caretaker.org Caretaker Gazette SPAM Bogus Solicitations & Endorsements Internet

I have used The Caretaker Gazette successfully for about 6 years and have taken three different rent free living assignments from The Caretaker Gazettes website over the years. I have dealt with the organization several times and have found that Gary Dunn and The Caretaker Gazette provide excellent customer service and were very helpful each time I called them. They wouldn't have been    around for decades if they weren't a great company. Just wanted to give another viewpoint here. Thanks, Karen

I am thinking once again of becoming a caretaker, and I was searching for reviews on the Caretaker Gazette this evening, to help me decide whether to pay for a subscription and post an ad in that publication.  That's how I cam across this complaint about Caretaker.org.  I felt I must respond because of my own past experience with the Caretaker gazette.

Around 2005-2007 I used to post ads in Craigslist seeking a Caretaking position.  The only response I would get to these ads was from different people saying the exact same thing.  It was something like, "Hey, I had great luck finding an awesome caretaking position at the Caretaker's Gazette.  They can help you find a great position. Good luck."  I think they provided the link to the Caretaker's Gazette website too.

These emails were obviously coming from the Caretaker Gazette, because they would have different names, but would always say the exact same thing.  They used to annoy me because I would get my hopes up that someone was responding to my ad, but it would turn out to be spam from the Caretaker's Gazette.

I posted an ad in Craigslist last year [2011] and I don't remember getting any of those spams, so maybe they have stopped doing it, or maybe it's because I am now in a more rural location and their spammers aren't checking the Craigslist postings here.

One thing is very clear from Raquel B.'s report, and the owner's rebuttal:  the owner is lying.  They did spam my craigslist ads, and I believe Raquel B. when she says they spammed hers too.

So anyone reading this and thinking of giving money to the Caretaker Gazette should consider whether they want to give money to an organization where the owner is a liar and a spammer.  I for one have decided not to do business with them.  

I also want to thank Raquel B. for taking the time to write a report.  You have helped me save money this evening.  I appreciate it.

Lastly I will say that I am not going to respond to any response the owner writes to my comments here. Okay, that's not true.  If he admits the truth, I will respond.  If he continues his tirade of lying rebuttals, I will ignore that.  I've got much better things to do with my time than to bicker with someone like that.

Great good luck to all of you!

I am thinking once again of becoming a caretaker, and I was searching for reviews on the Caretaker Gazette this evening, to help me decide whether to pay for a subscription and post an ad in that publication.  That's how I cam across this complaint about Caretaker.org.  I felt I must respond because of my own past experience with the Caretaker gazette.

Around 2005-2007 I used to post ads in Craigslist seeking a Caretaking position.  The only response I would get to these ads was from different people saying the exact same thing.  It was something like, "Hey, I had great luck finding an awesome caretaking position at the Caretaker's Gazette.  They can help you find a great position. Good luck."  I think they provided the link to the Caretaker's Gazette website too.

These emails were obviously coming from the Caretaker Gazette, because they would have different names, but would always say the exact same thing.  They used to annoy me because I would get my hopes up that someone was responding to my ad, but it would turn out to be spam from the Caretaker's Gazette.

I posted an ad in Craigslist last year [2011] and I don't remember getting any of those spams, so maybe they have stopped doing it, or maybe it's because I am now in a more rural location and their spammers aren't checking the Craigslist postings here.

One thing is very clear from Raquel B.'s report, and the owner's rebuttal:  the owner is lying.  They did spam my craigslist ads, and I believe Raquel B. when she says they spammed hers too.

So anyone reading this and thinking of giving money to the Caretaker Gazette should consider whether they want to give money to an organization where the owner is a liar and a spammer.  I for one have decided not to do business with them.  

I also want to thank Raquel B. for taking the time to write a report.  You have helped me save money this evening.  I appreciate it.

Lastly I will say that I am not going to respond to any response the owner writes to my comments here. Okay, that's not true.  If he admits the truth, I will respond.  If he continues his tirade of lying rebuttals, I will ignore that.  I've got much better things to do with my time than to bicker with someone like that.

Great good luck to all of you!

Raquel B. from Big Sur, California once again demonstrates that she is ignorant about our organization.

Raquel B. from Big Sur, California once again demonstrates that she is ignorant about our organization.

The tactics of the owner of caretaker.org are downright disgusting. I believe that the readers of ripoffreport.com have common sense and know when the are being bamboozled. I simply wanted to be able to advertise my services as a caretaker on Craigslist without having my INBOX bombarded with SPAM.

As this website owner has demonstrated, he will stop at nothing to promote himself and his business without regard to who he hurts or inconveniences. Please look at all his rebuttals. They are nothing more than the same repetitious, self-promoting crap.

I am thankful that websites such as ripoffreport.com exist so that people who cannot afford to take legal action can let the public at-large know of their experiences with disreputable businesses and business owners.

"A word to the wise is enough." -- Plautus

The tactics of the owner of caretaker.org are downright disgusting. I believe that the readers of ripoffreport.com have common sense and know when the are being bamboozled. I simply wanted to be able to advertise my services as a caretaker on Craigslist without having my INBOX bombarded with SPAM.

As this website owner has demonstrated, he will stop at nothing to promote himself and his business without regard to who he hurts or inconveniences. Please look at all his rebuttals. They are nothing more than the same repetitious, self-promoting crap.

I am thankful that websites such as ripoffreport.com exist so that people who cannot afford to take legal action can let the public at-large know of their experiences with disreputable businesses and business owners.

"A word to the wise is enough." -- Plautus

Raquel B. from Big Sur, California once again demonstrates that she is ignorant about our organization.

This owner of caretaker.org is nothing but a shameless self-promoter who will use any device and any methodology to advertise his website.

The reason people use Craigslist is because it has an audience of tens of millions of people and is for most purposes free of charge.  The reason very few people use caretaker.org is because it costs money and has an extremely limited audience.  The reason caretaker.org SPAMS advertisers on Craigslist is because the owner will do anything to try to obtain more business and d**n the ethics.

Raquel B. from Big Sur,
California is once again defaming and making libelous statements about our
organization. She accuses us of spamming Craigslist. Why won't she answer this:

who would want to use Craigslist anyway, since the Craigslist murders that were in the News last year

We never spam and dont ever
use Craigslist. We have no control over anyone
posting anything about our organization on Craigslist. There are thousands of
reviews, posts, and commentary all over the internet, including Craigslist,
about our business and website and we have no control over any of these. In our
27 years of publishing The Caretaker Gazette, we have never engaged in
deceptive or spam practices on Craigslist or anywhere else.

We have explained this
already to Raquel B. from Big Sur, California - but she either ignores this or
has some other problems - and once again we ask Raquel B. from Big Sur,
California to contact us directly regarding this. Take care,

Gary C. Dunn, Publisher

THE CARETAKER GAZETTE

3 Estancia Lane, Boerne, TX
78006 USA

Phone: (830) 755-2300

Email:
caretaker@caretaker.org

Blog:
http://caretakergazette.blogspot.com

Follow us on twitter:
http://twitter.com/housesitter

Website: www.caretaker.org

Celebrating The Gazette's
28th Year of Publication!

NBC TODAY Show TV segment on
THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:

http://www.caretaker.org/main.php

THE NEW YORK TIMES reviews of
THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:

http://tinyurl.com/CaretakersGoProfessional
http://tinyurl.com/NYTCaretakerGazette

TIME MAGAZINE review of THE
CARETAKER GAZETTE: http://tinyurl.com/TimeMagazineCaretakerGazette

NPR News about THE CARETAKER
GAZETTE:    
http://tinyurl.com/NPRCaretakerGazette

FORBES MAGAZINE review of THE
CARETAKER GAZETTE:http://tinyurl.com/ForbesCaretakerGazette

A shady self-promoter can easily manufacture testimonials just like the SPAM that touts caretaker.org.

I have no doubt that a few people have obtained caretaking positions through caretaker.org but the vast majority of those people who have visited the website or subscribed to their publication have not.  There are literally thousands of people who have been looking for caretaking positions and a mere handful who have obtained a position through caretaker.org.

Any objective sampling of the subscribers to their publication over the last five years would verify this assertion.  What percentage of first time subscribers never renew or outright cancel?  My guess is the percentage is extremely high because there are so few positions and many people who are interested.

Most people realize that paying good money to a publication that has so few listings in areas that people are interested in is not a good investment.  It is easier and without cost to simply visit Craigslist and find what opportunities exist in the desired geographic area.

Why pay this shady self-promoter who stoops to SPAMMING people who are advertising their services for caretaking or housesitting on Craigslist with the purpose of trying to get them to use his website and his publication?

BEWARE - Raquel B. from Big Sur, California keeps posting here without knowing what she is talking about. Raquel B. from Big Sur, California - please explain how we received these email messages just this week:

Notice once again how the owner of caretaker.org responds to my reports.  He uses extremely large type, multiple-spaces and many pages.  He duplicates the last two of his posts so that now we have to sift through four replies of which two are identical.  This is a window into his mind.  He is a self-promoter who believes in bombarding people with much crap.  None of the media coverage and endorsements which he solicited were researched and certainly no one gave any scrutiny to his shady business practices.  This coverage that he has obtained for his website is not much more objective or discerning that a press release from caretaker.org.

BEWARE!

Raquel B. from Big Sur, California is once again defaming and making libelous statements about our organization. She accuses us of spamming Craigslist. Why won't she answer this:

who would want to use Craigslist anyway, since the Craigslist murders that were in the News last year

We never spam and dont ever use Craigslist. We have no control over anyone posting anything about our organization on Craigslist. There are thousands of reviews, posts, and commentary all over the internet, including Craigslist, about our business and website and we have no control over any of these. In our 27 years of publishing The Caretaker Gazette, we have never engaged in deceptive or spam practices on Craigslist or anywhere else.

We have explained this already to Raquel B. from Big Sur, California - but she either ignores this or has some other problems - and once again we ask Raquel B. from Big Sur, California to contact us directly regarding this. Take care,

Gary C. Dunn, Publisher

THE CARETAKER GAZETTE

3 Estancia Lane, Boerne, TX 78006 USA

Phone: (830) 755-2300

Email: caretaker@caretaker.org

Blog: http://caretakergazette.blogspot.com

Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/housesitter

Website: www.caretaker.org

Celebrating The Gazette's 28th Year of Publication!

NBC TODAY Show TV segment on THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:

http://www.caretaker.org/main.php

THE NEW YORK TIMES reviews of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:

http://tinyurl.com/CaretakersGoProfessional http://tinyurl.com/NYTCaretakerGazette

TIME MAGAZINE review of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE: http://tinyurl.com/TimeMagazineCaretakerGazette

NPR News about THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:     http://tinyurl.com/NPRCaretakerGazette

FORBES MAGAZINE review of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE: http://tinyurl.com/ForbesCaretakerGazette

Raquel B. from Big Sur, California is once again defaming and making libelous statements about our organization. She accuses us of spamming Craigslist. We never spam and dont ever use Craigslist (who would want to use Craigslist anyway, since the Craigslist murders that were in the News last year). We have no control over anyone posting anything about our organization on Craigslist. There are thousands of reviews, posts, and commentary all over the internet, including Craigslist, about our business and website and we have no control over any of these. In our 27 years of publishing The Caretaker Gazette, we have never engaged in deceptive or spam practices on Craigslist or anywhere else.

We have explained this already to Raquel B. from Big Sur, California - but she either ignores this or has some other problems - and once again we ask Raquel B. from Big Sur, California to contact us directly regarding this. Take care,

Gary C. Dunn, Publisher

THE CARETAKER GAZETTE

3 Estancia Lane, Boerne, TX 78006 USA

Phone: (830) 755-2300

Email: caretaker@caretaker.org

Blog: http://caretakergazette.blogspot.com

Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/housesitter

Website: www.caretaker.org

Celebrating The Gazette's 28th Year of Publication!

NBC TODAY Show TV segment on THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:

http://www.caretaker.org/main.php

THE NEW YORK TIMES reviews of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:

http://tinyurl.com/CaretakersGoProfessional http://tinyurl.com/NYTCaretakerGazette

TIME MAGAZINE review of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE: http://tinyurl.com/TimeMagazineCaretakerGazette

NPR News about THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:     http://tinyurl.com/NPRCaretakerGazette

FORBES MAGAZINE review of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE: http://tinyurl.com/ForbesCaretakerGazette

I only ask that readers of ripoffreport.com use their common sense.  Why would anyone without an economic incentive repeatedly SPAM Craigslist postings for caretaking and housesitting services when the only purpose of the SPAM is to tout caretaker.org?  This SPAMMING consists of dozens and dozens of emails using fictitious names and a link to caretaker.org.  It seems clear that this is the classic affiliate marketing scheme where the SPAMMER is rewarded by the owner of the linked website for each click or hit.  This is unethical and a tremendous waste of our time.

The owner of caretaker.org repeats his claim that he never uses Craigslist.  Yet he is rewarded every time his website is visited by this unethical practice and the logical conclusion is that the SPAMMER or SPAMMERs are getting compensated directly or indirectly by the owner of the website.

To get an insight into the kind of person that the owner of caretaker.org is, please notice how the his responses to my reports are used to advertise his business with repetitious, multi-spaced assertions which are designed to draw attention to his business in every way possible.  He trumps out all the advertising gimmicks of uncritical, unresearched media coverage and endorsements to try to convince readers that his business is upstanding.  I believe we have been bamboozled too often and recognize that deceptive business practices have cost us dearly as individuals and as a society.

If you plan to do business with caretaker.org, please exercise caution and beware. 

Raquel B. from Big Sur, California is once again defaming and making libelous statements about our organization. She accuses us of spamming Craigslist. We never spam and dont ever use Craigslist (who would want to use Craigslist anyway, since the Craigslist murders that were in the News last year). We have no control over anyone posting anything about our organization on Craigslist. There are thousands of reviews, posts, and commentary all over the internet, including Craigslist, about our business and website and we have no control over any of these. In our 27 years of publishing The Caretaker Gazette, we have never engaged in deceptive or spam practices on Craigslist or anywhere else.

We have explained this already to Raquel B. from Big Sur, California - but she either ignores this or has some other problems - and once again we ask Raquel B. from Big Sur, California to contact us directly regarding this. Take care,

Gary C. Dunn, Publisher

THE CARETAKER GAZETTE

3 Estancia Lane, Boerne, TX 78006 USA

Phone: (830) 755-2300

Email: caretaker@caretaker.org

Blog: http://caretakergazette.blogspot.com

Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/housesitter

Website: www.caretaker.org

Celebrating The Gazette's 28th Year of Publication!

NBC TODAY Show TV segment on THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:

http://www.caretaker.org/main.php

THE NEW YORK TIMES reviews of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:

http://tinyurl.com/CaretakersGoProfessional http://tinyurl.com/NYTCaretakerGazette

TIME MAGAZINE review of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE: http://tinyurl.com/TimeMagazineCaretakerGazette

NPR News about THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:     http://tinyurl.com/NPRCaretakerGazette

FORBES MAGAZINE review of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE: http://tinyurl.com/ForbesCaretakerGazette

Raquel B. from Big Sur, California is once again defaming and making libelous statements about our organization. She accuses us of spamming Craigslist. We never spam and dont ever use Craigslist (who would want to use Craigslist anyway, since the Craigslist murders that were in the News last year). We have no control over anyone posting anything about our organization on Craigslist. There are thousands of reviews, posts, and commentary all over the internet, including Craigslist, about our business and website and we have no control over any of these. In our 27 years of publishing The Caretaker Gazette, we have never engaged in deceptive or spam practices on Craigslist or anywhere else.

Once again this organization tries to use its uncritical, poorly researched media coverage to make consumers believe that it is an ethical business. Fortunately, most people have enough common sense to know that just because NBC "airs" a story on a business that this does not mean that the business does not engage in shady practices. NBC "airs" cute and interesting puff pieces all the time without doing any due diligence. This is why ripoffreport.com is so valuable -- it gives ordinary consumers a voice and a venue to shed light on the shady underbelly of what often often appears to be reputable businesses.

I have received this email response to my service posting on Craigslist dozens of times:

"Hi, I see that you have an interest in caretaking in the Monterey area. You might try www.caretaker.org for caretaking assignments, as I have found some there myself over the years. Jane"

The wording is always identical. The sender is usually identified as "Jane Smith" sometimes as "Jane Kovarth" or "Sue Arlington" and the sender's address is usually housesitter2007@yahoo.com.

This SPAM email technique is typical of affiliate marketing where the sender of the email gets a commission for each time the embedded link in their SPAM email is clicked. The only organization that has something to be gained by this unsolicited SPAM is caretaker.org!

N.B. Everyone of my postings on Craigslist includes the following: " "it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests".

Let the readers be the judge.

First, Raquel B. is once again defaming and making libelous statements about our organization. She accuses us of spamming Craigslist. We never spam and dont ever use Craigslist (who would want to use Craigslist anyway, since the Craigslist murders that were in the News last year). We have no control over anyone posting anything about our organization on Craigslist. There are thousands of reviews, posts, and commentary all over the internet, including Craigslist, about our business and website and we have no control over any of these. In our 27 years of publishing The Caretaker Gazette, we have never engaged in deceptive or spam practices on Craigslist or anywhere else.

Second, this is inaccurate and defamatory statement from Raquel B.: The endorsements that caretaker.org claims from Consumers Report is absolutely BOGUS. Anyone can visit our website at http://www.caretaker.org/ and click on the link we have there for the Consumer Reports WebWatch and go directly to their WebWatch site.

Third, Raquel B. continues to lie with The media exposure that this organization claims does in no way legitimize its shady practices since we do not have any shady practices at The Caretaker Gazette, and why we are now in our 28th year of business. As you can see from our rebuttals we are upfront about how we conduct business as opposed to Raquel B. who offers nothing but lies and has never bothered to contact us so we can explain how wrong she is.

Fourth, she has no idea what she is writing in There are actually not a large amount of bona fide opportunities for people interested in caretaking and nowhere near enough to satisfy the demand of potential caretakers.  No doubt a few have obtained positions as caretakers through caretaker.org but the VAST majority of people seeking caretaker positions have not. - since we hear from subscribers every day who had accepted positions from The Caretaker Gazette.

Finally, in the case of independent media organizations who have written about The Caretaker Gazette, all of them have independently contacted our subscribers and interviewed them about their experiences with The Caretaker Gazette. These publications would not have written about the Gazette in a favorable manner if their interviews with our subscribers revealed any unsavory business practices. Does Raquel B. really believe that NBCs TODAY Show came to our Texas office to film and interview us for their 9/3/09 segment about The Caretaker Gazette for NBCs TODAY Show (anyone can watch NBCs TODAY Show segment on our business on our website at http://www.caretaker.org/ ) if we were not conducting fair and ethical business practices here?

This organization cannot disassociate itself from the spamming of caretaking and housesitting service postings on Craigslist.  The spam is frequent and repeated by people with bogus names, e.g., Jane Smith with the SOLE purpose of promoting caretaker.org.

The endorsements that caretaker.org claims from Consumers Report is absolutely BOGUS and unwarranted and the webwatch website is no longer active due to budget cuts.

The media exposure that this organization claims does in no way legitimize its shady practices.  The media coverage was self-serving and not based on investigative journalism which would clearly expose this organization as promising alot and delivering very little.  There are actually not a large amount of bona fide opportunities for people interested in caretaking and nowhere near enough to satisfy the demand of potential caretakers.  No doubt a few have obtained positions as caretakers through caretaker.org but the VAST majority of people seeking caretaker positions have not.

Raquel B. from Big Sur, California has made numerous false accusations against our family, business, and website on 2/4/10 on www.ripoffreport.com.

First, Raquel B. accuses us of spamming Craigslist. We never spam and dont ever use Craigslist (who would want to use Craigslist anyway, since the Craigslist murders that were in the News last year). We have no control over anyone posting anything about our organization on Craigslist. There are thousands of reviews, posts, and commentary all over the internet, including Craigslist, about our business and website and we have no control over any of these. In our 27 years of publishing The Caretaker Gazette, we have never engaged in deceptive or spam practices on Craigslist or anywhere else.

Second, we are indeed a family-owned and operated business and have been since 1983. Over the years, all three of our children have worked with us in our business. Everyone who knows us and knows about The Caretaker Gazette, including journalists who have written about us, knows that The Caretaker Gazette is a family business.

Third, Consumer Reports did a detailed investigation of The Caretaker Gazette and our business practices prior to approving us and placing The Caretaker Gazettes website www.caretaker.org on its Consumer Reports WebWatch. We have followed the Consumer Reports WebWatch guidelines since 2003 when they first approved us.

We believe the report from Raquel B. from Big Sur is a hoax. Do you really think that the media would be writing about our business and filming us if Raquel B. was believable? Here are just a few of media reviews we have received:

NBC TODAY Show TV segment on THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:

http://www.caretaker.org/main.php

THE NEW YORK TIMES reviews of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:

http://tinyurl.com/CaretakersGoProfessional http://tinyurl.com/NYTCaretakerGazette

TIME MAGAZINE review of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE: http://tinyurl.com/TimeMagazineCaretakerGazette

NPR News about THE CARETAKER GAZETTE:     http://tinyurl.com/NPRCaretakerGazette

FORBES MAGAZINE review of THE CARETAKER GAZETTE: http://tinyurl.com/ForbesCaretakerGazette

In the future, please ask your readers to contact us directly through our website at http://www.caretaker.org/ if they have any questions about our business practices. Thank you, Gary C. Dunn