Complaint Review: Menus to Go

I recently signed a contract with them for a year worth of advertising to be placed in a local restaurant in our area. First off I met with a sales person from the company and the meeting went good except that he did tell me that it was going to be published in a week and that I needed to get in ASAP to meet deadline for print. Well I decided to go in because everything he told me was amazing, Well that's where the saying goes, "if its to good to be true, it probably is"! First off he promised me that my listing catagory (childrens entertainment) will be exclusive to the menu, WELL THAT WASN'T TRUE. Then he promised me that my ad would be on the second page of the menu next to the menu. So imagine a book like menu, open the pages and on the left side is my full page ad and then on the right side is a full page of menu from the restaurant. WELL COME TO FIND OUT THAT THE RESTAURANT PUTS THEIR FULL MENU UP FRONT THEN ANY ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE BACK! One of the main reasons I opted in was because HE ASSURED ME THAT I WOULD BE NEXT TO A MENU PAGE. I asked him that question numerous times during the meeting to ensure that was the case. Why would I want to advertise behind the menu, no one looks past the menu! For the right price maybe, but I am in a contract for $1300 plus!! Next he told me this was going to be out on August 1st, and that I needed to get my add info in to their art department right away. So I sent it in right away. A week went by and no reply, my deadline was up and this ad I assumed was out! I called and they aid that they never received my info., because the person who handles the new accounts no longer works for them, I asked well isnt the menu out already, they said No, that it will be out on September 1st. and told me to resend my info. So I did, though I wasn't pleased.

Well they did my artwork and I approved it, everything was fine until I received a bill for my first payment of $333.00, now I had already paid a fee of $160 for setup of the account. You would thinnk why is this a big deal, receiving your first bill? Well because my sales rep told me that I would be billed quarterly and my first payment is not until October 1st. I got the bill and questioned it, but they told me that he was wrong and that I am billed in 4 consecutive months, and that covers the rest of the year. So I paid the bill. I should not have! I am in for $500 now and the 1st came and is now gone, no advertisement, and no menu. I called them today and they said they are sending out this week, that it was printed last friday, but then come to find out that I am not even in the publishing, so I request a refund, they then change thier story and tell me that it is printing today and I am in the menu...huh?? In between calls by me to them, I decided to call the restaraunt that I was being published in and ask them a few things. The sales rep originally told me that this particular restaraunt was revising their whole menu system and that every sit down customer was getting this menu, as well as every delivery and walk in take out customer. Well after speaking with the owner of the restaraunt come to find out this is just a small little menu pamphlet that stands next to the hostess desk. People can take one if they want one! WHAT? SO THIS IS WHAT I AM PAYING $145 A WEEK FOR???

I am not naming the restaurant becasue they are not affiliated with Menus To Go though they use them for their little take out menus, I highly doubt they know what is going on, but they will know soon! I am disgusted with the salesman who promised me all this stuff, yet was all lies. Another thing, he promised a 60 run on a tv advertisement, and come to find out that this is only a 20 time run, in a 60 day period on only cable network tvs, meaning no fios or satellite services such as direct tv etc., will see this commercial and it runs night time, most likely when everyone is asleep. This ad is a picture of my ad with a narrator reading it! This was not told to me, he mislead me when he told me about the commercial ads, and he told me they would run about 30 days after the menu comes out, well now they are telling me 4-5 months after the menu goes out, if the commercial goes out at all.

The biggest kicker is that this company actually has no affilition with any restaurants that use their service, so if you opt in to put your advertisement into a menu that you absolutely love because you know the place is an awesome restaurant with a ton of clientelle, you may not even actually end up in that menu! They state in very fine words in their contract that if their is no opening placement for the menu you opted into, they can place you in another menu within a 5 mile radius of the restaurant. They have over 200 bad reviews and reports on the BBB, and no place do they come up on google for reviews. I wish I had the time to research them further before making this horrible decision, but because of the pressure from the salesman and feeling like I was going to loose my spot, I jumped to soon. All I get is hung up on when I call them or a VM. THIS IS A SCAM, BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE! I still have no ad anywhere to be seen, and all I get when I call them is the run around and then hung up on, or transfered to a message machine.