Comments for Oklahoma to Beijing: Living in China http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com Beijing Discovery Tours website supplemental blog Fri, 10 Sep 2010 22:55:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 Comment on Citysearch Click Fraud Warning by dave http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-9918 dave Tue, 04 May 2010 22:40:01 +0000 http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-9918 and another.... I signed up with Citysearch 6/3/2009. I had a monthly cap of $1000 - since it was pay per click, I was expecting bills gradually to increase as the clicks did. The first month was partial - $102.35, then it started. Second month $1014.80, 3rd month $1028.85. All charged to my credit card. Contract is up, I'm done... right? No way. 4th month, charged $1020.45. I disputed the charge and called my sales rep. She said you have to tell Citysearch you want to cancel. So I did via email. 5th month, I'm charged $1983.25 (the disputed amount plus the new amount). I dispute this amount. Emails, phone calls and letters all get me nowhere. I've now been turned over to a collection agency and am spending my days fighting both. As an aside, for 5 months and $5000 worth of clicks, I cannot account for any jobs, leads or even any inquiries from the Citysearch debacle. The collection agency and Citysearch have both been notified that if my credit is adversely affected in any way, I will sue for the maximum amount allowed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. As I understand it, I can sue for damages 10 times the disputed amount. If anyone can get a lawsuit going, I'm in. Please contact me if I can help. and another…. I signed up with Citysearch 6/3/2009. I had a monthly cap of $1000 - since it was pay per click, I was expecting bills gradually to increase as the clicks did. The first month was partial - $102.35, then it started. Second month $1014.80, 3rd month $1028.85. All charged to my credit card. Contract is up, I’m done… right? No way. 4th month, charged $1020.45. I disputed the charge and called my sales rep. She said you have to tell Citysearch you want to cancel. So I did via email. 5th month, I’m charged $1983.25 (the disputed amount plus the new amount). I dispute this amount. Emails, phone calls and letters all get me nowhere. I’ve now been turned over to a collection agency and am spending my days fighting both.

As an aside, for 5 months and $5000 worth of clicks, I cannot account for any jobs, leads or even any inquiries from the Citysearch debacle.

The collection agency and Citysearch have both been notified that if my credit is adversely affected in any way, I will sue for the maximum amount allowed under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. As I understand it, I can sue for damages 10 times the disputed amount.

If anyone can get a lawsuit going, I’m in. Please contact me if I can help.

]]> Comment on Citysearch Click Fraud Warning by admin http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6917 admin Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:18:29 +0000 http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6917 Tom, thanks for sharing your story - much like what happened to me. They turned me over to a collection agency as well, and I contacted the collection agency and told them exactly what had happened (plus threatened to add them to a lawsuit against Citysearch) and the collection agency wrote me a letter telling me that they would no longer be attempting to collect the "debt". Citysearch then billed my credit card again somehow, even though I changed the credit card number - so I told the credit card company that I would add them to any lawsuit and they credited my account for what Citysearch had tried to charge me. I'm afraid that the credit card company just paid Citysearch and wrote it off - I don't want Citysearch to get a single cent from their fraudulent actions. How can Citysearch continuously get away with this? Tom, thanks for sharing your story - much like what happened to me. They turned me over to a collection agency as well, and I contacted the collection agency and told them exactly what had happened (plus threatened to add them to a lawsuit against Citysearch) and the collection agency wrote me a letter telling me that they would no longer be attempting to collect the “debt”. Citysearch then billed my credit card again somehow, even though I changed the credit card number - so I told the credit card company that I would add them to any lawsuit and they credited my account for what Citysearch had tried to charge me. I’m afraid that the credit card company just paid Citysearch and wrote it off - I don’t want Citysearch to get a single cent from their fraudulent actions. How can Citysearch continuously get away with this?

]]> Comment on Citysearch Click Fraud Warning by Tom http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6916 Tom Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:59:01 +0000 http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6916 I've experienced a similar situation with Citysearch beginning around January, 2009. The business we listed with Citysearch is a local grocery delivery business that provides service to a small resort community of Park City, Utah. We signed up for the performance advertising package and set the monthly budget at the minimum allowed ($200/month). Since the total amount of search traffic is extremely limited for our local niche it seemed unlikely that Citysearch would be able to muster enough traffic to utilize even half our budget each month. WRONG!! As it turns out Citysearch will serve your ads wherever they see fit to generate connections to your profile page. In fairness we did received 1 single visitor from Citysearch for the $800+ dollars billed. We have been disputing the charges since June 2009 and have sent over 40+ emails, 30+ telephone calls, left unreturned voicemail messages with our account rep, his two supervisors, two customer service supervisors, have actually spoken to 5 five different customer service reps who all stated that we would have to speak with the above mentioned account rep or his supervisors. We disputed the charges with our credit card company, won the dispute, and have been turned over to two different collection agencies by Citysearch. Do not use Citysearch for local advertising. I’ve experienced a similar situation with Citysearch beginning around January, 2009. The business we listed with Citysearch is a local grocery delivery business that provides service to a small resort community of Park City, Utah. We signed up for the performance advertising package and set the monthly budget at the minimum allowed ($200/month). Since the total amount of search traffic is extremely limited for our local niche it seemed unlikely that Citysearch would be able to muster enough traffic to utilize even half our budget each month. WRONG!! As it turns out Citysearch will serve your ads wherever they see fit to generate connections to your profile page. In fairness we did received 1 single visitor from Citysearch for the $800+ dollars billed. We have been disputing the charges since June 2009 and have sent over 40+ emails, 30+ telephone calls, left unreturned voicemail messages with our account rep, his two supervisors, two customer service supervisors, have actually spoken to 5 five different customer service reps who all stated that we would have to speak with the above mentioned account rep or his supervisors. We disputed the charges with our credit card company, won the dispute, and have been turned over to two different collection agencies by Citysearch. Do not use Citysearch for local advertising.

]]> Comment on Citysearch Click Fraud Warning by admin http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6778 admin Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:35:54 +0000 http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6778 Hello Robin, Thank you for sharing your story with the rest of us that have been conned by Citysearch. I still do not understand how this company can get away with operating the way that they do when it is obviously straight-up fraud! If someone can get a lawyer to take this case on as a "no fee unless we win" case (and I would think there would be plenty who would), we might be able to get a class-action suit going against Citysearch. Everyone just needs to make sure that they thoroughly document their evidence against them. Another approach - someone find a lawyer, member of law enforcement, the Justice Department or someone that specializes in internet fraud cases that will go with them through the process of signing up for an account and using Citysearch, documenting each step leading up to the fraudulent behavior of Citysearch - we would have them nailed! Hello Robin,
Thank you for sharing your story with the rest of us that have been conned by Citysearch. I still do not understand how this company can get away with operating the way that they do when it is obviously straight-up fraud! If someone can get a lawyer to take this case on as a “no fee unless we win” case (and I would think there would be plenty who would), we might be able to get a class-action suit going against Citysearch. Everyone just needs to make sure that they thoroughly document their evidence against them. Another approach - someone find a lawyer, member of law enforcement, the Justice Department or someone that specializes in internet fraud cases that will go with them through the process of signing up for an account and using Citysearch, documenting each step leading up to the fraudulent behavior of Citysearch - we would have them nailed!

]]> Comment on Citysearch Click Fraud Warning by Robin Maffei http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6777 Robin Maffei Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:21:23 +0000 http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6777 I am so frustrated and pissed off citysearch ripped me off! A 600.00 a month package. I;m locked in for 3 months oct nov and dec. was charged 600.00 for oct. i checked my account and had o clicks on all but 2 days in Oct.On Oct 6th there were 169 clicks!I have a web traffic tracker on my own and there is no way.I checked all of my directory listings that I submitted myself for free.City search bumped my listings and now owns them. I sent an email to my "account manager"only to have it bounce back.I then called his number and left him a message,a week went by, nothing. I then emailed customer service and some one else emailed me back..but the email was intended to go to my account manager asking him if he had called me yet. That after noon Nov 3rd 2009Davis G my acct manager called me back with some bogus excuse. He was caught off gaurd about how much knew about internet marketing.My own free business listings that I've put months into helping me get to the top of google had been redirected to citysearch. I now have no accounts and citysearch owns my listings!Today I called Davids (my account reps supervisor)left him a message explaining the misleading advertising and that I want it canceled NOW. No call back yet,I left another message in the afternoon.I need some advice on how to take the appropiate action. I called my credit card company to dispute the 600 dollars.What do I do now? Robin Maffei I am so frustrated and pissed off citysearch ripped me off! A 600.00 a month package. I;m locked in for 3 months oct nov and dec. was charged 600.00 for oct. i checked my account and had o clicks on all but 2 days in Oct.On Oct 6th there were 169 clicks!I have a web traffic tracker on my own and there is no way.I checked all of my directory listings that I submitted myself for free.City search bumped my listings and now owns them. I sent an email to my “account manager”only to have it bounce back.I then called his number and left him a message,a week went by, nothing. I then emailed customer service and some one else emailed me back..but the email was intended to go to my account manager asking him if he had called me yet. That after noon Nov 3rd 2009Davis G my acct manager called me back with some bogus excuse. He was caught off gaurd about how much knew about internet marketing.My own free business listings that I’ve put months into helping me get to the top of google had been redirected to citysearch. I now have no accounts and citysearch owns my listings!Today I called Davids (my account reps supervisor)left him a message explaining the misleading advertising and that I want it canceled NOW. No call back yet,I left another message in the afternoon.I need some advice on how to take the appropiate action. I called my credit card company to dispute the 600 dollars.What do I do now?
Robin Maffei

]]> Comment on Citysearch Click Fraud Warning by ripped off http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6747 ripped off Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:45:09 +0000 http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6747 I was ripped off by Citisearch too. Same story different business. Something needs to be done about this unethical company. Please contact me if you have any information about a class action lawsuit. I was ripped off by Citisearch too. Same story different business. Something needs to be done about this unethical company. Please contact me if you have any information about a class action lawsuit.

]]> Comment on Citysearch Click Fraud Warning by Preity http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6403 Preity Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:54:45 +0000 http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-6403 I have been victimized by CitySearch on clicks and have documentary evidenc of it, let me know if you are interested in filing a class action suit against the company Preity I have been victimized by CitySearch on clicks and have documentary evidenc of it, let me know if you are interested in filing a class action suit against the company

Preity

]]> Comment on Citysearch Click Fraud Warning by TheMan http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-5592 TheMan Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:58:28 +0000 http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-5592 I got hit too. These guys are the worst. By the time I realized I had "page-views" to the poorly crafted ad they made for me, I was out $500. When I tried to cancel, already in the next "billing cycle". They are now going to try and bill me another $500. I got hit too. These guys are the worst.

By the time I realized I had “page-views” to the poorly crafted ad they made for me, I was out $500.

When I tried to cancel, already in the next “billing cycle”.

They are now going to try and bill me another $500.

]]> Comment on Citysearch Click Fraud Warning by CP Atlanta http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-2457 CP Atlanta Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:19:34 +0000 http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-2457 Yes, I am very interested in a lawsuit against Citysearch. I have had a similar experience to others expressed here and been victim of their highly unprofessional employees. I have contacted my attorney to proceed with some action against them. Yes, I am very interested in a lawsuit against Citysearch. I have had a similar experience to others expressed here and been victim of their highly unprofessional employees. I have contacted my attorney to proceed with some action against them.

]]> Comment on Citysearch Click Fraud Warning by admin http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-2234 admin Sat, 28 Mar 2009 07:11:08 +0000 http://china.blog.beijingdiscoverytours.com/2007/12/04/citysearch-click-fraud-warning/#comment-2234 <p>Hey Sully,<br /> Thanks for taking the time to write about your experiences. It just amazes me that Citysearch continues to get away with stealing money from people. As an update to what happened with me, my credit card company sent me a notice that those charges that Citysearch had continuously fraudulently tried to charge me for (even though I changed my credit card number at the recommendation of my credit card company) had been confirmed! Obviously Citysearch had just showed my credit card company the initial contract that I had agreed to, before I learned of their fraudulent practices. Once I told my credit card company (for about the 10th time) what had happened and that Citysearch had billed me for clicks that never occurred, my credit card company credited me for the amount that Citysearch had charged me. What I am afraid of is that my credit card company actually paid Citysearch and just decided to write off the loss when I threatened to include them in any lawsuit if they (the credit card company) tried to make me pay for those obviously fraudulent clicks. It is just unbelievable that Citysearch can continue to operate this way and get away with it. I would be willing to submit a signed and sworn affidavit to anyone that pursues a lawsuit against Citysearch, but I don't have the time to go after them on my own.</p> Hey Sully,
Thanks for taking the time to write about your experiences. It just amazes me that Citysearch continues to get away with stealing money from people. As an update to what happened with me, my credit card company sent me a notice that those charges that Citysearch had continuously fraudulently tried to charge me for (even though I changed my credit card number at the recommendation of my credit card company) had been confirmed! Obviously Citysearch had just showed my credit card company the initial contract that I had agreed to, before I learned of their fraudulent practices. Once I told my credit card company (for about the 10th time) what had happened and that Citysearch had billed me for clicks that never occurred, my credit card company credited me for the amount that Citysearch had charged me. What I am afraid of is that my credit card company actually paid Citysearch and just decided to write off the loss when I threatened to include them in any lawsuit if they (the credit card company) tried to make me pay for those obviously fraudulent clicks. It is just unbelievable that Citysearch can continue to operate this way and get away with it. I would be willing to submit a signed and sworn affidavit to anyone that pursues a lawsuit against Citysearch, but I don’t have the time to go after them on my own.

]]>