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Rainmaker PR is a complete and utter waste of money.
I received one good review and two bad ones all in the first month. Five months into the six month campaign and nothing else. I have never heard from
her except for her "going on vacation" notices and when I've initiated it.
I've requested a time sheet to break down how she's spent her 45 hours for which I paid her about $2500, and a list of exactly who she spoke to and what
was said, to which I've been completely ignored - it's been three weeks since the request.
She has a very irritating practice that I've never come across before in a professional situation. She dices up your emails so that unless you keep
meticulous notes in a Word Doc by copying and pasting everything that comes in or goes out, it is impossible to decipher to what she is referring.
I have had better luck getting me CD reviewed on my own but I am very busy and haven't been able to do a lot. In fact, she told me that a real (not
virtual) magazine I submitted to on my own that reviewed me is "nothing" since she never heard of it. It's so "nothing" that they have a 13K
circulation. And I bought one at a local Barnes and Nobel. Maybe it's not Billboard, but neither are the three ezines where my reviews showed up.
I've also seen my CDs being sold on EBay. These are the people she's sending the CD's out to, or they are giving them away to people who are selling
them. "Reviewers" who spend their time hawking CD's that were given to them to review. What a joke.
So, I have a new CD with some pretty strong material and I've spent the better part of the last few months being very upset that I've been ripped off.
Don't do it.
I should have began my complaint by emphasizing the fact that I have not heard from Rhonda Kelly in months. It is now February, six months into the six month campaign. Rhonda, to say that you are shocked is just a lie. I'd like to know where the other four reviews she says I got are as she never sent them to me. Whether they are good or not is not the point. The point is that Rhonda's communication is zero, her follow up with the reviewers after she sends the cds out seems to be zero. Then she plays the "I'm shocked" routine to try to save her image. I gave her plenty of chances to communicate with me before I went public and she chose to ignore them.
Oh, and again, where are the other four reviews? And the impressive press kit of features, articles and all the other things you promised in your contract?
Case #: 176737
Date Case Opened: 02/26/2009
Status: Pending Closure
Days Pending Closure: 3
Pending Closing Type: 200 No Response
Company failed to respond to the BBB or to the consumer to resolve the issues.
Pending Closing Summary: We have written to the business two times on your behalf and we have failed to receive a response to your complaint. Unfortunately, BBB can not compel businesses to answer complaints. In these instances your complaint becomes a matter of record with BBB and is important in connection with investigations and answering inquiries about the business. It is possible that the business has adjusted this matter to your satisfaction after you filed the complaint. If it has we would appreciate it if you would let us know (click here).
If it has not, we strongly recommend that you pursue this matter by contacting the following agency for assistance:
Boston Consumer Affairs & Licensing
Room 817
1 City Call Plaza
Boston, MA 02201
http://www.cityofboston.gov/consumeraffairs
This is a State Government Agency
[protected]
COMPLAINT
Customer
Complaint Type: Consumer to Business
Salutation: XX.
First name: XXX
Middle Initial:
Last name: XXX
Address: XXXX
City: XX
Province or State: XX
Postal or Zip code: 97209
Zip + 4:
Country: USA
Home phone: XXX
Work phone: XXX Ext:
Fax:
E-mail: XXXXX
Direct Complaint to
BBB Business ID: 83043
Business name: Rainmaker Publicity
Address: 398 Columbus Avenue
City: Boston
State: MA
Zip code: 02116
Business public phone: [protected]
Complaint Information
Date purchased: 07/01/2008
Zip Code of purchase location: 97209
Store/Establishment #:
Date of problem
first occurred: 10/01/2008
Have you complained
to the business: Yes
If yes whom did you
complain to
(last name): Kelly
Purchase price: $2, 200.00
Amount in dispute: $2, 200.00
Product or service involved: promotion for music CD
Brand name or manufacturer:
Model name or number:
Order, contract or
account number :
Salesperson's name:
Primary Nature of Complaint: Service Issues
The failure to honor a service estimate or agreement
Brief description of problem:
I paid for 44 hours of service @ $50 per hour plus sent 150 professionally packaged CDs to Rainmaker's Boston address. I also paid Rainmaker approximately $300 in additional mailing and phone calling expenses. The contract terms are this: Rainmaker Public Relations will create an impressive press kit with features, interviews and reviews of the project. We will aggressively go after larger web-zine reviews and internet radio playlists as well as all national press outlets. Our goals are industry buzz and attention, interviews, reviews and cd sales. However, Rainmaker has failed to honor their agreement. To date, I have no sign of receiving "an impressive press kit with features, interviews and reviews of the project, " as promised. In fact, Rhonda Kelley emailed me only three reviews of my project. I was completely ignored when I asked for a detail of how she used my hours. According to our agreement, she was supposed tie in a local XXX campaign that would have been very important. She later denied it even though I have it in writing from her. Once she had all of my money, I never heard from her again unless I initiated the email or conversation, or when she went on vacation, when she sent out group emails. In addition, a few of my CDs have ended up on EBay for auction. This indicates that the places she is sending do not fall into the category of professional outlets to which she promised to market. The fact that she ignored my request for documentation of the use of my hours indicates to me that she spent no time at all on my campaign. The manual labor of sending out 150 CDs could not have taken more than 3 hours for one person who does this all the time. She apparently has office help for such tasks. The rest of the time was to be spent selling my CD to the press, which has not been accomplished.
Settlement sought:
At this point I will not take into account my cost for the wasted CDs, only the cash spent, which is 2594.28. Please use Paypal address: XXX for payment.
Primary settlement type: Refund-Cash
Desperate measures for desperate people.
Sure, that's why "Ryan Riley" and "John Leeds" reviews are all over the internet.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
You know what, I hate PR people. I think they are a waist of money. But I have to say that Rainmaker and Rhonda ROCK! They have made me change my mind about PR people and I will never leave Rhonda and her group. In the first week we saw more results then I could imagine. Don't listen to this one person who really must not be all that anyway!
There are so many people with the exact same complaint. That should at least give you pause.
I wish you the best of luck, Ryan. I checked out your music (I believe it's yours) and it's not bad. You have a beautiful voice - If that is you, you'd be better off spending your money on social media ads to get more fans/followers as clearly, her PR isn't doing it.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7ByrWYACqgit3E6u6O7n0P?si=0L8ly_chQTCklUKoNVFLiQ - that you?
Glad you had a different experience with Rhonda. I am so sorry for all of those whose experiences I shared.
I hired Rhonda to promote my latest CD and she did a stellar job with it. Maybe the web editors or radio programmers just didn't like your music? That does not give you the right to ask for the funds back because Rhonda tried.
I know she got me like 80+ reviews on my latest release. I was very happy with her service and will hire her again.
Glad it worked for you, but I couldn't find any reviews online with your name. Maybe you have a different artist name?
A good PR person only takes on artists they can promote successfully. There are no guarantees, but that's not what people are saying here - and she GUARANTEES. It's then on her to deliver. Otherwise, that is a con.
Desperate . . . really! I think it is sad that the internet can up used to slander someone without any concern or repercussion. I know how hard Rainmaker works and how much ownership they take when it comes to there clients. I also know how they try to be selective and work with clients they can get behind. If the "press" didn't like your music there is nothing she could do! Sorry to be honest but PR is a speculative. Not the effort that Rainmaker puts into their job!
No that is why I saw a complaint about a company that I completely don't agree with and posted a reply.
Hey "flowereater" why don't you put your real name up here and show YOUR creditability. What's your name? Let us hear your music & see who you are we we can fairly judge the full story here.
I'm from the band FUJI MINX and we have a ton of reviews all around the web & press thanks to Rainmaker Public Relations & Rhonda's help. We have worked with her for several years and always had a positive experience. She has always been available by email or phone whenever we needed her (7 days a week!) and has offered free advice/suggestions that have really helped us along the way as well.
A publicist can only sell what they are given. If what you create is good enough, people WILL write about it and it WILL get noticed. This fact is hard to face for alot of artists, but it's true. If your music or art or whatever you do, only gets a little bit of attention, then that was the attention it deserved. And next time when you create something, you can improve and grow, and hopefully more people connect with it. That's what we've learned.
In this time period that is in question, what did YOU do to promote yourself? That's the #1 mistake of artists everywhere. They get signed to a label or sign with a manger or publicist and then sit back and wait as if they are going to make it all happen. The people that do that are not the ones that are going to be successful.
Did you ever sign with another PR firm and have different results? My guess is no.
Do you have a myspace page, and did you market and promote that? How many shows did you play and were you touring? What does your music or live show bring that is something different that a publicist can sell?
Before you try and ruin someone's creditability & career, maybe take a long hard look in the mirror and see what you could have done differently to make your album a success.
I will not share my name because I believe that Rhonda is not a well person and I believe she is spiteful and vindictive.
I have had many reviews, won awards, had dozens of sync placements, had multiple label deals and development deals over the years...
Rhonda did get me a handful of poorly written reviews - nothing I couldn't have received on my own. She was referred by someone I know who was adamant that I work with her. Now I know that he too was conned.
Beyond being a scam artist she made all sorts of racist comments. Screamed at me over the phone for calling her from a cell phone - um, who has a landline? Would call me sobbing about her personal life and was at times outright abusive on the phone. This is NOT normal. I've been in the business for a while and have dealt with very high-level industry people. There are some awful people out there - the only one who rivaled Rhonda was the awful Jack Ponti of Bardic Records. Truly a toxic SOB.
When I emailed Rhonda that I was shocked by her total lack of PR for my last single (which has over 100K streams on Spotify), this is copy-pasted her email response:
From: Whiplash/ Whizkid Management
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2022 at 15:09
Subject: Re: *****
To: *****
Very Fair.
I am actually thinking about getting out of the business.
Its really hard these days to get any press, especially for a single.
I will keep trying for you.
Rhonda ;(
I never heard from her again and she has blocked me from all accounts although I never said anything hostile, only that I was shocked to receive ZERO press - not even the pay for blog crap she had procured previously. Essentially, she took my $ and moved on. I feel 100% certain that she did not submit my song for any reviews. She had most likely used up the money I paid her and moved on.
I HAVE worked with other PR people who were decent and effective. The best PR is prohibitively expensive and typically only labels can afford that route.
Glad you had a good experience, but I can attest to the fact that real artists are REALLY getting scammed by this woman. I'd love to know what she delivered. Most of what she gets are cheap paid articles.
If she can't get PR for someone, she shouldn't sign them up and diss them (as she did to me) for not being talented.
Reprehensible to say the very least. Extremely unprofessional.
I'm sure you are well-meaning in defending her and perhaps you had a different experience. That does not negate the reality that is repeatedly expressed in these posts.
The Facts About Rainmaker PR Aug. 8, 2008
Created: 08/08/2008 1:25 PM
I first ran this complaint as a blog one year ago. Since Rainmaker is still in business, and most assuredly taking money for services that will lead nowhere.
I will dare say that I've enjoyed tremendous success in that time due to hiring a real, very competent publicist. One that will take daily phone calls. If getting web reviews in unknown blogs is all you want, Rainmaker might be for you. If you need to make an actual living as a performing musician, you will need to look elsewhere.
I'm still in a bit of shock, but here's the letter that I sent to tunecore(the site that recommended Rainmaker PR)
Hello Tunecore,
My name is Glenn Patrik and I have been a full-time pro Blues musician since 1972. Since that time, I have had the good fortune of holding the guitar chair in several historic American Blues bands. As I have aged, my heroes and employers have been passing away at an alarming rate, and as a result, I have had to step up and release my first solo CD, which has done surprisingly well, with little but internet promotion..
I saw the ad for Rainmaker PR on Tunecore and began to think about a PR rep for the first time. I talked to three companies but ended up signing with Rainmaker in January, 2008.
I signed up for a 6 month campaign at $2529.00+ $350.00 for the CDs to send out, for a total of $2879.00 . Soon after signing, I sent Rhonda a list of the must have Blues publications that I needed to be in. Within two weeks she informed me that she had been in touch with all publications and didn't like the way the Blues world operated and would have no part of doing business with them. After I got over the initial shock of her statement, I asked what good she could possibly do for me now. Her answer; "I have the connections to make this happen for you. This is what I do. Get ready to sell a lot of CDs". She was quite convincing and I agreed to continue.
By the end of February, the two times that I called Rhonda, she gave me a bit of a dressing down about taking up her working time by calling on the phone and told me to correspond by e-mail. Thinking that she must be hard at it, I never called again and only used e-mail to reach her.
By August 6, 2008 I still had no idea what Rhonda's game plan was. I wasn't even on the client roster on the rainmaker webpage. This is a (so called) PR agent! I had received links to five reviews of my CD. None of the reviewers were familiar with the Blues and all but one review, even though all were positive, were basically too embarrassingly un-informed of the genre to make a statement of any importance, or use to me.
I placed a call to Rhonda that day and soon after answering the phone, I asked her what was happening and what was going to happen, she screamed "what is it that you expect me to do?" My answer was that I expected pertinent PR to my genre of music and that an occasional update would be nice. I also asked why my name wasn't on the client roster(basic PR). Not addressing my questions, she once again loudly told me that she had "sent out the CDs. "What else do you expect from me". As I began telling her that I could have merely sent out CDs, she hung up on me in mid sentence. I tried to call back three times over the next 10 minutes and got an e-mail telling me that my PR campaign had been suspended and that she was returning $800 dollars that would have covered the final three months of the campaign(which began in May, she now says). That's $800 from $2529. As a working musician in hard economic times, this is a large financial blow to my music effort and my advertising budget. If my band operated our business as Rainmaker PR operates theirs, our name would be ruined, and I feel that this will also be the case at Rainmaker. She may have been able to get away with this type of behavior prior to the internet, but as we all know, the internet is the great equalizer. I can trace no CD sales to her "efforts".
This letter is going to make the rounds of Facebook, ReverbNation, Myspace, etc... I can't, in good conscience, not post a warning to musicians who probably have tighter financial restrictions than I.
Thank you,
Glenn Patrik
Tunecore Member
www.glennpatrik.com
Had the same frustrating experience with Rainmaker. Had positive reviews from 4 ezine websites, I promote the snot out of my music, have current producers and award winning artists all over my album, a very established MySpace presence, etc. Not one print review, alot of promises, compliments from Rhonda, all the same stuff alot of these upset artists wrote above so I won't be redundant. I considered it a $2400.00 mistake and take ownership of it (and money was very very scarce at the time). I found a real publicist, and real pros to work my album by just getting it out there by myself (and they still make fun of me for going to Rainmaker), but at the time I had a limited budget, alot of trust and optimism, a very charming and persuasive talker in Rhonda (at Rainmaker), alot of self-promotion energy and a great product. Now I'm having great successes and more than decent sales and about to embark on a great tour of Europe. Just do your homework, contact real bands who they've worked with (she won't list her failures on the website) so its alot of work, and still there's an element of rolling the dice. You picked a bad apple...so pick again.
Look, these kind of people are ALL over the internet. If they can sleep at night then, hey, all the power to them. They're making a living off of hopeful artists. Unfortunately, as I've stated, just consider it a (expensive) lesson and keep pushing, keep working, keep believing, and spend less time thinking of the damage predators like this do. It worked for me, so state your complaint (as is within your rights) then let it go. If your music is good, it'll find its way across this ocean of marketing, promotion, and competition, regardless of the sharks like these. Lesson learned, crying over, moving on to bigger and better things! More positive energy going forward...Amen!
She stole from me! we paid hjer $1000 and she never ever answered a call or email ever again.
Karma - stealing from people that are chasing dreams
Our company is launching a lawsuit for the money paid to Rainmaker for one of it's artists. Very unprofessional and since Rhonda won't even reply to the Better Business Bureau, you'd have to wonder what her business ethics really are. I know for a fact that she takes on far too many artists and unless the first or second reviews come in raving, she ignores the rest of the campaign. I'll be telling everyone I know in the business to stay the hell away from RPR.
Rainmaker PR is a scam...being an artist that has spent thousands of dollars with Rhonda, it is people like her that are killing the soul of the music industry.
She promises the world and to most naive acts it would be refreshing to get someone who says 'I will help you will sell loads of CD's, your myspace fans will increase, we can get you management and a label deal from our campaign, my PR company can make this happen'. Once she gets your money you will not hear from her. She replied to emails almost instantaneously when inquiring about her PR campaigns and getting payment.
From there...honestly, we did better promoting ourselves than Rhonda did. We got a few reviews from online webzines, but looking at the artists she has worked with in the past they have the exact same reviewers (Neufutur, Music Emissions, Skope Magazine etc). So I am guessing she has friends, or pays these reviewers a small amount to get some press for her clients.
She does not keep you informed of your PR campaign, her replies to emails are confusing at best and getting her on the phone is next to impossible. Any PR firm will give you a monthly update of their work. Rhonda said 'I don't waste time on press reports'...that is ridiculous! Not to mention after paying for a 6 month campaign and sending her 150 CD's, paying an extra $350 in postage fees and ANOTHER $300 for phone call/office expenses...
It seems there are more people on this post who are in the same position. I am going to let this be known to as many music websites and bands as possible because this kind of crap happens too often and it's always the musicians who end up losing out because of the sharks in the industry.
Lesson learned, this will be passed on to as many other people in our position as possible.
I "worked" for Rainmaker for about 6 months and I can tell all you artists the whole thing is one big scam. She makes interns do all the grunt work, and doesn't pay you whenyou lug huge bags of mailings to the post office, and then she does only the bare minimum to "promote". The photo of her on her press pages is actually a local artist. Not her. She is a complete fake and a scam artist and I stopped working for the sow because I had a conscience. She then refused to pay me for the last weeks I worked for her.
She let me keep any CDs I wanted and said I could sell them. Yeah, real handy work there. Everyone who knows her things she is repugnant and not just in her business practices. Several former nannies sued her for lost wages, and reported her to DYS.
You may as well burn that cash you send her. At least you would be warm for awhile. And maybe someone will see the smoke signal. More exposure than her fatass will ever get you.
I was in a band that after 5 years of hard work got signed to a label, major booking agency, and professional management. we toured the US for many years as well as Europe. Prior to our commercial success when we were just starting out, i as acting manager hired Rainmaker/Rhonda to promote our first CD. one word: disaster. All the negative comments here are absolutely true; all the memories from our "campaign" are flooding back. Out of the dozens on agents, publicists, promoters, manager, etc that i went on to work with, Rhonda was the only situation where we were actually stiffed. Bottom Line: Stay away from Rainmaker and Rhonda. If you absolutely must work with her, make sure you sign a contract with the terms explicitly laid out (it can even be just one page), and keep track of all correspondence so when the time comes to sue her you'll be able to provide detailed evidence.
All the negative experiences these artists are writing about in regards to Rainmaker PR has happened also to me. However, I wish I had read the info on this site before I had hired Rhonda. She is the second PR person that has stiffed me. All said, everyone who wrote, 'get yourself a professional PR' ; can you please recommend someone.
It's sad. I've got with Rainmaker and was seriously burned as well. Since then, as an artist, I scoped the globe to find someone out there who could help me in my dealings with promo, radio, distribution and a host of other things. I found one company, Selective Image in Canada who have been more than fair with me. This company is small, has many international partners and promises nothing. What they do is work and market to as much industry as possible. And their prices are low and/or competitive. The focus on what you need at any given time and do things according to a budget - my budget. You guys should check them out. But they'll tell you - no promises. Your music must be able to sell itself.
I believe Rhonda to be mentally unstable and useless. I had applied through Sonic bids to her company
then ended up going with another company(Thank God!) to do some Radio PR.
She called and left a message. Then i wrote her an email and said i was going
with another company for Radio PR. She then told me i need press first and basically called me stupid. Well on the contrary
i have heard that you need to warrant press through gigs and radio play first.
She then tried to call countless times to discourage me from this.
UGGH! Glad im not working with this unstable ###!
She has contacted me as well. Glad I did this research. I will strongly take all of this into consideration concerning any action with her.
Please do not work with her. There are good people out there. She is not one of them. I have nothing to gain except trying to help other artists avoid the same fate so many have experienced. PR people won't hard sell you. Good PR people are selective. I am ashamed that I fell for this. I should have known better. But I didn't see any of these comments or I would have!
I have since used Beatrice Kimmel. Look her up. You won't find any complaints - this whole thread is a giant RED FLAG!
Don't let others convince you that it isn't. It's not normal to have all of these complaints!
Wow, I'm glad I stumbled onto this. I was just about to send her $1800. I would like to see some recommendations of "pro" PR companies here.
So, I ran across this thread and had to weigh in. I recently had the pleasure of interacting with RB and Rainmaker and had some questions for those of you who have been "ripped off, " so to speak. I say "pleasure" because the experience has been nothing short of a laugh riot and has kept me in stitches for days.
I. Your Interaction With Miss RB and Possible Red Flags You Missed:
A. Did her email come from an "aol.com" address? If the answer is "yes, " why did you not just delete it without even reading it? I won't get into all of the potential problems of someone with an "aol.com" address, but shouldn't her emails be coming from a business address and not a personal one? Something like "RB@rainmakermedia.com?" This is a big one that should have spared you the loss of funds.
B. How was the email composed? Did it look like it came from a professional source or someone with a professional background? If the answer is "no, " please refer to point "A."
C. Did you bother to look at the website? If so, did you notice some glaring problems? If the answer is "no" on either account, you should have. What makes you think "Rolling Stone" "CMJ" or any of the other big names are going to cover your band because of an email blast of your unknown band? Not likely. You have to build up to that through lesser known outlets. If you read that Rainmaker would submit your music to "Rolling Stone" and said to yourself, "Gee! What an opportunity, " then you have clearly not done a hint of music business research.
I find it absolutely amazing that someone had to "stumble upon this thread" to avoid giving this company money. At what point, after all of this, did you decide to just hand over thousands of dollars? Is it disposable income? I am shocked and bewildered. However, I'm here to help and will present this in section II.
II. How You Could Have Better Spent Your Money:
A. You could have sent it to me. In return for your payment, I would have given you a thorough critique of everything that you did wrong in the process and all conceivable reasons for why your music was not played/reviewed/etc.
B. You could have taken a writing class or music lesson. The grim reality of your situation may be that you are lacking in some area(s) or, to put it plainly, your simply not that good.
C. You could have marketed it yourself. You learn what to expect by attempting the Marketing/Promotion/PR yourself. One person wrote, "I only received 1 good review and 2 bad ones." What did you expect? Be thankful you received that. It is not uncommon to send a 100 emails and receive only 2-5 responses. If you did some of the work yourself instead of looking for some magic bullet, you would understand this.
D. You could have taken a nice vacation. When you receive reviews, do they say anything like "Brilliant, " "Amazing" or "Best I have heard..?" If the answer is "no, " you are wasting your time. I won't even go into major labels. Indie labels are even harder to break into and accept a minute portion of artists for their roster each year. Labels do not have time to work with you or help you hone your craft because you show potential. You have to be near perfect and nothing short of the new voice of a generation.
III. How To Succeed and My Personal Experience In The Music Industry
A. Do people consider you a nice person? If the answer is "yes, " then this is the wrong industry for you. You have to be hard to survive in this business. You should be comparable to a marine who just returned from war and is trained to kill. Your only objective should be success and every one of your actions should reflect that.
B. Do you handle rejection well? If the answer is "no, " please refer to point "A." After 15 years of rejection and extremely harsh criticism, I was able to develop as a writer and musician. I have finally attained some success and been accepted into a music library. By the way, guess how much money I have paid them so far. Nothing.
C. What are you willing to sacrifice? If the answer is not "everything, " you are wasting your time. I spend almost all of my free time doing research and sending emails. After a while, it takes a severe toll on your mental state. It is not enjoyable by any stretch of the word and has the potential to sap all of the fun out of music.
D. Know your PR person. I noticed that some of you have been asking "where do I find a good PR person?" Do your research. One good resource is the "Indie Bible." Look out for the warning signs. We were recently approached by another PR rep. He did not sugar coat anything or tell us what we wanted to hear. He was professional. After several, informative conversations, he offered us a price quote. After doing extensive research, I found he was legitimate.
Conclusion: I wrote this for informative purposes based on my experiences only. Your experience may differ. That is my disclaimer. So.. Good luck out there in the Wild.
Best Regards,
A Concerned Citizen
What a sanctimonious pile of [censored]. When I finished my album, I'd worked on if for a couple years, writing the songs, doing the arrangements, recording, etc., a tremendous amount of time, money and emotional energy. By the time I was finished, I was completely exhausted but I knew I had a good album in the can and it was near perfect (I'm still not happy with the vocal on the title track). Somehow Rhonda found me, on Myspace or Facebook, I don't recall. Flattered me, promised the moon, of course it's what I wanted to hear. I saw no need to do research (obviously I should have) I paid close to $3K to cover her services, cd production, and mailing. I got about ten GREAT reviews on a bunch of blogs I never heard of. I figure Rhonda paid them about $50 each to do the reviews. When I asked her about some print reviews, i.e., Spin, RS, or any other magazine, she told me they were coming. I had NO reason to doubt her. I know I'm an idiot, just [censored]ing artist. Live and learn. I know better now. That said, Mr. Concerned Citizen, you are an [censored]. But thanks for the words of wisdom.
Some people are very adept at preying on a vulnerable population. I am usually pretty skeptical, but gets others to refer her to you so she seems legit. She came through someone who she had duped and no doubt he had an incentive for getting another artist on board. I have dealt with that situation as well. It's a very expensive learning experience. One I would have preferred to have skipped. Because she changed the company name, I didn't see any complaints about her online until it was too late.
Look at Ponzi schemes - they rope in some of the "smartest" people through greed. Rhonda ropes in artists by offering hope. Either is despicable. It's unkind to attack people for making a terrible mistake. To err is human. Hoping others see this and think carefully before they lay down their money.
Rhonda Kelley
Whiplash
Rainmaker
ANYONE who says they can do PR for you, do your research. Agreed, there are many better ways to spend your money.
Beatrice Kimmel is awesome and affordable. She's a real person and has done good work for me. Highly recommend looking into her work:/
https://www.empktpr.com/
Best of luck!
Please DO NOT waste your money on "Rhonda Brilliant." Not only is she a rip-off artist she is a complete B**CH. She will delight in screwing you. STAY FAR AWAY.
There has got to be a way to stop her from stealing band's hard earned money. Paypal can do nothing to reimburse funds that you've paid for a "service". Does anyone have any advice on how I can get my $1800 back from Rhonda? Does filing a dispute with the Better Business Bureau work? What about going to the police? I have officially been "blacklisted" from ever getting press again, according to Rhonda. So I am 2 months into my campaign, I've been officially dropped from her services, yet I have not received any kind of refund for the $1800 that I have sent her, and she's blocked my emails. Do we really just have to just bend over and take this kind of treatment from her? Maybe I'm naive for thinking that there is some system in place for protecting us from SCAMS like this, but I can't just give up on this. PLEASE, if anybody has any suggestions regarding how to get my money back, please let me know.
BBB Complaint I just made today with The Rainmaker Media Group. Wish I had read this board before I signed up last year. I really hope this review helps someone else, she does not deserve a penny more for so called PR "services".
Complaint Type: Service Issues
Description of Complaint: For our new album release, we had purchased a 6-month PR campaign for $2250 (~45 PR service hours @ $50 per hour), paid $400 in additional Writers Fees, PR Newswire Service, Postage, Cd Mailers and Stationary expenses and also sent 100 hard copies of my album to The Rainmaker Media Group. Total costs to date for these fees and services are therefore more than approximately $2850.The contract terms are as follows: The primary objectives for your national press campaign will be to create awareness, visibility and interest in your cd. The Rainmaker Media Group will create a press kit with interviews and reviews. Our goals are industry buzz and attention, interviews, reviews, cd sales as well as music publishing and licensing interest.Within the first month of the campaign, we had only five very brief reviews with online magazines that no one has ever heard of. This ultimately means that Rhonda Kelley and her team did not fulfil their contract terms for the remainder of the five months left of the campaign. We had requested a refund after a month of no service, contact or updates, in order to recuperate some of our financial losses regarding this situation, but she essentially bullied us by saying, "You can end the campaign if you like. But no refund will be given...You agreed to a 6 month long campaign via the service agreement. I hope you stick with your commitment.It is the right thing to do. You are doing so well in the press. It is hard to understand why you would want to cancel now just as we are getting going.However, if you still do want to end the campaign, I will. This will require me to send out a client letter to everyone we pitched for you and everyone that will be reviewing you etc. This is the protocol."She lied of course because we never received those reviews or any other one, whatsoever, even after requesting these several times. What's more is that within the service agreement, there is absolutely no clause stating that no refunds are given. This means that our agreement was completely mis-representated and we were unaware that these were the refund policies.Lastly, her customer service is essentially non-existent and we are very, very dissatisfied with how we have needed to constantly initiate requests for status updates, to which we only received short, one lined email responses to our questions and concerns.We could not have had a more unfortunate exchange with The Rainmaker Media Group and Rhonda Kelley.
Complaint Type: Service Issues Description of Complaint: For our new album release, we had purchased a 6-month PR campaign for $2250 (~45 PR service hours @ $50 per hour), paid $400 in additional Writers Fees, PR Newswire Service, Postage, Cd Mailers and Stationary expenses and also sent 100 hard copies of my album to The Rainmaker Media Group. Total costs to date for these fees and services are therefore more than approximately $2850.The contract terms are as follows: The primary objectives for your national press campaign will be to create awareness, visibility and interest in your cd. The Rainmaker Media Group will create a press kit with interviews and reviews. Our goals are industry buzz and attention, interviews, reviews, cd sales as well as music publishing and licensing interest.Within the first month of the campaign, we had only five very brief reviews with online magazines that no one has ever heard of. This ultimately means that Rhonda Kelley and her team did not fulfil their contract terms for the remainder of the five months left of the campaign. We had requested a refund after a month of no service, contact or updates, in order to recuperate some of our financial losses regarding this situation, but she essentially bullied us by saying, "You can end the campaign if you like. But no refund will be given...You agreed to a 6 month long campaign via the service agreement. I hope you stick with your commitment.It is the right thing to do. You are doing so well in the press. It is hard to understand why you would want to cancel now just as we are getting going.However, if you still do want to end the campaign, I will. This will require me to send out a client letter to everyone we pitched for you and everyone that will be reviewing you etc. This is the protocol."She lied of course because we never received those reviews or any other one, whatsoever, even after requesting these several times. What's more is that within the service agreement, there is absolutely no clause stating that no refunds are given. This means that our agreement was completely mis-representated and we were unaware that these were the refund policies.Lastly, her customer service is essentially non-existent and we are very, very dissatisfied with how we have needed to constantly initiate requests for status updates, to which we only received short, one lined email responses to our questions and concerns.We could not have had a more unfortunate exchange with The Rainmaker Media Group and Rhonda Kelley.
Please heed these words closely: do not give a single cent to Rhonda Kelley (a.k.a. "Brilliant") or Rainmaker Media. Save yourself a lot of anger and frustration.
This is a business that has no problem with "dropping" a paid client without ANY compensation of funds paid (she still owes us $600 roughly for work not done and has literally blocked every email address that we send communication from).
What good does posting here do, you ask? Well, we have investigated (a) filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, which cannot be done since Rainmaker does not have a physical business address but only a PO Box. (BIG RED FLAG) and (b) looking into legal action in small claims court to pursuit justice with this thief, which cannot be done because we are located in California and she is located in Massachussetts. Since there is no legal recourse available that would not cost more than what she owes us back, we are moving on to more constructive and positive pursuits.
Other major red flags: a personal-looking aol.com address for your PR communications (yes, I'm serious) circa 1996, a website that is barely passable for any serious business, and rude & abrupt communications via email when normal, business-oriented questions are asked to someone you paid money to (she acts like she is doing you a favor...)
A loosely worded email and spoken agreements via phone do not equate a contract. Don't enter any PR relationship without clear terms and a contract, since what we were told would be 6-months of PR outreach suddenly became "rougly 50 hours" once we requested specific services or outreach that Rhonda did not consider "her job". If you break down what we paid to an hourly rate, I don't know what this ill-connected and mentally unstable woman was doing with this time but it wasn't working with her client to ensure that publicity and PR needs were met.
I won't get into logistical details in this comment thread, but just read what previous posters have written and we can pretty much echo everything they are saying. When we (after paying, unfortunately!) confronted Rhonda about the negative comments on this very site, she attributed it to "a crazy person". It's plainly evident now that she is the crazy person after her explosive, unprofessional, and malicious mass email after we requested to cease services due to dissatisfaction with the progress/terms and politely requested a refund of the remaining funds. Yes, she mass emailed (via BCC) who knows how many outlets and attempted to "blacklist" us. Something no sane, professional, or respectable PR person would *ever* do. Essentially, she not only stole the remainder of what we paid her without completing the work, but also tried to directly undermine the work we DID pay her for.
A professional, experienced, and transparent PR specialist may be worth the money you spend to promote your band (I say "may" because other factors come into play and if your band sucks you will have trouble getting reviews anywhere - not a PR persons fault). However, be warned that Rhonda Kelley and Rainkmaker Media ARE NOT A CREDIBLE OR LEGIT PR COMPANY. We had other options for our campaign and now look back at our decision with a heavy heart and much lighter wallet.
Please do not make the same mistake. Stay away from Rhonda Kelley and Rainmaker Media at all costs. I hope that karma acts itself out on some level and she finds herself out of work or in jail for the people and bands she has screwed over.
I’ve had the “pleasure” of “working” with Rhonda. Screwing over artists is only one of her given traits. By now, I’ve seen that she’s also difficult to communicate with, and I can attest to that. Yes, in the beginning, she paid me promptly for my reviews. But then, she’ll ask me to do “dirty work” that she could very well take care of herself.
For example, she wanted me to inquire about advertising on the sites I write for, and in doing so, I refer to her as a “writer friend from LA” rather than a publicist, because if she was called the latter, she’d have to “pay alot more” and she has to be anonymous. Anonymous? Yeah, because she doesn’t want her cover blown. Sounds like a red flag for sure, but another one that’s been frequently addressed is one with which I wholeheartedly agree: her brusque behavior.
From her initial email about liking my writing and wanting to pay me for my reviews, her follow-up consisted of a mere “Yea. do you have twitter?” “Weird, ” I thought, but what eventually came next was a bit off beat and bizarre. In her first review request, she wanted to know if “everyone” had received a press release for a band. I replied “Got it!”, without realizing that I hit “Reply all”, and apparently, my message went to all the addresses she BCCed on the email. Her response was “It’s ok sweetie, you don’t have to send the message to EVERYONE, ” and then replied to all the emails about what I just did. A bit unnecessary, but the strange thing about that was, upon closer inspection, all those emails either had yahoo or AOL addresses. That says to me, given her also having an aol address (which is wholly unprofessional) that she made those addresses up on the spot, because not one of them replied.
We mainly had contact via Facebook, and by my third review, she that she’s “never” on there (why not?) and that our further correspondence should be through email. When she’d claim to be sending a review or payment, she’d only do so once I’d sent a response to her liking, which is very manipulative.
In short, I feel bad for my stupidity in contacting her, but most importantly all the bands she had, and continues to, screw over. Thankfully, I’m not alone in my experience. Don’t trust this woman with anything, whatever you do; she is not your ‘friend’.
She is a complete scam artist. I've been in the business for decades. Thought I was wise. But like any con artist, she's super manipulative and persuasive - borderline belligerent.
STAY AWAY - bad news.