Go Beyond MLS: Chilling Effect: How A Behemoth Company Can Silence A Blogger
Jay Thompson
· 1 year ago
"The letter contains nothing but untruthful accusations."
Then why remove the posts? I understand that it can be very scary to get threatening letters from attorneys. But have you consulted an attorney yourself?
You are asking that "leading real estate blogs and websites will notice this issue and will stand up for the freedom of speech on the Internet."
And I suspect they will. But you didn't stand up yourself...
Well I don't know.... How about facing a behemoth company that spends zillions on TV commercials?
At the time of receiving the C&D; I had no attorney....
Is it too late to stand up for myself now?
Vlad
· 1 year ago
P.S. the posts including all the comments will be republished soon.
Vlad
· 1 year ago
I think they went after me because my blog ranked #1 on Google for "ePerks scam" with my article "ePerks A Scam or A Gem"....
Thanks for the tip about contacting my states Attorney General. I appreciate it.
Real Estate Blogger Gets “Ceas
· 1 year ago
....Vlad Zablotskyy, author of the “Go Beyond MLS” blog has received a Cease and Desist letter from ePerks — a company that signs up agents (and others) to offer discounts to consumers.....
EPerks to Vlad: I'm Gonna Poun
· 1 year ago
........Well, it seems we're not so far removed from the days of the schoolyard bully. Today, Vlad Zablotskyy, author the blog at Go Beyond MLS........
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Wayne,
If you are following this, I have deleted one of your comment by accident.... while installing new spam protection plugin... I did however link to your post...
Sorry about that.
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Just an update I am allowing the access to "ePerks- a Scam or a Gem" once again. The comments there are closed for obvious reasons. However you can decide if I acted fairly when I questioned self promotion by certain individuals who I suspect are/were connected to to the company.
Also not every one had left their websites while commenting and it is fine by me. Look what happened! I do however think you need a wild imagination to accuse me for writing all the comments. I hope Mr. Cook knows what IP address stands for. I literally would need to be in several locations across US in span of 15 minutes.
Oops, my apologies to all for linking incorrectly to the Miami law suit blog post. My HTML is VERY rusty! The link, albeit badly done, will still take you to the right place!
Wayne
Vlad
· 1 year ago
That's ok Wayne,
I fixed it. Now need to "nofollow" links here on my blog.
Wayne Harriman
· 1 year ago
Thanks Vlad, you da man!
Vlad
· 1 year ago
No problem Wayne.
Thanks for the support.
Greg Swann
· 1 year ago
Are you fighting this? We've had these dipshit letters in the past, but all we do is laugh at the jackass lawyers. You have a first amendment right to say what you want. As a public persona, ePerks would have to prove that your statements are not only false but were intended to cause them harm. They cannot meet that test and they know it.
If you want BloodhoundBlog's help, say so.
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Greg,
Thank you so much. I would not mind if you can write up a post about this.
And yes, I am going to fight it. They were leaving defamatory comments on forums in regards to my posts. They even started a blog specifically aimed at discredit me:
There was an entire paragraph dedicated to me but today that paragraph was taken down.
Greg Swann
· 1 year ago
Good on ya!
When you see childish behavior, take screen shots. They're probably within their first amendment rights as well, but nothing pops the pus out of their pimples like public scorn.
Meanwhile, I'll see if I can make some noise.
Thanks to Marlow Harris for pointing this out.
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Yes Marlow is great!
Some one posted a link to my blog on one of the Marlow posts. So after I received this C&D; letter I was simply scared so I asked her to remove the link.
I saw she posted on her blog today. I guess that is how you found my post.
Yes, what they had on their blog was silly and I wouldn't even bother. What happened was I really started to jerk their lawyer around by demanding to take down the paragraph that mentioned my name and my blog. He initially replied that ePerks have nothing to do with that blog. But today after posting this post I saw the paragraph mystically disappear.
Screen shots are good but one can photoshop them. I think I will just wait for the next update over at archive.org. They will not be able to modify anything there.
Joseph Ferrara.sellsius
· 1 year ago
Greg Swann is not a lawyer. He does not even believe in occupational licensing. Seek counsel from a licensed attorney, not a real estate blogger. Greg Swann will not pay your legal fees when you are sued and have to hire an attorney. The guy is as likely to get you in hotter water the way he shoots off his mouth. Just my opinion.
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Thanks Joe, Welcome to my blog. Wayne advised me to get in touch with you but I have not been able to locate your e-mail. Do you mind if I e-mail you?
Joseph Ferrara.sellsius
· 1 year ago
Sure Vlad. My email is jf.sellsius (at) gmail [dot] com.
Greg Swann
· 1 year ago
I have posted on this. I'm subscribed to this comment thread, but do not hesitate to call on me if there is anything I can do. I despise coercion more than anything in the world. I will do anything in my power to resist it.
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Joe, I sent you an e-mail to your g-mail.
Thomas Johnson
· 1 year ago
Vlad: This is so silly. It is just amazing that http://www.wsblaw.net/ronald_c_cook.asp would want to get into a Web 2.0 food fight by attacking you at http://www.go-beyond-mls.com on behalf of his lead peddling client http://www.eperks.com with a C&D letter. If http://www.eperks.com were indeed a high integrity outfit, delivering high quality leads to their clients, they wouldn't have to call out the the lawyers to attempt to stifle your first amendment rights, would they?
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Thomas,
I also think it's silly. Especially in view that my blog is not even that known. Did you hear about me before???
Sorry for keeping your comment in moderation.... You placed three links and whenever that happens the comment goes into moderation.
Thanks for stopping by.
eperks compliance director Res
· 1 year ago
The latest news is that eperks Compliance Director- Ramesh Birla under whose license eperks.com operated has resigned due to partnership/contractual non-payments. Mr Birla who was the second in Command at Brabus Ventures Corporation was not available for comment at 925.209.6393.
From my understanding there is a class action suit being brought upon eperks.com so maybe that is why one of there key board of directors has resigned.
eperks compliance director Res
· 1 year ago
I think Ramesh Birla may have been t he biggest victim in this scam, look at the dre.ca.gov search below which shows him as the Broker Of Record of Brabus Ventures Corporation, and numerous other companies in California.
Congrats Vlad on setting the stage for a lot of heat.
You know they say in show business that bad PR is better than no PR. I think it funny that ePERKS is getting the publicity out of this. I had never even heard of them before now.
I can't say from one side or the other as I have not used the service, but I can say as a fellow Realtor that (in the video) hitting a Realtor with a truck is no better than blogging about a service. One is defamation and so is the other.
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Dan,
I am not sure there will be any heat. As I mentioned elsewhere. I needed to do this to be at peace with myself. I moving pass this. There are so many better things to write about.
Lord Matt
· 1 year ago
What an amazing amount of bollocks! there is no way that even in the USA that even a fraction of that could stick. I'd slap the law firm back with an anti-harassment cease and desist and a follow up to the eperks themselves. Then, yes, I would blog about it.
Does your blog platform support closing comments on a per post basis? It sounds like some of those older posts needed a line drawn under them.
Anything they want to accuse you of they have to prove both here in the UK and in the USA. If they make claims against you then you can always demand in a cease and desist that "you are advised to demand proof of these claims" - there are plenty of templates for that sort of thing ont he web.
Don't let them bully you.
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Matt,
This only part of the story. I can't even begin to describe here how low this company is prepared to go.... But not to worry, I am going after every single ass involved in all of this.
Just wanted to point out that I have updated the above post. In the paragraph where Mr. Cook has listed the titles of the articles they have demanded to be taken down, you will notice the hyperlinks to the original articles.
Some most recent revelations about this company's tactics to disparage my name made me convinced more than ever that I have done the right thing by publishing this cease and desist notice.
I am glad that body of the same cease and desist notice had serve the purpose of becoming anchor text for the links to my articles.
Look for tomorrows article describing how low this company is willing to go to disparage and defame me.
DB
· 1 year ago
Thank you for all your posts. I was considering signing up for eperks and came across this site (and others) complaining about poor results while on the phone with the eperks sales guy.
I was interested in 2 zip codes to buy exclusive rights. That was $259/month. I asked how many agents are currently listed in those zips with non-exclusive rights. He replied, "about 20". My next question was, "So how many deals have closed in those zips (through eperks) in the last 6 months."
The sales guy said he didn't have that information, but even worse said that he couldn't/wouldn't get it because...(insert BS here). Then he said maybe if we were discussing a bigger account they might be able to do that type of research yada yada yada.
Then I found this site and hung up on him!
Kathy
· 1 year ago
Eperks has been nothing but trouble for me. I signed up and was told I would get a full refund if a sale did not close in 6 months. I had no leads, nothing. I called for my refund and the guy is no longer employed by eperks. I disputed it with my credit card company and now they are sending me to collections. If anyone has info on a class action lawsuit please inform us all. I have filed complaints with the Dept of Real Estate, Enforcement in Sacramento, CA, BBB in Pleasanton, CA, the AG in CA, my local AG, and the Federal Trade Commission.
DB
· 1 year ago
I should add:
This was not the only place I've heard negative information about eperks. I also posted an agent 2 agent question on trulia and 3 out of 3 responses had negative experiences.
Vlad
· 1 year ago
If instead of threatening lawsuits they would get their game cleaned up a little maybe there would be less agents hanging up on them.
Interestingly enough, when the controversy broke on my blog some "fans" of this company would say that no one should expect results first month or two... yeah right at the cost of $250 a month???
Wow, I never knew there was so many mixed feelings about ePERKS. I JUST started working here 2 days ago (I have not even hit the phones yet) and I definitely want to make sure my team manager is aware of this and I will inquire about the class-action lawsuit and cease and desist blogs. (??? C&D, honestly ... who thinks they can silence people like that?!?)
Many of my co-workers are a bit less customer service savvy and more "get it now" type attitude. However, that is the attitude they want us to take because we do face a lot of rejection and in order for employees to not feel like complete failures, they want us to toughen our hides. I think this could contribute to poor service. I want to improve it.
In all honesty, this method of generating business is going to work for some and not for others. Whether it is simply the lack of business in zip codes that are chosen or if people aren't willing to really invest time into marketing themselves in many additional outlets instead of just waiting for the phone to ring, it just depends. Everyone's experience is going to vary.
How I see it, not only as a new employee, but as someone who takes what I do personally and wants to help as many people as possible, I think it overall is a product that is valuable and makes sense but might not be right for everyone.
Unfortunately, people who do not hold themselves to standards like I do may burn valuable bridges. I used to work for ELOAN, until they laid off 500+ people and I loved them too, until I was let go for a bogus reason to avoid being paid severance. And do I have a bad taste in my mouth from that? Hell YES I do. Does that mean that ELOAN is a bad choice for everyone? Not in the least.
What I can say is the job looks like it is going to be really hard, and there is a high turnover even for people who have early success. I want to be successful there so I am trying to know as much as I can from all angles. They have told me that the cancellation process has been crappy because of the way it has to be done and some employees aren't clear to their agents how to do it. Agents are calling to cancel WITHOUT SENDING WRITTEN EMAIL CONFIRMATION to clientservices@eperks.com (OMG I will TOTALLY make sure this is the right email, I still haven't had my work station 100% set up!!!) I'm sure that plays a part in miscommunication about payments and unauthorized charges.
Wow, this is long. I tend to do that. If you ever hear from a Jennifer from ePERKS, I won't ask you to give me any special treatment, but I am driven to be better than anybody else, and will make sure ROI gurantees are fulfilled on agents I sign up and that if they need to cancel for whatever reason that it gets DONE. (my referral ID: jp10) ^_~
I can't make the same promise for my co-workers, everyone has a different ethical sense.
I hope things work out for people who give ePERKS a try. If they find it doesn't, I hope they don't try to rain on anyone else's success and be sure to follow through on cancelling the service as completely as possible. If it works, share great success with others! I tried recruiting tons of collegues to ELOAN while it was riding the wave. ePERKS is NEW NEW NEW only since July 2007! They already have commercials running (although I didn't like the truck hitting the lady one at all!) but still, it's got to mean something.
I am going to stop typing, I promise, I seriously try just way too hard to say everything I want in one shot! This is one of my "tasks" to overcome at work coincidentally, as well as the homework I have to do tonight. So good luck everyone, and I am going to make sure I know all about these incidents before I hit the phones tomorrow. Thanks for reading, I'll keep checking back and see how things go.
Thanks Vlad for your desire to help others. That is really all we can do in life or why bother with the freedom we are given here?
-jen-
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Jen,
Good luck with your position at ePerks. I hope to see you here an leave comments a week from now. If I were you, I would not inquire about this cease and desist letter, if you want to keep this job. I am serious about it.
Unless of course you are just here to create more hype for this company.
Best of luck!
Vlad
· 1 year ago
Jen,
While you at it, could you also ask who posted following on Yahoo! Answers?
DON'T BUY EPERKS..What a scam..They called me I signed up..Then within an HOUR..they could not deliver what they promised. I called and cancelled..The salesmen calls us a few times a month to get back on..NO I have repeated told him..Then they call and say I owe them $100. I said I never had your service..Then they sent the $100 to a collection agency..WHAT A SCAM..DO NOT DO BUSINESS with them..Say yourself allot of grief.
Kathy
· 1 year ago
They are liars and I am being sent to a collection agancy too. They are a scam and if they stood behind their product and told the truth they would not have so many problems. Please file complaints with the Attorney general of CA, and your local AG. I also filed with the BBB of Pleasanton, CA and the Dept of Real Estate, Enforcements in Sacramento, CA as well as the Federal Trade Commission. it is the only way to alert the authorities of the unfait business practices we have all encountered. I am hoping we can all join in a class action lawsuit.
Joseph Bridges
· 1 year ago
Keep up the posts. It is still amazing when a corporation decides to hide behind lawyers instead of addressing comments and reviews as a chance to change their business procedures. No one is perfect and they should look at it as an opportunity to recapture those people and change their processes.
joe cline
· 1 year ago
Shame on ePerks. Maybe someone there at ePerks should try to fix the problems or perception of problems that the blogger is talking about instead of suing the blogger to try to censor free speach. Hopefully, ePerks will let up, but if not, I hope the blogger gets costs, fees, and maybe even some exemplary damages. Don't let them silence your opinions!
Joe
Lee
· 1 year ago
You would think a lawyers office would have proof read the letter for spelling mistakes before sending it out.
Mitchell
· 1 year ago
I agree the suit is about negative blog comments.
However if ePerks tries to say their website and traffic was greatly diminished by the blog I would beg to differ because the robots.txt entry is doing more damage to their website than any negative post on a blog would.
Makes you wonder if ePerks did the robots.txt file on purpose or if its out of incompetence on the webmasters behalf.
How do I prevent robots scanning my site? The quick way to prevent robots visiting your site is put these two lines into the /robots.txt file on your server
I would estimate they did this around October/November and didnt change it.
Now ejerks go fire your webmaster and stop the stupid lawsuit its your webmasters fault not anyone elses.
jean normandin
· 1 year ago
hi Vlad i just read your article, the Eperks thing is just another way for crooked companies to try to shut down people who tells the truth. i have some experience in court though and with proof of different IP's you should be able to prove your point and if you can ...get some people who have been screwed to testify in court on your behalf...that should help a lot
wayne helmore
· 1 year ago
This is a great post to show how the person can come together for a common cause. It is amazing that a company will sue someone instead of looking at ways that they can improve their service. Visit At:Estate planning
jessicachristina
· 1 year ago
Recognized as one of the leading personal injury law firms in Newyork. Gersowitz, Libo & Korek, P.C. www.lawyertime.com has recovered tens of millions of dollars for our clients personal injury claims in New York and New Jersey. Click here to read some of our client success stories.In order to give our clients the best representation possible, we are very selective in the cases we handle. Once you become a client, you can count on us to not only aggressively pursue your personal injury case but also to advance all costs and expenses associated with your lawsuit.
Vlad Zablotskyy
· 1 year ago
Jessica,
Thanks for the info. I do however advise you not to leave this same message on other blogs. Consider them as an ongoing conversation not an opportunity for a "plug". It would be nice to here your professional opinion on the subject matter of this blog.
I also do not see your name among the attorneys on the website to which you left a link. Are you an attorney yourself?
prosperingservant
· 12 months ago
I can definitely relate to the difficulty of being laid off although it was for different reasons. I was laid off after 9/11 and learned many techniques for surviving and getting my career back on track. I have a series of blog posts about that experience at link that comes with this comment.
cliff
· 10 months ago
I am a broker and own a company in Austin TX. I have an 800 credit score and always pay my bills (ligitimate ones) We had been solicited by Eperks about a year ago. They never provided any of the leads they promised. We filed with our credit card company for a charge back close to year ago. I just got a call today 12/22/2008 saying they became aware of the charge back in September. When trying to explain my reason for charge back (DID NOT PROVIDE SERVICES PROMISED-NONE) I was rudely interrupted and threatened with collections. Finally I just hung up. Beware of this company- they need to be shut down.
Todd Jackson
· 8 months ago
Funny that their own lawyer couldn't even spell Brabus (Barbus, lol) correctly! A real attorney would know the difference. Shows where this company is heading!!! Good luck Vlad.
All Comments
Then why remove the posts? I understand that it can be very scary to get threatening letters from attorneys. But have you consulted an attorney yourself?
You are asking that "leading real estate blogs and websites will notice this issue and will stand up for the freedom of speech on the Internet."
And I suspect they will. But you didn't stand up yourself...
Talk to Joe at sellsius. (http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/) He may have some ideas or connections.
I am standing up for myself now. ;)
Well I don't know.... How about facing a behemoth company that spends zillions on TV commercials?
At the time of receiving the C&D; I had no attorney....
Is it too late to stand up for myself now?
Thanks for the tip about contacting my states Attorney General. I appreciate it.
If you are following this, I have deleted one of your comment by accident.... while installing new spam protection plugin... I did however link to your post...
Sorry about that.
Also not every one had left their websites while commenting and it is fine by me. Look what happened! I do however think you need a wild imagination to accuse me for writing all the comments. I hope Mr. Cook knows what IP address stands for. I literally would need to be in several locations across US in span of 15 minutes.
The above is a trackback that was accidentally caught by my older spam protection plugin.
Opera Tower, LLC & Tibor Hollo Sues Me for $25M
Wayne
I fixed it. Now need to "nofollow" links here on my blog.
Thanks for the support.
If you want BloodhoundBlog's help, say so.
Thank you so much. I would not mind if you can write up a post about this.
And yes, I am going to fight it. They were leaving defamatory comments on forums in regards to my posts. They even started a blog specifically aimed at discredit me:
eperks.wordpress.com
There was an entire paragraph dedicated to me but today that paragraph was taken down.
When you see childish behavior, take screen shots. They're probably within their first amendment rights as well, but nothing pops the pus out of their pimples like public scorn.
Meanwhile, I'll see if I can make some noise.
Thanks to Marlow Harris for pointing this out.
Some one posted a link to my blog on one of the Marlow posts. So after I received this C&D; letter I was simply scared so I asked her to remove the link.
I saw she posted on her blog today. I guess that is how you found my post.
Yes, what they had on their blog was silly and I wouldn't even bother. What happened was I really started to jerk their lawyer around by demanding to take down the paragraph that mentioned my name and my blog. He initially replied that ePerks have nothing to do with that blog. But today after posting this post I saw the paragraph mystically disappear.
Screen shots are good but one can photoshop them. I think I will just wait for the next update over at archive.org. They will not be able to modify anything there.
Welcome to my blog.
Wayne advised me to get in touch with you but I have not been able to locate your e-mail. Do you mind if I e-mail you?
I also think it's silly. Especially in view that my blog is not even that known. Did you hear about me before???
Sorry for keeping your comment in moderation.... You placed three links and whenever that happens the comment goes into moderation.
Thanks for stopping by.
From my understanding there is a class action suit being brought upon eperks.com so maybe that is why one of there key board of directors has resigned.
Brabus Ventures Corporation, and numerous other companies in California.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
License Type:
BROKER
Name:
Birla, Ramesh Kumar
Mailing Address:
8796 FELIZ WAY
TRACY, CA 95304
License ID:
01301364
Expiration Date:
06/09/10
License Status:
LICENSED
Broker License Issued:
06/10/06 (Unofficial -- taken from secondary records)
Former Name(s):
Birla, Ramesh Kumar Jr
Main Office:
8796 FELIZ WAY
TRACY, CA 94566
DBA
Birla & Associates Realty
ACTIVE AS OF 08/21/2006
Branches:
NO CURRENT BRANCHES
Affiliated Licensed Corporation(s):
01825903 - Officer Expiration Date: 09/18/11
Action Realty Group Inc
01818017 - Officer Expiration Date: 08/06/11
Brabus Ventures Corporation
01522498 - Officer Expiration Date: 07/12/10
Rescal Realty Inc
OFFICER CANCELED AS OF 11/30/07
Comment:
NO DISCIPLINARY ACTION
07/27/02 - CONDITIONAL LICENSE SUSPENSION. EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS NOT FILED.
11/27/02 - CONDITIONAL SUSPENSION REMOVED. EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS MET.
>>>> Public information request complete <<<<
You know they say in show business that bad PR is better than no PR. I think it funny that ePERKS is getting the publicity out of this. I had never even heard of them before now.
I can't say from one side or the other as I have not used the service, but I can say as a fellow Realtor that (in the video) hitting a Realtor with a truck is no better than blogging about a service. One is defamation and so is the other.
I am not sure there will be any heat. As I mentioned elsewhere. I needed to do this to be at peace with myself. I moving pass this. There are so many better things to write about.
Does your blog platform support closing comments on a per post basis? It sounds like some of those older posts needed a line drawn under them.
Anything they want to accuse you of they have to prove both here in the UK and in the USA. If they make claims against you then you can always demand in a cease and desist that "you are advised to demand proof of these claims" - there are plenty of templates for that sort of thing ont he web.
Don't let them bully you.
This only part of the story. I can't even begin to describe here how low this company is prepared to go.... But not to worry, I am going after every single ass involved in all of this.
http://www.inman.com/news/2008/03/26/real-estat...
Some most recent revelations about this company's tactics to disparage my name made me convinced more than ever that I have done the right thing by publishing this cease and desist notice.
I am glad that body of the same cease and desist notice had serve the purpose of becoming anchor text for the links to my articles.
Look for tomorrows article describing how low this company is willing to go to disparage and defame me.
I was interested in 2 zip codes to buy exclusive rights. That was $259/month. I asked how many agents are currently listed in those zips with non-exclusive rights. He replied, "about 20". My next question was, "So how many deals have closed in those zips (through eperks) in the last 6 months."
The sales guy said he didn't have that information, but even worse said that he couldn't/wouldn't get it because...(insert BS here). Then he said maybe if we were discussing a bigger account they might be able to do that type of research yada yada yada.
Then I found this site and hung up on him!
This was not the only place I've heard negative information about eperks. I also posted an agent 2 agent question on trulia and 3 out of 3 responses had negative experiences.
Interestingly enough, when the controversy broke on my blog some "fans" of this company would say that no one should expect results first month or two... yeah right at the cost of $250 a month???
Thanks for stopping by and sharing.
Wow, I never knew there was so many mixed feelings about ePERKS. I JUST started working here 2 days ago (I have not even hit the phones yet) and I definitely want to make sure my team manager is aware of this and I will inquire about the class-action lawsuit and cease and desist blogs. (??? C&D, honestly ... who thinks they can silence people like that?!?)
Many of my co-workers are a bit less customer service savvy and more "get it now" type attitude. However, that is the attitude they want us to take because we do face a lot of rejection and in order for employees to not feel like complete failures, they want us to toughen our hides. I think this could contribute to poor service. I want to improve it.
In all honesty, this method of generating business is going to work for some and not for others. Whether it is simply the lack of business in zip codes that are chosen or if people aren't willing to really invest time into marketing themselves in many additional outlets instead of just waiting for the phone to ring, it just depends. Everyone's experience is going to vary.
How I see it, not only as a new employee, but as someone who takes what I do personally and wants to help as many people as possible, I think it overall is a product that is valuable and makes sense but might not be right for everyone.
Unfortunately, people who do not hold themselves to standards like I do may burn valuable bridges. I used to work for ELOAN, until they laid off 500+ people and I loved them too, until I was let go for a bogus reason to avoid being paid severance. And do I have a bad taste in my mouth from that? Hell YES I do. Does that mean that ELOAN is a bad choice for everyone? Not in the least.
What I can say is the job looks like it is going to be really hard, and there is a high turnover even for people who have early success. I want to be successful there so I am trying to know as much as I can from all angles. They have told me that the cancellation process has been crappy because of the way it has to be done and some employees aren't clear to their agents how to do it. Agents are calling to cancel WITHOUT SENDING WRITTEN EMAIL CONFIRMATION to clientservices@eperks.com (OMG I will TOTALLY make sure this is the right email, I still haven't had my work station 100% set up!!!) I'm sure that plays a part in miscommunication about payments and unauthorized charges.
Wow, this is long. I tend to do that. If you ever hear from a Jennifer from ePERKS, I won't ask you to give me any special treatment, but I am driven to be better than anybody else, and will make sure ROI gurantees are fulfilled on agents I sign up and that if they need to cancel for whatever reason that it gets DONE. (my referral ID: jp10) ^_~
I can't make the same promise for my co-workers, everyone has a different ethical sense.
I hope things work out for people who give ePERKS a try. If they find it doesn't, I hope they don't try to rain on anyone else's success and be sure to follow through on cancelling the service as completely as possible. If it works, share great success with others! I tried recruiting tons of collegues to ELOAN while it was riding the wave. ePERKS is NEW NEW NEW only since July 2007! They already have commercials running (although I didn't like the truck hitting the lady one at all!) but still, it's got to mean something.
I am going to stop typing, I promise, I seriously try just way too hard to say everything I want in one shot! This is one of my "tasks" to overcome at work coincidentally, as well as the homework I have to do tonight. So good luck everyone, and I am going to make sure I know all about these incidents before I hit the phones tomorrow. Thanks for reading, I'll keep checking back and see how things go.
Thanks Vlad for your desire to help others. That is really all we can do in life or why bother with the freedom we are given here?
-jen-
Good luck with your position at ePerks. I hope to see you here an leave comments a week from now. If I were you, I would not inquire about this cease and desist letter, if you want to keep this job. I am serious about it.
Unless of course you are just here to create more hype for this company.
Best of luck!
While you at it, could you also ask who posted following on Yahoo! Answers?
http://www.go-beyond-mls.com/silencing-a-blogge...
;)
Joe
However if ePerks tries to say their website and traffic was greatly diminished by the blog I would beg to differ because the robots.txt entry is doing more damage to their website than any negative post on a blog would.
Makes you wonder if ePerks did the robots.txt file on purpose or if its out of incompetence on the webmasters behalf.
If VLAD wants to end this just send the attorneys this link. - Look at the areas I boxed in Red.
http://www.interiorliving.com/eperks.jpg
For those who need an explanation.
http://www.robotstxt.org/faq/prevent.html
How do I prevent robots scanning my site?
The quick way to prevent robots visiting your site is put these two lines into the /robots.txt file on your server
I would estimate they did this around October/November and didnt change it.
Now ejerks go fire your webmaster and stop the stupid lawsuit its your webmasters fault not anyone elses.
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Thanks for the info. I do however advise you not to leave this same message
on other blogs. Consider them as an ongoing conversation not an opportunity
for a "plug". It would be nice to here your professional opinion on the
subject matter of this blog.
I also do not see your name among the attorneys on the website to which you
left a link. Are you an attorney yourself?
We had been solicited by Eperks about a year ago. They never provided any of the leads they promised. We filed with our
credit card company for a charge back close to year ago. I just got a call today 12/22/2008 saying they became aware of the charge back
in September. When trying to explain my reason for charge back (DID NOT PROVIDE SERVICES PROMISED-NONE) I was rudely interrupted
and threatened with collections. Finally I just hung up. Beware of this company- they need to be shut down.