'Fixed price' Adwords campaign

[Mike Mackenzie]

We are the latest victim to report that we too have been "Lavora'd!
We were tempted to try a one month trial at £99 and, needless to say were disappointed with the result - ZERO rsponses! We rang and advised that we did not want to buy any more months but - were persuaded to try again. t
This time for £69 and their experts would work diligently on ways to improve the result. At first we accepted their offer but on checking the changes to the key words we found minimal attention paid and so we cancelled. On checking my credit card statement yesterday I found that a debit had been made. I remonstrated with Lavora who then advised that not only were they not going to re-imburse me, they were at liberty to debit still further as the credit card payment agreement was enduring!
In horror I checked this with MBNA who confirmed that indeed this was the nature of the agreement they had set up. I had not agreed to anything other the individual purchases. MBNA said this was a long way from an isolated incident. In research (now of course, too late!) I find that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of similar cases.
I have reported the matter to my solicitors and to Kent Count Council Trading Standards Office in the hope that Lavora Marketing can be stopped from "stealing" from companies like mine. The Credit Card companies I belive, have a responsibility to NOT enter into arrangment of this nature if (as they clearly are) are aware of something that is at least unsatisfactory and at worst illegal.

 

[julianmoy]

Good news today Barclay card have got my money back from lavora marketing ltd bankers.Its a shame lavora didnt give it back straight for the goodwill.Hayho live and learn.

 

[Mike Mackenzie]

Eureka! Managing Director, Mike DeMaris or Demarkis or Demartis or something like that called to"put things straight" today. He tried to justify their position but clearly was rattled that I had spoken with - The head of Trading Standards in Kent Count Council, The Legal Department of Google who are working on Lavora as we speak, the Trading Standards Officer at Cheshire Council, BBC Watchdog, and MBNA Bank (whose leagal team is also looking at lavora).

He has agreed to refund the £75 taken illegitimately from my account on the understanding I call off the dogs!

Well, making a fuss has obviously made him realise that his trading arrangement with Google has been put at risk. So we should all be able to pat ourselves on the back for forcing the about face - the power of email eh??!!

 

[Accounting Sage]

That is definitely a great news.
I am still waiting.

 

[clairejarrett]

I trained 3 of Lavora's staff last October onsite in Altrincham to receive their Google Professional certification. When I was there the staff were all happy, motivated and dedicated to helping their clients, and they certainly have a customer care team to deal with any issues that arise.

They do have to set a daily budget as do all AdWords Managers. They have to make their money somehow and at £99 per month, that's quite a cheap service. You get what you pay for so it will be explained that if you want to appear more often you will need to up your budget.

I've recently inherited a client from Lavora who only switched as I accept Bartercard, and he certainly reported good things about his experience.

 

[Accounting Sage]

clairejarrett,

After reading so many negative comments on Lavora marketing. How do you defend these sales people who do not even care to read a Sales console before charging from your account. These people became defensive when I asked for refund. I would certainly say NO to anyone going for this company.
Better try Google adwords instead of hiring such companies.

 

[clairejarrett]

I'm not defending their sales people. It sounds like some of their processes need revising. These forums are only giving vent to the unhappy customers as is common on the Internet- I'm just pointing out there are happy customers out there, who aren't posting on here.

 

[Ali-v-8]

This all sounds amazingly similar to another company called adwordsreseller a.k.a. sphere marketing, they too guarantee constant first page sponsored links with no click limit for a set fee. there is another thread on here entitled adwords reseller about them and they are about as dodgy as you can get, wouldnt suprise me if this was actually them as well.

I reckon steer as far away as you can!

sorry that thread is actually called google resell

Yeah, You are right, They sound exactly like them.
Unfortunately same old S**T different company name.

 

[julesgrinner]

Lavora marketing contacted me offering first page listing and I took a months trial with them.Very poor service so cancelled in the first month, accourding to thire terms.They have carried on taking payments and I'am still trying to get the money back.I have since found out that Iam not the only person to have this problem.
F.S.B have advised me to seek a ccj against them which seems to be where its headed as they just refuse to honor their terms.My advice to anyone getting a call from lavora is steer clear!

i have just come across this forum while googling lavora steer clear as advised bunch of lying dis honourable so and so s
ps anybody know where i can get my hands on the lying mike lancaster i have a delivery for him

 

[foyle3]

Put down the phone - I too fell for these scambags. Lavora was never mentioned during the call - Google google google - thay must be proud of Lavora. Cancelled card but too late - "A direct debit may have been set up". By post an "agreement" to which I had not agreed mentioned direct debit ad much else for the first time. Tried to cancel whole thing - "you have no cooling off period as this is a business to business transaction" ( we got your money ha ha ha). Trading Standards confirmed this. They then put the wrong search terms on the wrong country search engine!!!! Surprisingly no business has been generated. To claim back money you have to prove they did not provide the service promised. In writing they promise almost nothing - getting your ad on the search for five seconds a day would fulfil their undertaking. n Don't just ignore Lavora Marketing tell everybody you know about Lavora Marketing - put the scambags out of their miserable thieving business.

 

[Deleted member 52941]

On the subject of Lavora marketing, I've just signed up for a month. We agreed five search terms and I provided them with my credit card details. They then e mailed me the following week to say they had activated nine completely different search terms. When I phoned them they told me a)that lots of people wanted the search terms I initially agreed b) that the new search terms were ones I'd subsequently agreed anyway (I hadn't) and c) I would be better off with my new search terms. When I said I would be complaining if they didn't sort it out, they agreed the original search terms. I'm waiting to see if I am on the first page and whether I'll be able to cancel as per the agreement.

 

[foyle3]

Beware a direct debit set up already. Google rang today to say they were following up my complaint. If they do not supply what you ordered the credit card company can try to recoup the money - but it's so hard to prove because none of us can monitor 24hrs per day for a month. Nothing they say by phone will stand up in small cvlaims court - only what is written - so I would snail mail an account of your current dissatisfaction to them. I personally cancelled on day one after the print version of the "agreement" was received. Wrong terms in wrong country came up later. Copy your letter to Google UK Ltd, Belgrave House, 76 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9QT (post code is not a typo) Good luck

 

[Ecler]

I've also seen some companies claiming to put your company on page 1 in google and guarantee results....the trick is that they used google local business center, so it was only for an extremely limited number of searches based on location...

As a rule of thumb, any agency claiming they can put you in top position in google or who can guarantee results should be dealt with very carefully

 

[foyle3]

Lavora promises front page while talking on phone - their written "agreement", which follows extraction of money, wriggles out of any commitment - that's why they should be put out of their nasty business.

 

[julianmoy]

I would like to thank Lavora Marketing and the Daily Mirror Investigate team for getting my complaint "SORTED" (see todays paper)
Best of luck to everyone else with their complaints.

 

[foyle3]

Well done. With luck the publication may give Google a kick up the rear end. G phoned to assure that they took my complaint seriously - that was quite some time ago. The only positive I can report is that Lavora did not extract any more money from my account (that I know of yet). Three weeks after the end of my trial month I asked after my promised "report". "But you cancelled". "Yes but you took my money and I expect the promised service". "Mm Ah - I'll see what we can do". The report claimed that five search phrases had generated a total of 172 impressions (whatever they are) - not quite the "hundreds" promised by the cold calling scam artist name of James Brown (you couldn't make it up). Need I add that not one of those "impressions" translated into work/job/income. Scams'r'Lavora.

 

[king131]

Lavora are scammers, do NOT deal with them, and definately do not believe the one month trial claim. they will continue to take money from your account regardless and trading standards are not interested,
just google lavora scam

 

[webpromoterservice]

If they haven't mentioned it in the contract that you are signing up for PPC,then they are misleading and should be reported.

 

[foyle3]

PPC ???? Quest-ce que c'est.


The problem is these things are all mentioned in the hard copy which arrives after they have skimmed the first month's takings. The hard copy (misnamed "agreement") contains all the weasel words, sub clauses and get outs a shyster could wish for. In print they commit to almost nothing at all: and in truth that is what they deliver in my experience.

 

[JamesJGE]

I have created a campaign account with a company called Nuera, I was ensured my company would show as a sponsored listing on google for 7 keywords, and only be charged £176 a month.

Baring in mind this would have cost me thousands doing it through google adwords I was skeptical about the service but thought I would go for it.

Sometimes the ads show sometimes they dont, I run an ad-words campaign along side it because I do not trust it, I have been quoted about £1000 per month for another 50 keywords this seems extremely cheap.

Has anyone heard of this company and know any information?

Am i correct in thinking there is no way of paying a fixed amount for a constant google sponsored listing?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

James
JG Environmental

 

[Dave Thomas]

Have you contemplated reading up and giving adwords PPC a whirl for yourself first? Now would be a great time as the market isnt mad busy just yet!! Then you could make some decisive actions as to routes forward later and you will be armed with your own personal knowldge on PPC!

 

[Oblonguk]

Yup sounds like clever marketing talk to me. You are better off going directly through google and getting advice from the people here.

 

[Dave Thomas]

I have created a campaign account with a company called Nuera, I was ensured my company would show as a sponsored listing on google for 7 keywords, and only be charged £176 a month.

Baring in mind this would have cost me thousands doing it through google adwords I was skeptical about the service but thought I would go for it.

Sometimes the ads show sometimes they dont, I run an ad-words campaign along side it because I do not trust it, I have been quoted about £1000 per month for another 50 keywords this seems extremely cheap.

Has anyone heard of this company and know any information?

Am i correct in thinking there is no way of paying a fixed amount for a constant google sponsored listing?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

James
JG Environmental

You can pretty much do as you wish with PPC if you want to target 1 term then thats fine at a set budget per day but this wont guarantee you pos 1 all day every click....Also with the very limited approach you can limit the amount of good traffic that you can missout on! Any guys that offer all this 1 for for £10 2 for £20 crap are simply scamming they know full well how to play it so that you pay for the rubbish service and traffic and they skim off the top every time and when it comes to talking to them Jesus!! good luck.....Having access to adwords accounts that drive traffic to your site is v important you need to track traffic and calls to prove its worth the budgets.....I would always seek advice from an adwords certified Co. or individual first whatever rout you take......

 

[MASSEY]

hmmmmm 2008

 

[Dave Thomas]

is there a deadline?