Thursday, October 22, 2009
"Fluffy" Pillows at Wingate by Wyndham??
Went to Fayetteville to teach some CPAs. Arrived at the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel. Great room promising "fluffy" pillows. I should have noticed that the 4 "fluffy" pillows were standing edge-up at attention side by side on the bed, like a full-dress Marine Honor Guard. After a 4-hour drive, I lay down and got consussion. OMG. The Washington Monument is fluffier than these pillows which are about 12 inches high and with the texture of concrete. This was obviously the artificially staged room used for shooting misleading advertising photographs. You know, like the plastic burgers and salads they use for advertising food that you can never actually experience. I called housekeeping to ask for some pillows that you can actually rest your head on. "Sorry, that's all we have," I was was told. "Has anyone actually managed to sleep on these torture-blocks," I asked. Obviously not - the last victims are still undergoing surgery for severe head and neck trauma. After two hours of torture, a blinding headache and neckache drove me across the street to the Courtyard by Marriott at 2am. "This is a strange request, but do you think I might borrow a couple of your pillows" I asked. "I'll return them in the morning IF I wake up." After convincing these folk that I wasn't a wino, hophead or total lunatic, I staggered back to the Wingate clutching my 2 pillows, trying to avoid the hard stare and raised eyebrows of a local trooper on his way home from the local coffee and donut emporium. Blissful sleep at last, albeit for just a couple of hours. Just another example of advertising sizzle without the steak. If some genie ever offered me a wish, I'd wish that every advertising and marketing agency were forced to actually use the products and services they so fervently and blindly promote.
Xidho ama xoola waa!
USA Today reports that we have so many Somali refugees living in the USA, that we have to start translating stuff. First is the "Click It or Ticket" seat-belt signs. Because Somalia has no government, the concept of getting a ticket is totally foreign to them, so a translation of "Click it or ticket" doesn't work. Instead, the warning is "Strap it or lose your livestock!" Not sure how effective a warning to Muslims to "Strap it or get 72 virgins!" would be.
Monday, June 29, 2009
CitySearch Sucks!
In January 2008, a CitySearch rep signed my business up for a CitySearch Charlotte website. As part of the “sales-pitch” he convinced me to cap the account at not less than $200 per month as “this would allow the full impact of CitySearch to be noticed.” Additionally he promised that a professional ad writer at CitySearch would be in touch with me to “extend their free ad writing service to help me create the best CitySearch page possible.” And finally he recommended my entry being placed in the “educational-Personal Development” category.
What a load of Bull!!!
It’s now June 2009 and this is how I’ve benefitted from CitySearch.
1. In spite of countless emails and phone calls to secure the free ad writer service, I’ve yet to receive this service or even speak to this person.
2. Over the past 18 months, CitySearch has billed my company a total of $2140 for clicks on my CitySearch website which has yield precisely nothing at all. Zip. Zilch. Nada!
3. When I’ve tried to access my account, the portal has been closed, down for repairs or simply not operational.
4. I’ve spoken to my rep on numerous occasions about this lack of performance from CitySearch. I’ve asked my rep to investigate the click-through logs to see where the click-throughs are being directed. After many promises to investigate this, with absolutely nothing forthcoming, my rep disappeared, most likely for a less frustrating and more honest job.
5. I made contact with a new rep. Told him my tale of woe. This is what he advised – “Ok, I checked into things and this is what I would recommend. Move to the basic package at $99.00 per month. Business consulting just isn’t one of our top categories and doesn’t receive a lot of relevant traffic. The reason you’re getting random clicks with no return is your page is appearing in several categories that aren’t necessarily core for you. This is done to enhance exposure but sometimes backfires and gets no return. I’m negotiating one month’s credit for you now. I can also add additional categories, (business consultants, productivity consultants), to help target your campaign more specifically.)
6. By what authority my page was listed under “several categories that aren’t necessarily core for” my business, I have no idea. All I can guess is that CitySearch decided that because they could not bill me for $200 in click-throughs in the “Educational-Personal Development category” they could increase the click-throughs by listing me in other categories. As I’ve never been able to access my account, these new categories could possibly include nose-picking, stomach-scratching and jay-walking. And the promise of a month’s credit is REALLY generous, especially after I’ve spent $2140 with these rip-off artists. Yes, the category-padding DID backfire. I received the blast!! CitySearch took the profits!!
7. I’ve just been billed a further $183.45 for another month of these highly-suspect click-throughs, which again have yielded zero results. I wrote the following to my rep : “I've not seen the credit you indicated and I now see that CitySearch has just billed me another $183.45 on 06/24/2009, once again for zero noticeable traffic. Please look into this. I'd like this latest charge reversed. Also the credit of $196.45 charged on 6/1/2009. And also the account suspended. Please get back to me with a date when this will be done.”
8. And here’s the response : I had your account cancelled on Friday, June 5th, 2 minutes after I received your email request to do so. Your billing cycle runs through the 21st of each month with billing occurring in arrears. The invoice you received on 6/24/09 was for your last month of service. I tried negotiating for a credit but a credit can only be issued on a live account. I was denied my request for a refund.
9. Don’t you just love the gall of these people? Instead of working to fix the problem, they obviously figure that they’ve fleeced enough from me and rather than spend a bit of time and effort in retaining a customer and building some loyalty, it’s off to fleece some other sucker. After all, they’ve already billed me for $2140 worth of bull-shit click-throughs. Surely a couple of months of free service while they get their act together is not too much to ask for. But no, it’s cherry-picking time. Time to fleece another sucker - there’re 300 million in this country and a new one born every minute!
Bottom line? CitySearch really does suck! Total rip-off!
What a load of Bull!!!
It’s now June 2009 and this is how I’ve benefitted from CitySearch.
1. In spite of countless emails and phone calls to secure the free ad writer service, I’ve yet to receive this service or even speak to this person.
2. Over the past 18 months, CitySearch has billed my company a total of $2140 for clicks on my CitySearch website which has yield precisely nothing at all. Zip. Zilch. Nada!
3. When I’ve tried to access my account, the portal has been closed, down for repairs or simply not operational.
4. I’ve spoken to my rep on numerous occasions about this lack of performance from CitySearch. I’ve asked my rep to investigate the click-through logs to see where the click-throughs are being directed. After many promises to investigate this, with absolutely nothing forthcoming, my rep disappeared, most likely for a less frustrating and more honest job.
5. I made contact with a new rep. Told him my tale of woe. This is what he advised – “Ok, I checked into things and this is what I would recommend. Move to the basic package at $99.00 per month. Business consulting just isn’t one of our top categories and doesn’t receive a lot of relevant traffic. The reason you’re getting random clicks with no return is your page is appearing in several categories that aren’t necessarily core for you. This is done to enhance exposure but sometimes backfires and gets no return. I’m negotiating one month’s credit for you now. I can also add additional categories, (business consultants, productivity consultants), to help target your campaign more specifically.)
6. By what authority my page was listed under “several categories that aren’t necessarily core for” my business, I have no idea. All I can guess is that CitySearch decided that because they could not bill me for $200 in click-throughs in the “Educational-Personal Development category” they could increase the click-throughs by listing me in other categories. As I’ve never been able to access my account, these new categories could possibly include nose-picking, stomach-scratching and jay-walking. And the promise of a month’s credit is REALLY generous, especially after I’ve spent $2140 with these rip-off artists. Yes, the category-padding DID backfire. I received the blast!! CitySearch took the profits!!
7. I’ve just been billed a further $183.45 for another month of these highly-suspect click-throughs, which again have yielded zero results. I wrote the following to my rep : “I've not seen the credit you indicated and I now see that CitySearch has just billed me another $183.45 on 06/24/2009, once again for zero noticeable traffic. Please look into this. I'd like this latest charge reversed. Also the credit of $196.45 charged on 6/1/2009. And also the account suspended. Please get back to me with a date when this will be done.”
8. And here’s the response : I had your account cancelled on Friday, June 5th, 2 minutes after I received your email request to do so. Your billing cycle runs through the 21st of each month with billing occurring in arrears. The invoice you received on 6/24/09 was for your last month of service. I tried negotiating for a credit but a credit can only be issued on a live account. I was denied my request for a refund.
9. Don’t you just love the gall of these people? Instead of working to fix the problem, they obviously figure that they’ve fleeced enough from me and rather than spend a bit of time and effort in retaining a customer and building some loyalty, it’s off to fleece some other sucker. After all, they’ve already billed me for $2140 worth of bull-shit click-throughs. Surely a couple of months of free service while they get their act together is not too much to ask for. But no, it’s cherry-picking time. Time to fleece another sucker - there’re 300 million in this country and a new one born every minute!
Bottom line? CitySearch really does suck! Total rip-off!
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