Complaint Review: The C Channel

The C Channel promise:

"Choose 100 backlinks and we'll guarantee you 100 permanent backlinks from blogs with a minimum page-rank of 4.

You can expect :
Your page-rank to rise
to attract more traffic from blogs to your site
to attract more traffic from earch engines
to earn more revenue from the likes of AdSense, Overture or Clicksor "
They also offered a 90-day refund option.

So I signed up and paid for the backlinks service on the Thursday 7th September 2006. I received nothing from them to explain how the service would work, all I received was a Paypal transaction email which didn't tell me anything.

So I emailed 5 days later to ask if they had received payment. No reply. I emailed again and eventually received a reply back from Marnie O'Neill. In her reply on the 12th September, Marnie said :

I will begin your backlinking within 3 days (Friday) and will keep you posted on the incoming backlinks. The work should be completed within a maximum of 90 days (normally 45-60 days).

I heard nothing from Marnie, so I emailed her on the 2nd October for an update and she told me to wait until the next day. The next day, still no email report. I emailed again. Marnie replied:

Your report will be generated and sent to you on the 30th day counting from your registration. Your echeck was cleared on the 19th of September, which means your first report will be sent to you on 19th October 2006.

Suddenly the service has changed from 'keeping me posted' to having formal numbered reports which start 30 days after payment has cleared.

OK then, I waited for the report on the 19th. Come the 19th October, no report. By the 25th October, I had to send another email and was told by Marnie:

On Thursday 12th October, I sent you an email informing you that you would receive the first report on November 5th.

I hadn't received this email, and I don't use a spamkiller, but I was prepared to give Marnie the benefit of the doubt that she did send it. Regardless, the date of the first report had mysteriously changed from 19th October to the 5th November.

Again, I was patient and waited until the 5th November, 48 days after my payment had cleared.

By the 15th November I still hadn't received my even one report about how my backlinks were taking shape. It was now 58 days after my paymemt had cleared and nearing the end of the 45-60 days Marnie had said the service would take to complete.

So I emailed them, this time asking for a refund having tired of their poor customer care. No reply. I emailed again 5 days later, again requesting a refund. No reply.

So then I emailed the 'manager' Cristina Santos. She replied in a patronising and defensive manner and offered no apology for the poor service, but she did begrudgingly agree to give me a refund. As she put it:

"We are issuing you your refund within the next few hours."
Needless to say, 2 days later I still haven't received a refund and my emails are being ignored.

Now I know what the 'C' in The C Channel stands for.

Victoria
Sutton
United Kingdom