We booked a surf lesson 8 days in advance. We called ONE hour later because we had to cancel. Matt Binswanger said ok. Four days later we received a letter stating that he charged our credit card $50 for a cancellation fee! We tried to reason with him - he was extremely rude and unprofessional. His dealings are unethical - he is keeping our hard earned money for nothing!
T cFresno, California
U.S.A.
=E-mail from Newport Surf School Matt Binswanger=
From: Matthew Binswanger [mailto: [email protected]] Sent: Saturday, January 07 4:06 AMTo: EDitor@usacomplaints. ComSubject: RE: Why has my report not been removed?
You Guy's are a bunch of advocates against the free Enterprise system. I Will pressure Chris to rectify the situation and will continue to seek federal legal action to bar fro m further embarrassment!!! I hope you Will contact me because you are chicken shit!!! Call me if you have the balls!!! Ed threatened me to bring fliers up and down the coast!!! Your a bunch of pussies and you will be dealt with. I will not be intimidated by a bunch of interment junkies to destroy my company.!!! I will fight and will prevail!!! How doers it feel to run a company that tries s to destroy others??? / We live in a communist country and I will never be intimidated by a second class rate company like yours!!! 1 Your a piece of shit and you can go right ahead and defame my name and I will prevail!!! Come on and expose your self!!! 1 I will pursue and and will prevail with anti Americans like you!!! You wanna platy??? We will play!!! You piece of shit mother f*ers!!! Cunt< bitch whores!!! I will come after you like a battle!!! I am a Christian!!! The JEWS put Jesus to death!!! I will fight to put the record straight!!! Now I will go averted Chris Burkhart because nobody witll ever put my lifre style under defermermnment!!!
Matthew Binswanger
=E-mail from consumer complaints [email protected] wrote:
We are glad to see you made that change, and when you post that as a REBUTTAL, that will go over very well with anyone finding that Report.
Never, EVER has a consumer complaints been removed. You can only UPDATE and add to it... The nicer you are, the better you will look.
We will all be blogged somewhere sometime.
People have sued us from one coast to the other, all have either walked away, they lost the suit and many (including in California) had to pay us after suing us.
"This is in response to your request that we remove the report posted about you on the consumer complaints web site. We understand that it is your position that the report is not accurate. Consumer complaints has no way of determining whether you or the author of the report is telling the truth. We encourage you to post a rebuttal explaining your side of the story, but we have a uniform policy against removing stories posted by consumers.
Be advised that your threats of legal action are not supported by the law. Federal law, specifically the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. A 230, states that websites are immune from any liability for statements authored by others. Every court that has published an opinion about this statute has agreed that a website that provides a forum for others to post statements is not liable for those statements, even if they are false and defamatory. Congress enacted the Communications Decency Act to promote the free exchange of information and ideas over the Internet. Courts have recognized that Congress deliberately chose not to deter harmful online speech by means of civil liability on "companies that serve as intermediaries for other parties' potentially injurious messages." Id.
Also, the Communications Decency Act preempts state law to the extent that state law allows defamation claims against web site operators and on-line service providers for content they did not create.
Any claim that you might assert against consumer complaints or its Internet Service Provider is barred by the Communications Decency Act. If you have a claim for defamation, you must bring it against the person who authored the report, not consumer complaints.
When the Reported business asks us, "why dont you check out these Reports before you post them".. I ask you, where do we start and stop with evidence? No system is perfect. United States puts people to death, after 1 or 2 jury trials and countless appeals, to only find out later, ooops! They weren't guilty after all!..
Most businesses ask. "ED, in what good does it do if a consumer sees consumer complaintss from back in 2005" - - I tell them this is THE most important benefit you can ever get from consumer complaints! Any 1/2 witted, educated consumer who is surfing the web in July and comes across a consumer complaints on your business. Consider yourself lucky... Think about it. Remember, all businesses will get complaints, ALL..!! This will show the consumer that you have had no complaints for a long time, more importantly, it shows that you were man/woman enough to address your issues, make changes and committed to total customer satisfaction! What consumer would not want to do business with you? Even the guilty business will be forced to change their ways. Most people who respond appropriately, admit they might gave made a mistake, giving their customer the benefit of the doubt, and showing how they took care of the complaint or they will take care of the complaint if they contact them... TELL ME, what consumer would not want to do business with them. Even if the complaint is totally false, you can turn that around by explaining what you know in a nice way... If handled correctly, you will turn a negative into a positive. The Internet is here to stay, and the tides have turned for the benefit of the consumer. BIG BUSINESS with lots of money is no longer in control... This will not change.
Consumer complaints is thanked all the time by businesses that fist said, "this will not work, you are full-of-it!"... Most Businesses admitted after doing what I suggested, they now get business from the Report, new found business they would have never had if the consumer complaints did not exist.
Below is sort of a general response to businesses that contact us with a sincere effort to rectify their problems..
We DO NOT author the Reports. Consumer your self lucky they/your customer did not make us some sucks.com website on your company, located in some 3rd world country where you could not respond to the charges like you can on consumer complaints. I think if you handle your response in the correct way, that will say it all, and in your favor, turning that negative into a positive, taking the high road..
If responded to properly, any half intelligent consumer will know the deal. The nicer you are, the more you turn around the negative consumer complaints. We live in the Internet age. Unless Al Gore stops the internet, we are all stuck with it.:-) Deal with it, and show what a good business or business person you are; put your best foot forward, go beyond the call of good customer service, then the consumer complaints will work as a positive advertisement you will want ALL your customers to see. A lot cheaper than those costly full page ads in the paper and on TV. Once you see this is working as a positive for your company, maybe you will think about sending us some of those advertising dollars, as you will see, consumer complaints WILL GET YOU NEW FOUND BUSINESS, if, that's IF, you handle the Report in a positive way. Anyone thinking of Coming after consumer complaints (filing a lawsuit) will get them nowhere and will only, more than likely, get them even more bad publicity, as that lawsuit will be passed around because, that lawsuit just became public information and can be posted all day long everywhere by anyone.
Consumer complaints has no way of determining whether you or the author of the report is telling the truth. We encourage you to post a rebuttal explaining your change of heart, or have the owner of the business tell their side of the story, but we have a uniform policy against removing stories posted by consumers.
Why WE DO NOT Remove a consumer complaints:
If we remove a consumer complaints, we would be no better than the BBB. Although we can not remove reports, we do provide and UPDATE feature that allows you supply additional positive or negative information regarding your situation.
You must understand our philosophy:
If consumer complaints removed a Report every time a business threatened, consumers would be back to where they were before with nothing for them to see as a history on how the business took care of past problems. This Report on the business or individual can work as a positive or as a promotional tool if they respond properly and do the right thing by taking care of you, their customer. Consumers will see this and will want to do business with them in-spit-of what has been written about them...
That is why we supply a REBUTTAL feature so that the company reported has a chance to respond by agreeing, disagreeing, or apologizing and explaining what will be done to fix the issue.
By allowing consumers to view the original report, updates, and rebuttals; consumers will be able to make informed and educated decisions. This is mainly because consumers will be able to see how the company in question deals with complaints.
Regardless, as a mater of policy, we do not remove a submitted Rip-off Repot, and we never will. We have been offered as much as $50,000 to remove just one consumer complaints, but we declined because doing so is in violation of our policy, and more importantly, goes against what we what we stand for. Please understand our position.
Remember, all businesses will get complaints. ALL! You can even file a rebuttal that is pleasant, supportive of this forum and freedom of speech. Also, tell what the situation was at the time the Report was posted, even if its a long time a ago! And how you made improvements to your company to avoid this and other things from happening again, and other positive comments about your company... That is free. You can turn that negative into a positive! Consumers are probably finding your business on search engines that would never even know about you! If handled correctly, this can come permanent positive advertisement!..
CHECKING FACTS before a consumer complaints is filed?! That can happen... Who will pay for that?
... We also offer a paid service where we can make your comments come first, and we can add something permanent and positive to the title along with a review after interviewing your company on the charges made against you, changes you made and what we now know about your company. Maybe with a commitment of refund, satisfaction and a special e-mail address for consumers to get special help! Like we say on our home page... Just because a company is listed on consumer complaints, does NOT mean you should NOT deal with that company or individual. Quite the contrary... Now as a consumer you know what to look out for. As an educated consumer is your best customer... Remember, all companies or individuals will get complaints... How those businesses or individuals handle those complaints separates good business from bad businesses.
NOTICE: This program does not and NEVER HAS included deleting a consumer complaints. EVER! That is a vicious rumor those who have been exposed on consumer complaints, they are passing around... That false info.
This service also includes uncovering and revealing phony Reports made by ex-employees posing as a unsatisfied customer, and investigating any new complaints before being posted and allowing you to resolve them immediately...
If interested in our program called "Corporate Advocacy Program".. Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program. Contact [email protected] and put in the e-mail subject box: Corporate Advocacy Program RE: YOUR COMAPNY NAME
Lastly, again, I cannot emphasize enough, that attitude is everything when responding to a complaint, even if it is a bogus complaint. Disgruntled ex-employees, imposable to satisfy some customers, possible mistakes you made can all be addressed to make you look good! Depending on how YOU handle it. I know, easier said than done. Every business that belongs to our program state, this program has brought them NEW FOUND BUSINESS, by turning a negative into a positive... Remember, if consumer complaints never existed, consumers would make hate websites dedicated to you, and register them to some 3rd world country where you can never get at them or respond to them. Because of Usa Consumer Complaints.com popularity, you can nip this in the bud for all to see, if handled properly.
ALL BUSINESS WILL MAKE MISTAKES. How those businesses handle those mistakes separates good business from bad business. Showing a consumer how you took care of the problems lets them know good you are, and they will even feel more confident in dealing with you.
We're always open for suggestions and improvements to our programs, even if we don't agree with you...:-)
*below our signature, see what we tell those who threaten to sue.
ED Magedson - FounderEDitor@usacomplaints. Comusacomplaints. Comusacomplaints.com
We are not lawyers. We are not a collection agency.
We are Consumer Advocates... The victims' advocate
WE are Civil and Human Rights Activists
We are a Nationwide Consumer Reporting News Agency.By consumers, for consumers
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