Bark

As a small business, we rely heavily on on platforms like Bark to secure Leads. It's up to us to connect and convert. Our challenge is that on multiple occasions we've purchased a Lead to only discover it was a scam or the end user "did not want to be called back" or was "unaware I was requesting to be contacted", and that's if they even respond at all.
If you're not familiar with Bark, you pay in advance to contact Leads. Once you reach out to a potential Lead, your account is debited. You can't buy small amounts of credit as they only sell packages so they can ensure you're using the platform for a significant period of time.
This makes it incredibly frustrating when you realize the majority of Leads are not real causing you to chase fake people and thus waste your credits and time.
If you reach out to customer support, they may or may not respond, especially if it's an email. (I'm still waiting for a resolution from weeks ago for another fake lead.) Yes, I have been credited on occasions however, it's time consuming.
Please note, this is not to say you can't find business on the platform. Of the 24 Leads purchased, only four actually responded/picked up the phone with two leading to booked small business since we began using the platform in March of '22.
That means twenty of these "Leads" never responded. Makes it hard to believe they were real since inputting your data is no small feat and the response time was within hour(s) of receiving.
All in all, stay away. Until Bark can verify the users requesting information are indeed legitimate, this platform is not worth the investment of your money or time. (Tried to upload proof of purchase but was not successful)

ARK! SUCKS! THIEVING LIARS!
ACTUALLY MINUS 5 STARS. THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE WORST COMPANY EVER! DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS WITN THIS HUGE RUP-OFF SCAMMING LYING INCOMPETENT THIEVES FOR ANY REASON. IT IS TOTALLY NON TRANSPARENT! HIDES BEHIND KIDS THEY HIRE REMOTELY WHO DONT KNOW THEY ARE BEING RIPPED OFF BY BARK! THE COMPANY IS TOTAL CRAP! THEY DO NOT PAY THEIR PTOMOTERS, DO NOT STAND BEHIND ANYTHINV THAT THEY SAY. I WAS A FAN OF THIS COMPANY UNTIL I WORKED FOR THEM AND FOUND OUT FIRST HAND THOS COMPANT IS BAD BAD BAD BUSINESS! STAY AWAY FROM BARK!

Excellent service of when I enquired about artificial grass for my garden. Thank you for sent simple the g rass.

Letter to management team asking for a refund to be told be given a lesson in sales via email back?
How can we sell to customers when the phone numbers provided by Bark DO NOT WORK?
3 worked out of 25 leads WOW!

Dear Management Team,

I am writing to request a refund of the £270 that we have spent on the leads provided by your company as a triaL.

Unfortunately, we have found that the majority of the phone numbers are incorrect, and it is costing us more money to service these leads in time and effort in fact we are loosing money servicing these leads.

We have only had contact with 3 people out of 24 purchases. Also we are told that when a phone number is wrong we receive a refund to the credits which as far as I can see has not happened in all cases, as we are now down to 51 credits from 350 and have only spoken to three clients? How is that possible?

Another reason apart from the information is incorrect on your leads is that as of the 6th January 2023 the new PSR regulations came into our industry only allowing us to sign a maximum contract with customers of 18 months. This has affected the commissions we receive per sale from £600 down to in some cases only £102 pounds. So therefore 35 credits per lead approx £42 pounds is just not cost effective moving forward.

We understand that mistakes can happen and we would like to find a solution that would not only benefit us but also your company we are happy to give you constructive feedback.

We kindly request that you refund our monies, as it is only going to cost us more money to continue using Bark with the incorrect leads.

We appreciate your understanding and look forward to your prompt response. Please let us know if you require any additional information or documentation to process this refund request.

Sincerely,

Mark Fletcher
Director
Takechipandpin.co.uk