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I have to let you guys know about a major scam that a company called White Digital Media is operating. It's just cost our company $5000 and we can't get our money back.
Basically, there is a company called White Digital Media that operate in the UK (and America I think) that called us to offer us discounted advertising in one of their magazines. It was called Manufacturing Digital. We signed up for the ad, and paid them $5000.00 by credit card. What a mistake. About a month or so went by and I called White Digital Media to ask when I would receive a copy of the Manufacturing Digital magazine. Strangely, there was no one 'available to speak to'. I called back four times that day and no one ever returned my call and White Digital Media employees were mysteriously 'in meetings', especially the sales guy that was so persistant when conning me into signing the order form.
So, another couple of days went by and I eventually got through to someone. Admittedly, I think she was a temp girl working at White Digital Media, but she basically said that they don't actually print any magazines! What? I book an ad in a magazine called Manufacturing Digital and they don't even print it? That's illegal isn't it? I questioned the girl and she was actually very helpful - she told me that she hadn't been there long but she gets complaints all day! Suddenly, the phone was pulled out of her hand and I got hung up on. I can only assume that someone overheard what she was telling me.
I obviously called back and spoke to someone in their accounts dept (it sounded like the same receptionist so I think White Digital Media is a small, tin pot operation operating in a garage somewhere), and I told her that as they weren't printing the Manufacturing Digital magazine that I booked an ad in, I wanted a refund. She told me that White Digital Media don't offer any refunds and my advert could be seen online. ONLINE?! WHAT? I booked an ad to appear in a magazine, not some silly word document on someone's website?! Bloody hell, for $5000.00, I at least expected to see a magazine!
I spoke to the Police who said that they 'were well aware of White Digital Media' and whilst I couldn't get a refund from White DM, I should speak to our credit card company and report a fraud.
So basically, White Digital Media is a fraud. The company operates a con where you pay for advertising in magazines that don't get printed. It's extortionate and they are ripping people off. White Digital media is a scam and I hope the authorities close them down quickly.
So I feel like I should add to this. I'm an ex employee, and after my termination, I never really looked back until I got a cease and desist letter from their attorneys. This letter accused me of pretty much all the bad press White Digital Media and the owner, Glen White, had received in the past 6 months.About scam this, scam that, fraud this, fraud that. I was deeply offended by these accusations, and would have never even thought of posting anything online if it wasn't for this letter. So here's my 2 cents, my experience and my opinions about leadership and business strategies. I think if I'm sharing my opinions and stating facts as I saw them, I can't be accused of libel and defamation, but we'll see. It seems that attorney is pretty creative. My intent is to to harm anyone, but share my experience and offer my own insight to other concerned parties.
Basically when I started, I was sold hard on the vision. Everything looked great and it appeared to be in line with some of my goals. However, as I started to learn more about the company, "leadership" and sales tactics/strategies, my excitement quickly faded. Basically, my department was expected to sell advertising for rates that the circulation and readership simply did not support. I can say this because I saw exactly how many unique visitors were viewing the websites and digital magazines. The publications were not officially audited, mainly (I suspect) because the results would not be in line with the inflated numbers we had to throw around to support the high prices of advertising, and ultimately would not support the desired rates for advertising. (at least this was the case in Q1 '11)
Then there was the other sales department, selling advertising in corporate profiles. When I learned about the process for this department, I started to feel very ashamed of my affiliation with this company. In a nutshell, from what I could observe, Companies or associations are targeted and offered a suite of profiles, articles, and other 'goodies' in exchange for a vendor list. These vendors were then called relentlessly to "Support" and "Sponsor" their clients' profiles for, again, rates the circulation simply just does not justify. In some cases, I saw as little as 50-100 unique visitors or less to some of these articles. So, in my opinion, I would not recommend allocating any real advertising dollars to something like this; I would be very surprised if it would yield any kind of ROI. Is this a scam? I don't know. I just felt like it was extremely shady once I learned about the ins and outs. If you have some money to throw around to impress clients, take them to a sporting event or throw some money at their company profile. Just don't expect a lot of eyeballs on a real magazine ad.
If you're looking at working with White Digital Media, do your research. Training was weak. Positions and duties change often, and often times it's something people have little to no experience in. I've never been shown such a lack of respect at any job. I saw the owner, Glen White, say personally offensive things to employees, including calling one employee a "Stupid Prostitute" or saying "How ###ing dumb are you!?" to another... etc etc... Look, I get an owner of a company should be passionate and aggressive with their business, but he's downright mean and belittling to people. I expect a certain level of respect to be shown to myself and my colleagues, even if they'd made minor mistakes. Excessive profanity, especially when directed in a 'talk-down' fashion is not acceptable in my book.
Wow. I am a current WDM employee writing this on my own accord. I just came across these few complaints on this board and I will encourage management to formally reply to each of them. While it is discouraging to read these complaints, I do not think the above author(s) are being dishonest. Although they are clearly misinformed and obviously upset. We publish "Digital Magazines" as in D-I-G-I-T-A-L; no dead-tree version. As a Media Sales Executive I find it invaluable to know our competition and I am very pleased with our competitive position in the realm of digital publishers, of which there are thousands. You can view all of our subscriber/audience data here: http://wdmwiki.com/data/ We are audited by several independent, industry-standard firms including Bizo and BPA.
As far as not being able to reach anyone, my name is Nathan Zeke and you can call my direct line at [protected] and I would be happy to address your concerns. There is no fraud going on here that I am aware of, I love my coworkers, I believe in our products and our owner Glen has always been professional, kind and respectful to me and my coworkers.
I am a friend of a employee of white digital. I find it almost comical that the major complaint is that there are no printed magazines... considering the name of the company is White DIGITAL, and each magazine name includes DIGITAL in the title. My friend who pitches the advertisement includes the fact that the magazine is digital/online to each person he speaks with. I am a bit embarrassed for companies who are "shocked" to find out the magazine is online only. Do your research prior to making a purchase and maybe just put your "listening ears on" while speaking with employees of White Digital.
stay well clear of WDM they are even attacking companies in Australia making out that they will produce a quality mag with a readership that ulitmately doesnt exist it is shameful and is damaging to the publicaiton industry. you ###ing [censored] glen white, you can stick your dodgy scammy company up your ###! Funny thing is they have a mag called business review australia and it is the [censored]test scammiest piece of c*** i have ever laid eyes on, to top it all off they dont even have poffices here, they ring from india and canada or some ###, ###ing jokers.