Note: There’s been some confusion over company names, and Johnny Chan with eBoost Consulting wants you to know that his company is not involved in this story.
If a company promises to increase your Google PageRank, run! Rogier fell for eBoost Media’s sweet words—they promised an increase in Google popularity “within about a week, at least for people entering specific search terms such as ‘Maine photographer’ and the like.” But after three and a half weeks of no results, Rogier decided to cancel the service, which is when eBoost Media’s dark side emerged.
I informed [my sales rep] Ashley that I wanted my money back and the agreement canceled. She put me in touch with a customer service rep named Denette.
When Denette finally got back to me, the news was not positive. She refused to say whether she would issue a refund. When I insisted (and sure, I wasn’t particularly friendly, but I didn’t use profanity or even raise my voice by more than a hair), she hung up on me.
I then canceled the credit card I’d given eBoost media and wrote Denette by e-mail that I’d file fraud complaints with the authorities if she did not let me know within 24 hours that eBoost Media consented to return the $99.
On Thursday of last week, she called again, trying to sweet-talk me into changing my mind. I said I wouldn’t and that I had been given no reason to trust eBoost media — on the contrary. I reiterated that all I wanted was a refund. After about 20 minutes of exasperating back and forth, she hung up on me again.
On Friday, when I had left for the day, my voice mail received the psycho phone messages that I’ve attached.
Here’s the first message, along with our concept art of Denette at the phone:
powered by ODEO
And here’s the name-calling message, left only 5 minutes later, again along with our concept art:
powered by ODEO
Rogier played the messages back to eBoost and asked them for a comment:
When I called him yesterday, eBoost’s acting CEO Michael Luvano agreed to listen to the recording. He then acknowledged that the second call had come from someone at eBoost Media, but curiously enough, he denied it was Denette. The mystery culprit, he said hours after hearing the messages, had already been “dealt with” — she’d been “severely reprimanded.” When, puzzled, I suggested we ought to let other people listen to the messages on the Internet and solicit their opinions on whether or not it’s the same voice, he got huffy and accused me of being out to badmouth his company.
Nonetheless, Luvano offered to have the CEO, Kevin Johnson (who he said was on vacation) write me a personal apology. He also said the company would finally refund the dough, which I appreciate.
As of yesterday, Rogier had received neither the apology nor the refund.
“Lend Me Your Ears, or, Who You Callin’ a Faggot?” [Nobody's Business]
(Photos: Getty)
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@RabbitDinner: So assuming the voicemail has an outbound message (please leave your message after the beep or similar), Denette and the 2nd caller have received notice of recording.
By the caller not hanging up after hearing this outbound voicemail message, they have given consent, so Roger cannot be liable for the recording.
In most states without Human Rights laws specifically including GBLT people, it is perfectly legal to call someone faggot. If Roger’s state does not have that protection, he could try for harassement, but I would imagine that would require a pattern (multiple calls) and proving intent.
I have to confess I called someone at Verizon a motherfucker once. But in fairness, I had been on hold for over 2 1/2 hours trying to cancel internet service that I never received, yet they continued to bill me for it for the past 4 months. Every time I called to cancel they had said it had been taken care of, and every month they hit me up for the charge again. I wasn’t even looking for the refund, just an end to the service and they were completley unhelpful, and continued to try to sell me the product every time I tried to cancel. I know I let the situation get the better of me, but I was too exasperated to care at that point.
@JeffDrummer:
You are assuming that people were honest about their sexuality before the 1960s. It is only very recently that people have felt free enough to publically anounce who they are attracted to.
And to compare homosexuality with non-consensual sex with children is a ridiculous analogy.
@harvey_birdman_attorney_at_law:
I got physically thrown out of a New Jersey DMV (pre-privatization) for calling their policies “fucking bullshit.”
@drjayphd: Can’t listen to them at work… Did “Danette” threaten to make the OP humble?
Re: “no discussion of how the recordings are made. Depending on his state’s notification laws, Roger may have also committed a crime if proper consent was not obtained.”
Name’s Rogier, actually.
My answering machine plays a beautifully clear 20-second outgoing message identifying the name of my business, my name, even my wife’s name (she was quite surprised to hear of my apparent trysts with guys! I mean, 14 years of marriage and NEITHER of us knew of my ‘Greek’ proclivities!). Anyway, whoever leaves a message does so with the explicit understanding (and the implicit consent) that it will be recorded — that’s kinda the POINT of leaving a message, I think.
Because I live in Maine, it’s a moot point anyway: Maine is one of the states that doesn’t require consent to record a telephone conversation (as long as you’re one of the parties).
Re: “I would be interested to know what the terms of the service were. Search engine optimization (usually done by spamming other sites with links to increase page rank) takes time, and often considerable resources. The effects can be delayed and somewhat long lasting, so if the service has been attempting to increase his rank they MAY have spent considerable resources. The benefits may show up in a few weeks or up to 2 months. Issuing a refund could allow him to benefit without paying.”
You raise a good point, but the terms were perfectly simple: I would see results within a week, ten days tops. eBoost promised that anyone in an 80-mile radius typing in search terms like “Maine photographer” would see my listing at or near the very top. After a week, no dice. After two weeks, no dice. After three weeks, still nothing, and I put them on notice that I needed to see results. After three and a half weeks, no results, no satisfactory explanation, and I asked for a refund. You know the rest.
Re: “Depending on the state, they may have human rights laws that protect Gay & Lesbian men & women. Most of these laws are written to also protect those ‘perceived to be’ Gay or Lesbian. If Roger lives in one of those states, this company has potentially committed a criminal act. All Roger needs to do it report it to the police.”
I’m made of sturdier stuff than that, as you’ll discover when you read my blog (www.bakelblog.com). I’m very much pro gay rights (that is, equal rights), but as a First Amendment freak, I don’t believe in hate crime legislation and won’t go down that road myself. I think I’d feel the same way if I were actually gay but who knows.
Re: “why would anyone who did even a little research into this company pay them for anything? Come on folks, it’s time to get a little Internet savvy.”
I’ve been publishing on and writing about the Internet since well before the days of Netscape, so I think I’m reasonably savvy. But in this case, absolutely, I blew it. On a Monday morning, before I’d even had my coffee, I responded positively to a telephone solicitation from eBoost Media, and I HATE telephone marketers. No idea what got into me. “Ashley” was sweet and plenty persuasive, so in a temporary fit of insanity (one assumes), I signed up. I even ignored obvious warning signs such as the fact that she had a Yahoo address, not an eBoost address. (The same is true for acting CEO Michael Luvano — confidence-inspiring, huh?) I was an ass for not doing my due diligence, no question. I have no defense and deserve to be flogged!
Re: “Does canceling a credit card remove the ability to make a chargeback?”
According to Denette, it does, so I told her (and her boss, Michael Luvano) to just mail me a refund check. I wonder if it’ll be made out to “Roger van Fucko.” Will let you know.
Thanks to all of you here for weighing in. It’s been an interesting ride!
I’m not sure I understand why it’s so important whether or not this was the same woman. The CEO admitted it was someone from the company who made the call. So what’s the difference? Why would that be something worth lying about?
Sorry to double-dip. Whether it’s relevant or not, it’s still fun to try to figure out.. Listening again, it sounds to me like the same woman talking while holding her nose shut…
Feeble attempt to disguise her voice?
@LouDobbsChivasJersey
“I think it sounds like different people. Or maybe in the second message she’s drunk. Either way, no excuse for the ignorance and bigotry, and no excuse for customer service to devolve into name calling.”
I wish I could get drunk in 5 minutes.
Let’s put this SEO debate to rest…yes there are scammy SEOs out there, but there are also plenty of legit ones. The practice as a whole means that do things that should increase your rankings in search engines.
The SEOs who do this the ethical way are helping their clients create good quality content and distributing it in a manner that gets them quality backlinks. They also help ensure the client’s site is coded according to web standards, because guess, what, thats one of the best SEO tactics you can do.
The SEOs who operate in an unethical way (and give the rest of the industry a bad name) are the ones who promise you top rankings, won’t disclose their methods, and are likely submitting you to link farms and utilizing other grey/blackhat methods to get your rankings, which will most likely only be temporary.
I am not an “SEO” per say, but my background is in interactive marketing and I perform SEO on my personal sites and deal with an SEO/PPC firm for work and have much experience in the field. Just like any industry, there are the people who do it the correct, ethical way, and then there are people like these jerks that give the rest a bad name.
@SkokieGuy:
But aren’t violations of “human rights laws” (not quite clear on what you mean there– hate speech laws, perhaps?) usually more civil than criminal? I.e, if you believe someone has discriminated against you, then you sue them, and they can get fined by the government? I’ve never heard of anyone ever being arrested for making hate speech (unless they incited a riot or something). Of course, it just may be me living in my isolated away-from-cable-tv North Texas bubble.
Cheers!
@JeffDrummer: Think I have to agree here. There are a ton of people that are “gay” that are making the choice to do it mainly because they feel it is trendy or rebellious to whomever their peers are. The rest that are born gay in my opinion is a legitimate mental illness that should be treated with therapy and medication the same as the other mental illnesses out there.
As for the post, Professionally NOT acceptable and should be fired immeadiatly. But infringing on her right to free speech no, she is just an idiot.
@HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak: Nope, although no one can really prove Rogier isn’t actually Brian Blair, when you think about it…
Wait, she called him a meatball? I didn’t know you got Mr Brain’s Pork Faggots in the US. [en.wikipedia.org])
Ok, irreverent comment over. Whoever it was, was way out of line. In the call centre I worked in (made redundant, long story), that would be instant dismissal for gross misconduct.
EBOOST is up to scamming again! Now called TOP RANK LISTING and they are trying to fraud business owners into paying for their free Google listing.
This is the comapny that keeps on giving, and now they are looking for companies that have not “claimed” their listing on Google to scam them out of money. They will even threaten to remove the listing if you don’t cough up the $89 to them. THEY ARE SICK!!! The rep even told me that they had created the listing! (Total B.S. – I created it)
I can’t believe these Eboost guys have not been shut down for good yet. Here is their current number in case anyone wants to call them up and ask why they are still trying to scam people : 951-894-8620 BILL LEONARD.