After research into Charles Lloyd, Edapte.com, LocalListingSite.com, TPSLocal.com, the Placement Specialists, Mark Sykes, Adam Kluger, Steve Sparks, Stacie Hatfield, Ray Kooenga and others players I have found they have not only ripped off clients but also employees deceiving them to believe they honestly performed guaranteed placement on the top half of Google and other search engines 24/7 for a low monthly flat fee.
Some of the interviewed former sales people share tales of double selling exclusive keywords in the same city. The promises of only representing one of each type business in each city was ignored, as was the client would always be on top (in some cases the clients were promised the top 1,2 or 3 positions) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no matter how many clicks they received. They were also promised unlimited keywords.
Sales people tell tales of their clients not being up in over a month. Also pay cuts and bounced checks. One former employee stated that between June and November the company took in well over a million dollars. This did not stop their paychecks from bouncing at least 3 times.
Lloyd was known for his rants, raves and cursing at sales people and support staff as well as clients. He bullied others to get what he wanted. He even blogged clients who upset him.
Lloyd has been involved in several telemarketing scams including medical billing which the FTC prosecuted him for. He has many business names which he changes almost weekly. He is even listed in a book about crime in America.
According to a female former employee, he sexually harassed her and forced her to even perform oral acts in his office while he was "pitching" prospective clients.
We have discovered pictures of Lloyd and a blond having sex in a parking lot in Laguna Hills, as well as them exiting a hotel near their former office.
In Charles Lloyd's office in Laguna Hills he was teamed up at one point with Carl Perkins. The names used there was Premium Local Listings, Performance Local Listings, Premium ROI and several other names. At one point Perkins locked Lloyd and the sales staff out of their office on payday stating that he (Perkins) fired everyone for insubordination because everyone was going to work at Lloyd's new company. There is an ongoing battle for clients and money between these 2 individuals.
Their companies not only took money and did not perform the promised service, but they are also well known for double and triple billing clients even after the clients canceled.
The company took a major downturn in October/November when the salespeople left because they was not being paid, eventhough the company had residual monthly billings contracts in excess of $80,000 per month. According to a former salesperson who now works at a competitor, she lost all confidence in the ability of Lloyd to service her customers. She not only had bounced checks, but had paychecks delayed and is still owed money.
The investigation is ongoing.
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