I just saw this on ripoffreport.com about joeant: "Doing some research I came across alot of companies in total 27 that paid and never got listed so I decided to come a Editor and submit the websites for free. It never happened I learned that the $39.99 is going to the owner and there policy is not to except any website that pays to be submitted." http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff217659.htm
It's true that they say there are no guarantees. However, it would be more attractive if Speed Pass was valid until one of the sites submitted is approved. That would make it very fair for the customer.
The point was to inform that you can pay and not being listed. It is quite obvious that the owners will defend their site and except their personal attack against the person who filled the complain I saw nothing that disputes the fact that you can lose your money without being listed. In this way, they take no responsibility to process the request since they will have the money in any case. In my opinion they should simply refund the money if the site is not list able.
There was a thread discussing the issue here: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=160601 That is one really unfair posting and my full support goes to Joeant.
Just for the record, rather than become an editor, I did pay and my site was listed, and it was listed quickly. http://www.joeant.com/DIR/cat/16082/Submission_Tools
I also want a refund of my car insurance when I didn't crash my car. Maybe webmaster should read the guidelines before they start submitting. If we start refunding and we receive 100's of spam sites a day through our SpeedPass option, we are all day busy refunding. If your site is conform our guidelines it will always be listed. Only people with spammy sites or without contact info on their commercial site, complain that they didn't get listed and a refund. Hugo
Are you involved with joeant directory? It seems you are only concerned with what is good for you. It is never a good sign when a supplier starts to blame the customers instead of trying to fix a problem. There is a big difference between an insurance company and a directory. You are not taking any risk on behalf of your customers, they are the one who are taking a risk that the directory owner actually do what they get paid to do. As far as I know, joeant is based on volunteer work and the editors don't get paid for reviews, so what kind of risk are they taking that justifies keeping the customers money? Since joeant is solely based on volunteer work, my experience from DMOZ suggests that such directories are very much open to abuse by volunteers. What happens if the editors is a competitor of the customer or simply make a judgment error? Is there a functioning system that deals with customers complains? The report on ripoffreport.com suggest that such system does not exist and the general attitude is that once the directory got the customers money then the customer is just a problem and it is customer problem if the site gets listed or not.
no doubt that more the links you get better it is. But it should be good links. Paid are ok but see that dir has a good rank as well
gworld, yes I'm one of the founding members of JoeAnt.com and also a volunteer (I have a normal 40 hour job, not Internet related). SpeedPass submissions are not checked by volunteers (even I can't touch them). They are done by someone else. All submissions from editors are checked by other level2+ editors. This rules out the abuse of volunteers. The staff members also check the daily submissions to see if something strange comes up. If an editors thinks a submission was declined for the wrong reason, he/she can contact the reviewer with a Personal Message. If neccessairy he/she can resubmit. Hugo
JoeAnt's paid model is no different than the Yahoo! Directory, MSN sbd or many others. They have been around for a long time and all my experience with them as a volunteer editor has instilled nothing but respect for them.
I agree with gworld. If you are not accepted, you should be refunded. It's not the same as a car, Hugo. You know that. The webmaster isn't paying $40 for a 2-minute review process. Come on. The webmaster is paying to have this website and a link displayed on your "web real estate" - a page on the joeant directory. And that is what joeant is selling. Joeant is selling links. Not reviews. LINKS. So, if the link is NOT displayed, you have not supplied the service the webmaster is paying for. Refund the webmaster. It's the only moral thing to do. If you don't refund the webmasters, you are crooks, people will say that you are crooks, and they will be right.
That's right. But we only sell links to good sites. If a webmaster doesn't take the time to read our guidelines and then tries to list an affiliate trash site through our SpeedPass submission, he loses his $40. The webmaster has checked our 'Terms of Service' so he/she knows what will happen. It costs us time to review his site, so that time has to be paid. This is very common in many businesses. You don't have to pay a doctor's visit, when your healthy? You don't have to pay for an exam when you fail it? Hugo
Who is that someone else since you as founding member can not touch it and volunteers can not touch it? Let's say that I use your system and I am not happy with the result, who can I complain to and what procedure exist to deal with my complain? What is the time frame that you will get back to me with an answer? Is the abuse reporting procedures open and public in joeant or a joke like DMOZ? It is a good policy and you should continue with it but then don't charge them. It seems you are telling people that we don't like your site, so we won't list it but we like your money, so we will keep it.
I don't understand your problem, gworld. It clearly states on JoeAnt's site that the pay option is for a quick review. If anyone chooses to use that option/service they get what they pay for, a quick review. No where does it say you are paying for a listing so why should they refund monies collected for something they don't offer?
I am the kind that doesn't like the "fine print" behind all the warranty and bank contracts either. As helleborine mentioned no matter what they say in their site, everyone understands that you are paying for a listing and not a review. Why should such review cost so much and how does the directory deal with people who are not satisfied with review result? Is there employees who get paid and directory actually has a cost for the review or is it done by volunteers? If it is done by volunteers then what justifies keeping the money, except the attitude that we got your money and we like to keep it? If it is employees then what procedures have been implemented to deal with people who are dissatisfied with the result? What motivation joeant has to deal with problems in review process, if no matter what, they will keep the money and customers satisfaction is of no consequence to them?
Having just looked at the site, all the information you are asking for is there, including a contact source and what a pay for review submitter can do if their site is rejected and Hbird64 already told you that the volunteers don't do the speed pass submissions. Since you are so good at assuming then I'd guess it wouldn't be to much of a stretch for you to assume that a paid employee does the reviews. Well that isn't what they say and I think they should know what service they are offering and it is stated in bold print, so no fine print for you to try and read. You know what, I'd agree with you if they were only offering a pay for review service but anyone can join and submit for free. If they are unsure about their sites being listed, then they can just join, submit their site and find out. But if they decide to take their chances by paying for the review, then it's on them if their site is rejected because they do have another option that will not cost them anything. Honestly, I don't know why anyone would pay for a review when it's so easy to join and submit for free.
Where did you find that information? I just looked and I couldn't find it. Are you by any chance involved with joeant directory?