I was called by a salesman for Portal Response Technology which told me that they had over 21 million users of their MySpace Guardian toolbar and I could "purchase" keywords for 12 months and within 90 days I would have ramped up to 12,000 unique visitors to the site.in the conversation I asked that once we were there then I could expect 12,000 visitors per month right and I was told that I would be there within 90 days.
What they did not tell me was that once the contract was 90 days old that the traffic would die back down to around 100 per day.
I paid $4000 for two keywords -
1 mp3 music downloads
2 download online music
Hardly obscure. Most people are on the internet to download music.
The deception was that they directly implied that a "ramping up" to the target would then be a consistent and steady monthly flow of unique visitors. They say that they have over 21 million users of their MySpace Guardian tool bar and that's how they can "guess" how many they can promise me in terms of traffic.
I have repeatedly contacted them to ask why the sudden drop off and no one can answer that question. Janet who answers the phones is very nice. Warren's response is basically -
1. Its your job to generate sales
2. Read your contract - we only really promised 12,000 for the first 90 days - nothing after that
3. We have no control on traffic volumes
Up until now, I have only asked for the traffic that was promised. If there are 21 million users of the MySpace Guardian and they can "ramp up" to 12,000 in 90 days - why can't they maintain? If they can't maintain, I'd like my money back.
I have a third-party tracking service which I checked in addition to the reporting that they provide.indeed there were some referrals through r5 and r6. Mguardian.com
From may 15th - august 15th - there was sporadic increases. Only when a new server was introduced did the numbers shoot up. The IP address was 70.85.216.247. If they have no control over flow how can they shoot up traffic volume in the last week of the contract and then on day 91 drop off to 100 per day?
I went from speaking with Janet K.in the office who was my contact to emailing someone named Warren Wise who emails from a pacbell.net account and not a company account.
They say that they only had one (1) DOCUMENTED dissatisfied customer. Well, on my own I've contacted a couple of companies who utilize their service and so far I'm 100% on dissatisfied clients of Portal Response Technology who are only too happy to share their experiences. Also, in my search I did not find one of the Fortune 500 companies that they say they work with - so far. I did see something for BlockBuster and NetFlix but nothing on eBay or Toyota.
I am pursuing a compliant through the Better Business Bureau in California (www.labbb.org) as well as other avenues.
In my experience, these guys are deceptive in their practice. Warren needs to talk with his sales people. If it was made clear to me that the 90 days would see 12,000 visitors but that's about all - I would not have sent THOUSANDS of dollars to have that.
If you get called by these guys - hang up!
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