Hi all,

My business has been built on orders for birthdays and other party-type cakes. My clients tend to be those who seek designer cakes and my orders are typically $200-$500 for a birthday. I recently made the decision to begin seeking out wedding orders to fill a niche for higher quality wedding cakes in my area, as the existing bakers advertise as "budget friendly", etc. and brides are paying bakeries in the city to deliver out to my area.

I have an ongoing ad in a local magazine that hasn't really brought in much business, but it's getting my name out locally and I'm locked in for a few more months. I decided to upgrade my storefront on theKnot.com to featured status just over a month ago. Everything went smoothly when I signed my contract, but about a week ago I discovered that my business wasn't showing up (neither as featured nor regular) when I did both a search and browsed in my area.

I contacted my account executive about it, and I was off-put as her first reaction was that it was somehow on me and asked if I had made the updates to my storefront that I was supposed to have done. She then sent screen shots of my business, saying "See here it is..." The screen shot sent sent did show my business, but I'm showing up next to bakeries that are 200+ miles away. When I search for bakeries in my exact town, I don't show up, but when I search for one of the towns from her screenshot, I'm listed there (even though it shows the name of my town correctly.)

My understanding of the Knot is that they have different markets, and it's pretty obvious I was placed incorrectly into the market for my state, when I should actually be in a certain metro area's market. I had to ask twice to receive a copy of my contract, which was supposed to have been sent the day I entered into the contract. In it I'm listed as in the state's market, not the metro area.

I notified my account executive of this five days ago and she said she'd fix it ASAP. Three days ago I asked her when she would have this fixed, and I have yet to receive a response. I checked last night and it's still not fixed. I sent an e-mail to my billing representative for the company late last night, so I'm hoping I will hear back today. I think the problem is that the rates for the metro area are higher than the state market, but perhaps she can't fix this without recourse?

Has anyone else had an experience like this with the Knot? I told the billing rep that I expected either a refund or a credit for one month's worth of advertising expense, as they had made the error and I was not being shown to the brides in my demographic for the entire paid month. I feel like that should be given without question, but if I should run into issues I'm prepared to take it up with my credit card company if need be.