“I signed up with The Writers Tree and gave them a $500 deposit at the beginning of July 2024. I supplied them with multiple samples of the types of artwork and color schemes I wanted, provided photographs of the real characters in the story (my granddaughters & son). It is now the middle of January 2025. I have gone through multiple agents, repeated excuses, and disastrous artwork. The main character still has not been completed to satisfaction. Meaning it looks nothing like what we discussed back in July. And they have a picture of her! A five-year-old little girl, curly blonde hair past her shoulders and blue eyes. The first attempt… No blue eyes and such short brown hair that her pigtails look like frizzled horns on her head. Additional artwork continues with failed attempts of even the most basic description. Oversize heads and spaghetti, thin neck and legs and arms. So unrealistic and grotesque. Based on the contract of a moneyback guarantee, I believe I’ve given them more than adequate understanding and chances. Yet they still refuse to refund the money. They cannot be trusted. They have lied repeatedly. The only thing they have been good at, is trying to upsell every imaginable thing without ever having completed just the main character sketch! Seven months, and the main character isn’t even completed… How long do you think it would take them to complete the entire children’s book?! Even promises of meeting with supervisors have been a lie and a game of stalling or cat and mouse with the company. If I could give a zero star, I would. I will now be forced to file claims against the company and seek to recover my money. It is an absolute shame when all they had to do was just be honest and forthright and honor the contract. I have been asking for a refund for months and they keep giving me new agents asking me to give them “one more chance“ even when I put my foot down and refused any further discussions with them on continuing this unprofessional relationship or any further chances for them, they continue to try to talk over me and ignore the fact that I have said no. It’s funny that when I gave a one star at the beginning of this review, it prompted several questions below. “How easy was it to get a refund?“ “ Many days did the refund take?“. Does it not seem strange that those will be the questions prompted? Clearly, it’s an indication that this is a repeated problem for this company.”
“The Writers Tree failed to honor the Service Agreement when I agreed to their marketing program in April 12, 2023. I began with a reasonably priced market plan and was escalated to the Gold Package. This included a 100% money back guarantee. The package, which cost $4499 included a plethora of marketing items and the sale of 3400 of my books in the next 6 months.
The package included a website, Amazon advertising, and distribution of the books to bookstores, online bookstores, libraries and more. I then was talked into going to the platinum package for an additional $4800. I was then told I needed to have the book copyrighted to the tune of $500 (actual cost $45.00 at the copyright office). Then I needed to pay $500 for hosting and a domain for the website that was included in the original gold package (which evidently included a website but not a live one). Then I paid $200 for chat for the website (which has never worked) and then paid to have payment integration on the website, which also never worked. I was then told I had to pay $15,840 for the printing of the 3400 books. Never was that mentioned prior to getting the invoice. I was then escalated to the Platinum Package which was to distribute 8000 books over a year, costing $7600. Payments for all the services I was charged escalated to over $60,000. But, payments, in excess of $100,000 were to start in September and be paid over 6 months. I could live with that. But that never happened. My year contract is over and I have not seen one penny from this company.
Numerous emails and telephone calls requesting they honor the 100% money-back guarantee has fallen on deaf ears. They keep promising me the money on Friday, but 7 months of Fridays have passed and I received no money. My credit rating is in shambles, my business is destroyed and it is very evident The Writers Tree has no intention of paying the money they owe me.”
“SCAM company. Do not make business with them or pay them any money. They do not fullfile the Agreement they signed with you. Be careful when signing the agreement where they guarantee selling 1000 or more copies of your book,because that will not happen. You will be lucky if they sell 10 copies of it!”
“The Writers Tree spokesperson, Alex, would not leave me alone and demanded money when my mother was dying. After that, I told them to stop asking because I wanted to save my royalties for my birthday. My birthday came and went and I got absolutely no communication. I had to demand a phone call--when I am nearly deaf--only to find out they used a different company entirely to publish my book. This is like Coke using Pepsi to sell products.
Worse, Alex used KDP, which I went on several rants about how much I hate them for how they treated me.
My money was locked in a KDP account I couldn't access. After weeks of trying to get someone to contact me, it turned out they 'mistook' and took my book off the Amazon market, not KDP.
After an entire month of reminding people they finally agreed to a refund, they sent the abusive Alex to gaslight me and threaten to deny my refund if I did not agree he was the actual victim.
A week later, Eric Nelson called me abusive because he put Alex in charge of my refund. He told me to send proof Alex had abused me and the supervisor told me (in the same phone call) that Alex was being investigated. Alex was apparently rewarded and still had my money—again.”
“TRUST THEM AND YOU WILL WISH YOU HADN'T!!!
I wrote the book on discovering deception. My first book. I was inexperienced. Thx Guys for the lesson. They will promise you BIg Promises! I was told in initial talks with Ben White that he would get us on T.V Shows. They'd fly us out and pay us. Luke Davis was so excited about getting us on Fox 5. Never once mentioned these where just more simple platforms with a $10,000 price tag. Everything from the first $600 we paid them was MORE MONEY! MORE MONEY! They drop you like a Hot Potato when there isn't more money coming. Luke actually got Angered with me when he realized, I have no money to give. Still they are professional Money Men. They can Easily trick you. They will treat you like their best friend. There was "I Love You's" passed back and forth in abundance. They will fill you with wonder and lift you to the highest expectations. Then the lies start to unravel. Then they leave your work undone. I paid for 6 platforms $600. Over charged Massively $500 for copyrighting which I still have no verification it was done in our name. Have access to 4 platforms, still missing 2 and what ever the last $100 they syphoned from me. $350 for an ISBN that other publishers do for free. They are Also According to a Literary Source that had knowledge of them and others like them. Located In Pakistan. Not using their real names is very possible. The office on their sites addresses probably a mailing hub or international communications hub of some kind. Everything they say has one goal. Separate you from as much of your money as possible. When You see the work they do you will realize you were Lied to and ripped off. They Don't care. Also. READ UP ON RECOGNIZING FAKE 5 STAR REVIEWS!!! Theirs fit the bill. Trust them and you will wish you hadn't! I DO!
They are also the only ones who have the routing info and other account details. I've learned operations like these are under investigation. Anything happens and they are the ones I report. Ben White, Luke Davis, If that's your real names. You ripped our hearts "Bros" Thx 4 the education.”
“Not only did they do a shoddy job of promoting my book, but they owe me royalties they refuse to pay. 6 months! that's how long they have stalled. They don't return calls. They are frauds plain and simple. Ben White, Daniel, Sophie. All made up names for a bunch of crooks. Avoid at all costs!
"Joe Roberts" Caputo”
“I submitted a review for the Writers Tree 2 weeks ago, but do not see it in the list of reviews. To repeat, I have been totally scammed by these people, who have abandoned my project and refuse to return the money I paid according to the contract. They owe me six months of royalties and, so far, I have not received a penny. They are frauds and need to be exposed. It will be interesting to see if this review is posted, since the vast majority of the others have a similarity that suggests they wrote them themselves. Would not put it past them. As noted, they are frauds.
"Joed Roberts" Caputo.”
“TOTAL TOTAL SCAM
Your work gets passed around to a bunch of know-nothings. When yoi.get frustrated enough, they hand you off to Sophie Jay who claims to be compliance officer and promised a refund. She took my bank account # for wire transfer that never came. We had to change our bank account when bra charges started coming in. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.”
