Every one be aware of neu-era marketing

[Mad Spark]

I feel an utter fool for falling for this scam, but it seemed really good and forgot the golden rule of not handing over my card details over the phone to any one.

I received a call from this company stating that they can put me on the first page of google, upgrade my website, and give me 5 key phrases, which would give me an advantage over other companies offering the same services.

I was at first hesitant and asked many questions about what they were offering, and cancellation and length of contract, etc. I was happy to learn that there was no contract and on the 29th day of each month I would receive a call which would ask me weather I wanted to continue with the service or not, also there is a 14 day cooling off period should I change my mind, and if I agreed then the following day the service would begin and I would be on google from that day on. This all seemed great just what I have been looking for, and all this for just £50 was a bargain. So I gave my card details and was told I would receive a call within an hour discussing my website.

I still haven't received a call and after a couple of days I checked my bank and noticed that I had been charged £180 as a pose to the £50 agreed. I checked to see if my website was on the first page of google or not, and realised that wasn't the case either.

I have tried to call them back but have had no response, I am in contact with the police, and trading standards. Most importantly I wanted to warn others of this as anyone can be sold a service which seems good at first. As I mentioned earlier I am a very cautious person normally, but it only takes that one time and that's when you get done.

I hope this helps others out there, and if there are any similar experiences with other so called companies maybe you should share it here for all to see.

 

[rocker]

Sorry to hear that. Thanks for letting us know.

 

[oldtimer]

Thanks for being so honest remember Google is a business so you aint going to get far because big business pays for sponsored links so do the best you can to improve your presence on the web and this means learning how to do it so ok your no web designer but then again neither am I but with the aid of a beer and a quite moment things get done (not all at once) and over time you can continually improve

 

[ian]

Its all to easy done, these scammers can be reallyconvincing.

 

[jeremy]

Is there any recourse if your card was a Visa/ Mastercard as you're not making the payment, the card company is. If you have been mis-sold this let the card company know ; they don't want the embaressment.

 

[oldtimer]

After replying to this mail I got an guy with a Irish accent who phoned me up and said I will cut to the chase I can enhance your website via Google search engine stop there i said just to say if you are ligit then you have problems as this scam has just been highlighted on the electricians forum and I for one am not interested enhancement on Google is a waste of time unless you are one of the big players

 

[Goody]

I once used "Google AdWords - Online Advertising by Google" to advertise my online business and it all went OK for couple of years but then I have realised around £760.00 had gone missing from my bank account.

I logged on to my "Google AdWords" account and to my horror realised that someone had logged on to my account and advertised their website on my expense. Brought this to Google's attention and they promptly refunded the money. This lesson made me phobic to any kind of online transaction and nowadays I am reluctant to even check my bank account online.

Mad Spark, thank you for sharing your experience here!

 

[Mad Spark]

Is there any recourse if your card was a Visa/ Mastercard as you're not making the payment, the card company is. If you have been mis-sold this let the card company know ; they don't want the embaressment.

thanks for that jeremy i got in touch with my bank who are going to be refunding the full amount within 24hrs. Its a shame that companies like these exist. I tried to get an explanation from them and was told that i had misheard what was said, that i dreamed up the 14 day cooling off period, the price quoted was £150+vat not £50, etc etc. I hope they get what's coming to them.

 

[mcmainelectric]

any google enhancement will normally take a couple of weeks to shine through the system, think about it all search engine optimisation is a corrupt business as if we are in the same town doing the same thing only one person can be top regardless of any promises, i had this once and simply said get me to the top then i'll pay, the phone hung up at here end i a instant

 

[mcmainelectric]

phone hung up at there end in a instant.

 

[midgetman]

Sorry to hear of your misfortune - If I deal with people on the Internet I ask them to put there offer in writing from them then I have something to fall back on.

 

[Geordie Spark]

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

 

[accordfire]

Trouble is - telling the genuine ones from the not-genuine.

There are genuine companies out there offering "similar" services - but it's a lot of hard work. It is a bold claim to suggest they'll get you to number one - but genuine ones should be able to dramatically improve your web traffic and get you within a few shots of the top if you're prepared to pay.

I have used a couple, and have a preferred supplier - google for Strategy Internet Marketing - they're Bristol based, quite small, but friendly, professional, and hard working - but be prepared to spend around £500 - £1000 a month to get there and google adwords is optionally extra.

The issue there is that ranking on web searches has become big business, and is above all, time consuming. The time we'd spend getting our site up there is full time - and we're a fire/security/electrical business - not a web traffic business. So for us, outsourcing was the right choice. For you, if you're in one town, or one region only - then you should be able to shape your site to drive traffic for that area quite easily, and the rest is time.

 

[Mr Mike]

As said earlier, thanks for the tip off. I hope you now have some good news after that scam.

 

[oldtimer]

I just use all the free site listings and offers or in other words wider circulation instead of highlighted circulation