Local Advertising / Toolbar scam

ComplaintsInternet ScamsPerformance Media Placement

Complaint

0
YouCannotFoolMe
Country: United States
This company is owned by Carl Perkins and Duane Brinson under the name PBH LLC or Perkins Brinson Ho. They created the toolbars discussed here: http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=28710 and profited greatly. They may be at it again with this: http://www.performancemediaplacement.com/OnlineDemo.asp

The sales people they currently employ sell a new type of local advertising that has been reported as fraudulent. Here is a post on some of the things they promise: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdWords ... 79abadae6&hl=en.

Both Perkins and Brinson worked for Search Initiatives (Now Elocal, Elocallistings, Elocalplumbers, etc.) until they were both "let go" for unknown reasons when the company formed Elocal. http://web.archive.org/web/20070621061940/htt ... om/company.html

Do not be fooled by promises of "exclusivity", 24/7 first page placement, unlimited clicks and other false claims. The company has been known to break many contracts and forces employees to lie. If they do not lie to customers they are fired.

Here are just a couple of the many URL's the company uses:
premiumlocallistings.com
performancelocallistings.com
performancemediaplacement.com
pl411.com
pll411.com
pll-orange.com
premierlocallistings.com
g2411.com
nw411.com

Please do your research before doing any business with this company.

Comments

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  • 0
    Merchant Circle
    Just curious why this company deleted its merchant circle profile. I guess that is the best a so called "reputation management" company can do to respond to relevant important questions and information.
  • 0
    Illegal "phone blasting"
    This company uses tactics against the FCC rules for unsolicited phone calls that can be seen here: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/donotcall/

    If you are on the DNC or have requested not to be contacted by PBH LLC, Performance Media Placement, Performance Local Listings, Premium Local Listings, Online Marketing Placement, Direct Local Solutions or other DBA's Perkins Prinson Ho LLC uses, report them here: https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx?panel=2
  • 0
    ABC Glass Repair
    On 09 15 2010 @ approximately 9pm I received a called for which was not sure who it what and since I was about to go to bed! I didn't answer the call, when checked 2 C who it was over the internet. It showed it was a internet service company. This people are very persistent, I've asked not to call me again and seems they now R calling me after hours on purpose.
  • 0
    Interesting
    I don't have a horse in the race, but I am in the internet industry.  I can't say whether these guys have scammed customers or not, but I can tell you that this industry is rife with complaints in general.

    While some are legitimate from scamming businesses, others are from competitors of those businesses themselves, looking to get a leg up on the competition.  Additionally, sometimes there's simply a disconnected understanding in regards to how internet marketing works and the companies do a poor job in communicating exactly what they ARE doing for the client.  In other instances, companies take advantage of your lack of understanding and fill you full of hot promises that they simply can deliver on.  (Not an outright scam, mind you...they DO have a product/service and do deliver...just not anywhere close to what's expected)

    Anyway, it's sad to see so much crap going on in the industry.  God i hate miserable customers...AND scammy businesses...ugh.
  • 0
    SlickRick
    CLASSIC! I love the Lindsey Lohan part the best...
  • 0
    MyBestLocalSearch
    I was actually looking into Performance Media Placement for a potential client of mine and stumbled over this blog. The bottom line is this. There are a number of companies out there who provide a service to small and medium sized businesses to get their information on the first page of Google. They ALL charge for this service. The good companies monitor their client's campaigns daily to maximize quality and quantity of click throughs. This is a time consuming service and well worth the expense. I know of numerous companies who attempted their own adword campaigns and discovered that it's a heck of a lot of work. Google has recently established a 100% transparency policy for all Google adword resellers. This policy requires the reseller to divulge to the client exactly how much of the client's money is spent on their online media budget and how much is spent on commissions, administration, etc.. The standard for most companies has been 20-30% towards adwords, 70-80% on commissions and admin. Google recently did a mailing of hundreds, if not thousands of coupons for $100.00 in free adwords if a business would sign up and do an adwords campaign directly with Google. My understanding is that this campaign was less than successful. The reason? Most business owners do not have the time or the inclination to set up and then monitor and manage such a campaign. Google changes it's algorhythms on a regular basis and this needs to be accounted for, monitored and then managed. My company does all of these things for our clients. We guarantee in writing that the client will have his business featured on the first page of Google, on a rotational basis, in a geographically appropriate area. We place our clients on the Google content network,( 195 other websites), Bing, Yahoo, AOL, contextual advertising on Facebook and over 90 search directories,(yellow pages etc). Also included are Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and all GPS manufacturers. We are a Google Adwords Certified Partner. My clients have the option to run a "Competitive", an "Agressive" or a "Market Leader" campaign and our rates are between $400.00 and $1,000.00 per month. We provide analytics so that the client can see exactly how many page views, impressions and driving directions they received each month. We also show what average position that client occupied on the first page of Google. Like any other line of business, there are pushy salespeople and pleasant salespeople. Trust your gut and work with a company that explains their program, divulges how they spend your money, (it is YOUR money after all), and doesn't leave you with the feeling that you have just showered in used cooking oil. I would be happy to discuss an online campaign with anyone who has an interest. Just drop me an email at MyBestLocalSearch@gmail.com and I will give you ALL of the details. Thanks for reading and good luck. It's the Wild West out there and you deserve a decent frontier trailblazer.
  • 0
    Signup with Google
    Don't waste time and money and possibly have money stolen. Have Google setup your adwords account: http://www.google.com/adwords/phone-signup/
  • 0
    No link
    There is still no link to PMPs so called certification and no change to the whos legit page. According to the performance media placement website they are "FAKING THEIR CREDENTIALS" and is a company that "ISN"T LEGITIMATE"

    "How to Tell if the AdWords Logo Is Real

    Another way to determine if a company really isn’t legitimate is to click the logos on their site. A simple hint that they are faking their credentials is often the amount of space around their Google AdWords logo. Many fraudulent companies pack their Google AdWords logo in with other logos. Google requires that the AdWords Qualified Logo has 50% white space around it. Also this logo should click to a page on Google where Google will show you the domain associated this logo."

    Copied from: http://www.performancemediaplacement.com/Legitimate.asp

    To Performance Media Placement: According to your website we should "simply ask your professional for the link to the page." If this posting is in error and you have the certification, please post the link on your site and here for validation you truly are a certified company.
  • 0
    Google Warns about Third Party Con Jobs
    Google has published and official warning (Guide) about working with "Third Party Resellers" of their Adwords Product.  Here is the guide:

    http://www.google.com/adwords/thirdpartypartners/

    Note that Google states the following warning in this Guide:

    "Many third parties have earned our trust by representing the best interests of their advertisers. There are some third parties that are not acting in this way. Here are some activities to watch out for and let us know about:

    Not sharing the cost and performance of AdWords campaigns: You have a right to know, at a minimum, the number of clicks, impressions, and cost of your AdWords advertising.

    Guaranteeing ad placement, either on a specific advertising channel or in a specific position: It’s not possible to guarantee a specific ad position on Google.com search results pages. AdWords ad position is determined by an auction and changes dynamically with every new search. Some third parties may only charge you if they achieve your desired ad placement, but those that guarantee a specific position (i.e. the top position every time a user searches for your keyword) are misrepresenting how AdWords works."

    It is well known that PBH LLC, doing business as Performance Media Placement(or whatever new name they operate under now) conceals the actual cost of the Adwords clicks that they resell to small business owners.  

    Google has now caught up to the Third Party Resellers like PBH/Performance Media Placement who have diluted the value of Google PPC campaigns to the point that Google was compelled to warn small business owners. By marking up the cost of Google clicks for huge profit margins, third parties diminish the real return on investment Google can deliver. It's likely Google no longer wants their service to be misrepresented in this way.

    This may be why PBH LLC/Performance Media Placement no longer has the link to Google from their site from the Google Reseller badge issued to authorized or qualified resellers.  They appear to be intentionally misleading prospective customers by publishing Google's "Certified Partner" badge with no validation link to Google.

    If you have been taken by PBH, or one of its many company names, or spammed  by this company, take a minute and complain to Google directly at this link:

    http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/requ ... e=gap_complaint

    Google wants to clean up the industry and keep companies who are reselling their clicks honest.  According to the many posts in this forum, this company is one of the worst offenders.  You can help by filing your complaint about their misuse of Google's badge on their site and their lack of cost transparency in their campaigns.

    If you've given them money for their services, contact your credit card company immediately and dispute the charges as this company is notorious for denying refunds to its victims according to former customers.
  • 0
    Reputation Management?
    If this company is so against Yelp why do they keep trying to perform "reputation management" for itself and other companies on Yelps site?

    http://www.yelp.com/filtered_reviews/yYuYTb7NoBtoEvLDRt_J4w?fsid=EjtHZ_g_UbhAji_Fz76TIw

    http://www.yelp.com/filtered_reviews/Oz_F2S3L6MfVWCJrHtBFNw?fsid=jYuRt44FaoBU_QiwC70XPw

    Maybe they think after you get 10 profiles deleted you win a prize :)
  • 0
    Google Crackdown
    http://www.businessinsider.com/scammers-must-pay-google-16-million-2011-3

    Here is another post from Google about "Suspicious results and strange behavior: A site ripped me off"

    http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=9110
  • 0
    More from Google
    Another post giving pointers on spotting scams: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-steer-clear-of-money-scams.html

    From the post above:

    How to identify scams and other schemes

    In general, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Here are some pointers on what to look out for:

    Before you fill out a form or give someone a credit card, do a web search to see what other people are saying about the company and its practices.

    Be wary of companies that ask for upfront charges for services that Google actually offers for free. Check out our business solutions page before writing a check.

    Google never guarantees top placement in search results or AdWords — beware of companies that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a special relationship with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or through the Sitemaps program — you can do these tasks yourself at no cost whatsoever.

    Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about making money with Google AdWords as you do for "burn fat at night" diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators. In general, be wary of offers from firms that email you out of the blue. Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:
    "I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories..."
  • 0
    More FREE stuff from Google
    Free phone support for AdWords advertisers

    http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/free-phone-support-for-adwords.html
  • 0
    Peter te Lintel Hekkert
    I am trying to get my money back through Paypal, and this is my message to them 9with reference to the omplaints on this site.

    After 6 weeks of the three months contract, none of the 23 MONTHLY products were produced. No communications were received, bar an email with a "death in the family" notice after one month the contract start (this email was send to me, before my claim at Paypal).

    In the last week I have attempted to contact the vendor by phone and email, on a nearly daily basis: allison@gltsales.com, alever@autorepaircredit.com, michaelcscofield@gmail.com; phone: 951.905.5845, 951-905-5842 .  The phones are not answered and there is no reply or receipt acknowledgment on my emails.

    The original contract is with a company, GLT (called Green Lead Tree Sales).

    The company, GLT (sometimes called Green Lead Tree Sales), uses  michaelcscofield@gmail.com 's Paypal account.

    The original contract, paid for through michaelcscofield@gmail.com Paypal account, with GLT sales, a so-called SEO company, must be considered fraudulent and the "company" GLT a scam..

    The associated Paypal account, michaelcscofield@gmail.com, must be considered a whitewash operation for GLT.
  • 0
    File a complaint:
    Report a complaint about this partner:

    https://adwords.google.com/professionals/prof ... 373984624&hl=en

    The link as at the bottom of the page
  • 0
    Another Name
    Superior Local - superiorlocal.com

    https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/cKVlUX35xwDmrwjOne1STw
  • 0
    Report them!
    If you feel you have been screwed over, you should report their actions and what they guaranteed you to Google. Google has already revoked their certifications at least once before. Here is the link: http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/request ... e=gap_complaint
  • 0
    Parl Cerkins
    This company, in many cases, has refused to have customers read over the refund, general contract and legal agreements before they sign a customer up. The sales person, in these cases, fills out the online form that shows these agreements and never shows them to the client, until they wish to cancel.

    If you never saw a contract before signing up, never signed a contract and have a reasonable belief that you have been ripped off, just chargeback, explain the situation to your creditcard company and they will side with you. If the company failed to explain the refund/cancellation policy and/or you never saw a contract (because the salesperson filled the information out for you online {this is the information the company will send to the credit card company in their defense}) and you never signed a contract either physically or digitally, then you will win 100% of the time.

    They have been reported to the FTC and if you feel they fall within the guidelines the FTC provides for a scam, you could report them. Here is a link that explains what the FTC sees as a telemerketing scam.

    http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0076-telemarketing-scams

    If you feel like you have been taken advantage of by misleading sales tactics, you could inform your creditcard company and file a complaint with the FTC. http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0341-file-complaint-ftc
  • 0
    Lets start the list again
    You can't hide that easily:

    http://www.performancemediamarketing.com/
    http://www.adworks-local.com/
    http://www.pmplegal.com/
    http://www.pmmmobile.com/

    How many times will you change your name? Whos legit? Obviously not a company that changes websites every few days.
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