>>> The long anticipated icq chat log. Who is the jerk?
 

Clarification:
* I deleted the name of the company. Besides that - the chat log is untouched
* This has been 10 days ago more or less.
* needless to say I haven't heard from him since.
* This chat starts after several attempts to contact him over several days prior to this chat.

Tell me if its me (Pidgin) that is hyper-sensitive and in-fact thats a descent customer rep by your standard?
Your comments are welcome and appriciated

So- what do you say people?

Something "dirty" about that :D

It seems to me that you made it very clear that you wanted to to some kind of trial run before sending major traffic. After that we get ...
This is the customer service guy you are talking to, right? I'd have terminated the conversation at this point. On a particularly good day, I would have made it past there but definitely would have quit at
The appropriate response (IMHO) from the guy would have been, "Well, how long to do want to run the test? What kind of help from us would you like during the test?"

doesn't somone who can only get 2 signups a day need more help than someone getting 25?

MUHAHA
Exactly.
And pornodoggy - As you sugested - It was a very good day for me - atleast untill this conversation ::-|

I know of a couple of sponsors out there that don't want to mess with small operaters, and since it is their business, they certainly have the right to do it. I can even understand why. There are any number of non-adult/non-net businesses where minimums are imposed on affiliates.

My concern with this particular chat log is the guy seems to have a "fuck you - take my word for it. there's no need for a test and if you want to run one we won't support you." Like I said, I would have terminated the conversation at that point and went on about my bidnez. I would have been annoyed, for sure - but probably not ten days later, and certainly not enough to post the chat log. I'd just have put them on the "Do Business With Just After Hell Freezes Over" list.

A couple of months back a friend suggested that I contact someone regarding my participation in a program with minimums. I ICQ'd the guy, explained that I didn't think I could make the minimums but that I would give it my best shot. I didn't hear a thing back from him.

Now, the person may have never gotten my ICQ, or, since I wasn't in his contact list, may have just deleted it without reading it. If that happened, no big deal. If I were on the other end of the situation, I personally would have responded somehow, even if it was just a polite "sorry, no". That's what business people do (because the little guy who can't meet your minimums today may not always be a little guy), IMHO. Not everybody does business that way - for all I know, that may be considered "Old School" by some folks. I didn't get pissed, I didn't rant, I just moved on to the next possibility.

Tell us who it is, so we don't do business with this dork.

.. WHAT A DICK!!

yeah that company is a joke and so is that dude. i wouldnt send him 1 signup a year with an attitude like that, i dont care if he converted 1:2


(ok, well 1:2 might be stretchin it,) :p

Actually any company has every right to initiate any type of support model and/or whatever degree of support levels to traffic producing Webmasters they choose.

Though I may not agree nor support this type of business and support model it is, in fact, the one that Arnaud apparently made clear is company policy. So is he wrong? Not entirely, if what he said is in fact the company's policy. Yet he sure could have been a bit more sensitive and diplomatic in his responses and the way it was handled.


Be interesting what the company would have to say about all this.


Keep on Rockin'

Hehe. Me too. Very interested what they would say. But I guess thats why I am asking you people...
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Not about the guideline of large customers only - I have no problems with that. I am talking about the attitude!!!


Some quotes from what he said
and he finishes by saying

HOW PROFESSIONAL IS THAT?
His company will or atleast should say the same as all of you do. They may say they indeed require a minimum ammount of traffic or sales from affiliates - but saying "if you have less that ... you will not hear from us!" or "this is an opportunity for you, not for me" ????

Business aside - we are still humans!
GOD DAMN - Do you think its acceptable??

It's obvious, they don't know how much massive traffic you control on a daily basis.

Their loss!! Fuck'em! :D

It shouldn't even matter man.
I think a company rep should be NICE regardless of how "big" is the person he is dealing with. This is more a human thing than a business thing but its also a business thing.
People?
Were you ever treated in a "funny" way like this more or less, by someone from another company? What did you think then?

It is not what I consider to be professional conduct on their part, no, but I see more of it theses days than I used to, and see a lot of it on the net than in the real world.

IMHO, they are a company that cannot take a joke ... and we all know what we should do with folks like that. :D

I'll take your business and you can talk to me all day ;)

ICQ 109972218
AOL IM MagicksAntics

:p

You're not gonna give us this attitude I hope :bonk:
Shit! I had enough punkass sales reps for a year :D

It seems like this guy had a pretty piss poor attitude from the start. when someone icqs me for the first time I don't say "Who are you?". I say "What can I do for you?". Their company policy is their company policy but it could certainly have been stated in a less confrontational manner. He never asked anything except for what kind of volume you'd be sending. Not what kind of operation you run or what kind of traffic, just how much. And as soon as you said that it wasn't going to be a huge volume he went out of his way to say that he wasn't going to help you with anything. And the very worst thing is that he never even once asked what kind of questions you might have and didn't really answer the questions that you did ask. A VERY bad example of how to handle affiliate relations.

As an example of how things SHOULD be done: The very first affiliate program I signed up with was Gamma. About 2 weeks after that I got an icq from a rep (I think it was Ozzy) telling me that I had f*ed up the links on the site so I wasn't getting my traffic counted. And at the time I think I was sending maybe 20 clicks a day and hadn't even got a signup yet.

Mister X
Totally agree with everything you said.
I do the same. "Who are you?" is a very bad start. But that was hardly the pinnacle of our conversation - you must admit :p
I think its funny we are surprised when people are nice :bonk:
Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? atleast thats what I think.

Hey Ron how goes it bro?

Dude, its amazing how UNprofessional this sales rep acted, from the beginning of the conversation untill his last sentence.

We certainly own part of our success here at Dickmans Design to our professional and friendly customer service. Our clients are our reason to live. They are our bosses. Everything we do is done to please them - This is the ONLY goal of a services provider like us. To Provide solutions to our clients, making their life easier! :)

I dont know what kind of drugs the guy was taking when he said "hey its a good opportunity for you, not for me" - he certainly never read a book about customer service. And I am sure he is not the owner of the company either - he is probably a very unhappy sales rep, trying to loose his job. :)

And please do the industry a favor, dont send a single hit to this company - they dont deserve to make money, unless they email you a very good excuse.


Take care ahi!

Bruno Dickman

Having been involved in the customer service aspect of business for more than a dozen years now, I can honestly tell you that this guy started the conversation with a chip on his shoulder. He's an elistest, him saying it's an opportunity for you and not for them. BULLSHIT, every bit of business, be it one signup a month to 50 signups a day is an opportunity for them to line their pockets. Each and EVERY customer is gold, even if they don't end up making you a penny.

People won't talk about companies that have good customer support for the most part, but what about companies with poor customer support? People are going to talk, just like we are here. Would you want your company being talked about in such a way? If you had revealed who the company is, I would definitly not deal with them in any form.

Do you think I should get someone from that company to this thread?
Do you think I should tell you which company is that?

I might refer someone higher than the dick to the thread to be fair to the company, and yes, I'd tell us who it was.

Hey XXXManager!

I think I know who you are talking about. I dont think he was trying to be snotty (altho it did sound that way) - I think its an honest matter of mis-communication. If I'm right about the person/company then I know he is not english and does not speak/write it all that well. That can be a big problem in this biz :)

Either way, use who you want to use.... and if you want to send your traffic somewhere, you can always send it to me hon :) You KNOW I wont treat ya bad :)

twinkley

wow...that must have been a stressful coversation...i think it reflects poorly on the rep. i am suprised that he is cutting 25 joins per day deals...obviously when dealing with anyone who is paid on comission or owns their own business they will like you better if you make them more money(not the best way to say that but oh well)...but i have become friends with people who have sent me zero traffic, as they were intelligent and good to speak to...now they are making more money...and i am making money with them.

i have also been tested by some people as well...asking me ridiculous questions, and saying odd things...which i struggled through and after awhile found out, it was just a test...and now i am making good money with them....so word to the wise...you never know who you have on your ICQ

Just to make it clear, because I heard a speculation about who it is
This is NOT DirtyDollars. I am sayying that becase the deleted company name was D___S and the name of the guy was Arnaud and I was told there is a guy named that way working there. So its NOT them.

Twinkley - Its not a matter of english. Saying "for less, you'll create the account and you'll do everything by yourself and you'll never hear about me" or "What we are offering with this system is unique and this is an opportunity for you, not for me" is NOT a question of language.
Twinkley, I know you won't treat me bad cause thats just you. Not a question of language.

And Phoenix and others - The deal with the 25 signups thing is especially funny because - afaik - this company is not big.

Think if I would tell my users - "for less than 1K/day you will not hear from me and will have to help yourself. If you grow to that than I will pay attention to you". How will that sound?

I wouldn't post the name of the company. There could be many reps from this company who do an excellent job. People who would've handled the situation more professionally and more than likely had a much more positive, productive conversation.

I don't necessarily agree with this particular reps approach. I would just go above him and complain. Just because this rep acted in the manner he did, doesn't necessarily mean the company itself is horrible.

Give someone else a chance from within the company to work with you. Depending on how the conversation goes, will depend on if you choose to conduct business with them. If they act the way this guy did, then posting their name and lettting everyone know how they handle clients or potential clients would be fair.

?



<img src="http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/r/biggrininvert.gif" width="15" height="15">

Panky
ICQ:51140074

Panky: I totally agree.
Actually I already decided not posting the company name some time ago. It wouldn't be fair for the company since the guy does not necessarily represent the company's attitude (atleast I hope he doesn't).

As to the issue of the 25 thing, its as I said their right to have policies like that though I dont see how someone can work by that rule :)
If lets say I some sponsor 100K hits and make 15 sales, is it my bad and I dont deserve help? or the sponsor? hehe. Maybe ESPECIALLY then I should need help from one of them? Don't you think?? (or maybe its the sponsor who needs help :D )

I do wonder if I should bother telling the company about it - or maybe its none of my business?
BUT I would tell you not to deal with this specific guy atleast BUT since you don't know which company this is how can you avoid him? Avoid ALL Arnuad? thats silly :bonk:

Yeah,

After re-reading the messages a couple of times, I guess you are right. Flatly saying if you cant do X amount of business for us, we dont want your business at all is pretty stupid. I mean, how many webmasters can really push that kind of traffic through many sponsors let alone 1.

*HUGS FOR XXXManager*

twinkley

Me? Have an attitude? hehehehehe

:D

Hehe.
News update :D
Just talked to the "president/owner" of the company.
Sent him the chatlog and he said he will talk to the guy which is apparently as the owner says the guy "doing the marketing, taking care of the traffic and stuff like that". ( I'd say he really takes care of that alright ;) )

Anyway - The bottom line is...
The company will remain anonymous as should be. The matter in resolved as far as I am concerned. My hopes and belief is its not the company's attitude.

(just beware of the "Arnaud" ;) )

I say you bitch slap him at the next conference :)

:D