3/24/2010 10:13 AM (PST)

Check out the BBB report and TrustLink report/reviews on the company. This type of business can be problematic on a couple of fronts. Customers should be wary of promised claims of increased business due to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plans like this. Also, customers need to be aware that SEO programs are difficult to manage because a set of "key words" that boost search results today, may not be as effective tomorrow.

3/24/2010 9:54 PM (PST)

Well they have bad comments on BBB but they contacted me stating that they have resolved all issues on their comlaints...? They say my site will be at top of google search in one month to 6 weeks.. but i have to pay 259 a month.. they have waived the first month but still want the 100 activation... chance is it still may not be up in 6 weeks when another month is due..... is this offer even real..?? Sorry but im terribly new to all this and have no more room for mistakes or scams..... anything is helpful...thank you!

3/25/2010 10:31 AM (PST)

Lauren (et al),

Thank you for your questions. While I can’t speak for other SEO companies, I can assure you that Local Splash is NOT a “scam”. However, we are in an industry that has plenty of opportunity for misunderstandings. Case in point is part of Rick C.'s reply above. We do not "promise" increased business, but rather increased visibility (which most would agree would in turn equal increased business).

Our promise is simple, "Local Splash guarantees that your business will be found on the first page of a major search engine (Google, Yahoo! and/or Bing) within 6 weeks of your account verification; otherwise, upon request your basic service will be absolutely FREE until your business can be found on the first page." We don't hide that promise and we are proud that it is "asterisk" free. There is no fine print, it is what it is. You pay us for our initial efforts, if they don't work, we'll continue to work on your behalf at no charge to you. It is one of the most powerful guarantees in our industry and it is something we stand behind.

Additionally, while "Rick C." is right that keywords can change with the times, part of the service we provide is to change those keywords as necessary. For example, we have a client that rents bicycles in the summer near a lake and ice skates during the winter. We change that account's optimization based on the season they are in and the customer is happy with the results. So with our service no one is “locked” into specific keywords.

As far as your most recent question, like any company the works with advertising, what we do is not an exact science. We strive to provide the results that our customers want and most times we succeed. There have been occasions where the results have fallen short of our client’s expectations, but again this field is not an exact science.

At the end of the day, we are a company that chooses to work with our clients when they are satisfied or dissatisfied. We are a company that chooses to work closely with the Better Business Bureau in an attempt to resolve any disputes that may arise or to educate both prospective as well as current clients; this is evident by our solid “B” rating with the Better Business Bureau. We hope those facts are enough to provide some peace of mind and we look forward to the opportunity to work with you and any other business who could use our services to help their business “be found” on the first page of major search engines.

Best regards,

Bryan S. Hall
Director of Customer Experience
RelevantAds, Inc.

3/26/2010 7:28 PM (PST)

Well Im giving it a shot... so lets see how it goes! Im trusting y'all!

4/21/2010 7:25 PM (PST)

This is my letter. I am contacting the Attorney General in regards to my company and others, who has been victims of a scam. My company has been referred to a company by the name of “Local Splash.” This company has scammed our company out of 800 dollars, plus, 298 dollars (setup fee) and they refuses to return the funds back into the account. Our company has contacted Local Splash in the month of October 29, 2009 and we were clear that they would provide services before they debit our account. They have explained that we would be listed in five days on Google and the other search engines such as, Yahoo, AOL, MSN; etc would be opted in later. They claimed that they were sending us some information in the mail that would come from Google, which this will enable our services in getting started, yet we h ave never received it. We have contacted them on many different occasions in regards to our services that have not been rendered. In that time frame, the question remained in making sure that they were not going to charge us if we are not optimized in the search engine; they have clearly spoken that they would not charged if the service have not been rendered. In December 2009 an outgoing call was place questioning the service; again the service still has not been give. They did mention a billing date that would be in January 2010, we clearly spoke to cancel the service because we didn’t want to be billed for something that was never provided. Remembering what was told to us, in regards to the billing for January, we called three days prior to the billing date, just to make sure they didn’t bill us. Speaking to a Customer Service Representative by the name of Augustine, he cancelled the payment and to our knowledge, that was that. According to our statement we were billed a few days later. Looking at our latest bank invoice, we have notice that Local Splash have been charging us for months-unknowingly- with no service, since the month of December 29, 2009, after they told us we would not be charged. We have spoken to a Customer Care Representative by the name of Vivian and she said that we should have not been charged. The transfer went to Kelly Wicks (2-2 Supervisor) and he said he was not going to give a refund; we can give you two months for free instead. We rejected it because we have cancelled the service in December. We asked to speak to a higher authority; he said no I can have him call you. The person to call name was Brian Hale (Director of Customer Exp). They didn’t call us back but they have made the decision to not give us our money back. There are many similar cases as this one, where a lot of people are being ripped off by this company. We are contacting taking extra measures to resolve this issue using the following protocol by contacting State Representative / Attorney General / BBB. If nothing persists at a lower level the next will be a class action law suit filed against Local Splash, Represented by Atty.

10/6/2011 3:46 PM (PST)

LocalSplash uses deceptive information and slanderous sales techniques to confuse small business owners into using their service. There are many, many complaints against them on the BBB website as well as many other consumer protection websites. Review this article for more information about how their salesman work: http://www.examiner.com/internet-business-in-las-vegas/many-seo-companies-use-deception-to-gain-clients

10/6/2011 3:48 PM (PST)

If you have questions about the information above feel free to review our website at http://www.focusinternetservices.com to verify.