We have had the absolute worst experience with advertising with Modern Luxury. I am completely taken aback by how long we were hunted by Modern Luxury for years and when we finally decided to give in and advertise it couldn't have gone more wrong. We had a number of deliverables within our contract we paid for during a time when no one else was willing to part with their advertising dollars due to COVID. So far two deliverables have been done and both of those deliverables went poorly. The first was an Instagram Takeover in which we provided the hashtags and images/content. We were told when it was going to be posted so my assistant kept a close eye out for it. When it went live we were not only not tagged in the post but my assistant reached out immediately to notify the team we were working with on this and never received a response for over a week until I stepped in and demanded it be fixed. Rather than it simply being responded to when it went poorly and editing it and we could have moved on, we were told it would be made up to us by doing another one in September. I saw no reason this could not be edited and fixed and we go on. I let the team know we were working with that I was not happy and the lack of communication and response is unacceptable. Rather than acknowledging how horrible it was the team wanted to just move to the next deliverable which was the first print ad of 2 we contracted for. I let the team know that the first deliverable left us believing the second deliverable wouldn't come without errors as well and we had lost faith in continuing. We were told this was really where the bulk of our dollars were being spent and that's really what matters. I explained it doesn't matter what the team believed the bulk of monies were being spent, we had a contract for certain items with expectations those items would be handled professionally and correctly. I let the team know I was reserving our ability to cancel the contract due to breach of contract so far until we see how the ad went. We received very little help in putting this ad together. We provided all the content, fonts, text, etc. and I honestly believe it is the job of Modern Luxury to assist the customer and we should not have had to design it and provide the fonts because someone didn't want to download the font.
I requested copies of the magazine once printed to which I received and reviewed. The magazine didn't even list us in the directory which was part of the print ad. No one bothered to bring it to our attention but instead waited to see if we could catch it. I brought it the teams attention and received an apology only days later after it had already hit the stands and in light of the mistake we would be listed in the directory for this year online and next year. Well, we paid for this year so it's moot at this point because the magazine has gone to print and it's not going to be pulled back. Publishing it online doesn't help us when what was contracted for was for both print and online. We paid for next year as well so that doesn't help us fix the situation. I let the team know we were exercising our right for breach of contract to cancel and rather than requesting the full contracted amount back we would accept 60% to which they agreed to.
Numerous attempts have been made since June 20, 2021 to fulfill the agreement:
June 23, 2021 an agreement was reached to refund 60% between parties;
July 2, 2021 we were informed a refund was processing via check the following week;
July 8, 2021 we followed up on the refund and received no response;
July 17, 2021 we followed up on the refund and were told the check was cut last week and tracking was requested so it could be sent to us;
July 19, 2021 we followed up on the tracking for the refund check and were asked for our direct deposit information as Accounting wanted to transfer funds before the end of the day. We followed up post 7:00 pm as funds were not received. We were told everything was sent for payment straight to the bank account we provided and accounting said it could take up the 48hrs to see the available funds. We followed up again because funds were not there and were told we should see funds in the account this week. A text messaged was received from your company contact that funds would be in the account by July 22, 2021;
July 22, 2021 we followed up on the refund and had no response;
July 23, 2021 we followed up via email and phone and had no response;July 23, 2021 we followed up via email and phone and had no response;
July 30, 2021 we followe up with the corporate office in Houston and were put in touch with D'anne Cagle-Heckert, President of Inside Sales U.S.
Market President- Atlanta and were told it's being discussed and handled internally, they checked with their Accounts Payable Director the refund "is in the works." read more
