Local Advertising / Toolbar scam
Complaint
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.
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
It is not a 20 minute process. Our tech spends hours tweaking the campaigns and key words to get our clients the maximum effect our sales people promise them. We also arrange for our clients to get reports directly from Google so they can see what action they are getting.
I am not even going to dignify your question about what I know and what I don't know. I am not an idiot.
Stop trying to sabotage our business. I'll say this to you for the last time "We help people we don't scam people".
So why don't you stop trying to ruin people's livelihoods with your ignorant lies?
Let me make it more clear. If you have not done any investigation into how legitimate, established Pay Per Click management companies do business, don't take my word for it, just go and search Google for one and shop around. I named one company, Jumpfly.com and there are hundreds, if not thousands of others. What they all have in common is transparency. What that means is that they fully disclose the actual spend managed on Google and the actual fee being billed to the client for managing their campaigns. The industry average fee is 15-20% of the actual spend meaning that these firms spend 80-85 cents on every dollar on ACTUAL clicks. My question to you was this:
"Legit companies like Jumpfly.com and other legit PPC management companies offer full cost transparency, but not these guys. So, do you even know the answer Marianne or do they keep it a secret from you as well?"
Your answer? I'm still waiting. What is PMP's policy in disclosing how much of the client's budget is actually being spent on Google clicks? I can only speculate that your refusal to answer is an answer in an of itself. Some customers have complained (just see earlier complaints on pages 1 or 2) that when they tracked the clicks delivered from PMP via Google Adwords, that they were spending 4-5 times what they were spending when they were managing their own campaigns. So, while PMP spends 20 cents on the dollar on actual clicks for their clients, the competition which is abundant spends 80-85 cents. Now can you see the root of the all these complaints?
It appears that reports from former clients who actually tracked results that PMP only serves to dilute the real value of buying clicks on Google by diluting the client's budget with an overpriced service fee that is undisclosed.
Does that mean it's a scam? Well, that's a matter of opinion. If you were duped into buying a car for 4-5 times the suggested retail price at every other car dealer, would you feel scammed?
Of course, we're ignoring the simple fact that learning how to use Google Adwords yourself is easy. Google offers tutorials that can walk a small business through it in far less than an hour (for me it was 20 minutes) - far less work than learning how to rebuild a transmission as you suggest.
So, you found one customer who got some clicks and just doesn't know any better - congratulations. I guess there are suckers that you can still prey on out there. You better hope he or she doesn't know anyone with any knowledge of how to set up an Adwords account or you'll be dead in the water with that client as well.
Here are some resources for those considering the PMP service:
Google Adwords - buy direct without having your clicks marked up at all - it's not as difficult as Marianne suggests
www.adwords.google.com/
Google Adwords guide for Beginners:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/stat ... 9&page=guide.cs
Here's a video, from Google on how to set up your own account:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8934724993368535594#
You keep sleeping well at night Marianne while you buffalo people into the false belief that you have a better concept than buying Adwords clicks directly. Anyone can tweak an Adwords campaign and manage a budget. Anyone can hire another company out there to do it with full transparency of clicks and costs if they don't want to do it themselves.
And, I'm not trying to ruin anyone's livlihoods - I'm trying to save them from being misled by your company. You see, it's their livlihoods that YOU are damaging. I recommend you take a hard look at what you are doing and ask some real questions.
Good Luck.
It appears that reports from former clients who actually tracked results that PMP only serves to dilute the real value of buying clicks on Google by diluting the client's budget with an overpriced service fee that is undisclosed.
Does that mean it's a scam? Well, that's a matter of opinion. If you were duped into buying a car for 4-5 times the suggested retail price at every other car dealer, would you feel scammed?
Of course, we're ignoring the simple fact that learning how to use Google Adwords yourself is easy. Google offers tutorials that can walk a small business through it in far less than an hour (for me it was 20 minutes) - far less work than learning how to rebuild a transmission as you suggest.
So, you found one customer who got some clicks and just doesn't know any better - congratulations. I guess there are suckers that you can still prey on out there. You better hope he or she doesn't know anyone with any knowledge of how to set up an Adwords account or you'll be dead in the water with that client as well.
Here are some resources for those considering the PMP service:
Google Adwords - buy direct without having your clicks marked up at all - it's not as difficult as Marianne suggests
www.adwords.google.com/
Google Adwords guide for Beginners:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/stat ... 9&page=guide.cs
Here's a video, from Google on how to set up your own account:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8934724993368535594#
You keep sleeping well at night Marianne while you buffalo people into the false belief that you have a better concept than buying Adwords clicks directly. Anyone can tweak an Adwords campaign and manage a budget. Anyone can hire another company out there to do it with full transparency of clicks and costs if they don't want to do it themselves.
And, I'm not trying to ruin anyone's livlihoods - I'm trying to save them from being misled by your company. You see, it's their livlihoods that YOU are damaging. I recommend you take a hard look at what you are doing and ask some real questions.
Good Luck.
What is PMP's policy in disclosing how much of the client's budget is actually being spent on Google clicks? I can only speculate that your refusal to answer is an answer in an of itself. Some customers have complained (just see earlier complaints on pages 1 or 2) that when they tracked the clicks delivered from PMP via Google Adwords, that they were spending 4-5 times what they were spending when they were managing their own campaigns. So, while PMP spends 20 cents on the dollar on actual clicks for their clients, the competition which is abundant spends 80-85 cents. Now can you see the root of the all these complaints?
It appears that reports from former clients who actually tracked results that PMP only serves to dilute the real value of buying clicks on Google by diluting the client's budget with an overpriced service fee that is undisclosed.
Does that mean it's a scam? Well, that's a matter of opinion. If you were duped into buying a car for 4-5 times the suggested retail price at every other car dealer, would you feel scammed?
Of course, we're ignoring the simple fact that learning how to use Google Adwords yourself is easy. Google offers tutorials that can walk a small business through it in far less than an hour (for me it was 20 minutes) - far less work than learning how to rebuild a transmission as you suggest.
So, you found one customer who got some clicks and just doesn't know any better - congratulations. I guess there are suckers that you can still prey on out there. You better hope he or she doesn't know anyone with any knowledge of how to set up an Adwords account or you'll be dead in the water with that client as well.
Here are some resources for those considering the PMP service:
Google Adwords - buy direct without having your clicks marked up at all - it's not as difficult as Marianne suggests
www.adwords.google.com/
Google Adwords guide for Beginners:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/stat ... 9&page=guide.cs
Here's a video, from Google on how to set up your own account:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8934724993368535594#
You keep sleeping well at night Marianne while you buffalo people into the false belief that you have a better concept than buying Adwords clicks directly. Anyone can tweak an Adwords campaign and manage a budget. Anyone can hire another company out there to do it with full transparency of clicks and costs if they don't want to do it themselves.
And, I'm not trying to ruin anyone's livlihoods - I'm trying to save them from being misled by your company. You see, it's their livlihoods that YOU are damaging. I recommend you take a hard look at what you are doing and ask some real questions.
Good Luck.
What is PMP's policy in disclosing how much of the client's budget is actually being spent on Google clicks? I can only speculate that your refusal to answer is an answer in an of itself. Some customers have complained (just see earlier complaints on pages 1 or 2) that when they tracked the clicks delivered from PMP via Google Adwords, that they were spending 4-5 times what they were spending when they were managing their own campaigns. So, while PMP spends 20 cents on the dollar on actual clicks for their clients, the competition which is abundant spends 80-85 cents. Now can you see the root of the all these complaints?
It appears that reports from former clients who actually tracked results that PMP only serves to dilute the real value of buying clicks on Google by diluting the client's budget with an overpriced service fee that is undisclosed.
Does that mean it's a scam? Well, that's a matter of opinion. If you were duped into buying a car for 4-5 times the suggested retail price at every other car dealer, would you feel scammed?
Of course, we're ignoring the simple fact that learning how to use Google Adwords yourself is easy. Google offers tutorials that can walk a small business through it in far less than an hour (for me it was 20 minutes) - far less work than learning how to rebuild a transmission as you suggest.
So, you found one customer who got some clicks and just doesn't know any better - congratulations. I guess there are suckers that you can still prey on out there. You better hope he or she doesn't know anyone with any knowledge of how to set up an Adwords account or you'll be dead in the water with that client as well.
Here are some resources for those considering the PMP service:
Google Adwords - buy direct without having your clicks marked up at all - it's not as difficult as Marianne suggests
www.adwords.google.com/
Google Adwords guide for Beginners:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/stat ... 9&page=guide.cs
Here's a video, from Google on how to set up your own account:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8934724993368535594#
You keep sleeping well at night Marianne while you buffalo people into the false belief that you have a better concept than buying Adwords clicks directly. Anyone can tweak an Adwords campaign and manage a budget. Anyone can hire another company out there to do it with full transparency of clicks and costs if they don't want to do it themselves.
And, I'm not trying to ruin anyone's livlihoods - I'm trying to save them from being misled by your company. You see, it's their livlihoods that YOU are damaging. I recommend you take a hard look at what you are doing and ask some real questions.
Good Luck.
https://adwords.google.com/support/select/pro ... n&answer=152979
According to Google, it is a violation of their terms to do the following:
Selling AdWords as 'listings', implying permanence
Guaranteeing certain ad placement, or that ads will appear at all times
It's in the link above, read it. As is selling first page placement, charging a flat fee for bulk keywords, etc.
So, yes sir, you are working for a company that violates Google policy and rips off it's clients in the process.
Again I can not emphasize the wonderful service my company offer our clients and I am proud to work here.
As you can find within this post and on many other complaint posts this company violates many of Googles policies and laws:
Cold Calling and automated calls that are illegal in many states:
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-859-2301
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-243-2488
Spam:
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/Ch3MAZF-YgAJSgjKWaIeRg/3
http://www.mail-archive.com/cygwin@cygwin.com/msg27204.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/cygwin@cygwin.com/msg28532.html
http://www.jimcarroll.com/2003/10/the-lengths-theyll-go-to
As you can see Google is against the main selling points of this company and what the employees "guarantee":
* "Deceptive or non-transparent pricing...discounts on keywords, exception to the auction (don't have to pay by CPC, etc.), ability to purchase keywords in bulk..." - This company promises unlimited keywords and clicks at a flat monthly fee. How many PMP customers receive expense or click reports that show the Adwords budgeting?
* "Selling AdWords as 'listings', implying permanence" - This is in many of their resellers names and in the name of the site that carries the Google qualification.
* "Guaranteeing certain ad placement, or that ads will appear at all times" - As you can read in the replies, company sites, employee profile pages and fake testimonials from ignorant PMP employees, the main selling points are statements such as this: "We DO get our clients on the first page of Google in the sponsored link section 24/7 with unlimited clicks..." Please Marianne, check the TRUE attrition rate for this company.
For any current customers that want to see if this guarantee of 24/7 first page placement is being upheld ask for an "Impression Share Report". This report will tell you the percentage of time the ads were shown during a specific time period. Every keyword and ad should show 100%; if not, the first page 24/7 guarantee has been broken which is a violation of their own contract and grounds for a 100% refund. Request to receive this report directly from Google to avoid any possible manipulation from any employees of this company. The best bet would be to request Report Access to the account. Then you will be able see the data directly from the Google Adwords website.
More deceit from the company is the use of the qualification logo as can be seen here:
https://adwords.google.com/support/select/pro ... rc=cb&lev=index
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdWords ... c25f02a43&hl=en
Below are some resources to report any wrong doings you may feel this company may be performing:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/requ ... plaint&hl=en_US
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/getstarted.aspx
http://www.onguardonline.gov/file-complaint.aspx
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/coldcall.htm
As you can find within this post and on many other complaint posts this company violates many of Googles policies and laws:
Cold Calling and automated calls that are illegal in many states:
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-859-2301
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-243-2488
Spam:
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/Ch3MAZF-YgAJSgjKWaIeRg/3
http://www.mail-archive.com/cygwin@cygwin.com/msg27204.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/cygwin@cygwin.com/msg28532.html
http://www.jimcarroll.com/2003/10/the-lengths-theyll-go-to
As you can see Google is against the main selling points of this company and what the employees "guarantee":
* "Deceptive or non-transparent pricing...discounts on keywords, exception to the auction (don't have to pay by CPC, etc.), ability to purchase keywords in bulk..." - This company promises unlimited keywords and clicks at a flat monthly fee. How many PMP customers receive expense or click reports that show the Adwords budgeting?
* "Selling AdWords as 'listings', implying permanence" - This is in many of their resellers names and in the name of the site that carries the Google qualification.
* "Guaranteeing certain ad placement, or that ads will appear at all times" - As you can read in the replies, company sites, employee profile pages and fake testimonials from ignorant PMP employees, the main selling points are statements such as this: "We DO get our clients on the first page of Google in the sponsored link section 24/7 with unlimited clicks..." Please Marianne, check the TRUE attrition rate for this company.
For any current customers that want to see if this guarantee of 24/7 first page placement is being upheld ask for an "Impression Share Report". This report will tell you the percentage of time the ads were shown during a specific time period. Every keyword and ad should show 100%; if not, the first page 24/7 guarantee has been broken which is a violation of their own contract and grounds for a 100% refund. Request to receive this report directly from Google to avoid any possible manipulation from any employees of this company. The best bet would be to request Report Access to the account. Then you will be able see the data directly from the Google Adwords website.
More deceit from the company is the use of the qualification logo as can be seen here:
https://adwords.google.com/support/select/pro ... rc=cb&lev=index
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdWords ... c25f02a43&hl=en
Below are some resources to report any wrong doings you may feel this company may be performing:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/requ ... plaint&hl=en_US
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/getstarted.aspx
http://www.onguardonline.gov/file-complaint.aspx
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/coldcall.htm
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/performance-local-listings-c220883.html
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/WbhWX6afrACJIgjLdxnpzg/3
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/PPI6MohK6QDT9QjMbb8e8A
http://www.ripoffreport.com/internet-marketing-companies/performance-media-pl/performance-media-placement-ri-8534e.htm
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/hac6JzG8VgDULgjLZl0dog
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/performance-local-listings-c220883.html
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/WbhWX6afrACJIgjLdxnpzg/3
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/PPI6MohK6QDT9QjMbb8e8A
http://www.ripoffreport.com/internet-marketing-companies/performance-media-pl/performance-media-placement-ri-8534e.htm
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/hac6JzG8VgDULgjLZl0dog
https://secure.nclforms.org/nficweb/nfic.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/spam/
https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx?panel=2
http://www.spamcop.net/anonsignup.shtml
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/stateattorneygenerallist.php
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/stateconsumeragencieslist.php
http://www.emailscammers.com/report-email-scams/
http://www.report-online-scams.com/contact.html
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/feedback.htm
https://secure.nclforms.org/nficweb/nfic.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/spam/
https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx?panel=2
http://www.spamcop.net/anonsignup.shtml
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/stateattorneygenerallist.php
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/stateconsumeragencieslist.php
http://www.emailscammers.com/report-email-scams/
http://www.report-online-scams.com/contact.html
http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/feedback.htm
As you can see, there is a big difference in what PMP discusses on this page, http://www.performancemediaplacement.com/Legitimate.asp, and the qualification they hold.
Below are links to the minimum requirements that any company should hold to manage Adwords accounts in my opinion.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/adwords/reseller
http://adwords.google.com/support/select/prof ... en&answer=12272
https://adwords.google.com/support/select/pro ... en&answer=18572
Any company selling Adwords shouldn't violate Googles polices:
http://www.adwords.google.com/support/select/ ... n&answer=152979
You can search for "Google Certified Partners" on Googles website here: https://adwords.google.com/professionals/search/
Good Luck!
As you can see, there is a big difference in what PMP discusses on this page, http://www.performancemediaplacement.com/Legitimate.asp, and the qualification they hold.
Below are links to the minimum requirements that any company should hold to manage Adwords accounts in my opinion.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/adwords/reseller
http://adwords.google.com/support/select/prof ... en&answer=12272
https://adwords.google.com/support/select/pro ... en&answer=18572
Any company selling Adwords shouldn't violate Googles polices:
http://www.adwords.google.com/support/select/ ... n&answer=152979
You can search for "Google Certified Partners" on Googles website here: https://adwords.google.com/professionals/search/
Good Luck!
the advertising as agreed upon. If you find an advertising company has not performed according to their contract it
is best to approach them with the evidence and provide your side to try and work out an acceptable solution. If no
reasonable solution can be agreed upon there is another solution to possibly getting a full or partial refund. This should only be done if nothing can be worked out between you and the company and all communication breaks down. Call your bank to dispute the charges or chargeback. Only call your bank and dispute the charges for the reason(s) you feel the company did not perform as "guaranteed". In order to truly know if the company is performing as promised
good record keeping from the beginning is necessary.
Here are some tips that could be followed:
* Request everything any sales person tells you on the phone or in person in writing and/or get permission to record the phone call for your records. This is extremely important as "guarantees" are made by certain sales people that Google employees "...have no problem saying that all of these claims are completely false." As you can read here: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/AdWords ... 79abadae6&hl=en
* Request, in writing, how much of your monthly fee will be spent on Adwords and/or the other PPC providers.
* Request "Read Only Access" to your Google Adwords campaign. You will be able to view the account to inspect keywords, ads, check the pricing and other valuable statistics like the amount of clicks and overall cost. You wont have the ability to make changes, but having access to this information to print out for your records is EXTREMELY
important.
* If report access is refused or you just want to receive the reports, ask them to set up a regular schedule and send you these reports: Overall Campaign report showing pricing and all keywords and ads being used, Search Query Performance report, Impression Share Report, Keyword Performance Report, Ad Performance Report and Geographic Performance Report. These reports should come directly from Googles email: adwords-noreply@google.com.
* Check the placement of your ads regularly both in Google and using this tool:
https://adwords.google.com/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool. If your ad cannot be found take and save screenshots for your records.
If you look over all this information and you feel the performance is not as expected, talk to the company first to maybe gain a better understanding of the information and/or see what adjustments can be made to coincide with the promises made by the sales person. If there is a refusal to stick to the "guarantees" made by the company all the information above could be given to your bank to review your dispute. If you have not been directed to read and/or sign a contract, ensure to emphasize this point to your bank. Below are links showing some guarantees made by the company and the promise of "NO CONTRACTS":
http://www.ocgoogleguy.com/Businesses/OC_Google_Guy_Trabuco_Canyon_CA.htm
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kurt-steinhebel/1a/10b/13b
http://www.listown.com/writing-editing-translation/oc/201002/143116.htm
http://www.searchterms.com/blog/local-search/ ... -be-successful/
These can be printed out and sent to the bank as well.