- Report: #722857
Complaint Review: FIDOO.com - New York Internet
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Author Not Confirmed
Why?
FIDOO.com
New York, 10017 Internet, United States of America
Phone:
Web:
www.FIDOO.com
Categories:
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FIDOO.com They never gave their names, nor are their legal documents on company stationary. FIDOO to rip-off fashion bloggers and content developers New York, Internet
I responded to a posting on Craigslist requesting Fashion Photographers and Style Writers or bloggers in New York City. The companies name is FIDOO.com. I filled out their online questionnaire, which really just probed my relevant industry contacts. Upon completion I received an automated reply that scheduled me to arrive at their office location within the Chrysler Building on the 26th floor. Mind you, these are rental offices by Regus Office Suites for small businesses.
Upon entering I met an adorable Asian girl who offered me documents and release forms to fill out. So, I sat down at the conference table to greet five other applicants. All were causally dressed. Two guys appeared to be Photographers/Videographers and the women appeared to be writers. The fella to lead this conference meeting was a casually dressed African-American male who never gave his name. He was short haired and fair skinned, and never removed his dark sun glasses. Very mystique fella. Basically he's proposing fashion content creators to submit industry related editorials or blog stories for a flat rate pay of $1000 per five articles each week. All submissions must forfeit exclusive copy rights of all intellectual properties. Payments are received on a weekly basis, he states. He claims to be a start-up PR firm. Basicly, this marketing approach is what's known as "Ambient Marketing". Utilizing social networking content to attract readers and gain advertising revenue for media relations placement, or product placement. What makes this character suspicious is that he hides behind sun glasses. His legal documents are illegitimate stationary. The release form positions the signatures on a separate, unrelated document. He utilized rental conference offices. And he asked me to leave because my questions intimidated him. Basic questions... like, how often do we receive pay? Who are your clients for PR? He also wanted everyone to sign a release form and stand before a video camera and tell who they are.
Note: none of this is illegal or substantiates a solid scam. But I caution others because this is an operation that potentially coheres creative content developers to sign off exclusive rights to content and never get paid.
Upon entering I met an adorable Asian girl who offered me documents and release forms to fill out. So, I sat down at the conference table to greet five other applicants. All were causally dressed. Two guys appeared to be Photographers/Videographers and the women appeared to be writers. The fella to lead this conference meeting was a casually dressed African-American male who never gave his name. He was short haired and fair skinned, and never removed his dark sun glasses. Very mystique fella. Basically he's proposing fashion content creators to submit industry related editorials or blog stories for a flat rate pay of $1000 per five articles each week. All submissions must forfeit exclusive copy rights of all intellectual properties. Payments are received on a weekly basis, he states. He claims to be a start-up PR firm. Basicly, this marketing approach is what's known as "Ambient Marketing". Utilizing social networking content to attract readers and gain advertising revenue for media relations placement, or product placement. What makes this character suspicious is that he hides behind sun glasses. His legal documents are illegitimate stationary. The release form positions the signatures on a separate, unrelated document. He utilized rental conference offices. And he asked me to leave because my questions intimidated him. Basic questions... like, how often do we receive pay? Who are your clients for PR? He also wanted everyone to sign a release form and stand before a video camera and tell who they are.
Note: none of this is illegal or substantiates a solid scam. But I caution others because this is an operation that potentially coheres creative content developers to sign off exclusive rights to content and never get paid.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Smitty_NY
Brooklyn,USA
FIDOO.com
#2Author of original report
Mon, May 02, 2011
The point of filing this report was not to defame Fidoo.com, but to bring to light... yet another case of unnecessary over-reaching and infringement policies imposed upon creative professionals.
Fidoo.com's demands are over-reach their needs, and boarders on potential infringement of intellectual property. Demanding or coercing exclusive rights of intellectual property when your publication only needs editorial use; and is paying editorial rate, is over-reaching. The potential infringement could occur if the intellectual property is at some point used for advertising purposes. Advertising is a different dynamic from editorial use and requires renegotiated rates. The purpose of this report is to caution creative professionals about being swayed into forfeiting exclusive rights of their work as well as your identity.
Jim
Millbrook,Alabama,
U.S.A.
Fidoo, Do you have any idea just how stupid you sound.
#3Consumer Comment
Sun, May 01, 2011
Pretty stupid.
Fidoo
minneapolis,Minnesota,
United States of America
Fidoo Inc : The Fashion Engine
#4REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sun, May 01, 2011
The team at Fidoo.com would like to address this issue immediately to dismiss what turns out to be a case of an unqualified applicant who is upset because he was asked to leave the interview.
Fidoo.com is a very legitimate business and we are constantly working as a team in our corporate offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota; we also have a nation wide contributing team including: west coast contributing team members and east coast Fidoo team members who are all very happy PAID employees.
Our offices at the Chrysler building is used when we need it since our corporate office is based out of Minneapolis.
We work with some of the most talented creative fashion connoisseurs in the world and take pride in our whole team and the amazing articles that they write for our news section at http://stream.fidoo.com/
There you can all read the very informative and professional work that our whole contributing team from the west and east coast put together and is released on a daily basis.
We welcome everyone to reach out to the team members that we highlight and enjoy their passion for fashion.
www.fidoo.com
A little bit about us:
Our mission at Fidoo is to provide a premiere online synergetic platform for merging Consumers with their favorite Brands, Stores, and Designers with a parallel emphasis on those same Brands, Stores, and Designers to have a centralized information hub to all of their online resources.
We accomplish these goals by allowing consumers to find whatever Stores, Brands and Designers are looking for locally without exhaustive internet searches, its all right here. As well as allowing stores and brands who are found in our ever growing comprehensive database to fully market their online presence in parallel with all of their other social network and online marketing initiatives.
Locations
Fidoo New York
405 Lexington Avenue, 26th Floor
New York, NY
(917) 368-8043
Fidoo Corporate
1401 West River Road
55411 Minneapolis, MN
(612) 522-4324
www.fidoo.com
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