Feb. 22
The company in question, Placement Power inc, called me in November to pitch their service, which includes a customer agreeing to pay them for internet keyword (s) that pertain to their business. Now, normally when internet users type in a keyword into one of the major search engines, i.E., Google, Yahoo, etc., they pull up businesses of interest related to that keyword. As a business owner, the further up you are to the top of the search engine page, the better the chance that the internet user will 'click' on the link to your business, as opposed to a competitor who is further down the search engine page. Placement Power's claim is that if you purchase a keyword (s) from them, not only will they guarantee that your business link be at the very top, above all of your competitors, but it will also appear as the colored header of your website.in other words, when an internet user enters in a keyword that you have purchased from Placement Power into a major search engine, they supposedly have the ability to enable? Millions of internet users? To view the top part of your business website homepage to appear on the very top, above all of your other business competitors. This is a very appealing offer to any business owner who advertises on the internet such as I do. The only problem is that they intentionally do not tell you that in order for any internet user to see your website header on the top of the search engine page, the internet user has to have a special software service pack (plug-in) downloaded on their computer.in other words, 99.9% of all internet users in this country will not be able see my header appear above any search engine page, because they do not have this special download. I invite you, or any one else reading this letter to type in the keyword that I purchased into Google, Yahoo, etc. And I can guarantee you that you will not be able to view my website header on the top of any of those search engines. What good does this do me? None whatsoever!
In the letter from Julie Saenz of Placement Power, she claims that their sales reps are required to inform the customer that this? Plug-in? Is one of the conditions of the set-up. That is not true! They may be required to inform the customer, but I was never told anything specific about any kind of download, plug-in or anything of that nature on any email or during any phone call with them.in fact, during January of this year, I was called by another sales rep from Placement Power. Evidentially, my name was still on a sales call list of some sort, because I could tell that she wasn't aware that I had already been called by another sales rep within her company. She cited the very same sales pitch as the previous sale rep, verbatim, including the failure to volunteer any information about any special software download requirements. I even asked specific questions about their ability to provide this service and she continued to dance around the subject, giving me vague and generalized answers. These sales reps are aware that if they volunteer the fact that only the internet users that have this special download will be able to see the header of your website on the search engines, they will not be able to make a fraction of the sales that they do, otherwise. They use deceptive sales tactics, by means of omission, in the hopes that the unsuspecting customer will sign their contract and thus be financially committed to them. The only time that this information is presented is in the proverbial fine print, in one short sentence, within their contract. Furthermore, I received my contract on a 15 year old fax machine and the fine print, being so small to begin with, wasn't very legible. They should make this one very important item of information about their service more easily accessible to their customers. Also, they should word it in a manner in which individuals, like myself, who have limited computer knowledge can understand exactly what it means. Microsoft sends out plug-ins and software service-pack downloads through the internet on a regular basis in order to keep your computer's operating system updated. When I was first made aware of a plug-in required for Placement Power's service, that's the first thing that I assumed they were talking about, so it could very easily be misunderstood.
If there is to be any worthwhile investigation into this matter, it should include someone calling Power Placement Inc. As an interested website owner to see if the sales representatives conduct themselves in the manner in which Julie Saenz claims they are required to do by informing the customer that only people who have this special download will be able to view the customer's website header as is advertised. I will tell you again that they do not do this. All they do is tell you and show you exactly what you want to hear and see by hyping it up and showing you an on-line demo through their website, www.placementpower.net. As a matter of fact, the example of the result of their service that they have provided in their defense is done through their own website's on-line demo. You can go to it and do the same thing right now. It doesn't prove anything at all, except that they can produce this result through their website because they have the special download in their system that the majority of internet users do not have. Here's are three important questions: 1.) How are millions of internet users supposed to acquire this special download? 2.) What would give them the incentive to download this software into their computer? 3.) And since my theater of operation is primarily in Atlanta, Ga., how many internet users in this area, percentage wise, would actually have this special download, plug-in, software? Hardly any at all!
When I first realized the nature of Placement Power's services and how it would not be of any benefit to me, I called and emailed them, immediately, before January 1, the date my service was to go into effect, and told them that I did not want to participate in their program, but they refused to reimburse me the $850.00 (two installments of $425.00) that I had already paid them. If this service worked in the way that it was initially described to me, I would not hesitate to participate. But the way that it is set up, I have wasted $850.00 for absolutely nothing but a theory. I sincerely hope that your decision reflects the importance of moral and ethical business practices prevailing over deceptive sales tactics and contractual technicalities. I am respectfully asking that I be allowed to have my money returned to me, because I simply cannot afford to lose this amount.
Sincerely
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