Complaint Review: Wordstream - Boston Massachusetts
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- Author Not Confirmed
- Wordstream 177 Huntington Ave., 16th Floor Boston, Massachusetts USA
- Phone: (617) 963-0555
- Web: www.wordstream.com
- Category: Computer Software
Wordstream word stream, wordstream, wordstream ppc, wordstream inc Wordstream: PPC software wrecked my campaigns - then won't let me out of 1 year contract. Boston Massachusetts
*Author of original report: WORDSTREAM REVIEWS | Multiple Solutions or Compromises?
*UPDATE Employee: Two side to every story
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Wordstream has a very attractive and freindly sales pitch on the front end. However, this organization is deadly to the PPC account and to the small business owner. Beware of the contract! Under no circumstances should you enter into a contract with wordstream. The reason why is because they will not negotiate or reason with you if you find yourself in very dire circumstances like I did. I mean let's face it, guys like this run around beating their chest saying "entrepreneur" etc, etc, etc, when they don't know what it's really like to bootstrap because their boosted with captial and investors..
The rest of America outside Boston and Silicon Valley have to dig deep and truely bootstrap @ 80 hrs per week for 5 years to see anything. So stop trying to be a real bootstrapper. I am a business man myself. I've been successfully doing my thing for over 4 years and decided to give this company a try since my lifeblood is PPC. The problem is, almost all of my revenue comes from PPC ads and this company's software claims to do a better job at managing those ads and ultimately save / make more revenue on PPC; and it turned out to be the demise of my campaigns and my revenue and ultimately my personal income.
Now after 5 months of use, my campaigns suddently wreck like never before in 5 years of running these campaigns.. Very suspicious to me... So it's so bad that I'm literally on the verge of shutting down my company and looking for a job, etc.. So I call them to ask for help and hopefully get some sympathy... After all, their software is what I believe wrecked my company (but I never suggest that to them out of politeness). They tell me that I cannot get out of the contract!!!! What!!! I'm not new to business! This is a very aggressive policy that ultimately hurts entrepreneurs. This company had no sympathy to the fact that I wont have a meal next week, much less an adwords campaign and I just literally cancelled my family's health insurance because things are so desparate. But no sympathy from wordstream. none at all.
I really wish to be honest in this complaint and i realize that not every buisness who deals with wordstream will experience this because alot of you have capital that you can miss. However, if you are a "small" business, this is a risky choice since you never know what could happen next week and this company is uncomprimising when you really need them to be there for you.
There is also the matter of the actual software itself. In my case, it's beginning to look like their software had some initial positive results but after month 3 it was all downhill from there.. I believe wordstream contributed if not caused the demise of my PPC campaigns and ulimately my company. i realize that other factors could be in play here and that they may not be entirely at fault. However, it's important to realize that this company's aggressively strict contract and policies hurt small businesses and their lack of compassion for a real business who's fallen on hard times is heard loud and clear. I don't tream my clients like this. If my client falls, I'll give him a break and maybe even help him get back on his feet..
I wish I could talk to you owners of this organization; Lary Kim or the CEO but you're not easily reached..
Yes, I signed a contract. But the fact remains that my campaigns died while using your software and you are unwilling to compromise or work with me on the initial contract we signed. This company has very big and sharp teeth that BITE!! Don't fall for the happy sweet nice little cartoony website and and all of the fake cute smiling faces, that's just a front to hook you. This company will slam you when you need them the most.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 10/17/2013 09:49 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/wordstream/boston-massachusetts/wordstream-word-stream-wordstream-wordstream-ppc-wordstream-inc-wordstream-ppc-softwa-1092593. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#2 UPDATE Employee
Two side to every story
AUTHOR: Executive at Wordstream - ()
SUBMITTED: Friday, October 18, 2013
There are two sides to every story and parties cannot always agree. So, we would like to explain our side of the story.
- Wordstream offers multiple pricing levels. The longer the commitment, the lower the monthly cost.
- We are very transparent about these choices. We do not push customers into any particular plan.
- This particular customer chose a 12 month commitment for a lower monthly price.
- 5 months into his relationship with Wordstream, something with his business changed. In his write up here, he makes it seem like all his problems were caused by Wordstream; no questions asked. This is not the case. In his correspondence with us, he was less definitive about it being the fault of Wordstream. I know he says this was “out of politeness.” However, “politeness” would have been a serious discussion with us that would have helped to get to the bottom of the issues.
- In his email correspondence with his dedicated Customer Success Specialist, he concedes there are other things that could have caused this. “I’m not sure if we have a ‘government shutdown’ issue or an account issue. I am trying to figure that out now.” His company seems to be very dependent on government spending.
- The software does not make any automatic changes. It only makes suggestions. We are clear in telling customers they must think about any changes before they are made. They are encouraged to contact their dedicated Customer Success Specialist if they have any questions. We are here to help.
- In his write up, he says our platform improved his account in the first 3 months and now this. There is no correspondence from the customer inquiring about any “problems” until this week; after the government shut down. It is highly unlikely that 5 months in, our software destroyed his account; especially if he made no changes.
- Even after he canceled, our Customer Success Specialist offered to help diagnose the problem; digging through statistics and data trying to get to the bottom of the issue. Most data showed consistent or improved PPC performance in recent months. In fact, his overall conversions increased almost 40% from 76 in the month of June to 106 in the month of September. With both July and August clocking in at 136 and 119 respectively. He also said in his correspondence that he’s seen an 80% decrease in sales over the past two weeks. The correlation of the government shutdown and his account performance cannot be overlooked.
- While Wordstream’s DNA is a PPC company, we are really here to help businesses grow. Sales growth is the true purpose of PPC. So, when something outside of PPC throws a wrench in the system, we do not wash our hands of it and walk away. We dig in to help solve the problem; even if the problem is not directly related to PPC. In this case, the government shutdown seems to be the main culprit. However, we were (and still are) willing to dig in and see if something else is causing this. Many of our customers have been affected by the recent Penguin and Hummingbird SEO algorithm updates. This company is currently working on their website. We are unsure how long this “maintenance” has been occurring, however PPC only works when there are valid landing pages to capture the lead.
- We would like to help him solve his problem. So, while he claims we were blindly enforcing a contract, we offered him multiple solutions and compromises. Unfortunately, Wordstream cannot just let him out of a commitment he chose. We have many customers who are paying the higher price for the flexibility of leaving whenever they want. And we have others who have honored commitments. It would not be fair to these customers if we did not enforce these commitments.
We understand the customer is going through some stressful times. We only hope they consider removing this report and reach out to their Customer Success Specialist. We would like to be the solution to the problem.
#1 Author of original report
WORDSTREAM REVIEWS | Multiple Solutions or Compromises?
AUTHOR: Wordstream Victim - ()
SUBMITTED: Thursday, October 17, 2013
WORDSTREAM REVIEWS:
Thank you for the reply and I appreciate your participation in this but unfortunately the only thing you've offered is a buyout for a small fortune or the PIP program which I cannot participate in if I'm shutting down my adwords accounts and possibly my entire business!! These are not "multiple" options and compromises. I'd like to think of them as "multiple" "give me my money" options.
Let me give you an example: If the rule is: I have to pay the bank or an auto insurance company or any other organziation a fee for the services they provide to me. What if I dont' have any money to put in the bank or an automobile to insure anymore? Does the bank or the insurance company still charge me for banking services or insuring an auto I don't have? Of course not... The same even goes for the IRS. Let's use some common sense here. You're not offering a service, it's software and I'm not on a managed plan!
But let's realize it IS a contract that I agreed to after all right? Yes. I'm giving you that. In the same way that I believe it's a contract for me to go to work every weekday for my employer if I have a job. But what if I've used all of my PTO days for the year and my wife has an emergency? Or my daughter breaks her leg? Does the employer still make me go to work that day when I should be taking my wife or daughter to the hospital? It's called being human... My claim is that wordstream is not human.. Just a robot with a policy to enforce.
The reason you have to enforce this is because your software is not good enough to keep customers around any other way. You have to force your customers to stay with you. How many businesses operate this way in 2013?
If you query "wordstream reviews" you'll find other people who feel the same way. Here is what they're saying:
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WORDSTREAM REVIEWS: NUMBER 1
"Biggest SCAM company I have yet worked with. STAY AWAY!"
Version: WordStream for SEO 2.1.13
Pros
The software does loosely what it says its going too... Gives suggestions for keywords, etc.
Cons
The company is a joke... probably 5-10 employees who's only focus is on selling you their contract (Even if you disregard this review... do yourself a favor and DO NOT buy a contract)!
I got pitched by their sales force right after starting my first company... the offer sounded great. Help with PPC advertising for $300 a month. Plus Perry Marshall a personal hero of mine put his name next to them (no clue why at this point...).
I tried out their software and it wasn't doing much if anything for me (perhaps I was too much a niche I'm not sure).
I called to cancel my account (forgetting that the sales lady had talked me into a year long contract) and now they want $1,000 more to "buy out" the rest of my contract...
No option to freeze account...
No empathy...
Worst company I have found in the last 5 years hands down. The smallest company that exemplifies everything I hate about big business!
Please do not fall into this trap!
Summary
STAY AWAY from WORDSTREAM!
Save your sanity and $$$!
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WORDSTREAM REVIEWS: NUMBER 2
"True - word stream only after the money"
Version: WordStream for SEO 2.1.13
Pros
very professional to start
Cons
too much hype about the software, word stream staff not helpful
Summary
absolutely other review are true....... word stream only after the money - think 1000 times before sign up...software not that great ...i have used this software for 6 months..no good ..no improvements..no reduction in the cost... world stream staff gives too much hype about the software...money waste, time waste....i need to wait 6 months to cancel the software
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WORDSTREAM REVIEWS: NUMBER 3
"only after the money !"
Version: WordStream for SEO 2.1.13
Pros
the begining is ok ...
Cons
... the rest not quite ... read bellow :
Summary
until you begin paying they are very nice, but they know why : because after you become a bit addicted and think that you have discovered the world you are theirs ...
after few payments you optimize some costs but the results are not coming as expected (maybe for the very big clients they do ...) - they say it needs 6 months ...
you cannot pause or interrupt the account - you are forced to pay even if you don't use; and even of you say this they are just saying pay pay pay ...
i have not ever see a subscription that you cannot interrupt or pause for a while, so be very carefull because once you start paying the there is no turning back - you either pay and have some results or you stop and then you are kicked no matter how many thousands of usd you gave them ...
my performance grader (their calculation) is above 97% - so i have scored better then most of their graded adwords accounts - and this wasn't coming from their software because I used it only 1-2 days a month when I had time.
the account was allready optimized before I got to them and I really thought it will help me do more ... it didn't and I wasted lots of money ... and I could use only QUERRYSTREAM because all the other tools are not working in my native language ...
as a conclusion, if your website is in english, maybe using all their tools it will be worthy ... but if you don't, then stay away !!
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WORDSTREAM REVIEWS: NUMBER 4
either they gave you all for free, or they gave you a lot of money - no offence !
in hours of support and few days/month using it I haven't got all what you are saying, but instead here it is my experience with them:
until you begin paying they are very nice, but they know why : because after you become a bit addicted and think that you have discovered the world you are theirs ...
after few payments you optimize some costs but the results are not coming as expected (maybe for the very big clients they do ...) - they say it needs 6 months ...
you cannot pause or interrupt the account - you are forced to pay even if you don't use; and even of you say this they are just saying pay pay pay ...
i have not ever see a subscription that you cannot interrupt or pause for a while, so be very carefull because once you start paying the there is no turning back - you either pay and have some results or you stop and then you are kicked no matter how many thousands of usd you gave them ...
my performance grader (their calculation) is above 97% - so i have scored better then most of their graded adwords accounts - and this wasn't coming from their software because I used it only 1-2 days a month when I had time.
the account was allready optimized before I got to them and I really thought it will help me do more ... it didn't and I wasted lots of money ... and I could use only QUERRYSTREAM because all the other tools are not working in my native language ...
as a conclusion, if your website is in english, maybe using all their tools it will be worthy ... but if you don't, then stay away
!!
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Again, I just think it's right for people to know that while this company has not done anything illegal, it still does not take into account unique circumstances of its' customers, therefore, it cannot possibly deliver the type of service it charges for. If you are interested in working with your customer on this issue, you know how to reach me. I am really trying hard to make this work and I really want to use the PIP option if I can save my campaigns and business. But if I can't, then I have no options but to pay you for a service that I'm not recieving. I'll happily notate this report that you honored a request from your customer to consider his hardships if you would only do so. However, if you're not willing then this report must stand so that others may know that entering into contracts with wordstream is not wise. Especially for very small businesses.
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WORDSTREAM REVIEWS,
WORDSTREAM REVIEWS,
WORDSTREAM REVIEWS,
WORDSTREAM REVIEWS
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