Mike
Irvine,#2Consumer Comment
Wed, September 04, 2013
This company is shady and will scam you with a smile of their face. They don't even know what they're doing when it comes to SEO. Turns out they actually have a long line of shady businesses too, besides this one. They are just not a reputtable company, and do not do a good job.
I agree with all these complaints. I used this company and wish I never had. They took my money and ran. Stay far, far away from SiteSolutions.
Daisseymay
Roseville,#3Consumer Comment
Wed, September 05, 2012
This all sounds very frustrating. I am using this company and am very happy and see results. I haven't had any weird content or anything else you describe, so perhaps they had some poor employees? It's a big company, so I'm sure not everyone is up to par (and with any business, complaints are one way the owners discover this and usually, the problems are removed).
Your report freaked me out enough that I emailed everyone on their testimonials list. I received 100% responses of satisfied customers, so sounds like you're in the minority. The people I spoke with said honestly, they didn't check "what they were doing," but they saw huge results once they hired them.
I also think there's nothing wrong with them having a virtual office as someone else mentioned. Many big firms have this now with the economy shifting and less of a need to be face-to-face with people. After all, they are in the field of 'technology.'
Anyway, time will tell. I'll post again if I have similar problems to you, but so far, I think they know what they're doing. SEO is such a moving target and is not easy to conquer.
Anonymous
United States of America#4Consumer Comment
Wed, April 04, 2012
Wow, 2 million satisfied customers? How do you support that statement, Stephen Lochmiller of SiteSolutions.com?
I'm guessing that since you refuse to provide clients with documentation of work done to meet contract terms, you won't do much better at documenting this--because you can't. You are a convicted felon who found a new scam. It's really that simple. And now that Google is actively penalizing websites for using the type of spam/fake/low quality/irrelevant link building tactics that you specialize in (when you actually do build links, that is), those "2 million satisfied customers" will quickly turn into an angry mob. Good luck with that.
theminesweeper
United States of America#5Consumer Comment
Wed, April 04, 2012
Site Solutions is run from a PO Box in Roseville, CA. Their "address" on Foothills Blvd. is a mailbox business.
The company consists if Stephen (the owner), his wife (who does the billing/accounting), his daughter (can't remember her role exactly but she seems to float around and fill in), Michael (his son-in-law who does "sales" and "tech calls"), and Crystal (a cousin) who handles the "front desk" and "tech calls".
Lochmiller, along with his mother and brother were convicted and sent to prison back in the 80's for bilking hundreds of thousands from the elderly. His brother, his nephew, and another employee were just recently sent back to federal prison in Colorado for doing the same thing again and securities fraud. Awesome.
Stephen is now doing the same thing, just on a smaller level, and how awesome is it that he's taught HIS CHILDREN the game, just like his disgusting mother taught him and his brother, Philip. I wonder how thrilled Phillip's wife thinks it is that her SON is now serving time in federal prison for crimes that her husband taught her son how to commit. Perhaps she was already this way and that's why they got together in the first place.
My experience with Site Solutions started over a year ago when I clicked on their Pay Per Click ad at the top of Google. I called and spoke with a very nice and professional sounding gentleman named Michael and after calling some references they have listed on their site and seeing the NUMEROUS logos of huge companies on their site that they've supposedly done work for, Cheesecake Factory, NBC, NASA, HP, Encyclopedia Britannica, and the list goes on, I figured I'd give them a shot. Afterall, it was only $199 for the year for the "special promotion " they were having. Way less than the thousands other were asking for. That should've been my first clue. Big mistake.
After a couple of months I started calling them a bit more to talk to their "tech dept" and ask questions but after 5-6 attempts and always being connected with Michael or Crystal, who never could answer my questions and always said they'd check with the tech dept and "get back [to me]", I never would hear back from them. I finally started to get suspicious after a fewmonths of this and started to call a lot more often. I asked them to show me where these "links" supposedly were for my site and every single time they'd have me look while on the phone with them it was only the links that I HAD CREATED that were showing up. I continued to call almost everyday wanting answers that they just could not provide because, low and behold, they weren't doing any work.
Eventually after going back and forth with Michael and Crystal for a few weeks and getting so flustered with the lies I was catching them in, they finally just started putting Stephen on the phone with me. I gotta tell you, the guy IS a smooth talker, just as you can see in his written statement above. But do not be fooled. The man is a con artist. It's what he does. It's how he's made his living for the last 40+ years, but I digress. At first I was calmed by his facade of knowledge but after a his stringing me along having me go on wild goose chases by checking things in Google Analytics and/or just not being available to talk, I realized this guy had no idea what he was talking about either. He was just better at hiding it.
So I made a decision that I was going to call and call and call until I got my money back. It took another week or so but he did eventually get so sick of me and claim that he had "never had another customer treat [him] like this" or be so "intrusting", that he just volunteered to give me my money back. Now getting the check in the mail from them, that took another few weeks and a lot more phone calls, which I'm sure is all part of their game plan, but it did eventually happen. Do I think they would give everyone who calls and bothers them a refund? No, I think I got lucky because of the small amount I paid. I've since seen on their site that they are having "specials" for much higher amounts than what I paid.
Lochmiller mentions in his post above to "be careful" because there are many companies with the words "site solutions" in it. How ironic. The con man telling US to be careful. I can't think of ay better advice. Yes, please do be careful and know that every single negative review you find for this company is absolutely true and you're not finding reviews for anyone else but them. All other companies with site solutions in their name seem to have fine reviews.
Please also note that the last time I checked the Better Business Bureau in Roseville, CA Site Solutions had a F rating with three complaints against them. Roseville PD has been made aware of their actions and con artist practices.
I've had a few people contact me regarding their being scammed by Site Solutions and we're currently on a mission to slowly but surely get the word out to every site we come across, whether it be a site that advertises for SEO services or a site like this one. We also blog about our experiences and we've been contacting all of Tue major companies listed on their site as "satisfied customers", we believe fraudulently, to alert them to their names and logos being used fraudulently.
If you have had any negative experiences with this company who also goes under a few different other names, such as Online Fullfillment Center, please post a comment here or contact me.
burned_consumer
United States of America#6Author of original report
Sun, August 07, 2011
You are a crafty speaker and writer for sure. You say all the right things and do have a silver tongue. However, you seem to be avoiding the issues stated.
If sitesolutions.com has ONLY had a small percentage of very dissatisfied customers as you say, then why do you have customers sign a contract that says they won't attempt to get a refund from their credit card company? Also, if so few dissatisfied customers, why not offer those very few a refund when sitesolutions has provided a poor service?
No one has suggested all customers will be happy with every business and that includes yours, but how many businesses refuse to provide for any type of refund and make you sign a contract that says you won't attempt to get a refund? That business practice now speaks volumes to us about a possible history and one we will be very mindful of in the future.
Say whatever you like, we know the level of incompetency that was afforded our account for months and are not impressed. Because of your poor service, we have found much better solutions out there that are MUCH less expensive and much more effective than what you provided us.
We are done with sitesolutions.com and will certainly never recommend you to anyone; well maybe to our competition we would.
Good luck to you Sir. This will be a first and last rebuttal as we are putting you guys and our bad experience with you behind us and moving on.
burned_consumer
United States of America#7Author of original report
Sun, August 07, 2011
You are a crafty speaker and writer for sure. You say all the right things and do have a silver tongue. However, you're skirting the underlying issues just as you did with us in order to avoid the discussion of refunding money.
If sitesolutions.com has ONLY had a small percentage of very dissatisfied customers as you say, then why do you have customers sign a contract that states they won't attempt to get a refund from their credit card company? Also, if so few dissatisfied customers, why not offer those very few a refund when you know sitesolutions has provided a poor service?
No one has suggested all customers will be happy with every business to include yours, but how many businesses refuse to provide for any type of refund and make you sign a contract that says you won't attempt to get a refund? That business model now speaks volumes to us about a possible history and one we will be very mindful of in the future.
Say whatever you like, I for one know the level of incompetency at sitesolutions.com with our account over several months and am not impressed - at all. There are much better solutions out there that are MUCH less expensive and much more effective than what you've provided.
I'm done with sitesolutions.com and would never recommend you to anyone; well maybe to the competition I would.
Stephen
Roseville,#8REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sun, August 07, 2011
SiteSolutions.Com Has Over TWO MILLION Satisfied Users In 16 Years
That's worth repeating... Over TWO MILLION Satisfied Users.
During our 16 years of SEO, we have been instrumental in helping a vast number of website owners improve their overall search engine positioning, thereby increasing their overall business opportunities.
Many of our users have hundreds of their keywords on page one in the organic section of Google that match exactly what they are selling or providing.
Even with that successful track record, the reality is that when providing some sort of service to over Two Million different websites, it seems that no matter how hard you try, a 100% perfect score in customer satisfaction is an impossibility.
You are probably a business owner or manager. So I ask for just a moment that you put this scenario in your own business. Over the years that you have been business, have you "ever" had a dissatisfied customer? Even if you have had just one, take your volume of customers or users, and expand that to over Two Million. Can you see that no matter how hard you would have tried - no matter how good your intentions - that it is impossible to work with that many people and not have a dissatisfied customer. At SiteSolutions, we're no different than you. Out of over two million applications of our service, 100% satisfaction seems to be impossible.
The point is this;
1) Yes, it is true that we have had a very small number of complaints. We do not deny that. However...
2) Please don't forget or discount the fact that we also have OVER "TWO MILLION SATISFIED USERS."
We are sorry that anyone would ever feel that we had not fully met their expectations. We would like to have a satisfied 100% of our Two Million plus users. To that goal, we shall continue to strive to provide a proven, successful service at a very reasonable price.
Thank you for allowing us the opportunity of responding.
(Please note that in researching a complaint, that there are many companies that use the words "SiteSolutions" or "Site Solutions" within their company name, website address, or their product or service name. Therefore please be certain that another firms actions are not being incorrectly attributed to us. Thank you.)
Anonymous
United States of America#9Consumer Comment
Sun, July 31, 2011
After researching what Site Solutions did "for" us, I can say with confidence that it's a scam.
And just because the contract claims you can't get a refund, that doesn't mean it's legally binding, especially since they are a California company. If you are a California consumer, so much the better.
Stephen Lochmiller, the owner of Site Solutions, was convicted of fraud in the 80s. His father was convicted of running a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme in Colorado this week. Fraud is what they do. They do it well, and they do it often.
My advice is to contact your credit card company and demand a refund. If you don't get it, take Site Solutions to court.
Use your contract and your monthly activity reports to prove your case. Not only were your articles complete crap, but they were no doubt placed on fake sites that Google doesn't even index. So instead of gaining traffic, your reputation in Google's eyes is now that of a spammer who uses the same anchor text in low-quality articles on numerous shoddy sites.
And check out your Facebook and Twitter profiles, if they even built them. Guaranteed they'll have some random guy's name on them with no profile info and a single link to a crap article. Awesome. Document EVERYTHING. Take screenshots (print to screen) or print as PDFs.
Don't be a victim. Enforce your rights as a consumer. You have more rights than you think you do. If you or any other Site Solutions victims read this, you can post here and I'll get the message. Might be high time for a class action lawsuit.