Complaint Review: Internet Advancement Aka 4GreatBuys.com - Redmnd Washington

I am a former employee of Internet Advancement, and I have a very good grasp of how their programs work. I'd just like to clear up a few questions and issues, and remind people that the truth is always somewhere in the middle. Can Internet Advancement get you ranked on Search Engines? Yes, they can, and they do it every day. Is their success rate as high as they say? No, it is not. What they do works, but it will not work for everyone. It works out great for a few people, it works out okay for most people, and it works out terrible for enough people that you get large numbers of complaints from people who were failed. Will Internet Advancement give you a refund? Yes... eventually. They will try every tactic they can to keep you as a customer first without refunding a dime, and then they will try every tactic they can to lose you without losing your money. In the end, however, they know they have a contract to honor, and they will give a refund. Just don't expect it promptly and without a bit of arm-wrestling. Is there really a Naomi? Yes and no. She exists, but that isn't her name, and it isn't even her job anymore. There was a Naomi who did that job once, but now it's an entire (small) department. Is the contract fair? Not really. There are lots of little snags and barbs in it for the unwary. Is it horrible? No, it isn't. There is no minimum time period for the contract (you can opt out at any time), and results are required by the company. Usually the minimum is exceeded, even if just barely. The company stays in business because it has a better success ratio than loss ratio. Do the employees of Internet Advancement know they're being dishonest about anything? Usually, no. Company propaganda is pretty firm, and employees are force-fed all the "virtues" of the company so that in most cases, they don't even question that they company is benevolent, if not infallible. You're dealing with a crop of fairly imperceptive high school dropouts to whom this is the best career option they have, and they will believe anything IA tells them about how the programs work. Management is aware of the problems, but they keep this away from the salespeople, so for the most part if you were conned into a sale, you were sold by someone who was in turn conned by his or her training manager, and doesn't know he's ripping you off. Are the names the salespeople and reps give you real? Yeah, those are their real names. You are really talking to Jason, or Josh, or Rie, or Brian. You could look them up in the phonebook or meet them face-to-face at the office and read their nametag if you wanted. They are not lying to you the entire time. Should you be careful when you sign up with IA? Yes, you should, but just do your homework. Know what you're gambling on, and check out your competition. If you have a market that's saturated online and you're competing with hundreds of millions of sites, you're going to need to invest a lot of money (thousands) in order to get high rankings. Part of the problem is how the programs are put across by the salespeople, but also realize that you get what you pay for. If the salesperson tells you you need a high-end program and you wheedle him down to a low-end program, you may end up paying the price for that because your market is simply too competetive, and you weren't willing to put out the cash to see returns on your investment. Be smart, do research, and try not to be too paranoid about how these things work. There are ups and downs, successes and failures, and the truth about how these programs work is somewhere in-between what the salesperson tells you is true and what the people on this board will rant is false.