Q –

I signed on with a well-known vanity publisher after high pressure sales tactics, but withdrew immediately. Per their contract, they must refund 100% of my money but they haven’t done so. I can’t afford to hire another publisher until I get my money back. What can I do?

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A –

Send them an email AND a certified letter demanding they credit the charge back to your card within two business days. Tell them, if they don’t, you are are going to report them to the attorney general in their state, and NAME that attorney general. Also, it is imperative that you give them the link to the attorney general’s online complaint form so they’ll know you’re serious.

For example:

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Date

Publishing Company
Address
City/State/Zip

Attn: Name of Publisher

[BRIEFLY DESCRIBE YOUR COMPLAINT HERE. Be sure to include name of employees you corresponded with and, if applicable, quote the contract terms regarding refunds.]

You must credit my card for $____________, per your contract, within two (2) business days or I will be reporting your firm to [STATE] Attorney General [FIRST AND LAST NAME] – [INSERT URL OF ONLINE COMPLAINT FORM].

Your name

Your book’s title

Your contact info.

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To find the attorney general in any state, use your favorite search engine to search for:
attorney general (state where the publisher is located)

Almost every attorney general website now has an online form to use when filing a complaint.

I checked and you’re not the only person with complaints about that company.

Threatening to post negative comments about a firm online isn’t going to help. If it did, that company wouldn’t have so many posted about them already. Even threatening to post a negative review on the Better Business Bureau website won’t work. There are countless complaints about that company there, too.

However, if an Attorney General receives enough complaints about a company, they might launch an investigation and THAT is serious business, and can lead to criminal charges, which are far more serious than any type of civil complaint. They know that and I suspect they will jump when they realize you know exactly who to contact about your complaint, and you know the exact online form to use when doing so.

If they still don’t pay you, I recommend reaching out to other victims (they’re easy to find online based on all the complaints about that company), and providing them with the attorney general’s complaint form link, too.

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