Lavoramarketing and other scams

[glasses123]

Dear All.

I have recently been burnt by a internet marketing company called Lavoramarketing.com.

They called me claiming to be from google and promised me 1st page rankings gauranteed. (PPC) (I know I should have known better)

This did not happen and I complained within a couple of weeks of poor results and worse service. They demanded I ended the agreement in writing and also with 30 days notice. There was no mention of this before we began.:|

I refused to continue to pay these scammers anymore money. I know I should have researched them first but you learn from your mistakes and I have posted this to try and ensure they don't scam anyone else.

If you have come against this company or others alike, do the following.

1.) contact your bank and tell them a company has your debit card details and that they will try and take a payment without your permission.
2.) Cancel your card to prevent them from taking payment.
3.) If they get payment tell your bank and they will refund within 48 hrs and then investigate your allegations.
4.) send them a leter recorded delivery to officially imform them you do not give them permission to take payment and that you no longer wish to do business with them.

I hope this helps people who I am sure are also being mistreated by this company.

if anyone can add to this advice or mention there experiences I think it could be really useful.

Gavin

quality designer prescription glasses online

 

[david64]

Hi glasses123, these guys were brought up not long back. See this thread:

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=82569

Someone found this, which was quite funny:

http://lavoramarketing.info/

lavoramarketing.ltd.uk is still available if you want to join the club

 

[julianmoy]

Lavora marketing ltd are an ethical company my arse!
Dont give up on your money and don't give in, you will get it back.
There are plenty of people on the web complaining about lavora marketing.
I was told by lavora (several times) you can cancel by phone in the 1st month trial period (30 days from order placed) they ignored me as well and took another payment which I got back through the banks.
Keep a record of all phone calls times and notes on conversation.Recorded if possible and copys of all letters emails agreements ect.
Take legal advice it will put your mind at rest.
Report it to your card provider.
Report them to tradeing standards.
Best of luck.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Funny, i read it as lavatorialmarketing

 

[glasses123]

I have rid myself of them now just want to warning anyway who come across this thread when doing research into whether to use them.

 

[I, Brian]

They just spammed my forum, care of "defendmyname.com", which attempts to offer Online Reputation Management. Somehow I doubt forum spamming will help their cause.

 

[glasses123]

These guys are pantomine villains
They won't last, they'll probally just rebrand every 6 months.

 

[DayTrader]

there're so many complaint about them all over the internet, I don't understand why some people still use them.

 

[Alan Zeffertt]

I too should like to add my warning to anyone contacted by Lavora Marketing Limited, a company operating out of Altrincham, Cheshire.

In February 2009, I agreed on the telephone with Ian Rose to pay £119 plus vat in return for a one-off campaign offering wills services for my firm of solicitors in which I am a partner. We agreed 5 keywords and he guaranteed that if any of these were typed into Google, my firm's details would appear on the first page. He then took payment over the telephone from my credit card.

In the event, Lavora Marketing did not use the agreed keywords but changed them, without my consent, to other keywords which were of little or no effect.

After a couple of months, I noticed that they were continuing to debit my credit card. After complaining to Lavora, I received some emails from Sarah Earp, their Operations Manager. She made various claims saying they sent me a welcome pack containing their terms and conditions (which of course I never received) and saying they needed 30 days written notice to cancel their services to be sent by post. This was despite the fact that I had emailed cancelling their services. She also claimed that Lavora had sent an email informing me of the position which of course they did not. I tried calling her on several occasions but needless to say she never returned my calls.

I am now in the process of bringing court proceedings against Lavora Marketing Limited for breach of contract and damages. I have also contacted my credit card company in order to stop these ongoing monthly payments being made.

My strong advice to anyone who is contacted by this company is to ignore them and not to transact any business with them. I wish I had read the comments in your business forum before getting involved with these people.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

These guys are pantomine villains
They won't last, they'll probally just rebrand every 6 months.

Which is why a forum should educate its membership of practices rather than company name and shame . If a forum can educate people about the practices used, then these cowboys will not be able to continue running their business under a different name.


A search for 'special relationship with google' turns up a blog post I made a while back, on this very thing. The page gets a fair bit of traffic, and hopefully, those reading wit will leave with a better idea, and less chance of getting nailed REGARDLESS of the business nameused when calling them.

 

[jane1234]

This company called Lavora Marketing telephoned us in May promising us how they could increase and expand our business opportunites.It all sounded to good to be true.
They promised to put us on front page of google and said that they would be able to do this by using adwords and key phases. We were told it would cost £136 for the trial period and if it didn't work we were under no obligation to continue the service. We were very reluctant to give our credit card details and the guy on the phone said he wanted to reassure us that they were not able to take the money again without s[peaking to us as Lavora would need to take the card details again with our authorisation. He also stated he would call back before the end of the month to see how things had gone for us.

The whole thing was a waste of time and was waiting for him to call to tell him the service was a total waste of money. However, we had no phone call and was not concerned as we had not entered a contract.
On the 1st June we noticed we had been charged again by Lavora for another month, although we had not agreed to this.
We called them only to be fobbed off time and time again, they stated that we had a contract with them and if we no longer wanted we had to put in writing to give 30 days notice.

We have sent e-mail and that have been ignored, left messages and requested call backs that have been ignored and sent letters in writing ( complained and gave notice) and yes again they have been ignored.
When we finally spoke to a representative of the company, he told us Lavora could not refund the money (we know this was a lie as we had spoke to our bank earlier ) furthermore, he told us that the key words we had were not working for us. I told him that Lavora chose the key phases and NOT us.
We clearly stated we were not happy as we were supposed to be paying for this and they were supposed to be the experts.. He also said there must be something wrong with our website, but we advised him clearly we know there was nothing wrong with it as we were getting hits on it from other sources.

We were bullied into continnuing this again for June as they would not take no for an answer, but again was reassured that as long as we called before the last 2 days of June we would not have to carry on for July. We called back as advised before the end of July as we did not want to carry on with this scam and was now told we had to put it in writing as it was a legal binding contract although we have never signed for it, he stated business to business was different.
They also denied what they had said in the discussion we had earlier in the month. We suggested they listen to the telephone calls
We advised they had already failed to uphold their side of the contract as they failed to advise (e-mail) us they were taking money off our credit card for June. They state in their FAQ's as they are unable to contact all their customers they give notice via an e-mail 48 hrs before any money is taken.

So were back to where we started, cant get our money refunded, cant get them to cancel this pathetic scam they have going each month and peolpe in there offices that are just not prepared to listen and will not take no for an answer.
We advised them this is nothing more than a money making scam and they were taking money from peolpe by deception and its was nothing less than fraud. We also told them this company needs to be investigated and if it was a legitimate company as its head office address does not sound credible.
He seemed a little suprised by this and stated that they were ( yeh right).

We like others have had to go to the extreme and completely stop our credit card so they dont take any further monies. We have since received nasty letters. We have also spoke to another memeber of staff their and said if we had a complaint we would need to put in writing.....AAHHH.
We then replied to ask how thick & dense Lavora are, the letters we have sent are all complaints (moran)....
we just refuse to acknowledge this company again and now they can have a taste of their own medicine.

We have been trying to seek legal advice.
There seems to be a lot of legal advice for consumer's but not for business to business. As we are only a small family run business this has been very daunting and an experience one can never forget. A very big learning curve for us. Its made us very wary now about any marketing companies.

Anyone who comes in contact with this company, please...please...please put the phone back down...this is a scam..although C.A.B couldn't really help us they even said it was a scam....Please BEWARE.

 

[jane1234]

This company needs to be reported and investigated. If anyone has any advice or wants to take further please contact me.

 

[david64]

There are a few other threads about this company if you want to contact other disgruntled former customers:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=site:ukbusinessforums.co.uk+Lavoramarketing&btnG=Search&meta=

 

[julianmoy]

Are you a member of the federation of small businesses as they give free legal advice, given by serious lawyers with experiance in business law.Then go to your solicitors (better they have the money than lavora marketing) it'll put your mind at rest, then dig your heels in!
Report Lavora marketing to trading standards, BBC Watchdog and your card provider ASAP
If everybody on the net got together they wouldn't stand a chance.Hows that for an idea.
If anyone wants to put a face to a name have look on youtube you can watch the shouty muppets at work and see other members of staffs souls shrinking before your very eyes, poor sods.

 

[david64]

Report Lavora marketing to trading standards, BBC Watchdog and your card provider ASAP

Citizen's Advice Bureau is always a good one IMO.

If anyone wants to put a face to a name have look on youtube you can watch the shouty muppets at work and see other members of staffs souls shrinking before your very eyes, poor sods.

It looks like the stock exchange.

 

[SFD]

My god, anyone who applies for a job after seeing that video needs their head testing.

 

[glasses123]

Watching the video of them at work is truly terrible, how aggressive does there sales techniques look? They must be making a fortune ripping people off

 

[Bookkeeper in Guildford]

you could also report them directly to Google.

I have been called by them myself and they introduced themselves as "calling from Google"

They are Google qualified and if enough people complain they can have that revoked.

 

[Ali-v-8]

If you want to show your business locally then use MAPs

 

[GenerateUK]

This is an interesting thread.

My business just received a phone call from someone who identified themselves as calling from "Google" and they were called Lavora.

It was quite a short conversation that went along the lines of:

Me: Good morning Generate UK
Them: Hi I'm calling about Google, may I speak with the business owner, managing director or other director about Google.
Me: Sorry where are you calling from?
Them: Lavora, to speak about Google. It's very important that I speak to the Managing Director, what is their name please?
Me: You're calling from Lavora, may I ask what the call is about.
Them: I need to speak with the MD what is their name.
Me: I'm very sorry, I can't provide that information unless I know what the call is about as they may not be the right person. Can you let me know what you're calling about.
Them: Look this is very important and this is wasting my time, I could be talking to the window cleaner for all I know and do not want to waste anymore time messing around with you. You clearly have no idea about business...

Then he hung up.

Classy call... it raised a number of issues so I decided to research them. I went to their site and found their phone number, I called the number, which is an automated system. There is no way to contact them by phone.

Then I found lots of "Lavora Marketing Scam" type forum posts.

It seems that there is a lot of people being affected by these chaps/chap. I would add to this thread and urge people to really think before engaging with them in any way.

 

[J C Energy]

I have had no end of problems trying to cancel my contract, I did get a letter to them giving them 30 days notice. Then someone call Alex called me back and asked me to give the company another month to prove that they could make this work for my buissness, he said that they would not charge me for this extra month, which they didn't they also said that they would let me cancel by phone if it didn't workout. At the end of the month I called and canceled by phone, they said that was fine but could they just try some diffrent key phrases for another month at no cost to me, but they charged my account. I called and they said sorry yes you can cancel your account now, then they charge me again I rang and asked what was going on and they responded with "we need 30 Days writen notice" I explained that it had been agreed that I could cancel by phone after me origional cancalation letter, they resopned with" becuase we have taken another payment you have reopened your account and now need to give 30 day writen notice" I told them I would cancel my card but by the time I called the bank they had already put through the payment a day earlier than normal. The bank have now now started to try to reclaim this money. I hope I never hear from them again.

 

[business123]

Lavora were featured in the Daily Mirrors' 'Sorted' section last week: http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2009/08/refund-from-lavora-marketing.html

 

[allsquare]

Looks like someone here http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?p=282155#post282155
is getting somewhere...

 

[david64]

They are paying for AdWords to have this up for their own name:

http://www.correcttherecord.com/index.php/main_profile/view/63

The site is unknown and has no authority. It is owned by Robert Russo of Portland, Maine, USA, which also owns the website defendmyname.com, which is the subject to multiple complaints for fraud:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/QED-Med...rtists/-Notice-This-report-is-false-JJCJ5.htm

http://forum.escrow-fraud.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1028

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/504042/Xcentric-Ventures-LLC-et-al-v-Stanley-et-al---48

Here is a post from I, Brian, who mentioned Lavora were spamming his forum a while back:

http://www.internetbusiness.co.uk/05062009/defendmynamecom-spamming-forums/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation_Action_League

http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:BWp4C7btW5UJ:docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/arizona/azdce/2:2007cv00954/344869/48/0.pdf+%22robert+russo%22+fraud+qed&hl=en&gl=uk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripoff_Report#Lawsuits

 

[jane1234]

Hi
Just thought I would let you know it is very difficult to get help, advice & support for business to business transactions, I know I've tried. Independent legal advice is very costly. I cant believe these con artists are still being able to trade. They need to be shut down. I have spoke to Trading Standards and if they get enough complaints they will be left with little choice but to investigate this company. The address is Trafford Council, Trading Standards, Town Hall, Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester, M32 0YX. Mine is already in the post or call for a form from them.
We managed to get Lavora to stop pursuing us for money but we have still never had a refund for the monies that we never consented to or authorised in the first place.
If you go on to You Tube & type in Lavora you will see a video of Michael Darmartiis one of the directors & owners. Unbelievable or believable ???..you decide................

 

[Shajjad Miah]

Paid lavora marketing nearly 2K last month, after we trialled them and now we are not coming on the first pages - they are giving us excuses. What is the best way to recover the money???

 

[jane1234]

My advice to anyone is to call Trafford Trading Standards. They will send you out a form to fill in and to put your case to them. The more people that complain they will not be able to ignore and will have to investigate.
You can try going to the company but Lavora dont do refunds !!. Tell them your seeking legal independent advice & threaten with this action if the money is not resolved. Good luck !
I cannot say enough how many people have been ripped off, including ourselves from these fraudsters and I am suprised that the local police have not been involved. However, Lavora are very good at making excuses and looking at all the loopholes that they can get away with. Call Trafford Trading Standards. The details are on my previous thread.

 

[david64]

I believe that for less than £2,500, you can take a company to the small claims court.

 

[interested_party]

Hello,

A member of my family was contacted by these people today. We have contacted the credit card company to try and stop the payment, but Lavora have already taken it. I am alarmed by the reports on this site, we would now like to write to Lavora to cancel the trial. However, I can't seem to find an address anywhere. Could someone please post the relevant address we should use (otherwise, we'll just have to use the one from companies house) but I don't want to give Lavora any excuse for claiming that they haven't received the letter or that it was sent to the wrong 'department'.

Many thanks.

 

[david64]

Here is the address on Google Maps:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en...cal_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAwQnQIwAA

 

[flyjim86]

just to let everyone know lavora marketing have now lost there google accreditation

 

[seomediastar]

Guys,

First of all, you should be asking reports and references of previous clients of the company. You will be needing lots of reports, proofs that they will boost your web presence. Always avoid the "Guarantee" in SEO unless you are using top america's seo specialists but prepare your budget for them. There are cheap companies but make sure they have everything to show to new customers.

And can prove to you that they can.

 

[rangerover]

I too should like to add my warning to anyone contacted by Lavora Marketing Limited, a company operating out of Altrincham, Cheshire.

In February 2009, I agreed on the telephone with Ian Rose to pay £119 plus vat in return for a one-off campaign offering wills services for my firm of solicitors in which I am a partner. We agreed 5 keywords and he guaranteed that if any of these were typed into Google, my firm's details would appear on the first page. He then took payment over the telephone from my credit card.

In the event, Lavora Marketing did not use the agreed keywords but changed them, without my consent, to other keywords which were of little or no effect.

After a couple of months, I noticed that they were continuing to debit my credit card. After complaining to Lavora, I received some emails from Sarah Earp, their Operations Manager. She made various claims saying they sent me a welcome pack containing their terms and conditions (which of course I never received) and saying they needed 30 days written notice to cancel their services to be sent by post. This was despite the fact that I had emailed cancelling their services. She also claimed that Lavora had sent an email informing me of the position which of course they did not. I tried calling her on several occasions but needless to say she never returned my calls.

I am now in the process of bringing court proceedings against Lavora Marketing Limited for breach of contract and damages. I have also contacted my credit card company in order to stop these ongoing monthly payments being made.

My strong advice to anyone who is contacted by this company is to ignore them and not to transact any business with them. I wish I had read the comments in your business forum before getting involved with these people.

I too have been conned by this bunch at Lavora. I have paid for 4 months of ads with absolutely no response what so ever. and when you try to cancel there is sudenly another months payment to make to cover the "30 day" cancellation. A truely terrible service. I would advise any business contacted by this company to put the phone down immediately and save yourself and your business hundreds of pounds.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Always avoid the "Guarantee" in SEO unless you are using top america's seo specialists
.

This is bull. why American. Some of the worst seo i have seen from the dinosaur age has been American Seo.

 

[YODspica]

The trend coming up now for seo, is real-time social media results.

 

[kath simpson]

does anyone know the email address of Mike De Martis whom I believe is CEO of Lavora

 

[xzol]

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']I have just signed up with Lavora :O[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Had I have known the problems people have had with them I wouldn't have proceeded, but to have 5 keywords on Google for £99 a month and a free website and a one off payment of £49 to be on Google maps I couldn't resist (as I have spent £150 advertising in local papers recently and got NOTHING)[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']I can see my website when I search any of the 5 key phrases and I am on Google maps so everything is ok at the moment. Will have to wait to see if I get anything from it. All I need is one lead and it's paid off to be honest but obviously I want more![/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Thanks for your advice on Lavora (shame I hadn't of seen it sooner)[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Will keep you posted on what happens, who knows a lot of these complaints are a year old and maybe they have changed their ways??? (Don't worry I won't bet on it)[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Regards[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Anon[/FONT]

 

[xzol]

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Well it's been a month and so far I'm very disappointed.[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Bad Points[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']1. After 4 weeks I've had NO contacts from the Lavora Marketing Campaign which means I've had no business.[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']2. The £99 monthly fee does NOT include VAT (as do all of their other prices)[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']3. The 15 page website I bought did NOT include VAT.[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']4. The Google Maps I paid Lavora £49 + VAT is apparently free!!![/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']5. They guaranteed me FIRST page listing for 2 areas on Google Maps. They lied, I’m on the 3rd page not even listed in the main sections...[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Good Points[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']1. They offered me a 15 page CMS website with my own domain name and e-mail for £149 (which I bought)[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']2. They have given me 2 extra keywords every month free with my Marketing Campaign (now 7 keywords)[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']I will do a second month with my marketing campaign, if I don't get any results by the 8th week then I will cancel my campaign with them.[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif'] [/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Regards[/FONT]

 

[RedEvo]

They are advertising for staff

"SEO Engineers (Experienced Ethical SEO Background)"



d

 

[the locksmith]

Surprised they are still going. Absolute bunch of con artists.

I got stung about 2 years ago for a couple of months worth of sweet fanny adams. Eventually got out of it by emailing Google to tell them about the bad service I was getting from Lavora. They kindly replied to my email which I forwarded to Lavora who immediately cancelled my agreement !