Bad Business Revealed
We work with a lot of AMAZING companies here at T.O.P. Several hundred reputable companies every year approach us about being reviewed, are approved, ship samples to our team and ship prizes to you without delay.
Occasionally, however, there are some very untrustworthy companies who are approved for review but once they receive a positive review we never hear from them again and our readers never receive their prizes. Fortunately, out of the over 650 companies we have worked with, only two have proven to be shoddy and dishonest business people, and we’ve decided to reveal them to you so that you know we DO NOT recommend you ever trust them with your business or your money. We feel strongly that companies like this should go bankrupt and be put out of business. It’s just karma, baby.
1. Gem Gem. (It absolutely PAINS me to link over 75 000 readers a month to people like that.) Our review is found here. After repeated attempts to contact (at least 6, spread out over 6 months), she has chosen not to respond to us and has chosen not to honour her promise to ship a prize to our randomly selected winner. Gem Gem, you suck. We hope you go bankrupt. We kind of hate you, if you were worth that kind of emotion. Which you’re not. So, your business can just go die.
2. Excite Books. (Again with the pain, but you need to know who we’re talking about and then you can feel free to flame them yourself before you DON’T order anything.) Our review is found here. After repeated attempts to contact (at least 4, spread out over 2 1/2 months), he, Austin George (the founder and resident asshat) has chosen not to respond to us and has chosen not to honour his promise to ship a prize to our randomly selected winner. He also owed his publicist a lot of money and has seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth – except we know he’s not dead as he was alive to accept a certified letter. So? Just an ass. Excite Books, you suck. We hope you go bankrupt. We kind of hate you, if you were worth that kind of emotion. Which you’re not. So, your business can just go die.
There you go. That feels better. We sincerely apologize for recommending such dishonest companies. From our initial contact, we had no idea.
We know that many of you purchase from our TOP Shops regularly, and click through from our reviews to do your shopping, and we thank you for that trust.
We hope that, by filling you in on these details now, we can keep your trust and ensure you that 99.9% of the companies & business people we have ever encountered online through this venue are truly amazing, hard working & honest parents just like you and I.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:28 am
May I link to this? Excite books screwed my randomly selected winner too.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Good for you for calling dishonesty out. Far too often we’re afraid to expose icky companies. Watching them succeed knowing they’re run by jerks drives me up the wall.
I’ll Tweet this entry all over the place.
)
March 9th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Thanks for the support – I was a little nervous about doing it because it’s not really my style.
Clippo.ca rocks though!
March 9th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Absolutely! Let’s get the word out.
March 9th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I won a package on another blog, and I did receive it after FOREVER! I was contemplating trying it out for real but decided against it because of this.
March 9th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Well, I’m glad we could be of service! And I’m glad at least someone got their package. We’ve so far heard of ten other people who did not.
March 9th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I am all for calling out companies who don’t follow through. Good for you! By the way, the link to your Excite Books review actually directed me again to the Gem Gem review. I write product reviews for BoutiqueCafe.com and we will be sure not to feature products from these companies! Thanks!
March 9th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Thanks Emily! I’ll change that link asap.
March 9th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I remember the Excite Books blog tour, and really thought about registering-he even emailed (I’m sure he emailed everyone) to get them to join. I thought it was a cool idea-so glad I didn’t join! Thanks for this heads up, I really appreciate it! I have never received a prize that I won on December 2nd, and after REPEATED attempts, I still don’t have it-I am too chicken to call out the blog though!
She said the company sent it to her and she hasn’t had time to get it in the mail-since Dec. 2nd. uh-huh. whatever. Someday…anyway, just wanted to say thanks for the info!
March 9th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Kudos to you for speaking out and being honest with us! Thanks for the great site. It sounds like you did your due diligence to contact the company and get some answers. We always want to see the good in people/companies, but when it is not there it needs to be called out.
March 9th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Wow – that’s really brutal. FYI, if we’re mailing something it’s ALWAYS within a week. Usually the next day. It’s just the right thing to do.
March 9th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
I just want to say that it was cool of you to try to get your sponsors to follow through on their committments. I also have won things from other blogs and never received the prizes…it sucks!
March 9th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Why, thank you! It’s the least we can do, I think.
Most of the time all it takes is one reminder, if anything. These two were definitely the exception to the rule.
March 9th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
While I can understand (and totally relate to) your discomfort with calling out and exposing the ner’do-well businesses out there. It’s neither my style nor my nature to go into attack mode except when I am powerfully provoked – and dishonest and corrupt businesses – provoke me in a bog way. Businesses (and people) who take advantage of your good nature and push the envelope need to know that just because you are nice doesn’t mean you are a pushover.
I am (as are many many others) very grateful to you for standing up to and exposing these bad eggs. You are doing not only a great service to your readers/followers – but also issuing a clear warning to any vendors who might dare to be fraudulant cheats. So Thank You Thank You Thank You for standing up to those who would lie, cheat and bring despair to our hearts that want so much to be able to trust.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
WAY TO GO!!
Props to you for having the gumption to do this! It’s what everyone who has a sponsor not follow through WANTS to do, but no one ever seems to have nerve. I would!
March 10th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Thank you for sharing this information.
You can kill 2 birds with one stone: present the link and do not provide PageRank to these guys. Just add “nofollow” to the “A” tag. Therefore people will be able to use it as a regular link, but Google will ignore it as a link. Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow This way you won’t increase their PageRank, they don’t deserve.
Marina @DreamGYM
March 10th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Thank you Marina! I will do that. Not sure why it didn’t occur to me before…
March 10th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Thanks for your support, Gina. And everyone else! I’m SO glad I did it now!