Complaint Review: Skyline Publishing

Do you have a script that you work off of for these rebuttals?  I swear, I've read the same thing 8 times on this site and BBB.  I think we've given the internet community sufficient information on the matter so they can form their own opinions about the company.  I have never said that I did not get my money back...but it is only because I got in just under your 30 day mark.  Interesting how the proofs come out after the mark.  I also had to continute to call you for the whole week since my calls would not be returned or people got sick.

Yes, I don't have "proof" because I do not record my phone calls and you have never offered to send me the copies you have.  Those, before your editing, would show that Devri did give me list of places that the guide was and will be distributed, that I never gave you a business card...the list goes on.

I am not a vengeful person but I do not like to see small business taken advantage of by you or any of the companies similar to you, who have the F ratings on BBB.  What's that old saying? If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck...

In closing, I hope that people will read these and form their own opinion on whether they would like to do business with you.  I've learned from this experience and I encourage small business owners to 1) Not answer out-of-town phone numbers they do not recognize, 2) Do not say "Yes" on the phone and tell them you need to think about it, and 3) Check with your local Chamber of Commerce on companies that advertise in the area.  If no one has heard of the guide or company, chances are it will never reach the people of your community.  Have a great day!

Lauren,

I trurly am sorry that by giving you your money back and cancelling your ad it was not enough to resolve your issues with our company. We did everything you asked us to do and more but again for some reason that was not satisfactory. In your rebuttal you stated that you didn't know why I responded after four months. The reason is because I noticed a response from you and wanted to again set the record straight. You may not believe it but we do try to resolve every customer issue.  Yes a month ago when you looked us up online on the BBB website it did state that we were unrated but if you read closely it explained that the report was under review. The BBB does this every year. After their review they concluded that Skyline Publishing would be given an A- rating once again. This rating is based on facts in any and all complaints. Unfortunately websites such as this one don't require facts to be submitted in order for someone to file a complaint. It is hurtful and unnecessary to continue saying that we are a scheming company. You claim that we are but you have never once offered one bit of evidence to provide proof of that. Bottom line is we sold you advertising, you paid for it, you cancelled it and asked for a refund and that was done. What else could we have possibly done for you? I'm sure you would do the same thing in your business if a customer asked to return merchandise and for a refund. You would hope that after doing what the customer asked that customer would not publish online untrue horrible things about you, your employees, or your company.

Any reasonable person reading this can see that when you have as many customers as we have (over 150,000 and counting) there are some people you can't please no matter what you do. You are probably right that our complaints are similiar to other advertising companies but that does not make us or them a scam. It just means that similiar types of companies will have similair problems. When you are selling anything over the phone, the easiest and most common reason for wanting to cancel is because the customer says they didn't order it. We record or have signatures for each and every order. This is also the easiest complaint we can rebuttal because we have proof they are mistaken. Generally that resolves the issue, the customer pays their bill and they go on their way. Sometimes a customer will go a step further and claim that it is not their signature or not them on the recording. It's unfortunate but some people will lie and scheme to get out of paying for their ad even thought they know they ordered it. Finally if their other complaints aren't legitimate they will state that none of the books are distributed. Again, this is easy to claim but in no way true. We spend thousands of dollars a week sending our bulk supplies of books all over the country. If this was not the case we would not still be a successful business. Of course the good customers outweigh the bad but every business will have that. Just because similair businesses have similar complaints doesn't make them true and doesn't make any company a scam. Just because you or some other unnamed customer says something online does not make it true.

It is unfortunate that you are still unhappy and if there was anything else we could do to make you happy we would. It is clear from your comments in your rebuttal that you are just being hurtful, ex. "I really don't care anymore because I was able to get my money back" and "Hope to hear from you in 4 months again." I'm glad that you don't care anymore but because you don't care anymore maybe that means you are satisfied with the resolution you received afterall.  As far as other advertisers in the guide, I have not had anyone contact me and explain that they were unhappy and I would think that if they were they would have made it a point to contact us. In fact many of the advertisers have requested supplies of the books over and over again because they are so happy with them. We are not afraid of you telling people about your experience with our company because by telling them the truth people will see that we are fair and take care of any issues a customer has. That's what we did for you.

We just want people to know the truth and we want to make sure that any complaint a potential customer sees on this website or any other is taken with a grain of salt. It is easy to bad mouth a company from behind a computer screen when you don't have to provide any proof or documentation of your claim. We are not liars and will defend ourselves as many times as it takes against people who use libel and slanderous statements.

Thank you for your slightly more professional response.  At least there was no name calling in this one.  Also, thank you for repeating most of the things you said in your response 4 months ago.  I have not continued to "slander" you...I haven't really even thought about you since this all took place in August so I don't know what happened for you to write this new rebuttal.  But, now that you're in my mind again...I looked you up online for old times sake.  I see that you no longer have a rating with the BBB?  Why is that?  And how many of your Brunswick County advertisers are happy?  Not many that I talked to.  They were all told that they couldn't cancel so they wrote it off as a lesson learned.

You are a scheming company...if you look up complaints about any advertising scam, they all are very similar to the complaints your company recieves.  Maybe it's a coincidence but, if so, you may want to rethink your sales practices. Your lies are too numerous to list, including the statements from Devri about telling me what businesses had advertised and where the guide could be found.  I really don't care anymore because I was able to get my money back.  If anyone asks about you, I will tell them my experience but I can assure you I am not "continuing to slander you". 

Hope to hear from you in 4 months again!

Lauren,

It seems instead of looking at facts and the truth you continue to slander Skyline Publishing with inaccurate information. As far as what I told you every thing was the truth! We have never done the Brunswick County guide before so obviously no one would have seen it before. As with any business each year we continue to grow and as a business owner I'm sure you have done that yourself. I personally asked Devri and she stated to me that she informed you that this was a new guide and never under any circumstances told you of other businesses that advertised in this guide last year. There were no businesses to tell you.

You keep saying that you "know" that we are scam artists and that you "know" the publication does not exist. How do you "know" this? Have you Been proven without a doubt of that? Have you been to our office to check into that? No you haven't so I suggest before you continue slandering a company you know the facts. We have been in business for years and will continue to be for many years to come. We have printed and distributed books in every area we sell advertising in and will continue to do so. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on shipping and printing costs every year. Does that sound like we don't produce products?

Do you really think we just spend this money for no reason? You are obviously entitled to your opinion but the mature and professional thing to do is keep it to yourself unless you have proof to back up your side. We did what we could to make you happy and there was nothing else we could do for you. We created an ad that we thought was great and rushed you a proof ahead of everyone else because you asked us to do that. When you called in to complain because you thought you should have received the proof already even though it was not ready we did what you asked and got you a proof that day. We had your business card and thought it was a great look for the ad.

You only had a small ad and our professional designers felt a small ad cluttered with pictures and including pictures of merchandise you may no longer carry was not the best look. You could have made changes but you chose to cancel instead. We did not fight you on this. We did not refuse to do this. We simply cancelled your ad and gave you the money back. How could we have done better in that situation? As far as the comment about wanting a double refund, yes we received the chargeback from the credit card company showing that you were refunded from our company and received a chargeback from credit card comapny. It has since been corrected by that company.

We are aware of how these work but according to the original information you had received your money back twice. If you are going to share your experience with others that is fine but please at least make sure it is truthful. I just discribed your experience plain and simple. It was not damage control, it is called making the customer happy by doing what they want. You stating that you "know" certain things does not help consumers which is what you claim to be wanting to do. We offered to send you supplies of the books free of charge so you could hand them out and you stated you did not want them. If you want some now that is great and we would be happy to send you some.

We are not going to go back and forth with you but we would appreciate if you would from now on stick to the facts. None of the people including myself you have named in your complaint did anything wrong to you. We did nothing to cause you harm, nothing to scam you, nothing to hurt you. We have countless happy customers and repeat customers and we will continue to focus on them and how we can evolve and better their advertising. As far as the Better Business Bureau is concerned, I'm sure the officers of that organization who make decisions about complaints are smart enough to make good educated decisions based on facts and not angry and untrue accusations.

Thank you for your response.  Just like your reply to the BBB, you do everything you can to make yourselves look like poor victims in this.  All of my letters are simply stating the facts as they happened.  Your letters, on the other hand, are using high school mentality to pick on the other party.   Let me clear up a few of the lies that you have managed to sprinkle into your response:

1. I never gave you a business card to use. I do not know where you got my business card to use.  You said that you would use my Facebook page.  That page is full of photos that would look great in an ad.  In fact, the ad that an agency put together for a local visitors guide is fantastic and they, too, only had access to my facebook page. Also, side note, I bought my yearly ad with them around the same time I bought yours and I have no problem paying them for the ad.  I have seen it and can confirm that it exists.  The same cannot be said for yours.  Also, as anyone with eyes can see, sometimes business cards do not make the best ads.  They are two completely different things.  I did not pay to be in a business card directory; I paid for a "graphic designer" to design an ad for me.

2. You've never done a Brunswick County Guide? Then why would you tell me that some of the local businesses advertised last year and this year? Why would they advertise last year in a Guide that did not yet exist?  Please review the phone calls that you record: Devri distinguished between the businesses that were new this year and ones that had advertised and distributed it last year.  This is clearly your way of getting around the fact that none of the city offices or visitors centers have heard of your Guide.  I gave you the opportunity to give me a complete list of the places I could find the guide so I could personally go there or to send me enough copies to adequately distribute them around the town, you did not take me up on that offer.

It is true that you have given the refund, which is still in the process of going through.  Contrary to your earlier belief, the fraud department saw this and did not double refund me because they are not idiots.  Although I truly appreciate getting my money back so I can use it on legetimate advertising, your giving me a refund does not prove that you are not a scam.  I called you out and you did damage control by making me happy.  How many businesses who advertise with you are getting their 25 copies and don't call you out because they think there are a ton of other copies in the community?  And, please, you don't have anything to prove to me...I do not need my ad in the (unfinished) Guide because I did not pay for it.  It should be very simple to take out since, when I canceled, my proof had not even been created or approved. 

You know what? At this time, making businesses aware that you are scam artists is one of my priorities so I have taken time out of my schedule to do so.  I apologize if some of your employees who I dealt with and named personally do not know they are involved in a scam but, let's be realistic, I think they do.  When you work for a company that rips off trusting people, I have no problem personally connecting you to it.  Facebook is a powerful tool in today's world and it would be silly of me to not use it to find information out.  Perhaps, being in the advertising world, you should learn about the power of the internet.

Again, thank you for your response.  I think anyone who reads it can make a good judgement about who is in the wrong here.  I have not hidden behind a fake name or, like you, used petty name calling.  If you would like to give customers who have questions about the legitimacy of your company my phone number or email, by all means, please do.  I will happily tell them my experience with you.  I know that you are not a legitimate company and I do not appreciate what you are doing to business owners in my community (maybe? I haven't found one yet who has advertised) and the rest of the country.

Lauren,

I find it interesting how you obviously have nothing better to do with your time then troll facebook looking up information on employees from Skyline Publishing and writing reports that are filled with lies and inaccurate information. You ordered advertising on a publication Skyline Publishing is doing and you paid for it. You asked for it to be cancelled and your money refunded and that was done for you. What more do you want? What more could we possible do for you? You said that you can't find the book anywhere and you won't until it has been completed and distributed. We have never done the Brunswick County guide before so noone would have seen it before. Maybe if you knew what you were talking about you would not spew such inaccurate information. We told you the locations that have agreed to be distribution points and explained that these books would be delivered to these places once completed. You called and asked to cancel the ad not because you assumed wrong about what guide it is but you told us it was because you had bills due and needed the money. Must be a successful business you run! You asked for a proof to be done for you ahead of everyone else so we took time and made one using the business card we had. We sent you the proof. If the ad was terrible then I suggest you change your business card because that is what it was based on. Obviously Lauren the only reason you resorted to this website is because the BBB saw through your lies and resolved the complaint in our favor as they always do. You said you filed the BBB complaint because you didn't receive a refund but how ironic that you did recieve a refund! People don't give up on their complaints it is just that there is no legitimate complaint. You are partly correct in saying that people who have filed complaints have no proof that their complaint is legitimate. I find it hard to believe that we don't produce anything when we have several printers running constantly and spend tens of thousands of dollars a week on shipping with the USPS. We must just want to throw that money away then? Yeah that makes sense. We have over 150,000 customers and counting so it's not surprising that we run across desperate and vindictive individuals from time to time. It is amazing that it takes bad mouthing and lying about a company to make some people feel better about themselves but it is what it is. I could send you the letters and emails I get from customers who love the publications and thank us for the service but would you believe me? Probably not! The BBB knows that truth and we always supply plenty of proof to show that. I don't know what qualifications you have to be able to judge us or the BBB because you obviously have no idea about either. Please come to Illinois and see our company and see the thousands of publications that go out. See how we are all hard working people. See how you have unfairly judged us based on nothing but lies. Before you judge someone and assume the worse at least give them a chance to show you better. I could understand feeling that a company is a scam if we refused to refund you but that is not the case. We did EVERYTHING you asked us to do and without hesitation. Again what more do you want? Do you want to really have a company go out of business and hardworking people unable to feed their families because you are basing your assumptions on incorrect information? Is this the type of person you are Lauren??? I'm sure the BBB is qualified enough to judge us and any other company and if they feel we deserve an A- then that is what they feel we deserve. If you feel based on the FACTS that we deserve an F then I'm sorry you feel that way but it will not change anything. We did everything we could have to make you happy and still are planning on sending you books as promised. I'm sure you will be petty and throw them away but that doesn't matter because we want you to be assured that we do what we promise and always will. I think it's terrible that you would try and personally hurt employees here by putting personal names out there. Why do you think that is OK? It is obvious you went through facebook looking for us otherwise how would you know Jodie's name? Is it your mission to embarrass us, hurt us, or cause us harm in our personal lives as well as professional? I'm sure you can see that we are just regular people with nothing to hide. We are not a scam and it is absurd for anyone to say that. You have already voiced your concerns with our company and they have been resolved and handled so why you feel the need to slander us is beyond me. We wish you the best of luck in your business Lauren and hope you have years of continued success as we will have. P.S. Any customers who call and read this complaint and want to cancel or have an issue because of what Lauren wrote I will gladly give them her name and number and ask them to call her with their issues.