xlibris

Xlibris Sales consultant flat out lied to me and then Insulted my husband over the phone, Internet

25th of Mar, 2011 by User665895

Last Friday (March 18, 2011), I had an incident with my sales representative. I called corporate office and put in an official complaint on this particular employee for being overly aggressive in trying to convince me to sign up for an add-on to my current package. The package add-on was for the royalty increase which cost $1,599.00. I was told I would have to make a down payment of $533.00 right then. This price is the equal to the cost of a down payment on a car. Most people would not just throw that much money at something with out considering all of the options and mull over it for a day or so. He told me, I only had right then to decide on it because as of Monday the offer would no longer be available to me. He also told me I would not be eligible to enter this program after Friday March 18, 2011.
I sent him this email. "I have thought things through. And, this seems like a lot of money to invest and risk. No one knows how well this book will sell. If it turns out to be a flop then I have only lost a little money, hang my head and move on. As it is now, at least if the book does well I make a little profit, succeed and move on. And I know better next time where to hedge my bets. I'm not a gambler and in reality that is exactly what I am doing. So, I would rather bet a little and win a little than bet a whole lot and loose everything. Lesson learned more or less.
If this book does well and I decide to publish the next book that I already have written. Will this offer be available to me or is this a one time deal? Thank you for the call this afternoon. I do appreciate the opportunity that you gave to at least give me an option." He called my home several hours after I sent him this e-mail. I was not home when the phone call came in, but I did walk in on the conversation between my husband and my agent. My husband was flustered and very angry, which is hard to do because he is a very docile person. In order to get him this irritated someone has to do something major to tick him off. This guy told my husband and this is quoted "So as I understand this you are refusing to give your wife $1599.00, you should be ashamed of yourself for holding your wife back from pursing her dreams." YES, he told my husband this. My husband is very protective of me as any husband should be. However, since this is my project and my hard work he stood back and is letting me make every choice for myself. Now this is happening he has become fully involve with every aspect of my book. This is unacceptable behavior for anyone claiming to be a professional and work at any public industry. You do NOT insult the people who essentially are responsible for your paychecks. I did talk to a person higher up the chain of command that day. He told my husband and myself he would be in contact with me. Since March 18, I have not heard any word from anyone at Xlibris. Come to find out after all of this, what the sales rep offered was not a "ONE TIME" deal. I was told I may opt to enter the program at anytime. So essentially, I was lied to. Since then, I have not heard anything back on this incident. The man my husband talked to, did assure us a new technical adviser and sales representative would be assigned to me and would be contact me. I was told to forward the e-mails I had already sent to my current technical adviser to the Technical Advisor manager and he would look over everything. I did as I was told to do. As of today I still have not heard anything. I just received my welcome package with a contract. There are a few things of which have me concerned about it. Number one the contract that was sent to me is the wrong contract for the particular package I purchased and I have already made an initial payment on. The second concern is after reading through the Publishing Guide, I found a better package to better meet my needs. I feel the sales rep should have been more open with me on my options and should have explained things better. I signed for the Basic Package what I should have signed for is the Professional Package instead, he more or less pushed me to what he thought I needed. He never did ask what I wanted. The only reason I contacted Xlibris was to find out more information on what would be available for me. I did not intend to make a purchase at the time because the illustrations for my book are not complete. The sales rep told me I had to make a decision that day, if waited a couple of days to debate on this package, he could not guarantee the price quote he gave me if. At this point I am very unhappy with the way things are going. I would like very much to stay with Xlibris to publish my book; but, if this is the way business is handled here, I will consider withdrawing my contract and sign with another publishing company. This is not a threat I am just stating what is going through my mind; I would appreciate a quick and satisfactory resolution to the problems I am having. Before I contacted this company I did check with the BBB and there were 214 official complaints filed with the BBB against Xlibris. I figured being a business to the public there is no way to guarantee 100% happy results from every client. This is just not possible. Now my big dilemma is what in the world do I do now. I feel like all of my hard work has been flushed down the toilet. Very dis-satisfied client.

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