Here's what happened:

I had rented a small shop in Clearwater, and wasn't making much money. The last thing that I wanted to do was sign up for an expensive advertising program.

One day, the owner of Strategic Media (strategic-media-inc.com) - Chuck Nelms, strolled into my shop. He rambled on for a few minutes about how good his advertising program was. I said to him, and I quote "I can't afford this". He stared at me for a moment, and said, "Ok, we'll trade off in work. You can pay me $100 a month for six months, and the remaining balance we will trade off in work".

I told him that I might not even be able to afford that. I asked him a very specific question at that point. I said him "If I can't keep my shop open, and I close my doors, do I have to worry about you coming after me for a balance I can't pay?"

He replied "No. If you close your doors, I won't have any way to come after you anyway". Those were his exact words - I'll never forget that. I can't prove it - but if he's going to lie about it in court - it really says a lot about his character.

I called Strategic Media on several occasions to tell them that their advertising wasn't working at all. Their "advertising" is a billboard style ad in bathroom stalls. I should have known it wasn't going to work, but I bought into his spiel.

What angered me was the fact that Strategic Media didn't even try to help me improve the effectiveness of the ads. In fact, on one occasion, when I called and told a representative that the ads weren't working at all, his response was "Well you signed the contract". What kind of lowlife response is that? Sure. I signed the contract, but he could have made a good faith effort to keep his customer happy.

I understand the concept of personal accountability. I should have told him that I wasn't interested and kicked that creep out of my shop. But, I also believe that the contract was unconscionable. In addition, they never even once asked me for any services for that trade-off. I offered, but they never took advantage of it.

Let's get this straight. They tell me that they'll do a trade-off for the balance, but then never ask for any of my services. Then they file a lawsuit for the whole balance? All they had to do was get my phone to ring, and I probably could have come up with the lousy $600. But they didn't care, they had my signature.

So, after struggling with keeping my shop open, I eventually closed it. Admittedly, I had not paid Strategic media the $600, but I was struggling just to pay my apartment rent. Even if I had the money (which I don't), I don't feel that I should pay them. But, I would be happy to pay them. H*LL, I would pay them gladly if they did one thing for me - make a legitimate effort to bring me new business. But they haven't done that. They put up a few flyers in bathroom stalls and then tried to collect several thousand dollars. Whatever happened to working for your money?

Moving on......

I did some research on Strategic Media's past. Well, it turns out that they make their living doing to others what they are doing to me. They dupe people into signing up for their useless advertising campaign, and when they can't pay their exorbitant fees, they sue them. That's how they make their money. See for yourself. Google Pinellas County Clerk of Circuit Court and look up Strategic Media. You'll see a long list of companies and individuals that they have sued. And some of those defendants are big companies & banks. They'll probably threaten me after reading this. But my message is out there, regardless. Now, you know what I know about Strategic Media / Advantage Indoor Advertising.

They're wasting their time by trying to sue me. I have no assets, no cash, no house, no car - just debt. To go after someone who is that financially crippled is, well, silly. They're not hurting me - there's nothing they can take from me. But, again, I'd be happy to pay them, if they could get my phone to ring so that I could generate new sales.

Do you know what I want to get out of this?

I would like Strategic Media to admit that they were wrong. Do the right thing. Chuck Nelms should say to me "Yes, I shouldn't have led you to believe that there would be no recourse if you didn't pay your balance, but I would like to keep you as a customer, let's find out why the advertising didn't work for you while we work out a payment plan that we can both agree on".

Chuck Nelms of Strategic Media can still do the right thing here. He can still work with me toward a solution that is fair to both parties. If he decides to do so, I will be more than happy to reflect that on here in the form of an update.

Look - every company deserves a second chance. Now it's up to Strategic Media to decide whether or not they want that second chance. If Chuck Nelms works with me toward a resolution that we both find to be satisfactory, then I will be sure to document that on here accordingly. Maybe they'll do the right thing, but that remains to be seen.