Comments on: Old News But Interesting News: Merchant Circle Pays $900,00 To Settle Alleged Unlawful Marketing Practices

By: MC Critic

MC Critic — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 06:23:34 +0000

Well Google may score a C- at BBB, but MerchantCircle “coincidentally” joined BBB in May, days before their Unlawful Telemarketing settlement for $900k… and they got an A >> http://sanjose.bbb.org/Business-Report/MerchantCircle-228893

Another inside story – Allegedly MC hurriedly moved to Mountain View in late April to quickly depart from the county where the District Attorney bringing the complaint was located, unsure of a settlement. I’m not clear what legal advantage that may have provided but it speaks volumes to the CEO’s mindset

By: Google Gets a Barely Passing Grade with the BBB – For the Want of a Nail… | Understanding Google Maps & Local Search

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:17:00 +0000

[...] with some sense of whether a particular company has an unusual number complaints or perhaps has settled with the government . thus while I refuse to pay them, they are not completely without merit. The BBB can spot trends [...]

By: Maite Hospedaje

Maite Hospedaje — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:42:10 +0000

I am in agreement with the more and more severe punishments, does not matter what it is needed! it is enough to leave a few rules the world!

By: MC Critic

MC Critic — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:15:49 +0000

Maybe time to sell, definitely time to get a new CEO.

By: panzermike

panzermike — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 19:53:51 +0000

That is a huge chunk of change for such a mediocre site. Time to sell?

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 21:09:24 +0000

@Miriam Yes, I did some Google searching and found only 2 local newspaper reports of the event. It was not covered in any of the marketing, search or technology blogs nor in any mainstream press outside of their local market. @MC Critic I checked MC's press releases and they published 5 press releases in May of 2010. This compares to one each in Jan. & March, two in April, one in June, four in July, two in August and two in September of this year. They published 12 in all of 2009, and also 12 in 2008. So it does appear that the volume for May was high.

By: MiriamEllis

MiriamEllis — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 20:55:42 +0000

I completely missed this, too, Mike. Wow, that’s nearly a million dollar settlement. Rather big news. I am not sorry to see MC obliged to obey the law. Not sorry at all. Thank you for reporting on this oddly absent story.

By: MC Critic

MC Critic — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 08:11:19 +0000

No wonder most people missed MerchantCircle’s settlement with criminal enforcement – they strategically unleashed a record-number of press releases during that day and week of May.

Let us remember and speculate just how many times MC execs have lied publicly about their activities.

What can one expect with a figure like Ben Smith running the show. Once Ben Smith is out we can expect a company that is run more ethically. Until then…

By: MerchantCircle Pays for Its Marketing Tactics

MerchantCircle Pays for Its Marketing Tactics — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 23:30:56 +0000

[...] Blumenthal writes that the company has paid $900,000 to settle a consumer protection lawsuit filed by Santa Clara [...]