Wow, Alex just put Talkback in LOCKDOWN at V123

[AlexisAdair]

2:30 a.m. Central time zone, and somewhere between about 1:00 a.m and now, the Voice123 Talkback forum went into complete lockdown - the entire Talkback forum is locked, no new posts, no new replies, and at least one entire thread has been deleted without a trace.

Scary stuff, IMO. When a company starts going to extreme lengths to hide and eliminate criticism, well, that means it has something to hide!

Alexis

[mirrenlee]

I'm actually surprised he's kept it open this long. He probably should have closed the whole Forum once he introduced SmartCast! I notice that he has no Forum at all over at his Casting123. He can always say it's his site, and he has a choice whether or not he allows a Forum on V123.

Let's face it: no Forum, no criticism, no hassles. Anyone going to sign up as a new V123 member would have no clue that it would be difficult to actually get to the jobs advertised, or get matched to them, unless they had already seen anything on other boards around the Internet, and that wouldn't be as easy to do as it currently is to see it on the Forum.

The last month has been like watching a train wreck in slow motion, hasn't it? It's also been a really good example of how NOT to run your Customer Service section in any business.

Mirren

[Michael Murphy]

He posted that is is going to remain locked down. Just fyi!



Mike

[Vance Elderkin]

Yep. Alex's post there surprised me a little, as he basically told those who have been complaining on the forums to stick it. Circling the wagons?

[Amanda Geyer]

Preliminary discussions with customer service say that no refund is in my future, as things currently stand.

Needless to say, I am not happy.

[Amanda Geyer]

I wrote a very strongly-worded question to (them as a company) last night, and my husband, font of wisdom and restraint that he is, suggested I save it offline, give V123 a business day or two to get back to me about issuing my refund, and let the vitriol-fueled anger I was feeling yesterday over Torrenegra's actions cool to a dull simmer.

Upon re-reading the question, I agreed that yes, had I posted it, or sent it through their email contact, it was a threat of legal action.

I was aggressive, yesterday. I will be the first to say so. But if my aggression provoked such a spineless response as to delete the thread that contained my reasons for terminating my membership (which, honestly, was a strongly-worded statement of personal observation and opinion), then, y'know? I really want my money back. Although, I will admit to feeling kind of like that kid in Better Off Dead, chasing John Cusak's character around, screaming, "I want my two dollars!"

I just realised I hadn't SUBMITted this... d'oh!

[K_Miller]

Amanda,

What happened to Alex's big "refunds will cheerfully be given" post back when this started? I believe others in the forum saved and printed it before he deleted it. If you wanna go to war, there's your weapon.....

[AlexisAdair]

Amanda, I have screenshots of the Refund promise from the V123 Team blog, as well as Juan's statement that there was "no deadline" for requesting the refund. The only tricky issue is could be your sign-up date. They state that anyone who joined prior to July 7 was eligible for the refund - when did you join?

Of course, if you joined after 7/7, you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, reference their false advertising claims (there are many) and demand your refund.

Let me know if you want the screenshots and I think I'll need an e-mail address to send to, I don't think I can attach a file to a PM.

Alex should at least have given some warning about the lockdown prior to doing that. And if they're going to start arbitrarily deleting content, they need to state in the guidelines that content can be deleted for any reason. They've really crossed a line now, and if I had been at all on the fence about renewing, this action would have made my mind up.

Hopefully there will be a mass migration over here, where we can speak freely, but of course aVarice123 staffers won't be seeing our comments, so we'll have no hope of them making adjustments. Not that there really was before. :\

Sad, sad, sad.

Alexis

[Julie Williams]

Wow, I didn't know any of this.
What does lockdown mean? That you can't access it or you can't complain?

Feel free to post your opinions down on this forum under the sites... and be sure to evaluate the other sites there too, if you have experience with them.

[Colin Campbell]

Julie, forums can be locked so no further posts can be made to it. This looks like the same exact forum software here. The little circle next to the thread shows a padlock icon. Alex wrote a lengthy darogatory statement in the V123 TALKBACK section basically calling us negative people in the minority and "online all the time" then LOCKED the V123 TALKBACK section down. I've heard that he also deleted some content. Something really pissed him off.