tokmedia.co

Took $3,000 from me and did absolutely nothing

I encourage anyone reading this review to read the many other 1-star reviews, because you are going to see the same pattern. Don't let it happen to you.Like most of you, I saw their ad on TikTok and I liked the pitch - they don't get paid unless they generate revenue for you. What's not to like about that? But it turns out there's one catch and it's a big one: They demand $3,000 upfront for out-of-pocket costs associated with (supposedly) hiring talent and producing your ads. This was big red flag #1, but the guy they had selling me on the call (I forget his name) was very slick and he had answers for everything. He also promised the moon in terms of revenue. I was reluctantly convinced to go ahead and pay them, idiot that I am. So I onboarded the first week of May 2024.Here's where I wish I had done more research and seen all of these 1-star reviews. Why is everybody asked to pay the same $3,000 amount upfront? Is every business the same as every other business? Of course not. So why should the money they demand upfront from every business be the same? It seems very shady to me. Personally, I think it's just a nice round number that they've decided is a "sweet spot" - enough to justify their time and energy pitching you and answering your (increasingly frustrated and angry) texts and messages for several weeks, but not so much that it scares everyone off at the start. If I had seen this $3,000 pattern before, and read all of these other 1-star reviews saying the same thing, then I would have walked away at that point and saved myself $3,000 and all this time and aggravation. Hopefully it doesn't happen to you.So what happened next? They promised videos within 1-2 weeks. Two weeks passed and no videos. I reached out to them on a Slack channel they set up and was given a series of excuses that got increasingly comical over the next few weeks, to the point of "the dog ate my homework" type of thing. (I would also point out that the Slack channel was some kind of free trial that expires after 90 days or so - what kind of company uses free Slack trials for customers? Red flag #2). Return messages and updates were slow and sporadic from the start, I had to constantly chase them down for updates and information (big red flag #3). I should also add that during this entire time they never accepted my invite to the TikTok Business Center account that I set up, claiming that they had "too many pending invites from other clients" or some other excuse like that (big red flag #4).All told, I waited patiently for TWO MONTHS for even a SINGLE VIDEO and I received absolutely nothing. I was told at some point that it was proving very difficult to find a pitch-person for my product. This despite the fact that A) they knew my product from the start, B) they claimed to have an expertise with similar products, and that the COO Ryan Burr would be personally involved from the start because this was his area of expertise (and I never heard from him once despite asking for him several times - red flag #5) and C) not once during their pitch and onboarding did they ever so much as hint that it might be difficult to find a pitch-person. The junior person that had been assigned to my account named Cameron Venable told me not to worry, he had a "friend" who would shoot the video. Then the friend went on vacation. Then they had a video done but she was having trouble sending it. Then it would be a different video where she would only do a voice-over but not use her likeness. I demanded a refund at this point because it was clear they were incompetent at best. I was then put in contact with Jacob Teed, the "Client Success Manager," who promised to speak with me. For the next 2 weeks I waited for Mr. Teed, who would repeatedly promise to contact me and then ignore me. I've waited another week, and I've been blown off yet again, so here I am. I realized that it's futile to try and get a refund from these guys since I can't even get a phone call, so I have both disputed the charge with my bank and filed a formal complaint with the FTC (reportfraud.ftc.gov)I encourage anyone else who feels that they've been victimized to contact both their bank and the FTC, as I have done. These guys took my money and produced nothing but excuses and, ultimately, silence. If that happened to you, too, then don't take it sitting down. Incompetence is the BEST CASE scenario to describe these business practices, so in the worst case it could be something much more nefarious that regulatory agencies or even law enforcement should become aware of. I strongly suggest that you avoid TokMedia.

Date of experience: Jul 22, 2024