Complaint Review: Gary Paul Corcoran

Nice try with all the fake Twitter followers you keep purchasing...

 Gary, i am reminding you at this juncture that if you want anything from me you will first have to return my funds in full. This will be the case forever and indefinitely. I spent a very long time attempting to negotiate with you and offering to let you keep some of the money, to which you continuously insisted on keeping more and more. Then you lied about this fact, which is well documented, over and over again throughout your bullying and harassing emails to me. I do not appreciate the lies and your lack of adhering to the wording of your own contract - that your clients must approve your work. You do not get a free pass to force people to accept substandard work, or work they are not happy with; nobody does. To argue otherwise goes against basic democratic principles. You cannot coerce clients into behaving the way you want them to because you think that it's only 'fair.' Especially when your own contract dictates otherwise. I am not stupid and will never, ever be signing anything with you or divulging anything further to you. This is not some game. and this is the last thing I will ever write on here or to you ever until I receive the full deposit back.

Gary is an absurd, immature man who seeks to ignore the wording in his own contract, that his clients must be satisfied with his work at all times. He thinks somehow special rules should apply to him in the business world, and that people should have to just accept and pay for whatever he feels like trying to pass off as acceptable work. Where I come from, and to most sane, rational people, Gary, this is called attempted extortion. No one owes you anything in this world, least of all the coerced acceptance of your work. The attempts at negotiating with you and offering some money, though far too kind given the ridiculously bad work you produced and the extremely short duration of your paltry and halfhearted efforts towards my project, were all rejected by you although you prefer to lie and claim that you were never offered anything. And so, I must reiterate to you at this juncture that you will receive no compliance or cooperation from me in any way unless the full amount of my deposit is returned. It is absurd that you have any notion that I might "come to my senses." You are clearly the one who needs a severe reality check in this situation, and to learn to operate your business in a fair and just manner. It is irrelevant how you feel you may have behaved with other clients in the past as your present behaviour is deplorable.

I stand by the truth and validity of all of my claims against Mr. Corcoran. 

The fact of the matter is, I, as the paying client, was not happy with his work, as per the terms of our contract.  I terminated said contract immediately, after about six days.  He admitted to not having read through my manuscript at all before commencing, and even stooped to insulting me and calling me names in our correspondence.  Truly pathetic.   

If you would like the negative review retracted, Gary, I suggest you refund my deposit.

Otherwise, it will be up here for a very, very, long time.....and will probably cost you more than the $5000.00 ;) 

 The other review of Gary can be found by searching 'Gary Paul Corcoran' on this database, or simply entering Gary Corcoran Writer on Google. Cheers

And it would appear this person doesn’t know the meaning of those two words…

Let’s start with honesty. It is claimed here that another report exists about me on this site, when there is none. That should disqualify you right there, shouldn’t it? But the list of untruths goes on and on.

Before I rebut this nonsense once again, point by point, I would want anyone reading this to know I care. I care about my work. I care about my clients and all people. I care about goodness in this world and making this a better planet and living my life in a way that is estimable. There is a reason why, after being at my craft for decades, that you cannot find one single complaint about me anywhere, except for this one. I have bent over backwards at every turn in an effort to be fair with my clients, doing extra work for free in many cases, just to show that I’m not all about the money, and have always found that to be a recipe for fair treatment in return, until now.

So please, before I do stoop to answer these spurious accusations one more time, if you were thinking to hire me and now have doubts. Drop me a line and say hello. I’ll be happy to discuss your project with you for free, as always, and even do a send up of your first chapter, gratis, just to prove my skills as a writer and to show you that I am a decent, caring human being, not the caricature of a con man and villain this person has attempted to make me.

As to the details, it would seem that this person forgets all our communications are in writing. If this were a court of law, it would be damning. Let’s start with this person’s last message to me. It said, in no uncertain terms, that I was not to attempt any further contact. That in response to the bill I had sent for services rendered, in which I expressed my openness to a counter offer. I sent a response anyway and expressed exactly what I had said in my first rebuttal here. I stand ready to reach a reasonable settlement and there is no time limit to that offer. Agree on a reasonable sum for the time I have invested in your project, retract the lies you’ve posted here and we’re good. Instead, we resort to defamation and slander. I am saddened and baffled, equally. How is this supposed to resolve our differences or make this a better world?

As to the other charges.

I did not spend two weeks on the project? I did. Again, the exchange of emails corroborates this. I have it all in writing. I did not put any time into researching the project? Nonsense. I spent nearly a week reading the manuscript and researching the associated period of history and could discuss it all backwards and forwards, with anyone. Admitted in writing that I did not read all the instructions or manuscript before commencing? More nonsense. We agreed that I would write an opening chapter or two for review purposes while I finished reading the remainder of the manuscript. The assertion seems to be that I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. My crappy writing? I too would be willing to send anyone the work I did for this project, especially as it compares to the raw material I was given. Or go to my Amazon page and take a peek inside at my published works. Like my style or not, I am without question an accomplished author, these shrill attempts to denigrate my talent aside. Keep 90% of this client’s good faith deposit? Not hardly. Not even close to the bill I sent. Terminated the contract immediately upon seeing my first writing? Wrong. In delivering the first few chapters, I had gone with a Hemingwayesque touch. It’s a war novel. But the client wanted something more literary so I offered a new submission that was more Howard Endish. This is the process that is clearly spelled out in my contracts. First draft, second draft, third draft. We work together back and forth to achieve the desired end, a process, mind you, that the client completely failed to honor, despite having read and signed the contract. In any case,  I was encouraged to keep working and did. Then, with two full weeks of my time invested, this person decided to terminate the project, demanding the return of the entire good faith deposit. I sent the aforementioned bill for services rendered, and when threats of legal action and arrest failed to lead anywhere, this person resorted to this. Shockingly dishonest person? You should be ashamed to assert that I ever insisted on keeping $3800.00 of your deposit. Again, in a court of law you would be damned. It’s all in writing. Yet, despite all your malicious efforts to ruin me, I have and remain willing to negotiate with you fairly.

Finally, I make no bones about it. The purpose of a good faith deposit is to ensure we’re both completely invested. I have never started a project without finishing it. I give heart and soul to every client but the simple fact is, my work is heavily front loaded, meaning I am upside down until we are well along in the book. If you walk away after the first ten or twenty thousand words, I am harmed and would soon go out of business. It is also a fact that I have never been in this position before. Reasonable people all seem to understand and appreciate my character, talents and diligence. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve picked up where another writer has left off without honoring their commitments. The point is, I am as dependable as the sun but it works both ways. If a client is not willing to be dependable in return, I am harmed no less.

In conclusion, to be faced with such tripe about my character is truly infuriating. In this person’s own words, what has been said here is so shockingly untrue, I don’t know how a person can sleep at night, telling such lies. I know I couldn’t, but I remain resolute in my willingness to negotiate and settle our differences. It is never too late for fairness, or for those lost in the woods to stumble upon enlightenment. I would never use up two weeks of another person’s life and then assert it was worth nothing, as this person has done with me. Yet I am not vindictive or bitter. Saddened, yes, that this sort of behavior persists in our world, but the fundamental premise of my existence remains, to care about my fellow human beings and make this a better planet.

So, in all that has been said, I am not at all the person that has been portrayed here.

 Everything Gary writes is completely untrue. First of all, he did not spend two weeks on my project. He barely put any time into researching at all, as I had informed him to do, and it was very obvious. I know that I am not the only person who has had problems with him, as there is now another review on here that corroborates my claims. I would be willing to send anyone seriously considering hiring this crook the crappy writing that he did for me, and thinks he should keep at least 90% of my deposit for. He claims that he has tried to 'fairly' negotiate with me, but continues to insist that at least $3800.00 of my deposit should stay with him. This is not negotiation. The work he did was abysmal and I did not approve any of it and terminated the contract right away after seeing the first written material he had prepared for me, and how bad it was. He admitted, in writing, to having not even read all of my instructions or manuscript before commencing, as I had instructed him to do so. This was not a simple project and he had no right to disobey my clear instructions. This man is a selfish and shockingly dishonest person, please avoid at all costs.

Let me state right up front for the record. This is defamation, plain and simple. Yes, I received a $5,000 good faith deposit from this client, which was in conjunction with our signed, legal contract. Thereafter, not one word of what is written here is true.

Before going into more detail, consider that I have been in business for decades as a writer without one single complaint. So if you are sincerely in need of a superb writer with impeccable character, please reach out and give me a call. If you want the best for your book, you owe it to yourself. The work samples on my website garypaulcorcoran.com will attest to my skill level, as will the testimonies you find there, and I have literally scores of additional former clients, willing to refute these spurious claims.

In a nutshell, this is what actually happened. I signed a contract with this client, received a good faith deposit, as already noted and embarked on writing the historical novel in question. I spent two weeks doing research, reading the client’s existing manuscript, making an outline of the story’s arc and ultimately provided polished written material based on this background work, of the same quality you will find on my website, and which one can assume was the basis upon which I was hired in the first place. All throughout this period, there were continuous and cordial phone calls and exchanges.

At the end of two weeks, and completely out of the blue, the client expressed a desire to cancel the project. Not one to hold a gun to anyone’s head, I agreed and asked what we were to do about my investment of time up to that point? The client demanded the entire good faith deposit back without offering me a single penny in return. When I provided a bill for work rendered thus far, I was threatened with legal action. I consulted my attorney and was told not to do anything until this client was ready to offer a reasonable settlement and lift the legal cloud from over my head.

Rather than being reasonable and trying to meet me halfway, the client resorted to this forum. No doubt there are situations where it is your only tool available, but this was not one of them. I subscribe to the highest ideals and level of ethics. I do not rip people off and not once have I changed my position or the tenor of my exchanges with this client. Threatened in various ways, I have been measured at every turn and have a lengthy exchange of emails to prove all my assertions here. Once this client agrees to some form of reasonable compensation for my two week investment of time and abandons the threat of legal action, I will return the remainder of the good faith deposit. I have offered this client my repeated assurances that there is no time limit on concluding this matter in a fair and just way, but it has to be fair for both parties concerned.

In the meantime, I will stand on my principles and trust in the discerning nature of the public. I give heart and soul to every project, go the extra mile at every turn and work diligently with my clients, once their project is completed, to make sure the book gets published. Please see my Amazon page.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=gary+paul+corcoran

I have numerous other books in publication, which are not on that page.

If you have any further doubts, again, please reach out. I have many, many former clients who will attest to my splendid work and fine character.

Thank you for hearing my side of the story in this unfortunate affair,

Gary