FYI: The Knot is bad news
 

Today is the third time I tried to stop my advertising campaign with the knot. They just keep billing. Their customer service is weak, and I haven't gotten a lead from them in months. I get the impression that they're on their way out.

I'm trying out Yahoo's keywords after a bit of a learning curve. I like the idea of being able to 'rev it up' when I need the business. Has anyone had experience with PartyPop? They seem to be everywhere.

Dispute the charge with your CC company. I personally think the knot is worthless as well.

I know for a fact that there forum is used by vendors to advertise for free. The post as brides say that they love themselves.. LOL

Google adwords and overture work great!

Jon

This may be a bit off topic, but I wonder how long most will continue to advertise with the knot.

I have been advertising with the Wedding Channel for a few years, at the cost of around $100 a month. It's been worthwhile for me from the ammount of business it generates. But at the end of last year The Knot bought out Wedding Channel. Now I've had similiar problems with their customer service (they 'mistakenly' deleted my ad, and no one could fix it for 2 weeks), but worst of all is their new pricing. When my original contract expires at the end of this year, my new rates (for the same service) will be just over $300 a month.

I don't think I can swallow that.

Since I signed up they changed it to where the bride has to go through too many hoops to even see my ad. I think they're done.

I've enjoyed the knot. Prices are pretty cheap for advertising and since they are relatively new with their Canadian branch, there aren't too many companies on there. We seem to get a lot of our US couples through the knot.

Overall I've been more than happy with the investment and return.

Patrick

Dana, The Knot is a very big company.....why do you keep saying you think they're done.

I believe you about their customer service...that, is poor, but you know what....MOST customer service worldwide sucks, so they're not alone. I cant see how that makes you feel "they're done".....I just dont get that statement.
They are major company....not some work out of your basement type operation.

Yeh, I noticed that too. I think he is mentioning that more out of frustration and wishing 'they were done' as opposed to really thinking they are coming down. From what I've heard, the knot is 'the' website for brides in the US at least.

Yeah... and I can understand the frustration with any bad customer service. THe Knot in the USA is at the top of the food chain for the bridal industry.

I've never advertised with them, but its good to hear from others their experiences, good or bad.

They've been around forever. I ran a wedding business about 12 years ago and they were the rage. Now it's hard to find them on web searches, in addition to the new hoops that brides have to go through.

Big companies fall just like small ones. I don't expect this anytime soon, BTW, as they *did* just buy weddingchannel.com. It baffles me why they aren't more dominant on the web with all that capitol.

Generally, brides dont call videogs that pay to advertise on the knot. They call videogs other brides rave about. That advertising is free and very effective. It just requires you making your customers very happy.

Curt

The Knot's customer service for advertisers is very poor. About a year ago I was paying for a featured ad in Detroit that cost close to $300 per month. After 4 months of no better traffic than I was getting from any of my other, and much cheaper advertising, I called to cancel the ad. The ad came down at the end of the month, but The Knot continued to charge my credit card for the ad for another 3 months, even after repeated calls telling them the ad was down, cancelled, now stop charging me. Finally they got it sorted out and stopped charging me, but then it took another 2 months, and several phone calls to get a refund. If I call customer service I usually have to leave a voice mail, and it takes days or weeks to get a call back.

More recently I called to change my credit card. It took 2 or 3 messages and 2 weeks to get a phone call back from somebody. Gave them the new CC info. What happens?

Well that was in March... they are still charging the old card, and for some reason my Grand Rapids ad came down -- they quit charging for it. I decided to not mess with it anymore, it is too big of a hassle with them, they can't get it right, and although my traffic is not huge from my hometown Lansing, MI ad, it more than pays for itself.

My local Knot rep has always been pleasant to work with... but most changes have to go through the "corporate" type people.

A salesman just called me from the Knot and I told her why I wasn't interested. She looked up my account and found that I was still signed up. She helped me cancel my account (I *think*). This is cancellation #5. I'm going to do a charge back to the point when I cancelled. What a pain.

Are they really as huge as they say? She told me that they OWN, (and she put emphasis on OWN) 80% of the brides in our area. I don't see why a bride would register with them when they can get all the same services on other sites.

Does anyone get results from these guys?

I'm calculating my 2009 online marketing
 

Sooooooooo, anyone have any good news about the knot? Their online stuff is about 1200.00 a year, I've got the average stats for my area, i'm not sure how impressed I am. I know this thread is old and didn't know if anyone had an update.

Well I've used them since May. I have netted only one client. Mind you that I'm the only Video Company in Baton Rouge on there. But then again I'm just starting out and don't have much material for brides to look at. I have only one wedding highlight I did posted on my website and a dvd that I can send out that has some of my work. So I can understand some brides being apprehensive to book me.

The problem with the Knot isn't that they get horrible search placement, because they don't have to have good placement. They are a household name for brides. The brides google for The Knot.

Search placements has been saturated with link spam sites like PartyPop which are just links to other vendors and no real content. The Knot knows they don't need high placement because they have had enough time to build up a reputation, that brides just go there automatically. Shame too.

I actually have my first delinquent client. Never paid remainder of balance day of. I sent notice & copy of contract and haven't heard anything back. Left phone message too (their name was still on the answering machine).

So I'm just shelving their edit till I get paid. I have clauses for late fees & fines for not paying... but I don't feel like hassling them just yet.

I had a delinquent client once. Took them 2 1/2 years to pay me. It was one of my first weddings .. before I had late fees and such built into my contract. Not a fun situation. When the bride finally showed up to make her final payment and pick up the video, I casually asked how they were doing and she broke down crying in front of me because they had separated. Awkward ....

Yikes! Well, considering that I've had two good friends of mine split after <1yr and a good friend of my wife had the same thign happen..... it isn't as we used to think.

I suppose that is all the more reason for me to get my turnaround times quicker to avoid the awkwardness of these situations.

I have 2 Brides that I know of that's divorced. Sad considering how sweet they were during the time of the wedding.

at that point, contract or not, i would have cancelled on her. the knot in my area is a waste.
brides wotn pay more than $800 for a video. It's funny going through there reading threads about awesome new videographers, posted by brides who are their "cousins" and their work totally sucks ass.

I've been using The Knot for over 2 years and I've had a lot of luck with them. I have noticed on their forums that when someone asks for a videographer suggestion, the brides will suggest who they are using whether they advertise on The Knot or not (Knot ;)
So I will agree with the previous poster who said that if you keep your brides happy, they will be your best advertising.
The only problem I do have with them is that when I started, it was $85/month. I'm now paying $100/month, but I never received an email telling me that the rate had increased.

We've had pretty good success with The Knot in our Southern California market. Personally, I wouldn't have signed their contract if not for a reduced rate offered at a trade show we attended.

I've been using them for about 3 months, netted two leads both of which were useless... I'll give it a little more time though...

Man, that's a horrible story. It's nice that you offer a free wedding from time to time, but I've found that it's true that no good deed goes unpunished.

We're still new in business for ourselves, but I require brides to pay in full before the wedding.