All Time Favorites Event Planning

Are you looking for a DJ, disc jockey, wedding music, wedding reception, event planning resources for weddings, corporate and special events. Referrals to caterers, photographers, DJs, musicians, event planners, and any other product/service you may need for your wedding, corporate or private event in the USA including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District Of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
DO NOT USE All Time Favorites (ATF)! Most professional disc jockeys do not subscribe to them, you will get responses from weekend DJ's and hobbyists who are likely to RUIN your event. See what professional DJ's have to say about All Time Favorites and its owner in this message board topic from DJchat.com, the web's largest community of professional mobile DJ's. As membership is required to view their forum, we have reprinted relevant posts here. Have you had a bad experience with All Time Favorites? Write us and we will add it to this page.

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Dan McKay

Main Forum Director

POSTS: 2200

JOINED: May 1999

From: Seattle, Washington

STATUS: Online

I signed up with All Time Favorites and was getting their inquiry notices (without client details...that's only for paying members) and was amazed at the schlocky leads!

Then I signed up as a "client" to see what DJ's in my area were members. Most of the DJ's responding I'd never heard of...many of them had mispellings in their replies! My favorite was the one with the subject line "weeding":

quote:
Hi my name is XXXXX I am the owner of XXXXX Productions. I received your info from Alltimefavorates. If you are still looking for a DJ I can help please email me and I can call you or you can call me at ### and we can discuss the wedding. My prices are reasonable at $250 for the 3hour $75 each aditional hour.

Hmmm...maybe he IS better at a "weeding" than a "wedding"!

At least Respond gives a wide variety of budgets and events. In fact, in the last week they've begun sending me FREE leads complete with contact information. About 90% of ATF leads have a budget of $500 or less. Last week I wrote them to take me off their list.

_________________

posted: 11-12-2003 at 03:08 AM

electricbeat

Party Animal

POSTS: 129

JOINED: Dec 2002

From: Indiana

STATUS: Offline

alltimefavorites

= notmyfavorites

I listed with them inittially for a free listing. Have received several leads, but none that materialized. Went to the the cheapest paid add for two nearby large city markets. Received less leads than the free ads.

Now it gets good. I cancelled the advertising. I haven't received a lead since. But I continued to get bills through e-mail requesting me to authorize the billing so they could put it on the credit card. I deleted each one, and did not authorize any further billing. The requests for authorization continued, So I went to the website and deleted my account completely. Received the standard "updates will occur in 24-48 hours blah blah blah"

Then I just opened my e-mail and found ANOTHER billing equest. I've visited the site and found that my listing was deleted as I requested, so I know that they got the update.

Anyone else?
*********************

Brian Fauber, Owner/DJ
Electric Beat DJ Service
http://www.electricbeatdj.com

posted: 01-14-2004 at 02:53 PM

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rjspinners

Esteemed Party Animal

POSTS: 711

JOINED: Feb 2002

From: Dallas/Fort Worth

STATUS: Offline

My first 6 months with ATF is up tomorrow (1/15/04). They sent me a reminder email to renew ($60.00). They also offered me the option of auto pay every 6 months. Since I've booked a total of ZERO gigs with them in 6 months.....SEEYA!

__________________
RJSpinners

posted: 01-14-2004 at 03:14 PM

electricbeat

Party Animal

POSTS: 129

JOINED: Dec 2002

From: Indiana

STATUS: Offline

ATF

Good choice. Don't go for the auto-pay!!!! I think that is what is happening, but I am not getting billed on the credit card, just getting the billing notices. Crazy!

__________________
*********************

Brian Fauber, Owner/DJ
Electric Beat DJ Service
http://www.electricbeatdj.com

posted: 01-14-2004 at 03:22 PM

electricbeat

Party Animal

POSTS: 129

JOINED: Dec 2002

From: Indiana

STATUS: Offline

Advertiesment

I suppose I would consider paying for their advertisments, but I have better placement in the search engines for my state search terms: indiana wedding djs, indiana wedding dj, indiana prom dj, indiana prom djs, indiana karaoke dj, indiana karaoke djs and finally indianapolis wedding djs, and indianapolis wedding dj are both climbing the charts so to speak.

I've had 124 uinque visitors to my site in the last 15 days. and I've had 35 inquiries submitted through my site in the same time period. Not stagering numbers, but for a targeted service, it's pretty good. So I can't justify spending for advertising when I already have better built-in.

PS. YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY.

__________________
*********************

Brian Fauber, Owner/DJ
Electric Beat DJ Service
http://www.electricbeatdj.com

posted: 01-15-2004 at 07:53 PM

rjspinners

Esteemed Party Animal

POSTS: 711

JOINED: Feb 2002

From: Dallas/Fort Worth

STATUS: Offline

ATF Go Figure!

Shortly after my six month membership with All Time Favorites expired, (I'd decided not to renew since I hadn't booked ONE gig)
I get a "direct email" from a potential client via ATF.
I contact the client, long story short, book the gig.
After doing the gig, would you:

A. Send ATF their commision and let it go at that.
B. Send commission and renew with ATF ($60.00 for six months.)
C. ?

__________________
RJSpinners

posted: 01-26-2004 at 04:38 PM

Pamela

DJ Goddess

POSTS: 2078

JOINED: Apr 1999

From: Indiana

STATUS: Offline

If your account was expired at ATF, how could the client directly email you via ATF? Or do you mean the client bypassed ATF and emailed YOU directly?

I would like to say it is too bad for ATF if they didn't adjust their system after your account expired. However, that doesn't seem right. I wouldn't renew with ATF, however. (my personal opinion...I hated their lead email format)

I've always wondered what to do about getting a ATF referral at the same time as receiving a direct mail from that client? In otherwords, the client used ATF first and then found your website/email on their own or from another source like WEDJ. Are you obligated to ATF still?

posted: 01-26-2004 at 04:53 PM

RadioActive Rob

Esteemed Party Animal

POSTS: 825

JOINED: Jun 1999

From: Lubbock, TX

STATUS: Offline

RJSpinners:

Just tell them that your buddy Rob already paid your commission... I cancelled in August when I knew I was moving, and they continued to bill my check card...

I was charged three times after the cancellation. I e-mailed them the first two times, and they told me they would take care of it and never did...

The third time, I called and chewed on the guy for a few minutes. He agreed to refund all of my money since the cancellation, and then refunded only the last charge... For whatever reason, when he was looking for my account, it took FOREVER on the phone... I think their billing is just as disorganized and poorly designed as their website.

I'm just waiting to scan my bank statements and see them again.

If anyone chooses to cancel with ATF, watch your statements carefully...

posted: 01-26-2004 at 05:03 PM

ksm

Junior Member

POSTS: 63

JOINED: Feb 2002

From: Minnesota

STATUS: Offline

Pamela,

This actually happened to us. We received a direct inquiry from a client, contacted the client and got a verbal commitment with them.

Then a little while later got the same lead through ATF. Needless to say we did not feel obligated to ATF for anything.

- Karl

__________________
Karl Morgan
Collective Sound

posted: 01-26-2004 at 05:03 PM

DJMC

Certified RANEiac

POSTS: 7603

JOINED: Apr 2001

From: Applegate (Northern California)

STATUS: Offline

I would say unequivocably "NO"*** because the membership expired.

Consider the gig COMPENSATION for all the time wasted f***ing with the ATF leads that were worthless.

ATF ***

__________________
DJ MC's main Web Site:
"SERIOUSLY INTO FUN"

posted: 01-26-2004 at 05:13 PM

electricbeat

Party Animal

POSTS: 129

JOINED: Dec 2002

From: Indiana

STATUS: Offline

same result

I had a client book me through my website inquiry form, but also as a lead from ATF. The form came through first, and then the lead from ATF. I haven't booked a single gig from ATF.

Also had the credit card problem. Call your credit card comany and put a freeze on their authorization. I did that. I still get notices saying "invoice #### needs your authorization" I changed my ad preferences in their control panel, and after the third months notice, I deleted my info alltogether, including the free listing. This morning I got another e-mail about my past due invoices. I wrote back and got $#itty with them. Told them not to send another bill, and to check their e-mail history for my last 3 cancellations, as well as a lack of an account with them. I got a reply back that said "ok" That's it, just the word OK and nothing else in it. Kinda lacking on the customer service if you ask me. Maybe they grew too fast and haven't figured out how to catch up.

Also, I couldn't help notice that most of the leads I did receive had a footer to them that said something about unregisterd version of the e-mailing software.
*********************

Brian Fauber, Owner/DJ
Electric Beat DJ Service
http://www.electricbeatdj.com

posted: 01-26-2004 at 05:59 PM

djbenjaMMin

Senior Member

POSTS: 1919

JOINED: Jul 2001

From: Orlando Florida

STATUS: Offline

Matt... the thing is, you can be listed under a free listing. (meaning if you book a gig, you are (technically) supposed to give em a commission.) When you are under a "Paid" listing of $10 a month, you do not have to give a commission. So, it's basically how you feel about paying. I canceled my Paid listing a few months ago, but still am listed under the freebie. I still get inquries, and direct inquries from people, so.. free or not, I don't pay till I play.

__________________
AIM : DJBenJammin
www.djbenjammin.com

Copyright 2004 Benjammins DJ Service
Legal warning: Not to be taken seriously, or used as legal recourse.
To not try this advice at home without seeking the help of a professional.
Have A Nice Day. (Not to be taken literally, no offense should be taken, only a slogan, not a recommendation)
$250 down + tax tag and title, dealer retains all incentives, no cash back, must have approved APO credit check, $35 fee may apply, see dealer for details. NO DEALERS PLEASE!

posted: 01-26-2004 at 09:06 PM

electricbeat

Party Animal

POSTS: 129

JOINED: Dec 2002

From: Indiana

STATUS: Offline

pre-paid excuse?!

You better check again. According to the updated policies that they sent me last summer or fall, event if you are a paid advertiser, you still have to pay for the leads. There was some crazy formula like the sum of all advertising for the month, plus any paid fees or whatever, deducted from 20% of the booking price equals the fee due. That's probably not it, but something like it. And it was on a monthly basis. So you have to watch everything and make sure you fivure the fees during the month you got the contract, not the lead. Too complicated.

__________________
*********************

Brian Fauber, Owner/DJ
Electric Beat DJ Service
http://www.electricbeatdj.com

posted: 01-26-2004 at 10:38 PM

DJMC

Certified RANEiac

POSTS: 7603

JOINED: Apr 2001

From: Applegate (Northern California)

STATUS: Offline

Back to topic: I just found this post at the WeDJ board (WeDJ is an advertiser here at DJ Chat):

quote:
Once in a great while, you have the unique pleasure of meeting someone "special" that fills your life with a certain something that has been missing. You know what I mean... A person or group of persons that have a truly high level of natural talent that you simply cannot obtain through mere practice or inbreeding.

I'm referring to the superhuman studity of certain individuals that simply defy description, that mere words cannot do justice and no, this not a thread for bashing Mikey Festa... I am referring to those wonderful people at ATF (All Time Favorites), most specifically, their leader or whatever he is called over there, Brain(less). I used the term "Brain(less)" to protect Brian's identity, especially so that people do not think he has the IQ of an caneole and his site has a cheese factor of 10 by my words and opinions alone. In fact, it is not only my intention to vent my spleen over an issue, but to challenge you to make your own opinions and state them here.

...Especially if you agree with me! lol

To tell this episode properly, I must start from the beginning, or at least the beginning of the end... or something to that effect.

In September 2003 a mild mannered and urbane business man (we'll call him Wolfy) was spending a few bucks on advertising with a business that we'll call ATF (All Time Favorites). For the first few months of this endeavor, Wolfy recieved more than a few leads from this service and he thought it was worth the money. Of course as time went by, more and more of the leads turned out to be tire kickers or price shoppers, none of the ATF leads seemed to amount to much even though day after day, he recieved more than a few leads for people seeking DJs at $500 and below.

Anyway, long story short, the cheap-ass leads continued and then ATF began billing weekly that which was supposed to be monthly. After the third payment was withdrawn in as many weeks, Wolfy contacted Brain(less) directly and communicated his concerns over billing as well as questioning a few other ATF practices. Brain(less)'s only response consisted of "We are looking into it." Not knowing any better, our hero felt content that the issue would be rectified before too long and things would go back to groovy. Of course they did not and therefore I would not be writing this epic worthy of any Greek Tragedy ever written.

Two weeks would pass until Wolfy would hear back from ATF, which was in the form of a bill for October. Since three payments were withdrawn in September, Wolfy assumed that the extra money would simply apply to October and November, yet there he was staring at a hodge-podge e-mail notice of billing typical of and reminscent of ATF's jumbled site that would give anyone a headache and possibly may have caused a few Bridezilla to go into seizures as well. Of course like any professional would do, Wolfy promptly wrote yet another e-mail questioning the billing and inquiring as to the results of Brain(less) "looking into it." Another week would pass and still Wolfy recieved no response from the dynamic dunces at ATF.

All through October our hero recieved not a peep, not a reply, not a word of acknowledgement of the issues at hand or if there was any intelligent life present on whichever planet ATF was based on. Finally, one Novemeber morning, Wolfy recieved a reply from the customer service conscious members of ATF... only to find that it was a late notice for October AND a bill for November! Maintaining his calm and composure, Wolfy wrote yet another e-mail asking for attention to the matters at hand. Brain(less) finally responds back that he was "not aware of it." To which Wolfy wondered if he was aware of anything at all. Yet another week passes with no signs of a response on the horizon...

This pattern continues each week up until just this past week with yet another round of late notices, unanswered e-mails and phone calls. While our hero Wolfy has maintained a near herculean attempt to retain his composure, alas he gave way to the wild beast within and wrote a final e-mail to Brain(less).

quote:
******************************************************************************--

Dear Brian,

Considering that since September 15, 2003 I have sent numerous communications to you to resolve this matter of over-billing in September and all I have recieved is late notices and two messages that you would be looking into this, you may cancel my account effective immediately! Whether you have forgotten repeatedly to get back to me about my questions and concerns over these billing issues or you are incompetant and disorganized, I am thoroughly fed up with the situation and will not send you another penny! Furthermore, any promotional links and banners have been completely removed from our web site as the content and layout of All Time Favorites ametuerish site does not reflect the professional image that WOLFEN DJs has worked to achieve nor does your site attract the type of clientel that we provide services for. You have wasted our time and we have wasted our money long enough. Good riddance!

Sincerely,
Charles E. Snyder III, CEO
WOLFEN DJs
Disc Jockey & Karaoke Entertainment

******************************************************************************--

The moral of this story and my sincerest recommendation for all is to avoid ATF!

__________________
DJ MC's main Web Site:
"SERIOUSLY INTO FUN"

posted: 01-28-2004 at 08:04 AM

rjspinners

Esteemed Party Animal

POSTS: 711

JOINED: Feb 2002

From: Dallas/Fort Worth

STATUS: Offline

For me, it never was a question of paying the commission or not. If someone owes me a commission, I want it. If I owe it, I pay it. I thought that maybe since I finally booked a gig with ATF, it could have been a "positive note". But, after hearing collective experiences with this company, it's a "no brianer"! (get it?)

__________________
RJSpinners

posted: 01-29-2004 at 05:37 AM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Offline

DJMC, You will be hearing from our legal team.

Wolfy, DJMC and all others who slam us in this forum.

Be aware that you will be taken to court and are liable for your damaging comments about us.

As for those who continue to bring down the industry by slamming good companies like us, please feel free to email us by visiting our site at www.alltimefavorites.com anytime if you have a gripe.

Taking out your frustrations in this forum against a company is not only unprofessional, it can land you in court.

Moderator: Please ban DJMC from this board as he has been banned and had threads deleted (wedj.com) due to his words and actions against us.

Anyone else who lashes out against us in this forum is in violation of our terms and will be terminated from our system without refund. If you have a problem, discuss it with us as we will fix anything to assure customer satisfaction. If you trash us here, we will take action against you.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-01-2004 at 01:35 PM

SirWolfy

New Member

POSTS: 32

JOINED: Dec 2003

From: Wrightsville, PA

STATUS: Offline

FYI DJ Chat Members:

Brian Harrell has been conducting a campaign of terroristic phone calls, messages and E-mails over at WeDJ too... Sounds like the only person around here that should be banned (and avoid doing business with) is Brian Harrell! LMFAO

_________________
Charles Snyder
WOLFEN DJs

posted: 02-01-2004 at 02:34 PM

Dan McKay

Main Forum Director

POSTS: 2200

JOINED: May 1999

From: Seattle, Washington

STATUS: Online

Gang, I came home to a half dozen emails from Brian asking that this post be removed and I attempted to phone him at the number he lists above. He did not answer, but I left the following message on his voice mail --

"Brian, if indeed you did NOT charge someone for 3 months of your service within a 30 day period and not apply that to their account, we're all ears to hear your side of the story. This is certainly a matter to be discussed on our forum as you do business with the same DJ community which we serve. So if you have something to say to the 30,000 registered members here which you feel would be in your defense, I invite you to do so."

I know that whenever I've seen other businesses taken to task or quesitoned here (we only ask that the individual first make direct contact with the business and only bring unresolved issues here) their representative was happy to address it here and rectify the situation.

I agree with Brian that some of the posts here crossed the line from a discussion of the issues to bashing. Those posts have been edited or removed.

So I will close this thread for now and give Brian 48 hours to make a response. He can email it directly to me at DanMcKay @ PartyHits.com and I will post it here and reopen this thread. If Brian chooses not to respond, you are free to draw your own conclusions about his integrity and credibility.

__________________

posted: 02-01-2004 at 02:52 PM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Offline

I would really appreciate someone else reporting SirWolfy and DJMC to a moderator to remove them as they are only degrading the board and the professionals who really do care about professional topics discussed in an adult manner.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-01-2004 at 03:06 PM

Gary Pledger

Esteemed Party Animal

POSTS: 513

JOINED: Apr 1999

From: Midland, Texas; USA

STATUS: Offline

Constructive critic here:
Brian....your leads are hard to read when they come in although they have been better recently...still too much gobble de gook to read through.....
It's easy to see why many look at your service as being less than beneficial when you see a referral from our end.
Not to mention the low end factor. Many of the leads I've recieved are for far less money than I'd even consider.
Wake up my friend...you take a bashing here and elsewhere from professionals that have been doing this mobile thing for years and they can't all be wrong can they?
You have a good business idea and it's obvious you are well situated on many search engines. My advice is Improve quickly and totally or get out all together.
If I were in your shoes I'd be trying to find out from the pioneers of this industry how I could improve and not be taunted with bad comments like is happening right now.....as opposed to threatening lawsuits and first children confiscation!!

Waiting for a booking from ATF..
Gary

posted: 02-01-2004 at 03:21 PM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Offline

Wow!
I love the post from GARY!
This is what we need to hear, and listen to.

DJMC and others should learn from Gary and offer constructive comments to the forum.

Gary, pm me so I can call you (on my dime) and we can talk about improving our system.

I agree with you.

p.s Gary, I also have over 20 years in the DJ industry.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-01-2004 at 03:27 PM

Dan McKay

Main Forum Director

POSTS: 2200

JOINED: May 1999

From: Seattle, Washington

STATUS: Online

Folks, I'm doing my best to try to mediate what appears NOT to be an isolated problem ... several in this thread have complained that All Time Favorites is continuing to charge credit cards after membership is cancelled and not applying payments made properly to current accounts.

I also know that some of you have been receiving repeated emails and PM's from Mr. Harrell. I know that I have too all day today suggesting that certain members be removed because of behavior that allegedly violates the Terms of Service on this board.

Have some been less that diplomatic in their remarks about the owner of All Time Favorites? Perhaps. But the only relevant reply I got to my emails --

quote:
Dan McKay wrote:
Brian if you want to specifically address the billing issue being discussed, I am happy to share that information with the group. Perhaps you should be more concerned with setting that record straight than discussing our moderation policies. I'm all ears!

quote:
Brian Farrell wrote:
There are so many posts in the thread. Just tell people to contact me and I'll resolve their issues in 24 hours flat.

OK, there you have it. If all of the people in this thread with an issue with All Time Favorites will contact Brian directly tomorrow, he promises to resolve your issue by Tuesday. Now as to whether it will be resolved to your satisfaction is another thing, but I will reopen this thread Tuesday for their comments.

Doing my best to be fair, thanks for everyone's patience.

posted: 02-02-2004 at 12:37 AM

Sid Vanderpool

Administrator

POSTS: 6319

JOINED: Jul 1997

From: Northwest

STATUS: Offline

In keeping with our TOS.

I feel that if there is a problem with a program out there it is a public service to our members that people that have tried said program and have unresolved issues post their problems with said program here without bashing the owner or people behind said program.

Keep the people out of it and post legitimate opinions if you wish in regards to the services at ATF.

__________________
Sid Vanderpool-
editor@djzone.net
DJchat/DJzone Administrator
Publisher- DJzone Online Magazine
Editor- DJzone Information Portal
Writer- Pro Audio Review Magazine
Treasurer of M.E.G.A.
The Ultimate Book of DJ Games
DJchat- Real Networking for Real DJs

posted: 02-02-2004 at 09:49 AM

Dan McKay

Main Forum Director

POSTS: 2200

JOINED: May 1999

From: Seattle, Washington

STATUS: Online

Our "cooling off" period

OK, now that we've taken a day or so for Mr. Harrell to attend to those here who have had some difficulties, I'd like to open the floor to those individuals who took him up on his offer

Brian Fauber (electricbeat) claimed he cancelled his ATF advertising but, "I continued to get bills through e-mail requesting me to authorize the billing so they could put it on the credit card ... Then I just opened my e-mail and found ANOTHER billing equest..."

OK Brian, were these just authorizations? Was your credit card actually CHARGED for advertising you did not receive? Please comment.

RadioactiveRob said, "I cancelled in August when I knew I was moving, and they continued to bill my check card...I was charged three times after the cancellation. I e-mailed them the first two times, and they told me they would take care of it and never did... He agreed to refund all of my money since the cancellation, and then refunded only the last charge..."

So it looks like you have two months you were charged for after cancellation that was never refunded. Will this be credited back to you? Please comment.

Regarding Charles Snyder (WolfenDJ), it was posted, "Since three payments were withdrawn in September, Wolfy assumed that the extra money would simply apply to October and November... Wolfy promptly wrote yet another e-mail questioning the billing ... All through October our hero recieved not a peep ... Finally, one Novemeber morning, Wolfy recieved a reply ... only to find that it was a late notice for October AND a bill for November!"

Wolfen, let me understand this. You never say when/if you wrote ATF that you wanted to cancel. It sounds like you were still a member during October and November, and your only claim is that ATF is asking you to pay for 2 months you already paid for. Did they charge you for anything AFTER you sent your cancellation in the manner which they require as posted on their site?

Please let's be fair! BEFORE anyone else chimes in, the floor is open ONLY to Brian, Rob and Charles as to whether Mr. Harrell has taken care of their problems with ATF as he promised.

Regardless whether you actually sold gigs through ATF leads is not important. There are no guarantees given with advertising. All they promise is to honor your subscription to send leads they receive. It's up to YOU to use your sales skills to close them, or decide based on their budget whether you want to pursue them.

Your turn...

posted: 02-03-2004 at 02:14 AM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Offline

Hello,

Here is the status as far as I currently see it:
Brian Fauber (electricbeat): Waiting for his reply if he was billed. I don't think he was billed. They were just notices.

RadioactiveRob: I need identification on who you are as we don't use usernames on our system. I need you to PM your name/phone and vendor ID# so I can look up your records.

Charles Snyder: I don't know if I should even give you a chance based on the extremely defamatory comments against my company, phone calls and telling us we were making "terroristic threats" to you. You were clearly responsible for signing up for PayPal on a Monthly basis and picked WEEKLY instead. You had complete control over the payments to us from PayPal but did not understand how PayPal worked. I will review what you paid but your damaging comments to us are still way out of line and may disqualify you for any refund whatsoever as our TOS states that verbal abuse against our company is reason for NO REFUND. This will be under review with a final determination soon (7-10 days).
Also, we did give you 4 months of service without cancellation. I see no mention of that in your rant against us.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 06:03 AM

DjManDan

New Member

POSTS: 33

JOINED: May 2003

From: Austin, TX

STATUS: Offline

Brian,

No matter what you say at this point, a lot of us who are not your customers, but have seen these posts are going to avoid your services. If you were to completely (to turn a new leaf), change the design of your website, customer service, and billing methods, and then with lots of time and thumbs up, some of us might use your website again.

For the short term, the damage has already been done, so arguing here only makes it look worse.

Dan

posted: 02-03-2004 at 07:32 AM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Offline

DjManDan,

Sorry, I don't believe you would tolerate anyone who use extreme profanity and hostility towards you, would you?

People judge board members by the words they use and I would not respect nor consider someone any kind of a professional who uses such profanity and hostility against others.

I expect professionals to act like professionals or the industry will not become a better place allowing such damaging threats and comments to continue.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 08:28 AM

SirWolfy

New Member

POSTS: 32

JOINED: Dec 2003

From: Wrightsville, PA

STATUS: Offline

The Issues In A Nutshell:

Issue #1:

What Mr. Harrell has failed to admit repeatedly is the fact that the previous two months of July & August were in fact billed correctly. Secondly, PayPal will NOT bill my account (or anyone elses for that matter) without Mr. Harrell submitting the bill himself! While July & August were billed and therefore paid correctly, September's first bill & payment came out at the appropriate time, then I received additional billing and was charged for each of the next two consecutive weeks. When this occured, I notified Mr. Harrell by both E-mail and discussed it directly with him via phone somewhere around September 15. His only response at that time, "I am looking into it."

The rest by my original posts explain that month after month, I only received late notices, bills and no answers... On the rare occasion that I have been able to reach Mr. Harrell directly, he sounded like and old '45 skipping with the same old phrase of a sad song; "Understaffed... Your fault... Very busy... PayPal's fault... etc. etc. etc."

The fact that I did not change my billing frequency and neither has PayPal has been completely ignored by Mr. Harrell as well.

Issue #2

Also in September, I had requested a realignment (if you will) of my service / advertising areas on ATF. I was receiving leads well outside of our coverage area and requested that Mr. Harrell fix this ASAP, so that I may concentrate on the leads that were actually within our service area. This change would have also reduced our overall billing each month from ATF.

To date, Mr. Harrell has not even acknowlegded this issue much less resolved it!

Issue #3

I had sent E-mails to Mr. Harrell on numerous occasions about his "Bonus Points" for someone who adds a link back to ATF and what exactly this so-called bonus did, as I did not notice any change reguarding the appearance or the order in which my listing was established with the addition of said links from our site to ATF.

To date, Mr. Harrell has not even acknowlegded this issue much less resolved it!

Issue #4

I had noticed early on that in-state paying advertisers were listed below out-of-state paying advertisers... I voiced my concern over this issue stating that I believe, for example; PA paying advertisers should be listed at the top of their state with out-of-state advertisers being next, then the freebies listed. Nowhere have I seen anything about national advertisers being listed above in-state anywhere on ATF or even the option to do so, yet there still remains several services listed consistantly above all others in each state... Mr. Harrell's being one of them!

Again, another issue that has been categoricaly ignored by Mr. Harrell.

Issue #5

I have on numerous ocassions, mentioned that the over-all appearance of ATF needed a face lift in both E-mails and the rare instances of actually speaking to Mr. Harrell on the phone. ATF looks, quite frankly, like a jumbled hodge-podge mess and certainly does not reflect the image of a professional web site, especially one that deals with weddings. I even offered my web design services to assist in giving the site a much cleaner and easier to navigate appearance.

Mr. Harrell's only response to this has been that "We are working on that already." Maybe my eyesight is going, but it still looks the same to me???

Issue #6

I have on several ocassions voiced my concerns over the dubious nature of ATF's leads. Quite simply, I had my service minimum set to $1,000 yet we continued to receive leads looking for DJs well below our service standards and minimum price packages. In fact, irreguardless of the point that the last lead that we received from ATF was well outside of our service area, the lead had a total budget of $1,000 for their entire event! Their DJ Budget was $150!!! This was by no means an isolated or rare occurence, as has been brought to Mr. Harrell's attention on more than one ocassion.

Again, we received nothing but silence on this point of contention as well.

Issue #7

Customer service at ATF, for lack of a better term, simply s*cks! For the last six months I have tried repeatedly to have these issues resolved only to be ignored for the most part. On the few ocassions that I have heard back from Mr. Harrell, I received more than a few rationalizations and excuses on some of the above mentioned issues while others have been completely ignored. I then raised this concern with Mr. Harrell over customer service, only to be ignored some more...

That's when the gloves came off and the world now knows at least most of the events that have transpired since then.

In Rebuttal To Mr. Harrell's Latest Comments:

The truth as to your customer service and my experiences with your company are neither lies (as supported by the shear number of people that have had numerous and chronic problems with your service) nor are they defamatory. If the truth is bad for business, then perhaps it is time to re-evaluate your business ethics and practices.

Also, repeated contact by any means of communication, such as you have been doing for the last week or so and threatening to sue those he speak about their unsavory experiences with you, is called "Harrassment By Communication" and is a federal offense. In addition, saying that you will sue if people do not "shut up" or "quit telling lies" is indeed another legal no-no "Terroristic Threats" which carries another hefty penalty. Should you wish to continue with your adolescent (and baseless) threats, please feel free to as I am keeping track of it...

Concerning service vs. cancellation, I have mentioned in numerous incidences that I did continue receiving leads for the last four months. I also mentioned that ATF does produce leads... However, you missed the fact that I have repeatedly tried to change my leads settings and have received absolutely NO support from you on this or the other issues that I have raised, not to mention the fact that the majority of said leads were well outside of our service area, well below our basic service package price and therefore useless to us.

All of which led to the final decision and E-mail to CANCEL our subscription to ATF five days prior to you stating that WOLFEN DJs was banned for "slander" of ATF.

Mr. Harrell, you have lost the respect of more than a handfull of professionals, including myself, for the unethical business practices of ATF... At this point you basically have two options;

#1. Continue living in your fantasy world were you and ATF are the only sane ones around, where everyone else is crazy or out to get you. In which case you will prove to more and more people that you should not be in business after all.

OR,

#2. Be a man, admit that you dropped the ball on more than one ocassion, learn from your mistakes, make the necessary changes and ATF will move forward.

It's completely and soley up to you, Mr. Harrell!

__________________
Charles Snyder
WOLFEN DJs

posted: 02-03-2004 at 09:10 AM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Online

Hi Charles,

I'm sorry for any errors and lack of service we gave you in the past.

Can I make this up to you by issuing 6 months of no monthly fees on our site with all the changes you want below.

I just want you to be happy.

Brian.

The Issues In A Nutshell:

Issue #2 We will help fix the cities you want to list within.

Issue #3 Linking to us instructions are here:
http://www.alltimefavorites.com/vendors/linktous.htm

Issue #4: "I had noticed early on that in-state paying advertisers were listed below out-of-state paying advertisers"
National advertisers are shown right after the local city match at this time and we will poll all members soon about the best suggestion on that issue. Remember, national vendors pay sometimes 100-200/month for premium placement and have to have contacts with local vendors to be in that spot. If you were a national vendor paying the most, would you want the bottom slots?

Issue #5
"I have on numerous ocassions, mentioned that the over-all appearance of ATF needed a face lift" We get hundreds of comments/suggestions every week and do not yet have the staff to personally answer each one of these questions. We have hired people to work on our site face "lift". Thank you for your offer.

You say "Mr. Harrell's only response to this has been that "We are working on that already." Maybe my eyesight is going, but it still looks the same to me???" Our reply is that we have over 300,000 web pages and it takes time to make changes.

Issue #6

You said "I have on several ocassions voiced my concerns over the dubious nature of ATF's leads. Quite simply, I had my service minimum set to $1,000 yet we continued to receive leads looking for DJs well below our service standards and minimum price packages. "

We will easily set the budget at 1000 and up for leads.

You said "In fact, irreguardless of the point that the last lead that we received from ATF was well outside of our service area, the lead had a total budget of $1,000 for their entire event! Their DJ Budget was $150!!! This was by no means an isolated or rare occurence, as has been brought to Mr. Harrell's attention on more than one ocassion."

Sir, we can not force people to create larger budgets. You can set a minimum and weed out all of these leads. We serve the "Wal-Mart, Target and Macy's of the world when it comes to clients" If you don't want the low price shoppers, I will put a minimum required in your profile. No other system has this feature on any other site.

Issue #7

You said "Customer service at ATF, for lack of a better term, simply s*cks!"

We say, "Yes, in your case and your opinion. We have replied and I'm sorry but many areas of PayPal and our site explain how to make changes, give feedback and change account settings. I'm sorry that it is not exactly how you want it to be but we can't please everyone. We do get hundreds of happy customers visiting per week and vendors."

In Rebuttal To Mr. Harrell's Latest Comments:

You say "The truth as to your customer service and my experiences with your company are neither lies (as supported by the shear number of people that have had numerous and chronic problems with your service) nor are they defamatory. If the truth is bad for business, then perhaps it is time to re-evaluate your business ethics and practices."

We say that you are entitled to your opinion.

Here are recent opinions of client visitors to our site contrary to your single opinion of us:

I do not agree with your opinion of our website quality.
MANY people would differ (see below)

Most professionals would not try to make this "front-page news" on a public forum like this either but I was forced to do this thanks to the moderator and you who want to publicly trash us rather than work it out a different way.

VENDOR COMMENTS:

(We have hundreds of these)
http://www.alltimefavorites.com/vendors/comments.htm

Here are client comments:

(WE HAVE THOUSANDS OF THESE)

http://www.alltimefavorites.com/services.htm

So, in summary, you didn't get the best service BUT you are not the RULE, you are the EXCEPTION due to the many questions you had and we did not have enough staff to answer each question (which the answers were found for most changes you wanted right on our site).

If you like I can poll our many other DJ vendors and show hundreds if not thousands of people VERY happy with this service.

It is obvious they do not frequent this forum or they would have commented by now.

Simply, we will give you 6 months of no monthly fees but you must not violate our TOS in any way with your defamatory comments in a public forum or anywhere or we will revoke our kind gesture.

To any DJ on the board:
I will listen to constructive criticism but you will not get a moment of time with me if you are only going to trash my company in the future. I expect professionalism and nothing less.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 09:50 AM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Online

Charles,

You said "My sincerest apologies to all the members of this board for some of my previous comments / posts which were "pushing the envelope.""

You clearly violated TOS of this board and clearly trashed my company and you apologize to other members. Why not apologize to us? We are the ones you dragged into the mud.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 09:53 AM

Sid Vanderpool

Administrator

POSTS: 6319

JOINED: Jul 1997

From: Northwest

STATUS: Offline

quote:
Originally posted by brianharrell
Our reply is that we have over 300,000 web pages and it takes time to make changes.

Are these static web pages or dynamic? If they are static shoot your webmaster. If they are dynamic and they were not based on a template system, once again shoot your webmaster.

Using the technology that is out there today a site like yours should be able to "do a makeover" in less than a few days if it was designed correctly in the first place.

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:10 AM

DjDennis

Senior Member

POSTS: 5169

JOINED: Apr 1999

From: ANDJA (Australian National Dj Association) - Australia

STATUS: Offline

Brian I have looked at the so called Services page you listed you do NOT show the Contact details of each person so making UP Details is EASY for anyone

I still get spam from your site but it now gets binned as soon as it arrives

and why is there a double post of one company and not so many companies using the site and praising you then ??

is it that we are not happy in how you conduct yourself in Business

as for what you said " Our reply is that we have over 300,000 web pages and it takes time to make changes."

I doubt it as if you had to change so many pages they would be so OLD no one would read them

have a nice day

__________________
DjDennis
*new* Website: www.trebleclefdj.com.au

CEO - Director/Manager/Entertainment Director

Also CEO / Director for the new Association - ANDJA
(Website: Australian National Dj Association)

Associated with = ANDJA, DjZone, Clubdjzone.com, DjApproved, USODJA, CODJA, Djworldchat, DjAdvantage

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:13 AM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Online

DJdan,

You said "No matter what you say at this point, a lot of us who are not your customers, but have seen these posts are going to avoid your services. If you were to completely (to turn a new leaf), change the design of your website, customer service, and billing methods, and then with lots of time and thumbs up, some of us might use your website again."

Dan,
it is your opinion and you can not speak for the others in this forum as they don't know who you are with only a small # of posts.

I have thousands of happy clients and vendors.

I listen to the needs of those with constructive criticism and will try not to respond to more people like you who just make negative comments.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:22 AM

Sid Vanderpool

Administrator

POSTS: 6319

JOINED: Jul 1997

From: Northwest

STATUS: Offline

On a different note. I personally went to your site for the very first time with an open mind the other night and found it more than confusing. It was loaded with inaccuracies and mistakes. No offence but it appears the KISS method was thrown out the window.

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:23 AM

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brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Online

DjDennis ,

You said, "Brian I have looked at the so called Services page you listed you do NOT show the Contact details of each person so making UP Details is EASY for anyone"

Do you think any of our clients would allow us to put their name/phone # and contact details on a page that some days gets 20,000 hits???

We do NOT forge any customer comments. How stupid would that be? I really don't have time to answer to such a dumb suggestion that a major company like ours would forge comments. I respect my clients and can't put that data out there as their phones would ring nonstop. I think you understand now.

You say "I still get spam from your site but it now gets binned as soon as it arrives"

You won't get any email from us anymore.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:27 AM

SirWolfy

New Member

POSTS: 32

JOINED: Dec 2003

From: Wrightsville, PA

STATUS: Offline

Another Rebuttal:

Issue #1; Did we forget this one or is there not enough staff to address this matter at this time?

Issue #2; That's what I wanted six months ago...

Issue #3; Quite frankly, trying to read your site and make heads or tails of it anymore give me a headache. I provided the reciprical link and there was no appearant change from the "Bonus" for doing so... Plain english please.

Issue #4; Why didn't you just say this in the first place and it would have been a non-issue?

Issue #5; I stated about the over-all appearance nearly a year ago... I also mange more than a few professional web sites of my own... 300,000 pages with some forethought is not that big of a deal to administer. Additionally, you have been telling myself and others for at least the past year that you are currently understaffed etc.

Hire some people already! As a customer, I am not interested in your staffing problems, I'm interested in answers and solutions.

Issue #6; Did you read all of what I wrote? I HAD already set my minimums to $1,000 or above, yet I still recieved the bargain hunters... The issue is not with my settings, nor were they with people being cheap... it is with the maner in which your system matches and directs leads.

Issue #7; You're shifting again Mr. Harrell. Billing and payment were correctly handled for the first two months of my paid advertising, then all of a sudden the frequency changed despite the fact that neither I nor PayPal changed any settings. One of the first steps in realizing and growing from your mistakes, is admitting that you made them...

In Summary:

I am not interested in any polls, especially ones conducted by you. The simple fact that at least a dozen professionals have related that they have had less than favorable dealings with you and ATF certainly does not put me or anyone else for that matter as an exception. Lastly, the very fact that these issues had to become "Front-Page News" to even get you motivated to respond speaks volumes as to your level of business ethics and professionalism.

In short, I am not overly interested in what "thousands of satisfied vendors" have to say... I wanted answers and you are still avoiding the reality and facts on many of these issues.

In other words, you have wasted our time repeatedly and we have wasted our money on advertising with ATF. Your offer of six months free with a service that is useless to us is an empty jester at best. Again, the truth, while it is definitely hurting your business, is in no way, shape or form even close to defametory.

What you may do to makes things somewhat better is a full refund for all those that have had issues with ATF and not had any satifactory resolution of the matter. Perhaps in a few years after ATF's face lift is complete and you adhere to much stricter standards of conducting busines, you will win a few of us displeased customers back.

Some Friendly Advice:

S*ck it up and make the changes. The alternative is that everytime someone asks for an opinion on ATF and it's services, I will gladly relate my experiences as already stated.

__________________
Charles Snyder
WOLFEN DJs

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:28 AM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Online

Like I said all over this post, why not offer constructive suggestions rather than only negative comments?"

This forum is supposed to help others and all I see is people trashing us without ONE SINGLE LINE of suggestion on how you would run it.

That is right, not ONE sentence suggesting how to improve our site.

Is that how one always solves a problem by complaining?

Is that how we help another company do a better job, by complaining at them and that will make them better?

WE ARE TRYING TO SEND YOU BUSINESS!

Do you not get that?

Why keep trashing someone who is trying to send you business?

Why keep pounding us with what is wrong?

Constructive forum? No, not the threads we usually end up in are nothing but trashing matches against us.

I am dissapointed with the professionalism here at this forum.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:38 AM

DjManDan

New Member

POSTS: 33

JOINED: May 2003

From: Austin, TX

STATUS: Offline

Although my # of posts are low, I have been lurking around here for many months and I highly respect the advice of Wolfy, DJMC and many others. I would rather send them consulting fees than advertising on the forementioned website.

Believe me, all the good advice they have given to me and thousands of other DJs, they should be the last people to be banned from this site or WEDJ.

Just keep it up, you are only digging yourself deeper and deeper.

Dan

PS - I know I just bumped it up, but I'm getting tired of seeing this thread and others related on other boards keep popping to the top of the new posts. Let's get back to sharing the good stuff!! Keep this thread archived for a long time, people will come here and make their own decisions what they'd like to do about this matter.

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:41 AM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Online

SirWolfy,

Like I said, 6 months no monthly charge is my offer.

Take it or leave it.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:42 AM

Steve Miller

Life Long Member

POSTS: 7000

JOINED: Nov 1999

From: Madison, VA

STATUS: Offline

Brian,

You are now making an effort but it would behoove you to respond quicker to the origional inquiries when they are just between you and the advertiser. By waiting and letting these problems fester and the advertisers stew you created you own problem. Had you gone about takng care of business with those that contacted you to begin with you would probably have never seen this get past a little poke fun at the leads. (which is natural and certainly not a legal issue)

I have checked into several of the lead generating sites and found them all to be pretty much a waste of time when put in context to the way I do business. Most of these lead generators would be best suited to operate as booking agents instead of lead generators as most of the clients do not end up booking through these sites. (most end up booking through direct contacts)

I too am a little confused about what I have read so far concerning billing and commission. What I would like to be able to understand is, if you have a set charge for advertising are you also charging or expecting to receive a percentage on leads or bookings as well? If this is the case it sounds more than a little confusing to me.

I would like to see an accord happen here for your sake as well as the piece of mind of the others on this board who are or may want to use your service.

__________________
Steve Miller

DJ/KJ and nothing more

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:49 AM

electricbeat

Party Animal

POSTS: 129

JOINED: Dec 2002

From: Indiana

STATUS: Offline

My reply... finally

Can't take a day off without getting 2 pages behind!

Anyway, here it is again:

Billing notices, late notices, not actuall charges after billing authorization was withdrawn, and paid advertising cancelled.

Billing notice, late notices sent after free advertising was cancelled. (no charges)

I still have a link from my site to ATF.

Last e-mail to complain about continued billing was acknowledged with "OK"

Issue resolved. But, I did reply with facts stated in this and the other thread, my only opinion to others is to NOT opt for autobilling, and to advise people to use as many free links as possible. (this is usually a common SEO tip, but some people may not know that)

Then in a PM received from Mr. Harrel, I was told l was $ucking from sites that send me business. Business is a loose definition of what I received. "Leads" is accurated. Contracted sales is not, but both pertain to business. As for $ucking from the site, I don't know how I could do that, as I gave a reciprocal link, as requested, plus paid for advertising for many months. So now that I am not listed on ATF, but they have a link on my site, are they $ucking from me? I don't think so.

What would resolve the issue to my satisfaction? It already is. If anyone asks me what my experience has been I would still tell them the truth. If they asked me how to get exposure on the web, I would still tell them to get as many free links from sites that cater to the same types of clients that they are targeting. If this includes ATF, WEDJ, or DJCHAT, then that's where I'll send them.

I would not recommend paid advertising until the free options were explored and implemented. And I would still advise against using any services "auto Billing" no matter what it is. But maybe I just like to be in control of who gets my money, and when. Could be because I'm not organized enough to remember to write in the charge every month before it's taken out?

In closing, I understand the position that Mr. Harrell was in. His business was not being perceived in a favorable light and he was upset. Who wouldn't be. But, as always, with a little re-direction, and some time to cool off, it looks as though it shall be resolved.

Good luck to all.

__________________
*********************

Brian Fauber, Owner/DJ
Electric Beat DJ Service
http://www.electricbeatdj.com

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:55 AM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Online

CapnAl,

In response to your PM (I will be respectful and not post a PM back into the forum as PM's are private, right?)

I'm going to be direct here and respond to your start of this post originally on page one of this thread.

What do others think if this thread?
How damaging is it to our company?

I think that many look at the thread as some very unprofessional handling of comments towards us took place and that those using such bad language or making my company look so bad, are taken with a grain of salt and not considered professionals based on their poor conduct.

Anyone on this board who trashed us would really get upset if I started saying things about their company that were negative AND my post would be removed as it has in the past when I even slightly respond negative to them.

As for your post:
What do you think the outcome of your comments was supposed to do?

Was it to just make fun of a client request or to make us look really bad because of the quality of lead that was received giving people the IMPRESSION that we give lots of leads like that?

What do you think others really thought of our company after you posted that?

If you're purpose was to poke fun at clients, word it better like " say "Isn't this funny how clients don't know how to book entertainment" rather than a post that seems to slam my company and make it look like our leads are trash.

Fact: Bellsouth just booked a $34,000.00 event through our site recently and for those that think all our leads are trash can just take those comments back.

Fact: I get over 7 million dollars in event requests per month and I'm sorry if some of you can't sell to the leads very well. Maybe you are overpriced? We do have a tutorial on-line under our vendors section and I can sell over 80% of the leads coming in if I had to prove it to you.

Stop trashing companies that work their asses off for you like us and the other lead generating companies. We are just like you and trying very hard to please our customers.

We don't need people trashing us in a public forum where our FUTURE CLIENTS read about us.

Some of the newbies probably take the trash talk as TRUTH, and not only are the comments unprofessional, they show the newbies that using a public forum is good when you want to trash a company. That is not a good way to get respect from others.

I am telling you to THINK before you speak as if you were in our shoes, how would you react? How would you feel? Yes, you would be pretty darn upset if someone talked negative about your company in PUBLIC.

That is how we feel. We really do care about our clients and thousands ARE VERY HAPPY.

I do not want our reputation tarnished by a few unprofessionals.

Legitimate questions on billing, no problem, bring them to us but to create such a public thread to get our attention is not going to get you any respect from others in your industry.

Why don't some of you respect your elders in the business like us who have booked over 20,000 events over 20 years. Yes 20,000 events over 20 years!

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 01:03 PM

Steve Miller

Life Long Member

POSTS: 7000

JOINED: Nov 1999

From: Madison, VA

STATUS: Offline

Brian,

A point and a question here.

The Point; I for one saw the origional post as I believe it was intended. That the potential client was less than clueless or was simply playing games to see if she/he could get a bite at a rediculously low price.

This could be avoided by simply putting a minimum on your site that clients can list. (Say at $500) Will it cut back on the leads you handle YES. But it will also cut back on useless traffic through your site. And avoid the advertisers wasting their time wading through the BS that comes in.

You still didn't bother to help me out on how you charge.....

Who ended up with the Bellsouth $34,000 contract? If it was your own company or an affiliate, you aren't helping yourself here.

__________________
Steve Miller

DJ/KJ and nothing more

posted: 02-03-2004 at 01:40 PM

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Pamela

DJ Goddess

POSTS: 2078

JOINED: Apr 1999

From: Indiana

STATUS: Offline

quote:
Anyone on this board who trashed us would really get upset if I started saying things about their company that were negative

I'd be upset, BUT, if you paid me for services and I screwed up and had problems with my customer service and responses to fix your problems, I would deserve it after a certain amount of time of no resolution.

Funny how quickly you respond and "get back to people" when it is on a public board. Maybe if you ran your business with the thought in the back of your mind that if you screw up or don't improve, people who may be your client or potential client will talk!!!

Maybe you should explain when exactly you plan to take all the money you are making and hire customer service reps, PROFESSIONAL web developers and designers, and make your site in reality what you appear to think it is in your head.

posted: 02-03-2004 at 01:48 PM

brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Online

Hi Steve,

It is good to see constructive suggestions instead of negative bashing. Thank you.

Your point about "simply putting a minimum on your site that clients can list. (Say at $500) Will it cut back on the leads you handle YES. But it will also cut back on useless traffic through your site. And avoid the advertisers wasting their time wading through the BS that comes in."

That does not work right as some customers only need a DJ for 1-2 hours or for background music at an event and that price is $200-500.00 so that range is still needed. Across the nation there are many bookings under $500 for elementary schools and similar events where clients want a 1-hour show.

How do you think we should handle that?

We do have a VERY SIMPLE solution on our site where vendors can set the minimum budget required before they get a lead. POOF! no more cheap leads.

You said "You still didn't bother to help me out on how you charge.....Who ended up with the Bellsouth $34,000 contract? If it was your own company or an affiliate, you aren't helping yourself here."

It was a vendor on our system that booked it and that vendor (an event planner booked 21 individual other vendors to work at the event).

Again, thank you for the constructive suggestions and professional correspondence on the board.

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 01:55 PM

RadioActive Rob

Esteemed Party Animal

POSTS: 825

JOINED: Jun 1999

From: Lubbock, TX

STATUS: Offline

quote:
Originally posted by brianharrell
RadioactiveRob: I need identification on who you are as we don't use usernames on our system. I need you to PM your name/phone and vendor ID# so I can look up your records.

Honestly, I have no idea what the vendor ID# was...

This is what we went through on the phone... I called you while on the air at my new radio station in Lubbock... It took quite a while, and I had to do a few breaks on the air while we were on the phone.

Robert Green, of (at the time) Wichita, KS listed as Premiere Music - www.premieredj.com - a site I'm no longer using. The phone number that should have been listed on the site was 800-959-3910.

If it helps, the unauthorized charges occurred on 8/27, 10/16 and 12/16. The 12/16 charge was credited back on 12/18 - $16.

posted: 02-03-2004 at 08:46 PM

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brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Online

Hi RadioActive Rob,

I'll look into the charges and reply OFF THIS BOARD as that is where professional correspondence like this should be held (hint to other DJs)

__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harrell
PO BOX 21145
Eagan MN 55121
651-454-1124

posted: 02-03-2004 at 09:34 PM

RadioActive Rob

Esteemed Party Animal

POSTS: 825

JOINED: Jun 1999

From: Lubbock, TX

STATUS: Offline

quote:
Originally posted by brianharrell
I'll look into the charges and reply OFF THIS BOARD as that is where professional correspondence like this should be held (hint to other DJs)

I don't know... This board seems to be the only way people are seeing action with regard to ATF... I E-Mailed you when the first unauthorized charge went through, and received no response and no resolution.

My card was charged twice again after that.

When I called, I was a bit disturbed that it kept happening... The response I got from you on the phone was a frustrated and in my opinion half-hearted "What do you want me to do about it?" To which my response was "Refund my money - immediately!"

We discussed all three charges, and you only refunded the last one back...

And you wonder why people are upset enough to discuss this here?

This is just my opinion Brian, but you're way off base... To be attacking people's professionalism is crazy. Especially when they have had genuine and repeated problems that shouldn't have happened in the first place, then went unresolved despite numerous attempts with you. WTF?

posted: 02-03-2004 at 09:45 PM

SirWolfy

New Member

POSTS: 32

JOINED: Dec 2003

From: Wrightsville, PA

STATUS: Offline

LOL

Seems like more than a few people are making the same points I have Brian... I rest my case.

As far as your offer of another six months of worthless membership, NO THANK YOU! I have better things to do with my time, such as providing the best customer service possible to MY customers, than going on and on with you as you just don't get it.

ATF is a good idea and would be much better off without you in the equation if you just cannot "cowboy up" and admit you screwed up royally on more than a few ocassions!

__________________
Charles Snyder
WOLFEN DJs

posted: 02-03-2004 at 10:11 PM

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CapnAl

Esteemed Party Animal

POSTS: 746

JOINED: Oct 2000

From: Hollywood, Florida, USA

STATUS: Offline

Good Grief!

It's Time For A Public Apology.

Brian, I deeply regret being the cause of all this furor over All-Time Favorites. This was not my intention; just read my initial post. Indeed, I was a little upset at the direction the discussion took. My original intention was just to insert a little levity into our days; I received a lead teaser from your service that I thought was more than a little humorous, and thought to pass it on for that purpose alone. A few others (Bill K., Steve M.) recognized it for what it was intended; most, however, took it off on a serious, unintended, and unwelcome tangent. I did NOT intend to slam your service, nor the quality of your leads.

I did not intend to violate your T.O.S.; although, strictly speaking, I did. However, I did not publish any information that would enable anyone to "steal" that particular event - I never received any client contact information, so I could NOT pass it on to anyone, even if anyone had wanted it. If you want to remove me from your email list, it is within your right to do so. It's not real hard to figure out who I am - I've never hidden behind any obscure user name or anything; just see my signature.

Again, apologies to ATF and Brian. (I'd also like to apologize for the tone of my PM to you, Brian - upon re-reading it, I certainly came off a little snotty. I was most likely just a little miffed by the whole issue, but I should not have written it like that.) I had no intention of criticizing the site at all, just thought a particular lead was funny - even a little peculiar - from a DJ's point of view. In retrospect, I should not have named the service the request came from - after all, it was really not germane to the intended topic. It won't happen again.

Now, that having been said, I feel I must ask one question. And, again, I hold no malice at all toward ATF, Brian, or anyone, so PLEASE don't read it that way. Why is it we are only hearing from guys who have negative experiences with ATF? Why haven't we heard from anyone who has had a positive experience? (Please, no snide comments here. I'm just trying to be fair - you all should be, too.) There must be some - out of all those who use ATF successfully, a few must be members here! (How many thousand members do we have, after all?) I'd really like to hear from some, wouldn't you? To hear their side of things? Or could it be that they just don't want to get slammed? If I were in their shoes, I'd expect that, wouldn't you? Let's all try a little harder to be civil, how's about it?

__________________
Cap'n Al

http://www.sound-people.com

"Only Clean Music!"

posted: 02-04-2004 at 09:08 AM

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brianharrell

Junior Member

POSTS: 73

JOINED: Oct 2001

From: St. Paul Minnesota USA

STATUS: Online

Cap'n Al,

Your apology is accepted. I also didn't expect people on this board to just take the thread and go trash crazy against us over it. It is a pleasure to have a professional like you in the industry.

We have thousands of happy members and get hundreds of positive comments from them MONTHLY.

I think the people on this board are scared of being slammed, and reputations trashed thanks to a quite a few bad apples who have nothing better to do than offer NEGATIVE comments about anyone who is not just like them.

Check out the other thread recently about Bashing. Even that person was afraid to post for fear of people who just don't have anything constructive to give.

Granted, a few members in this thread received less than acceptable service, but we offered to fix things and one (SirWolfy) goes back to his same behavior and says no way and calls us worthless.

Either there are good members of this board scared to post for fear of getting trashed, or there are not many professionals in the board (which I do not believe is true as I have seen other very good posts), or DJs just have egos that are too easily bruised and they don't know how to handle it.

I just don't know. I do know that we run a quality service and I don't have all day to sit here an prove it to a thread that just sits here and bashes us. If you want the proof of the thousands of happy clients, then contact me and I will SHOW YOU THE PROOF.

Have a great day all!
__________________
All Time Favorites Event Planning Resources
http://www.alltimefavorites.com
We refer client leads to DJ's nationwide!
Brian Harre