At Mediate.com, we receive multiple complaints each week about another company, Mediation.com. These detailed reports from BBB are instructive as to how this other company operates.
Here also are additional articles regarding this other company:
Also available from the Better Business Bureau by clicking here.
Complaint
Unwilling to process a refund for a two year contract cancelled after 7 days
My father had a listing in their online directory for his law firm. The listing renewed on 4/7/2017 for $999 and was for 24 months. My father passed **** 4/16/2017 and my mother and I have tried to cancel and request a refund multiple times since then. We were told they would not issue a refund.
We were not involved in the operations of my father’s firm and had originally asked what services were being provided. The communication we received from mediation.com was vague. When we asked for a copy of the contract that indicated that the payment was non-refundable and while ****** ******** told us multiple times that he was pulling the paperwork, he would not produce a copy of the contract/agreement that he had with my father.
In searching the website, while the phone number associated with the listing is out of service (I believe it was routed through them as it is not a number my father had), the listing is still visible.
The payment was auto renewed on 4/7/2017 via credit card for $999.
Desired Settlement
We have asked for a prorated refund of the 24 month service. My father passed **** a week after the service was renewed. He was a sole proprietor, so the listing was of no use to us.
Consumer Business Dialog
Business Response
While we feel sorry about the death of Ms. ********’s father there was no pro rata provision contained in the agreement for the listing.The payment was processed and approved by Mr.******** 9 days before his death.While we understand her feelings there is no pro rata provision to refund her with.
Consumer Response
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I have asked repeatedly for a copy of the listing agreement and have been told multiple times that they are pulling the paperwork, but they have never given me a copy of any such agreement. Failure to produce the agreement that is cited as not having a pro rata provision leaves me skeptical that such a provision exists.
Final Business Response
I put in writing to her that there is no pro rata refund provision in our agreement.
Final Consumer Response
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
He emailed me to explain that there was no pro rata refund provision in the agreement, but he is still unable to produce the agreement that my father signed when they charged him $999.
He has told me he was pulling paperwork on numerous occasions, so I believe that 1) either a signed agreement exists and he is unwilling to provide me a copy or 2) no such agreement exists in which case we should receive a pro rata refund.
Complaint
Owner, Lee Rough, told me when he called in Dec. 2015 that he would increase my visibility on google and provide me with clients for mediation and arbitration for approximately $1,000 for two years. After viewing the posting he provided (information taken from my web site(capitalregionmediation.com) I realized that this was not what I had hoped it to be. I called Rough and asked for a refund-his response was to “not renew.” He called me and said he had just signed a contract with some sixty firms in the Albany, NY area for mediation/arbitration services-he wanted another $300. I refused and said I would consider addition payments if he provided me with clients-I have nor received a single referral from him-he is a con artist! I want a refund of the money I initially gave to him. He has not provided me with the services he verbally offered.
Desired Settlement
I would accept a refund of $700. I have copies of emails
Consumer Business Dialog
Business Response
I have already responded once. We built a listing for Mr. ******* exactly to his specifications. he approved and confirmed it. He has complained every week since inception and can’t be satisfied no matter how hard we try. We have told him not to renew his listing with us. We have over 10,000 listings and many testimonials on our web site confirming our product. Mr. ******* is not interested in what we have to say he only wants to complain and we are no longer going to respond to his every week rants.
Consumer Response
Forwarded message
From: ***** ******* <****@frontiernet.net>
Date: Thu, Jul 21, 2016 at 1:06 PM
Subject: Mediation.com Complaint
To: Eneida Cardona <********@bbbsefl.org>
This is a recap of our recent telephone conversation: I joined Mediation. com in January2016 for two years for $999. I spoke to Lee Rough (XXX XXX XXXX). My purpose in joining was the expectation that Mediation.com would provide me with clients in need of mediation and/or arbitration. I have my own web site (capitalregionmediation.com) and Rough copied biographical information from that site and provided a listing. Soon after I joined(within the month) I called Rough and told him I did not believe his company was right for me-I asked for my money back. Since January they have sent me I possibility-a person who has a full stay away order on her husband-that in itself would disqualify me from mediating their divorce.
Three weeks ago I got a call from someone working for Rough to set an appointment for him to call me-someone called at that time and said Rough couldn’t talk then. He asked to set another time in the following week-wedid, and no one called.
This guy Rough is a condesending arrogant person-I have emails from him that I prointed and can fax to you if you wish. If you need more, call. ***** *******
Final Business Response
I have responded numerous times to Mr. *******’s complaint yet he just keeps sending them in. he has a contract with us and there is no refund due him and I am not going to respond anymore to this man.He is not rational and is not deserving of any more explanations as they won’t matter to him.
Complaint
Con artist operation including a bait and switch approach. I have paid for membership with this company for years. I never received one referral through them. After withdrawing in the last year, I was contacted and assured that I would immediately be a part of a conference call with a national law firm & begin receiving referrals if I would just rejoin for $299.00. That was on 1/20/2016. on or about 2/5/2016. I was again called and told that tbere was a change in plans, the same promise was made but could only happen if I paid an additional $400.00. They refused to give me any confirmation of what firm they were referring to and started snding irate e-mails. This appears to be an operation of con maen that should not be allowed to operate.
Desired Settlement
They should cease operations including any contact with me.
Consumer Business Dialog
Business Response
February 12, 2016
Case # ******** ***** ****** ******
***** ****** ****** purchased a membership on our web site Mediation.com in January 2014 for $799 for 2 years. He was contacted by Lee Rough our sales manager in January 2016 and offered to renew as a “lifetime” member for $299.Then on February 5, 2016 he responded to an email we sent to all members about a new program we were offering our members. He was told by Lee that there would be another fee of $400 to get into that program. Subsequently However lee contacted him on February 10 to say that was an error and because he was a lifetime member there would be no additional fee.What we didn’t know however was Mr. ************* had already filed a charge back to his credit card company and they debited us the $299 he paid.
At that point we informed him that we were removing him from our site and we would not send any cases to him. He has in fact been removed and wee will never contact him again.
Thomas M ********
Operations Manager
Consumer Response
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The $299 program and the $400 program are exactly alike. That is the bait & switch. Both programs invovlved referrals. When I asked for the identity of the referral source. I was angrily refused that information. After they angrily refused to provide information on their sources they even apologized for the bait & switch but continued to refuse to provide any information to substantiate what they were claiming to do.
Final Business Response
When we spoke to Mr. ****** ****** he asked for “proof” of our source of referrals. However by that time he had already filed a charge back to us from his credit card for the $299. Therefore we were not going to provide our source of referral to him because he was no longer a member and in fact had not told y=us he filed the charge back and therefore we owed him no explanation of our source. If the BBB wants proof of our source of referrals or the names of people we have already referred cases to we would be glad to provide it to the BBB but not to Mr. ****** ****** who is a deceitful liar.
Complaint
I paid $1,378.00 in May & June 2015. Within a few days I asked to pay a large penalty and be let out of the agreement. They did refund $578.00.
On May XX XXXX I paid Mediation.com $799.00 for a 24-month listing on their website, advertising my availability as a mediator. On June 3, 2015 I was contacted by Mr. Lee Rough, CEO, and encouraged to purchase, an additional personal website that they would develop and that would be linked to my listing on mediation.com. On June 3, 2015 I paid Mediation.com an additional $500.00 (all via credit card) for a personal website to be linked to the website listing, and I paid $39.00 also on June 3rd for the server ($39.00 per month). A few days later, I had second thoughts about all the work that would be involved, all the information that would be posted on the internet, and my real inability to run such a business from my home. I contacted mediation.com and was told (via email) that Mr. Rough would call me but he did not. On Friday June 12th, I talked to Bob Levin, the web designer about my personal website. He gave me a list of things and information I needed to provide so he could make the website, e.g. a photograph, 5 bullet points about why someone should use me rather than another mediator, etc. He also told me they did not recommend using a Hotmail account as an email address, because it seemed too personal, but they would provide me an email address on their server that I could use. I mentioned to him that I was not completely sure I wanted to do this website. I told Mr. Levin and I know I told 2 or 3 other people, that I had to go out of town on Sunday June 14th, I had very important business to take care of during the next 2 week period, I wouldn’t be able to worry about the website or the listing, but I’d be back in touch with them in early July when I returned from my trip. On July 3rd, my credit card was charged an additional $39.00 for another month of server. In early July 2015, after returning from my trip, contacted mediation.com and offered to pay a significant penalty (I think I offered up to $400.00) If they would refund all the remaining money ($978.00) to forget the whole deal. At this time we were a month or 2 into a 24 month agreement. I had paid for the entire 24 months of a 24 month listing and I had paid in full for a personal website before it was even started. When I did talk to Mr. Rough, the CEO, in early July, I ran into a wall of double talk about how all the work had been completed and there was no possibility of a refund of any amount. At this time I had provided virtually nothing personal to them that could be used on a personal website, except my name, address (which I didn’t want displayed) and telephone number. I spoke to Mr. ****** ********, Operations ******* over the phone sometime during the week of July 7th. He said they wanted to make me happy, he needed a little time to think about it, but we would be able to work this out. I disputed the two charges of $39.00 each with my credit card company, feeling that there was no need for a server if the website had not yet been developed.
On July 30, mediation.com credited my credit card account $500.00. We never discussed exactly what the refund was for, but I think we all felt it was for the personal website which had not yet been developed. At this point I had paid the original $800.00 for a 24 month listing on their website. I told several people at mediation.com that in order to advertise at all as a mediator I had to take continuing education courses by December 31, 2015, and I wasn’t sure I was going to do that. I did not.
Last week (January 6, 2016) I sent a letter to Mediation.com telling them that I was no longer qualified as a mediator, to please remove my listing (for which I never provided any photograph or personal information) and that I was asking for a refund of $400.00 of the original $800.00 since I had only used the listing for 7 or the 24 months I’d paid for. Mr. ******** called me on Monday, January 11, 2016 saying it was not his fault that my status had changed and that no refund is possible.
Desired Settlement
I am seeking a refund of at least half of the money I paid ($799.00) for a 24 month listing since I only used the listing May 2015 – December 2015 and am no longer eligible to advertise myself as a mediator.
Failing that, I would like the BBB to have a record of my unsatisfactory dealings with this business, their insistence that all payments (even multi-year payments) be made up front, and then their complete refusal to refund any money for virtually any reason, including if the service is no longer wanted. (Show Less of Desired Settlement)
Consumer Business Dialog
Business Response
January 13,2016
Complaint ID#: XXXXXXXX
Consumer: ***** ******
***** ****** purchase an advertising listing on Mediation.com on 5/11/15. She agreed to a two year contract for $799. She asked us to make several changes in her listing and we did and built it and sent her the completed listing on 5/17/15.
She than purchased a web site for $500 on 6/3/15. She confirmed the transaction in writing on 6/3/15. We added content to her profile on 6/3/15 and she approved it. After a period of time she decided she didn’t want to proceed with the web site even though it was started by us and asked for a refund. On 7/26/15 we sent her an email confirming we would refund her the $500 and she agreed to keep her listing on Mediation.com. I notified her the crdit was processed on 7/27/15 and she wrote back “OK Great”.
Then on 1/7/16 she sends in a letter saying she no longer wanted the listing on Mediation.com and wanted a refund of $400. However, as stated in the email of 7/26/15 she agreed to keep the listing on mediation.com as part of the agreement refunding her the $500. I wrote her an email on 1/11/16 and tole her we had an agreement and there was no refund due her.
I have enclosed copies of every email correspondence confirming what I have stated as proof of what occurred.
****** M. ********
Operations Manager
Consumer Response
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
On May 11, 2015, after an (unsolicited) sales call, I paid Mediation.com $799.00 for a 24-month listing on their website. I was required to pay the entire $799.00 up front as a lump sum. There were not other options.
There was no contract and no discussion of any contingencies that might arise, E.g. what if 1) either of us became unhappy, 2) I died, or 3) I chose not to continue with a mediation business or became unable to do so during the 24-month period.
Within a week or two of paying for the $799.00 for the listing, I started regretting this decision. I have a number of other personal obligations, and I just don’t have the time to start or grow a mediation business from my house, which is why I hadn’t done it before.
To date, I have provided very little personal information to Mediation.com other than: my 1) name, 2) home address, 3) email address, 4) home phone number, and 5) a short paragraph of basic biographic information.
I don’t know what they mean by “she asked us to make several changes.”
On June 3, 2015, during a phone conversation with their CEO, allegedly to welcome me to Mediation.com, the CEO immediately began to pressure me to purchase, an associated, personal website, which they would develop for a one time fee of $500.00. I didn’t want this, I tried to say that, but whatever happened, after much “discussion,” I agreed to pay an additional $500.00, again all up front in one lump sum, for a personal website. After I agreed, he said “Oh, and they’ll be a $39.00 per month charge for the server.” ($39 X 12 = $468.00 per year X 2 years =$936.00). So, between May 11, 2015 and June 3, 2015 (less then one month) I paid Mediation.com $799.00 + $500.00 + $39.00 = $1,338.00.
Working on this listing and website was, in my opinion, a lot of work on my end. I just didn’t have the time to take on another project. I did still think though, that I was entering into a 24-month relationship, not that these were 2 discrete transactions. Mediation.com may be a wonderful situation for a number of people, but I was already close to being overwhelmed with other personal obligations and I just began to realize that this agreement was primarily adding stress to my life, I wasn’t going to be able to do this, do this, and that this was not a great idea for me at this time.
On Wednesday, June 10th, I replied to their email, dated June 3, 2015 showing my payment of the $500.00 (in full) saying “Is it possible to undo this?” I received an email dated June 11 saying “I will have _____________ call you to discuss.” No one ever called.
I told several people at Mediation.com that I would be out of pocket for at least a couple weeks starting Sunday, June 14, 2015, that I just couldn’t be involved with any listing or website business during this time, but that I would be back in touch with them when I returned.
Late on Friday afternoon, 6/12/15, a web designer from Mediation.com called me and listed several pieces of information I needed me to provide to him so he could make a personalized website. He specifically said they’d get me an email address on their server because they didn’t recommend using a hotmail.com email address as a professional email address. I believe I stated to him that I was not sure I wanted to go forward with this, but I know I told him I’d be out of town and unavailable until the end of the month (June 2015).
Upon returning from my trip, I started contacting Mediation.com in very late June or early July 2015, offering repeatedly to pay a large penalty ($100.00, $200.00, $300.00, or even $400.00) to forget our whole agreement. It was just too much for me to worry about. I was met with a wall of “we aint’ paying’,” including comments such as “The work has been completed, people have to be paid,” and “you asked for something, we provided it and “that’s that!”” (or words to that effect).” I don’t know how all of this “work,” specifically on the personal website could’ve been done without any input from me, and I asked about that repeatedly. I suggested over and over that I’d be willing to pay some sort of a (I thought) large penalty, to just forget about this agreement, (meaning a refund to me of about $900.00) but the then answer I got repeatedly was that that was not possible.
At one point I said “As far as I’m concerned, you get an “F” in mediating, and the response I got was “I don’t care if you give me an F minus!” This was in early July, well within 2 months of having initially been contacted by them and having paid, everything entirely up front for a 24 month SERVICE agreement. ($799.00 + $500.00 + $39.00 (plus more to follow) = $1,338.00 between early May and early June 2015) and I stated that repeatedly. My estimate is that the amount of work by mediation.com that went into the “listing” was about 10 minutes (at the very most), and the amount of work that went into a “mock-up” of the personal website was, at the very most one hour, probably much less, and I stated this to people at Mediation.com in July 2015. I also kept offering to pay a multi-hundred dollar penalty, and was told that “It doesn’t matter if it took one minute, you asked for this work and we provided it,” or words to that effect.
During our talks in July 2015, I told Mediation.com more than once that I was not sure I was going to complete the required continuing education courses to remain a Listed Mediator, and in that case I would be prohibited from advertising myself as a mediator after December 2015.
Mediation.com did eventually refund $500.00 to me at the end of July 2015, after telling me at least twice that no refund was possible and then after initially offering me $250.00. I do not now, nor have I have I ever had a personal website designed by them. In addition, during the same phone conversation where they offered me the refund, they told me “I can’t believe you disputed the $39.00 charges with your credit card company. Do you know I had to pay $20.00 for each of those!?” They seem to be very proud of the fact that they made this refund, but I don’t have, and never have had a personal website from them, (nor did I really ever want one and I continued to offer to pay a substantial penalty).
In fact I did not complete any continuing education courses during 2015 and, consequently, am now (as of January 1, 2016) listed in an inactive status with the Tennessee Supreme Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission. I notified Mediation.com of this and said they had to remove my listing on their site. Again, I offered to pay $400.00 of the original $799.00 for what turned out to be 7 months of the 24 month agreement.
To date (January 2016), although my listing has been on their website since May 2015, I have received absolutely no leads, telephone inquiries, email comments or requests or any interest at all from anyone viewing my listing on Mediation.com.
I am PROHIBITED from advertising myself as a mediator, effective January 1, 2016. I am required to ask Mediation.com to remove my listing, which is what I have done. They seem to think I should joyfully pay hundreds of dollars for a listing for 17 months, even though I am prohibited from having such a listing.
I am so sick of this logic that I’ve been hearing since I was, I think a teenager. When Mediation.com wanted me to pay them $799.00 all up front, then $500.00 all as a lump sum, etc., they acted as if no grown up would be so poor as to not be able to part with several hundred dollars. They acted as if I would barely miss that money and that it was such a negligible amount I probably wouldn’t even remember that I’d spent it. A few weeks later when I started suggesting they refund some of this money they acted as if these were HUGE amounts of money (far less than what I paid them) and that I must be crazy to think they have hundreds of dollars lying around.
Part of what I don’t understand is that Mediation.com seems to have a business model based on collecting hundreds of dollars in fees from mediators well in advance of their actually providing the service. Considering we’re talking about multi-year agreements, I would think that many situations would change, and that it’s not really realistic to expect people to pay years in advance and then, regardless of situations, just be very happy to have paid. I continue to request a refund of not less than $400.00 (of the $799.00), because I am unable to use 17 months of the 24 months of service I paid for.
When they finally refunded me the $500.00, I do remember a comment about leaving the listing up, and I have done that. They have done a total of no additional work since that time (late July 2015). I did leave the listing up for the remaining 5 months of the year, the entire time I was eligible to show myself as a listed mediator, and have received a total of zero interest from that listing.
Final Business Response
I have provided you all the documentation to refute this claim. The bottom line is Ms. ****** made an agreement with us in writing and we refunded her based on that and now she continues to want to renegotiate the agreement she agreed to. Sorry it doesn’t work that way. I do not understand why the BBB keeps this case open just so she can continue to disparage us without any proof what so ever that we did not do what we agreed to do. I have furnished you written proof to refute EVERYTHJING she has stated and this is is absolutely the last time I am responding regarding this case!!!!!!
They called me up out of the clear blue and suggested they could help me with my online professional presence for 24 months. This was not something I had planned to pay for up until their telephone call. The cost was to be $799.99. The plan that we discussed was never that this would be a “hands off” deal on my part, but rather that we would work together during the 24 month period. There was no written agreement of any sort. They then demanded that the entire $799.99 be paid up front. I don’t know why anyone would assume that there were to be no changes during the 24 month period. My understanding was, and still is, that this would be an ongoing 24-month relationship, with them putting my listing on their site and continually making suggestions as to how my online presence could be improved.
Within a few weeks of this initial payment, I knew this situation was not working for me and would not work well for me. At this time I had only provided them a very minimal amount of personal information, and since then I have provided very little additional information. Mediation.com may have a perfectly dandy product for some people, but I am not really part of the market they should target. Within a very few weeks of my upfront payment of the entire $799.99 (for a 24 month period), I suggested to them, several times, that I wanted to undo our agreement, and that I’d be willing to pay several hundred dollars to them for this privilege. Mediation.com then started coming up with all kinds of rules such as 1) no refunds, 2) we’ve already done the work (??), and, basically, 3) we don’t have the money to give you.
They actually threatened at one point to “report me” to I guess what you’d call my credentialing organization. I don’t know what they intended to report. (They had, and continue to have, the $799.99).
I don’t know why, given that this is a mediation organization, and I am (or was) a professional mediator, that there would be any assumption that we wouldn’t renegotiate an agreement (as I say, there was nothing at all in writing) that wasn’t working. I also maintain that $799.99 is not a small amount of money, and a consumer (me) should be able to expect some level of satisfaction from a business she paid it to and it is not a normal business practice to have the attitude that “we have your money, what are you going to do about it?”
Here is a quote from the Wednesday, February 10, 2016 Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) newspaper indicating the typical attitude toward a business agreement that is not working for at least one party:
“Under the University of Memphis’ FedExForum lease agreement, the Tigers get $800,000 annually if attendance criteria a met, but the payment is reduced if the average turnstile count falls below 10,000. With basketball attendance down, the U of M wants to renegotiate its lease.”
At least up until this point, Mediation.com seems to have the attitude that they are going to hang on to that $799.99 no matter what, I don’t really know why, and that me being satisfied with the product they are providing has nothing to do with anything. They seem to think, and have all along, that they will decide whether or not I should be satisfied and whether I should think I’m getting what I paid for or not.
I don’t think the Better Business Bureau should give this business a very high rating. I think the Better Business Bureau should classify Mediation.com as a business that “gives whatever service it feels it should and is not concerned with working with its customers toward the end of ******** satisfaction. Mediation.com also determines (without input from their multi-hundred dollar clients) whether or not its customers should be satisfied with the price they pay.” They also have, when they feel like having it, a secret no-refund policy.
Complaint
Desired Settlement
Consumer Business Dialog
Complaint
Desired Settlement
Consumer Business Dialog
I have written a book and plan to do more. How do I add that book tab to my page?
Phone Number:XXXXXXXXXX
So after she contacted us we called her. we didn’t solicit her we simply responded to her email to us.
We will put ***** ********* on a do not call list but she wrote to us for us to contact her so in my opinion her talk of high pressure sales tactics doesn’t hold water because she asked us to contact her.
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