My Answer to Kirsten Yeajer's Bad Review on Yelp's Extortion Site

Yelp has been accused of Extortion of their users.  Read more about Yelp's Extortion accusation. All the positive reviews I've managed to receive on Yelp have been removed for one "reason" or another. There are two review on Yelp not displayed under "2 reviews for Doral Chamber of Commerce, Inc. that are not currently recommended" and "6 Reviews Removed for Violating our Content Guidelines or Terms of Service" all displaying 5 Stars.

So along comes Kirsten Yeajer, a Groupon voucher purchaser who attended my SEO class and posts this negative review:

"I took the Social Media Marketing class. It was nothing but a sales pitch for their $2000 course. This was a waste of my $19 and more importantly my 4 hours!

Manny just repeated himself over and over, stating the same basic information about FB, Twitter, YouTube and the like.

When one of the students would ask him a question, he would say, "That's in another course." etc...

Unfortunately Yelp does not give you an opportunity or place to answer their reviews. So I wrote the following email to Kirsten:  What would you have done? Comments below please! 

Dear Kirsten: 

 

I have read your Yelp review and I am very surprised!  I’m sorry you didn’t feel it was worth your while. However, I’ve received many positive comments about this course and others like it. I have to disagree with you in saying that we did not provide content and that the whole class was a sales pitch. The course offered 3 ½ hours of very practical content for only $19.00.  The course is normally between $47 to $97 and we offered the special Groupon deal for just $19, and most have told me it’s a great value even at $97!  

 

Remember, after we pay the Groupon fees we really get a minimal amount for each person, so I use this as an opportunity to promote our other classes, which are our livelihood. This is a common practice in our industry.

 

The other courses I was offering are ones that have been very beneficial to small business owners and employees in the area, including Certification courses they may need to maintain their licenses.

 

Again, I’m sorry you did not enjoy the class, however I can assure you there were many others who appreciated what we taught. Perhaps this particular class was too basic for you and you needed a higher level course. I would welcome you to come to one of our other business classes or courses, in which case I’ll provide you with credit for the $19 plus I’ll offer you a special discount.

 

Thanks for your feedback and I hope you’ll take us up on our offer.

 

Best Regards,   Manny-

http://www.newmedianewmarketing.com  

Getty Images Makes Mom of 3 Kids Pay for Unlicensed Use of an Image!

   A lesson from my courses in Social Media Mastery, WordPress Web Design and Search Engine Optimization: Don't use images from Google.com. Most images that appear on Google Images and other websites are copyrighted. Which means that, as tempting as it seems, you are not allowed to these images without permission or licensing them.

The Big, Mean, Money-hungry, Power-Hungry guys like Getty Images protect their images and don't really care about the circumstances! 

If you use a Getty Images or any other image or photo licensing broker's images, videos, fonts or other media without paying for them or acquiring permission, the Big, Bad, Wolfs, like Getty will come after you and they will demand compensation.

Here's to You Getty!

   This is the case with one of my colleagues. She works from home. Has a husband that is disabled and three hungry mouths to feed and clothe.  Well, inadvertently she used and image from the web as a temporary place holder while she found an image to purchase. She forgot all about the image..  Who can blame her when she has three kids to get ready for school and daycare, a husband who is disabled and a house to maintain.  Well, Getty Images sure didn't care!

   The image she used was for one of her clients.  It was a Getty Images image. Getty sent her client a $380 bill for "Unauthorized Use".  Her client is asking her to pay the Demand from Getty, which I understand.

She called Getty Images to ask for assistance from them... She got a big, fat NO!  

Now, I can understand Getty's position in all this... but come on!  Is Getty Images in such dyer financial position that they couldn't help this mother of three young children!  That borders on corporate ignorance, in my opinion!  When BIG business is so hard up for cash that they "just can't make an exception, I cringe at where the future of business is going!  

We know that Getty Images is a major player in Image brokering, which makes it all the worst!  It bothers me to see this ABUSE and CORPORATE GREED! 

Shame on You, Getty Images and Your Corporate Insensitivity and Greed!