We spent thousands of dolloars on an email list that had a boucen rate of over 50%. This sparked some concerns, so we looked a little deeper and notcied that every email on the list of about 39,000 fell into one of 3 different styles.
So unatural and obviously fake, like it was created by an algorithm. Totally useless list and a huge waste of time and money. I sent an email asking for a refund and of course got the runnaround.
I do not recommend working with this company - it hasn't been a good experience for us.
DIGITAL DIRECT’S EXPERIENCE WITH DATACAPTIVE (A DIVISION OF SPOKESLY INC.)
BY LARRY GENKIN, CEO, DIGITAL DIRECT
We paid DataCaptive for database work they said they had the ability to complete for us. They didn't do the work and after 6 months have not refunded our money. If you search online you will see others with similar experiences. We should have heeded the red flags. For anyone considering doing business with DataCaptive, DON’T. What follows is a detailed “play-by-play” of my company’s experience with them so you can understand what you’re dealing with.
On January 2nd I began a correspondence with DataCaptive Global Sales Manager, Katherine Watson regarding needs we had to enrich our client database by appending fields of data (like email), a service DataCaptive claims to provide. At her request, I provided Ms. Watson two sample files from which to do a test to see if they could effectively append fields to our databases.
On January 3rd Ms. Watson replied: “...our data expert confirmed that we can append 90-95% of the list.” This meant that for every 100 records we would provide, DataCaptive would be able to enrich 90-95 of them.
On January 4th, we provided a larger test file of 9,154 records to insure that DataCaptive could do the work needed. On January 8th Ms. Watson replied explaining that they were able to append 48% of our records.
After negotiating a price, on January 31st we contracted for 1 million record appends at a price of $10,000. Additionally, each client file submitted was contractually agreed to be returned to us in 4-5 business days. $6,000 was paid upfront via funds transfer, as DataCaptive would not accept credit card payment (a big red flag). The remaining $4,000 was agreed to be paid by April 1, 2019.
In subsequent days we submitted client data files to be appended on the following dates:
February 15, 2019
February 19, 2019
February 22, 2019 (2 client files sent)
February 25, 2019
February 26, 2019
February 27, 2019 (2 client files sent)
February 28, 2019 (3 client files sent)
March 1, 2019 (2 client files sent)
On March 1st, with no files yet returned to us, I complained via email to Ms. Watson about the lack of communication and pointed out that our first client files submitted were now overdue. There was no response.
On March 4th I asked via email if there was any news. I received a call from Jason Kent, Customer Success Manager, who explained that they were having problems doing our client database appends. He promised to send the first files on March 5th.
On March 5th the files remitted were a disaster as one of the files sent on February 22nd with 12,000 contacts only had 50 appends completed (I was expecting nearly 6,000). None of the other overdue files were sent back.
On March 8th, Mr. Kent and I agreed to a test that would hopefully alleviate the problems they were having doing the appends. If it worked we agreed to keep going, if it didn’t Mr. Kent agreed to provide us with a refund.
By March 13th, over 1 month after our first orders had been placed, we still had not received a single fulfilled order or had one that was even close to being finished. On this day we asked Mr. Kent for the promised refund and provided our banking information for an electronic transfer.
With no response, on March 18th we asked again for our refund to be processed to Ms. Watson and Mr. Kent.
On March 21st we were contacted by Mr. Alvin Wiseman, CEO of DataCaptive. He agreed to the refund and we talked of possible collaborations. We said that if they could get their software working we were still open to giving them a try at another time. He asked for me to work through Mr. Kent for the refund.
On Friday March 22nd Mr. Kent emailed “Sorry for delayed response, I am out of office till Wednesday. But I have received your Bank details, will process it as soon as I reach office.” With Mr. Kent out of the office for the next 5 days I asked Mr. Wiseman to process the refund via email and received no answer.
On Thursday March 28th, a day after the refund was supposed to arrive we asked for wire transfer details. Mr. Kent replied: “I’ll be sharing you details shortly, or mostly my Finance manager will send you an email directly.”
On April 2nd, 2 weeks after refund was supposed to be processed we tried to approach the CEO again and got a response from Mr. Kent who said in an email: “I am really sorry to say the update I received from the finance team was not what was expected. They will be able to transfer by the end of this month.” I replied with “Jason, that's really not a very fair solution. We shouldn't have to wait 6 weeks for a refund. I want to be understanding, so how about 50% now, 25% in two weeks and 25% at the end of the month?”
After a phone call on April 3rd, where DataCaptive explained they’re having financial difficulties, we wrote the following proposal to Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Kent:
“Alvin and Jason,
While I'm very disappointed to not receive our refund as we'd been promised, I appreciate you letting me know about your financial challenges. Instead of pursuing a legal remedy at this point, I've got two options I'd like to propose. Hopefully one will work for you.
Option 1 - Payment Plan
#1 - Thurs April 4th: $3,000
#2 - Mon April 15th: $1,500
#3 - Tues April 30th: $1,500
Option 2 - Data Swap + 30 Day Payment
Part 1: We swap your 80M database for 80M of our contacts
Part 2: Refund payment on May 1 of $6,000
This option gives you a little bit of time and helps you by doubling the size of your current database....and can give you a significant consumer footprint, which, if I remember correctly, is something you're interested in building
Let me if either of these is acceptable to you. Or, of course, I'd welcome a full refund today.
Please respond promptly so we can put this issue to rest.
DataCaptive Reviews
We spent thousands of dolloars on an email list that had a boucen rate of over 50%. This sparked some concerns, so we looked a little deeper and notcied that every email on the list of about 39,000 fell into one of 3 different styles.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
So unatural and obviously fake, like it was created by an algorithm. Totally useless list and a huge waste of time and money. I sent an email asking for a refund and of course got the runnaround.
I do not recommend working with this company - it hasn't been a good experience for us.
DIGITAL DIRECT’S EXPERIENCE WITH DATACAPTIVE (A DIVISION OF SPOKESLY INC.)
BY LARRY GENKIN, CEO, DIGITAL DIRECT
We paid DataCaptive for database work they said they had the ability to complete for us. They didn't do the work and after 6 months have not refunded our money. If you search online you will see others with similar experiences. We should have heeded the red flags. For anyone considering doing business with DataCaptive, DON’T. What follows is a detailed “play-by-play” of my company’s experience with them so you can understand what you’re dealing with.
On January 2nd I began a correspondence with DataCaptive Global Sales Manager, Katherine Watson regarding needs we had to enrich our client database by appending fields of data (like email), a service DataCaptive claims to provide. At her request, I provided Ms. Watson two sample files from which to do a test to see if they could effectively append fields to our databases.
On January 3rd Ms. Watson replied: “...our data expert confirmed that we can append 90-95% of the list.” This meant that for every 100 records we would provide, DataCaptive would be able to enrich 90-95 of them.
On January 4th, we provided a larger test file of 9,154 records to insure that DataCaptive could do the work needed. On January 8th Ms. Watson replied explaining that they were able to append 48% of our records.
After negotiating a price, on January 31st we contracted for 1 million record appends at a price of $10,000. Additionally, each client file submitted was contractually agreed to be returned to us in 4-5 business days. $6,000 was paid upfront via funds transfer, as DataCaptive would not accept credit card payment (a big red flag). The remaining $4,000 was agreed to be paid by April 1, 2019.
In subsequent days we submitted client data files to be appended on the following dates:
February 15, 2019
February 19, 2019
February 22, 2019 (2 client files sent)
February 25, 2019
February 26, 2019
February 27, 2019 (2 client files sent)
February 28, 2019 (3 client files sent)
March 1, 2019 (2 client files sent)
On March 1st, with no files yet returned to us, I complained via email to Ms. Watson about the lack of communication and pointed out that our first client files submitted were now overdue. There was no response.
On March 4th I asked via email if there was any news. I received a call from Jason Kent, Customer Success Manager, who explained that they were having problems doing our client database appends. He promised to send the first files on March 5th.
On March 5th the files remitted were a disaster as one of the files sent on February 22nd with 12,000 contacts only had 50 appends completed (I was expecting nearly 6,000). None of the other overdue files were sent back.
On March 8th, Mr. Kent and I agreed to a test that would hopefully alleviate the problems they were having doing the appends. If it worked we agreed to keep going, if it didn’t Mr. Kent agreed to provide us with a refund.
By March 13th, over 1 month after our first orders had been placed, we still had not received a single fulfilled order or had one that was even close to being finished. On this day we asked Mr. Kent for the promised refund and provided our banking information for an electronic transfer.
With no response, on March 18th we asked again for our refund to be processed to Ms. Watson and Mr. Kent.
On March 21st we were contacted by Mr. Alvin Wiseman, CEO of DataCaptive. He agreed to the refund and we talked of possible collaborations. We said that if they could get their software working we were still open to giving them a try at another time. He asked for me to work through Mr. Kent for the refund.
On Friday March 22nd Mr. Kent emailed “Sorry for delayed response, I am out of office till Wednesday. But I have received your Bank details, will process it as soon as I reach office.” With Mr. Kent out of the office for the next 5 days I asked Mr. Wiseman to process the refund via email and received no answer.
On Thursday March 28th, a day after the refund was supposed to arrive we asked for wire transfer details. Mr. Kent replied: “I’ll be sharing you details shortly, or mostly my Finance manager will send you an email directly.”
On April 2nd, 2 weeks after refund was supposed to be processed we tried to approach the CEO again and got a response from Mr. Kent who said in an email: “I am really sorry to say the update I received from the finance team was not what was expected. They will be able to transfer by the end of this month.” I replied with “Jason, that's really not a very fair solution. We shouldn't have to wait 6 weeks for a refund. I want to be understanding, so how about 50% now, 25% in two weeks and 25% at the end of the month?”
After a phone call on April 3rd, where DataCaptive explained they’re having financial difficulties, we wrote the following proposal to Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Kent:
“Alvin and Jason,
While I'm very disappointed to not receive our refund as we'd been promised, I appreciate you letting me know about your financial challenges. Instead of pursuing a legal remedy at this point, I've got two options I'd like to propose. Hopefully one will work for you.
Option 1 - Payment Plan
#1 - Thurs April 4th: $3,000
#2 - Mon April 15th: $1,500
#3 - Tues April 30th: $1,500
Option 2 - Data Swap + 30 Day Payment
Part 1: We swap your 80M database for 80M of our contacts
Part 2: Refund payment on May 1 of $6,000
This option gives you a little bit of time and helps you by doubling the size of your current database....and can give you a significant consumer footprint, which, if I remember correctly, is something you're interested in building
Let me if either of these is acceptable to you. Or, of course, I'd welcome a full refund today.
Please respond promptly so we can put this issue to rest.
Larry”