Complaint Review: Neil Scheer at Lead Pro Direct

This rebuttal is in response to the November 3, 2015 post of Eileen Connors (Boh). Given the professional relationship and mutual respect that Eileen and I had built working together over the years, I was extremely saddened to see her take the low road in an attempt to preserve her own name and reputation at the expense of mine. Admittedly, Eileen had no ownership interest in Lead Pro Direct. The services she provided as an account manager were done so on a consulting basis as she indicated, however her characterization that I deceived and defrauded her are simply not true. Eileen was well aware of the financial distress placed upon our company as a result of the Corinthian Colleges situation. To evidence that point, here is an excerpt from one of the final emails she sent to me:

Neil,

As I write this, I want you to know that I mean no harm or rift to our relationship. I just want you to know how I feel so I can move forward in life, and sleep at night.

At this time, I know LPD is in financial trouble due to the CCi issues. I know you have a hard time paying vendors, and you haven't paid me in months.

It is extremely difficult, almost impossible, for me to move forward with the way things are going currently. I can no longer work while continuing to rack up invoices for you. I am sure you don't like it as well. No one likes to be in debt.

Please let me know how we move forward here and what your vision and expectations are. I hope you can understand where I am coming from. Thank you for understanding!

PS - Attached is the last invoice I sent, as I won't bill you up front for January.

Thank you,

Eileen Connors

I never cut off communications with Eileen, again, another mischaracterization. In reality, it was Eileen who requested that she no longer be contacted or kept in the loop regarding any futher business issues and we have honored that request. Her final attack on my character, that her name should not be thrown in with someone “as deceitful as” me, I must take exception to, as I never attempted to deceive anyone about the situation. I was honest and candid with both her and our vendors as to the extent of the financial hardships. In reality, it now appears that she is the deceitful one as she has attempted to paint a picture of herself as being unaware of the facts that led to our difficulties. I harbor no ill will towards her and wish her continued success with her business. I only wish she would have opted to take the high road with her initial rebuttal and not the approach she chose of further trying to besmirch my name for her own self-preservation.

This rebuttal is in response to the September 11, 2015 post by a someone calling himself “Mike.” I believe that “Mike” may very well be a fictitious name as this person does not wish to have his name publically associated with a post on Rip Off Report. That said, my presumption is that “Mike” may be an owner/operator of a South Florida call center that was engaged by my company in 2014 to generate call verified leads for education campaigns that we managed at that time.

“Mike” further chooses not to identify specifically any call centers that he purports to have been effected. I would contend that this is a cowardly approach to besmirch my name and reputation. If someone is going to post disparaging things about me and my company, they should have the guts to do so openly. Not doing so in my mind says a lot about their credibility. By that same token, I will not stoop to his level at this time and mention what I believe to be his name and company numerous times on Rip Off Report, causing irreparable damage, as he did with my name and company.

Initially I chose to not respond to this “report” in an effort to avoid a public spat on the Internet, but I now recognize that my silence could be misconstrued as admitting guilt to the things “Mike” has accused me of. So instead, here are the facts…

As with many early stage companies, my company had a few small clients and one large client. My company was plunged into serious financial difficulties because Corinthian Colleges, the one large client, that represented 95% of our income, filed for bankruptcy in May 2015. omnimgt.com/cmsvol2/pub_46959/527629_2.pdf At the time of the filing, Corinthian owed my company in excess of $100,000 in unpaid back invoices, a significant sum for most businesses but a catastrophic amount for a small company like mine to sustain. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to maintain a core business and get everyone paid. Instead of my company simply declaring bankruptcy as well, I actually attempted to work out alternate scenarios to help “Mike” and other vendors get paid through future business. If my presumptions are correct about “Mike”, we came up with a solution whereby the campaigns we had remaining after the Corinthian bankruptcy, were offered to him at higher price points; basically, reducing our margins significantly to benefit “Mike”. The exercise was short lived however as our remaining clients cancelled their campaigns within two months due to the poor quality of “Mike’s” leads. I offer this email as a small snapshot of what ensued as a result of “Mike’s” inferior lead quality.

Hi Neil,

Attached please find your lead level quality report for last month; you guys came in at a 0% enrollment rate again. Unfortunately, at this time I think it makes most sense to pause the campaign until further notice.

I will let you know if that changes in the future, but for now let's keep it paused.

Best,

Lori

Additionally, “Mike” has shown no regard for the confidentiality portion of our written agreement by posting client names in his original complaint; a blatant violation and an actionable offense according to that written agreement. I will however continue to honor the agreement and will not specifically identify the client whose email excerpt is shown above.

As a last ditched effort to show good faith, I tried to assist him to form new direct relationships whereby his center could expand its business. He was particularly interested in having us try to get warm transfer campaigns but when I was unable to do so, his tactics turned abusive. I continued a dialogue with him for a short while longer, fielding his threatening emails and voice mails. When I finally decided I had had enough of his abuse, I stopped responding. His last retort was to post this complaint as the final act of his sleazy tactics, with obvious intent to impair my abilities to move Lead Pro forward. This seems somewhat counter intuitive to me as that would have helped him to see additional monies which at his own doing, he has now jeopardized.       

Hello whoever you are,

This is Eileen Connors, now Eileen Boh. I used to be a client of Neil Scheer's. I was hired as a contracted account manager. I reported to him and was not affiliated with Lead pro Direct. I have my own business, Marketing ETC. I provided consultantion and account management services for Lead Pro Direct. By no means did I have anything to do with payment or financials for Lead Pro Direct. 

Not to mention, Neil Scheer owes me more than five months of contracted work that I invoiced him for before I stopped in December 2014. He stopped communicating with myself in March 2015. I never received a single dime of compensation for August - December 2014. He never set up a payment plan. He just stopped communication. 

You must remove my name from this report as this is false information about Eileen Connors as I was never an employee or partner or any sort of ownership with Lead Pro Direct or Collegeinfopro.com. I can provide 100% documentation. This is a destriment to my honest reputation as I work independently with small businesses on their marketing strategies and that is how I make a living. You cannot throw my name in with someone who is so deceitful as Neil Scheer as I was duped just like you were. 

Please remove my name from this report.

Thank you

Eileen (Connors) Boh