Crowd.PR, Beyondbuzz, Crowdfundclick Review — Warning it’s a Scam.
If you’ve recently been contacted by a “William Henry” (or any of his other aliases he goes) and are looking for crowd.pr review — avoid them all at all costs. Here’s the truth- it’s a scam. One of a long line of his latest scams that have gone by the names of crowdpr.co, Top Level PR, BeyondBuzz, First Wave PR, Crowd PR Guru, CrowdfundClicks, CrowdfundSocial, PRKick, and on and on and on they go. Rebranding and changing their name everytime they get caught. Same old song and dance.
Here’s the deal, once you launch a campaign you’ll be immediately bombarded by tons of emails from this company claiming they are the best in the world and on and on. They put on a slick sales pitch but don’t be fooled like I was. They’ll take thousands of dollars from you and will not do a single thing after your campaign has concluded. Want to know why? It’s a scam.
Everything from their ‘supposed’ location in San Francisco and Los Angeles to their claims they’ve been in crowdfunding since 2015 (they only registered their domain with their new scam name a few months ago in 2017).
Here’s their address they claim to be located at 18 Bartol St, San Francisco, CA 94133. Want to know the truth about their office. Just like them, it doesn’t exist because it’s a virtual office that anyone can pay a few dollars a month and claim it as their mailing address. There’s no physical office space. Why need an office when you can simply wire some money and don’t need to actually do any work afterwards?
Fake review / fake testimonials, everything is a well oiled maching to believe you’re getting a top notch service when really you’re just being schemed to hand over your cash with nothing in return.
I’m the not only who’s caught on to Crowd PR, toplevelpr and beyondbuzz and their lies. Here’s a few other crowdfunders who also got ripped off. I’ve searched the Internet and found many, many others who have lost a ton of money to these guys:
Complaint after complaint after complaint. Don’t fall victim to these scammers. You will never see your money again and only be kicking yourself that you didn’t do proper research on what these guys are really up to.
And if that’s not enough, you can search any of their older names to see just how many crowdfunders they’ve ripped off throughout the years. Save yourself the grief and the money. Crowd.pr is up to no good, spoiling what should otherwise be a pleasant crowdfunding experience. Avoid at all costs.
The fix is in when it comes to crowd.pr. A quick sales pitch, a wire transfer of a few thousand dollars and then *poof* they’re gone. Ignoring emails and when you question them they’ll just bash you and your product as incompetent- deflecting all blame when these crooks haven’t accomplished a single thing. Their case studies they claim are fraudulent and everything about them is a lie. Trust your gut and Avoid that pit in the the stomach feeling when you realize you’ve been taken.
They’ve been at this for years. Don’t be their latest victim.
This company is a scam in the first degree. I work in the entertainment industry so I'm familiar with the PR space, but I was doing an Indiegogo fundraising campaign and was short on hands so I spent $495 to outsource some of the labor of getting press. Horrible idea.
They took the money and did absolutely nothing. Within the week I couldn't get a response on the phones or via email to any of my inquiries. They gave absolutely no updates, I saw no pitch that wasn't self generated, and I was at a loss. I started call daily, sent a email daily, still nothing. Finally, 6 days before the end of the campaign they sent me 3 emails in 24 hours, (I'm sure in response to the emails that were not directly replied to) the first about how we have reached the "halfway point," then about the "final push" and finally about the "post campaign wrap." It was an obvious cut and paste job.
In the first they said they were just getting started, and had gotten be some "great press" on maximumbirthcontrol.com. Spoiler alert: my campaign had absolutely NOTHING to do with birth control. Red flags that were already flying were now blowing in the breeze.
The next came a half our later saying that they were now going to try for a "big" news outlet. Finally, the next morning I got a "report" saying they had finished the campaign and "good luck". To give them the benefit of the doubt I checked the "report" against our campaign analytics and found it was made up out of whole cloth.
They drove absolutely no one to the site. So, for $495 I got 2 articles on the most obscure sites ever, no phone support, no updates, no "highly targeted placement" ...basically no ANYTHING. They are a scam, pure and simple. I disputed the charges with my credit card. Save yourself the hassle and run FAR away!!
Oh and a final note, seems that they just launch a new website every x months when there are to many bad reviews online. Toplevelpr, the so called " #1 PR Agency for Crowdfunders Results Driven PR Funding " is alsno known as turnkey Pr (website taken offline, but enough information can be found online), Crowd Pr Guru and now top level Pr. Someone should stop them!
Top Level PR provide a PR services for Crowd Funding campaigns.
They contacted me via the Indiegogo platform.
I purchased the top level package which is priced at $1495 USD. The package guarantees 100% top media placement.
When issued with a mid campaign report, I noticed 5 of the 8 links provided as proof of service were using a pitch which was rejected in the testing phase. I contacted Top Level PR to alert them that the wrong message was being released and would not result in any campaign support.
I received the final report and it included the same 8 links. Only two of which were on relevant websites. I did not receive "top media placement," nor did I receive even one pledge as a result of their service.
When I complained and asked for a refund, I was told that I should "take accountability."
I was not only ripped off from paying the fee, but my campaign failed as a result. [continued below]....
I hired toplevelpr to help me with my kickstarter campaign. They have a nice video and gave me a great explenation. When asking about other companies, they told me that they have the longest history and great personal contacts with journalists. They would surely be able to get me coverage, using their public relations techniques.
At the end of the conversation, I was told to hurry, as there where only 3 spots left. So... I bought the $495 package from their website. I still regret it until this day. They delivered the writen pitches and told me that they'll be running tests with them, to keep the best running pitch. All good, I thought.
I got zero engagement, and altough I did got some 'publications' from them, non of it was relevant and non of it generated any visibility, let it be alone funding. When asking about this, and their success rate, I got a long answer with no relevant information.
I contacted two of the blogs myself, only to find out that thet get paid between $3 and $12 to post my article. When I checked the number of unique visitors/month, I got to under 2000 ...
So I again contacted toplevelpr.com and asked for my money back. With the claims take make on their website, I would have at least expected to have 1 journalists reacting. Not even writing, but at least saying "thank you". Blog posts which you can buy for a couple of dollars on freelancing sites is something I can myself as well. It's not worth paying $495 for.
"Hands-On PR Outreach
News & Social Media Targeting
Expert Influencer Marketing
Boost Exposure & Funding To New Limits!"
and
RANKED THE #1 PR FIRM FOR CROWDFUNDERS BY CF FORUMS
With over 3,000 projects funded, We are very proud to say that we’re the top PR agency for crowdfunders ready to get
more coverage!
The response when asking for my money back? After a few days of silence, and 2 more message from my side, they told me that they never refund. That's it. I lost $495 and got nothing in return !!
After reading the review above, I did some research as well. It is correct that they only bought their domain in februari 2016, as the person above stated. But even more:
The picture from their "team": fake: http://kia-buzz.com/racing-kia-cee’d-–-another-quality-performance/ . They stole it from a website, it's the Kia public Relations team in Slovakia...
I tried to contact some of their "references". Not easy as they are all made up... out of the 2 campaigns I found, one campaign owener who told me that I'm the 5th person sending him and inquiry, but they NEVER worked with toplevelpr.
Everyone, be aware! Toplevelpr.com sells nice stories, but non of them are real. They are friendly and great in taking your money, but will never, ever deliver anything but crap.
I already reported then to the better business bureau.
I decided to use toplevelpr for my indiegogo campaign. They where very responsive and I thought honest. Sadly, their service is terrible, and all promises justs lies. They do not offer a high quality pitch, nor do they approach journalists as they say. They do write a pitch, which I can make myself, and use some distribution blast services, I can subscribe on as well. just for 4 times the price.
When making contact again and asking for a refund, they claimed that they cannot make any refunds. I looked a little further and found many many bad reports and feedback about toplevelpr. They are not in the market for a long time either, only this this year, 2016.
I contacted some of their previous 'cuustomer' from the 'reviews', nobody knew them! And even worse, when contacting, I noticed that the names and the campaigns where changed. I even found out that their reviews (videos) are all fake, and bought online. Please do your research before you even consider talking to them. They did not only scam me, but made me loose almost a week of crucial time to run my campaigns. Be warned!
Top Level PR Reviews
BeyondBuzz, latest toplevelpr and crowd.pr scam
Crowd.PR, Beyondbuzz, Crowdfundclick Review — Warning it’s a Scam.
If you’ve recently been contacted by a “William Henry” (or any of his other aliases he goes) and are looking for crowd.pr review — avoid them all at all costs. Here’s the truth- it’s a scam. One of a long line of his latest scams that have gone by the names of crowdpr.co, Top Level PR, BeyondBuzz, First Wave PR, Crowd PR Guru, CrowdfundClicks, CrowdfundSocial, PRKick, and on and on and on they go. Rebranding and changing their name everytime they get caught. Same old song and dance.
Here’s the deal, once you launch a campaign you’ll be immediately bombarded by tons of emails from this company claiming they are the best in the world and on and on. They put on a slick sales pitch but don’t be fooled like I was. They’ll take thousands of dollars from you and will not do a single thing after your campaign has concluded. Want to know why? It’s a scam.
Everything from their ‘supposed’ location in San Francisco and Los Angeles to their claims they’ve been in crowdfunding since 2015 (they only registered their domain with their new scam name a few months ago in 2017).
Here’s their address they claim to be located at 18 Bartol St, San Francisco, CA 94133. Want to know the truth about their office. Just like them, it doesn’t exist because it’s a virtual office that anyone can pay a few dollars a month and claim it as their mailing address. There’s no physical office space. Why need an office when you can simply wire some money and don’t need to actually do any work afterwards?
Fake review / fake testimonials, everything is a well oiled maching to believe you’re getting a top notch service when really you’re just being schemed to hand over your cash with nothing in return.
I’m the not only who’s caught on to Crowd PR, toplevelpr and beyondbuzz and their lies. Here’s a few other crowdfunders who also got ripped off. I’ve searched the Internet and found many, many others who have lost a ton of money to these guys:
https://www.articleavenue.com/crowdpr-beyondbuzz-review/
http://www.thenewestrant.com/2015/06/attention-anyone-doing-crowdfunding.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/kickstarter/comments/7ma47k/crowd_pr_crowdpr_review_latest_crowdfunding_scam/
http://www.kickstarterforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7814&p=38051
http://www.thenewestrant.com/2015/06/attention-anyone-doing-crowdfunding.html
https://www.articleavenue.com/crowdfundclicks-crowdpr-and-gogoboosters-scam/
http://crowdfundingforum.com/showthread.php/12490-BEWARE-of-quot-Crowd-PR-guru-quot-SCAM-SCAM-SCAM!/page7?s=6c6c7f20aa5cd71ac62a70d44cd272f5
—
Complaint after complaint after complaint. Don’t fall victim to these scammers. You will never see your money again and only be kicking yourself that you didn’t do proper research on what these guys are really up to.
And if that’s not enough, you can search any of their older names to see just how many crowdfunders they’ve ripped off throughout the years. Save yourself the grief and the money. Crowd.pr is up to no good, spoiling what should otherwise be a pleasant crowdfunding experience. Avoid at all costs.
The fix is in when it comes to crowd.pr. A quick sales pitch, a wire transfer of a few thousand dollars and then *poof* they’re gone. Ignoring emails and when you question them they’ll just bash you and your product as incompetent- deflecting all blame when these crooks haven’t accomplished a single thing. Their case studies they claim are fraudulent and everything about them is a lie. Trust your gut and Avoid that pit in the the stomach feeling when you realize you’ve been taken.
They’ve been at this for years. Don’t be their latest victim.
This company is a scam in the first degree. I work in the entertainment industry so I'm familiar with the PR space, but I was doing an Indiegogo fundraising campaign and was short on hands so I spent $495 to outsource some of the labor of getting press. Horrible idea.
They took the money and did absolutely nothing. Within the week I couldn't get a response on the phones or via email to any of my inquiries. They gave absolutely no updates, I saw no pitch that wasn't self generated, and I was at a loss. I started call daily, sent a email daily, still nothing. Finally, 6 days before the end of the campaign they sent me 3 emails in 24 hours, (I'm sure in response to the emails that were not directly replied to) the first about how we have reached the "halfway point," then about the "final push" and finally about the "post campaign wrap." It was an obvious cut and paste job.
In the first they said they were just getting started, and had gotten be some "great press" on maximumbirthcontrol.com. Spoiler alert: my campaign had absolutely NOTHING to do with birth control. Red flags that were already flying were now blowing in the breeze.
The next came a half our later saying that they were now going to try for a "big" news outlet. Finally, the next morning I got a "report" saying they had finished the campaign and "good luck". To give them the benefit of the doubt I checked the "report" against our campaign analytics and found it was made up out of whole cloth.
They drove absolutely no one to the site. So, for $495 I got 2 articles on the most obscure sites ever, no phone support, no updates, no "highly targeted placement" ...basically no ANYTHING. They are a scam, pure and simple. I disputed the charges with my credit card. Save yourself the hassle and run FAR away!!
Oh and a final note, seems that they just launch a new website every x months when there are to many bad reviews online. Toplevelpr, the so called " #1 PR Agency for Crowdfunders Results Driven PR Funding " is alsno known as turnkey Pr (website taken offline, but enough information can be found online), Crowd Pr Guru and now top level Pr. Someone should stop them!
Top Level PR provide a PR services for Crowd Funding campaigns.
They contacted me via the Indiegogo platform.
I purchased the top level package which is priced at $1495 USD. The package guarantees 100% top media placement.
When issued with a mid campaign report, I noticed 5 of the 8 links provided as proof of service were using a pitch which was rejected in the testing phase. I contacted Top Level PR to alert them that the wrong message was being released and would not result in any campaign support.
I received the final report and it included the same 8 links. Only two of which were on relevant websites. I did not receive "top media placement," nor did I receive even one pledge as a result of their service.
When I complained and asked for a refund, I was told that I should "take accountability."
I was not only ripped off from paying the fee, but my campaign failed as a result. [continued below]....
I hired toplevelpr to help me with my kickstarter campaign. They have a nice video and gave me a great explenation. When asking about other companies, they told me that they have the longest history and great personal contacts with journalists. They would surely be able to get me coverage, using their public relations techniques.
At the end of the conversation, I was told to hurry, as there where only 3 spots left. So... I bought the $495 package from their website. I still regret it until this day. They delivered the writen pitches and told me that they'll be running tests with them, to keep the best running pitch. All good, I thought.
I got zero engagement, and altough I did got some 'publications' from them, non of it was relevant and non of it generated any visibility, let it be alone funding. When asking about this, and their success rate, I got a long answer with no relevant information.
I contacted two of the blogs myself, only to find out that thet get paid between $3 and $12 to post my article. When I checked the number of unique visitors/month, I got to under 2000 ...
So I again contacted toplevelpr.com and asked for my money back. With the claims take make on their website, I would have at least expected to have 1 journalists reacting. Not even writing, but at least saying "thank you". Blog posts which you can buy for a couple of dollars on freelancing sites is something I can myself as well. It's not worth paying $495 for.
"Hands-On PR Outreach
News & Social Media Targeting
Expert Influencer Marketing
Boost Exposure & Funding To New Limits!"
and
RANKED THE #1 PR FIRM FOR CROWDFUNDERS BY CF FORUMS
With over 3,000 projects funded, We are very proud to say that we’re the top PR agency for crowdfunders ready to get
more coverage!
The response when asking for my money back? After a few days of silence, and 2 more message from my side, they told me that they never refund. That's it. I lost $495 and got nothing in return !!
After reading the review above, I did some research as well. It is correct that they only bought their domain in februari 2016, as the person above stated. But even more:
The picture from their "team": fake: http://kia-buzz.com/racing-kia-cee’d-–-another-quality-performance/ . They stole it from a website, it's the Kia public Relations team in Slovakia...
I tried to contact some of their "references". Not easy as they are all made up... out of the 2 campaigns I found, one campaign owener who told me that I'm the 5th person sending him and inquiry, but they NEVER worked with toplevelpr.
Everyone, be aware! Toplevelpr.com sells nice stories, but non of them are real. They are friendly and great in taking your money, but will never, ever deliver anything but crap.
I already reported then to the better business bureau.
I decided to use toplevelpr for my indiegogo campaign. They where very responsive and I thought honest. Sadly, their service is terrible, and all promises justs lies. They do not offer a high quality pitch, nor do they approach journalists as they say. They do write a pitch, which I can make myself, and use some distribution blast services, I can subscribe on as well. just for 4 times the price.
When making contact again and asking for a refund, they claimed that they cannot make any refunds. I looked a little further and found many many bad reports and feedback about toplevelpr. They are not in the market for a long time either, only this this year, 2016.
I contacted some of their previous 'cuustomer' from the 'reviews', nobody knew them! And even worse, when contacting, I noticed that the names and the campaigns where changed. I even found out that their reviews (videos) are all fake, and bought online. Please do your research before you even consider talking to them. They did not only scam me, but made me loose almost a week of crucial time to run my campaigns. Be warned!