SmartProcure Verified TRUSTED Business REVIEW: Customer Satisfaction Commitment: SmartProcure, Inc is dedicated to customer satisfaction. SmartProcure assists all its customers get the most out of their products while training and empowering them to find new opporutunies through it's robust government purchase order database.
ABOUT THE RIPOFF REPORT BELOW:
Ripoff Report would like to let readers know that Ripoff Report emailed this customer so the member business could make things right with them. When a business joins the Corporate Advocacy Program, Ripoff Report emails everyone from the past so the member business can make things right with them. Of course, everything within reason. In order to confirm that the complaints were resolved, Ripoff Report is copied on all responses so we can insure that the member business did right by their customer. The author of the Ripoff Report below never responded to our offer to help them.
STATEMENT FROM SMARTPROCURE:
The report was incorrect in that the customer signed a written contract for 3 years of service, including 60 days free service after the first month, and then refused to pay any monthly payments after 90 days -- 60 days of which were free! SmartProcure agreed to waive any responsibility for years 2 and 3 as an accommodation. In all fairness, we believe there is no logical way a customer could assume he could pay for 1 month of service on a clearly documented contract with a 3 year term he signed, and receive another 60 days of free service, without any obligation at all for carrying out his part of the contract.
NOW TO THE ORIGINAL REPORT THAT WAS FILED
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SmartProcure is supposed to be a searchable database of government purchase orders to help government vendors boost sales.
After extremely aggressive sales tactics, I agreed to try the service on August 24, 2015. as I was clearly told there is no commitment. Since I was hesitant about any benefits from the service I was not willing to sign up for a long term contract. I tried their system and found that there were no benefits to my company utilizing them.
In early November I called to cancel my agreement. After several attempts of them trying to convince me not to cancel they sent me a copy of my signed contract and said I was obligated to pay three years of payments. On the contract it says one SmartSearch-Annual Subscription 3 yrs for $250.00 monthly. However I was lead to believe this was locking in the rate for the 3 years, not committing to paying three years worth of service. No-where on the agreement does it state I am obligated to pay the full term three years. The only statement on there is regarding renewals, not termination.
I continued to be harassed, trying to convince me why their services were so great and repeatedly sent a copy of my agreement. Nothing had changed on either end. Then on March 7, 2016 I received an email from Dani Carideo that my account was severely over due and I owed $1,000.00. I responded letting him know that I had closed the account several months ago, that I was not using the services and I had no intention of using them again. I also reiterated that I had met my financial responsibilities with them. Again I was sent a copy of my agreement and assurance that they had dedicated client service managers to help us use the service. Again nothing had changed on either end.
I am now being aggressively contacted by a law firm (as of 3/14/2016) trying to collect over $8,000 they claim I owe them. This company has unethical business practices and has crafted a purposely ambiguous contract in order to deceive clients into believing there is no commitment, to later attempt to collect an exorbitant amount of money for a service that is mostly useless.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
SmartProcure
Deerfield Beach,Florida,
USA
Results of Followup Phone Call to Alex
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, March 17, 2016
This is a note from my staff after they called Alex. As you see he understands it's a 3 year agreement but he doesn't think he is liable for payment. Not sure how that seems like a reasonable position. He was also very hostile and rude. Our decision is to keep this with the collections agency as we've done everything we can and it's not fair to subject my people to the inappropriate and rude behavior he exhibits when we talk with him.
SmartProcure
Deerfield Beach,Florida,
USA
Response from SmartProcure
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Tue, March 15, 2016
My name is Jeff Rubenstein. I'm the President & CEO of SmartProcure. The #1 goal at SmartProcure is to go out of our way to help a potential client be successful with our product. When I read Alex's complaint, I looked into the matter thoroughly and here's what I found.
On Thursday, August 20th, at 1:04pm Eastern time we had our first conversation with Alex. It was a call that one of our staff made to him to introduce the capabilities of SmartProcure. A demo was set up for Monday, August 24th, at which point Alex called SmartProcure to see the product. We logged him into our system through the screensharing application join.me and proceeded to fully demonstrate the capabilities of the product.
This was a call that lasted 26 minutes, and at the conclusion of the call he asked to purchase the product. We sent him a formal agreement via Docusign, at which point he signed the agreement and initialed the terms of service. As Alex indicated in his post, the document clearly stated it was an Annual Subscription. Due to him being a small company we allowed him to pay monthly as a special exception. We typically don't allow that for these reasons.
What Alex did not mention was that he also asked for another 2 months for free, which we granted. He made his first payment on August 24th, 2015, then received another 2 months of service for free, then as he indicated in his post, called to cancel in November after his extra 60 days were up. I'm at a loss to understand why he didn't think this was even an annual agreement at the least, considering it clearly stated it was an annual agreement for a 3 year term.
His position that SmartProcure sent a signed agreement for him to sign that said it was an annual agreement and a 3-year term, so he could lock in the price doesn't make much sense if he also isn't locked in. What company has a client sign an agreement with that language so the client is protected for 3 years against any price increases, yet they could cancel at anytime. And why would a company provide 60 days for free at the beginning of the agreement if there was no obligation to continue.
I consider myself a reasonable and fair person. I understand that there can be miscommunications and sometimes there is not a meeting of the minds. However, when someone takes a position that is so counter to what is reasonable it's difficult to rationalize.
In the interest of being fair and reasonable, I plan on asking my folks to contact Alex and waive any responsibility for years 2 and 3. However, there is no fair basis at which to assume he could pay for 1 month of service on clearly documented annual contract with a 3 year term he signed and receive another 60 days of free service for 1 month's payment without any obligation.