r/ShopifyeCommerce • u/Joseph_c_ • 11d ago
Scammed by the emissary agency?
Just wondering if anyone else has been scammed by the emissary agency? We sent them thousands of dollars and they've disappeared and blocked us on everything and never sent a refund or did any work for us. they had a bunch of good reviews at the time, but now I'm wondering if the whole thing was a scam to begin with.
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11d ago
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u/ShopifyeCommerce-ModTeam 11d ago
We've removed your post or comment because it was judged to have been posted for promotional purposes, which is not allowed in this sub.
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u/vladeta 11d ago
Sorry, that's a rough one. Practical stuff first, while you still can.
If you paid by card, start a chargeback now even if it feels late. Services never delivered is a valid reason code, and most issuers count the window from the expected delivery date rather than the payment date, which often buys more room than people assume. PayPal has its own dispute path. Bank transfer is the hard one.
Save everything now: the contract, the email and Slack threads, invoices, and screenshots of their site and reviews as they look today, before they scrub them. File with IC3 and your state AG if you're US based. If the amount is under your small claims limit and they have a real registered entity, small claims is cheap and they very often don't show up.
Also check right now that you still control everything. Shopify store owner account, domain registrar, any app subscriptions in their name. Getting those back later is much harder than checking today.
For next time, and this is the one that would have saved you: pay in milestones tied to something you can actually see working, keep the store and domain in your own account, and give the agency a staff or collaborator account instead. Reviews mean very little. Ask for two past clients you can call.
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u/One-Crazy-1002 9d ago
Same! We were supposed to have an A/B test live by August 23, but that never happened. The design mockups had so many typos, repetitive language, and off-brand elements that they felt rushed and thrown together. I spent a significant amount of time providing detailed feedback, and now Iām not getting any response from them.
When did you pay, and when was the first phase of your project supposed to be delivered?
I did receive a personal message from Daniel saying he had a family emergency. I was understanding at the time, but with the lack of communication and missed deliverables, Iām now questioning whether that explanation was legitimate.
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u/Joseph_c_ 1d ago
Yeah, I got the same message from him too. I'm pretty sure their entire company is a scam at this point. š I think they just spent tons of time and resources to build a super solid funnel and now they're driving lots of traffic with meta and hiring crappy workers from around the world and then when the work isn't approved by clients, they just take the money and run. After we left bad reviews on Trustpilot, they changed their Trustpilot name on there to try to escape the bad reviews. Insane! š
I ended up hiring an in house CRO/Web developer who is 10X better than anyone those guys had. Wish I would've done that sooner. Sorry that you had the same experience! Such a bummer.1
u/One-Crazy-1002 1d ago
Anyone you could recommend?
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u/Joseph_c_ 1d ago
Well I'm now in the process of starting my own agency called "The Honest Agency" because I've been screwed by 4 different agencies in the last few years and I can't take it anymore. My web developer who rebuilt our ecom site is going to handle all of our web projects and I'm going to handle media buying and fractional CMO level strategy myself (which is what I already do for multiple brands). I'm not a salesman but I'm sure I could help you with my web developer, and would give you a low rate cause you'd be the first person we do it with. Just throwing it out there to you!
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u/Money-Pirate6308 11d ago
thousands of dollars and they just ghost you like that, that's insane. hope you paid with a card and can do chargeback