I need some advice for what to do about this. I signed up for targetfirst.com and have been running their ads for a month and a half. Now that its three days past when they were supposed to pay, they arent paying any of their publishers and aren't returning emails or phone calls. They have a quasi-official review site with a forum and aparently they havent paid anyone and arent responding to anyone on that site either. What should I do?
Get together on a class action suit with other members? I was with tehm when they first were mentione don SitePoint a few months back. I used them for half a month and made a good amount (over $2k) but dropped them mid month because they started underperforming adsense and didn't add them back. Glad I didn't now From what I understand one of the founders (Tom) left and things have gone downhill ever since.
PLAN A: What I would do, is kindly ask them for your money and if they refuse to give it, move on to plan B PLAN B: The internet is a big place, with a lot of power, especially when it comes to webmaster stuff. Spread the word about them. For example, I have a website http://www.webmastergalaxy.net which is a website where you can share webmaster opinions, write a review there about targetfirst.com and not only will others read it, if your in a forum you can just give a link to that webpage. Hope that helps.
Whoa... this goes even further. Many of us have been emailing them asking them politely about our unpaid balance, with no reply. Finally, the webmaster of targetfirstreview.com (a fansite for TargetFirst, who now runs google ads ) emaied Jim Busse and Tom Keugler with this: http://www.targetfirstreview.com/showthread.php?t=110 Its pretty hilarious. They're threatening the publishers for "email spam" requesting their unpaid balanced. But wait, it gets even better. Here's where it gets really weird The co-founder of TargetFirst registered a second forum username at targetfirstreview and made these posts. It was confirmed by IP comparison that this user "webart" was the same person as the co-founder of TargetFirst: http://www.targetfirstreview.com/showpost.php?p=492&postcount=3 http://www.targetfirstreview.com/showpost.php?p=502&postcount=5 http://www.targetfirstreview.com/showthread.php?t=107 It has become perfectly clear now that co-founders Jim Busse and Tom Keugler have no intention to pay their publishers, some of which are owed thousands of dollars.
I was so tempted to join, good thing I didn't or I'd lose a lot of money. They seemed very reputable at the start, wonder why they became what they are now.
glad i just did the advertising side when the offered 100 in free traffic and only got about 20 worth of the traffic... .. and i didnt pay a dime I feel bad for yall that got stuck
Well, I asked the owner of TargetFirst.com to do a review of TargetFirst and he kindly agreed to do so. You can read it here http://www.webmastergalaxy.net/ads/TargetFirst.php he rated them 1/10 and his overall comment was
They owe me about $580. I have been with them for four months and the previous three months I have been paid without problem (some more than my current balance outstanding). I dont think its a scam, I mean they have paid me and I had good service, but I do believe they are going through changes. I have managed to email Jim Busse, the co-founder and am hopeful of getting my payment, however due to the hurricane paying a visit to florida I am having to wait until it passes over, Jim is based in Florida. Anyway, cut a long story short, I have dropped targetfirst, I am hopeful of getting my money and I am 99% sure this was not a scam just a badly managed company.
They owe me just over $100... I know the guy who was the first 'Site of the Month' for being the highest performer, it's got his own quote on the site saying how brilliant TF are Now they owe him alot of money, I don't think he would say the same thing, hehe Wish I hadn't recommended them in previous DP posts though.