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webmaster_k
Joined: Mar 13, 2006
# Posts: 4
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Posted: 2006-Mar-14 00:44
Hi Everyone, my first post. Motivation behind is purely to express my disappointment with the Customer Service I received from LookSmart.
I signed up for an account after receiving an email about a $25 incentive credit for new members. The credit was not added upon my initial $25 deposit and I had to email them to get it. Okay fine I can let the one go. Minor oversight on there part.
I go ahead and setup my campaign with keywords similiar to my other accounts on Google, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Enhance - all of which work well.
Now comes my monthly billing invoice...
ORDER RECEIPT:
Period Spend: $0.20 (i.e., delivered traffic)
Total Period Charge: $15.00
Period End Balance: $30.00
Period End Total Budget: $20.00
I have been charged $20 for 20 cents of usage. Please feel free to let me know if I am being ridiculous: as a consumer should you not pay for what you use?
Story continues, contact LookSmart to try and get a clarification. Receive a phone call from "Clark". Call him back, no answer, he calls me back and explains that there is a $15 minimum fee. Ask him why this is? No good explanation. I ask him why your competitors don't charge a minimum? No anwsers again. What he does offer to do is put my account on hold until I can boost traffic or give me a refund and close the account.
You tell me, would you want to loose a customer or try and work out a solution? Well I choose a refund, which he explains based on the account balance is $5. Then I have to explain that I have only used $0.20 of service, therefore the amount owing is $24.80. Thank you kindly, then proceeds to hang up the phone, conversation over, lost customer.
Think twice before using LookSmart. If you have a story about these guys, I would love to hear.
sincerely,
Webmaster K
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flyingrose
Staff
Joined: Oct 30, 2003
# Posts: 3361
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Posted: 2006-Mar-14 18:03
I'm moved your post to the PPC forum since it is about Looksmart's PPC program.
The monthly minimum charge is in the TOS (Terms of Service). The TOS on any site is usually presented during the sign up process. Here is the Looksmart Terms and Conditions information.
Until October of last year, Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly called Overture) had a $20 minimum monthly charge. Goclick charged a minimum monthly fee of $10 at one time but they have apparently also dropped their minimum.
I haven't opened any Looksmart accounts with bonus credit offers, but I do know there is often a delay in receiving the bonus credit when opening accounts at Yahoo and other PPC engines.
They don't seem to be automatically added when opening the account. It appears they are processed and added later.
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webmaster_k
Joined: Mar 13, 2006
# Posts: 4
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Posted: 2006-Mar-15 18:23
Thank you for moving the post. New to the forum, wasn't 100% sure where to post. But hey everything works out in the end...
I find that companies hiding specifics of details that should be unfront and not hidden in the fine print is a form of deceptive marketing. In no way shape or form should companies, in this case Search Engine PPC, gauge there customers for extra bucks. There are so many examples in todays society it isn't even funny. It comes down to business ethics, you don't get any further ahead by trying to "squeeze" customers. Ya that's what I will call it.
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flyingrose
Staff
Joined: Oct 30, 2003
# Posts: 3361
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Posted: 2006-Mar-16 06:15
Where are my manners? I am often so focused on answering I forget to say hello first. Welcome to the forums. Don't worry about where you posted - it was simple to move and now you know where we are. I hope you come back often.
I agree that many companies are extremely deceptive. I particularly dislike the sales gimic that uses a free trial and then hits your credit card every month for a subscription charge hidden in the fine print.
Many don't realize they're being billed and lose money until they cancel. Even worse, some just keep charging you anyway even if you DID cancel, forcing you to reverse the charges on them if you were wise enough to use a credit card to pay them.
The only thing worse is the company that sells something cheap that isn't at all what they claim or gives you a certain amount of time to try something and then immediately takes money out of your checking account.
Absolutely DO NOT allow companies to draft your account or you may end up having to close it to stop them. Even if you stop payment once they can send the charge through with no check number, different company name, or a different amount to avoid the stop payment order.
Many companies and especially phone and utility companies make it really easy to order or add features and a real drag to cancel them. I'm sure it makes them a lot more money but it is annoying.
Sorry for getting off topic. I totally agree that many companies are severely lacking in ethics.
In this case though I don't think they meant to be deceptive. They probably just didn't realize that for many smaller advertisers that would be an important detail they'd want to make obvious during the sign up process.
Many companies are more focused on and used to dealing with very large corporations and can't imagine any advertiser NOT spending $15.00 a month.
The bean counters probably put that in to cover the cost of administering each account and the legal types believe everyone will read the TOS. I doubt they realize most of it is indecipherable to the average person so many don't read them.
I will suggest to Looksmart that the monthly minimum be specifically mentioned when people open accounts and also added to their FAQ section.
With other PPC engines dropping the monthly minimums they may even be considering dropping it to be more competitive.
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