Charity “Friendship Zone” suing “Search Engine Easy” affiliated with Google

04.03.2010
Charity “Friendship Zone” suing “Search Engine Easy”, which claims that it is affiliated with Google, due to unfulfilled service.

During a lengthy conversation of the service they had to offer FZ became impressed with the advertisement deal on offer and decided to commit to it.

Since Search Engine Easy has failed in its ability to fulfil its promise, the charity has therefore decided to pursue a court case against them.

The Charity “Friendship Zone” will therefore disclose the timeline of events:
- 8th of December 2009 the Charity “Friendship Zone” received a call from “Search Engine Easy” representative, which is registered company in Ireland, as we discovered later.
- After 10 minutes conversation on the phone, this representative persuaded Charity to advertise on the 1st page of Google at comparative low cost.
- During the conversation the company promised to put key phrase “Free SMS messaging” throughout the UK on the 1st page of Google. It was also agreed that £89 per month will be charged.
Everything seemed attractive, but however it also felt too good to be true. Surprisingly more than 3 different representatives were involved in consequent communications and the charity had been asked repeatedly to make many various changes of its web site front webpage.
- 16th of December, 2009 Director of the Charity requested for 2 additional weeks after Christmas to be able to implement the changes of the front webpage as instructed by Search Engine Easy. This was agreed and a representative confirmed in writing that there would be a refund if the changes were not successfully implemented.
- 6th of January it came into the Charity’s attention, the advertisement campaign had started without waiting for the requested implementations of the changes of the front webpage. Charity’s request to start advertising campaign after all the changes were implemented was ignored.
- Promised advertisement campaign results statement was not also received by the charity.
The company gave a lot of excuses avoiding giving the Charity promised refund. Verbally, the representative of “Search Engine Easy” said the campaign had 144 impressions, the Director of Charity found this statement ridiculous as you would expect that nationwide campaign of very popular key phrase “Free SMS messaging” would generate much, much more than that
- 13th of January 2010, following the conversation “Search Engine Easy” confirmed that they will not be in the position to offer the Charity the refund.
- Next 2 months the Charity exhausted all possible avenues to sort this situation out but the company still refused to compromise. In this light FZ has decided to press charges. The Charity realizes that it is not a significant amount but we are taking this step because we believe it is important to bring the awareness to the public domain.

Research on the Internet has confirmed that the Charity in not the only one who became a victim of the Google qualified company “Search Engine Easy” as they want to be identified. Below are three other victims of the above mentioned “scam” company

As reported on business watchdog.net where people leave their complaints, Tony, who was targeted by Search Engine Easy scam, stated “I just received a call from this company. They told our receptionist they were calling from Google so they were put through to me as I’m the Web Manager. They then told me they were calling “on behalf of Google” which I immediately told them was a joke and they were fraudulent to phrase it in that way. They then hung up on me. Not sure how else we can report this company. It is difficult to find anywhere inside Google to make a complaint.”

Colin also complained that “I’ve had 2 calls from these guys now, didn’t claim to have anything to do with Google but they did say that the £89 “offer” was to only 1 company per industry sector! When I asked which sector they had put us under, he didn’t know. When I asked for a list of sectors he didn’t have one. When I asked how they do get you to number 1, he didn’t know. He was also apparently “Sales Director”, hilarious that a director is making cold calls, his name was Ryan”
Another victim, John says “Just had a call from “Google” and when I asked if this was Google she replied yes, it was only after further investigation that she said Google had told them to call. She did not know who the directors are and she was the manager. After doing some credit checks, I see that C. Bellamy was a director of “Club Riviera” the big sales scam company in Manchester that sold timeshare, which did not exist, can you believe it, they would hand over money for nothing, taking advantage of and savings from old people who wanted an investment plus holidays is sick. Eventually the directors were found guilty, so once again these people resurface and never play straight. I would stay clear.”
Our decision of suing “Search Engine Easy” is not because of the refund since it is not such a significant amount, it actually targets “Search Engine Easy” who continuously attempts to defraud individuals, small companies and even charities, and as previously mentioned increased general public awareness about companies like “Search Engine Easy” can help you avoid being caught up in these kind of scams.
Friendship Zone is a registered charity which promotes friendship and helps people to achieve their dreams. Please visit our website www.friendship-zone.com for more information.
Reference:
Boucher, C. (November 23, 2009) “Business Watchdog: Warning Of rogues, scams and potentially dodgy deals” [online] Available from http://www.businesswatchdog.net/search-engine-easy.html [Accessed March 2, 2010]
Smith, J. (November 23, 2009) “Business Watchdog: Warning Of rogues, scams and potentially dodgy deals” [online] Available from http://www.businesswatchdog.net/search-engine-easy.html [Accessed March 2, 2010]
Tony (July 28, 2009) “Business Watchdog: Warning Of rogues, scams and potentially dodgy deals” [online] Available from http://www.businesswatchdog.net/search-engine-easy.html [Accessed March 2, 2010]