Marketing fraudsters Ltd

We are all aware of how important it is to promote what we do in as many ways as possible. The problem is that not every way is the best way and some options can be more expensive than others, some are certainly far more effective than others. One of the latest fashion is to promote your website using site optimization or specialist web marketing companies. Now here is where the problem is: how do you know who is a good company and who is not? The answer is that often it comes through experience, recommendations and advertising that somehow convinces you. Sadly, in some case, the result is only to discover one more fraudster whose only aim is to get hold of your hard earned money.

Unfortunately I fell for one of these fraudsters recently. So this article is a warning to watch out against such individuals/companies. About two and a half months ago I received a telephone call from a Manchester base company called Lavora marketing ltd. I had a long chat with one of their sales agents who promised me to put one of my website at the top of the Google searches in 6 geographical areas for the seemingly reasonable amount of £ 99.00 + vat per month. He promised me that I would see the result by the end of the second week and he was absolutely sure that I would more than recuperate my investment very quickly. He also said several times that he could try it and see if it worked and if not I could cancel at any time. I confess that I fell for the sales pitch and agreed to the deal.

But here is where the problem started! First of all I was promised a welcome pack that would explain all the ins and outs; but I never received it! When after two weeks I phoned them to find out where it was they told me that they would send another; but this one never arrived either! The second thing I experienced, almost straight away, was a series of telephone calls of people trying to sell me their services, including web marketing and coaching! Now you may say that these people were stupid and I would agree with you but that was not the end. During my first three weeks of being marketed by Lavora marketing I received at least 50 spam emails. I say spam emails because they were just like the telephone calls.

Now you may well say that this was possibly a small inconvenience for all the new enquiries and clients that i would surely get. So, how many clients did I get? Zero! How many potential clients? Zero! How many enquiries? Zero! That means that by the end of the month I got absolutely nothing and wasted £ 120! As the end of the month was approaching I emailed them cancelling this useless campaign. But my surprises had not finished yet. I was in fact contacted by a Customer service agent who, with great charm and persuasion power, proposed to me to offer him and Lavora marketing a further opportunity to prove their worth by giving me the "full package" (of 20 key words as opposed to my previous 5) which normally retails at over £ 300 for the same amount of £ 99.00 + vat. Well I was persuade and again the guy said that if I was not happy I could cancel at any time. However the tune was already changing as now I was told that in such marketing campaigns there is a lead time of three or four months. So what happened to the promised results after two weeks promised by the first sale agent?

But the time was drawing near the end of the second month with, you may wonder, how many results? Absolutely nothing! No telephone calls, no emails, no text messages from any potential clients! Absolute silence and by now £ 240 had hone down the drain! So I decided that enough was enough and I wanted to cancel this silly waste of money. But here is where things started getting nasty. Because as I emailed a cancellation note I was called by a Customer service manager saying that actually I could not do that. What? I was told that first of all I needed to give them 30 days notice from the end of my monthly period and in addition that I had to write a letter to them; an email was not appropriate. Now for an online marketing company this is absurd! Most companies these days accept email cancellations; nut not Lavora marketing! How antiquated! In addition this issue of the 30 days notice; where did this come out from when all along I was told that I could cancel at any time. Now if English is not an opinion "at any time" means at any time!

I argued endlessly with this Customer service manager and the conversation turned very unpleasant. I did send my cancellation note which was acknowledged by them reminding me that I needed to pay for the notice period as well! This is outrageous and a real robbery! I am currently discussing with my solicitor how to proceed against them seeing also that my "written" complain beaver received any answer and my various calls to try and speak to a senior manager have just gone unanswered. One thing I have learnt from all this: be careful who you trust. I have been taken on a ride by a company which funny enough uses an Italian word meaning "Work". I think they should re-brand themselves as "Spreca" (waste) marketing or even better as "Frode" (fraud) marketing. Who knows, they might be more successful. As for me I wasted £ 360 for what? Absolutely nothing! So watch out friends, marketing fraudsters about.