Yahoo!Geocities Fraud?
Written: May 12 '02 (Updated Sep 04 '02)
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UPDATE: In early September 2002, I finally received my payment--issued in mid-August, some six months after they were supposed to have been sent out--from Yahoo!Geocities. I have therefore boosted their rating to 2 stars, but still will leave the article unedited as it truthfully reflects my feelings about the company.
Several years ago I began researching a historical period and thought that it would be cool to create a web site where I could share the information with the rest of the world.
I won't go through the details about all of the time and effort that I spent on working on the web site and, more importantly, on the research, which included spending hours on end looking through old microfilmed newspapers looking for obscure facts. It eventually got to the point where I was getting a fair number of hits per day and I thought that it wouldn't hurt to try and make some money on the side. So I signed up for the Pages that Pay program and pasted the banners all over the place and basically paid little attention to them afterward. From time to time, I would run a report, and on occasion, the report showed that I had actually made a sale. Naturally, I was somewhat pleased, but my commission never amounted to much and I doubted it would never get to the point where I would actually get paid, so I never got my hopes up too much.
Anyway, during the winter of 2001/02, I paid little attention to the web site and it wasn't until February that I decided to run a report on my Pages that Pay account. It was then that I learned that the program was terminated and that the outstanding amounts due were to be mailed out by February 20, or sometime thereabouts. I thought to myself: well, it looks as though I'm going to get my money after all--a couple of extra bucks always helps.
April rolled around and no payment had arrived; I logged into my account and ran the report again and it was there just as it had been before. I then sent Yahoo!Geocities an e-mail through Customer Care. I was directed to go to the Pages that Pay and submit the question at the FAQ page, something that I initially couldn't do because it had been removed. All that was left of the Pages that Pay page was the notice stating that the program had been terminated. So I just went to a different page, submitted my question again, and shortly afterwards received a reply stating that I should go to the appropriate page, etc. etc. Well, I fired off response and did not hear from them.
Eventually, I decided to go back to the Pages that Pay page and run a report again. I ran the report and surprise, surprise, my account had been deleted.
I waited for awhile and still no payment or reply was received so finally I sent yet another e-mail, to which I have yet to receive a reply. And I know that I will never receive it, and therefore never receive an explanation as to why they are so cheap as to defraud me of such a paltry sum of money.
The amount in question is not significant, and for most people to be bilked of such a sum would not illicit any sort of concern. To be honest, it is no big loss to me either, and I know that the most rational thing to do is just drop it because there is nothing that I can do to change the fact that large corporations like Yahoo! can screw little people like me all they want without having to worry so long as they have a product or service in high demand, and that the people that they are screwing are isolated or intimidated into not speaking out.
My guess is that what happened to me has happened to many thousands of people, all of whom have just shrugged their shoulders and thought "o, well, what can you do about it?" Exactly the type of attitude that the all-mighty corporation desires from the humble masses.
I could go on ranting and raving about what I think of corporations, but what good will it do in this instance? So I'll leave it for some other day.
Up until now I have used a variety of Yahoo! services--Clubs-now-Groups, Games, Fantasy Hockey, E-mail--and have been generally happy, but now I'm seriously considering moving my website and closing my e-mail account and perhaps one day abandoning their services altogether.
Perhaps I should have known better, but I didn't; no matter how vigilant, sceptical and cautious one is, there is always that one time when you blindly allow yourself to get hooked. For some dumb reason I actually believed that by signing up with Pages that Pay that I could expect more reliable service, and now feel like a fool for being that naive.
Well, that's it then. My little rant is over, and to those of you who have managed to endure this epinion to this point, thanks for reading; to those that decide to write a comment/criticism/taunt/mocking derision, I thank you in advance and want to let you know that I will take into consideration whatever it is you have to say.
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About the Author
Location: Hamilton, Canada
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me: Avid reader. Interested in numerous subjects. Have a BA (Hons.) in History.
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