This post is being updated as additional information comes to light on the subject of the fraudulent actions of Teri Hardy Hatland. While requested previously in May 2015 to remove her image from this post as well as that of her company, I refuse to comply effective with this update on July 21, 2015.
I am hereby giving notice to all affiliates, companies, representatives, public relations firms, fellow bloggers that are affiliated with any of Teri Hardy’s websites that I will no longer do business with you. Any individual who blatantly disregards the code of conduct that professional bloggers adhere to and does not follow through with providing giveaway prizes won, that continues to defraud her fellow bloggers and continues to put a smear on the very business that I love dearly is not someone I wish to be associated with.
Click Here if you would like to see a complete listing of her personal websites and social media sites to avoid.
The information posted below is directly from individuals who have reported this information to me. These are factual statements made by the parties involved. It is my right to publish these statements in their entirety for the world to see.
07/26/2015 – We’ve provided an update on a separate post – Update on Teri Hardy, Fraudulent Blogger – regarding several other fraudulent giveaways and actions from Teri Hardy Hatland.
07/21/2015 – As a giveaway blogger myself, I know that sometimes tracking down and verifying a winner can take time. On average, however, a winner is announced at least within 5 to 6 days of a giveaway winning. Does anyone else find it extremely odd that Teri Hardy’s Mom Powered Media $2,500 Giveaway still has no winners listed and she continues to delete my comments inquiring as to when the winners will be announced?
07/20/2015 – ‘Holly Ann’ won a Little Tikes Bounce House in a giveaway hosted by Motherhood Defined on June 4. Her repeated attempts to contact Teri Hardy with regards to where her bounce house is have been ignored or blocked. UPDATE 7/22/2015 – we are very pleased to announce that thanks to the wonderful people at Little Tikes and assistance from Darci Bean at Everything Mommyhood – Holly Ann and her 3 year old and 4 year old will be receiving their winning bounce house next week!! Congratulations Holly and family and MANY THANKS to Little Tikes for being such a stellar company!
Several others have left messages on her personal Facebook pages as well as her blog pages inquiring as to the status of their winning prize packages and have been ignored.
05/28/2015 – The Cyndee Wells Fund as well as the auction that was held May 27-28, 2014 has come into question as to whether the family has received the donations many bloggers sent in. There are several bloggers who purchased items through the auction that was to raise money for the family that have never received their items but have made their payment in good faith. (at last count the estimated amount of funds raised from the auction was well over $9,000 dollars)
An undisclosed member of the family has indicated that money was still owed to Cyndee for her work with the company in question that was never paid. They did receive the funds from the GoFundMe account (which the company in question matched up to $1000) but as of 05/28/2015 not one dime of the funds raised through the Cyndee Wells Auction(s) has been paid to the family.
We are asking that you please complete this survey if any of the following applies to you:
- If your bid won an item in the Cyndee Wells auction and you have not received the services/product you paid for;
- If you won a Mom Powered Media, Motherhood Defined, Mom to Bed by 8 or other website owned and operated by Teri Hardy (Teri Hardy Hatfield) giveaway and never received the prize you were notified as winning;
- If you offered an auction item for the Cyndee Wells auction to be bid on;
- If you worked for MPM at any time and still have not received payment for the services or work that you provided;
- Have paid for a #MPM2015 Conference ticket and not received a refund. The conference was scheduled to be held Friday, August 7, 2015 through Sunday, August 9, 2015 in Minneapolis, MN. This event has been canceled but as of 7/21/2015 she has not removed the booking option from her Facebook fan page or from the MPM website!
While you do NOT need to list your personal information on the survey if you wish to remain anonymous – we ask that you do. Your information will not be shared with anyone other than a select group of individuals working to uncover the damage that this woman has caused to the blogging community.
You can find the survey here – https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/X2R5N7L – just fill in as much information as possible so that it can be turned over to the proper authorities and justice can finally be served to bring about this fraud that has been ongoing for years.
05/21/2015 – Public court documents have been uncovered and reveal that this is not the first time that Teri Hardy has been charged with Class C Felony fraud. There is a Pinterest Board with all of the documents uncovered that show this is an issue that goes back many years, and includes defrauding her own mother who had to take her to court for stealing from her.
05/18/2015 – A complaint was filed with my hosting service by Don Hatfield – Teri’s husband – asking that I remove identifying information. I originally complied with this request but as of 12/17/2016 with Teri Hardy Hatland being investigated for fraud, I no longer feel the need to remove her identifying information. Everything within this posting is accurate accountings from the individuals scammed by Teri Hardy Hatland, nothing is an untrue statement and I refuse to protect her identity.
This post will be updated as additional information comes to light. In the event that the bloggers involved who have shared their stories below are compensated for their work and giveaway winners all receive the prizes that were promised to them – this post will be removed. Until such time as this happens, this post will remain on this blog to warn others about the fraudulent practices of Teri Hardy across any and all of the websites that she may own.
As has always been the case, we welcome Teri Hardy’s comments in regards to the allegations made against her by the blogging community and the giveaway winners she has not responded to. I will be more than happy to post any comments or responses from Teri Hardy here for all to read.
Fellow Bloggers,
You need to be alerted to an unscrupulous person, if not down right scam artist, among our midst.
It has come to my attention that Teri Hardy Hatland, owner of Mom Powered Media (among many other blogs and names) has scammed fellow bloggers and companies. Below are details of the information that has been shared with me directly from the bloggers themselves.
Mom Powered Media Conference
The Mom Powered Media Conference was scheduled to be held in Minneapolis from August 7, 2015 to August 9, 2015. A telephone call to the hotel (5/18/15 at 12:48PM – 952-542-8600) indicates that there are many rooms still available for the conference and that Teri Hardy Hatland has not informed the hotel the event was canceled and the hotel is still accepting reservations for this event through July 16, 2015. Professional courtesy would deem that you notify all sponsors, participants, speakers, event venues, etc. that an event was canceled in order to avail them the space for others wishing to book an event, etc.
The conference website was removed as of 5/18/15 at 12:58AM. Prior to being removed; however, the website indicated that (a) all ticket sales were final and no refunds would be given. You were allowed to transfer your ticket to another individual until a certain date but that was all. When those that purchased a ticket learned that the conference was canceled – Teri Hardy Hatland had this to say:
Dear Attendees,
I must regrettably notify you that the Mom Powered Media Conference for 2015 that our company organized is being cancelled. As you may know that recent unexpected issues arose with my previous business partner and MPM is unable to meet the needs of an event of this size.
Mom Powered Media has always played an imperative role for the betterment of the blogging community, we wanted to inform all invitees of our decision. We apologize for any inconvenience however, and hope that you will see our decision positively and support it.
Even though we have cancelled the Conference for 2015, we intend to host a 2016 event and would like to extend your current ticket to next year’s conference. We would also like to upgrade you to VIP and offer you a second blogger pass at no cost. Your invitation will be dispatched a week before the event is officially announced and we hope to see you there.
Thank you and have a nice year ahead.
Sincerely, Teri Hardy Hatland
Teri Hardy Hatland does not state at all that refunds have been given to any ticket holders. Why then would she post yesterday evening:
And yes, conference tickets are being refunded. The only ones left are those that the payment was too old to directly process. Mom Powered Media requires the original payment to be refunded for the ticket to be canceled…
The bloggers we have spoken with who purchased tickets have not received a refund. If any bloggers have received a refund, we would gladly welcome your comments on this post so that others know that a refund is possible.
Offering those who purchased a ticket an extension for next year’s conference is not acceptable. In light of the cancellation this year – who is to say that next year’s even will be held and not canceled? (it should be mentioned that Mom Powered Media never arranged a conference for 2016 to make good on the promises that were made to the people scammed in the 2015 conference)
MOM POWERED MEDIA, LLC
Teri Hardy Hatland claims that Mom Powered Media, LLC is a registered, limited liability company in Iowa. According to the Secretary of State in Iowa, no such limited liability company exists or is registered.
Business Dealings with Other Bloggers
The following is an accounting (backed up with documentation, screenshots, emails, etc.) from one particular blogger, Darci Bean.
December 2014
Teri Hardy Hatland spoke with me about becoming a partner of Mom Powered Media. I would own 33% of the company for $50,000. She claimed that she had made over $300,000 in the past year. With all of her blogger opportunities and services that were being sold to companies by herself and other employees (some of which paid money to her to earn a higher commission, and a percentage of what Mom Powered Media made as a whole) it sounded like a great opportunity. Not only that, the Mom Powered Media conference that was coming up August 7th-9th 2015, Teri Hardy Hatland said I would personally make anywhere from $40,000 to upwards of $60,000, as my cut of profits. Which I told her, I’d just pay her in full at that time. We worked out an agreement that I’d pay her 10% down of $50,000 which is $5,000 split between Jan and Feb and that I’d then pay payments of $750 per month for 4 years, or pay her in full before then. Also any money that was made during this time would be subtracted from what I owed each month. She also stated at anytime if I had to leave for any reason, she would just buy back my share of what I put in, which at this time is $6011.45.
January 2015
Teri Hardy Hatland wrote up contracts (from an online source, even though she said her lawyer did them) emailed them to me. I signed them and had them notarized and then overnighted them to her on January 4th, which is what everything was dated for. As stated by her, as well as in the contracts (Mom Powered Media Partnership Agreement, Loan Agreement, and an agreement for a business we were starting together called COMPANY) she was to provide copies of these signed and notarized (on her end) agreements within 7 days. I never received them, then I moved and things were chaotic, so it slipped my mind. She was also supposed to file the businesses, Mom Powered Media & REDACTED, in the State of Iowa, with me listed as part-owner. This was never done. There are no businesses with these names or anything by her in the State of Iowa. Nothing is registered. Just with those two things alone Teri Hardy Hatland is in breach of contract.
- 01/04/2015 – Mom Powered Media Agreement signed and notarized, mailed overnight to Teri Hardy Hatland
- 01/05/2015 – $2,500 paid via PayPal
- 02/04/2015 – $2,333.50 paid via PayPal
- 03/05/2015 – $677.36 paid via PayPal
- 04/06/2015 – $500.59 paid via PayPal
- Total paid by me to Mom Powered Media equals $6,011.45
January 5, 2015 to April 30, 2015
During the time period of January 5th through April 30th, there was a total of $1100 made by Mom Powered Media, as well as ONE ticket sold to the Mom Powered Media Conference for $204.97, all of this of course is questionable, but this is what is in the accounting logs that I had access to. This is a far cry from the approximate $300,000 she stated was made in the previous year. $1304.97 total for the first quarter. This is when I started questioning her because my husband and I were wondering why was no one working, where is all the money that I’m supposed be making?
April 30, 2015
I messaged her about my concerns. After I brought it up to her she was totally cool with everything. She stated that it was her fault that no money was being made because she hadn’t trained anyone on what they were supposed to do and she should have communicated better. She had been putting all of her energy into the conference as well as the REDACTED and REDACTED she was planning. She understood and she said she’d speak with lawyer about the best way to send me my money back to “protect” her company. I said fine. She also said (taken from FB chat) “For you to get a full refund, you will lose both REDACTED and REDACTED since it is a spin-off. You will also be required to sign a form stating you will not start a company similar to either for a period of 5 years.” That is crazy, I would not sign a non-compete for 5 years, no way. Then she stated, “I will have to speak with an attorney if this is the way we are going. I have to make sure it is done right and REDACTED is not at risk. I will make a call and setup an appointment. Then find out what needs to happen from here.”
Just so it’s clear as well, I never had anything to do with the conference. I never knew how much she was spending on the conference, how much she was paid via businesses that were planning on attending the conferences or anything. I was left in the dark about all of that. She did tell me the money from those businesses were set aside until after the conference because she had to have enough to pay the hotel for the venue/food.
Teri Hardy Hatland also stated we needed to keep me leaving a hush hush thing, so it was not announced, “It is a bad time to formally announce this to the group because it looks bad for Mom Powered Media. But if that is what you want, we can do it.” I told her it was fine if she didn’t want to announce it. She also said “I would appreciate if we kept this low key because bloggers are already in a tiff with this other issue and I don’t need it rolling into Mom Powered Media anymore than it already has.”
May 5, 2015
Teri Hardy Hatland sent me a late payment notice via email, even though we had discussed on April 30th that this needed to be decided before the next payment was due, so I would not be out another $750. On top of which, she didn’t even send an invoice for payment. Once I messaged her about it on May 5th, her whole attitude was completely different than it was on April 30th. She was hateful and said that her husband didn’t feel it was necessary to send me a copy of the contract, and that she hadn’t heard back from her lawyer.
On April 30, 2015, May 5, 2015, and May 8, 2015 I asked her for signed and notarized copies of the contracts. She did not provide them and still has not provided them. May 8th I sent her a certified letter in the mail that she had to sign for. I also sent her a copy via email with the tracking number. It stated why she was in breach of contract as well as the fact that none of it even exists so I want my $6011.45 within 14 days. Which she has until May 22nd, before I file with my credit card company. She has not responded to me at all as of today (Sunday, May 17, 2015). On May 13th I messaged her regarding some business stuff I was finishing up via the Mom’s the Word giveaway event so I could email the winner, which she did not respond to either.
At this point I do not expect her to respond. I gave her the chance to refund my money easily, without all of this, without lawyers, without going to court, but she has refused to give me my money. Since this has happened I have spoken to many people who have previously worked for Teri Hardy Hatland and they all said they have known and heard stories of her doing this to others, including this happening to them. Why is everyone so hush-hush about this? She is taking money from people, and she is not returning it. Since it is something that is being repeated with people, it seems to be taking a criminal turn, which would be fraud. My next course of action is to file an internet fraud complaint with the FBI, which I suggest all of you who have been taken advantage of do as well. You can find that here.
Darci Bean also indicated that a campaign for Mom Powered Media in November 2014 had 100 bloggers participating in social media blasts. Teri Hardy Hatland was paid by the company for this campaign; however, not all bloggers were paid and are still waiting on payment.
Additional Bloggers Who Have Come Forward
Below you will find 17 direct quotes from other bloggers, contest winners, and former partners of Mom Powered Media with regards to their personal experiences and dealings with Teri Hardy Hatland and Mom Powered Media. You will see references to “the auction” and to the Cyndee Wells Fund below as well. Even more personal accountings can be found in the comments after this posting.
1) “I know who you are talking about. It pisses me off. That person stole close to $2,000 from me alone and I don’t know how much from others. And then she is ruining it with companies. Honestly I have companies that won’t work with me because of said blogger. Plus I think they went away from working with bloggers as well. They work with a PR Firm and they don’t want bloggers period for any company the represent. I think it needs to come out. Part of the problem is she has done this to so many smaller bloggers and has others scared to come out. She makes threats. Being bigger she has those smaller ones scared of what she might do. She still owes me other things that I won in the Wells auction as well. I was told “she was busy” and I had to wait, and of course never received anything. She also owes me product for other things I was promised as well. Again, haven’t seen anything.”
2) “I am one of those smaller bloggers who was planning on going to Minneapolis in August, but now I am screwed out of over $250. Small in the scope of things, but that’s why I immediately messaged some of the bigger bloggers to see if my fears were true and turns out they are.”
3) “I stood up to this person as well and no one seemed to care, but I didn’t make a big deal either because I didn’t have much vested. This has been going on for years and I can only guess in the tens of twenty thousands. If everyone would stop looking at BIG bloggers as BIG then they wouldn’t be so intimidating. Us bigger bloggers should be resources not bosses trying to make a buck.”
4) “Teri Hardy Hatland owes me thousands, she promised yearly salary of $10,000! I haven’t made anything. I ran the 2014 REDACTED Campaign and she was horrid to work with. She basically left me high and dry to run the campaign the way I saw fit. No guidance or coaching. She got paid by REDACTED but I had no control of who got paid for the campaign. I felt horrid since I organized it and recruited bloggers thinking in good faith they would be paid. (I knew Teri Hardy Hatland had received payment). I did notify REDACTED of the problems that were going on and that they should reconsider working in the future with Mom Powered Media. I never heard from them again. All links were verified by myself ( it took hours ) and sent to Teri Hardy Hatland as well as REDACTED! The company had no complaints. Teri Hardy Hatland served me with a Cease and Desist Letter and told me I was legally not allowed to speak to any of the bloggers who belonged to Mom Powered Media. I was shocked. I did sign a non-disclosure agreement in the contract for working with Mom Powered Media, but it was never notarized or returned to me from Mom Powered Media. So I have cautiously spoken to others. I also bid and paid for many things for the auction for Cyndee Hill Wells and never received any of the items I purchased.”
5) “Just freaking great. I just yesterday bought a co-host spot on a contest from her. She KNOWS I just had to go across the country to bury my 14-year-old nephew and lost a lot of work and have pneumonia now. I am thousands in the red and even commented that I hope the contest helps drive traffic so maybe I can make Linqia’s quota.”
6) “Oh #$@!, wow. She owes me money – not much, but for some sponsored posts I did a LONG time ago. I just realized that I never got prizes for the Scentsy party I bought from that she ran as well as a Facebook Flash Giveaway that I won LAST SUMMER.”
7) “We were all duped. I am sick over all of this. We all trusted her and thought she was a friend. I tagged you because I had a feeling you were hurt by her as well.”
8) “I’ve told people this over and over, but no one really listened. In fact, people treated me like crap on several occasions when I tried to warn them, so I finally just stopped. I’m glad to see others coming forward as well. In fact, she made herself from stealing from me. She took everything I ever did and went behind my back and built her name. She has lied, and stolen from bloggers – not just by taking their money for prizes but when you get a campaign from her she isn’t paying you what she tells the brands she is paying you. I have said this over and over and over. I’ve been called names, I’ve been treated like crap all because everyone wanted to believe in this person. It’s been really sad watching so many people be taken advantage of. I’m seriously glad to see that this is all coming to a head and people will stop dealing with her. In fact, when i found out, it took everything I had not to get up and run through the Chicago airport screaming that it was finally happening. I’ve dealt with her crap for years. I think I deserve some glory in my own right to see she going down where she belongs.”
9) “She kicked me from the group after she said she was going to pay me a small fraction of what I was owed – which still has not been paid. I worked for Teri Hardy Hatland since last year. Started out great and I was quite excited. Yes, I made a few mistakes along the road; however, I paid into it (not as much as D.B. but $1,500 and I am still owed for a bunch of work that I finished). All together I’m owed around $3,000 USD. I’m usually a pretty quiet person but I agree this is just not right for her to do this to so many people.”
10) “I won one of her giveaways at Christmas time. It was small, just toys I was going to give my nephews. I never received it but just assumed it was an oversight. I never made a big deal because it was small. This is so sad to learn all of this.”
11) “I am so sorry she has done this to you D.B. but so happy you called her out about it! I won a few things from the auction for Cyndee Wells. My biggest item was $250 worth of links on any upcoming giveaways I wanted (25 host pages) I was the only bidder at $200. When I went to select my first giveaway I was told I had to pay the fee to enter the giveaway to get my link on there. I assumed that my links were automatically paid but apparently it was going to be for my additional links after my first one for joining. The next giveaway I tried to join she told me it was full and she couldn’t add my links. I then tried to join a 3rd one and she told me she had to leave it open for paying links but if she had any left over then she would allow me to join. I was pissed because each time I tried to join the requirements changed. I told her if that was the case then all of that should have been written. At this time it’s almost 45 days past me paying and I hadn’t received the other $100 of items I won either. I started to demand my money back. She blocked me and removed me from the REDACTED group and the regular group. I opened up a PayPal claim and she told PayPal that I refused to work with her and she still wanted to honor what I paid for but I needed to follow the terms. I replied that since I hadn’t received the other items and that she is constantly changing the terms and had since been blocked from contact with her or the groups she has clearly shown she has no interest in working with me and I wanted my money back. 2 days later my money was refunded but claimed everything was my fault and that she couldn’t believe I worked this way and would make sure that everyone would know. Beyond that I know she attempted to trash me to a few bloggers and a handful of PR reps. Horrible that she continues to do this to people!
With my host pages I wasn’t granted access to any links on the giveaways yet still had to post the announcements or pay the waived fee to have a host page but still have no links unless I paid more. Even though, when you paid for a host page you were given links with it…she didn’t want to honor any links because I hadn’t technically paid according to her. When I called her out on the fact that I got a huge value for what she can get for it individually and that she was probably pissed because she thought more people would bid she then told me to sell it to another blogger that she knew would take it and without any reply from me (because I left my computer for a while) she told me she spoke with her team and they all agreed that because I don’t know how to use what I won that I shouldn’t be allowed to have it.”
12) “I paid an undisclosed sum to be a “partner” with Mom Powered Media and for mentoring that I never received. She also never paid me for sponsored posts. I filed a complaint with PayPal and received a partial settlement, but she threatened to sue me if I ever revealed anything or shared any screenshots or told anything that happened between us and our “business relationship,” as breach of contract, yet she did just that to me. She went and made up lies about me and trash talked me to various PR people, bloggers, media companies, brands, etc. and I had many people turn away from me and refuse to work with me because of things she said. She ruined me for a time.”
13) “She asked me to join Mom Powered Media as a partner on commission but I didn’t have the money at the time – I consider myself lucky now. I also never received an item I paid for in the auction she arranged last year – I just remembered that! Towards the end of last year I wrote for Mom Powered Media and never received the promised payments for my work nor did I receive payments for a campaign. I was too worried to ‘go public’ because she always has some smooth answer why it’s not her fault & how it’s the other person just causing drama etc. Thank you D.B. for having the courage to ‘come out’ !!”
14) “She did it to me too. She’s a fraud and I finally had the courage to post myself on my status tonight. She trashed my name to PR people, bloggers, brands, etc. after I demanded my money back and I had people refuse to work with me because of the lies she told about me because I called her out for not fulfilling her end of her promises and obligations and what I paid for.”
15) “I was doing a REDACTED phone campaign a few months ago and Teri wanted to be on my team. She got the phone and service from REDACTED as promised, and absolutely refused to do any of the things we needed to do, blog posts, social media, etc, so I and the rest of my team had to do ours and just hope for the best, but it was very embarrassing. It’s the first and ONLY time I’ve ever tried working with Teri Hardy Hatland, and at that time, I said, never again. I am still pissed over that.”
16) “That speaker was me. I’m reading all this dumbfounded. She just asked me last week to be on an Advisory board. I had NO idea about all of this. I’m sick to my stomach. I am not a drama person at all, and I can’t handle people who lie and steal.”
17) “I have several companies that won’t every reply back to me at all either and I know it’s because she screwed them when they agreed to work with Mom Powered Media.”
In Their Own Words
Several bloggers have taken to their blogs to post their own story. You will find a listing of those below. If you wish, you can also leave a link to your own post in the comment section.
- Mama E. over at Mama’s Mission posted her own story – Bloggers Beware: I Didn’t Think It Could Happen, But It Did!
- A Little Bit of Everything has posted her story – It Can Happen to Anyone…
- Heart Healthy in Florida has posted an uncensored version – Scam Alerts, Don’t Get Scammed
- Another blogger at Swanky Point of View has posted their story here.
Bloggin’ Mamas Steps Up with Free Ticket to Conference
We are so surprised to hear all of this, and it has taken quite a while to read through everything. Bloggin’ Mamas is planning a conference for Tampa, Florida in November 2015. If you purchased a ticket to #COMPANY, we will provide you with a FREE TICKET to our conference to help make up for your loss. Just send your receipt to info@blogginmamas.com and we will send you a code when we open registration.
We also offer FREE membership, we do not charge bloggers to be part of our giveaways, we do a ton of social good work, and we offer free events and training, and we do not charge bloggers to join our sales team. We would love to have you all!
In Closing
If you are a blogger who respects and cherishes your readers, you will announce this on your own blogs or social media sites. If you are aware of companies that she works with that you do as well, you need to alert them to what is happening as well. No company wants to be involved with fraudulent behavior and they will thank you for the information.
This will not stop until we stand together and put an end to this.
I don’t even know how I ended up on this page today but i had hired Don to transfer my website from blogger to wordpress and have him set it up for me around 2014 or so. He also was providing the hosting. My website was down a lot and Don always cited that I had too much traffic. I was confused because I was a new blogger and had no where near the numbers that would be causing a website to slow down. After about a year he told me he could no longer offer my hosting because my site was bogging everyone else’s down. After a BUNCH of back and forth I was able to transfer website ownership out of his name and into mine and get my own hosting. Thankfully hostgator was able to help me with everything . I asked hostgator why my website was so slow and they told me it was just a crappy wordpress theme I had. I changed it and haven’t had any issues since. I wish I hadn’t been so scared to transfer from blogger to wordpress orginally. I could have save myself a lot of time, effort and most of all money!
I am all for individuals starting a home business and being able to work from home; however, make sure you know what you are doing and know every intimate detail inside and out before subjecting clients to your inexperience. I am so sorry that you had that experience with him, Diane! Twenty70 Hosting is who I use and I absolutely love, love, love them!
Hi. This post has nothing to do with Teri Hardy Hatland's fraudulent blogging but I think its pertinent and tells more about her as a person. I met Teri in Sioux City, IA, while working at Walmart on Floyd Ave in January of 2016. She started there on the fall of 2015. She is known as a flirt, and has lunch dates with men at work alot. She asked me and my male coworker out for coffee or drinks. We were both surprised. My coworker is young, so he didnt respond, but I'm 38 and Teri is 36 so I took her up on the offer. We started hanging out alot on breaks outside in her car. That led to kissing and a relationship. From the start she was constantly accusing me of hanging out with my ex who i never speak with anymore. She always accused me of not putting enough into the relationship or not being there for her. It seemed as if each and every thing she accused me of, she was, in fact, covering for her own weaknesses in these areas. She really did all these things, but turned it around on me so I would feel guilty, and throw me off her scent. She told me she was married to Don Hatland, but not legally married. Over the course of 3 weeks, she seduced me into thinking I was in love with her. She left her house to live with her mother, and said that Don was abusive and scared her and her children. She came over to my house for sex one tuesday afternoon, which started good, but did not end well. I lost focus and my erection. Although, I went in with reservations thinking she was using me to knock her up. She told me her tubes were clamped temporarily, but I bought condoms anyways . She took one look at them and tossed them aside and said we didn't need them. I lost my erection halfway in, and she held that against me, and still does. She started to become cold and non-talkative. Soon after she stopped talking to me all together. She said we wouldn't work and its best if we were only friends. She never was woman enough to tell me why she stopped talking to me, even tho I really knew. I was heartbroken, thinking we had something special. After 3 weeks of no contact I texted her and told her I think ppl at work were right, and that all she did was lead me on. I told her about the time she said she loved me and then said i was done.. She has since took a leave from absence from Walmart, and has started blogging again. Tonight, Sunday, March 13th, 2016, she texted me and said If I wasn't such a bitch shed invite me out for a drink. I pretended I didnt know her as if I deleted her number, and she was someone else. She came clean, and I acknowledged who she was. She said I'm where I am cuz I didnt stay hard, and she had to go elsewhere for sex. I asked her why did she want to invite me, she didn
Thank you so much for this article
You’re most welcome Donna!
Thank you Ms. Miller . I was having some issues with some other giveaways and was curious if they were associated with any of this. They all are linked to one blogger and I was not sure if she too was involved.
Send me the details John at kimatliah@gmail.com and I might be able to help you a bit more.
Are there any other bloggers who are involved with this scam?
No John … those that were involved (due to Teri’s secrecy and deception) immediately left her employment or ceased all contact and affiliation with her upon learning of her fraudulent practices.
Why are companies still working with her? UGH. Looks like this is a Linqia campaign. Brands need to stop supporting her site!!
The only way that they will is (a) if other bloggers that work with the company inform the campaign manager of what is going on with her website(s) and (b) people boycott clicking anything she sends out or subscribing to any of her social media sites.
I appreciate all you have done to research and inform us on this, thanks!
This saddens me terribly! I am a blogger as well and it’s hard enough for us to do this let alone now having to face worried companies and giveaway entrants. I really bust my butt to get the little exposure I get, yet someone who isn’t truthful and such as her has all of this traffic, thousands of dollars (monetary and product value) coming in and all for what? FRAUD!? Honest people never seem to get anywhere, but those who screw any and everyone over get what we deserve. I hope everyone gets their refunds, prizes, etc… but that unfortunately probably wont happen. :/ So very sorry to all who have been affected by Teri, not all of us bloggers are like her!
WOW!!! I am not sure if I won anything from her, but I do know I entered tons of giveaways!! Thanks for this post. I have shared on my facebook timeline with almost 4,000 fans.
Thanks Ann. The more who share and get the word out the better.
Thanks for sharing this. It is good to know what is going on and what we should be watching for.
Thank you for daring to share. I have been gipped out of a few prizes from her in the past couple years which in itself is frustrating, but I was even kicked out of participating in a major blog giveaway event due to “not following guidelines” even though I did everything exactly as stated.
So frustrating to have such a huge blogger do this – it looks bad on those of us struggling to get views, sponsors, and products from companies who want bloggers to have over 100000 pageviews – sorry but as a SAHM I don’t get that kind of viewing – but I do work hard to make sure all posts/reviews are done correctly and on time – now to have this type of situation makes it so much harder on us who blog honestly.
One thing I can’t figure out – I went to all the listed social media sites to unfollow/unlike – HOW did I end up Liking/Following some that I never even knew existed? how is that even possible?
It’s simple @SMomBlogger:disqus. The same way that Mom to Bed by 8 suddenly became Motherhood Defined (on the web, on social media, etc.) was a simple name change. You retain the followers and the statistics, only the name changes, and you don’t have to worry about starting from the ground up again. She’s done this several times that I’ve seen first hand.
She had Facebook delete and ban me from posting on Facebook for 12 days because I posted on her FB page, You are a cruel individual to hurt so many people…….she wants all posts showing what she did deleted so all don’t know what she has done.
If still in doubt, this is just one of the many complaints listed on the intenet while doing a google seach for “teri hardy”: http://surfandsandinflorida.blogspot.com/2015/05/teri-hardy-scam.html
This is completely and totally unbelievable. Do people not SEE the comments others are leaving on her Facebook page? On her Instagram account? Teri Hardy is a FRAUD and a LIAR. If you enter ANY of her giveaways – you can kiss your prize goodbye because the chances of you receiving it are about 20% if that. I don’t know how any sponsors can continue to work with her. It just baffles my mind that they just don’t seem to care.
I won a bounce house on June 4th from her motherhood defined blog – – of course, I was so excited I was dumb and told the kids about it. So now, they keep asking where the bounce house is.. and now after reading some articles posted about Teri and her blogs I am going to be so upset to tell my kids they aren’t getting a bounce house now. My mistake for telling my kids anyways (ages 3 & 4) but I enter a ton of blog giveaways and I NEVER have had ANY problem with a single blogger until I won from her blog. I enter several bloggers giveaways and any that I have won, I normally get my prize within 2 weeks of winning or at least have some communication from the blogger, unlike I have with Teri failing to email me back after numerous attempts to contact her. Wish I would have known she was a scam before wasting all my time entering faithfully to win that bounce house plus other giveaways and being sure I shared for her to get more followers/likes.
I am so sorry to hear that Holly Ann. It breaks my heart when things like this happen to good people. Unfortunately, it is bloggers like her that give the rest of us a bad name. I hope that you are eventually able to get in touch with her and do receive the bounce house … unfortunately, I wouldn’t count on it. 🙁
Subject: Re: Comment on An Alert for the Blogging Community
Can you contact the bounce house company directly? It might be worth a try when you explain the situation to them and all the blogger info. Sometimes they are just as in the dark about lack of communication too. I helped a friend get a blogger prize in the same manner where the blogger never sent the info in. As a product review blogger myself, I go above and beyond to make sure winners are treated correctly. I looked at her blog and I think this was the Magic Castle from Blast Zone giveaway that ended on 6/1. IF it is try the company website at http://www.blastzone.com/shop/pc/home.asp and look for contact info. Call them or email. IF it is another company just look them up. Don’t give up – just go direct to the source and see what happens. If you need help, let me know.
Thankfully I had help from another blogger (Everything Mommyhood) that contacted the company for me and got it straightened out. It was through Little Tikes – – prize should be here around the 27th! Normally, I would have just left it alone and not turned it into a big deal but I am kind of glad I did post something about this – and on social media – b/c i’m finding out a LOT about Teri Hardy that I never knew and more people (like myself) who have never heard about her being a bad blogger is finding figuring her out as well! She needs to be stopped one way or another. Her not fulfilling the promise of giving the prizes is the least of her problems – she owes several thousands of dollars to a lot of people!! Disgusting individual. Thank you for the help though Rita!!
So glad it worked out! Hope you and the kids have lots of fun!
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Did she also own the blog called Mama B? I won a giveaway there and was continually assured she’d send me the Target gift card but I never received it. The blog is gone now but it used to be at http://www.mamabblog.com/ (blogger profile: https://www.blogger.com/profile/15451917847638403011)
I won a $100 visa gift card from here when there used to be ABE giveaways and never received. She said the company sent to her by mistake and she was going to send it to me and this went on for a long time and then she had excuses such as they went on vacation or something else came up and I just gave up.
I’m sorry to hear that. I gave up, too. Sadly, that’s exactly what she wanted us to do. I don’t think I’ll be so quick to give in in the future if it ever happens again. (but hopefully it never will!)
While what is happening with one particular blogger is discouraging and downright shameful – please do not think all bloggers are like this. 99.8% of us are honest, hardworking moms and dads just like everyone else. What we offer, we deliver. We take pride in our blogs and the brands and companies that we deal with who sponsor the giveaways to allow y’all to win some great prizes. Don’t let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch. 😀
I understand and agree with what you said. I have entered numerous blog contests over the years and have always found bloggers to be trustworthy, reliable and honest! (except one, of course!) I hope you are able to get past this terrible experience and go on to bigger and better adventures!
It’s so crazy that the hosting company is forced to make you remove the details so someone can keep doing what they are doing.
Okay, I’ve read enough from the post to other comments to documents. I am unfollowing anything to do with her, I’ve already Cut myself from MPM Facebook Group and am headed to unfollow social media. This is infuriating, and it’s going to effect us little ol’ bloggers who are here to really support our families in an honest way. Thanks for sharing this, will probably be sharing.
So, I don’t feel as irritated as I’m sure a lot of you do. I commented on some statuses on her blog (Mom to bed by 8) in December, because she was doing some random giveaways. She told me that I had won an Amazon gift card! I was excited, but never received an email from them, and when I contacted her and let her know (because I didn’t want her to be losing out on money she spent, or items she received for whatever reason) She said she would send it again. Still nothing. I just chalked it up to Amazon not working properly, but now I wonder if it was ever even sent, or intended to be sent. 🙁 I want to believe the best of people, and more and more things are happening recently that are making me lose faith in humanity. Oh well, I was just gonna buy another diaper or so with it 😉
Do you remember how much the Amazon gift card was for?
She didn’t say an exact amount, but when I asked her if it would be enough to purchase a diaper or two, she said “Oh, it will definitely get you more than a diaper or two.” Honestly, it wasn’t like I put a ton of effort into ‘winning’ it, so, I just sorta blew it off. She said she wanted it to be a “surprise”.
Well it was a surprise alright … never receiving it at all! Did you see the update above I just posted? It’s at the top of the blog post.
It is just disgusting that someone would do that to another person! I hope she is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I feel so awful for that family!
Yes it is – and we are doing everything within our power to make sure it doesn’t continue any longer.
I originally posted this on a blog post I read about guilty until proven innocent regarding this situation, but I thought I would share it here too
“I will say that, as a victim of abuse that I kept to myself for a number of years, I can absolutely see how this unfolded. On one hand you have a very powerful blogger whom many starting out turn to for help or desire to strive to reach her level of success one day. So when someone does a deal with her that doesn’t come through — whether you paid her for mentoring, spots on a giveaway, paying for conference tickets, winning a giveaway, bidding on items for an auction for a recently deceased blogger, or partnering up in an actual business with her — because you DON’T know that this has happened to other people, you may tend to keep quiet about it, you don’t want to rock the boat, you feel small against someone with a lot of power. OR maybe, as some have alluded to, you did say something to people….and no one listened or believed you – or maybe saw you as the person in the wrong because the blogger in question was so powerful that there would be just no way (in their minds) that she could do no wrong. Maybe you felt what happened to you was just a glitch, an oversight, just an isolated incident – so you write it off and remain silent. The alleged scammer, in the meantime, may have done this so often and to so many people, that she knows exactly what to say (calling lawyer, let pr people know you’re difficult to work with) and do (block you from groups, social media, etc) to keep the upper hand. When someone finally says that’s it, I’m going to shout what she’s done to me from the rooftops, that could be just what other (alleged) victims need to hear to feel that they actually weren’t alone, and just what they need to feel safe in telling their own stories. For me, I don’t see this as a gang mentality or hopping on any bandwagon, I see it as people coming together who have been (allegedly) taken for a ride by her – and feeling strength and comfort that they are not alone in this and the instinct kicks in to protect others from what happened to them.
I would imagine that because she is such a huge name in blogging, you wouldn’t want to come after her unless you had all of your ducks in a row, all documentation, and proof, because lets face it you could be signing your own blogging death warrant if you get caught lying about this. I also personally feel if it were one or two people, this could absolutely be a case of sour grapes, it seems to happen every day in the blogging world from what I can see, but from comments (all from people who have very specific details and are confident in their paper trail and proof) that there seems to be at least twenty people who have varied stories, but all with an underlying theme of being given the runaround, being threatened, and being cut/blocked from communicating with her. Can you imagine giving $6000+ of your money to someone…..or $250….not getting what you paid for and not seeing your money again – then reading about how the person who last had that money is buying their 3rd new car, going on their umpteenth vacation, or taking their kids here there and everywhere, while you budget for your groceries and try and figure out if you can afford to send your own kid to that sports clinic this summer? Guilty until proven guilty is fine, but when something bad happens to someone and they keep quiet about it by choice or by fear, as we’ve seen, it continues the cycle with others and fuels the power of the (alleged) perpetrator. Speaking out has probably spared dozens of potential future victims or at least made people aware to not go into things strictly on blind faith with anyone, not just her, and to not believe that just because someone seems at the top of the game that they’re going to be looking out for your best interest or that they are always telling the truth.
As an outsider, I really am waiting to see how this all plays out, and despite how this comment may sound, I am not assuming she is guilty, but I also believe that there shouldn’t be a message out there that (alleged) victims of a crime should keep quiet in order to protect an (alleged) criminal. (and this isn’t just a case of taking $5 here and $10 there from people, which would be bad too, but the total amount of money is into the tens of thousands when it’s all totaled up so that’s a big deal). I think its a difficult line to figure out what to share and when to stop talking and let the proper authorities do their job when it comes to wanting or needing to share what happened to you to prevent it from happening to others or to keep from going down that slippery slope of turning into what some could perceive as cyberbullying. I would think that the people she has (allegedly) taken advantage of would NOT want outsiders to spread the word if they have not personally had any (alleged) wrongdoing against them because it seems like it wouldn’t really be helpful to them in the long run.
When all is said and done, I think this can be a wake up call to other bloggers to realize that they need to follow through with things or be held accountable. I’m sure when you reach a certain level of success in blogging, or anything in life, its easy to feel like you are untouchable and if you lack ethics it could be very easy to take advantage of situations and people. As far as feeling bad for any impact this may have on her livelihood, I also feel bad for those who may have been taken advantage of by her, whose livelihood she impacted by not only (allegedly) taking actual money from them, but using her power to (allegedly) tell other bloggers, companies and PR people who “bad eggs” were to work with. This also impacts their livelihood beyond the original money they are (allegedly) out. I believe that if she proves that she has done nothing wrong and that she has followed through on all these dealings with these people, they will be the ones who will end up on the skids because people don’t seem to be very forgiving in the blogging world, but if she is in the wrong, she has made her own bed. If she chose to do those things and take money from others without coming through on what was promised and make no refunds to them, then she has no one to blame but herself and needs to take responsibility, and consequences, of these actions.”
Is this the same person? http://www.moultrieobserver.com/news/local_news/toddler-tests-positive-for-meth/article_a30e7090-43ca-5537-b9be-824f2f6b7963.html
No! This is most definitely NOT the same individual. I think another reader asked that question as well. Not at all.
MPM, LLC came up as “inactive/reserved” on the Iowa corporate registries search. This can mean that she simply forgot to file annual reports or pay dues but ‘reserved’ may mean that only partial paperwork was ever filed. That doesn’t excuse any unethical behavior; I just want to point out a potential inaccuracy in the story. The event host should refund every penny to those who bought tickets, advertising or booth space if the event was cancelled.
I will double-check on this @disqus_r2pO2BeAbz:disqus but I do believe that another person has registered that particular name. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear back! 🙂
I was correct – the MPM, LLC is registered to Michael Young. Nothing to do with the “other” MPM.
that is actually “reserved” by a real estate lawyer named Michael Young.
That’s why I have to do everything though non techie I am. I had headache and my body’s aching all over as I have to do the set up of new template, buying domain name, etc on my own. I felt so slow then. Haha. I didn’t know anything and some websites are not helpful. I actually still have some problems (posting on FB shows the comment and not a short summary of the article) because I couldn’t find a helpful post online.
It’s sad that even online or in your home, you can still be victimized by fraud. But I hope everything will be well with you and all us bloggers soon.
United against fraud, we are!
@SuperLux:disqus – I absolutely LOVE this woman – Julie over at Fabulous Blogging. She is awesome – has some really great helpful articles on her blog and she spells it out for us “newbies” when it comes to the ins and outs of certain things. She has a Google Community by the same name that has some fabulous women in it that would be great for you to connect with. If you ever have any questions about something – I used to be on Blogger for years and I’m on WordPress now – just drop me a comment on a post or use the contact form or you can email me and I’ll do my best to help you out with what it is or find someone who CAN help!
HOLY CRAP ! So when I transfered from blogger to wordpress I hired her husband to do the transfer and whatnot because I trusted her and his rate was decent. My website was down all the time! I didn’t have access to the back end of the website – just the wordpress stuff so I had no idea what was wrong. I would email the husband and He would tell me my website had too much traffic and I had to buy bigger hosting. I am such a small time blogger I couldnt imagine that I had too much traffic and i refused to increase my hosting with him . So one day a little over a year into my hosting package with him he emails me and says within 7 days I have to find my own host that my little website was hogging all his server bandwidth and he was dropping me. I demanded a refund and after a bunch of emails got it. When I tried to move to hostgator I had so many issues because my website was listed under his account and he was very slow at switching things over to me. Since having everything in my name, I haven’t had ANY issues with my site being down. I never felt like I was being scammed, but looking back it does seem a little fishy – but I got my site transferred to wordpress and I now have my own hosting, so I am not out anything.
Hopefully this all gets resolved soon.
Oh wow @dwalline:disqus – that’s rough. I’m glad that you did get your money back and are off their service. I’m as territorial about my blog as I am protective of my kids. Don’t mess with my kids and you damn sure don’t mess with my blog either. The claws come out then. I’m too proud of what I’ve accomplished and worked too hard to get where I am. There’s only one person that I trust with my blog and that’s Pamela at The Posh Box and Aaron at RFE Hosting for my service. That’s it.
I was just going to say I entered the MPM giveaway and I guess that I should stop participating in that event and wasting my time with all the work involved in entering if it is for nothing. I entered all the contest on that site too….
I’m not saying that it won’t be paid out or that the prizes offered (whatever they might be) won’t be received by any means. But I do believe that people should know whom they are dealing with. I have my giveaway sponsors send all of my winners their prizes directly, and I’ve only had issues with one giveaway prize not being received in a timely manner – and I kept communicating with the sponsor until it was taken care of and the winner received her item. That’s just good PR for the company and the blogger, and the bloggers that I associate with feel the same.
Here is my post. I’d love it if you’d add it to your list in your post: http://www.swankypointofview.com/2015/05/teri-hardy-my-story.html I will add yours to mine as well.
If someone would kindly direct me to some screen shots, I would appreciate it. I’m currently participating in the MPM Giveaway Event and would like to make a more informed decision about whether or not I need to remove this event from my blog and file a dispute with PayPal. I really want to believe that it’s not true, but the evidence isn’t lining up well so far. I’d like more hard proof the make me feel better. Thanks in advance.
I have screenshots myself, but as instructed by my lawyer, I should keep those for evidence since I filed with the FBI Internet Crimes as well as the Attorney General’s in the state of Iowa. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with me. I’m not hard to find!
I’m participating in that event as well. I pretty sure I paid the extra money for comments on my my blog but I’ve seen no increase in comments on my site since posting the giveaway. I haven’t entered the giveaway myself so I don’t know if it’s even listed to comment on my site. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s anyway to go back and make sure that’s what I selected but I could look at my payment and it would give an good indication. I took mine down because I figured, the giveaway was to promote the conference that is no longer happening. Also, I have to find the link but there is certain info that must be disclosed in regard to sweepstakes including prizes and there was no specification on weekly prizes or if anyone has even been selected yet. I would think that IF in fact she was running everything legitimately she would have let bloggers involved in helping promote the giveaway/conference know what to do. I’ve resisted posting my concerns thus far because I’m not a fan of kicking a person when they’re down but the more I hear the more concerned I grow. I don’t want my blog I’ve worked hard by myself to build to be tainted by association in anyway, even if it was just a sweepstakes
Something that I always do when I’m entering a giveaway is to put it on my calendar. I have a paper calendar and a computerized calendar. If I don’t have my phone handy to quickly type in what the giveaway information is – I’ll scribble it down on the date page that I signed up for the event – what I paid (if anything) – who the host/hostess of the giveaway is – their email – and when it is due to begin. Later that day or sometimes at the end of the week on a Sunday – I go through the paper calendar and the computerized calendar and make sure that everything is notated in both calendars. If my desktop and phone suddenly both go out and are inoperable – I can still see everything that I need in the paper calendar.
Hi there @MaeGal:disqus. You can contact me via email for additional information – kimatliah@live.com.
Thanks for head’s up!
This makes me so sick! I heard about this earlier today from a fellow giveaway addict like myself. She forwarded me this post. My boyfriend and I are shaking our heads. I hate cheaters, liars and scammers. I don’t have time to put into giveaways for prizes that will never arrive. What a shame that this woman is making all other bloggers look bad to sponsors and turning them away from doing business with them. So here is my question: what will become of the current giveaways that are co-hosted by trusted bloggers such as Jenn’s Blah Blah Blog, New Age Mama and more? I have won giveaways hosted by both of them and never had a problem, but I have (luckily???) never won a Motherhood Defined giveaway.
Please don’t stop entering contests from the other bloggers! If they are even a fraction like me – I get the biggest kick out of being able to award one of my readers an awesome prize that they might not have otherwise been able to afford or that might not be available in their area at the moment to purchase. We are not all like this – 99% of the blogging community is made of people who love giving back to their readers and do ‘this’ because they love to blog.
sigh…
I won a kitchenaid from her in july, and never received it.
she was responding up until october saying that her sponsors didn’t send it because they didn’t know what color to send; and after october she blocked me from SM and ignores all emails
I am so sorry. I wish it was within my power to give each of you every prize that is still owed to you. I am going to check a few resources and see what avenues you might have available to you. I’d be heartbroken if I had won a KitchenAid and never received it. Those are some sweet mixers!!!
I am Michelle Swank and was a victim of the Mom Powered Media/Teri Hardy scheme. She had me buy-in to her business and offer to give me mentoring and a percentage of profits and pay me for sponsored posts, but never delivered and still owes me for sponsored posts and never mentored or did anything she promised. When I asked for my money back, she trashed my name to the blogging community, PR companies, other media companies that work with bloggers, and it really affected me as a blogger. At the time, I was the first person that she had offered this “deal” to and was one of the first people to be scammed by her (not the first, as I know she did other things, too, unfortunately), but most people believed her over me and it really affected me as a blogger and I’m still trying to recover as a blogger. Not only did I lose some of the money I invested to be a partner in her company, but the money she owed me from profits, as well as sponsored posts and other work I did for her, plus I lost money that I would have made on my own blog that I lost due to her slandering my name.
She would bully me and threaten me and threaten to sue me and to be honest I was afraid. I would try to warn people about her as best as I could without going into too much detail, but I never had the courage to come completely forward until now. People just never wanted to believe bad things about her. They kept saying she was their friend and they didn’t want to pick sides or whatever, but I had a few friends who stood by me and knew and promised me this day would come. She has hurt so many people. I wasn’t the first, but I hope D.B. is the last. She’s even scammed her own mother.
I have saved all my emails from her and conversations from her so I have proof of her bullying and lies and scams.
Thank you for sharing your story @disqus_nbdQTdi21i:disqus.
wow! I have followed her for many years. I would have never imagined her doing this to so many people. Thanks for the post. I will make sure I unsubscribe from her
Over and over I warned everyone in her group and others for years no one would listen . She acted like I was making the shit up. Now you see what I am talking about. Also be-careful she has a lot of facebook profiles and blogs she uses.
OMG it’s teri??? I can’t believe it! I had no idea she was doing something like this. Thank you!!!!
yes it is Teri formerly known as Mom to Bed By 8.
Can I ask you her blog and company name? I don’t quite get that. Is it just “Company” or is that just how you’re stating it? I want to know if I’ve worked with her at all. Thank you! I’ll be sharing this a lot!
She’s writing it that way because they contacted her hosting company, and it could be legally viewed as slander/defamation. But as I have no stake in this fight, and am simply answering your question: prior to being edited for legal reasons, it read Teri Hardy and Mom Powered Media (otherwise known as MPM). While I never did get a gig through them (too small), I had the button on my blog. You can imagine that it is now gone, until this is cleared up officially. Blogs live and die by reputation.
Thanks Alena 🙂
Attention – if you need to file a complaint you can do so with the Iowa Attorney General’s office – https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/.
For anyone wanting to know the name of this person it is Teri Hardy.
Blogs that she owns and does business as:
Mom Powered Media
http://mompoweredmedia.com/
Motherhood Defined (formerly Mom to Bed by 8)
http://www.motherhooddefined.com/
Iowa Mom
http://www.iowa-mom.com
Secret Southern Couture
http://www.secretsoutherncouture.com/
Midwest Traveling Foodie
http://www.midwesttravelingfoodie.com/
@bookgeeks1 on Twitter – Teri Hardy Hatland
I have screenshots also. You can message me through FB https://www.facebook.com/mistymarie.battle
Teri you can attempt to keep bullying people, but it won’t work with everyone. *Drops mic*
Uncensored version: http://hearthealthyinflorida.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
Thanks Misty. I deleted her on all social media. Haven’t entered her giveaways in a long time. God’s judgement is upon her and people who operate like her.
there are more then that lol
she has WAY too much time on her hands to have THIS much sites and social media. Thankfully I never pay to do giveaways as i see no profit as a blogger but knew of her and did free ones. NEVER again!
Thank you for sharing. I am going through and unsubscribing from all of the social media associated with these sites.
Thank you I am unsubscribing from all as well.
This is one shady lady. I was stupid enough to give her $100 to add my blog’s Facebook link to all MPM giveaways before the FB rule change. She promised 30+ giveaways. I was added on page #10 or so for ONE giveaway. I emailed and messaged multiple times without a response. At the same time, I had paid $25 to be part of a Disney GC giveaway. My readers wanted to know the winner and I emailed and messaged because she never listed one on the form or anywhere else that I could find. Again no response. She also tried not to pay me for social media blast campaign but there was a group of us and the girl who worked for her and organized it ratted her out for ripping us all off. That payment came quickly along with a slew of excuses and finger pointing, including trying to say we had not correctly completed the task.
I would just like to say two things – thank those of you who are stepping forward and sharing your own stories. This needs to stop and we need to come together collectively to put a stop to this. Just as with any type of abuse, if kept in the dark and not spoken about, it is allowed to fester and continue. Secondly – I have been literally swamped with emails and comments. I promise to respond to each of you and/or “vote up” your comment so that you are aware that it has been seen. At the moment I’m dealing with a very scared Jack Russell/Chihuahua who is cowering on my lap because of a thunderstorm. The baby girl has priority for a few minutes. 🙂
FINALLY! Things have been going around about her for several years. I know quite a few people who won from her, and never got their prizes. You bloggers should all get together and file a lawsuit. That is just terrible. I knew she was a scam from a prize aspect, but I didn’t know she was ripping off all you bloggers too.
If anyone needs the screenshots on the original post please contact me on Facebook. She set the status to friends only. https://www.facebook.com/mistymarie.battle
I’d love to see those screenshots. I just sent you a friend request.
That would be my original post, so personally, if you’d like to contact me that would be great instead of someone else sharing screenshots. Thank you.
I have won from her blog twice. The second win I had such a hard time getting the prize another blogger went to the main company and the main company contacted me. When Teri finally responded she stated she never received my email claiming the win, which was a lie, she had responded to the email several times… When confronted with the lie she turned it around as she had no idea what was going on because she never had the email I stated she sent, so she called her “husband” to ask him what was going on with her email. At this time another girl had won something from Teri and was having a hard time as well… This blogger needs shut down, bloggers like her make it so hard for the honest ones.
Look at her giveaways… awfully SMALL entry numbers and winners are not announced on the form.
I unfollowed her. That is just sad. I hate a liar and cheat!
Wow,guess I now know why the items I won from her blog never came! How disappointing to hear about all of the crazy stuff she has done.I have been a follower for a long time but that’s about to change! Thanks for coming forward!
Thank you for sharing this! I know I’m currently entering some giveaways from her and now I know I’m wasting my time! So sorry to all the people who got scammed by her. It’s always terrible when you come across people like this! Such a drag for the whole community.
I stopped entering her giveaways about 2-3 years ago when I won an amazon gift card and she kept giving me the run around and claimed that she hadn’t received an email, when I forward her the correspondence she changed her tune and said that she would mail it to me. Now why would she mail me an Amazon gift card that can be sent by email. She kept lying about sending it and I just gave up on it. But if she replies to this and calls me out, I still have a copy of her emails to me. I don’t usually have a problem with not receiving prizes. I think she may be the third blogger I have had a problem with as far as receiving a prize and constantly saying she was sending it or had sent it.
I had the same problem with her!
Did you win an Amazon Gift Card as well @disqus_MpEjW9KdBd:disqus and never receive it? If you could tell me the amount of the gift card I’ll add it to the record. Thanks.
I never won an Amazon GC. I won two different giveaways from her, the first I had no problem receiving it was a gift card to I believe personal creations. The second one though I had to fight for.
@tabathia:disqus do you recall what the amount was for the gift card you were supposed to receive?
It was the winner wonderland giveaway and the gift card was for $25.
Just terrible!!! I unliked all of her Facebook pages and un-followed on twitter,pinterest & Google +. Also unsubscribed to her emails.
i just unsubscribed myself from one of her blogs that i had been signed up for – thanks for the heads-up!!
I’m not a blogger, but have been a follower/reader of hers for a very long time now and am very disturbed by this news. I was wondering if I, and all of my other friends that read/follow her, need to also be leery of the other bloggers involved with MPM and her? I see there are a few bloggers who are involved with the majority of her giveaways that she does. I’ve never won anything from one of her giveaways, but I certainly will not be entering any more and have trouble at all sharing this information with my friends/influencers that read/follow her and enter her giveaways. I know that giveaways take a lot of work and time on the part of the bloggers, but for those of us that enter…it can be a lot of work and time too and it’s just not right if the blogger isn’t coming to come through for the winner. This is very sad news indeed. Thank you so much for letting us know.
It’s such a hard call. I’ve tried to get onto MPM campaigns for a few years, but was never chosen (I’m not a very big blog, comparatively, so while disappointed it wasn’t a huge deal). I’m now glad I did not. I feel for the many honest bloggers involved with MPM who will likely suffer for the association. I’d encourage you to simply watch and listen for a while, and see what happens. Anyone involved in any dishonesty will likely come to light, whereas any innocent parties will likely try to make that clear as well.
@PJGurganus:disqus – no, I would not say that you need to be leery of any other bloggers involved with MPM. If you have any questions however, please feel free to email me (kimatliah@gmail.com) and I will answer any questions you may have with my personal knowledge of any blogger you may have questions about. I hope that helps! We cannot allow one bad apple to spoil the bunch.
Thank you for responding Kim. I’m very sorry to hear about all this mess. It makes me sick to my stomach. I feel so bad for all of you other bloggers who do what you do because you love it and I just want you all to know how much I appreciate the hard work that you put into your blogs for your followers/readers. I am currently having a giveaway “situation” with a blogger, but by no means feel that any bloggers once or now involved with MPM are automatically guilty by association. I’m truly apologize if I gave that impression. I sincerely wish you all the best and will do what I can to also help spread the word about this to all of my social media friends that read and follow her sites and enter her giveaways. I agree that she does need to be shut down and reported to any companies and brands, sponsors, advertisers, etc. that work with her. Thank you again, Kim.
Yes, many of us bloggers were duped and some of us were even once part of MPM. Many of us are just as shocked by this as you guys. Most bloggers are honest and will go out of there way to make sure readers get the prizes. 🙂
I can only speak for myself here, but a lot of the affected bloggers had absolutely ZERO clue this was happening….I sure didn’t, and I have worked on a TON of MPM campaigns and giveaways. I am just sickened by this, and my feelings are hurt. I considered Ms. Hardy a personal friend, and trusted her. I, too, am owed money, although not a large amount, and I also have prizes that have not been received. Most of us feel completely blind-sided here, too. I have removed myself from any and all MPM groups because I just don’t want to be affiliated with this in any way.
I won a $15.00 Fandango Gift Card last year, waited 6 weeks and emailed her and received a very rude reply back, that was the last contest i ever entered she was involved in. If I see her name or business on any contest form I don’t enter it.
OMG! I hope I can find all of the emails I might have subscribed to an get her off my Twitter list too! Thank you!
I feel so redeemed by seeing this. I was scammed by her for a giveaway. After I signed up, the giveaway was taken down and there was no record of it anywhere. She eventually responded to my emails very rudely and told me that I was a part of the giveaway yet she wouldn’t show me any links of proof. She also refused a refund or negotiation of my funds. I finally gave up, wrote it off and quickly unfollowed her on all SM. I wish I would of spoken up now as you are. I had no idea her scams were of this magnitude. Warning people! This person is not to be trusted!
@jillenepetersen:disqus – do you remember which giveaway it was and what you paid? If so, please send that info to me at kimatliah@gmail.com. Thanks.
The first post has been removed http://on.fb.me/1Aed7Ts
It hasn’t been removed, it’s my post, it’s just sent to friends only.
The Facebook post has been removed. I was in the middle of reading it too.
The status on who could view was changed. The post will be updated in the morning with all the pertinent facts and information.
Thanks!
It hasn’t been removed, it’s my post, it’s just set to friends only.
Here is her hubby’s acct. Do a search & unfollow at all her pages! https://www.facebook.com/don.hatland
Wow, I am livid! I won at one of her twitter parties back in freakin’ October. It was a $250 gift card. I emailed her and didn’t receive a response. I guess it’s safe to say that I won’t be getting that prize!!! People are disgusting!!
Chrissy, shes a real con artist. She took me for $1500. I trusted her and called her a friend.
That’s the worst! People who pretend to be your friend. In reality, they were just friendly to scam you out of your hard-earned money. I read the whole thing in the link posted above. Terrible!!!
That’s horrible Chrissy. Unfortunately, unless we stick together when things like this happen – we have no recourse. There is strength in numbers.
How funny, she is from the same town as me and I have never heard of her. Thanks for the heads up!
You are most welcome @melissa_haag:disqus. I will be updating the post with other bloggers who have come forward as well to tell how they have been scammed by her as well. Stay tuned.
You should report her to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission and also LinkedIn as well as other media outlets.
It is being done @disqus_iyI6HSpaky:disqus. Thanks much!
I believe she can be reported to her SERVER as well for fraudulent activities. Also, report her to Amazon.com (she has a profile there), report her Facebook page, etc.