Waiting for Westbow-$830, Anticipation, and Another blow for Christian Reputation
I researched this company on TrustPilot and I read the less-than-stellar reviews but still gave them the benefit of the doubt because: 1) they were or were affiliated with a Christian company so I presumed they would have ethics; 2) I thought that given the lackluster reviews they would maybe redeem themselves with a new customer willing to give them a chance. Neither of these things was true. I signed an agreement with Westbow Press and paid an initial deposit of $1258.58 on May 1, 2025. I submitted my manuscript on May 6, 2025. I was told by Representative Luther Blackwell that it would take 4-6 weeks to review the manuscript. I emailed on June 2nd asking if there were any updates and received a response on June 3 stating they "were still working on it." I received a payment request on June 1 asking for another installment payment of $445.67. Having been scammed by a fake publisher just prior to signing on with Westbow, I emailed Mr. Blackwell on June 3, requesting that I please get some sort of update on the manuscript review progress before I sent another payment to which he responded "no problem." On Wednesday June 11, I still had not received an update and I requested my contract be withdrawn. Amanda Shoaf reached out the same day and stated I could receive my refund less a $400 termination fee. Reluctant to just loose $400 for nothing, I gave them more time. On June 16, I received the message: "...reviewer got back with us over the weekend. I wanted to let you know that your content edit that you were waiting on has passed." Ok, great! What is the next step? On June 27, I emailed Amanda to let her know I still had not heard from anyone and that the the time it took to process the manuscript was not acceptable and that I would like a refund. On 7/6/2025 I was informed a refund was processed for $428.53. I had resigned myself to the $400 hit, but I guess they felt entitled to the second installment payment for the nothing they did as well. So essentially, Westbow got $830.05 and I got absolutely nothing but disappointment. Update 7/15/2025: Today I received a check in the mail from Author Solutions which operates Westbow Publishing for $862.40. Thank you.