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.
The sales people they currently employ sell local PPC advertising with tactics and promises that are clearly against Google TOS. Here is a post on some of the things they promise:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/A ... dae6&hl=en. Here is Googles policy:
http://www.adwords.google.com/support/s ... wer=152979This company uses tactics that are against many of Googles policies and laws in some areas.
Cold Calling and automated calls that are illegal in many states:
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-949-859-2301http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-888-243-2488Spam:
http://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx ... jKWaIeRg/3http://www.mail-archive.com/cygwin@cygw ... 27204.htmlhttp://www.mail-archive.com/cygwin@cygw ... 28532.htmlhttp://www.jimcarroll.com/2003/10/the-l ... eyll-go-toAs you can see Google is against the main selling points of this company and what the employees “guaranteeâ€:
* “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 forum 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…†This promise can be found from employees here:
http://www.tablenow.com/http://www.ocgoogleguy.com/Businesses/O ... yon_CA.htmhttp://www.linkedin.com/pub/kurt-steinhebel/1a/10b/13bFor any current customers that want to see if this guarantee of 24/7 first page placement is being upheld ask for an “Impression Share Reportâ€. 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:
hhttps://adwords.google.com/support/sel ... &lev=indexhttp://www.google.com/support/forum/p/A ... 2a43&hl=enBoth 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://www.searchinitiatives.com/carlperkins.htmll.
Do not be fooled by promises of “exclusivityâ€, 24/7 first page placement, unlimited clicks and other false claims. The company has been known to break many contracts and attempts to force its employees to lie and terminates them if the truth is ever told.
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
netappsconsulting.com
prll411.com
performancelocalmarketing.com – AKA “One Top Firm†that has a history of its own:
http://www.seorefugee.com/forums/genera ... redux.htmlhttp://www.webproworld.com/webmaster-fo ... Technologyhttp://scam.com/showthread.php?t=26041Below are some resources to report any wrong doings you may feel this company may be performing:
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bi ... t&hl=en_UShttps://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtmlhttp://www.ic3.gov/default.aspxhttps://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/getstarted.aspxhttp://www.onguardonline.gov/file-complaint.aspxhttp://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/coldcall.htmhttp://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/territory.htmhttps://secure.nclforms.org/nficweb/nfic.htmhttp://www.ftc.gov/spam/https://complaints.donotcall.gov/compla ... px?panel=2http://www.spamcop.net/anonsignup.shtmlhttp://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/s ... allist.phphttp://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/s ... eslist.phphttp://www.emailscammers.com/report-email-scams/http://www.report-online-scams.com/contact.htmlhttp://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/feedback.htmDo you believe you are owed a partial or full refund? Below is some advice on how to ensure your company receives 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/A ... dae6&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/AdTar ... reviewTool. 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/O ... yon_CA.htmhttp://www.linkedin.com/pub/kurt-steinhebel/1a/10b/13bhttp://www.listown.com/writing-editing- ... 143116.htmhttp://www.searchterms.com/blog/local-s ... uccessful/These can be printed out and sent to the bank as well.