Nonpaying - Will Cheat You!
I signed up with GoClick.com at the beginning of last year. It seemed too good to be true. One of the highest payout rates in the industry. If it sounds too good to be true; it usually is. This was no exception. They paid me the first two months then, when I wasn't logging in to check stats anymore, they dropped my rates down from the $0.02 per search to $0.00 per search and the $2.50 cpm popups down to $0.25 cpm. I noticed this in March of over 5 months after they reduced my rates.
I contacted them and Mr. John Babina, proprietor of GoClick, promptly responded that their terms of service state they can change the rate at any time and for any reason. So, without notice, they did so in August and have been getting free traffic from my network of sites ever since. When I filed a report with the Better Business Bureau against them I received this e-mail from Mr. Babina:
"
This is official notice that we are hereby terminating our affiliate relationship with the account holder at this email address. (under our affiliate terms: "goClick may adjust affiliate parameters and payouts or terminate
an affiliate at any time for any reason. All decisions on content, rates, payment or termination will be made by goClick and all decisions are final.""
So, Mr. Babina is running a successful scam against webmasters and stonewalling any who catch him at it.
I went ahead and saved my affiliate account history with GoClick and uploaded it.
X
As you can see, the last payout to me was 7/29/03 and the rates seem to be dropped to nil, without notification, on 8/08/03. Surely no reputable company can justify changing the rates to zero on an individual's account. This is nothing more than a scam and it is time to come clean or save company face and pay what is owed. It is not a fortune that is owed.
I signed up with the rates:
$0.02 per search
$2.50 per 1,000 popunders
Since the last payout I have sent:
&
1924 Searches:
1924 x. 02 = $38.48
109,004 Popunders:
109 x 2.50 = $272.50
&
Total: $310.98
I do not believe I have the intellectual ability to convey to you in words exactly how frustrating it is to have a company, that you signed up to promote in good faith, reduce your rates to zero and continue to accept your end of the agreement while completely dropping and bailing on its end. What's worse, no notice was sent. He just secretly changes the rate to zero and when you finally figure out you're being scammed— he hides behind an illegal Terms of Service page.
Why Illegal? I Asked My Attorney.
Can They Change My Rate of Compensation?
"Yes, if the employer tells you about the reduction before it goes into effect. The employer cannot reduce your rate of pay on traffic you have already sent."
What About The Terms of Service?
"The page you showed me was not professionally written nor legally binding. Ecommerce is governed by a whole new set of laws. Regardless of what a company says in their terms of service they are still bound by Federal Law.
Furthermore, I signed up with the affiliate link on the bottom of GoClick's main page. At no point was I required to read and agree with the terms or even presented with a copy of them."
I did the same and guess what, he is right... No terms. All it asked was if I am 18 (Check!) and if I know what a PPC Search Engine is (Check!)
Screenshots were taken of the signup process. No terms were presented at signup which I would think constitutes having never read and agreed to them. Which negates:
"Our terms you agreed to when signing up state we can adjust your rate at any time"
The terms I agreed to were you paying $2.50 per 1,000 popunders and $0.02 per search.
Here is a copy of the test account's signup confirmation e-mail. There were no terms present in it either.
"
Congratulations... Your goClick.com account is now ready and you can begin submitting links and receiving traffic immediately!
(Be sure to read below on how to earn cash from goClick...)
STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCAM. I tried to resolve this a number of ways.
First by e-mail - Stonewalled!
Better Business Bureau - Stonewalled!
Telephone - Stonewalled!
Now I'm just posting my experiences with them in hopes to save others from this nonpaying, scamming, PPC Search Engine.
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