Complaint Review: Stars And Stripes Marketing LLC - Internet

I do have a clue as to who posted this. I want to start first with the fact I served my country in the Army with an honorable discharge for nearly ten years, receiving a Bronze Star Medal in Iraq during my tour. I know in my GUT this person is affiliated with Vintage NYC Magazine in some way. They are either Amelia Meloni PR (no tax ID for her business listed in New York, only her husband's "Rainmaker" business, which, who knows what that is), or they represent Amelia Meloni PR somehow. Here is why I believe this to be true -- I received a very strange RFP via my website On Fri, Jun 13, 2014 at 8:10 AM: Primary Contact Name * Stephanie Carlson Company * Inquiring for East Coast Fashion Designer Primary Contact Email * [email protected] Primary Contact Phone * (999) 999-9999 Is this a Project or Service Retainer?

* Not sure How long have you been in business? Fairly Young (3 - 9 years) Tell us about your needs: Hi I am an assistant to my sister who is an East Coast based fashion designer. Before I tell you more, I want to state that this is MY email, my sister has a business email, phone number etc. I purposely keep her information private while I contact PR teams initially. The reason for this is that she is fairly well known (ie has received press, shows at Fashion Week, and much more), and I do not want these inquiries getting back to her current PR team out of respect. I am sure that your company respects privacy, but I hope you understand our concerns for privacy to start. Let me give you some basic info about us / my sister.

First, if you are interested in hearing more about her, think your company can help etc. Please email me back at my / the email address provided. Please copy and paste it or type it carefully as I have had problems with emails misfiring - Note it is "A Lifetime F Love" - No "O" prior the "F" (if that makes sense). Thus: [email protected] I just want to make sure that you respond to my account and not accidentally someone else as I have had the problem in the past. Going on, I would like to hear more information about your company. I found your website in Google. I admire your military background. After reading your website thoroughly I was wondering if you had a media kit or portfolio of your work? Since my sister not only needs a new PR team, but a website and more I would like to see some more samples of your work (if that is okay).

I respect your fee and it is reasonable, but we would just appreciate further info. If you do not have a portfolio or media kit- Do you have references, referrals OR feel free to even send us a link to other sites that you have designed and marketed. Some links are fine for now, at least for this initial contact. Please forgive me for asking for more information, but as you know there are so many SEO / web designers / PR companies out there to choose from. I am also a very straight forward person. It might be my East Coast nature or it is due to the fact that my sister is currently being taken advantage of by her current PR team. This all being said, we are drawn to you for your military background, and love / understanding of the fashion industry. Also, do you only specialize in VINTAGE fashion or will you work with modern fashion too?

Perhaps I read your intro wrong? None the less it does sound interesting. My sister has had her own line for over 10 years. Currently her line is in several high en department stores and she shows at NY Fashion Week at least once a year, if not twice. That reminds me, do you have experience in working with retailers and designers? I mean, if we choose you as her PR team do you feel as though your company can continue growing her business, setting up retail meetings, manage the meetings etc.? Lastly, she has a non-profit group that she believes in. I see that you have experience with events. With in that experience does that include setting up the event, managing the guest list, setting up the step and repeat, and SPONSOR MANAGEMENT.

Most PR companies in my experience d o some of that, but few have experience in the sponsorship mgmt. so I just wanted to check... Okay in a nut shell that is where we are at. I look forward to hearing back from your company, learning more about it, and how you can possibly help my sister. After I hear back from your company perhaps we can set up a phone meeting? If it comes to that point we are MORE than happy to disclose company information etc. Thank you so much for your times, Stephanie Carlson Sister to East Coast Fashion Designer _______________ PS. I forgot to ask where you are located. Are you on the East Coast? If not we would still like to hear more info, but at times she will need her PR team / rep to attend events with her.

Especially ones that she puts on, and Fashion Week. If you are not local please let me know how that will work? ------------------------------------------------- I responded to the RFP with pricing and here it is: Hi Stephanie, I have worked with designers who are involved in fashion week, although they are not necessarily my main clientele. The list of services that I gather from your email are: 1. Web Development 2. Public Relations 3. Sponsorship Development 4. Event Management These things we can definitely handle. I work with a celebrity stylist who is amazing we are actually planning our next fashion show on an air craft carrier in San Diego. We do modern and vintage and yes we have experience setting up meetings with retailers, etc.

I'm from the east coast in RI and I'm in NYC a lot. I live in San Diego, and my partner lives up in LA. She styles everyone from A-List celebs to regular business professionals. If travel is required, we would need that to be paid for including lodging. It will take me couple hours to put a proper proposal together so I want to be sure you know our budgetary requirements up front, but I'm happy to do a call and discuss further.

1. Web Development - $2,500 plus (depending on eCommerce requirements, but we can custom code anything to suit her needs)

2. Public Relations - Retainer based, depending on hours required. Usually about $1,000/mo. and then performance based on placement of articles and news coverage.

3. Sponsorship Development - I do have experience here, and I'm sure some of her relationships could be further explored to try and leverage things that she already has built up. If she is a well known designer (which it sounds like she is) I think that she would do well taking a look at her database and we could do a percentage fee for any sponsors we obtain.

4. Event Management - Depending on the event, but a NYC Fashion week level show starts around $15,000 for promotion, marketing PR and production (model castings, etc.). Let me know if you think this warrants further discussion. -------------------------------------------------

"Stephanie" responded to my email today, after the Ripoff Report was Posted, which leads me to believe "stephanie" posted it. I know how Amelia writes and this is pretty much spot on so I just know it's actually Amelia Meloni PR: Dear Kalen, I do appreciate your response but this matter does not warrant further discussion other than this...... Up front you should know that I do my homework when it comes to hiring another business to help manage my sister's career. Due to the fact that your email is condescending it appears as though you are doing just fine with the business you have now. I do find it strange that you can not give samples of your work nor referrals upon my request. However, that is really here nor there after I read what I read today.

I must say that I have never been as shocked to find out such disheartening information about a so-called company before until I researched this one that you claim to own. Or should I state that the platform you scam people from? Even though I am a third party here, and should stay out of your drama- I think that you should know that getting your name placed on internet directories does not mean much when your reputation is so poor. Based on my research, and the report listed below, I now know that behind your attitude is a con artists. Originally to be fair, I asked my sister to ask around in her circles and in the industry in general about your company. I guess that I should not be too surprised that no one has ever heard of you (on either coast) especially since per your own statement on this website, Stars And Stripes Marketing LLC was copyrighted only last year. But keep reading along about your copyright infringement, and your future legal battles below.

Copyright infringement is not your first problem or crime. Actually, I did not have to check very hard to find out all that I need to know about this fake Stars And Stripes Marketing Company that you claim to own. Can you say theft of intellectual property rights? To wrap up I want to thank you for your condescending attitude, ignorance, and enormous fees with little or no work to show that you deserve these fees - I found the following report that has clearly made my mind up about what type of person you are. I almost called you a "business person," but that would make me a liar and on your level. Okay enough said! Here is what I think you should learn from: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Stars-And-Stripes-Marketing-LLC/internet/Stars-And-Stripes-Marketing-LLC-Stars-And-Stripes-Marketing-LLC-in-this-case-refers-to-th-1155172 I certainly did. Thanks but no thanks! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are interested in my responses to the allegations in this ERRONEOUS report, here they are: The copyright on my website should say 2014, I am glad she reminded me to fix it, thanks! Actually my business was started in 2010 and I'm happy to provide proof if necessary. Websites typically show the current year, not the year the business was started, although some do show that as well. Clearly Stephanie knows her stuff (sarcasm). 1. Not sure who the REAL Stars and Stripes Marketing is? I was a company before that one, and I know who they are. 2. My address is not in Vista, CA and I do have a registered biz on the Secretary of State website. Although they did receive a change of address form, in fact my secretary of state listing still says Laguna Hills, and I'll attach that file. 3. I have no theft of intellectual property.

Vintage NYC Magazine is the real issue at heart, and that becomes clear in the original report. I took down the Vintage NYC website because I didn't want my name on it. I found out that Amelia Meloni PR was selling advertising and then letting me know that nothing was sold. She had no control over it, and I would have to do the work for free. I refused to continue to work on the project, even though I had purchased email addresses, domain names, and designed business cards, I even did a free site for Amelia because she had nothing! I'm really laughing at this ripoff report, given what her husband does for a living. Anyway, it's not really relevant. 4. If anyone tried to contact Vintage NYC Magazine the email would come to me because I would be happy to give Amelia everything if she paid for it, but she hasn't. If anyone else wants to buy it, I still own it.

The logo was NEVER submitted for trademark. Why would I pay even more and have Amelia do nothing she said except slap together a couple events at a no-name bar in NYC. Sorry that was not our agreement. I have payroll and other expenses and could not afford to do the design for a magazine that would never fund itself. Two editions and thousands lost, I decided to walk away. 5. I used to live in Johnstown, Colorado, and I dissolved it when I moved back to California but I kept my CA LLC alive because I had a feeling I'd move back there. It shows "Dissolution" on the CO Secretary of State site. I am an open book and the person who filed this report was clearly up to no good. Unfortunately, last year I was very nice, and too easily taken advantage of by people like her, but not this year! Trust me, I've learned my lesson. 5.

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