118 submissions, zero planner contact, and no response to our feedback
We were paying members of Salem Speakers Bureau for about ten months at $99/month, roughly $1,000 in total. From April 1 through late September 2026 we made 118 tailored submissions. Every one got the same "Your submission has been sent to the event planner!" email. Not one planner ever contacted us.
The confirmations came on a fixed schedule, no matter how long an opportunity had been posted. A Friday submission was confirmed Monday, and a Monday submission was confirmed Tuesday. Three submissions we made on a Wednesday were all confirmed together the next morning.
A few months in, our speaker promo video disappeared from our profile, along with other content we had added. When we joined, few speakers on the site had a promo video, so it was a real differentiator for us. We were told by phone it was due to a website transition.
We raised the lack of response in March and again in June and were told the system was working correctly. Before canceling, I sent the owner detailed feedback with these numbers. He opened it and never replied. Support asked for our feedback, received it in full, and replied only to confirm the cancellation.
Salem's help center says to cancel by emailing support. When we did, we were told we had to cancel in a separate client portal, where we were offered a pause and a 25% discount to stay. We declined both. Even so, after written confirmation that our account was cancelled, our login now says "This account has been paused," that our payment failed, and that services "will resume once payment is completed."
We're sharing this because we told Salem directly first and got no answer. We'd welcome a response from the owner showing that our submissions reached planners.
Update (Oct 12): Salem support has since confirmed in writing that our account is cancelled, that the "paused" status is how it displays in their system, and that no further charges will be assessed.