Web Tools and Technology, LLC Site Search Architect, Their search engine optimization killed my business! Internet

I too was taken in by the big promises of Web Tools.  As a matter of fact I have saved email's from the sales person promising that I would be ranked 1st on Google organic and after that referred to the 90 day money back guarantee, implying that it was tied in to being ranked 1st.  When it was apparent that my rankings were going no where I asked for my money back because it was not on the 1st page.  That's when it all became clear that I had been "Hoodwinked".  So I promptly disputed the charge on my credit card giving the credit card company all of the documentation I received. 

Well after about 2 months I got my money back.  Only a month later Web Tools disputed our dispute and because some goofball at the credit card company didn't give a rip he gave them my money back.  Well I was furious but what could I do.  About a year and a half later I decided if they were going to have my money I might as well get something out of it.  So I called and explained the situation and they owed me a website "optimized". 

And you know what, they but the web site back up and you know what, it just sat there for months and didn't go anywhere.  No ranking increases, not one phone call.  Then they contacted me and said they needed to point my domain to another server.  I decided then that it wasn't worth pointing my domain name to a web site that wasn't being looked at by anybody plus the quality of the web site they made for me was so bad I would have been embarrassed if anybody did see it so I pointed my domain to a site I made myself.  I will be posting my own report with a lot more detail in the next few days.  Just wanted to put my 2 cents, no wait, $6000.00 in.

  When i was contacted by Web Tools, i was very interested. Because it is a lot of money, and florida is a little nicer in the winter than Oklahoma, i went to check them out before sending money. I was pleasantly suprised. Thier "job site" is top notch. It is certainly not a mom and pop operation. Although previous replies complain about the staff, my experience was much different.Don, my main contact, was very professional and just an all around good guy.Everyone (guessing about 50 people) was going 100 mph,and there was a sense of direction and purpose in each of them.I know next to nothing about the internet, but i left with a lot of confidence that i was on the right track. 

   Thats the upside. The downside is that I have now spent a lot of money on internet marketing, and gotten almost no ROI. The site that i had previous to Web Tools still consistantly out ranks the new one by a lot, with nothing being done to it.I have been a customer for over a year.These things take time, but i will not renew without a dramatic improvement.

This former employee is Larry Payne. He is currently listed as the owner of Monsterleads LLC.

During Mr. Paynes employment with us, he learned about how Search Engine Optimization works. More importantly, he became educated in the proprietary methods of SEO used by Web Tools and Technology. He was given this information on the basis of a written agreement to not disclose it.

He was entrusted to be in regular contact with our large client base a trust he violated by leaving our company and taking some of our clients with him. This again placed him in violation of the agreement he signed as a condition of employment.

After leaving his employment at Web Tools, Mr. Payne was able to persuade some people to hire him for the purpose of search engine optimization. Several of his customers were then-current clients of Web Tools. One of them, a roofing contractor in Ocala, Florida, unfortunately got taken by Mr. Payne for $29,000. He worked with Web Tools as we brought legal action against Mr. Payne.

By his actions, Mr. Payne violated his Web Tools employment agreement in multiple areas. When served with a lawsuit concerning these violations, he threatened us that he would make a derogatory post about our company on the Ripoff Report website if we did not drop our lawsuit against him. He also threatened to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

He did indeed file a complaint with the EEOC, and it was quickly dismissed by them as having no merit.

Mr. Payne also proceeded to post false and misleading information on the Ripoff Report site in an attempt to discredit our firm and scare people away from doing business with us. He also is attempting to secure business for himself in the posting. We assure you that his claims are false. He has posted a similar false statement about our former client (the roofing contractor mentioned above).

Truth and justice have prevailed as we now have a permanent injunction against Larry Payne and Monsterleads.  If you are considering doing business with Larry Payne, please consider the injunction and speak with several of his clients.

The injunction is available for download as a PDF file on our website located under "Testamonials" then "Ex Employee Tells All".

To all parties that have paid for SEO services from Dave Barry and Joe Webb the owners of Web Tools and Technology.

I wanted to bring some information out for the public to hear.

Web Tools and technology was opened to sell SEO service using a content management system built by MR. Dave Barry that is using asp.net and was a great system when it first was released because he was able to move the view state to the bottom of the code allowing the big G and other search engines to index his website easier. The view state has a lot of code in it and takes time for the search engines to index. With that being said the system is several years old and hasnt had the right attention to keep it up to standard with all search engines.

The company relies on this system to provide rankings on the major search engines for keywords and in the last 1 has had mixed results for their clients.

The company also requires log files or traffic reports to be provided when signing the contract with Web Tools and Technology but over 99 % of all clients never provide them at the point of sale and wouldnt know how to retrieve them from their host. When their clients question the fact that they are required to provide them and their warranty is voided the sales staff says that the tech department will help them secure the log files for the warranty which by the time they go into production the subject never arises again. If the log files are not received at the time of the contract the warranty in voided. The company warranty is based on a 200% increase in organic traffic from the search engines. Those clients desperate to grow their business and get more sales leads are duped into an agreement where the company says we will
increase your organic traffic by 200% are you get your money back in 90 days.  For most of their clients that didnt have organic traffic you know what 200% of no traffic is right?  

Also Dave Barry the professional SEO expert doesnt service these clients when sold, but only takes calls as needed to put out fires to prevent lawsuits by their customers . There just isnt enough of Dave to go around and he is in the office once a month for about an hour.

The fact is that since the product was launched there have been several requirement changes that have affected the results for most websites chasing organic rankings on the big G and other search engines.

Also the competition has drastically increased and some of the top websites found organically are doing other things to be found like:

Building a website using clean code, Using original high quality content with the right keyword density, Social Bookmarks, Blog Posting, Forum Posting, Directory submission to over 1000 high pr directories, Article Publishing with the right subject matter  and original content with back links to your website, Press Releases, Local Business Maps for business locations on all major search engines for all locations creating back links for the website,

Video Production on sites like Y-tube with back links back to your website are very important today, Writing original meta and title tags for each page Very Important.

There are a lot of clients that have had a lot of problems with their service that will never get their money back are settle for a refund. It states that if you want to sue them you will have to do it in Pinellas County Florida after losing 8-25k for their service. Who would have the money to travel to Largo Florida after losing possibly there company, home are even their
family after dealing with them.

The real problem is if you dont have the attention of the owner-programmer to make the changes to your websites after it was built using this content management system and he passes on this responsibility to a 8.00 a hour network administrator there will always be problems and people wanting their money back for a lack of results.

The best SEO in the world is a combination of all of the things mentioned above to keep a website current and it takes a lot of dedication to manage the rule requirements to be consistent for results. They are just behind on times and the SEO programmer is just not current with the latest and best SEO practices and because he is old school the young aggressive hard working SEOs that continue to follow the curve on the latest trends with regard to SEO will continue to beat team out for results.

Any questions please let me know: websiteseo2011@gmail.com

I wanted to address the concerns of the customer base using Web Tools and Technology and the results of there clients.

First Dave isn't programming for clients who are sold SEO services by the Sales department at Web Tools and Technology. He build a content management system about five years ago to build websites in that had at one point clean code and was viewed by the big "G" as a great system.Since then there is more requirements being used by the big "G" search engine that has prevented the company in the last year and a half from providing great results. The company uses a tactic with in there sales process to require log files at the time of there contract. Most clients don't know how to access log files and are told by the sales team and management staff that it isn't needed at the time of signing the contract and that the tech department would help them recover there log files for there money back guarantee. The reason they need a copy of the recent log file is to show organic traffic because there services and guarantee is strickly based on an increase in organic website traffic by 200% in 90 days are your money back. The truth is only about 1% of all clients sold there service every provide traffic reports when signing up which voids all warranties provided by them. Also most clients aren't getting much organic traffic at all and you know what 200% of nothing is.

Also "First Dave isn't programming for clients" He isn't around to support the staff at the company and only shows his face in the office for about 1 hour a month but fields phone calls to put of fires only to prevent people from getting there refunds.

They are behind times not following the current requirements and latest trends for s****.>

I will be starting my own rip off report in the next couple of days regarding this company, however, I am also about to begin litigation regarding their actions. I was hoping to find out how to get in touch with the author of this article, and any other consumer/customer that was taken advantage of by this company. 

I happen to be an attorney located in Cleveland, Ohio, and I can verify that a lot of what happened to this author happened to me - and more.  I will cover this all in my own rip off report shortly, but I anticipate the company's rebuttal to include things such as: but this guy made duplicate content (false), this guy did other things that ruined the site in December 2010 ----> despite the fact I received emails and calls from Dave Barry telling me that in June 2011 the site, blog, and linking to the site were all incorrectly setup.

I had requested less than half of my investment back (over 25,000.00) ----> their response was to dare me, a lawyer, to litigate the matter OR let them build an all new website for me.  As, I said I will be laying this all out in my own ripoff report BUT for the purposes of my own lawsuit and fact gathering for it I am interested in speaking to anyone, off this list, that has gone through the same or close to the same events with this group.

I can be reached at jpatituce@patitucelaw.com.

Sincerely,

Joseph C. Patituce

As I read all these responses, I cannot retain to smile. I'm a freelance webdesigner and was hired by Mr Barry to design some websites for him and among these his crappy site-search-architect one in 2007. We did agree on the fees per site and while he paid 50+% he never paid the remaining $2k which is still due till date. I tried to blame him him on certain website and when he got the results from Google (something he seems to know about at least), he threatened me to take heed and remove them all, else he gonna make a mess of my profile. Something which I did after he pleaded that he'll pay when he gets the money.

My Barry I really hope that people will know a bit more about yourself and your trustworthiness.

Keep smiling

Out of morbid curiosity, and without any compensation, I asked Dr. Kane to send me the "optimized" site code.  Again, in the interests of disclosure, Dr. Kane has hired my firm to rebuild his site and, should that aspect of our relationship go well, perhaps actually SEO and rank him.  Our relationship is not PR, damage control, nor am I fishing for any new business...If you want to find me, ask him how the project went and what the results were.  He'll get a referral credit towards his future needs.

For several years, I taught High School Vocational Web Design, while running my company.  We've chosen to live in a small community, and I saw an opportunity to give my kids some real-world, hard-core business knowledge.  And, maybe, give them the ability and means to make a living and stay here in our county.  Losing the best and the brightest to the "big city" kills a small community.

This "optimized" site would have FAILED my class.  In fact, I emailed Dr. Kane to verify that he'd sent me the correct files.  No "professional" could actually look at themselves in the mirror if this steaming pile was the result of their work.  No Analytics code, No ranking even for Dr. Kane???  The most basic, organic by-accident rankings didn't even happen???  Seriously?

And Having these hysterical "rebuttal" testimonials/comments on this site just so you can get your main product name indexed?  Saturation in a rebuttal?  Wow.

<Notes to self:  Charge WAY more, do nothing, pay overseas subs to create accounts and defend my "work" = PROFIT.  I have a new "Idol"...>

"After I read through this discussion it is clear Mr. Barry and his company performed the SEO service promised."  I read this "rebuttal" in regard to Dr. Kane's ongoing issues with Dave Barry (or the teenagers that wrote his post on Tuesday, August 2nd.)  This one is from C W Helms on August 7th.

Why, yes, when I evaluate the skill, technique and results of a purported SEO company, I base my "professional opinion" on a discussion-board disagreement.  Really?  Seen the site?

In the interests of disclosure, I'm the guy re-building the site that was "optimized" by Mr. Barry, et al.  I've seen the code...And the lack of any technique.  I've run the reports on all the keys that were supposed to be ranked...nothing.  Images & Alts?  Nope.  Anything past an <H1>?  Nope.  <strong> tags, at least?  Nah, not for only $6k+.  INBOUND LINKS?  NONE.  Let me spell that for you: Z-E-R-O.

I don't know, or care, about those before me.  I get called because I only work by referral, and my phone only rings because of the "quality job" done TO someone by a "professional" in my field.  Nobody calls me because they're having a great day...They call because they feel that they got ripped-off or screwed, and those that refer me know that I can save their a@@.  No, I won't disclose my company, name or contact info.  This situation, and this "professional", are exactly why I stay in this business...I make a living and sleep well....Dave?

Apparently Dave Barry has given up trying to defend his unscrupulous business practices himself and tring to bully his critics into silence, and is now prevailing on other people to do his dirty work for him. Like this Paul Bruemmer of Carlsbad. He makes the ad hominem inference that "If someone has trouble with Dave Barry they likely have trouble with several other people and I would personally recommend avoiding such a plaintiff." Oh, so I'm just a troublemaker because I dare to protest being ripped off by Dave Barry. Well, I guess this is what you can expect from a guy who claims he has "...dealt with just about everyone in the [SEO] business." Quite a claim. I just called my current SEO adviser, who was trained by Google and really does have a great familiarity with the people in this field, and he never heard of Paul Bruemmer. People who make boasts that can be discredited with such ease are precisely the kind of people you don't want to buy a used car from, contract your SEO work to, or trust their praises of Dave Barry.

I have worked with Dave for years on different aspects of search engines and technical guidelines and he is definitely one of the most sought after professionals in this area.

As the president and founder of Milestone, I can definitely say that whatever Dave does, he is very spot-on with his concept.

I have known Dave Barry for almost 5 years and contracted several SEO projects requiring highly specialized industry expertise. Sophisticated complex projects very few consultants in the SEO industry were capable of handling; and David's expertise not only exceeded my expectations but also my client's expectations and performance (a major billion dollar revenue ecommerce client). Dave's rates and professionalism have always been in-line, and he has always over-delivered. If someone has trouble with Dave Barry they likely have trouble with several other people and I would personally recommend avoiding such a plaintiff. I've been performing executive level SEO consulting for 16 years and dealt with just about everyone in the business. Dave Barry is a consummate professional, he is a rock solid expert in his field and, his word stands in the highest integrity.

I do not know any of the others mentioned in this report who work at WT&T, but I do know Dave Barry. From my dealings with Mr. Barry, over the past 8+ years, I have always found Dave to be knowledgeable, professional and helpful. Reading this report and discussion does not sound like something accurately descriptive of the Dave Barry I know.  I think it is safe to do business with Dave Barry. I hope this issue comes to a peaceful resolution.

Robert

At least Bobby of New Orleans was a gentleman and did not use his testimonial to impugn my character for airing my grievances against Mr. Barry. However, what does this further testimonial prove? Mr. Barrys continuing pursuit of this latest tactic of requesting his choice of customers who are satisfied with his work to post their testimonials is apparently an attempt to show that my complaints are so inconsistent with the experience of his other customers that I cannot be believed. However, it should be obvious to all that this is like a guy who regales you with his boasts about all the times hes won playing slot machines, but conveniently avoids telling you about the money hes lost playing them.

Following the creation of my website and an unsuccessful relationship with a SEO company, I retained the SEO services of Web Tools and Technology. Despite working in an overcrowded field as a personal injury attorney, my website steadily climbed up the ranks and traffic has greatly improved. Further, I  have been fortunate enough to have Dave Barry personally work on my site to maximize my exposure. Dave is a straight shooter and has fulfilled every promise he has made. As long as my competitors arent looking to retain Web Tools, I would highly recommend them.     

Orgdoctor Feel free to attempt to discredit my post. Thankfully Im not writing for you Im writing so potential clients of Web Tools can understand and appreciate the results Web Tools can and will provide.

 



 

If Dave Barrys latest tactics to convince us that it is not his integrity but mine that is in question werent so laughable, they might even succeed in distracting the attention of a few people from the fundamental issue: he took my $6500, delivered zero results after 270 days (not 90), and wont hear of refunding my money.
 
He would rather divert your attention to the complimentary letter he received from Dell 8 years ago. Before you get distracted by this increasingly distant event, ask yourself whether the fact that he didnt dare bully a corporate giant like Dell, as he has bullied little clients like me, makes him trustworthy. Isnt that how all bullies behave?
 
We then get the inputs from his handpicked claque (Im sure hell have to look up that word). First, we hear from DivaG of Las Vegas, in a sentence that could have been written by a dyslexic:
Rankings are subjective anymore with personalized search so a ranking report isn't going to show much what does tell the tale are your traffic logs. Its no wonder a person like this has not experienced any of the negative issues  with any website content that Barrys firm provided. Not exactly a wordsmith here. But the main point is that this person is delusional about search rankings when he says theyre subjective. The rank of ones site in the organic search results on ones keywords is about as objective as things get, and probably close to being perfectly correlated with the websites traffic. So much for this persons contribution.
 
Next we hear the hilariously self-negating comments from someone of unknown credentials named Ron Castle, apparently another SEO operative. First, he launches into a psych-speak diagnosis of my problem: The complainer here apparently has very high control needs and is not able to leave well enough alone. Then he proceeds to generalize the other negative traits he infers about me to Ph.D. psychologists as a class of people: I have had several PhD psychologist clients in the past with similar traits, easily frustrated, impatient and demanding. Sounds like someone who flunked out of a psychology Ph.D. program and is still trying to get even. Need I say any more about the value of this person's opinion?
 
Up next is ladyn, who at least admits she knows nothing of the facts of this case. She does not say that Barry's firm has ever done any work for her personally, and her questions indicate a complete lack of familiarity with my complaints against Barry's firm:
 
          1. Did the client leave the site alone or mess with the site on his own?
 
                  Barrys firm takes a clients site and put it into their own server/development
                  environment which the client does not have editing access to.
 
          2. If the site was toyed with, any work the SEO group did could have been destroyed at
              any time.
 
                  I never personally accessed any of the content, and had to ask them to make any
                  changes that were necessary (e.g., numerous misspellings, formatting screw-ups, etc.)
 
          3. Also, depending on the keywords chosen, it can take longer than 90 days to achieve
              visibility. 
 
                  But they promised noticeable improvement in the sites rankings in 90 days and did
                  not achieve any improvement. Moreover, even after 270 days (9 months) there not
                  the slightest improvement in the sites page 28 Google ranking on any of my
                  keywords.

          4. Was the work stopped too soon? 
 
                  After 9 months? I dont think so, unless the plan was to put me out of business
                  altogether.

          5. What was done in the way of off page factors to achieve visibility? That's very 
              important too.
 
                     Apparently nothing that worked!
 
Ladyn is obviously completely ignorant of the performance of Barry and his firm in my case. Barry apparently didnt want to answer the questions she poses above in order to preserve her good opinion of him.
 
Finally, we hear from a c w nelms, apparently a professional verbal hit-man from Barrys backyard in Clearwater, FL. First, he characterizes me as someone who is try[ing] to discredit reputable people and companies in an obvious attempt to extort money and extract punishment when they do not get their way. Extort money? I hardly see how asking for a refund of ones own money paid for services NOT rendered is extortion. Extract punishment? Where does he see that Ive sought to punish Barry? Im not even asking  for interest on the money of mine that hes kept for the last 18 months.
 
This person is also delusional about search results. All that Barrys logs show (unless he has faked them since I saw them last) is that the search on my companys name and variants of it was ranked very high. But who starts out searching for a generic service (e.g., statistical consulting, help with statistics) by entering the name of a specific company? These great search results are pure bull.
 
Nelms reveals his utter ignorance in additional ways:
 
          Obviously the BBB would find his complaint unfounded.
 
                     The BBB doesnt make a decision about the validity of complaints but
                     rather only seeks to mediate disputes between parties.
 
          It is also illuminating that this man whos name I gather from the discussion is
           Jeffrey Kane uses the names of the people he is attacking in his complaint but fails to
           clearly identify himself and use his own name in his complaint. I have to believe
           Mr. Jeffrey Kanes complaint is much more of a negative reflection on his character that
           the effectiveness of the service he contracted for and people he is attacking.
 
                  How absurd. First, the name of my company (Professional Statistical Services) is
                  revealed in my initial report on this site, and if anyone wanted to know my full name
                  and background, my name and CV is all over that website. Second, what is the
                  relevance of knowing my full name anyway? Finally, because I didnt reveal my name
                  my complaint is more of a negative reflection on my character? There seem to be 
                  some major misfires in his logic circuits. What does he have to say about the fact
                  that 2 out the 4 members of this claque Barry has assembled also did not reveal
                  their names?
 
          Mr. Kane goes on about his PhD and his education and he clearly is impressed with himself,
           I am not.  If you have a legitimate grievance resolve it the courts or through mediation.
           You lose all credibility by attacking someone online without even using your own name.
 
                  What a nasty, ad hominem remark. I have never tried to lord my education over
                  anyone in this discussion or any other. I mentioned it once, in my initial report on
                  this site just to establish my credibility, and never again. It must be Mr. Nelms
                  own lack of education that compels him to resent mine so much without knowing
                  anything about me. And since he says he has inferred my name from the discussion
                  how does he make the further inference that I lose all credibility by somehow trying
                  to hide it? Sounds like this guy could benefit from some further education -- in logic.
 
For the record, I dont believe Nelms assertion that he got great results from Barrys firm supplying him with the same service as they supplied me. Something smells really fishy about this guy.
 
I will close this response with a quote from Shakespeare that perhaps Mr. Barry should think about:

Patches set upon a little breach
Discredit more in hiding of the fault
Than did the fault before it was so patched.
King John 4.2.32-4, PEMBROKE TO SALISBURY

I must come to the defense of Dave Barry.

I do not know much about the techinical workings of SEO and cannot make a judgement regarding this one case. What I can say is that Dave has done IT related work for me both professionally and personally for nearly 20 years. A relationship lasting this long could be considered an endorsement in itself. From my experiences with Dave I can describe him as someone who really cares about his service and his customer. He has gone out of his way on countless occasions whenever I needed his help.

It is amazing and really unfortunate that individuals can and will use the internet to attack and try to discredit reputable people and companies in an obvious attempt to extort money and extract punishment when they do not get their way.

After I read through this discussion it is clear Mr. Barry and his company performed the SEO service promised.  I see they took the incredible step of publishing the customers organic traffic logs on their website showing clearly that their company performed as promised and when the customer removed their service his organic traffic dropped back to where it was before the service was provided.  Obviously the BBB would find his complaint unfounded.  It is also illuminating that this man whos name I gather from the discussion is Jeffrey Kane uses the names of the people he is attacking in his complaint but fails to clearly identify himself and use his own name in his complaint. I have to believe Mr. Jeffrey Kanes complaint is much more of a negative reflection on his character that the effectiveness of the service he contracted for and people he is attacking.

I am currently using the same optimization service this man is complaining about.  I have used the service since 2008 and it works exactly as promised.  Within 1 month of starting the service we moved from the third page to the first page of Google and we now totally dominate our competition nationwide online.  Our traffic spiked shortly after starting the service and continues to climb 3 years later.  I am impressed enough that I now resell the service to my advertising clients and we find they also are satisfied with their results. This company even stands behind their service with a written money back guarantee. Mr. Kane goes on about his PhD and his education and he clearly is impressed with himself, I am not.  If you have a legitimate grievance resolve it the courts or through mediation. You lose all credibility by attacking someone online without even using your own name.

I've worked with and have known Dave Barry for years. In fact, I've referred countless clients to him, and they've all been very pleased with his SEO services.

There are a lot of variables in this particular case that we don't know. Did the client leave the site alone or mess with the site on his own? If the site was toyed with, any work the SEO group did could have been destroyed at any time.

Also, depending on the keywords chosen, it can take longer than 90 days to achieve visibility. 

Was the work stopped too soon? 

What was done in the way of offpage factors to achieve visibilty? That's very important too.

All I can say is that Dave Barry's group know what they're doing. They keep their fingers on the pulse of the industry. There's obviously a breakdown in communication somewhere.

I have know Dave Barry for about 10 years now, have attended several SEO seminars where Dave was presenting, have broken bread and collaborted on numerous occations.  His SEO skills are deep and sound and there is one thing Dave certainly is not is a crook.

Dave told me his side of the story in this situation, which is similar to some experiences I have had with SEO clients.  The complainer here apparently has very high control needs and is not able to leave well enough alone.   I have had several PhD psychologist clients in the past with similar traits, easily frustrated, impatient and demanding.

Positive results are more difficult to achieve when the choice of communications is confrontational rather than collabortive.  My opinion.

  I have used Dave Barry's software Site Search Architect and backend services for my own clients over ten years without complaint. We have enjoyed a good business relationship and have not experienced any of the negative issues described in the ripoff report posted.

  Rankings are subjective anymore with personalized search so a ranking report isn't going to show much what does tell the tale are your traffic logs. This is where you can see the targeted traffic  changes and that is where the real proof of a good SEO campaign stands or falls.

Enjoy your weekend kind sir.

Sometimes a crooks rotten core is self-evident in his/her protestations of innocence, making a response almost superfluous. This is the case with the recent rant by that self-proclaimed god of the SEO universe, Dave Barry. We who have tried to spread the word about the fraudulent practices of his firm through our pointless rampings (sic) have been thoroughly insulted by his partner, Joe Webb, and now are graced with further insults from the mouth of the oracle himself, Dave Barry.
 
Can you imagine an honest person characterizing people who were trying to do their due diligence in deciding whether to use Barrys services being characterized as people who are just bummed out cause [sic] they are still going out of business because they were afraid that we were a scam, as Barry has done above? Can you imagine an honest person trying to excuse his refusal to send a potential client some info or articles on Dave Barry or his references by belittling the person for not seeking out such information on Google? And now that he is finally embarrassed into furnishing some reference information links, he admits that, None of which are from the current company that My [sic] partner Joe Webb and I own. Oh, thats helpful. Are these from the former companies that he had to close when the heat from clients he cheated got turned up too high?
 
He then proceeds to direct a priceless bit of self-defeating sputtering at me, whom I guess he considers his chief tormentor:
 
Jeffrey or OrgDoctor,
Wow 2 names,  can't make up your mind?  Kind of like how you operated your web site, we made it successful and you kept changing it until it SUCKED, Great job buddy.  Stick to Statistics and leave the SEO to the professionals.
 
Because I use an email handle different from my name, I cant make up my mind? Is this the logic you expect from an honest, competent person? And yes, I did change the content they supplied because in his words, it SUCKED, reading for all the world like it was written by an under-achieving junior high school student. My response to his claim of his making my web site successful is the same assertion that I have made from the beginning of this pissing match: After 9 months and $6500 of my money his company failed to produce an improvement of even one position from page 28 of Googles organic search results on the keywords I had specified. So, yes, I would be glad to stick to statistics if only I could find an SEO professional who wasnt a rip-off artist.
 
Barrys response to David in Burbank is essentially illiterate. How would like your web content written by this guy or any of his employees whose writing skills pass his scrutiny. When we catch a glimpse of meaning in what he has to say to the fellow from Burbank, it is nothing short of despicable, and further confirmation of what its like to do business with him and his firm.
 
How about this characterization by Mr. Barry of those who have the audacity to protest when hes stealing their eyes out: you sit around and cry cause [sic] your [sic] broke and decide to go out on the internet and try to bash the reputation of somebody that actually gets off there a** and works for a living. This truly says it all about Dave Barry and needs no further comment from me.
 
And this:
 
"My reputation and results and increased business for customers will speak for itself, Keep it up and I will get some of my veteran customers of multiple years come here, make posts and make you all look like bigger idiots than you already do.  I will be easy on you and only get about 50 of them, but only if you continue to insult me and piss me off.  Go find something productive to do."
 
What was that quote from Abraham Lincoln? You can fool some of the people all of the time, .  From my experience, I can only surmise that most of his veteran customers fall into the latter group.
 
Finally, it just amazes me that any business owner would continue for a full year and a half to try to bully aggrieved customers and potential clients into silence instead of cleaning up his act and redressing past grievances against his company. Every syllable of vitriol that Mr. Barry and his partner spew forth just serves to validate the claims of us, their accusers.

Will the real Dave Barry please stand up.
My partner will give me just a little grief for feeding this idiotic frenzy.  but I feel I must contribute to the awesome show of LOVE.  Hello, My name is Dave Barry and I appear to be the subject of the above pointless rampings of people pretending to be customers, except for the customer with two names.

Only one of the above complainants is an actual customer who spent money and feels as though they were cheated, the others are just bummed out cause they are still going out of business because they were afraid that we were a scam.  "John" You asked us to send you some info or articles on Dave Barry or his references,  Dude, Have you heard of this cool new thing for doing research. It is called GOOGLE, what you do is type in what you want to know and these little guys run all over the internet and get it for you, just like little waiters bringing you your water. 

Don't insult me, You don't know me.

I had my little waiter dudes run around the internet and get these links for you since your fingers appear to be broken.  None of which are from the current company that My partner Joe Webb and I own.  You asked for 6, Here are 12, (I got a couple of extra little waiter dudes.)  I also asked my little waiter dudes to differ the times so I can cover about 10 years for you.  Again, Don't insult me cause you don't know me.
http://www.semscholar.com/2009/03/15/the-daves-of-seo/
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/FrontPage.html
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/search-engine-optimization-certification.html
http://searchengineoptimism.com/SEO_Tutorial/PPC_clickthrough_ROI_track.html
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/workshop_dates.html
http://www.hooverwebdesign.com/advantage-of-frontpage.html
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/caricature.html
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/7215/online_business/how_to_get_flash_indexed_by_the_search_engines.html
http://www.roncastle.com/ron_castle_blog.htm
http://searchengineland.com/8-canonicalization-best-practices-in-plain-english-44475
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/retail/tampa-bay-seo-companies-quake-at-google-crackdown/1154427
http://auto2trade.com/said/setup247610seler/
http://gdi-money.ws/google/seo-training-pioneers-robin-nobles-and-john-alexander-announce-a-new-ultra-advanced-symposium-on-april-5-6-orlando-florida/
http://www.seomoves.org/blog/grow/the-latest-way-to-learn-advanced-technical-seo-strategies-that-really-work-333/
http://bloghostinginfo.com/the-latest-way-to-learn-advanced-and-technical-search-engine-strategies-that-really-work-the-ultra-advanced-seo-symposium/

If you need help copying and pasting, press F1

Jeffrey or OrgDoctor,
Wow 2 names,  can't make up your mind?  Kind of like how you operated your web site, we made it successful and you kept changing it until it SUCKED, Great job buddy.  Stick to Statistics and leave the SEO to the professionals.

To David in Burbank,
I am not a cult leader but I am a pretty nice guy.  so you don't like Don, SO WHAT.  you go on rip off report and insult me because my salesman is a salesman?  I wouldn't sit there and list out a list of 200 menu items in an Italian restaurant, never mind 200 google points that you wouldn't even understand.  you want to know all 200 do like the other lazy guy above that isn't even a customer but saw fit to insult me and my company for NO fricking reason.  Send the little waiter dudes out to the internet on this newFangled thing called a SEARCH ENGINE and find out for yourself unless your a bad tipper.  doesn't feel good to be insulted for no reason, DOES IT.
You know what I am in a pretty good mood tonight so I typed it out for you.  My little waiter dudes came back with this for ya.  Make sure you read the first line about NOT revealing company secrets.
http://www.free-seo-news.com/newsletter439.htm

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm

You people are amazing, you sit around and complain about things you know nothing about. and then cry cause your broke and decide to go out on the internet and try to bash the reputation of somebody that actually gets off there a** and works for a living.

I am not going to go to Target and b**ch about their TVs unless I actually BOUGHT one,  Hello, anybody home.  in this whole line of crap, there is one guy that spent money and he could have done well, he just could not get out of his own way, Statistically speaking. (yes that was a joke)

My reputation and results and increased business for customers will speak for itself, Keep it up and I will get some of my veteran customers of multiple years come here, make posts and make you all look like bigger idiots than you already do.  I will be easy on you and only get about 50 of them, but only if you continue to insult me and piss me off.  Go find something productive to do.

Sorry Joe, I am just tired of these idiots pretending as though they even deserve to be heard.

FYI, This is the personal opinion of David Barry and is not the opinion or reflection of any opinion of any representative of Web Tools and Technology, LLC. 

I was contacted by this company also.  They contacted me and tried to sell me on their SEO Services.  A guy cold called me and then set up a call with a person named Don Straus.  He went on and on about how they were the real deal and could get us found within 90 days.  Its funny, but both of the guys that called me kept stressing the importance and supreme knowledge of their "FOUNDER".  It sounded like he was some kind of cult leader or something.  They made it sound like he invented the internet.  The also guaranteed that we would double our organic traffic within 90 days or we would get our money back.  

When I asked Don about the specifics he started to panic.  First, Don told me that there were over 200 algorithms that Goolge uses on a website to rank it.  He said that their company would make changes to my website that would address all of these different Google algorithms in order to optimize it and get it found.  When I asked him what these 200 algorithms were he said that he only knew of "Meta Tags" and didn't know any of the other ones.  When I brought up that I was concerned that he didn't know what the algorithms were, he shot back at me, "well...do you know what they are?!!"  I told him that they were the ones that were trying to sell their knowledge of the 200 algorithms to me.  And he replied to the effect that Google doesn't want anyone to know what their algorithms are.  (But wasn't he implying that they knew the exact algorithms?)

In all, this company was very rude on the phone and sounded like a bunch of old middle-aged mafioso types from New Jersey.  Moreover, they had no knowledge of the SEO process.  The only thing Don Straus kept saying was that they were the real deal and that everyone else was a scam.  But sadly, he couldn't back it up with any knowledge of SEO.   

Once again, Joe Webb, who professes (or is it confesses) to being the owner of Web Tools & Technology, is trying to lie his way out of his company's responsibility for cheating me out of the hard-earned money I paid for their utterly useless "services". He now claims that, "The Better Business Bureau has reviewed this complaint in its entirety and has determined that Web Tools and Technology has fulfilled its obligation to Mr. Kane." In fact, they have made no such determination at all. The case was administratively closed after receiving the last of my 4 rebuttals to their attempts to defend their actions. Web Tools made no offer to settle my complaint and I refused to accept the malarkey they were offering to justify their nonperformance. Apparently, when the BBB decides that a case has reached an impasse, it labels it "AJR" (Administratively Judged Resolved?) and closes it. They did not, at any point up to the present, make any decision in favor of Web Tools & Technology based on any traffic statistics which Web Tools & Technology provided to them, or on any other grounds.

Mr. Webb also claims that I "...continued to file complaints with the BBB every few days until they decided to Administratively Close his complaint." This is another bald-faced lie. I filed only one complaint, and then I filed several rebuttals to the baloney that Web Tools & Technology was submitting to try to justify having cheated me out of my fees to them.

In a third lie, Mr. Webb asserts that, "This means that he was not willing to accept the decision they reached after reviewing all the facts." Again, the BBB of West Florida did NOT make any decision in favor of either party in this case. Readers can go to their website,(((Redacted))) and verify this for themselves. Mr. Webb is stating a complete lie when he says that the BBB made any decision in this case that I refused to accept. It is my understanding that the BBB generally does not make decisions in disputes anyway, and instead sees their role as trying to mediate disputes between parties.

These are 3 demonstrable lies from the owner of this company. Do you think it would be prudent to believe any representations he makes about the effectiveness of his company's services?

Mr. Web closes with an invitation to readers of this report to contact the "hundreds of [their] extremely happy and satisfied clients" in order to decide whether to "...trust Web Tools with their SEO needs." Yeah, right. Before readers do that, I invite them to contact me first and learn the truth.

The Better Business Bureau has reviewed this complaint in its entirety and has determined that Web Tools and Technology has fulfilled is obligation to Mr. Kane.  The data used to reach this decision included the traffic statistics substantiated by Googles own analytics program.  Mr. Kane continued to file complaints with the BBB every few days until they decided to Administratively Close his complaint.  This means that he was not willing to accept the decision they reached after reviewing all the facts. 

We sincerely hope that all those reading this complaint will contact a few of the many hundreds of extremely happy and satisfied clients of Web Tools and Technology prior to deciding whether they will trust Web Tools with their SEO needs. 

Much more dangerous than not regulating the Internet is the failure to adequately regulate business, as the recent meltdown of our financial and health insurance systems have so amply demonstrated. On a much smaller scale is the search engine optimization business, which apparently has no barriers to entry or codes of practice at all. Yet, the damage they can cause to small businesses like mine by charging for and failing to deliver a critical service is just as real as getting ripped off by a Wall Street inside trader.

Mr. Webb wants you to believe that someone like me who has spent most of his life  teaching at the university level, conducting research, consulting, and serving as an expert witness in cases calling upon my statistical expertise, has nothing better to do than to single out his company as a target on which to unleash a barrage of false and libelous accusations. Sure, I want to be sitting here responding to his attacks against my motives and veracity than minding my own business and trying to earn a living.

Readers of this exchange have to suspect something is up with this company when its president claims that even though many of his customers have experienced a 5 to 8 times increase in their natural search results-driven web traffic, still more of their customers have experienced an increase of 25 times (= 2500%). What??!! It was this same kind of hyper-exaggeration that undoubtedly led their former VP to guarantee me page 1 Google natural search results on my key search terms, which I realize now they had no way to deliver.

As for their having provided the Google analytics report from this site to the individual making the false claims outlined on this site, as I indicated in my initial statement, the only analytics I was provided were my Google ranks on 4 permutations of the name of my business (Professional Statistical Services). You can take any business with an essentially unique name and make its website (containing that name) appear high on Googles natural search results. This does nothing to help customers find the company on the basis of generic terms shared by hundreds or thousands of companies.

These spokesmen for Web Tools and Technology consistently ignore the critical issue: their failure to improve by even one page the essentially invisible position in which my website ranked (page 28) when I received their initial offer of assistance. Anyone who uses Google with any regularity should easily be able to see that if a web sites rank doesnt move up from page 28 after a year, there isnt going to be any increase in natural search results-derived traffic to his/her site.

Finally, lets consider Mr. Webbs closing question: If Mr. Kane had a legitimate complaint, wouldnt he have taken us to court with his proof? Yes, Mr. Webb like many big business owners would love to get little guys like me into civil court where they can bleed us dry with legal costs. Great tactic for them, and also a major reason why our court system is so overwhelmed. I have chosen the gradual escalation approach, seeking to exhaust potential avenues of remedy in increasing order of their burden on my finances and the legal system. My next step in pursuing justice for myself in this case will not be the civil courts but rather the criminal justice system because I feel that fraud has been committed here. There are still further recourses to the court of public opinion and the search engine companies.

I welcome the support of anyone who wants to back the little guy in a fight against the fat cats trying to fleece us and then steamroll our protests into oblivion.

There are many obvious benefits to the Internet not being regulated; conversely there is one tremendous shortcoming to minimal regulation. That shortcoming resides in the fact that there is no burden of proof when one posts comments or makes accusations. Unlike our judicial system, an individual may make accusations without having to substantiate the accuracy or legitimacy of those accusations. Accusations and libelous statements may be made strictly as an attempt to defame the character of, and to inflict damage to, an individual or business.

We at Web Tools and Technology are saddened that one individual can make accusations that are unfounded, and easily proven inaccurate. We realize that these accusations may potentially impact our relationships with clients and potential clients. We apologize to our hundreds and hundreds of happy, satisfied customers that may have been exposed to the unproven ranting of one individual. Our guarantee to all of our clients is, and has always been, to at least double the natural traffic to the clients site. Many of our clients have experienced 5 to 8 times the natural or organic traffic they previously experienced while still more have seen an increase of 2500% or more.

Google analytics has proven the increase in traffic to the individuals site that has chosen this venue to attempt to damage our great reputation. We at Web Tools believe that Google is not only a credible, but also disinterested, 3rd party who is very capable of discerning the actual traffic to the site. We have provided the Google analytics report from this site to the individual making the false claims outlined on this site.

I mentioned our nations judicial system earlier in this post. I pose a question to all those reading this entry: If Mr. Kane had a legitimate complaint, wouldnt he have taken us to court with his proof? Thanks for taking the time to read both sides of the story.

If anyone would like to reach me personally regarding this issue please email me at jwebb@site-search-architect.com

Joe Webb
President and Co Founder
Web Tools and Technology

Dave Barry's reply (above, "Just Plain NOT True") to my revelations about his company's ongoing effort to cheat me out of the $6500 in fees I paid to them is a blatant attempt to obfuscate and distort the facts about the utter ineffectiveness of his company's effort to improve my company's ranking in the "natural" search results for the key terms my potential customers search for. Here are my replies to Mr. Barry's full response to my charges that he sent to me today:

DB: We told you in the very beginning we needed to change the content, you said no.

MY REPLY:            I was not told in the beginning that I needed to change the content, and in fact nothing was ever mentioned about my content. The only changes I was told were needed were that the text in the navigation system images needed to be changed to true text, which was done as part of the conversion.

DB: "We wrote 5 pages of content for you, you rearranged it, disapproved it and removed the quality SEO from it."

MY REPLY:            The 5 pages of content were completely inappropriate for my site. They were introductory blurbs about statistics and statisticians which would have caused any legitimate visitor to my site to question my judgment. Any such visitor would have well understood everything these blurbs had to say about statistics years before seeking help of the kind I offer. In addition, one of the 5 blurbs (Discounts) was simply the press release that was done separately and was equally inappropriate as a component of my sites content. Links to these poorly conceived pages that your people wrote were then included of the navigation bar as co-equal in importance to such pages as the services I offer and my fees, which  was nothing short of embarrassing. There was no coordination with me; these pages were added to the website before I had even reviewed them. They were such an embarrassment I had no choice but to take your version of my site down before my reputation was ruined.

DB: "You demanded hosting your own site which does not allow us proper statistics unless you want to send me all of the log files you now have which will go back to when we started and will show the increase I am sure."

MY REPLY:            I didnt demand any such thing. I was never told that any alternative hosting arrangement was preferable. Moreover, I later got the impression that you were charging additional fees for such hosting services and that it was just another way to squeeze money out of your clients. The only thing that correlates with the business my site generates is its rank in the organic Google search results for my key search terms. This rank did not improve at all for any of my search terms. In fact, there is no evidence that my targeted search terms were even entered as metatags in your version of my site.

DB: "since you won't give us real numbers, only your upsets below with no specifics, not helpful either and we can't get accurate stats."

MY REPLY:            Ill give you the only real numbers I care about, and that I ever cared about: My site does not appear in Googles organic search results on any of my targeted search terms before page 28 of the results. This was as true the day I took down your version of my site in November 2009 as it was on the day I contracted with you in November 2008. Your VP, Jeffrey Doty, had assured me he could get my site onto page one of Googles organic search results on my key search terms, and after 1 year your firm had made no progress toward achieving that goal. If Mr. Doty denies making such an assurance, hes lying. See the other comment on the RipoffReport.com site from John in Plympton, MA who was given the same assurance.

DB: "I show the doubling in traffic per guarantee from google analytics so we have in fact done exactly as we said, I noticed you changed your site again and now you have no visitors.

I show the traffic spike in March, a small decline in april from March but still good traffic.  sometime in December, you changed something and crashed the stats.

We had you ranging from 60 - 80 unique visitors per day which will show the increase easily."

DB: "In summary,

We did as agreed and performed via the agreement, Bottom line.  If you choose to be unreasonable and keep with the complaints, they will be answered and our attorneys will contact you.

and yes I know you said you didn't care cause you were broke, but I don't care that you're broke.  Don't blame us for your lack of success, blame yourself."

MY REPLY:            Your rebuttals to my charges of nonperformance are completely unpersuasive and in many cases, downright false. Samuel Johnson is credited with the quote, False patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. It might be said that their next to last refuge is behind the coat-tails of their attorneys. As for my financial inability to match what Im sure youre willing to spend on attorneys to suppress the truth of my charges, all I can say is that Id rather be poor in monetary terms but rich in the knowledge that I have never cheated anyone out of their money rather than the other way around.

DB: "Do the right thing and remove the false complaints."

            You need to do the right thing and refund my money. My complaints are 100% true.

This complaint is completely unfounded.  I am the CEO/Founder of Web Tools and Technology.  I have been working in the SEO industry for almost 20 years and enjoy my good reputation and standing in the industry which I have earned.

I will post an excerpt of my reply to this past customer for your review.

Here are the issues. We told you in the very beginning we needed to change the content, you said no. We wrote 5 pages of content for you, you rearranged it, disapproved it and removed the quality SEO from it.

You demanded hosting your own site which does not allow us proper statistics unless you want to send me all of the log files you now have which will go back to when we started and will show the increase I am sure. since you won't give us real numbers, only your upsets below with no specifics, not helpful either and we can't get accurate stats.

I show the doubling in traffic per guarantee from google analytics so we have in fact done exactly as we said, I noticed you changed your site again and now you have no visitors. I show the traffic spike in March, a small decline in april from March but still good traffic. sometime in December, you changed something and crashed the stats. We had you ranging from 60 - 80 unique visitors per day which will show the increase easily.

I have worked with Dell Computers, Overstock.com, CompTIA and several other companies that would gladly give an accurate account of my skills and business ethics.

Thank you,
Dave Barry

p.s. please feel free to contact me with any questions at dbarry@site-search-architect.com

John,

Thanks for sharing your similar experience with these characters at Web Tools & Technology. I'm sorry that someone has had to go through what I have experienced with these people, but a major first step toward bringing them down, or at least to account, is to get word out about what they are doing.

I have filed a complaint with the Largo, FL BBB and intend to do MUCH more until I get satisfaction. I'm sure the people at Google would like to know that they claim to be one of Google's favored "white hat" partners, despite also claiming to know all the angles for gaming Google's ranking system.

If you think there would be any benefit in communicating directly on this to coordinate our efforts at finding a remedy, maybe we can figure out a way to get in touch.

This is in follow up from another Rip off report complaint.