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Valpak was contacted by me for an ad campaign. The price sounded good and I was given a promise that I would obtain at least 4 new accounts per 10, 000 mailers. The VP of Sales agreed verbally to this number. This was much less than I thought, but I agreed to this number as I would at least break even. I had paid for 20, 000 to be sent out first week of June. The President of the company and others also misrepresented the known percentage of people in those sectors who would actually open and look at the mailers. I was told at least 80% open and look at the coupon mailers. This is an obvious LIE, a complete misrepresentation of a vital statistic I needed to make a good business decision. If 80% opened up 20, 000 mailers this is 16, 000 households that would be looking and if that many would look I would have some decent amount of interest. My company's product is one of a kind and many would be interested if they actually saw the mailer. As of today, three weeks after the mailing I have NO new business from their supposed mailing.( I can only assume all 20, 000 were mailed). Valpak was also very aware that I had no money for this campaign if it would not work out to at least recoup the original amount. They have refused to give any refund or do anything whatsoever to deliver what I paid for. My last call to Patty in Doug Franklin's (Pres of Cox Media Group) office resulted in her telling me I should not have gambled with this, then informing me someone from their Legal Dept would call me soon, also being rudely hung up on, as if I am the one doing something wrong. The only thing I did wrong was trust they are honest and decent people providing a good service that works. I had no idea this was a gamble as she stated, and if I wanted to gamble then the racetrack or Las Vegas is where I would go. I believed this product to be a calculated risk which is much different than a gamble. A gamble always benefits the house, so her mistake on wording did not escape my attention. She unknowingly has really admitted that Valpak does not deliver what they propose in many, if not for most of their business. I can only assume the misrepresentation will continue until they are told to cease the misrepresentation and promises of minimum business, or else, desist. In my opinion, ANY product or service that does not work well should be taken off the shelf, permanently.
Valpak is an old tired concept - The last time they were "a fresh marketing concept" was in the 1970's. Since thsat time, several competitors have entered the arena and many continually outperform Valpak in delivering a positive ROI on their advertisers investments. What MOST people fail to realize about Valpak is that they are in the business of selling franchises. When an owner of a Valpak franchise fails, as they often do, Valpak will sue the business owner for the contracted dollar amount owned to them and sell the same failed location to another prospect.
Valpak & their parent company Cox target Media are prime examples of Corporate welfare gone wild. Cox received millions of dollars in tax breaks to build their plant in St Pete, FL - 2 years AFTER they got their tax breaks, they tried to sell Valpak along with some struggling Newspapers they owned- they sold the newspapers BUT no one wanted to purchase the blue Dinosaur named Valpak. Would it not be nice to have the government help you pay for real estate you then sold (or tried to) without having to pay the money back!?!?
The state of Florida gave the welfare payment to valpak because they were to create jobs in the area - in the end, Valpak laid-off more production workers than they hired and touted their plant as the most automated (filled with robotics-NOT employees) printing plant in the US.
Now with their hands open for more government Corporate Cheese, Valpak has ramped up their efforts to hire strictly military veterans- I have NO Problem with that concept except that the ONLY reason Valpak is singling out this segment of job seekers is that Valpak receives thousands of dollars in welfare dollars (up to $9, 600.00 per hire) to hire vets. This sinking company will grab at whatever welfare dollars it can since they do not have the leadership capable of delivering ANYTHING original or competitive in a truly Capitalistic marketplace - they are the Johny-come-lately when it comes to implementing anything outside of their under-productive box. Based on their track record of sucking up as many government dollars as possible, just because they hire the vets (and get paid for it) doesn't mean they will do much to keep them on with the company when the money is gone.
Valpak is based on an old tired concept. Back in the late 1960's their model was a "fresh" concept, since then several competitors have entered the arena and offer the same or better services and results for MUCH less money.
What MOST people fail to realize about Valpak's biz model is that they are really in the business of SELLING FRANCHISES - when 1 location owner fails as a profitable business - they (Valpak) sue the owners for the money outlined in the purchase of the franchise and sell the dud to another new & excited prospect.
What is even more sickening about the company is that their parent company Cox Target media tried to sell Valpak for a couple of years along with some under-preforming Newspapers they owned. Cox was able to sell their newspapers BUT NO ONE was interested in purchasing Valpak. Cox Target Media and Valpak are prime examples of corporate welfare gone wild in America- It was Only 2 years AFTER receiving millions in tax breaks for building their printing facility in St Pete, FL that they tried to sell Valpak.
Like most in-efficient, bloated, top-heavy US Corporations, Valpak could not survive without it's government handouts. In order to qualify for the tax credit, they had to pledge to create jobs at the location. The plant has been touted as the most automated (through use of robotics- not employees) printing facility in the US. BY automating the plant, Valpak ended up CUTTING several jobs AFTER receiving the tax break. Their latest grab at funneling tax dollars into their account is their hot and heavy plan to hire as many Military veterans as possible- I have NO PROBLEM with that goal - BUT the reason VALPAK is so focused on hiring this segment of the population is because they can receive several thousand dollars tax credits for each vet they hire. They are not concerned with how long the employees stays with the company as long as Valpak gets it's precious tax breaks- they are going after as much as possible.