EGumball Inc

The customer hired eGumball to manage the business information found online for their business, [redacted].  eGumball was hired due to its proven track record of helping thousands of businesses achieve higher rankings and improving the online presence of these businesses.  eGumball has...

a system in place which it uses to achieve these results.  eGumball focuses on directories which higher domain authorities and therefore a larger role on the businesses online presence.  There are many hundreds of directories online which include business information.   In the case of [redacted], the customer was initially informed of the extent of the incorrect information online, by our quality control department.  In some cases, [redacted] has 10+ incorrect listings within a single directory.  This increase the time frames and the amount of work required of eGumball to fix this incorrect information.  The customer was informed of this work on multiple occasions 12/2/2015, 12/8/2015, 12/15/2015, 1/5/2016, 1/22/2016, 2/24/2016, 3/21/2016, 3/28/2016, 4/11/2016, 5/27/2016, 5/31/2016.  During the process, and on 4/11/2016, the customer switched to a new website which caused the need to re- update the business information online.   Amongst the service that eGumball provides the managing of business information online is a constant, regular process.   Though we understand the customer's frustrations, no company can ensure front page results.  If the customer has further questions regarding their account, including the extent of the work that has been completed.  They may contact customer service Monday- Friday 7:30a to 3:30p. We would be more than happy to assist with any questions.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 10245028, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
A contract was documented for 6 months to get our business listed on Google Maps and search engines to find my company with search words. You had 6 months to correct this, not 30 days. This company expects nothing more than services it pays for. When we had problems, we continued to pay over the contract price and gave you over 120 days for the info to take place as you say takes 30 days in your response which you failed to fulfill. Our demands have not changed as we are also a Revdex.com accredited business. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Just received a call from their compliance manager [redacted], on a recorded line.   He restated their case and I restated mine in a heated conversation.  He told me that their billing person [redacted] would be contacting me shortly but if we could not resolve the situation by noon today that he would be sending my file to their legal department as I have called them an unethical company in a public forum.
 I am awaiting the call from [redacted] to see what they now propose.
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint...

resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]

A representative from eGumball called me and represented themselves as Google. I was transferred to a rep who I believe to be termed a "closer". I spent several minutes on the phone when I was starting to realize this sounded like a scam. I tried asking more questions and would get run-around type answers. I told them I had not even set up for the day (they called right as I opened) and was told it would be 3 more minutes (not!). Finally I told them I could not afford their service and hung up since the guy couldn't take no for an answer. This guy then went on to Google lpus and created a one star rating of my business making it sound like he was a customer not a salesperson I said no to. I called the company and they verified that they had an employee there with that name and said they would get the review taken down (I looked at this guys other reviews and they were all negative reviews of companies all over the U.S. that said almost exactly the same thing). I was told that he would probably be fired and that the review would come down. It did not come down. I called again and was told they didn't know why it was still up. The review has not come down still and I honestly don't think they have any plans to take it down. This company is a scam in my opinion. And if you don't use them they go after your business.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
We are rejecting this response/offer because we have gone around in "circles" with eGumball.. eGumball continues to use verbiage that highlights what "they" believe is their positive track record -- however that has not been our overall experience.  We have documented that eGumball failed to inform us that they could not do any work with the "[redacted]" search engines because [redacted] is for sale.  We also documented that eGumball uses an outside contractor source to sell their services... the outside contractor misled our business in believing we were under a 3-month agreement.
Quite frankly we hope eGumball accepts and understands that we, at 1st Avenue Salon - along with a series of other complaints filed against them, are NOT SATISFIED with the services they tried to provide.
Regards,
[redacted]

The customer has contacted us and provided us with a list of phone numbers, which we have successfully submitted to our Do Not Call list. However, this does not guarantee that other companies in our industry won't call the customer about their services.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
This is exactly what I am talking about, their contract was for payment of a service rendered and I'd like for Revdex.com and everyone else to see this contract for the sub-par services we have received. Even their customer conflict resolution is terrible.  My company is VERY Dissatisfied and will write reviews on every social media outlet open to us to let all those who are on the fence about acquiring services from this company KNOW how un-productive, dishonest, distasteful, dishonorable, disgraceful and quite frankly disgusting their customer service is.   
Regards,
[redacted]

The customer hired eGumball to manage the business information found online for their business, [redacted].  eGumball was hired due to its proven track record of helping thousands of businesses achieve higher rankings and improving the online presence of these businesses.  eGumball...

has a system in place which it uses to achieve these results.  eGumball focuses on directories which higher domain authorities and therefore a larger role on the businesses online presence.  There are many hundreds of directories online which include business information.   
In the case of [redacted], the customer was initially informed of the extent of the incorrect information online, by our quality control department.  In some cases, [redacted] has 10+ incorrect listings within a single directory.  This increase the time frames and the amount of work required of eGumball to fix this incorrect information.  The customer was informed of this work on multiple occasions 12/2/2015, 12/8/2015, 12/15/2015, 1/5/2016, 1/22/2016, 2/24/2016, 3/21/2016, 3/28/2016, 4/11/2016, 5/27/2016, 5/31/2016.  During the process, and on 4/11/2016, the customer switched to a new website which caused the need to re- update the business information online.  
 
Amongst the service that eGumball provides the managing of business information online is a constant, regular process.   Though we understand the customer's frustrations, no company can ensure front page results.  If the customer has further questions regarding their account, including the extent of the work that has been completed.  They may contact customer service Monday- Friday 7:30a to 3:30p. We would be more than happy to assist with any questions.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
We changed the Dba before we agreed to hire egumball's services And we immediately reminded them early on when we realized they were still using our corporation name. And then all excuses to be patient and keep waiting10 months is more than enough time to see significant results and the homepage is still just a template.  I was trying to get out from under them in a nice way but they just want to get paid in full regardless of my company's dissatisfaction. In one of our latest conversations they asked me if I saw my company's name on the search engine and when I told them I did not they said to refresh and it was there. Why was it there from before? If they were to put in half as much resources into their services as they do their sales we would have loved to continue service. And they're holding my company's  domain name as ransoM for tge last two months of service that I hadn't recieved I certainly don't care for.
Regards,
[redacted]

The service has been used by the customer since 2011 and as of February the customer agreed to renew the agreement.  A full review of the service which included first page rankings was completed prior to the extension.  We reiterate that a major change to a businesses information, such as an address change, requires extensive cleanup to update, and re-update the information that can be found online.  The customer was informed as to the extent of the work that was required in order to do so and the customer agreed to extend their agreement with eGumball.  We have tried on multiple occasions to again explain the processes and remedy the concerns that the customer has, including the [redacted] requirement for a re-verification of the [redacted] My Business listing.  This re-verification is independent of any secure login for the customer information which eGumball is not asking for.  There are access points independent of a customers email addresses/ passwords that keep any customers information secure.   
 
We have proven that the service works through the 5 years that the customer has worked with us.  We again ask that the customer give us the opportunity to again prove that the service works.  Please contact our customer service department at [redacted] to further discuss the progress that has been made on the account, including the first page rankings.

I guess that I am not surprised by the response of this business.  I have responded but clearly I do not live by the phone. I see patients daily and therefore my time is limited.  I have responded to every email as well.  All conversations have been to tell me I don't understand and the company  accepts no responsibility.    There has been absolutely no attempt to resolve this other than to expect me to regard their actions as beneficial.   What exactly did they offer?   They refused to offer a partial refund.  They refused to terminate my contract early on and have continued it despite my enormous dissatisfaction. Moreover, it's astonishing to me that they had no awareness of the problem until I brought it to their attention.  This is not a distortion or misrepresentation.   Their actions have been consistently anti-consumer and poor customer service.  Their arrogance is astonishing but no longer unexpected.  Potential consumers should be advised![redacted]Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.The response the company gave to the Revdex.com was the same both times and did not address the issue. I called the phone number they listed in their response and left several messages and no one has called me back. I need to see about re-opening this case to try and get this issue resolved. These companies should not be allowed to use unethical, misrepresenting practices in their sales pitch. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
This company misrepresented what they said they could for the benefit of our company if we would sign up with them  and indicated they were part of Google or similar to Google. When I started checking on the status  of what they said they would do, I saw nothing.
I tried to give the devil his dues and sent a check for $660.00 but after checking again on what they said they would do I absolutely did not see anything on the web site or any other place. These people are good with their smooth talking but should watch the words they choose to use. They claim we did not give a reason why we wanted to cancel, but we did  which was for the same reason mentioned above which they did not respond, instead they keep billing us for $495.00. Why should I pay for something and get nothing and I am requesting a refund
Regards,
[redacted]

Complaint: I was solicited several times for this company’s services for help with our local listings. Our business has been struggling to capture a significant share of internet traffic for our industry for years. Before recently, we were uneducated about how local listings and citations work. Since I have signed up for this service, I have learned a few things that lead me to believe that the sales representative who I talked to at this company has mislead me. I was told that the business who were ranking the highest on the local listings were paying google to be listed there. This is not true. The business who are listed highest on the local listings are ranked higher largely in part because of how many “citations” (or listings) their company has across the web. I have learned that the going rate to have a listing corrected or a new one submitted is $4-$5 per citation. At $150 per month, which is what this company was going to charge me, that would be 37 citations corrected or submitted per month, which is unnecessary to do every month for an entire year. In the few weeks I have been signed up so far, I have had reports pulled to show that I have not had any citations fixed or submitted recently by this company by a third party. This company also did not understand our marketing plan. Our business is based in Winchester, KY, and we were trying to get listed in other cities (because we are already at the top in Winchester). This company listing us in these other cities with the same name but different addresses and phone numbers would cause more confusion and hurt our ranking ability. I was also told I had 30 days to opt out of the contract when I signed up for the program. When I called to opt out (within that 30 days), I was told I could only opt out if they were not performing. I have reports to show that none of my citations that currently exist have been fixed, which means they are not performing the job they stated they would perform. I have been grossly misled. I have talked to multiple employees, including "supervisors". I continue to get a sales pitch and I was told that I am not able to opt out of this deal. This is completely bogus. I have tried to get out of this since 4-5 days into it.
Desired Settlement: I would like all monies paid to this company to be refunded immediately. I would like the contract cancelled. And I would like for this company to remove all of our phone numbers from their solicitation lists.

The customer signed into an agreement with eGumball on 9/23/2016 (attached) and asked that we increase the online exposure for their business. On 10/5 the customer contacted the customer service department regarding an explanation of the service.   Our customer service representative...

discussed the importance of NAP inconsistencies and the reasons of which why the business was not more prominent online.   After discussing the service and the agreement with the customer, the customer asked that we continue with the cancellation request, which we honored.  The customer did ask that we limit their agreement to 6 months during the conversation.  We ask that the customer contact their Account Executive at [redacted] ext * to discuss their agreement and the service.

We understand the customers concerns and reiterate that eGumball's services are proven and designed to allow for our clients to increase their online presence.  The service highlighted by the customer is one of many monthly service inclusion included in the customers package.  The citation development service is part of our ongoing services which are designed to manage business information online.  It is not uncommon for business information online to require regular maintenance, as can be seen in the link provided initially by the client.  This information again requires an update: [redacted]
 
We would like the customer to contact their Account Executive at [redacted] ext. * to discuss the extent of the services that have been provided and address any additional concerns that they have.

Our client signed onto our service for twelve months.  A contract was provided to the client and the client agreed to our terms of service.  The client has been receiving benefit all along and refuses to acknowledge our service.  We have billed our client per our agreement. ...

No cancellation was received until this last month.  There is a balance still owing.
Have the client perform a Google search:
Hotel(s) Walterboro, SC (carousel one scroll right)
Motel(s) Walterboro SC (carousel one scroll right)
Lodge Walterboro SC (maps pg 1, F)
Lodging Walterboro SC (carousel one scroll right)
Inn Walterboro SC (carousel one scroll right)
Cheap Motels Walterboro SC (maps pg1 E)
Cheap Hotels Walterboro SC (maps pg1 A)v

The customer was offered our Performance Guarantee which states : If publisher does not activate service within the first thirty (30) days of this agreement, client may opt out
of this agreement without penalty and receive a 100% refund of start up fees.  The customer agreed to the service on December 1st, and was full activated on December 30th.  The customer does however have the right to an early termination which is set forth on the eGumball.com Terms and Conditions page.
Per the terms and conditions ([redacted]) of the contract, Clients reserves the right to terminate the Application/Contract, in which case the full contract balance will be due and payable immediately. Early cancellation (except for rescission within the first three days ) or cancelled in writing after the Contract converts to month-to-month status, will result in an early termination fee of 100% of the remaining contract balance.
The customers cancellation request was honored when received and payments have been stopped. 
These terms and conditions are in place to mutually protect both parties due to the enormous resources expended by both the customer and eGumball.

eGumball was hired by the customer to increase the exposure of [redacted] and the associated information on line.  Upon initial review the quality team discovered multiple...

business names, addresses, and phone numbers connected to the customer.  Increasing the consistency of business information is a foundational necessity that creates trust not only by the search engines but also by potential customers.  
The customer had contacted the customer service department to discuss the services which had been provided and referencing that they had not seen any changes.  The service rep had discussed the initial changes and asked that the customer gain access to a computer so that eGumball could prove the services which had been rendered and the increases in exposure which had been attained.
The customer at that point did not have access to a computer and during additional attempts informed us that he would call back when he was not working.  A cancellation was received after hours and we have not had the opportunity to show the customer the increase which has been achieved. 
 
We have attached screenshots of rankings and traffic reports which outline the advances that have been made.  We ask that the customer contact their Account Executive to further discuss the screenshots and traffic reports.  Please contact the customer service department at [redacted] and ask to speak with an Account Executive.