Friday, October 05, 2007
Beware Aggressive Search Marketers
Two months ago I received a call from ZipWeb about online search marketing services. Since I already advertise on a number of local search directories for my wife's business and am happy with the paid and natural search results, I told them I didn't need to spend any more on search marketing.
But the telemarketer insisted it was a risk-free 30 day trial and that we would have great placement on MSN, Google and Yahoo. I'm wary of these "something for nothing" free trials having been burned several times, but since I wasn't asked for a credit card numbered I figured it wouldn't cost me anything.
Surprise! This month my phone bill -- my phone bill! -- had a charge of $49.95 from PaymentOne.com, whom I'd never heard of before. I called the 800 number and was told that I had authorized the charge from ZipWeb during my phone conversation. I do not remember this, and certainly never told my phone company (Qwest) to place third-party charges on my bill without my permission. Qwest told me I had to opt out of third-party billing, which I did, but that they couldn't refund the charges. PaymentOne likewise told me I was SOL. Also, the "free" ZipWeb promotion didn't help the business attract new leads. September saw the fewest Internet leads for the business in over a year.
So be very afraid when you answer the phone from search marketers. I've also been getting more direct mail from Google and heard several spots on the radio about Yahoo local search marketing. Search marketers are going offline to try and inform and recruit a broader audience, but be careful.
Posted By John Gartner at 09:22 AM
Permanent Link: Beware Aggressive Search Marketers
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(20) Comments on Beware Aggressive Search Marketers
These clowns have no business marketing themselves in this way. Make sure you contact your state's Attorney General office to file a complaint. There could be recourse for you; don't quit without a fight.
Comments by Matt Keegan : Monday, October 08, 2007 at 03:51 PM
I've tried to get my business listed on search engines, and it's not as easy as many people think. Somebody that could help me get listed is not a terrible thing, especially if it lets me focus on the business. $49.95 seems like inexpensive advertising to me, in the scheme of things...
Comments by Jeremy Stanton : Monday, December 03, 2007 at 02:52 PM
I get calls from these guys who call themselves ZIPWEB every single day. The company I work for has several local access numbers across the United States (like in every large city) so I get reps from ZIPWEB (I assume they are in India because of the accent)calling me at each of this numbers all day long. It seems they pick the first business listing in each category, in each major city and offer you a free listing that will appear first in Google's local searches.
I do online marketing (search engine marketing to be specific) and I can tell you that these guys are not offering you something worth even trying. Someone probably had the "clever" idea of creating a dirty cheap outbound call center to target small/medium business and scam them with their pseudo online marketing services for 50 bucks each. It is probably working...
I have fun with them though because I already memorized their script so I know what they are going to ask based on my answers so I like to mess with them and play jokes on this guys when I have the time and keep myself in a good mood.
Hey maybe someone should write a post on how to play pranks on telemarketers...
Good day!
Comments by G. Biffulco : Wednesday, January 02, 2008 at 09:30 PM
Just like Mr. Keegan they got me too. Back in Dec 2007, I received a call from these Zipweb telemarketer and after insisting about this promotion or whatever they called it. I agree to the tryal for 30days. My surprise was that the charge just appeared on my Jan phone bill under a company call USAB internet solution with an 800 number I called to find out about the charge and my surprise they are charging me for something they said I agree to it. I been fighting with their customer service and they just keep telling me that they won't issue me a credit. Be careful with telemarketers offering free tryal.
I run a small business from home and $49.95 plus taxes it cost me $54.95 for a scam call.
Comments by cecilia B : Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 04:29 PM
I called verizon wondering what this was. They said they'll issue a credit for the $54 to my account and add a block to any 3rd party billing.
After speaking with them, I called zlocalhost.com and then found out this was about the several calls from zipweb in November. I had no idea I was getting automatically enrolled in a service, and wouldn't receive any info from them at all.
Although they claimed the info packet was sent out twice. First to my old address. Then to my new address twice.
James at zlocalhost.com said that basically if Verizon said I would get a credit then I would. But they would not issue a refund.
He then emailed me an audio file of the conversation.
Below is the email I sent to James.
Time will tell if this is taken care of but if not, but I'm not going to roll over on this one--->
James,
at 4:50 in the audio file the person says "there will be no charges whatsoever".
She did mention the $49.95 later in the conversation, however you can't barely understand
anything she is saying most of the time.
Besides the fact that I never received any info through email or mail whatsoever letting me know I'm automatically enrolled in services,
or to remind me or give me a chance to cancel or I would have.
This call was also started by asking to see if my info was up to date and no where in the conversation did I actually
say "yes" or agree to sign up for any anthing.
How can Zlocalhost.com sign people up for service without sending any info at all for these services?
It is my understanding that I was supposed to be given the chance to review these services before deciding to sign
up with anything. Yet, I was given no info for review. Therefore I had no idea this service was started.
This is quite the unethical marketing strategy.
Comments by Madasshellandimnotgoingtotakethisanymore : Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 07:35 PM
Good old James!! Same fellow I've been dealing with over phone and email. Also refuses to give a refund! Zip Web calls me every month and claims they want to verify information on a service they already give us for free. I don't fall for it and cut them off before they finish. They reached my son a couple of months ago and he listened to them and I received a $49.95 bill on my AT&T! They claim that he authorized the service!! My son says no and I explained to James that the service was never ordered. A service such as that wouldn't even benefit our established business. Over the years, I've had many unauthorized charges on my home & business phone for services that were never ordered. Zip Web is the first company that has ever refused to give me a refund! When I complained to AT&T they say that because of FTC guidelines that they can't refuse other companies to charge under our accounts. I've never heard of 3rd party billing blocks. AT&T did put a hold on the charge and I still haven't paid it. I will file a complaint to the proper authorities before I give those clowns a dime!
Comments by M Mauzac : Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 04:07 AM
I just filed a complaint with the Attorney General in California.
I had the same problem as you and have spent the last half of my work day, today, dealing with these thieves.
I was told by AT&T that a law in California prevents ATT from blocking 3rd party billing because they are affiliated with phone lines, being a web-based company. A loophole that helps the perpetrator and hurts the victims.
Ironically, this business that is supposed to help us get more customers has tied up my day and my phone preventing me from getting business.
Comments by Lynn : Tuesday, March 04, 2008 at 08:11 PM
I spoke to someone at this company on jan 19th, and they said it would be a free 30 day trial. I had 2 phone calls in February asking if I had received their info packet in the mail, I never received on. Today, I receive my phone bill and see the $49,95 charge for zlocalhost, I called immediately. The rep that answered, assured me that I was told that there would be a 30day trail period, after that, the fee would apply, I told him that I had never received any material to review, and therefore had no way to cancel, and also that I had never agreed to be charged for this crap. He kept going back and forth with me, and I just said, "look mister, I dont want this charge on my phone bill, so how do I get it off" he put me on hold and when he came back, he said the charges were being reversed because the full month hasnt been used. WHAT A RIP-OFF
Comments by Latisha Charles : Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 04:23 PM
TOGETHER WE CAN KICK THEM WHERE IT HURTS!
They will not stop until we all band together and report them. The California Attorney General is in the process of contacting them regarding my claim. But it takes more than just one or two complaints. If you want to be a part of the solution, and not just a complainer, take action against them. Show the authorities that it is not an isolated incidence or two. CONTACT YOUR ATTORNEY GENERAL NOW! TAKE ACTION AND DON'T BE A VICTIM!
Comments by Lynn : Friday, March 14, 2008 at 12:11 PM
ZIPWEB
I should have read here first but I had the same situation as everyone else. A phone call offering a FREE 30day trail. I also presses that no advertising is free and the would be a charge and was told that I would specifically have to sign up after 30 days to be enrolled. 3 weeks later I got a call asking how I liked the service. I asked them to send me SOMETHING since there had been NO correspondence. One month later I got a welcome packet stating that I would be automatically enrolled after 30 days. I called to cancel and was told that I had used the service already for almost two months and have been billed for one month $49.95. I have filed a complaint with the BBB and the FTC and now the attorney general. BEWARE
Comments by Devin : Monday, March 17, 2008 at 01:38 PM
I had a similar experience. My partner agreed to a trial period, but the promised info packet never came. Every time I called to follow up on the packet, I was told the contact person was at lunch or away. Someone else then left me a message that the trial ads were up on google, but I was never able to see them. When I asked for more specifics on how they were targeting a geography, I realized they did not understand the basics of how Google Adwords worked. Fortunately, I cancelled the trial after several "extensions" were granted to me and never got charged. These people are scam artists!
Comments by youbetternotscamme : Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 03:27 PM
My comments are a carbon copy of the above listec statements. The telemarketer call to solicit my business by offering to boost my call volume through there search engine. It was never explained to me that a chare of 49.95 would appear on my local telephone bill for this service. I do not recall the statement that I had to call to cancel a trial period. There was now inforamational packet mail or emailed to me. There was nothing to respond to cancel a service that I never saw listed on a web site. They freely cancelled any future service but did not offer to refund several months of previous billings. I will complain to both North Carolina and Califonia Attorney General Offices.
Comments by Family Support Network of NP : Thursday, April 03, 2008 at 05:44 PM
I have the same situation, only we never got any calls, or packages. The sales person said SIX times (they sent a copy of the secretly recorded call) that we would be contaced 3 times within the 30 days. The account rep "george" admitted he did not contact us. They refuse to credit my AT&T phone bill. I have filed complaints with: the BBB, the FTC, the Los Angeles District Attorney, and the California Consumer Complaint and Protection agency, and with the do no call registry.
Comments by Kharden : Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 01:45 AM
I found out that I had been being billed by ZLocalHost today because I was going through the same situation as all of you with a different company- JUMPAGE SOLUTIONS. When I called Verizon about Jumpage they informed me about the ZLocalHost charges and reversed them. Jumpage called and asked to verify the address- I thought they were one of our customers! They then spliced my answers with their recording so it sounds like I am agreeing to their search marketing- which I didn't. Beware of Jumpage Solutions!
Comments by Deanna : Friday, April 25, 2008 at 04:11 PM
Zlocalhost got me too. I am in Florida and they ran the same scam on me and I on point ask them if there was any charge for this and they said no. I called today after getting a 99.00 charge on my phone bill to the company. They gave me a line of crap of course and claimed to have a recording. I challenged them to send me a copy of any recording where I agreed to any contract. They have not of course. Tomorrow I am calling Verizon because I have had this kind of issue before and did place a 3rd party block on my line.
ZLOCALHOST is a con and a ripoff scam!
Comments by Chuck : Friday, April 25, 2008 at 07:45 PM
Yep, same thing happened to me. They called and offered a service that sounded too good to be true and said they would follow up and I would not be billed unless I agreed to it. All of the callers were foreigners from India or something that didn't speak very good english. They never followed up like they said they would and all of a sudden I had 53 bucks on my phone bill. I called Verizon and they took the charge off my bill and put a block on them. So I won't be sending those scammers a cent. I hope you guys do the same.
Comments by Patrick : Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 02:19 PM
This must be how zlocalhost (ZipWeb) stays in business...by charging phone bills that belong to other companies. Same story with me...I own a small business, received a phone call, NEVER agreed to purchase any service and NEVER received any documents through the mail or email. Thank goodness I called Verizon and they added a block to my number immediately so no additional charges could be made. I contacted ZipWeb...same old story!! I will report them to the BBB and the Attorney General.
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Comments by touch screen monitor : Saturday, June 07, 2008 at 09:24 PM
Same as above, get call, they tell me that I would be receiving info in mail. Which I never got. Get a second call, did I recieve info, told them no, they will remail it. Never got.
So My Verizon bill comes in with a charge of $49.95 for ZlocalHost. I never authorized them to bill me after the 30 day grace period.
So thanks to all of the above to give me the info I need to talk to Verison.
I am a very small business, been at it for 10 years which is good as most small business do not make it. I really don't need scam people going after me.
Yes I will contact the BBB an the Attorney General in Ma.
Comments by Nan Taska : Sunday, June 08, 2008 at 10:00 PM
Same as all the above... Free for 30 days, but no packet, no emails or phone calls. They got me for 2 months because of the delay for the phone bill. Zipweb says they will refund one month only. Based on all the complaints here and on RipOffReport.com, I HOPE I'll get my money back.
I called AT&T and they WILL put a 3rd party billing block on my business phone account.
Comments by Grant : Monday, June 30, 2008 at 06:12 PM
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