In this fun James Bond-spoof, Star-Telegram Watchdog columnist Dave Lieber – founder of Watchdog Nation – invites the public to a free public workshop at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011 at Southlake Public Library, 1400 Main Street. Fight back and win against the scoundrels. Learn how to save time, money and aggravation for the rest of your life!
For most people, checking a company, a product or a service on the Internet begins with typing its name into a Google search engine box. Consumers hope for accurate information that will enlighten them and help save money.
But some companies, or the search engine marketing companies they hire, learned to game Google to dominate results with what they want consumers to see.
Studies show that very few people venture past the first page of search results, so manipulating the search rankings can give a huge advantage. It could drive Web traffic to a seller’s site — or bury damaging information.
In recent weeks, though, Google has cracked down on several search engine optimization practices it deems unethical and retooled its mathematical search formula.
The popular website Overstock.com was penalized with lower Web rankings after Google learned that it had offered discounts to college students and faculty members who put links to the company on their education-related Web pages.
Google treated links from pages that contain the domain name of .edu more seriously because they are from the academic, not commercial, community.
Google also penalized J.C. Penney’s retail website after it learned that a company hired to perform SEO for the website gamed the search system in another way. The outside company paid for links to J.C. Penney’s site from other websites worldwide.
More incoming links to Web pages lead to a higher Google ranking. Google doesn’t want businesses to buy these incoming links. That gives those who pay an unfair advantage. Yet it happens all the time. (Read what Google says about this on its blog here.)
J.C. Penney spokeswoman Darcie M. Brossart says her company did not know that the SEO practice was occurring. Penney fired the SEO company, is working to remove the offending links and “instituted more rigorous internal controls over our search program to ensure future compliance,” she said.
Google made a third change last month, its biggest in years, in its secret search formula. The change, Google says, is designed to reduce the rankings of junk Web pages that rarely offered relevant answers to users.
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As readers of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dave Lieber column first learned, this is a significant advance for consumers.
Before the recent changes, when I tried to research vending machine company Planet Antares on Google and other search engines, the results had turned up meaningless Web pages. Watchdog Nation readers might remember Planet Antares as the company that sent me an invitation to a hotel sales seminar — even sent me flowers the day before — but kicked me out of the hotel and ordered me not to write about it when it learned about my column. (Read this funny and memorable story here.)
The Office Deli Refreshmen Center
Critical postings about the company were buried deep in the Internet rankings. Consumers would have to dig past the first pages to learn, for instance, that the Federal Trade Commission fined the company $1 million in 1996 for misrepresenting potential earnings of prospective vending machine distributors and using shills as phony references.
Now, after Google’s search cleanup, such information is easier to spot. If you search for the company’s name, some junk postings remain, but more important pages, including a link to the Better Business Bureau’s website — http://www.trustlink.org/Reviews/Planet-Antares-Inc-205711200 — rank much higher.
When I called Planet Antares to ask officials about this, some of its various phone numbers were disconnected. One kept me on hold, but no one came to the phone.
In court papers filed in a California lawsuit, owner Dana Bashor stated in December that the company is “remaining open in order to service its clients until other arrangements can be made.”
Tony Wright, former president of the Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association and owner of reputation-management company WrightIMC.com, analyzed Planet Antares’ Google results for me. He said that someone had created a number of websites built around the phrase “Planet Antares scam.” Until the recent changes, anyone who searched for those words would have quickly found postings in the company’s favor, he says.
Headlines included: “Planet Antares Tips for Avoiding Vending Machine Scams” and “Planet Antares Awareness Program on Vending Scams.”
Those stories have now dropped in the rankings. “I do believe the Google algorithm change probably affected Planet Antares’ listing,” Wright says.
Watchdog lesson here: When researching a product, service, individual or company (a requirement for all citizens of my Watchdog Nation), you must go past early results and drill much deeper.
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One of the many sites used by Planet Antares has apparently been hijacked by its previous webmaster. The writer, listed as Chris, lays out how his view about how the company managed its Internet reputation on this page:
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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is available in hardcover, as a CD audio book, ebook and hey, what else do you need. Visit our store. Now revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber
AVAILABLE IN HARDCOVER, ON ITUNES (AUDIO), KINDLE AND IPAD
Listen to this fun interview!
Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation is shared with thousands of listeners across America on Robin Young’s popular radio show, Here & Now. The show is heard on more than 160 public radio stations across America.
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Dave Lieber
Robin Young
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More Watchdog Nation News:
Watchdog Nation Partners with Mike Holmes
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Watchdog Nation Debuts New e-Book and Multi-CD Audio Book
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A producer at a national talk radio show recently got bit by a common scam. She signed up for a low-priced teeth whitening product on the Internet and then got hit with excessive charges on her credit card. She tried for weeks to cancel.
Producer Karen Pelland decided to turn her bad fortune into good journalism. She produced a segment on the scam for her show, Here & Now. The show is created at WBUR-FM in Boston and heard on more than 160 public radio stations across the nation.
She searched the Internet and found these two Dave Lieber Watchdog Nation reports on teeth whitening:
Trial offers are trouble: Watch out for teeth whiteners sold on the Internet
Dentists angry about non-dental teeth whitening clinics
Dave Lieber was invited on the show. When Dave talked to host Robin Young on air, they explored the producer’s smart handling of her scam. (She got her money back!) Robin and Dave also talked about many other scams popular in America and how to beat them. Do you know that the garage door repair business is beset with overcharging repairmen? That companies advertising free credit scores usually charge? That these days even middle school students are getting scammed?
Do you know why most scammers get away with it? Do you know how to prevent getting scammed? Or if you do get scammed, do you know how to get relief?
Listen to the fun radio interview here.
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Robin Young web links:
Here’s Robin Young’s Here & Now show.
Here’s the Public Radio International story about this Dave Lieber interview.
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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new revised and expanded edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is available in hardcover, an e-Book and a multi-set CD.
Save time, money and aggravation. This book changes lives. That’s why it won two national book awards in 2009 for social change.
Shop at three exclusive locations for the new revised edition: Amazon.com, Dave Lieber’s Yankee Cowboy Store and, of course, world headquarters at WatchdogNation.com.
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Watchdog Nation is changing the way people protect themselves.
Watchdog Nation sets you up for the rest of your life. With simple steps that take only a second and are free, you can know that you are making the right decisions.
Terry Martin of Euless, Texas writes to Watchdog Nation founder Dave Lieber:
“I know you must get dozens of letters each day in regards to the big corporate companies and their incompetence. I have read your book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation. And the one thing that struck a nerve with me is: never give up. The stories in your book had so much common sense, and I admired the way you helped the victims find a fair and ethical way or relief from all of their problems.
“Dave, your book inspired me to fight AT&T. I never gave up. It was a long and tedious fight, but I feel I won the battle. Thank you again for all the help and inspiration you gave me. Sincerely, A Huge Fan, Terry Martin.”
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More Watchdog Nation News:
Watchdog Nation Partners with Mike Holmes
America meets Watchdog Nation/Listen to Fun Radio Interview
Watchdog Nation Debuts New e-Book and Multi-CD Audio Book
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Tim Durkin writes to Watchdog Nation:
“I just finished listening to your multi-CD audio book of Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation, just in time to learn how to handle an emergency where I live, thank goodness.
“My next door neighbor rang my bell at midnight. She told me the glass on her front door was shattered and the wood was splintered. She worried that someone had broken into her house. We called the police.
“The robbers had torn off her electric meter to disable any alarm, and then kicked in her door and helped themselves to everything they wanted. They did this in broad daylight.
“Because I had finished the Watchdog Nation audio book and was enjoying my new honorary citizenship, I knew what to do. I immediately began an Internet search to find the strongest deadbolts and locksets. I kept reading until I found a video for Strikemaster Pro II which affords steel protection to any door frame, which is the weakest part of a door. I was amazed when I placed and order and the owner of the company called.
“Ed Anderson is passionate about trying to keep the bad guys out of your house. Anyone who has been robbed will tell you that losing their possessions is one thing but losing their piece of mind is really the bigger thing.
“I installed my Strikemaster in about 10 minutes. And when I told Ed about my neighbor and how she lost her family photos in the burglary, he asked if it would be OK if he sent my neighbor a free Strikemaster.
“My point is that your Watchdog Nation inspired me to quickly search for the best and most inexpensive solution to solve my problem and my neighbor’s. I buy into it. It works. I can’t wait until the next problem. OK, not really. Best wishes, Tim Durkin.”
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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new revised and expanded edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is available in hardcover, an e-Book and a multi-set CD.
Save time, money and aggravation. This book changes lives. That’s why it won two national book awards in 2009 for social change.
Shop at three exclusive locations for the new revised edition: Amazon.com, Dave Lieber’s Yankee Cowboy Store and, of course, world headquarters at WatchdogNation.com.
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Visit Watchdog Nation Headquarters
Like Watchdog Nation on Facebook
Her father is 91 and still sharp, she says. He didn’t retire until a year ago. Then Nannette Samuelson and her brothers and sisters took control of his and their mother’s finances.
They didn’t like what they found.
An alarm salesman had pressured their dad, who lives in Fort Worth, Tx., into signing a contract he didn’t want. Hucksters seeking investors pursued him like prey. And then there was the credit card bill with 200 percent interest and an identity theft service he didn’t know he had bought.
Samuelson contacted me about the interest. She had recently studied interest rates in school and the 200 percent surprised her. After raising her children, she is earning a Master of Business Administration.
As more Americans take control of elderly parents’ finances, they are often surprised to learn how many face a barrage of unsavory financial opportunities and come-ons.
The alarm salesman showed up at her father’s door around dinnertime. He wouldn’t leave until the older man had signed a contract. As soon as he had, a team waiting outside installed the system.
The couple’s children later called the company to complain. It backed off and removed the alarm. “We got the money back, and now we have holes in the wall,” she says.
The ones who seek money for investments “call him up and hound him,” the daughter says. “And then a FedEx truck arrives at his house with forms. ‘Sign here and give us a check for this amount,’ and the FedEx guy takes it back.”
The couple’s children have tried to get some of the investments refunded. They hired a lawyer to write demand letters. Usually, there’s no response.
The daughter, embarrassed to reveal the actual amount, says more than $10,000 has been lost.
I was curious about the 200 percent interest rate on the year-old Shell gas credit card bill. The card is issued by Citi Cards, and a spokeswoman told me what happened. The bill had two monthly charges of $6.95 for the ID protection. Add to that a $2 monthly minimum finance charge. So the charge and the regular interest rate combined for 200 percent, the spokeswoman said.
As of July, credit card rules approved by the Federal Reserve require that bills show only the regular annual percentage rate, without added fees or charges. The bill must show additional fees in a separate box. Previously, the annual percentage rate included any additional fees.
The Federal Reserve made the change after asking consumers how to make credit card statements easier to understand. By separating fees from the listed interest rate — instead of combining them — Fed leaders hoped that the change would help.
But Samuelson says: “The change went the opposite way of being transparent. They’re not really charging you 15 percent interest if they charge you $2 on $13.90.”
She made sure her father’s monthly ID protection package was removed. She’s now on the lookout for the next trouble spot.
“In my MBA classes, they talk about ethical behavior and how to bring value to your customer,” she says, laughing. “And I come home and see these companies that prey on elderly people. It’s kind of the opposite of what I’m learning in the classes I’m taking.”
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Read previous Watchdog Nation reports on senior scams:
Fighting financial exploitation of the elderly
Company that preyed on senior citizens forced to make restitution
An indictment for him, and a turning point for me
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Dave Lieber, The Watchdog columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is the founder of Watchdog Nation. The new 2010 edition of his book, Dave Lieber’s Watchdog Nation: Bite Back When Businesses and Scammers Do You Wrong, is out. Revised and expanded, the book won two national book awards in 2009 for social change. Twitter @DaveLieber
