NeoFill Gone M.I.A.?
• Details are still sketchy, but RAMP has received multiple reports over the past few days from disaffected client stations asking us if we knew anything about NeoFill, a fulfillment company based in Hartville, OH that has been providing half-off deals for radio stations for years, and now appears to have suddenly shut down without any warning or formal announcement.
The typical complaint seems to look like this one we received from Nik Rivers, OM/PD of Stephens Media Group in Rochester, NY, who told RAMP, “We currently use NeoFill, and all of our deals disappeared off the consumer front end site on Sept. 1.” Rivers added, “We have reached out to stations in Tucson, Michigan, and Pittsburgh who also use NeoFill, and they all are having the same issue. We have all reached out to support, and our contacts at NeoFill, and they have gone dark on us.” Another programmer told us, “NeoFill owes radio lots of money, and winners their half-price deals they paid for already. They could be leaving our listeners stranded, and we’ll be on the hook.”
One of those Michigan stations is KROL Communications’ Classic Rock WRSR (103.9 The Fox)/Flint, MI, where Sr. Account Exec. Joe Osborne confirmed that his company has also been left holding the bag, as it were, after four years of doing business with NeoFill. Making this Sept. 1 vanishing act even more mysterious, Osborne shared an email he received on Wednesday, Aug. 28 from NeoFill Business Development Director Caroline Moore, a 10-year company veteran, that reads, in part: “I wanted to let you know that yesterday was my last day with NeoFill. It has been a great privilege to work with you for so many years. It’s my hope that our paths may cross again in the future.”
Osborne remarked, “It’s shocking that NeoFill did what they did and how they went about doing it — shutting down all of our deal websites and closing without getting paid on the deals we sold, and a lot of us have been waiting months to collect.” Osborne did note that his company has already made other arrangements, as he added, “In an effort to keep our deals program intact, we are signing an agreement with Scott Murray with Big Deals Media out of Minnesota. We are excited to begin this new chapter with his group!”
According to the NeoFill website, the executive team is Michele and Jim Varga — Michele is listed as Founder, President & CFO of NeoFill LLC, and HalfOffDeals.com, while Jim Varga is listed as Co-Founder and EVP.
If you have experienced a similar situation or have further information about the company, please email Kevin@RAMP247.com.
