Complaint Review: Zale Media

Zale "guarantees" a real estate closing within 5-months or they will refund the purchase price of their platform ($2,497) plus $1,500 provided you adhere to 14 parameters detailing initial and follow-up client contact, training, ad spend ($1,500 in 6-months), etc. In return, Zales promises pre-qualified leads who are ready to buy or sell their homes.

I signed up with Zale Media on 12/6/21; my ads launched on 1/11/2022. On June 10, 2022, after 5-months and no closing, I requested a refund. Zale conceded that I was engaging appropriately with the leads I received and spent the required amount on FB ads, but I didn't qualify for a refund because 1) I didn't use the Zale dialer for all my calls (however, making all calls within the CRM is not a refund requirement: the refund requirement states, "In the event calls cannot be made in the CRM, you may call using a personal phone but must track all communication in notes of the CRM."

I did document my communication within the CRM, as well as provided 5 months of call logs showing every call with every lead) and 2) I didn't complete the tedious and redundant 30 video lead follow-up training (I completed 15 of 30 modules).

Zale says their marketing Platform "utilizes qualification applications & automations to turn leads into qualified booked appointments with buyers & sellers for system users." Zale did not live up to its obligations to provide "quality" leads and also bears responsibility for this situation. The leads I received via Zale's system were poor quality; the majority of whom couldn't qualify for a home loan. Zale blames the poor leads on Facebook's carousel ads.

According to Stephanie at Zale support: "Back in November [2021], FB met with our marketing manager and told us these carousel ads were amazing. Unfortunately, they did not perform as we had expected." Given I did not meet all 14 guarantee parameters, I requested a refund of 1/2 of the purchase cost of $2,497 (or $1,248.75) in the form of a FB ad spend credit.

I thought this was a fair request given our joint failures. Zale offered a $300 ad spend credit, which I considered unacceptable. I believe Zale oversold and underdelivered on its promise. Zale admits the ads it was providing were poor performing and all I asked for was some remuneration of my personal ad spend in the form of a FB ad credit

Zale's response was essentially, "Not our fault, you didn't meet all the conditions of the guarantee." Learn from my mistake and do not contract with this company.