Being in the Internet reputation space ourselves, we recently signed up for a test of RatePoint, where, they tell us, “Reputation is Everything”. RatePoint bills itself as being all about helping you build your Internet reputation. We actually had thought that if their service was as good as we’d imagined it could be, we might like to partner with them. How ironic that the company that is aware that your Internet reputation is everything is building themselves a bad Internet reputation by giving you no way to opt out of their mailings and by making you jump through ridiculous hoops to cancel even a free trial account.
After signing up for a trial RatePoint account, to see how it all works, we started getting bombarded with mailings from them. In fact, they send you mailings every single day – mailings for which, of course, we didn’t sign up, and they didn’t ask us if we wanted – but we have gotten used to companies with which we have some sort of relationship taking those liberties, and under our Federal CAN-SPAM law, that is the one time that a company can add you to a mailing list without your permission (permission is ‘assumed’ if you have a business relationship with them).
But even companies who add you to their mailing lists without permission because you have that ‘business relationship’ usually realize that you don’t want to hear from them every… single… day.
Then to add insult to injury, there is no way to opt out.
We ask you, what kind of reputation does that build?
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Here is a typical RatePoint mailing, in its entirety – do you see any opt out link?:
Subject: Grow your business with RatePoint, Twitter and Facebook
Date: August 17, 2010 6:03:09 AM MDT
To: [xxxxx]@theinternetpatrol.com
Questions? Call us at 888-777-1636 Login
Dear Anne,
Your RatePoint FREE membership allows you to create an unlimited number of campaigns and post them to your Facebook and Twitter pages – forever !!
As a small business owner, you need to communicate with your customers wherever they are. Different customers have different preferred ways they want to interact with you. In addition to email, Facebook and Twitter have rapidly become a preferred channel of communication for many of your customers.
Need help getting set up? Check out our help page at: help.ratepoint[dot]com or give us a call.
Sincerely,
– The RatePoint Customer Coaching Team
Become a RatePoint Expert fast! Call your coach today and get a FREE personalized demo of how RatePoint can work for you and your business. We’ll give you a tour of all the great features, and answer all your questions. Call us today at: 1-888-777-1636.
Need help? Call one of our friendly coaches at 1-888-777-1636.
Did you know…?
In 2010, the number of Twitter users is expected to jump to over 18 million!! That’s almost 11% of all Internet users.
comScore, Inc.
Today there are more than 400 million active users on Facebook.
Facebook
Login to your Business Center and link your account with Twitter and Facebook.
RatePoint, Inc. | Needham, MA 02494 | 1-888-777-1636
Just to be sure, here is a screenshot of that same email, with all images loaded:
So, being fed up with all of this email, and with no opt-out link in the email, we went into our account settings to try to change our email settings.
Guess what we found. Actually, guess what we didn’t find. That’s right – there is no way to opt out of their mailings at all.
At that point we decided that it was time to cancel the membership.
Guess what.
No way to cancel the membership!
Finally, in desperation, we hit the “chat with a support representative” button on the site. Here’s how that went (name of customer service representative changed because hey, it’s not his fault). Keep in mind that I was already signed in with our Internet Patrol address, and had also had to enter our Internet Patrol information a second time in order to enter the chat:
Welcome Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.! Your request has been directed to the Support department. Please wait for our operator to answer your call.
Call accepted by operator John D. Currently in room: John D, Anne P. Mitchell, Esq..
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: PLEASE tell me *how to cancel this account*!
John D: Hi Anne
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: John, *please* tell me how to cancel our account, (and why does your name say “Rob” if you are John D??) [Ed Note: At the bottom of the chat window, it had said “Rob, John D typing..’]
John D: I am not sure why it says Rob. What company are you with?
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: Actually the company *I* am with is the Institute for Social Internet Policy… But I suspect that’s not what you’re asking – our *account* is listed under [xxxxxx]@theinternetpatrol.com
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: Now, I have already spent WAY too much time trying to simply *remove* us from your system. Please tell me how to do it.
John D: Do you work for The Internet Patrol in CO?
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: John..the Internet Patrol is one of our divisions…I RUN it.
John D: I am trying to find out if you have an account with us or if you are getting email from a client of ours
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: John…we have an account, listed as “The Internet Patrol”….our account is signed up with the email address “[xxxxx]@theinternetpatrol.com”, which is also our username. And I am trying to CANCEL it.
John D: OK. Looks like a trial was set up on 8/13, perhaps by Anne Mitchell. I will be happy to cancel the account for you
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: “Perhaps by Anne Mitchell” – John, what is the name you see that I am using here in this chat?
John D: Same name and I will be happy to cancel it for you
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: Thank you.
John D: My pleasure
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: Please also tell your employers that they are {omitted} because they do not include *any* way to opt out of their (voluminous) mailings.
John D: I will pass your message along. I know with our trials and clients we offer an opt out option so not sure why you did not get it.
John D: Sorry for the inconvenience and I will make sure we cancel your account.
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: Right, but when you put someone on a mailing list, there *MUST* be a link to opt out in every single mailng, and RatePoint’s mailings don’t have that.
Anne P. Mitchell, Esq.: Anyways, none of this is your fault…thank you for taking care of cancelling the account; we appreciate it. And, just so you know who we are, we are http://www.ISIPP.com/ and The Internet Patrol is one of our web properties.
John D has left the conversation. Currently in room: Anne P. Mitchell, Esq..
So, that was our experience with RatePoint. Where Reputation is Everything.
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RatePoint will not cancel my account. Though I have told them repeatedly to stop charging my credit card they continue to do this in an apparently fraudulent fashion.
Can you help me get RatePoint to stop taking my money without my permission?
Thank you!!
Sarah
Ratepoint(less) is a futile exercise for consumers. It’s been my experience that if you leave a 1 or 2 point review for a business and if ratepoint accept it, the business will dispute it and ratepoint will remove it.
So my rating of ratepoint is for consumers, you lose out if the business disagrees so ratepoint are pointless. After all, the business pays for their ‘ratings’ so ratepoint have to ensure their ongoing cashflow.