Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/11/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In November 2023, I met with Michael and Robbie Antosy, the owners of MyAdvice, to discuss developing a new website for my business. They assured me that the new website would increase my new patient intake by 15% each month and promised to significantly reduce my Google AdWords spending by thousands of dollars monthly. We agreed on a contract where they would redesign my website and reduce my AdWords spending from $9,500 per month, bringing it down to under $5,000 within six months. They claimed to have advanced technology that would make advertising more efficient and projected an increase in my new patient numbers from 137 per month to over 150 within six weeks. Work commenced in January 2024, but by February, I noticed a drastic 40% decrease in new patients compared to the period before I engaged with them. When I raised my concerns, they reassured me that this was a normal fluctuation and that patient numbers would recover soon. Their monthly fee was $3,997, which included $2,997 for website management and marketing, and $1,000 for managing Google AdWords. After 12 months, I was supposed to own the website outright. However, my new patient numbers continued to decline each month. Despite requesting multiple meetings to address these issues, the situation did not improve. In response to my dissatisfaction, they agreed to cancel the $1,000 monthly AdWords management fee and provide a 25% discount on the remaining monthly fees. Yet, the following week, they charged me the full $2,997 without applying the discount. On July 23, 2024, I formally requested to be released from my contract, returning the website to them after paying a total of $29,207. I spoke with Pat Ferdig, VP of Customer Success, via Zoom, who confirmed via email that they would allow me to terminate the contract early. However, 24 hours later, I received an email from Chad Erickson, VP of Strategy, stating that the previous offer to cancel early was made against policy and had been rescinded.

  Business response

  08/15/2024

  Clarification to comments from Dr. Cirka:

  1. Robert and Michael are not owners of MyAdvice. They never said they were and their business cards and email signatures align with that fact.

  2. Robert and Michael did not, and have never, made any guarantees about the success of the program. They've been in this business for over 12 years each and they know that it's impossible to guarantee results.

  3. The request to reduce monthly PPC spend actually came directly from Dr. Cirka. He outlined very specifically the amounts he wanted to spend each month. Our team would've kept the rate where it was because it had a good ROI.

  4. Again, no claims by MyAdvice were made verbally or in writing that we would increase his lead flow from 137 to 150 per month.

  5. The decrease in new patients, as we explained to Dr. Cirka was related to Google's helful content update. His old website, which we took over in January, had content which violated the new update from Google. The spammy content penalized his website and we were left to clean up someone else's mistakes.

  6. When we convinced Dr. Cirka to increase his spend on PPC to match his previous output, the lead flow began to increase, and with our processes and expertise we lowered the cost per click and cost per lead. This actually made the campaign more efficient than he had seen from his previous vendor.

  7. The $1000/month that was referenced was the management from PPC and is separate from the $2997 fee. I've attached the agreements for each of them. We agreed to stop managing his PPC ads in July of 2024, which also stopped the $1000/mo PPC management fee.

  8. The $2997/mo includes the annual contract. This includes the cost to build out the website, manage the local search optimization, provide the review power software, the social power software and our highest level of organic search engine optimization (SEO). The website cost is included in this fee and once the annual contract is complete, the client owns the website. MyAdvice does NOT charge an initial setup fee and the cost of the website and marketing are spread out over 12 months.

  9. Pat Verdig did tell Dr. Cirka that he would let him out of the agreement. This was an error by a new employee and had not been approved by the finance committee and Chad Erickson did inform Dr. Cirka that the contract was still in force until December of 2024.

  10. The website has not been paid for the cost of much of the marketing services are done in advance. Also, MyAdvice was able to fix the issues related to Dr. Cirka's old website getting punished by Google and the trend is heading in a very positive direction. In reality, Dr. Cirka's demands to reduce his PPC spend in a dramatic fashion from where they had been in 2023 cost him a lot of new patient leads. He's attempting to blame someone else for his mistake.

  Business response

  09/05/2024

  Additional Clarifications:

  MyAdvice did a website takeover of the existing website. This had delays because of issues with the programming and plugins on the existing website. Once we gained full access, were were able to complete the website transfer.

  The new website was completed in about 90 days.

  MyAdvice didn't manipulate the search terms. Adjusting campaigns to improve conversion and bidding is part of  monthly adjustments. Dr. Cirka and his team were on monthly calls and had access to reports for full transparency to see how the budget was being spent and were the focus was in order to attract as many patients as possible.

  Again, there are two separate fees. MyAdvice stopped managing the PPC and stopped those payments. The other payment for the website and organic marketing remain in place until the end of the contract (12 months).

  Customer response

  09/07/2024

  
  Complaint: 22126390
  
  I am rejecting this response because your contract stated that you would provide a ADA - compliant website for us. We were not aware that it was not compliant and relied on you to provide that.  We have since been served with a lawsuit and a very extensive report for how your website was not ADA compliant. I have made MyAdvice aware of this already and MyAdvice has been silent on responding.
  
  You should not make promises then not deliver what you were contracted to do.

  Sincerely,
  
  Ken Cirka

• Initial Complaint

  12/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  MedNet Technologies was engaged in 2015 to design an orthodontic website. MedNet Technolgies was acquired by AdviceMedia at some point and inherited all the contracts from them. We were never happy with our services and engaged another provider to re-design our site in 2023. I contacted Advice Media to cancel our contract. We were informed that under our old MedNet contract we could cancel with 30 days. We filed the paperwork to cancel their services and transfer our domain name. Monthly fee was $198. Our credit card was charged $1853. Advice Media has not complied for the past 3 months with assisting with transferring our domain. They provide a transfer code to our new company, only to have the transfer canceled on their end before complete. I have repeatedly asked to speak to a supervisor only to be denied and only receive an email reply from the same employee who originally told us we could cancel our contract with 30 days notice, but now insists we must pay the full $1853.

  Business response

  01/03/2024

  1. We attempted to call the client many times. She informed us that she had blocked our phone number so we couldn't contact her.

  2. The agreement that she signed is a 12 month agreement. It also clearly states that it auto-renews each year. This has occurred in the month of August for the past 8 years. Each invoice we sent out boldly states that the agreement auto renews, thus complying with the state laws. Agreement and Terms of Service are provided at attachments.

  3. Dr. ******* canceled in October and chose the buyout provision for the remaining balance of the contract from Oct 2023 - July 2024. The client would've needed to have cancelled prior to July 27, 2023 to meet the cancellation terms and void the renewal. She was 90 days past the renewal expiration.

  4. MyAdvice agreed to transfer the domain name. We unlocked the domain on 2 separate occasions, but we did NOT re-lock the domain as claimed. The domain companies only unlock for small window of time, usually 24-48 hours. The new company failed to accept to transfer in a timely fashion. We are more than willing to unlock the domain again, as long as: 1. The client has paid the full $1853, not done a charge back on the collected amount. 2. The new company is able to accept the domain transfer within 12-24 hours of the code being provided.

  5. Client can reach out to Abbey at Team Red Rocks to verify payment and request the domain transfer: *********************

  Customer response

  01/04/2024

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Abbey from MyAdvice had informed us that we were able to cancel without having to pay the full year by email. The card was then charged the full amount without notification. She refuses to allow us to speak to a supervisor and their system will only allow us to leave a voicemail which she eventually returns. When I spoke with her she said she would talk to someone about reversing the charge, but would not allow us to speak with that individual. I am requesting to speak to someone with the authority to reverse.

  They were calling my personal cell phone (not the business line) while I was one vacation with what sounded like a solicitation phone call. My personal cell is listed on the business line as in "in case of emergency call..."
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** *******

  Customer response

  01/08/2024

  She says that according to the old MedNet Technologies agreement we could cancel with 30 day notification. 

  The next correspondence we had from AdviceMedia was a charge to our credit card for the full year without any accounting.

  Business response

  01/08/2024

  I sent a copy of the original agreement and Terms of Service that the client signed with MedNet. Section 9A Covers the 30 Days. The term is for 12 months (1 year). The client can give 30 Day Cancellation at anytime, but is still repsponsible for outstanding payments in case of early termination. The original agreement is very clear that payments are still required until the end of the contract term. I'm attaching the entire Terms of Service again from MedNet. Please read section 9A.

• Initial Complaint

  02/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  In December 2021 we started looking for an ******** marketing company to help us with our cosmetic medical practice and were contacted by a salesman from MyAdvice. He hounded us daily with promises as what to expect from MyAdvice. After we signed on he disappeared. Promises were not kept. We were told that we could terminate our relationship after 1 year and own our website. The website took much longer to build than promised. Our presence on the web was very weak. Phone calls were not returned. Communication had to be scheduled in advance via email. We weren't working with actual web designers. Changes had to be done by a third party. Our business relied upon internet marketing but Advice Media failed to promote us with their poor SEO handling of our website. Our Authority Score is 11 where ***** is considered average. There were hardly any back links to other web sites. The key words we emphasized were buried deep on ******* They showed little to no expertise in our marketplace. The vast majority of responses were other website designers noting errors with our website and our poor SEO score. A site audit confirmed very poor optimization. Our business was declining and we informed MyAdvice that we couldnt afford to pay them $1200/month any more. We were finally contacted back at the beginning of January and were informed that our contract had just renewed for one year and we were stuck with $1200/mo. The only person who could change it was a manager. We expected a call back immediately. 30 days later we were finally contacted back with an unacceptable offer. We were told we could pay less per month but would lose all our SEO. They were just interested in more money from us regardless of their inadequate service. We were willing to pay for December and any past due amount but we needed to terminate our contract and have our paid website returned to us. They have refused to honor their original commitment and are only interested in extorting more money from us.

  Business response

  02/27/2023

  In reviewing the history with the customer, it looks like we've had a very good working relationship until the middle of last year. They scheduled their normal strategy and reporting meetings with us but didn't show up for the second half of the year. At the end of December, after their contract had renewed, the doctor made MyAdvice aware that their main plastic surgeon, who serviced the majority of the leads was no longer able to work for them and this was apparently causing them some financial difficulties. We were also in contact with them through our accounting department in November because they had become approximately 6 months delinquent with their payments for services. They made up a couple of months of payments but are still delinquent. They have been sent to collections, and their services have now been discontinued for failure to pay and their website will go offline this week unless they are able to bring their account current by satisfying their bill with the collections company.

  Customer response

  03/03/2023

   
  Complaint: 19446871
  
  I am rejecting this response because it does not solve our complaint
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Customer response

  03/03/2023

  Advice Media was suppose to perform SEO for our website and increase our Internet presence. You failed to do this. The vast majority of traffic to our website was a result of ******* marketing. People saw our ******* and would go to our website. We market services for several different doctors.However only one of our doctors would work at the ******* rate. We needed to increase our target audience to make up for his planned departure. We were expecting your SEO efforts to start being effective by September 2022 but the opposite happened. As we reduced our ******* marketing the emails started decreasing. We kept calling Advice Media to get our tag words changed but no one called us back. We finally wanted to just leave after our one year was up but were told its too late because our contract had just renewed and only a manager could take care of our request. We expected a call by Jan. 2 2023. We didnt receive a response until Feb. 5. Your disjointed company has never spoken to any of our doctors only to us. We were willing to pay the past due bill but had no intention on renewing for another year. You dont return phone calls and are slow to reply by email. We were promised a different experience.

  Business response

  03/03/2023

  We utilize a CRM to track all incoming an outgoing calls and emails. Here are the facts:

  Groupon traffic over the past year has generated 328 visitors to the website. MyAdvice's organic traffic generation on ****** has generated **** visitors during that same time period

   

  Aug 29th - We reached out via email and phone call to to set our call for Sept. We also notified them that there account was 45 days overdue.

  Aug 31st - Called *****. She said that they just got back from vacation. She scheduled a call for Sept 9th and stated on the call that she would take care of the overdue invoice.

  Sept 9th - ***** alerted us that they were stuck in surgery and needed to reschedule.

  Sept 14th - We emailed them about their account pending suspension for non-payment

  Sept 15th - We spoke to ***. He's having a hard time collecting on his end, but made the July payment

  Sept 19th - Called ***** to schedule consultation. She informed us that her dad had passed away. She asked us to reach out in a week.

  Sept 29th - Called *** to schedule the consult. It went to VM, he didn't call back. We email to schedule.

  Oct 6th - Emailed to schedule their consult. It was scheduled for the 19th.

  Oct 18th - ***** emailed that she needed to reschedule. It was rescheduled for the 26th

  Oct 26th - ***** was a no show for the call. We called and left a VM for *****

  Oct 27th - Called *** about missed consult, renewal is 45 days away and to notify that they are behind on invoices. He said that ***** would be available the next day and that he would call accounting to make a payment.

  Oct 28th - ***** missed our consult call at 11 AM EST. ***** replied on email and said she could do it on the 31st then wrote back and said she couldn't do Monday and scheduled for Nov 14th.

  Nov 14th - ***** missed the consult call and emailed that she needed to reschedule. Rescheduled for the 17th. 

  Nov 17th - ***** missed the consult. We followed up before the call and after.

  Nov 22nd - Called ***** to reschedule for the 28th.

  Nov 28th - ***** missed our scheduled call.

  Dec 8th - We called and LVM, Emailed and consult scheduled for the 12th

  Dec 12th - Consultation Call held. Follow up email was sent about what we had been working on for them and the improvement with their rankings. ***** expressed concern about slow leads and form fills. She asked what we are doing for keywords. We explained everything that we were doing for content optimization on the website. Asked ***** for a review and she said, 'Ok, Thank you.'

  Jan 6th - *** called and said he was looking to cancel.

   

  This is from ***:

  *** called and said he is looking to cancel. I let him know its a one year contract and it auto renews, it already did in December, we need 45 days notice.
  He said we never sent a notification about that. He said the sales person said they could cancel at any time after a year. He can contest this, but he doesnt want to fight. Its been a decent year, we have been helpful, it wasnt up to expectations but he doesnt want to complicate things.
  
  Wants his site and to get out to contract, is looking to move hosting to GoDaddy. He cant afford the over 1K a month fee. His main surgeon is out of commission, not doing surgeries for now. They lost their main source of income so they cant sustain business as is. Still want to keep the website live. I asked about a budget, he said like 100 a month.
  
  I said to end contracts early you buyout, but it just renewed so thats around 11 months. He said he wont pay that. Asked if he owns the site. I said yes, once contract is fulfilled he owns the site.
  
  They were behind on payments in the summer, were things happening then. He said this is a recent occurrence with the surgeon, last few weeks, like 2 months. I said I spoke to ***** last month, it was after the renewal date though. He said he handles contracts not her.
  
  I said I would speak to my manage about the financial situation they are having and get back to him. She may have to speak to higher up as well.

   

   

  ***Ask you can see from the chronicled notes, which are detailed and have email chains and call recordings to back this up, MyAdvice has been proactive and responsive. *** admitted that his business was struggling, hence the reason he wasn't paying MyAdvice on time since July of 2022. I get that financial struggles happen. MyAdvice has offered a plan to lower the monthly cost to ******* Plastic Surgery in an attempt to help them with their business. Facts are facts. ***** missed a lot of calls, and we have increased their website traffic.

   

   

   

  Customer response

  03/08/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩