One Top Firm - Portal ResponseTechnology

[mike]

Originally Posted by homesnland68

youcannotfoolme, i still think you work for some company trying to bash OTF. Mike, a man by the name of David who works for the web portals gave me the following ip address and this is the ip address i received from my email from webmenu; 66.249.70.71
I think this is just a huge plot trying to revolt against a good company and somehow all of you do not know how to convert therefore you're just looking for someone to blame.
I think you all are pitiful.
Goodbye

Umm, you do realize that you just totally posted a Googlebot IP address?

traceroute to 66.249.70.71 (66.249.70.71), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
...
crawl-66-249-70-71.googlebot.com (66.249.70.71) 80.458 ms 7


And yes... it is pitiful

[homesnland68]

and how do you know that webmenu is located in studio city? It isn't on their website...
Employee alert.

[mike]

Wrong.

Contacting us:
WebMenu, Inc. Corporate Office
11712 Moorpark St. Suite 213
Studio City, CA 91604


That took all of 5 seconds to find.

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you stare too long into an abyss, the abyss stares back at you."

Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 146

[teamoc]

For someone who is only a "customer" of OTF homesnland68 is working very hard to defend them. Wonder Why?

[homesnland68]

Teamoc, i'm no longer defending OTF, i'm sure they have lawyers for that...I'm defending myself, after being attacked several times by you people, and i know exactly who all of you are...i'm simply defending myself

The IPs, they matched. You cannot manipulate the people, Youcannotfoolme.
If you're not an employee of webmenu, what do you do for a living, what is your website, what is your phone number...I sat here and answered every one of your personal questions, lets see if you can answer mine. I have nothing to hide, what are you hiding?

I can't wait to see this one...

[teamoc]

homesnland68: Read through this entire thread and find one place where I attacked you. I only asked why you were defending OTF. You say you know exactly who I am, if this is true then you know my company was ripped off by OTF and that OTF is a company with out business ethics.

[homesnland68]

The IP's i got were from the same place, it was the same exact numbers..
How dare you call me a 'wacko'!
I'd like to know what you do for a living..whats your website? whats your phone number?
lets see if you are an honest hard working business owner, or if your just some scam artist pretending to be who you're not.

scam alert....

[wige]

Originally Posted by mike

Umm, you do realize that you just totally posted a Googlebot IP address?

HA! Rolling on the floor... laughing hysterically... can't... breathe...

I needed a good laugh today.

Or does this mean Google really is evil? Beware the bots...

[homesnland68]

teamoc, youcannotfoolme, and everybody else...I'm conviced you work for webmenu or some other scam company..I'd love for you to give me YOUR website, your phone number, and tell me what you do for a living. You accused me of not being who i say i am, i gave you all of my information...all of it...you havnt given me any of yours, everytime i ask, the subject is changed. At this point i don't need to defend OTF, yes i'm an advertiser, yes i paid them, yes i'm happy...at this point i'm just simply defending myself and i'm determind to prove you wrong and let everyone know that you in fact are the scam artist.
So i'm still waiting for your information...

lets see how long this takes...(tick, tock, tick, tock)

[truthshallsetyoufree]

The spin here has made me dizzy!

I just made contact with TeamOC and can assure you that he's a real web merchant with a real product and website. My company is real as well.

After hearing the pitch, this whole deal sounded like a no brainer and so we scooped up as many words as were still available so that we could lock them in.

Suffice it to say, the campaign has been a horrible flop. Our banners are out there because I installed the MySpace Guardian toolbar, but we are getting such a small number of site visitors compared to impressions that they show, either the impressions are not legit numbers or there is some other issue. The bottom line is that for what we paid, we are NOT EVEN CLOSE to getting enough site visitors and new customers for it to make any sense. We are running pay-per-click on the same keywords and have click through rates which are normal to good. Our conversion rate is horribly low on the toolbar campaign and 0% of the customers who applied for our product got approved. Not one of them qualified.

I have no incentive for this to not work, so I've tried to engage the company to figure out how to make it better and all we have gotten is more poor results, fluff and sunshine blown up our rears, and stall/delay tactics.

For all of those considering doing a campaign like this, don't do it.

For those who already have, contact me and let's compare notes and try to hit this fraud head on.

[homesnland68]

I'd be happy to speak with you and compare numbers, because mine are quite good. In the last 6 months i've gotten around 9 or 10 good leads, i've sold about 4 homes. Maybe you just have bad keywords, or maybe just a bad banner..You should call them and have them make you one, that's what my partner did. I'm still convinced that everyone on this site represents some other scam telemarketing business just trying to bash the bigger company, and until i actually speak to teamoc or youcannotfoolme via phone, i will continue to stand by my opinion.
-VB

[truthshallsetyoufree]

I can assure you I have no evil agenda here. I'm simply someone who spent money on this, was told that I would receive certain amounts of traffic with a higher click through rate than normal PPC, and have seen horrible results. My business does not look for 10 leads in 6 months. We process over 12,000 applications per business day and do about 500 deals. The results of this campaign are almost non-existant. We spent money on a really attractive banner and were specifically told that it looked great. The rubber has not hit the road. I have had numerous calls with these guys and get nothing more than fluff/sunshine and stall tactics to drag this out. I'm not disputing your results because it sounds like you have a very particular business with a lower lead flow and perhaps you bought keywords for the specific town you live in and have gotten some real estate leads that worked for you. That's great. Only you know what you are doing. Pardon me for saying, but most companies on the Internet are looking for more than two leads per month which is about your running average. It sounds like there are many more people that this deal has been a complete flop for so please don't discount their results as some dastardly plan to discredit an otherwise fantastic company. This is simply not the case. I know my situation and I have spoken with TeamOC and know that he's running a real business.

Don't believe me, check the Better Business Bureau:

ONE TOP FIRM - RATING OF "D"
Company Report

[teamoc]

My point exactly! No hidden agenda here. 1 or 2 leads per month in realestate is probably good and OTF seems to be able to provide that for you. However in my business as well as truthshallsetyoufree that does not cut it in our business.

I have had the same reaction from OTF nothing but stall tactics or no call back at all.

My business is a real business and has been for the past 19 years, it has nothing to do with the internet or keyword industry, we are in the hunting and fishing industry. I believe OTF's D rating speaks for itself and I highly doubt that the BBB has a hidden agenda.

[homesnland68]

i'm taking those posts to heart..you do hunting and fishing, those four homes i sold totaled up to around 4.5 million dollars, and this is in a slow market. I invested a couple thousand dollars made back over a hundred thousand. Yet i targeted my market, who doesn't....If you didn't that just shows the knowledge you have in internet marketing is far less than par. Take a class and stop bashing my business, I'm doing very well for myself.

[truthshallsetyoufree]

Our target marketing is the entire US and we are buying over $1MM in marketing each month so believe me we target and we know what works. This campaign did not work for you. Whoop de do that it worked for you. No one is bashing you our your company. The bashing if you want to call it that is against OneTopFirm. There seem to be many more people reporting negative experiences from this than your sole voice saying that it worked. As a matter of fact, no one said anything negative about your business other than my contrasting the number of leads you have gotten and what we get which is not a bash but simply a fact that your business you do less deals, but they are bigger deals. That was it. The fact that you think that anyone is bashing you tends to prove that you are much more closely aligned to OTF than you lead on... I think you are a part of their company and this story of you doing well with the campaign is just some smoke and mirrors.

[teamoc]

homenland68 read these past post. Your the one that does the bashing. No one has bashed YOU, but now I think you deserve to be. Your either an idiot or aligned with OTF (combination of both would be my guess) Like I said we are a multi million dollar business and have been in business for almost 20 YEARS! I think we understand a thing or two about marketing.

All you are doing is proving are point that you are OTF other wise you would not keep defending them. When you get in today tell John Pavlin he needs to call me.

[justwondering]

I've been following this post as it progressed - who knew that marketing threads could be so entertaining!

I originally logged in because a friend of mine asked me to do some research on some of the companies you guys have been talking about - little did I know I'd be watching a soap opera unfold.

Still not sure where I stand on the overall argument, but two things have jumped out at me.

Here's what I'm wondering: Why is it that every time homesnland beats one of these guys down and backs them into a corner, somebody else "happens" to appear - someone who has never actually posted on the site before, to pick up the same argument with exactly the same voice (I'm a writer part time, you kinda get to learn the difference between individual styles and voices). It seems a little like one guy just creating new screen names to argue the same point.

Then again, I guess I can't really talk. I mean this is the first time I've posted so it's possible they could all be different people. But like I said, you can usually hear the difference in different people's writing.

Also, howcome truthshallsetyoufree was able to talk to Teamoc but homesnland can't? I mean, the thing that's really got me leaning towards Homesnland is, like she said, the fact that she's provided all of her info, her business, etc. and no one on the other side seems to have. She's asked a bunch of times to talk to them via phone or email, yet somehow this new guy whose never posted here manages to get in touch with them and they're suddenly old friends.

Doesn't really add up. They just keep saying the same things over and over again whenever homesnland asks for actual info. And when she really backs'em into a corner, someone else appears saying the same stuff. Not saying I'm compeltely sold on the companies, but it certainly is starting to look like a smear job.

So that's my two cents. I'll go back to the bleachers now and watch the rest of the game. By the way, doesn't everyone in this forum have jobs of some sort they should be doing?

[teamoc]

Not a bad point and I can see where you are coming from. I found this link because one of our franchise owners did some research on OTF and forward the link to me.

thetruthshallsetyoufree and I hooked up through personal email because we have the exact same thing in common (both being ripped off by OTF) homesnland68 defends OTF and persoally attacks us, leading us to believe she is with OTF.

We say the same thing over and over again because we are defending ourselves. Where does "Vickie" get off telling me I don't understand internet marketing? I never said anything bad about her or her business, just OTF.

[YouCannotFoolMe]

Here is a link that explains the whole scam:

Advertising Scam "Search Engine Data Merging" - Above All - Tell It Like It Is And Do It With Style!

Sound familiar?

[truthshallsetyoufree]

I'd be glad to invest 5 minutes talking to homesnland68. I met TeamOC not even through this blog, but from an interested 3rd party that I was talking to that tuned me into this forum to read more. I was able to contact TeamOC by email because I was given his email address from this 3rd party.

Homesnland68, if you are legit, and have a website, etc. share your website which will have your contact info and I will contact you. I'm in Asia right now on a business trip (yes we are huge and do business in Asia in addition to the US) but will be back in the US next week.

[YouCannotFoolMe]

Originally Posted by truthshallsetyoufree

I'd be glad to invest 5 minutes talking to homesnland68. I met TeamOC not even through this blog, but from an interested 3rd party that I was talking to that tuned me into this forum to read more. I was able to contact TeamOC by email because I was given his email address from this 3rd party.

Homesnland68, if you are legit, and have a website, etc. share your website which will have your contact info and I will contact you. I'm in Asia right now on a business trip (yes we are huge and do business in Asia in addition to the US) but will be back in the US next week.

I, for one, would love to know the outcome of that conversation.

Vicky, is the website you are going to share the same one with the alleged link to MySpace Guardian?

[alwaysonthelookout]

There is a really excellent discussion about this company over at:

blog.retailblogmarketing.com/122/myspace-guardian-toolbar/

One of PRT's employees is there and is getting grilled. Not surprisingly, he is avoiding answering the very good questions being asked.

I would encourage teamoc and truthshallsetyoufree to have a look and try and get some answers out of him. Good luck!

[rdowns]

Wow, I have found this thread rather enlightening. I am a VP of Sales & Marketing for a sizable web site and was contacted by a PRT sales person. Despite my loathing of toolbar marketing, I listened to him and accepted a proposal. Remaining skeptical and having a "feeling" in my belly, I have put him off for a while now. Web searches led me here.

Based on this thread and one here:
» MySpace Guardian Toolbar|Retail Blog Marketing

I will NOT be doing business with PRT.

[teamoc]

Glad these postings have done some good.

[alwaysonthelookout]

Originally Posted by rdowns

Wow, I have found this thread rather enlightening. I am a VP of Sales & Marketing for a sizable web site and was contacted by a PRT sales person. Despite my loathing of toolbar marketing, I listened to him and accepted a proposal. Remaining skeptical and having a "feeling" in my belly, I have put him off for a while now. Web searches led me here.

Based on this thread and one here:
» MySpace Guardian Toolbar|Retail Blog Marketing

I will NOT be doing business with PRT.

THE ONLY DEFENSE AGAINST CON ARTISTS IS THE DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.

PLEASE pass this info on to as many people as you can.

[homesnland68]

you all have no clue what you're talking about. This is a microsoft certified product and a notable company.

[truthshallsetyoufree]

SECOND REQUEST:

Homesnland68, if you are legit, and have a website, etc. share your website which will have your contact info and I will contact you. I'm in Asia right now on a business trip (yes we are huge and do business in Asia in addition to the US) but will be back in the US next week.

[teamoc]

This is NOT a Microsoft licensed product. Just another part of the scam that OTF runs.

[YouCannotFoolMe]

homesnland -- How many times must we say this? The product OTF/PRT offers is neither Microsoft licensed nor "certified" (whatever that means). This shows that you are either incredibly ignorant and naive, are being manipulated by the company, or are a shill for them.

truthshallsetyoufree: She never listed her website, nor has listed an alleged "affiliate" website where she claims PRT's toolbar is linked. If she is who she says she is, then this is her website: Anchorage, Eagle River and Mat-su, Alaska Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale - Victoria Brink - NUMBER1EXPERT™ and her office phone is listed there.
Give her a call. Then again, she claims to spend summers in Houston (why, I have no idea, since that's the one time of year Anchorage would be rather nice).

Somebody claiming to be her also sent me an email. This was the return address on the Email: vickyb@inbox.com

Why that Email is not a Prudential Email address is just one of many inconsistencies.

[homesnland68]

Windows Marketplace: Search results

Nice to see you all do your homework.
Feel free to give me a call, i'd love to give you a peice of my mind.

Feel free to continue calling me a "shill" among other insults....
Shows the kind of people you are.

[YouCannotFoolMe]

Uh....DUH....the Windows Marketplace is where anyone can post anything for download as long as it works with IE!!!! Are you really that clueless???

And should we call you in Anchorage or in Houston?

[teamoc]

I do my homework. You should try it, like maybe read the disclaimer. I will even help you. Here is the link Windows Marketplace: Disclaimer

Better yet let me quote part of it for you.

"The inclusion of an item or manufacturer does not imply endorsement by Microsoft of the item or manufacturer."

"Some of the links in Windows Marketplace send you to sites that are not under the control of Microsoft. Microsoft is not responsible for the contents of any linked site or any link contained in a linked site or any changes or updates to such sites."

[teamoc]

Ummm.... Don't you remember? "Vicky" spends the summers in Houston when the real estate market is the hottest and when Houston is the hottest. Makes sense to me.

[wige]

My question is why certain people on this thread insist on dragging other companies into this discussion. I am positive, YouCannotFoolMe, PepsiCo's legal department would raise serious issues with your slanderous comments about one of their products. And homesnland68, I am sure your inferred business relationship between this toolbar and Microsoft Corporation, when such relationship is specifically disclaimed by Microsoft, could raise the ire of someone there. So before we have a bunch of ticked off lawyers ruining this board, why don't you just agree to disagree and Shut Up about this?

[YouCannotFoolMe]

wige -- we're the discussing the dubious nature of one particular company, and if they want to sue, they can be my guest.

And if you don't have something to contribute to the discussion, go away.

[homesnland68]

Youcannotfoolme is clearly a baffoon....I'd be suprized if this guy was an assistant to a mid-level executive assistant to a low-level company, and if i'm wrong, i'd love to see the kind of customer relations you offer your clients.

I think it's proven by now...One is only as strong as their rash comments and rediculous outbursts...

I'm officially finished with this blog, I'm too busy doing my job to log on to this blog and read what a group of unsuccessful advertisers have to say about a company that has done nothing but the best for me.

Signing off

VB

[YouCannotFoolMe]

LOL. I"m thinking the only "baffoon" [sic] here is the one who cannot spell words like "suprized" [sic], who thinks the Windows Marketplace only offers "Microsoft Certified" downloads, can track Googlebot IP addresses, and spends the summers in oppressively hot Houston when Anchorage is beautiful, instead of the other way around!

Wait, "Vicky", before you go, you have an offer for a skeptical client to call you! That's all you've wanted all along and now you run away?

I'm thinking we have an ADD sufferer here.

[homesnland68]

I'll let the jury decide...
To quote wig "I am positive, YouCannotFoolMe, PepsiCo's legal department would raise serious issues with your slanderous comments about one of their products."
You are far from a professional, and i wish you the best of luck in your secretarial services.

[YouCannotFoolMe]

Why are you still here?

And the jury decided long ago that you don't have a clue.

truthshallsetyoufree is offering to talk with you. Shall he use the phone number
for your Anchorage Prudential website?

[perry321]

YouCannotFoolMe, I'd love to buy you a beer sometime.

This guy, woman, or it, is clearly not a very good liar, and probably needs therapy. He has been caught in so many lies, this is actually entertaining.

There's nothing on TV, so thank you!

[alwaysonthelookout]

Originally Posted by perry321

YouCannotFoolMe, I'd love to buy you a beer sometime.

This guy, woman, or it, is clearly not a very good liar, and probably needs therapy. He has been caught in so many lies, this is actually entertaining.

There's nothing on TV, so thank you!

You are too kind. We aim to please.

Then again, I kept getting tossed softballs.

[homesnland68]

I've asked many times for youcannotfoolme's contact phone number. I'm still waiting for you to post this on the blog. I gave you all of my personal info, and you continue to dance around the subject of who you are and what you do. I'd love to see who i'm getting verbally abused by and i'm quite convinced its either a college kid or a low level secretary at a different internet company trying to compete.

So until you give me your website, contact number, and name...this conversation is finished and by the amount of commisions in my bank account from the homes I'VE sold from the advertising I bought...i declare myself the winner, and you the loser.

Waiting for your information...

VB

[perry321]

Get some sort of therapy.

Seriously.

[teamoc]

Here is a new one for everybody. I just received a phone call from "Client Placement Services" formerly "One Top Firm" Check out their website Client Placement Services

Look familiar? Same company, new name. We are moving forward with our corporate attorney and will be glad to share information with anyone who has been scamed by these guys as well.

[truthshallsetyoufree]

Very interesting. Looks like the patter continues. Have a new company name, sign up a bunch of accounts (double, triple, quadruple selling the same keywords), catch some heat, then start up as a new company. Brilliant fraud!

[myfreeforum]

I'm really ashamed to admit it, but I got snowed by PRT too. I have a page that converts about 15% on a bad day - their salesman said he could get me thousands of visitors for a search term I picked. I figured (stupidly) it was a good deal.

They do send some traffic (A few a day), but it's like bot traffic or something. Total garbage. Yeah, I can covert. That, "you just cannot convert" is what scammers always say. I spent $900, and wish I would have used it almost anywhere else.

[alwaysonthelookout]

Wow. They could not be more brazen. Amazing. And sure enough, there they are at www.bbbsouthland.org with an F rating.

[freddiedotseeeh]

First of all, thanks for setting up this thread - and for all the comments. I found it when I started searching the Web to reaffirm my decision that the sales message I received from Portal Response Technology (toppg1.com) was indeed a scam.

I work for a dot-com in Marketing and we received an email from this company. The email totally did not describe the service -- It just provided a vague marketing message that encouraged you to call them. Things like 'I'm seeking a good relationship with one website exclusively'. Also of interest is that this company simply sends programs to snag email addresses from the Web (or so it seems at least) Case in point is that one of the email addresses we received this message from (there was more than one) was totally not an address you would use to send a sales email to. Yes, they did have the right industry mentioned in the email but I figure they just spam every address available online for sites that are from industry x. So, right from the get go they use shady practices to get their message out to as many people as possible.

I gave them a call and talked to a woman who directed me to their Web site over the phone and then asked me to click on (whatever) which - of course - was to download and install their toolbar. She said that would give me a good feel for the product -- uhhh, yeah, and one more installation for them!?... I didn't of course and then she took me to a page that basically simulated the exact thing as I would have experienced had I installed the software -- So, basically the first part was an attempt for them to up their toolbar installations (albeit only by one!).

(sidenote: in this thread someone mentions use of an inbox.com email account -- that is what the person who sent us the original marketing spam uses for her email service as well).

Anyway, the service was demonstrated to me and I was passed on to another guy who took me to the keyword tool on seobook.com. Those are the figures they use to set their pricing and guarantee traffic, etc.

So, talking to 'buddy' everything sounds fishy from the get go. My favourite part was how he had to call me back as he had another client on the line (one the spends 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' with them - or so the line goes!?)...

When buddy found out what industry we were in (our service caters to a certain demographic) he decided to try to suck up to me by going on and on about what really amounted to bashing of another social group that somehow he though our target demographic dislikes. I basically had to cut him off and go 'buddy, you're trying to hard here'?!... Anything for the sale I guess.

He would constantly refer to their BBB rating (and he sent the link to it in a follow up email as well) -- Is it just me or anytime someone is so blatant about displaying their BBB rating they are obviously doing that to cover something else up -- This link didn't link to their 'F' rating of course -- as it was under this company name instead (this one only had 2 'instances').

Based on the traffic guarantee they offer, and using the search stats from seobook.com's tool, they were basically guaranteeing 2% of all Web traffic on the keywords. Seems a bit high for some crappy toolbar?! I sent him an email about that fact - and also linked to this thread to see what his response to it was (I already had my mind made up but figured it would be interesting to hear a response...). He frantically left me voicemail after voicemail basically saying 'I'm looking at that thread and I don't see what you are talking about'... then in an email he said it's 'definitely a smear', pointed to a retraction from another company who earlier called them a scam (from what I recall), and used the same line as used in this thread -- the 'real people' are providing their full contact details, and those that aren't are simply smearing the company (sound familiar?). A further email received from him linked to the BBB rating (again!).

After all that I sent a simple email back stating that I won't be doing business with them, to which I received a one liner two minutes later saying that we can't anyway because our keywords were sold to someone else the previous business day (the same day he was sending me link after link and voicemail after voicemail) -- hilarious!

[YouCannotFoolMe]

Now that we know people from PRT are reading this blog:

You ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You need to seriously get a moral compass reboot, because as much as you delude yourself into thinking you are both untouchable and raking in tons of money, there are forces at work that will take you to task for your poor ethics.

Earn money honestly. Give back what you have taken.

By the way, I wrote "Vicky Brink" an apology at the inbox.com address. She never replied. I have to wonder if it really was here all along. Things she said never made any sense. She may still be a false front for our "friends" at PRT.

[YouCannotFoolMe]

Originally Posted by freddiedotseeeh

(sidenote: in this thread someone mentions use of an inbox.com email account -- that is what the person who sent us the original marketing spam uses for her email service as well).

Freddy, can you send me a private message with the inbox.com email address?