Comments on: The W-Group: PR Noobs

By: color brochure printing

color brochure printing — Mon, 21 May 2007 16:02:56 +0000

Scam! Scam! Scam! It’s a “long con”. Stay away I was burned.

By: Digital Common Sense » How NOT to get your product/solution noticed

Digital Common Sense » How NOT to get your product/solution noticed — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 21:47:51 +0000

[...] I recently shared in the pleasure Alec Saunders enjoyed receiving some unsolicited mail from a PR group about a service offering. He wrote a follow-up note here. Alec views is as spam, and I don’t disagree. On the other hand, in my role as an analyst, blogger, and generally outspoken pain in the ass, I take most of these unsolicited emails with a grain of salt. They quickly go to the bit bucket without comment. [...]

By: -- Alec Saunders .LOG

-- Alec Saunders .LOG — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 03:41:38 +0000

[...] Got home tonight, had a lovely ham dinner, and settled down to the PC with a pint of beer in my hand.Â I just about spit my beer out my nose at what I read next.Â Remember that fellow Thomas Scriven? The W-Group spammer I wrote about yesterday, who sent me a pitch letter marked confidential?Â Well, here’s what he wrote back next: [...]

By: Moshe Maeir

Moshe Maeir — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 21:56:32 +0000

Alec,
I call it a scam, you can call it a loophole if you prefer. The fact is that Congress mandated the Universal Service Fund as a way to bring equal service to rural areas, not so some slick operator can make a quick buck. Sure the people in Iowa also benefit, but that doesn’t make it right, unless you believe in a Robin Hood regime.

The bottom line is that US taxpayer money is being used to subsidize international calls - even though it is not in the US Government budget that was approved by Congress….

By: Alec

Alec — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:29:32 +0000

Moshe — I am not sure I agree it’s a scam. I’ve spoken with a few folks in the know, and certainly these models have been very good for the iowa communications industry.

By: Alec

Alec — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:28:42 +0000

Eric — alecs is my email ID. It wasn’t a mispelling. It was a mail merge with a list he bought some where. This guy spammed me. That’s what happened to the luuuuuuv :)

Loopy — I find the 712 area code models fascinating. Any PR might be good PR, but he could have had BETTER by not irritating me. C’est la vie.

By: Moshe Maeir

Moshe Maeir — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 08:06:41 +0000

Alec,
As the old saying goes - it doesn’t matter what you write about me as long as you spell my name right…

I know for a fact that Futurephone and others are quite successful in emigrant communities such as NY. However
they have limited scalability and therefore are not a major threat to the Big Guys. I wonder when Congress will catch on to this scam. Sure it is legal, but in my mind it is still a scam.

If it is true that Efax also routes thru Iowa - they ain’t doing bad as they charge $16.95 for a DID and get away with it!

By: Loopy

Loopy — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 07:26:55 +0000

Alec,

I take my hat off to the guys. They have cornered an influential name in the industry, they have been creative [probably been using Seth Godin tactics] and they have gotten a piece written about them [regardless of the value of the product/service].

Sweet :0)

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 03:55:20 +0000

I tried their number — 712-338-8849. It actually worked quite well, and the call was a lot clearer than using Futurephone. I also got through on the first try, and on every try, unlike Futurephone and all too familiar message of “Please try again later.”

Also, Alec — blogging has made you one SOUR GUY! haha..he just mispelled your name with an S, obv by accident!

What happened to the luuuuuuuuv

By: Ken Camp

Ken Camp — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 02:29:22 +0000

I got the same email pitch. Looked it over and tagged it as spam crap and tossed them into the filter. I debated posting something, but didn’t figure they deserved any attention at all with that shabby approach. Actually, I was just keeping their confidence…

;-)