for payment but payment was made in full. I have read one story on here where Susan Barry is demanding. Ladies...she HAS to be. As an owner of an agency if you don't have some kind of seriousness you will never get anything done. A lot of responsibility falls upon you as the owner to comply with the agency client--it's a circle believe me.

Barry Promotions has been good to me and my agency.
They have PAID every invoice........Chris & Susan Barry have always been completely professional when communicating with me and have done exactly what they have said they would at any given time.

I look forward to working with them again.

Prefer to remain annymous for professional reasons.

I too worked for Barry Promotions, not as a demonstrator, but helping out to coordinate the big Tasimo promotion back in 2005. As a coordinating you get paid by the event when the event was successfully completed. I did $2000 worth of work, all were completed, but I was only paid $700. I spoke to Susan Hart who is really Susan Barry (her husband is Christopher Barry) who said that she was not happy with my work. She is very demanding. I booked all of the state of Virginia in 4 days (over 200 events). If anyone knows anything about this buisness, booking 200 events in 4 days is unbelievable. She explained that most of the events were not complete (I verified that the demonstrators completed each by calling all demonstrators as well as the stores to verify). She said that if they were completed then, the demonstrators did not send in their paperwork. These people are very disorganized and they do not pay. Oh they pay quite a few demonstrators, but there are a lot of complaints from most of the demonstrators due to non-payment. Do not blame Debbie. She works out of her home for this company. She lives in West Virginia and the company is located in Neptune, NJ. Debbie doesn't have any control over who the company pays, she is just in the middle because she is their coordinator. She is so stressed because she is the middle man. Susan is very unprofessional to not only her demonstrators, but also her coordinators and her clients. I am surprised that they are still in business. It isn't a matter of demonstrators not filling out paperwork correctly, it is just that Barry Promotions doesn't pay.

I too worked for Barry Promotions, not as a demonstrator, but helping out to coordinate the big Tasimo promotion back in 2005. As a coordinating you get paid by the event when the event was successfully completed. I did $2000 worth of work, all were completed, but I was only paid $700. I spoke to Susan Hart who is really Susan Barry (her husband is Christopher Barry) who said that she was not happy with my work. She is very demanding. I booked all of the state of Virginia in 4 days (over 200 events). If anyone knows anything about this buisness, booking 200 events in 4 days is unbelievable. She explained that most of the events were not complete (I verified that the demonstrators completed each by calling all demonstrators as well as the stores to verify). She said that if they were completed then, the demonstrators did not send in their paperwork. These people are very disorganized and they do not pay. Oh they pay quite a few demonstrators, but there are a lot of complaints from most of the demonstrators due to non-payment. Do not blame Debbie. She works out of her home for this company. She lives in West Virginia and the company is located in Neptune, NJ. Debbie doesn't have any control over who the company pays, she is just in the middle because she is their coordinator. She is so stressed because she is the middle man. Susan is very unprofessional to not only her demonstrators, but also her coordinators and her clients. I am surprised that they are still in business. It isn't a matter of demonstrators not filling out paperwork correctly, it is just that Barry Promotions doesn't pay.

I too worked for Barry Promotions, not as a demonstrator, but helping out to coordinate the big Tasimo promotion back in 2005. As a coordinating you get paid by the event when the event was successfully completed. I did $2000 worth of work, all were completed, but I was only paid $700. I spoke to Susan Hart who is really Susan Barry (her husband is Christopher Barry) who said that she was not happy with my work. She is very demanding. I booked all of the state of Virginia in 4 days (over 200 events). If anyone knows anything about this buisness, booking 200 events in 4 days is unbelievable. She explained that most of the events were not complete (I verified that the demonstrators completed each by calling all demonstrators as well as the stores to verify). She said that if they were completed then, the demonstrators did not send in their paperwork. These people are very disorganized and they do not pay. Oh they pay quite a few demonstrators, but there are a lot of complaints from most of the demonstrators due to non-payment. Do not blame Debbie. She works out of her home for this company. She lives in West Virginia and the company is located in Neptune, NJ. Debbie doesn't have any control over who the company pays, she is just in the middle because she is their coordinator. She is so stressed because she is the middle man. Susan is very unprofessional to not only her demonstrators, but also her coordinators and her clients. I am surprised that they are still in business. It isn't a matter of demonstrators not filling out paperwork correctly, it is just that Barry Promotions doesn't pay.

I too worked for Barry Promotions, not as a demonstrator, but helping out to coordinate the big Tasimo promotion back in 2005. As a coordinating you get paid by the event when the event was successfully completed. I did $2000 worth of work, all were completed, but I was only paid $700. I spoke to Susan Hart who is really Susan Barry (her husband is Christopher Barry) who said that she was not happy with my work. She is very demanding. I booked all of the state of Virginia in 4 days (over 200 events). If anyone knows anything about this buisness, booking 200 events in 4 days is unbelievable. She explained that most of the events were not complete (I verified that the demonstrators completed each by calling all demonstrators as well as the stores to verify). She said that if they were completed then, the demonstrators did not send in their paperwork. These people are very disorganized and they do not pay. Oh they pay quite a few demonstrators, but there are a lot of complaints from most of the demonstrators due to non-payment. Do not blame Debbie. She works out of her home for this company. She lives in West Virginia and the company is located in Neptune, NJ. Debbie doesn't have any control over who the company pays, she is just in the middle because she is their coordinator. She is so stressed because she is the middle man. Susan is very unprofessional to not only her demonstrators, but also her coordinators and her clients. I am surprised that they are still in business. It isn't a matter of demonstrators not filling out paperwork correctly, it is just that Barry Promotions doesn't pay.

I'd like to say that I've heard nothing but complaints from some fellow field workers in the Marketing and Promotions industry. I'm a manager for a large marketing company and I'd like to offer some tips and comments about the aformentioned diliema.

(1)
Larry in Neptune, California wrote:

>

Any Marketing Company that makes you pay for supplies to run their promo without reimbursing you is NOT a reputable comapany and that is definitely NOT Industry Standard. That may be the case for a small company with intentions to get over on you. However every and I do mean every large Marketing Company ALWAYS reimburses you for job-related expenses.

(2)
Many of these demo companies are temp agencies. The bigger marketing companies like the one I work for have the contracts with the companies you're doing the sampling for. Say for instance Kraft foods hires my company to implement a nationwide marketing campaine. My company may bill them for say $50 for every labor hour. We then in turn hire a temp agency (like Barry Promotions) to staff local events for us. The temp agency may charge us something like $25 for every labor hour, who in turns takes their cut and pay you, the sampler/demonstrator $10/hr.

I said all that to let you know that I good way to get your pay is to contact the Marketing Company that hired Barry Promotions.

Barry Promotions: provided me with no samples, the management at the store had no idea that I was going to be there, I was provided with an address and phone number for a location that didn't exist. I sent them a detailed letter along with my information for that day. A few weeks later, they told me that I did not turn in my paper work. Then she called me asking for someone else to promote. I was truly embarrased to be at the event with out the proper information. How can you ask someone to pay 50 bucks for chocolates with out sampling them? thats retarded. I called four weeks afterward and the voice mail said that checks took six weeks. I called back after six weeks and the voice prompt said eight weeks. I called back after eight weeks and told them that while it was only $40 I still deserved to be paid for my time. I got my check last week. They had the nerve to call me and ask me to send the check back because they sent it to the wrong person. They sent it to the right person but they obviously have some organizational issues. I called them back to tell them that I would not be sending back the check. I was then told that "I should be a detective since I can solve mysteries instead of being in promotions" No Barry Promotions needs to have better organization and not try to hussle people.

Barry Promotions: provided me with no samples, the management at the store had no idea that I was going to be there, I was provided with an address and phone number for a location that didn't exist. I sent them a detailed letter along with my information for that day. A few weeks later, they told me that I did not turn in my paper work. Then she called me asking for someone else to promote. I was truly embarrased to be at the event with out the proper information. How can you ask someone to pay 50 bucks for chocolates with out sampling them? thats retarded. I called four weeks afterward and the voice mail said that checks took six weeks. I called back after six weeks and the voice prompt said eight weeks. I called back after eight weeks and told them that while it was only $40 I still deserved to be paid for my time. I got my check last week. They had the nerve to call me and ask me to send the check back because they sent it to the wrong person. They sent it to the right person but they obviously have some organizational issues. I called them back to tell them that I would not be sending back the check. I was then told that "I should be a detective since I can solve mysteries instead of being in promotions" No Barry Promotions needs to have better organization and not try to hussle people.

Barry Promotions: provided me with no samples, the management at the store had no idea that I was going to be there, I was provided with an address and phone number for a location that didn't exist. I sent them a detailed letter along with my information for that day. A few weeks later, they told me that I did not turn in my paper work. Then she called me asking for someone else to promote. I was truly embarrased to be at the event with out the proper information. How can you ask someone to pay 50 bucks for chocolates with out sampling them? thats retarded. I called four weeks afterward and the voice mail said that checks took six weeks. I called back after six weeks and the voice prompt said eight weeks. I called back after eight weeks and told them that while it was only $40 I still deserved to be paid for my time. I got my check last week. They had the nerve to call me and ask me to send the check back because they sent it to the wrong person. They sent it to the right person but they obviously have some organizational issues. I called them back to tell them that I would not be sending back the check. I was then told that "I should be a detective since I can solve mysteries instead of being in promotions" No Barry Promotions needs to have better organization and not try to hussle people.

I am also having troble with them It has not been eight weeks yet so I cant complain about my pay but I can complain that I am being told it takes 6-8 weeks and on a document I have provided by them it states 4-6 weeks. My problem is that I have missing paperwork. I made copies of all my paperwork like I was told to do so I do have my copy of the paperwork that is missing. I faxed the copy I have over and was told "...please do not fax it will be thrown away. Only originals are acceptable." I still do not know if I will get paid for that day or not. The paperwork could have gone missing while in the possession of USPS or who knows Barry Promotions could have even tossed it. I feel my copy should be accepted because that would be the right thing to do. Only time will tell.

Having spoke to a reliable trusting source I have come to the conclusion that I may have been missing some important facts. Also since Barry Promotion does have it's own system of doing things which seems to make it so pay takes a long time, this seems to be different than most businesses that maybe played a part in my coming to an inappropriate conclusion about them. I think if we have had a little better communication from them this all would not have happened. Therefore I would like to make a retraction of all my comments and apologize to Susan, Megan, Debbie and to the actual company of Barry Promotions. If I was able to remove the original complaint I would do so, But I can't. All I can say is that I am sorry.

Hello, to those who think they know the situation. I say it is good things went well for you in dealing with Barry Promotions. My wife did not have any written information from the company. My wife also worked for them and was told she would be paid 2 weeks after she worked. And she was also told she would be reimbursed for material she purchased, she was told by other employees this. We have called, my wife and I many times to clear up this problem but we got nowhere. We were told in mid December she would get paid but a month went by after that until she actually got paid.

We are not out to slander anyone, it is just that too much time was going by and my wife was not seeing the money so we used this site as a last resort.

I will say something positive about Barry Promotions they finally acted responsibly in actually paying my wife we are glad about this. Even though it was a problem and it might have been difficult for all it has been resolved and that was the objective.

I believe anyone else in our situation would have acted the same way... Maybe if better communication came from Barry Promotions all of this would have been avoided.

When I read these complaints as a demonstrator for Barry promotions, i did so out of disbelief. I wonder if these people made enough effort to resolve there problems prior to complaining to the bad business bureau? For anyone who is reading these messages there are somethings you should know about before using this web page.

1.If you have a legitimate complaint contact Barry promotions, they answer payroll questions. Payroll is processed 6-8 weeks after your invoice has been submitted. Use the phone or e-mail to contact Mr Barry, he will always help you. I have found that you should know the facts before you make untrue accusations.

2.If anyone has a legitimate problem with payment for work they should contact the Better Business Bureau before they choose to slander a company or person on the internet. They are easy to find on the internet and a complaint can be filed. They will respond to a complaint.

3. As a demostrator we are paid around $40.00 per event within 6-8 weeks. I have always been paid by Barry Promotions without any problems. If Sandy from California was owed over $6,000 she would have had to work over 150 demos. As a fellow professional demostrator and human being
I find it hard to belive that anyone would work without their pay for that many days.

I am a full time product demonstator and I have a suggestion for both David and Sherry.

David in Bloomsbury: Did you read your job instructions? No one is paid for their supplies this is part of the job requirments and typically we are paid a month after our work with no supplies included!

As you wrote:
"At our expense we even purchased items needed to give out food samples, we purchased plates, spoons, a table and a heating pan to keep the samples warm for the customers.. We were supposed to be reimbursed when my wife would be paid."

Sherry in CA: I don't want to call you a liar but I get paid $8.50 per hour which is what us demo ladies make and if they owed you $6000. that would mean you worked:
747 hours without pay???

David and Sherry stop taking the demo jobs away from us honest amnd hard working ladies out here and find other work if you do not like the way things are done.

I too was hired by Barry Promotions as an, "Independent Contractor" doing the same type of work as you guys. The were days that Ms. Susan Hart was absolutely pleasant and other days that she simply would go off in emotional tyraids. I believe that she was going through a divorce and/or having serious financial problems.

Ms. Susan Hart failed to honor her oral contracts with me as well and me being foolish enough to agree to be an independent contractor with her leaving me holding the bag for actual bills in excess of $6,354.22.

This means that this sum exceeds the small claims court amount and I now have to come up with $3,000.00 retainer fee for legal representation.

I also tried to obtain a Company Reliability Report from the BBB on Barry Promotions with No Results, hinting that Susan is doing business without a business license.

Thank You Ripoff-Report