Complaint Review: Poetry.com

I was told by a friend, unsuspectimg, of course, that I had a good chance to win a poetry contest, so I entered back in January of 2004.

In April I received a letter through the US mail, that I was a finalist in the International Poets Society Annual contest, and that my poem would be published in a new limited edition book by mid summer with two pages dedicated to my poem "From Highest Mountain Peak" and my bio.

I am fairly new to the internet, and evidently quite naive, because when they quoted the price for the book, I really didn't think anything aboutit,except the fact I was going to see my work in print, and it could be something I could save and pass down to my grandchildren. Just last week, I received another letter telling that I had won, not the grand prize, but the honor of having my poem put on a CD, being read wtih background music, me and 32 other poets..........by this time of course I had figured out that something was not right, because friends of mine that write also recieved the same letters and some didn't even submit a poem, but they do however, like me have Poem sites on the internet.

So I am out close to $100.00 and it's not mid summer yet, but I really don't expect to ever see a book. The people they pay to give these false ads for them about winning so much money and being so proud of their books, should be pulled down with the rest of the shisters........I almost lost a friend because she thinks that she has won all these awards and is just waiting to receive them, she has submitted many, many poems and like magic, she wins every single time.

So please if anything at all can be done to stop them from ripping off another innocent individual that has talent, and think that this company is going to help them out, it will be worth not even getting my money back..thank you,

Shirley
Winterville, North Carolina
U.S.A.