Indeed UK scam?

[realmaverick]

Yesterday I posted a few job vacancies to Indeed, in the exact same manner I had in the past. None of the jobs were showing up in the search though.

After much messing around, I managed to get through to somebody who informed me our account had a "sponsored only suspension" against it. Wonderful. Apparently it was because we'd posted the same job to several areas, which was because we needed engineers in multiple geographical locations.

The account manager told me that under no circumstance can this ban be lifted and I'd need to pay £2,000 to have our jobs re-listed in the sponsored section.

So I rang the U.S. office and asked about the ban, he said you've got a rep in the UK, he has full control over the ban and you'll have to have it lifted via him. I explained that I'd talked to him and he'd told me the ban can never be removed. So I asked him to confirm whether this is true and he said errr if that's what he said. I felt quite strongly that he was lying and that by keeping the account suspended, it creates a much bigger opportunity for the account rep to sell.

This feels like a grossly dishonest business model to me.

I appreciate the fact I can simply stop using the website but I wanted to bring this up and see what others thought of the practice.

 

[fisicx]

Seems like you are not alone: http://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.indeed.com

 

[realmaverick]

Thanks Fisicx, interesting read! Are there any good alternatives to Indeed?

 

[paulears]

It's difficult to get your own way with a free service that doesn't like you. They don't have to do anything - so all you can do is be nice, and ask them. If the rules say you cannot multiple post, then I'm sure that you made sure the ad in each section was unique to that area, and you didn't just copy and paste the same ad to multiple places - which obviously would be breaking the anti-spam rules. Is there anything wrong with attempting to upset, when the rules got broken. Sure, it's a bit sharp, but unless you got discriminated against contrary to any local laws, your only real option is not to use them. You have no power, you paid no money presumably, so where is any form of contract you could explore?


You made a mistake, which they believe was a spam action, and against the rules. All you can do is attempt to convince them it was a genuine mistake. The link posted seems to indicate the site isn't that good anyway - so why are you worried?

 

[realmaverick]

Paulears, the rules you talk of, certainly aren't clear, assuming they exist somewhere. There was never a warning of any form. Imagine how easy it would be to flag a duplicate and prevent you from posting?

Ultimately we were told the ban can be lifted, but our rep insisted under no circumstance can this be done. But talking to a friend in a recruitment agency, that it can be. So he's essentially lied to me, to get a £2k sale, which to me, is a big problem.

 

[paulears]

I've just had a look at their T&Cs which seem clear.

These terms jumped out

Indeed’s Website is for your personal, non-commercial use only, if you have no other agreement with Indeed. If you wish to make commercial use of the Website, or if you wish to purchase Indeed services utilizing the Website, you must enter into an agreement with Indeed to do so in advance

This seems a bit odd, as most ads are obviously posted for 100% commercial reasons - but is probably enough to break the rules. Paul

 

[realmaverick]

I can't seem to attach images.

I was just searching for alternate sources and noticed Indeeds adwords ad.

Post unlimited jobs free. Reach 180 million job seekers.
Find the right hire today on indeed.

They're definitely being shady in my eyes. Worth running it past my adwords rep at least.

 

[Norman Bailey]

Try Job Search which is part of the old Job Centre. You get online access to post jobs. And it works. It's on the Government site www(dot)gov(dot)uk

There is no cost and it's easy to use.