Beware! Disreputable company

I built a new website on WordPress for a new business. I’m starting with free plugins until I get the ball rolling. Creative Mail by Constant Contact was already in my dashboard with a free subscription option. It is the only newsletter email option available if you use the included WPForms contact forms (also included in initial install). Unlike any other plugin I’ve used, Creative Mail functions outside your dashboard. It doesn’t link to WPForms even after telling it that’s what you’re using.

In addition to creating a Constant Contact account & adding WP Forms to your settings, you have to go back to your dashboard & click a button in WP Forms that then asks you to log in to Creative Mail to give it permission to connect with WP Forms. This permission doesn’t exist on the Creative Mail account. I couldn’t get past this, because I couldn’t log in (even though I was already logged in having just signed up). When signing up, it wanted my name, address, email address, & then to create a password (no user name selection).

I tried every variation of my name or email address with my password (I have a generator & only have to copy the password, so no typos). It couldn’t find me. I clicked that I forgot my username & got an email saying my user name was… ce- & a string of 26 alpha-numeric characters. That also didn’t work. Their support page offers number for 2 issues: account suspension & enabling debugging.

I got a support number from the chat bot. When you call, they want your phone number associated with the account. That was never included, so it didn’t find me but put me on hold for the “next available” agent. After 15 minutes, it hung up on me. I waited a while & tried again. This time, I waited on hold for over 40 minutes before hanging up.

WordPress should remove this from the plugins. WP Forms should allow you to use some other plugin (there’s a long list available with paid subscriptions). This is a most disreputable business practice & has all the ear-markings of a scam. Don’t take just my word for it. Read some of the other 1 star reviews.