Tertulia for AuthorsReviews of authors.tertulia.com

Tertulia’s support window of up to 48 hours already feels too long for hosting. The delay and lack of clear communication really irked me. When I asked for a partial refund because of the situation, their refund offer was insignificant. They didn’t address the problem I contacted them about. I didn’t receive any meaningful resolution. Their service might work for people who don’t mind slow responses, but the experience wasn’t reliable enough for me.

I wanted to love Tertulia, and while the platform itself has some decent features especially for non tech savvy authors, my experience with their customer service has completely ruined it for me. Permanently. I signed up for an annual subscription but realized after just over a month that it simply wasn't the right fit for my needs. I am an advanced software and website user and it just does not have the features I'm looking for When I reached out to cancel, I fully expected to pay for the time I used. In fact, I explicitly offered to pay for two months and simply requested a pro-rated refund for the remainder of the annual fee. Instead of demonstrating basic customer-friendly flexibility and goodwill, Tertulia strictly hid behind its rigid, uncompromising refund policy. They flat-out refused to issue a partial refund, locking in my money for a full year of service I explicitly told them I no longer wanted to use. It is incredibly frustrating when a company cares more about trapping you in an annual charge than retaining good faith with its users -- especially for something like software. If a customer is willing to pay fairly for what they’ve consumed, denying a pro-rated refund feels like a money grab. This is a perfect example of a capitalistic company adamant on screwing the customer over a measly $191.88 I highly recommend potential users tread carefully before handing over your credit card information. Don't be fooled by their marketing and "social proof" brands on their website like the New York Times. Proceed with caution.

I did not get the coverage I expected. I cancelled my account. Over a year later my bank account was his hit with a "recurring" $15 fee. I can no longer contact the company through any means.

They couldn't find my ISBN. I wonder if this only works with Amazon titles, because I wouldn't be caught dead selling books through Amazon so that's that for me and Tertullia, I guess.

My experience to date: A few emails with a Ms. A who seems to not understand basic English composed on a 4th grade level. This seeming inability lead to a Zoom being scheduled. I accessed the link to confirm my participation and filled out the " Tell us what you want us to know"( or whatever it is titled) section. My 1:30PM scheduled call ( four days later) . The email invite to the Zoom call was time stamped as being sent at 1:32PM. It arrived with a timestamp of 1:42PM It started with a Ms A - I asked " Have you read the comments I provided, so we can address them?" Her response was " I have them here" . Clearly she had not read them; which begs the question , why ask for comments if you are not going to read them to prepare for the session. Then a Ms. B, joined . Her contribution to the call was to state: 1) "It is a template" - in case I was a 4 year old and have never seen a website, I was informed " it is a template ,2) Felt it necessary to address a question I asked with " Other authors don't have this question( I swear, I recorded the entire thing, If I did not replay it and hear , I also would never believe a provider seeking to land a potential customer would say such a thing. ,3) When faced with a comment that she clearly could not answer, she default to the old "Oh, I am can't hear you" , routine- (yes, “ suddenly” , when faced with a question she could not understand or answer, “suddenly” she could not hear me, )complete with performative theatre of leaning closer to the screen. , 4) my 1:30PM scheduled call , which did not begin until 1:45PM because the invite to the Zoom was not sent in advance was 15 minutes of not having one question answered and the classic defaulting to " I can't hear you" when faced with a question that could not be answered. This ended with me, a paying customer being told " We will get back to you, probably by today". That was Monday, 6/2, today is Wednesday , 6/4 - I still have not heard a thing. My interactions proved my decision to go with a monthly plan proved be the right move. I can't imagine being on the hook for a year of billing with this outfit as they operate now. As a paying , monthly subscriber, this has entitled me to a veritable circus of rampant stupidity that has been worth the 9 dollars. As to the whole experience, it has been pure comedy gold. These people clearly are relying on authors who do not understand web traffic , click through rates and "bounce times" . You people who comment " I love my site". Ask yourself a few questions: The average bounce time( when a person lands on a site and clicks off) is 27 seconds. You are paying to have visitors come to your site to see a " Home" page, which provides visitors limited content and a " learn more " option. A visitor then clicks to " learn more" and arrives at an " about " page , which duplicative of the home page. Congratulations, you have just asked visitors to waste time for no reason. This is a game of attention; why a site would be designed to maximize time wasted by a visitor and think it is fine- is simply staggering. All you folks you comment " I love my site", what is your bounce rate? You are paying for a game where the average visitor bounces in 27 seconds. You are taking up 5 seconds of that having them click to a duplicative page. You think in an attention economy your visitors are going to remain? As for me, I am on day three of " we will get back to you, probably today". Which is clearly a message being delivered- a message that says " We cater to idiots who do not understand a bounce rate, we don't care about the success of subscribers, we just want your dollars, and so many other things.