- Report: #471068
Complaint Review: Chris Goodrich - Isaac Garcia - Arnulf Hsu - Cheryl Smith - Pasadena California
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Chris Goodrich - Isaac Garcia - Arnulf Hsu - Cheryl Smith
129 N Hill Ave #202 Pasadena, 91106 California, U.S.A.
Phone:
626-689-4420
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Central Desktop - Chris Goodrich - Isaac Garcia - Arnulf Hsu - Cheryl Smith Misleading and Deceptive Affiliate Marketing Program by Central Desktop and Commission Junction Pasadena California
*Author of original report: Central Desktop, Commission Junction Value Click reported to State Attorney Office
*Author of original report: Department of Justice / FTC Legal Action Against ValueClick
*Author of original report: Contacted by FTC
*Author of original report: Contacted by FTC
*Author of original report: Contacted by FTC
*Author of original report: Contacted by FTC
*Author of original report: Central Desktop & Commision Junction / Value Click
Commission Junction (CJ) is an Online Advertising medium that links advertisers with Publishers (affiliate marketers). An Affiliate Marketer publishes links to CJ advertisers' programs on their websites and based on the offerings of the CJ advertiser a publisher's website visitor clicks on a banner link which is directed to the advertisers' website.
The website visitor follows the instructions, signs up or makes a purchase. The Publisher (Affiliate Marketer) is then paid a commission for the lead and/or the sale (if a purchase is made.)
Below are some exact excerpts from the accepted agreements for the aforementioned companies:
Commission Junction Publisher Service Agreement [Excerpts]
This Publisher Service Agreement ("Agreement") is made by and agreed to between Commission Junction, Inc., a Delaware corporation, located at 530 East Montecito Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, USA ("CJ"), and you ("You"). As an application service provider, CJ facilitates "Performance Marketing Programs" by providing services ("Network Service") via the Internet. A "Performance Marketing Program" ("Program") is where a person, entity, affiliate or its agent, operating "Web site(s)" (internet domain, or a portion of a domain) and/or other promotional methods to drive traffic to another's Web site or Web site content ("Publisher") may earn financial compensation ("Payouts") for "Transactions" (actions by Visitors as defined by the Advertiser) referred by such Publisher via an action made by a "Visitor" (any person or entity that is not the Publisher or the Publisher's agent) through an Internet connection ("Link") to a Web site or Web site content operated by another person or entity ("Advertiser") from an Advertiser authorized promotional method used by such Publisher. The Advertiser compensates the Publisher, in accordance with this Agreement and the Program Payout specifications.
1. Participation in Programs.
(a) Acceptance by Advertiser. During this Agreement You may apply to Advertiser Programs for the opportunity to earn Payouts by promoting Advertisers in accordance with the Advertiser's Program terms and complying with this Agreement. Upon approval by the Advertiser for acceptance into its Program, You may display (and remove) Links to Advertiser's Web site or Web site content in accordance with the Advertiser's Program terms and this Agreement. An Advertiser's acceptance of You extends only to the entity, or individual, that enters into this Agreement with CJ.
(b) Program Terms. The details of an Advertiser's Program shall be available through the Network Service. Transactions qualifying for a Payout are defined by the Advertiser. Advertisers may change any Payout rate upon no less than 7 days written notice through the Network Service with effect from the 8th day (or such later date as specified by Advertiser).
Central Desktop Affiliate Marketing program terms.
Description: Refer your web site visitors, friends and clients to sign-up with Central Desktop - the collaboration solution voted "Best of the Web" by Business Week.
$10 per Lead (no-risk, free 30-day trial) PLUS
$15 to $75 per Sale (lead-to-sale conversion rate, CR, driven pay)
What is Central Desktop?
Central Desktop delivers the best Web based collaboration solution by enabling users to create online workspaces, to share files and documents, manage task lists and engage in group discussions. A feature that yields quick adoption is its ability to tie email and project management together. This eliminates a ton of headaches for team projects and it's also a more affordable intranet alternative for small businesses.
A couple of rules:
* No incentivised traffic without express written approval from Central Desktop. Contact [email protected].
* Only promote Central Desktop to English speaking audiences since other languages are not yet supported.
Program Term: $10 p/ Lead + $15 to $75 p/ Sale
1. Action: 30 Day Free Trial
ActionCriteria The customer must complet a signup for a 30 Day Free Trial.
Action Referral Period 90 day(s)
Action Referral Occurrences Unlimited
Commission $10.00 USD
Locking Period - Standard Actions lock on the 10th of the month, unless extended.
2. Action: Paid Membership
ActionCriteria The customer must complete membership purchase on our website.
Action Referral Period 90 day(s)
Action Referral Occurrences Unlimited
Commission $15.00 USD
Locking Period - Standard Actions lock on the 10th of the month, unless extended.
All advertisers with CJ publish the criterion about their affiliate marketing program terms and offerings and each publisher needs to understand and follow these criteria when applying to become an affiliate marketer with any advertisers.
Consequently, based on the information I had gathered on CJ and their advertisers programs, I joined their network as a Publisher. I am a businesswoman and Grandmother with many years experience in business consulting, investment, employee recruitment, marketing and other areas.
Central Desktop (CD) is an advertiser on the CJ Network.
Clearly, an individual with my proficiency and experience would certainly understand the criteria as outlined by the advertisers and within the CJ Publisher Service Agreement.
It is quite alarming, however, that by following the rules my account was blocked and subsequently deactivated. I received the following notices from CJ via email:
Message #1
Date Sent: Monday, July Time Sent: 10:57 p.m. EST
Date accessed: Time Accessed
Email Message:
Commission Junction is currently investigating your account and has the following inquiries regarding your promotional methods:
Please explain in details how do you promote advertisers in our network and how do you drive traffic to your site. Do you offer any incentive to your costumers?
Please respond by replying to this specific e-mail within 48h of the mailing date.
Failure to respond shall be deemed an admission of liability and acceptance of this letter as 15 days notice of termination, and may result in Commission Junction exercising its right to terminate the Commission Junction Publisher Service Agreement 15 days from the date of this written notice or sooner.
Please note that current or pending payout(s) may be placed on hold pending notification from you and Commission Junction's confirmation of your full compliance.
If you have questions regarding this notice, please reply to this email using the provided reply-to address and leave the subject line intact.
Network Compliance
Message #2
Date Sent: Monday, July Time Sent: 10:59 p.m. EST
Date accessed: Time Accessed
Email Message:
Your affiliation with Central Desktop has been terminated due to your violation of the advertiser's program terms and/or violation of the Commission Junction Publisher Service Agreement with respect to your promotion of that advertiser. Specifically, it has been determined that you are sending fraudulent leads to this advertiser. As a result, the advertiser has been notified and the advertiser may, in its sole discretion, reverse all relevant transactions.
Should Commission Junction discover the same or similar violations with other advertisers, your account is subject to deactivation. Promotional activities that are in violation of the Publisher Service Agreement or an advertiser program terms must cease immediately. Furthermore, current or pending payout(s) may be placed on hold pending your notification to Commission Junction and our confirmation of your full compliance.
If you have questions regarding this notice, please reply to this email using the provided reply-to address and leave the subject line intact.
Network Compliance
Message #3
Date Sent: Monday, July Time Sent: 11:04 p.m. EST
Date accessed: Time Accessed
Email Message:
This letter shall serve as notice that your publisher account has been terminated and removed from the Commission Junction Network and transactions may be reversed ("charged-back"). This termination and removal is the result of non-bona fide transactions performed on your account in violation of the Commission Junction Publisher Service Agreement you agreed to follow. Non-bona fide transactions include, but are not limited to, false, self inflated, and/or duplicate leads or transactions.
You are not eligible to rejoin the Commission Junction Network and any attempt to do so shall be null and void.
If you have questions regarding this notice, please reply to this email using the provided reply-to address and leave the subject line intact.
Network Compliance
Based on the time lines between the emails, Commission Junction allowed me [the Publisher] no time to respond to their allegations and requests. The messages were sent out only minutes apart.
Given that Central Desktop appeared to be the advertiser whose terms I violated, they were contacted directly and the program manager responded with the following message:
Central Desktop: Email #1
Please know that we take our CJ program very seriously and we are more than happy to pay out on any and all transactions that fall within our CJ program terms.
We contacted CJ regarding your involvement in our program because your site requires job applicants to sign-up for a trial in order to be considered for a job position. This is incentivized traffic which is clearly excluded from our program terms.
This claim is utterly false. My website unequivocally, does not require any visitor to sign up for a Central Desktop free trial to get a job. However our site did promote their workspace as a very useful web meeting tool.
Central Desktop: Email #2 (Excerpt)
Central Desktop does NOT pay any commissions in any affiliate program for the referral of employees. Employees, if required to use Central Desktop for their position, should be invited as internal members of a workspace
Central Desktop is being deceptive and misleading. This is not mentioned in the Central Desktop program terms and criterion does not indicate who cannot sign up. It clearly states website visitors - which is a very general term but does not exclude an employee, relative etc. A website visitor is anyone who visits a website. It appears that they make-up the rules as they see fit during the game.
I referred and promoted Central Desktop to all my website visitors which included friends, clients, acquaintances, etc. At least eight hundred (800) visitors to my site signed up with Central Desktop's workspace sharing tool. Most of them appeared to have opted for the 30-day free trial promotion. However, a few of clients said that a credit card was required for signup and they would return to complete the signup at a later date. The majority of persons will not give their personal credit card information for anything that is supposed to be free. Thus they halt the registration process by closing out the page and exiting the Central Desktop web site.
These persons were later sent emails from Central Desktop with a link to sign up without a credit card. Therefore, Central Desktop had already captured their information in their database as a LEAD.
How are these leads fraudulent when Central Desktop offers them the opportunity to sign up for the free trial without a credit card? It appears that they had captured the persons' basic information even after the persons postponed the sign up.
The images below are extracts from pages with the sign up steps from Central Desktop (when a website visitor clicks on their banner):
NOTE: This page is not allowing the pages to be viewed.
NOTE: If you go direct to Central Desktop's site from a browser by typing their address and without clicking on a banner link from an affiliate publishers' website you are directed to a web page with that does not have the figure #1 image. When you click on their free trial link you are directed to figure #2. When my website visitor puts in the information required from figure #1, Central Desktop stores it in their database.
When you postpone Step #2, (possibly, because of the credit card) you are sent the following email [Excerpt]:
Fig. 3: Message Title: Free Trial No Credit Card
________________________________________
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for visiting Central Desktop
We noticed you were about to start a 30-day Free Trial, but then you didn't. We figured it was asking for the credit card that drove you away. We'd like another chance to win your business.
Please start your Free Team Plan Trial here with no credit card required.
Therefore, if this signup is indeed free based on the aforesaid why does Central Desktop need the visitors' credit card? If they have the persons' information that they can send an email to and the persons accept the offer and sign up how are they invalid leads?
Now, let's for argument sake say that my company is registered with Central Desktop and I invite one of my employees to join an internal workspace; in order for this employee to join the work space, they are required to register by creating a member profile.
Naturally this person becomes a lead for Central Desktop and that they will send marketing information to.
By stating that the lead is incentivized is a pre-determined tactic that Central Desktop is using in order not to honor their legal commitment for paying commission on the leads. They are trying to get out of paying over $8,000 worth of leads that were sent to them and practically on a daily basis they have continued to market their products to these so called fraudulent leads.
Whenever I promote CD to my friends and clients it is promoted as a very useful tool that can save them a lot of money. They are told that they can stay at home and have meetings anywhere in the world with their counterparts or contacts. I advise them to take the free trial and see how it works for them. My friends and clients have never heard of Central Desktop, and may only register because they may want to maintain their friendship and positive business association with me and my company. Is this an incentive?
If I am allowed to encourage my website visitors to register, as directed by Central Desktop, doesn't this mean that anyone that comes on to my website and registers for the free trial is a valid lead?
Evidently, CJ and Central Desktop are engaging in unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business acts or practices and/or unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising in violation of California Business and Professions Code section 17200.
As aforementioned it is indeed obvious that some CJ advertisers, advertise a particular stipulation in their program terms that I undoubtedly followed, nevertheless when it came to leads generated from the traffic of my website visitors and the amount I earned I was deactivated within a six (6) minute timeframe of CJ's notices to me. It is imperative that I reiterate that CJ and its advertiser Central Desktop is being unlawful and unfair and should ensure that the commissions I earned honestly, be forthcoming.
Other Publishers appear to be experiencing the same problems as I am. Central Desktop is not an ETHICAL company and Commission Junction / Value Click is a platform for these unfair and illegal practices.
Publishers beware! If you are currently promoting Central Desktop through CJ or any other affiliate marketing programs, please pay close attention to your account. Central Desktop will deny and revoke credit for leads stating they are invalid. We have this fully documented and they are unaware that they were being monitored closely.
Legal action will be taken against Central Desktop, Commission Junction / Value Click Inc., and will also be reported to the various government agencies and regulatory bodies.
Internet marketer - Nerlyn
Decatur, Georgia
U.S.A.
The website visitor follows the instructions, signs up or makes a purchase. The Publisher (Affiliate Marketer) is then paid a commission for the lead and/or the sale (if a purchase is made.)
Below are some exact excerpts from the accepted agreements for the aforementioned companies:
Commission Junction Publisher Service Agreement [Excerpts]
This Publisher Service Agreement ("Agreement") is made by and agreed to between Commission Junction, Inc., a Delaware corporation, located at 530 East Montecito Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, USA ("CJ"), and you ("You"). As an application service provider, CJ facilitates "Performance Marketing Programs" by providing services ("Network Service") via the Internet. A "Performance Marketing Program" ("Program") is where a person, entity, affiliate or its agent, operating "Web site(s)" (internet domain, or a portion of a domain) and/or other promotional methods to drive traffic to another's Web site or Web site content ("Publisher") may earn financial compensation ("Payouts") for "Transactions" (actions by Visitors as defined by the Advertiser) referred by such Publisher via an action made by a "Visitor" (any person or entity that is not the Publisher or the Publisher's agent) through an Internet connection ("Link") to a Web site or Web site content operated by another person or entity ("Advertiser") from an Advertiser authorized promotional method used by such Publisher. The Advertiser compensates the Publisher, in accordance with this Agreement and the Program Payout specifications.
1. Participation in Programs.
(a) Acceptance by Advertiser. During this Agreement You may apply to Advertiser Programs for the opportunity to earn Payouts by promoting Advertisers in accordance with the Advertiser's Program terms and complying with this Agreement. Upon approval by the Advertiser for acceptance into its Program, You may display (and remove) Links to Advertiser's Web site or Web site content in accordance with the Advertiser's Program terms and this Agreement. An Advertiser's acceptance of You extends only to the entity, or individual, that enters into this Agreement with CJ.
(b) Program Terms. The details of an Advertiser's Program shall be available through the Network Service. Transactions qualifying for a Payout are defined by the Advertiser. Advertisers may change any Payout rate upon no less than 7 days written notice through the Network Service with effect from the 8th day (or such later date as specified by Advertiser).
Central Desktop Affiliate Marketing program terms.
Description: Refer your web site visitors, friends and clients to sign-up with Central Desktop - the collaboration solution voted "Best of the Web" by Business Week.
$10 per Lead (no-risk, free 30-day trial) PLUS
$15 to $75 per Sale (lead-to-sale conversion rate, CR, driven pay)
What is Central Desktop?
Central Desktop delivers the best Web based collaboration solution by enabling users to create online workspaces, to share files and documents, manage task lists and engage in group discussions. A feature that yields quick adoption is its ability to tie email and project management together. This eliminates a ton of headaches for team projects and it's also a more affordable intranet alternative for small businesses.
A couple of rules:
* No incentivised traffic without express written approval from Central Desktop. Contact [email protected].
* Only promote Central Desktop to English speaking audiences since other languages are not yet supported.
Program Term: $10 p/ Lead + $15 to $75 p/ Sale
1. Action: 30 Day Free Trial
ActionCriteria The customer must complet a signup for a 30 Day Free Trial.
Action Referral Period 90 day(s)
Action Referral Occurrences Unlimited
Commission $10.00 USD
Locking Period - Standard Actions lock on the 10th of the month, unless extended.
2. Action: Paid Membership
ActionCriteria The customer must complete membership purchase on our website.
Action Referral Period 90 day(s)
Action Referral Occurrences Unlimited
Commission $15.00 USD
Locking Period - Standard Actions lock on the 10th of the month, unless extended.
All advertisers with CJ publish the criterion about their affiliate marketing program terms and offerings and each publisher needs to understand and follow these criteria when applying to become an affiliate marketer with any advertisers.
Consequently, based on the information I had gathered on CJ and their advertisers programs, I joined their network as a Publisher. I am a businesswoman and Grandmother with many years experience in business consulting, investment, employee recruitment, marketing and other areas.
Central Desktop (CD) is an advertiser on the CJ Network.
Clearly, an individual with my proficiency and experience would certainly understand the criteria as outlined by the advertisers and within the CJ Publisher Service Agreement.
It is quite alarming, however, that by following the rules my account was blocked and subsequently deactivated. I received the following notices from CJ via email:
Message #1
Date Sent: Monday, July Time Sent: 10:57 p.m. EST
Date accessed: Time Accessed
Email Message:
Commission Junction is currently investigating your account and has the following inquiries regarding your promotional methods:
Please explain in details how do you promote advertisers in our network and how do you drive traffic to your site. Do you offer any incentive to your costumers?
Please respond by replying to this specific e-mail within 48h of the mailing date.
Failure to respond shall be deemed an admission of liability and acceptance of this letter as 15 days notice of termination, and may result in Commission Junction exercising its right to terminate the Commission Junction Publisher Service Agreement 15 days from the date of this written notice or sooner.
Please note that current or pending payout(s) may be placed on hold pending notification from you and Commission Junction's confirmation of your full compliance.
If you have questions regarding this notice, please reply to this email using the provided reply-to address and leave the subject line intact.
Network Compliance
Message #2
Date Sent: Monday, July Time Sent: 10:59 p.m. EST
Date accessed: Time Accessed
Email Message:
Your affiliation with Central Desktop has been terminated due to your violation of the advertiser's program terms and/or violation of the Commission Junction Publisher Service Agreement with respect to your promotion of that advertiser. Specifically, it has been determined that you are sending fraudulent leads to this advertiser. As a result, the advertiser has been notified and the advertiser may, in its sole discretion, reverse all relevant transactions.
Should Commission Junction discover the same or similar violations with other advertisers, your account is subject to deactivation. Promotional activities that are in violation of the Publisher Service Agreement or an advertiser program terms must cease immediately. Furthermore, current or pending payout(s) may be placed on hold pending your notification to Commission Junction and our confirmation of your full compliance.
If you have questions regarding this notice, please reply to this email using the provided reply-to address and leave the subject line intact.
Network Compliance
Message #3
Date Sent: Monday, July Time Sent: 11:04 p.m. EST
Date accessed: Time Accessed
Email Message:
This letter shall serve as notice that your publisher account has been terminated and removed from the Commission Junction Network and transactions may be reversed ("charged-back"). This termination and removal is the result of non-bona fide transactions performed on your account in violation of the Commission Junction Publisher Service Agreement you agreed to follow. Non-bona fide transactions include, but are not limited to, false, self inflated, and/or duplicate leads or transactions.
You are not eligible to rejoin the Commission Junction Network and any attempt to do so shall be null and void.
If you have questions regarding this notice, please reply to this email using the provided reply-to address and leave the subject line intact.
Network Compliance
Based on the time lines between the emails, Commission Junction allowed me [the Publisher] no time to respond to their allegations and requests. The messages were sent out only minutes apart.
Given that Central Desktop appeared to be the advertiser whose terms I violated, they were contacted directly and the program manager responded with the following message:
Central Desktop: Email #1
Please know that we take our CJ program very seriously and we are more than happy to pay out on any and all transactions that fall within our CJ program terms.
We contacted CJ regarding your involvement in our program because your site requires job applicants to sign-up for a trial in order to be considered for a job position. This is incentivized traffic which is clearly excluded from our program terms.
This claim is utterly false. My website unequivocally, does not require any visitor to sign up for a Central Desktop free trial to get a job. However our site did promote their workspace as a very useful web meeting tool.
Central Desktop: Email #2 (Excerpt)
Central Desktop does NOT pay any commissions in any affiliate program for the referral of employees. Employees, if required to use Central Desktop for their position, should be invited as internal members of a workspace
Central Desktop is being deceptive and misleading. This is not mentioned in the Central Desktop program terms and criterion does not indicate who cannot sign up. It clearly states website visitors - which is a very general term but does not exclude an employee, relative etc. A website visitor is anyone who visits a website. It appears that they make-up the rules as they see fit during the game.
I referred and promoted Central Desktop to all my website visitors which included friends, clients, acquaintances, etc. At least eight hundred (800) visitors to my site signed up with Central Desktop's workspace sharing tool. Most of them appeared to have opted for the 30-day free trial promotion. However, a few of clients said that a credit card was required for signup and they would return to complete the signup at a later date. The majority of persons will not give their personal credit card information for anything that is supposed to be free. Thus they halt the registration process by closing out the page and exiting the Central Desktop web site.
These persons were later sent emails from Central Desktop with a link to sign up without a credit card. Therefore, Central Desktop had already captured their information in their database as a LEAD.
How are these leads fraudulent when Central Desktop offers them the opportunity to sign up for the free trial without a credit card? It appears that they had captured the persons' basic information even after the persons postponed the sign up.
The images below are extracts from pages with the sign up steps from Central Desktop (when a website visitor clicks on their banner):
NOTE: This page is not allowing the pages to be viewed.
NOTE: If you go direct to Central Desktop's site from a browser by typing their address and without clicking on a banner link from an affiliate publishers' website you are directed to a web page with that does not have the figure #1 image. When you click on their free trial link you are directed to figure #2. When my website visitor puts in the information required from figure #1, Central Desktop stores it in their database.
When you postpone Step #2, (possibly, because of the credit card) you are sent the following email [Excerpt]:
Fig. 3: Message Title: Free Trial No Credit Card
________________________________________
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for visiting Central Desktop
We noticed you were about to start a 30-day Free Trial, but then you didn't. We figured it was asking for the credit card that drove you away. We'd like another chance to win your business.
Please start your Free Team Plan Trial here with no credit card required.
Therefore, if this signup is indeed free based on the aforesaid why does Central Desktop need the visitors' credit card? If they have the persons' information that they can send an email to and the persons accept the offer and sign up how are they invalid leads?
Now, let's for argument sake say that my company is registered with Central Desktop and I invite one of my employees to join an internal workspace; in order for this employee to join the work space, they are required to register by creating a member profile.
Naturally this person becomes a lead for Central Desktop and that they will send marketing information to.
By stating that the lead is incentivized is a pre-determined tactic that Central Desktop is using in order not to honor their legal commitment for paying commission on the leads. They are trying to get out of paying over $8,000 worth of leads that were sent to them and practically on a daily basis they have continued to market their products to these so called fraudulent leads.
Whenever I promote CD to my friends and clients it is promoted as a very useful tool that can save them a lot of money. They are told that they can stay at home and have meetings anywhere in the world with their counterparts or contacts. I advise them to take the free trial and see how it works for them. My friends and clients have never heard of Central Desktop, and may only register because they may want to maintain their friendship and positive business association with me and my company. Is this an incentive?
If I am allowed to encourage my website visitors to register, as directed by Central Desktop, doesn't this mean that anyone that comes on to my website and registers for the free trial is a valid lead?
Evidently, CJ and Central Desktop are engaging in unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business acts or practices and/or unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising in violation of California Business and Professions Code section 17200.
As aforementioned it is indeed obvious that some CJ advertisers, advertise a particular stipulation in their program terms that I undoubtedly followed, nevertheless when it came to leads generated from the traffic of my website visitors and the amount I earned I was deactivated within a six (6) minute timeframe of CJ's notices to me. It is imperative that I reiterate that CJ and its advertiser Central Desktop is being unlawful and unfair and should ensure that the commissions I earned honestly, be forthcoming.
Other Publishers appear to be experiencing the same problems as I am. Central Desktop is not an ETHICAL company and Commission Junction / Value Click is a platform for these unfair and illegal practices.
Publishers beware! If you are currently promoting Central Desktop through CJ or any other affiliate marketing programs, please pay close attention to your account. Central Desktop will deny and revoke credit for leads stating they are invalid. We have this fully documented and they are unaware that they were being monitored closely.
Legal action will be taken against Central Desktop, Commission Junction / Value Click Inc., and will also be reported to the various government agencies and regulatory bodies.
Internet marketer - Nerlyn
Decatur, Georgia
U.S.A.
7 Updates & Rebuttals
Internet marketer
Decatur,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Central Desktop & Commision Junction / Value Click
#2Author of original report
Wed, July 22, 2009
Currently in contact with the BBB, State Attorney Office & FTC.
Internet marketer
Decatur,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Contacted by FTC
#3Author of original report
Wed, July 22, 2009
Contacted by FTC...additional updates will follow.
Internet marketer
Decatur,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Contacted by FTC
#4Author of original report
Wed, July 22, 2009
Contacted by FTC...additional updates will follow.
Internet marketer
Decatur,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Contacted by FTC
#5Author of original report
Wed, July 22, 2009
Contacted by FTC...additional updates will follow.
Internet marketer
Decatur,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Contacted by FTC
#6Author of original report
Wed, July 22, 2009
Contacted by FTC...additional updates will follow.
Internet marketer
Decatur,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Department of Justice / FTC Legal Action Against ValueClick
#7Author of original report
Tue, July 21, 2009
Agency: Federal Trade Commission (FTC)Los Angele Description: On March 17, 2008, this company and two affiliate companies entered into a Stipulated Final Judgment with the Federal Trade Commission, (FTC) to settle previously filed charges that its advertising claims and e-mails were deceptive and violated federal law. The FTC's original complaint, filed March 13, 2008 also charged that ValueClick and its subsidiaries, Hi-Speed Media and E-Babylon failed to secure consumers' sensitive financial information, despite their claims to do so. The settlement, filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FTC, requires ValueClick to clearly and conspicuously disclose the costs and obligations consumers must incur to receive the products it touts as free and bars future violations of the CAN-SPAM Act. The settlement also bars deceptive claims about the security of the consumer information collected at its e-commerce Web sites. According to the FTC, ValueClick subsidiary Hi-Speed Media used deceptive e-mails, banner ads, and pop-ups to drive consumers to its Web sites. The e-mails and online ads claimed that consumers were eligible for free gifts, including laptops, iPods, and high-value gift cards, and included come-ons such as Free PS3 for survey, and CONGRATULATIONS! Select your FREE Plasma TV. The FTC alleged that consumers lured to ValueClick's Web sites by these promises were led through a maze of expensive and burdensome third-party offers including car loans and satellite television subscriptions which they were required to participate in at their own expense, in order to receive the promised free merchandise. The FTC charged that ValueClick's use of deceptively labeled e-mail offering free gifts and its failure to disclose that consumers must expend substantial sums of money to obtain the promised free merchandise violates the CAN-SPAM Act and the FTC Act. The FTC also charged that ValueClick, Hi-Speed Media, and E-Babylon, misrepresented that they secured customers' sensitive financial information consistent with industry standards. The FTC alleged the companies published online privacy policies claiming they encrypted customer information, but either failed to encrypt the information at all or used a non-standard and insecure form of encryption. The agency also charged that several of the companies' e-commerce Web sites were vulnerable to SQL injection, a commonly known form of hacker attack, contrary to claims that the companies implemented reasonable security measures. The settlement bars future violations of the CAN-SPAM Act. It requires ValueClick and Hi-Speed Media to clearly and conspicuously disclose in their ads and on their promotional Web pages that consumers have to spend money or incur other obligations to qualify for free merchandise. The settlement also requires them to provide a list of the obligations such as applying for credit cards, purchasing products, or obtaining a car loan that consumers must incur to qualify for a free product. In addition, ValueClick and Hi-Speed Media will pay a $2.9 million civil penalty to resolve the Commission's CAN-SPAM allegations. This is the largest settlement in a case based on the CAN-SPAM Act, enacted in 2003. The settlement also bars ValueClick, Hi-Speed Media, and E-Babylon from making misrepresentations about the use of encryption or other electronic measures to protect consumers' information, and about the extent to which they protect personal information. The order also requires the companies to establish and maintain a comprehensive security program, and obtain independent third-party assessments of their programs, for 20 years. Upon entry, the order was finalized. Date of Action: 3/17/2008
Internet marketer
Decatur,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Central Desktop, Commission Junction Value Click reported to State Attorney Office
#8Author of original report
Mon, July 20, 2009
Central Desktop, Commission Junction, Value Click, Managers, owners and employees has been reported to the Santa Barbara State Attorney office, FTC, SEC and FBI White Collar crimes. A lawsuit is being implemented against these companies and if you wish to join, emails me for details. In addition to legal action, a massive Internet campaign will be implemented to inform the public about these companies. Additional information will be posted about these companies; information will be very informative for Share Holders in Value Click (I advise Share holders to sell ASAP). Central Desktop and Commission Junction / Value Click have made a very big mistake; we have the resources and marketing experience to make the world know our experience with these companies. Trying to cheat us out of compensating for the leads by using misleading and false advertising will cost these companies dearly!!!
