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Why you might want to spend your money somewhere other than Taxi.comTaxi.com may be more interested in the revenue stream you generate for them with your submission fees than "advancing your career"If you are unfamiliar with how Taxi.com works, here’s a brief rundown. Taxi says it has contacts in the music biz, and that they get requests from them for particular types of music or songs. They call these listings, and they post them for you to review. You pay them a relatively high annual membership fee of about $300. What do you get for your $300? Nothing. Well, that's not entirely true. You get the opportunity to give them more money when you think one of your songs matches one of their listings. If Taxi agrees, they will send your song to the big music biz executive who requested it. They call this a forward. Then, if the big music biz executive likes it, he will contact you, and negotiate a deal. Almost sounds good on paper. However, by reading the member forum, from my own experience, and from the experience of some musicians far more talented than me, it seems to be a money vacuum. Sure, there are a couple of cheerleaders on the member forum who may (or may not) have sold some songs, but you have to look long and hard to find them. And, I have to ask, if they are so busy selling such huge numbers of songs, how do they have time to post hundreds of messages on the forum? And how about the poor souls who submit to dozens if not hundreds of posts without a single forward? How do they keep on with the "Taxi is wonderful" routine? And doesn't Taxi owe them something? An explanation perhaps? An administrative cancellation? I mean, if they are not talented, and there is no possibility of ever getting a deal, let alone a forward, what does that say about Taxi's ethics to just take their money, year after year? Here are some enlightening stats. A friend of mine, who is an absolutely world class musician, has a track record with Taxi similar to mine. About 10-20% of our submissions result in forwards, and no deals. Not one. The fact that we have the same forward rate leads me to the opinion that Taxi has figured out what forward rate will keep people renewing their membership and making those submissions. The fact that my friend has received no deals leads me to the opinion that there may be shenanigans afoot. My big problem with Taxi is their lack of accountability. I thought long and hard about what may help members, and Taxi, and even the big music executives. I relayed this information to Taxi in the form of the correspondence which follows. Sorry, this is REALLY long, but this is probably a one month conversation. If you are considering joining Taxi.com, or considering leaving Taxi, I think you should take the time to read through this to see how they deal with suggestions from members, and more importantly, how strongly they wish to avoid any sort of accountability. You also should take a real look at the member forum. Ignore the cheerleaders, and those who drank the "Taxi kool aid." I would not be surprised if a couple of these people were on the Taxi payroll. The "Ask Michael Laskow" section is a real hoot. Every week they say they will answer a question to Michael (they have since edited that pesky once a week thing). As of this writing, in February of 2006, the last question he had time to answer a question was in July of 2004, and in the two (plus) years of its existence, he has answered exactly seven questions. So, caveat emptor. Here are a couple of enlightening threads: Only five more months of this nonsense Getting your refund from Taxi.Chris Baptiste was playing word games regarding giving me a full refund, though their "money back guaranty" makes no such exceptions. It says, quite unequivocally, "If you call with a question or problem, and you're not greeted by one of the friendliest, most helpful people you've ever met at any business, we'll refund your membership fee." Not a portion of it, not most of it, but "we'll refund your membership fee in full." Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but being ignored and hung up on is not friendly, nor is it particularly helpful. Yes, Dispatch is a part of your membership fee, and that should be refunded as well if Taxi does not fulfill their guaranty for you. As a further note, I have received emails from several individuals who were told by Taxi that they would not be receiving a refund because they were not in their first year with Taxi any longer. I have suggested to each of them that they politely mention to Taxi that the guaranty does not exclude people who are in their second, third, fourth, or tenth year with Taxi. My understanding is that each of them received a full refund after making this point. I only wonder how many people left with their tail between their legs (and no refund in their pocket) because they were not aware of this. If you honestly believe that Taxi has not made good on their guaranty, you are entitled to a full refund. Do not back down when they tell you they cannot refund your money. Be polite, be firm, let Chris "check with Michael," but do not leave without your refund. My correspondence with Taxi.Short version: I thought it would be a great idea for Taxi Members to be able to hear what was forwarded so that we might be able to better tailor our submissions. Matt Miksa, Taxi's Member Services Manager, kept coming up with reasons why he/Taxi thought it was a bad idea, but I think I did a pretty good job of countering them, though nothing has happened, and it is unlikely that anything ever will. And by the way, I really like the "exchange" at the end. Also note: It was not particularly easy to get my full refund. It took a few polite discussions regarding contract law and fraud, with maybe a hint of the potential for a class action lawsuit thrown in just for fun, but eventually, I did get it. Yes, I would be more than happy to assist anyone else in getting their contractually agreed refund from Taxi. From Taxi Member: I just had a song rejected which I thought was spot on for the listing. It occurred to me that it might help me tailor my submissions if I knew what was forwarded for a particular listing. I think this would be incredibly useful for us to know what Taxi feels is appropriate for particular listings. Members could decide when they submit whether they would want other members to be directed to their songs when they are forwarded. What musician wouldn’t like some additional publicity? At first I thought there might some privacy issue, but that doesn’t really make any sense, especially if the member is on Broadjam and their music is out there for the world to hear already. From Matt/Taxi: I understand your concerns. However you were right, there is a privacy issue at heart here. We wouldn1t be able to tell our members who we forwarded and who we returned. Thanks for you suggestion though, I'll pass it along. Oooh! The cursory dismissal! It's as if he's saying: "Thanks for the money, pal! Can you keep it down--I'm trying to spend it." Only not that nicely. From Taxi Member: Thanks for getting back to me, Matt. I don't see the privacy concern, provided the member is on Broadjam. Broadjam members have posted their info for the public, so to say that they have a "right of privacy" to not have people be directed to their songs is ludicrous. There can be no right to privacy when the information is provided to the public. (By the way, in my day job, I'm allowed to make legal determinations such as this. ;-) ) If I am missing something on the privacy issue, please explain Taxi's position, because it entirely escapes me. If Taxi really feels it is a problem anyway, how about you put a check box for the member to check when they submit to a listing whether or not they want other members directed to their songs? I, for one, would have no problem with other members listening to my songs when they are forwarded--or even when they are not for that matter. I really think this would help me and other members better tailor our submissions, and even decide whether songs need changes or improvements. Unless that $5 is really NOT a Discouragement Fee" but a profit center....... Perish the thought! Have a good Thanksgiving. Looking forward to hearing back from you. From Matt/Taxi: Our policy is that we absolutely cannot provide public access to our members' music. We have almost 10,000 members, and as you are probably aware, people tend to file frivolous law suits. Also, Broadjam is a completely separate company we have partnered up with to give our members the ability to submit electronically. People using Broadjam have made agreements with that company, not ours. I don't mean to sound as if I am dismissing your idea, however. I do think you are on to something, and the concept of providing examples of forwarded material is a good one. I will pass it on to our President, Michael Laskow. Keep in mind that we also provide "custom" critiques, which are more detailed reviews of songs not in consideration for a specific listing. These are $10 and can definitely help you tailor your pitches in the future. Thanks again for the valuable feedback. Keep it coming! From Taxi Member: Not to belabor this, but there's my point in your first sentence. Taxi would not be providing public access to member's music. The members who are on Broadjam, or have any kind of website for that matter, have already done that. You put up a website with your music, and you've provided public access to your music plain and simple. And again, a little checkbox where the Taxi member could click "I authorize Taxi to direct other Taxi members to my Broadjam website if I am forwarded" should assuage the fears of even the most risk-averse person in the office. If you run your life or your company worrying about "frivolous" lawsuits, you might as well not even get out of bed in the morning, let alone run a business. You can't stop "frivolous" lawsuits. It's the legitimate ones you need to worry about. If you do what is right and legal, you have nothing to worry about. Thanks for your responses. I'm not being argumentative, just trying to help you sell it to Michael! From Taxi Member: Any problem with me posting this on the member forum to see what members think about this? Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. From Taxi Member: I never heard back from you whether it would be ok to post our discussion on the member forum to see what other members thought. From Matt/Taxi: You are free to post our correspondence on our message boards in its full unedited entirety, including all e-mails written by you in their complete form. I'll be willing to fill in any omissions that may appear. Once again, I think your suggestion of providing examples of forwarded material is good, however you MUST realize that members of Broadjam have made agreements with a completely different company than TAXI. We do not own Broadjam, and have no legal authority to provide anyone with access to music posted on their site. Also, after checking with the folks at Broadjam, I found out that not all of their members have agreed to allow their music to be accessible by the public. I would also like to remind you that your initial assumption was correct. These are privacy issues involving intellectual property owned by individuals, not by TAXI. At this point we seem to keep reiterating the same viewpoints back and forth via e-mail. If you would like to discuss this situation further, or explain how we could utilize your suggestion by working around the conditions mentioned earlier, I would happily take your call. My number is 1-800-458-2111, and you can just request to speak with me. From Taxi Member: Well, well Matt, you don't seem like my bestest buddy anymore. I hope I didn't offend you by asking whether I could post this on the member forum, though, for some reason, it appears I did just that. I don't see that we're "reiterating the same viewpoints back and forth" since I only replied to you once, as in one time. Look it up. Please. Go ahead. And that was to your nonsensical privacy argument. Can we not discuss ideas? You see a discussion REQUIRES back and forth, whether presented vocally or by writing. Otherwise, it's called a monologue, a sermon, maybe a directive. But it ain't a discussion. If your position cannot withstand one clarification inquiry, then perhaps it lacks merit. [Matt] doth protest too much, methinks. That was edited just so you're clear that I'm clear on the whole editing thing, William Shakespeare, Hamlet. But since you're back arguing to your point again (which I did not do in my last email, just asked if I could post our conversation, so that doesn't count!), I'll provide my response. Hey, you started it--I only asked if I could post our conversation as a courtesy to you. See, I was trying to be nice, respectful, above board, that sort of thing. You could have just said, "That's cool, I'm interested in what other members think, too." Or even, "I'd rather you didn't because I am fully aware that my position is untenable, and I can't bear the public scrutiny." No, instead, you insult my integrity and continue arguing your point. Whatever. Here ya go. You're right, I too am aware that not all Broadjam members have their music accessible. Irrelevant! In those limited cases, their music, it uh, well, it wouldn't be accessible, would it? Can't exactly violate someone's intellectual property rights when the intellectual property isn't accessible, can you? And a simple check box on the Taxi/Broadjam submission page to the effect of "yep allow access" "nope, I'm a hermit" would cover you, wouldn't it? And why do you erroneously remind me that my "initial assumption was correct" that this is a privacy issue? You tryin' to put words in my mouth, sir? You tryin' to look good on the forum, Matt? What I REALLY said was that I considered privacy to be a potential rationale on which a simple mind might fall back, but if you think about it, it is a stupid rationale, here's why, and therefore there is no privacy concern. Look it up. Please. Go ahead. Only I said it nicer the first time. But, I don't know why I am bothering, because it is patently obvious your decision has been made already. A simple, "we'd rather not do that, thanks for the dinero dude" would have been fine. I wouldn't have been able to argue against that, would I? And yes, I fully intended to include all emails "in their complete form." Yep, even in their "full unedited entirety." (Are you kidding me with all that? Maybe you should have added a few more adjectives, just to make sure some dopey old lowly Taxi member could even understand it.) By the way, I don't appreciate the implication, either. "....omissions that may appear." Nice. Nice way to treat a customer. I thought we were on the same team. What did you think I was going to do?
However, I also see little point in beating my head against the wall of Matt. I suppose I could just vote with my wallet when my renewal comes around. I'm just not sure. I also see little point in a telephone discussion wherein I would say there is no privacy issue and you would say there is. Sounds like loads of fun, doesn't it? Almost as much fun as watching ping pong during the Olympics. Tom: "Nu-uh." Matt: "Yeah-huh." Tom: "Nu-uh." Matt: "Yeah-huh." On the other hand, let me know when you have your law degree and maybe we can discuss the implications of my suggestion with regard to the broader theories of intellectual property rights. That should be titillating as well. If you think it would be fruitful, I would be more than happy to correspond with your corporate counsel regarding this. No offense Matt, but arguing legal theories with non-attorneys is not entertaining. I'd rather watch the ping pong reruns.. Yes Matt, I do have a law degree, by the way, in case you were curious, or aching to make a comment. Until you get yours, I think I'll save my breath. Well, 'cept for this email, 'cause you made me. And yes, I do feel better now. Yep, I think I'm funny too. And now, I'll be a good boy and keep my dopey old lowly opinions to myself. Prob'ly. Oh, and real nice taking two weeks and two inquiries to respond when I asked if I could post this. Thought I forgot about that, didn't you? Arrivederci Matt. From Matt/Taxi: Our member come from all walks of life. They are physicians, attorneys, and air conditioner repair men. All have something to offer, and in your case, this may be your knowledge of legal intricacies. If I may, I have a legal question for you... I cannot stand by the CD rack at Best Buy and tear shrink wrap off CDs to allow customers to get a closer look. This is because I don't work for Best Buy, nor do I own these products. This is how I see our problem. We don't own the company or the songs posted on Broadjam. How are we in a position to determine their public availability? As an attorney, please explain how TAXI fits into this plan. Now that you've introduced yourself, let me reciprocate. I attended the United States Naval Academy and subsequently earned a degree in International Relations and Mandarin Chinese. Academically, I'm an East Asian security specialist, not a music industry buff. But I am a musician, just like you. I understand how a person can pursue both creative and intellectual goals. I'm not being sarcastic about my earlier question regarding ownership. I really want to utilize your knowledge. If you want to translate Mandarin intercepts from the PRC or discuss Japan's potential role in the escalating cross-strait conflict, I'll be there for you. I've actually only worked for TAXI for a few months. I started just a few weeks after my 22nd birthday. I hope we can speak over the phone or in person someday. From Taxi Member: It occurred to my by your comments that maybe you don't understand how Broadjam works. You get a little website with your picture, bio, etc. You upload your songs, and in your setup area, you click whether that song is available on your site or not. If you click "Not" it's just not there. You can go to my site, and if I haven't clicked for a song to be on my site, it just won't show up. It will still be available for Taxi submissions, but nothing else. So Taxi wouldn't need to determine the public availability of songs. They're either there or not there when you go to a musician's site. I could tell someone to check out Matt's song "Problems in Japan" at [website removed]. But if you didn't click to allow access, it would not be there. Check it out. Go to [website removed]. The guy is great. You can listen to any of those songs, because Dave says it's cool. He might have other ones there he could submit to Taxi, but you can't get at them by going to his site. From Matt/Taxi: OK, makes sense. I like the concept but still have a few problems. If we direct people to a member's Broadjam site that we forwarded, we unofficially endorse this artist. It would have to be clear that we "endorsed" only the particular song that was forwarded and not all tunes posted on their site. We can't give our stamp of approval unless we actually review the material. This may not seem like such a big deal, but if someone from one of the major record labels visited this persons site, and almost everything was sub-par, TAXIs reputation would be at risk. Consequently, fewer opportunities would come through our door, and ultimately our members would suffer. We would definitely want to be in control of which songs were heard. Problem two: If we tell our members who we forwarded, and they weren't, we'd be inundated with complaints. Songwriters are very emotionally attached to their music, and would unlikely find our selections to be superior to their own music. I think this could be detrimental to overall customer satisfaction. A possible compromise: I called our web-marketing staffer and she said she's working on a "best of TAXI" page organized by genre. (She's also the one who instructed me to be clear about the "unedited" disclaimer. Sorry for the offense, apparently we've had this problem in the past). But a "Best of" page doesn't specifically demonstrate forwards for a particular listing, which is really the crux of your idea. We are getting closer! Any suggestions for these issues? P.S. (Just for fun) The cross-strait conflict in a nut shell: Taiwan, a small island off the coast of China, calls itself an independent nation, while China considers itself the owner. Taiwan has democratic elections and stirs up the pot now and then by taunting China with its brazen acts of independence. Because U.S. Foreign policy is consistently pro-democracy, we have publicly vowed to support Taiwan if China invades the island. We have a well-established military/naval base in Japan, who then gets drawn into the conflict as an ally of the U.S. North Korea, just north/east of Taiwan, has traditionally allied with its communist sister, China. North Korea has nuclear weapons, so things just got interesting. North Korea has been threatening to reinvade South Korea since the 1950s, and would likely take this opportunity to do so, while the U.S. Is distracted by China. Overall, the behavior of one little island could catalyze a nuclear war in East Asia. Sorry to scare the crap out of you. Ah-ha! So it's not a privacy problem anymore! But by golly, he does not want anything which might increase Taxi's accountability to its members, does he? From Taxi Member: Problem solving and problem seeking are right up my alley my man! Problem 1: I don't see how, by forwarding a song, you're endorsing an artist, or even that particular song, either officially or unofficially. I've had a few songs forwarded. Am I endorsed by Taxi? Are my songs? Can I put on my website that these are endorsed by Taxi? Yippee. Let's say I did. Would it matter to "major record labels?" Let's say, for the sake of this discussion, that one of the songs I'm saying is "endorsed by Taxi" is a rap song (they're not, but it helps with my example.) So along comes a Taxi rap client, and sees a rap song "Endorsed by Taxi!" and proceeds to listen to the rest of my "catalogue" 'cause he thinks Taxi is smart. All my other stuff is country (definitely not!, but again, working the example here) and he hates country. Despises it. Why, it's not even music! Is he going to think Taxi is stupid now? I wouldn't think so. Or, say the rest just suck. He knows that not every song ever written by a particular songwriter will be of the same quality, doesn't he? Don't you have enough faith in your clients to believe that they know people have good songs and bad songs, differing styles, varying production quality, AND that they can tell the difference? Even the Beatles had a few "sub-par" songs, as you put it. And a hell of a lot of bands have only one "non-sub-par" song. Refer to www.onehitwondercentral.com for examples far too numerous to mention. Give your clients a little more credit than that! Even assuming a forward is an official endorsement, and assuming Taxi's reputation would be irreparably tarnished in my example above, my thought was that you would need to specify the song which was forwarded. Otherwise, it's a pretty pointless exercise. Some people have dozens of songs on Broadjam. So, for the particular listing which precipitated this exchange, you tell me you forwarded Matt Miksa, here's his Broadjam site, and nothing more. I go to Matt's site and he has 73 songs. This ain't gonna help me figure out what Taxi wanted for this listing. So, Taxi will have to tell me the particular songs, otherwise this is useless. Second, I was thinking you would provide this only to those who submitted to the listing, maybe in the rejection email (which, while we're in suggestion mode, could stand to be reworded--see ego bruising paragraph, infra!). Mostly because no one else will really care that much, but it also solves most of your problems. Maybe something like, "Sorry, we didn't forward your tune, but here's what we thought was right on the money for this listing...." But now that I think about it, it would be nice to page through old listings and see what was forwarded for when I'm getting ready to write or submit to a current listing. Hmmm.... Problem two: Come on!!!! Pah-leese! Gimme a break! You've got to be kidding! Get outta here! That is a cop-out if I ever heard one. Honestly, I can't believe you even mentioned it. If that is your genuine fear, why aren't you inundated with complaints already? If you are inundated with complaints, what's a few more if this really IS a good idea? If Taxi was that worried about bruising egos, you'd forward everyone. Protecting egos is not why Taxi exists, is it? If this can help make us better Taxi members, or even better songwriters, etc., which I strongly believe is the case, then this is a very, very silly argument. In the long run, I think this will be good for members, good for Taxi, and good for Taxi's clients. Members won't be wasting $5 unnecessarily (not a profit center, right?!) and could tailor submissions better, Taxi won't have to listen to as many inappropriate submissions (that has to get old), and clients might get better and more appropriate material (and Taxi thereby looks better and gets more opportunities for members--it's perfect!). Not only that, but if we can do a better job of tailoring submissions to what your clients want, maybe egos would be bruised a little less than they are now, since we seem to be concerned with this suddenly. Not that it should be necessary, but explain that "Taxi doesn't necessarily believe this song is better than your song, but based on our experience with this particular client, we are pretty sure this is what they want for this particular situation. On another listing, your song may very well be more appropriate that the one we forwarded for this listing. Keep your chin up little buckaroo. We still think you're swell. And if you send an email saying you think your song is better than this one, we'll send someone out bust your knuckles and break your guitar strings ya pansy whiner." You could leave the pansy whiner part out if you think that's too much, but I think it's a nice touch. The "best of" idea isn't bad. I would indeed like to hear what Taxi deems worthy. But that's more a curiosity thing. It's still not going to help me figure out what you're looking for with particular listings, which is why I started all this hoo-ha, and is what I believe will make for better submissions. And just out of curiosity, would the "best of" be merely songs that Taxi has forwarded, or songs that were utilized by the client? I'd like to hear both, actually. Apology accepted for suggesting I would misquote you or otherwise cast you in a bad light. I apologize for taking it out on you rather than the source. Since you wrote the email without quoting anyone, I logically surmised that those were your words. Please tell the web-marketing staffer to go screw herself. Seriously. Remind her that I and the other Taxi members pay her salary, as it appears she may have forgotten that salient bit of information. Bonjour. From Matt/Taxi: The "Best of"page should be up by early January. In the mean time, I have forwarded your e-mail to a couple staffers who are directly involved in this. I hope something comes of your suggestions, you seem to have put a lot of thought into them. Good luck, and keep in touch! December 22, 2004 From Taxi Member: Thanks Matt. I appreciate it. You of course sent my emails in their fully, entirely, completely, wholly unedited form, without adornment, alteration, variation, or amendment, right? Sorry, just kidding. Couldn't resist. I'll be surprised if anything comes from my suggestion, since I would imagine the "can't-do" attitude didn't come from you particularly. I'll check out the best of page when it hits--thanks for the heads up, and thanks for exchanging ideas with me. Happy holidays to you. February 21, 2005 From Taxi Member: Is that "best of" page up yet? February 22, 2005 From Taxi Member: Is that "best of" page up yet? February 23, 2005 From Taxi Member: Is that "best of" page up yet? February 25, 2005 From Taxi Member: Is that "best of" page up yet? March 3, 2005 From Taxi Member: I really, really hope that the member services manager wouldn't be ignoring my question for two weeks, and I hope that you are well. This is the fifth time I've emailed you, as well as emailing customer service through the Taxi website. Just looking for a reply. Is it up yet, if not any idea when? March 7, 2005 It is apparent that you will not be answering my simple inquiry as to whether the "best of" page is up yet, since I have been asking for two weeks now. I even posted on the member forum, hoping I would shake someone at Taxi loose. I' even emailed customer service via the taxi.com website. No response. Did you see this any of the five times I sent it? Thomas O. Moens wrote (five times since the middle of February): Is that "best of" page up yet? After no response whatsoever, I finally sent this to everyone for whom I could find an email address at Taxi. Guess what? I actually got a response--but not from my ex-bestest buddy Matt. How about this Matt? Cancel my membership, effective immediately. Taxi's customer service, primarily, though not entirely because of you, is on par with the worst I have ever experienced. And believe me, that's saying something. Our whole discussion regarding being able to listen to forwarded submissions certainly made me feel that Taxi was more interested in getting my money than anything else. The whole sordid story is on the user forum in the General Hangout under What do you think? Make sure I didn't leave anything out, ok Matt? I spent HOURS countering your ill-thought arguments, and get nothing. This terrible customer service experience, coupled with the fact that the listings are not the best I have seen for the type of music I write, has lead me to this decision to cancel. Please, SOMEONE, contact me to let me know how my refund will be handled and when--or at the very least that you received my email. I also have three submissions pending. I trust I will receive a refund for those as well, unless of course, something has already been done with them, which would be fine. Just let me know. Sorry, I emailed this to every name on the "meet the staff" page in hopes that someone might see it and answer, since you seem unable or unwilling. Goodbye, Matt. The only response I received was from Cathy Genovese, Taxi's A&R Director (as far as I know, they do not provide artist development, but I could be wrong. It is a very cool title though, don't you think?). I think Cathy accidentally hit reply all when she meant to email only Matt when she asked "What on earth is he talking about?" She later suggested that I call Matt directly, and here it is quoted directly, so you can see if I somehow misunderstood: Wow, that was a lot of correspondence to sift through
over this one issue. I can’t speak for Matt – I can tell you having been at
TAXI for the last 3 1/2 years is that we have posted music from members on our
Transmitter page – in the features. We still intend to do that and at times
have just run up against time constraints. We take our customer service very
seriously and all work really hard to provide a good service, so I am sorry that
you have had an unsatisfactory experience. In any case, I really think you
should contact Matt via telephone. Our 800 number is 800-458-2111. I have also
forwarded your email to Chris Baptiste who handles the refunds. So, I called Matt, and to be blunt, he was a big jerk, he was quite rude, and he actually hung up on me. All I asked him is why he ignored the repeated, and polite emails, from a three year customer, and since he was unable to come up with an answer, he hung up on me. I called back, under the optimistic assumption that we were inadvertently disconnected, and he would not take my call. Instead he had Jennifer Martinez, his supervisor and Taxi's Director of Writer/Artist Development (there's that Artist Development thing again), fight his battle for him. Her comment was that I would be getting a refund, so they no longer desired or were obligated to speak with me. She hung up on me too. I was very sad. Charming bunch of people. At that point, I was still corresponding with Chris Baptiste, Director of Film and TV Music, (damn, they all have lofty titles, don't they?) regarding getting my entire refund. Chris was playing word games regarding giving me a full refund, though their "money back guaranty" makes no such exceptions. It says, quite unequivocally, "If you call with a question or problem, and you're not greeted by one of the friendliest, most helpful people you've ever met at any business, we'll refund your membership fee." Not a portion of it, not most of it, but "we'll refund your membership fee in full." Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but being ignored and hung up on is not friendly, nor is it particularly helpful. As a further note, I have received emails from several individuals who were told by Taxi that they would not be receiving a refund because they were not in their first year with Taxi any longer. I have suggested to each of them that they politely mention to Taxi that the guaranty does not exclude people who are in their second, third, fourth, or tenth year with Taxi. My understanding is that each of them received a full refund after making this point. I only wonder how many people left with their tail between their legs (and no refund in their pocket) because they were not aware of this. I posted this information on the Taxi.com member forum, which I was explicitly authorized to do, and got a ton of replies, the vast majority of which were highly favorable. So, Taxi did what any five year old would do, they deleted the entire thread, and when I asked about it, they denied any knowledge of its existence. Nice, eh? Apparently, as long as you drink the kool aid and keep your mouth shut and do not bother them, you are more than welcome to play in Taxi's yard. As soon as you start questioning their actions and their motives, and ask for a little accountability, their true nature shows.
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