ePerks- A Scam or A Gem?

By Vlad Zablotskyy August 10, 2007

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Following our initial review of ePerks, one of the comments was quiet negative:

I’m a Real Estate agent in Northern Virginia and was duped into buying into this ePerks thing. I bought two zip codes and they have taken the money out of my account and now I can’t find a single ad for them, and they refuse to answer any of my e-mails. I’m afraid this is just another flash in the pan, get rich quick scheme to rob Agents of their hard earned money. Every year new ones pop up with great hype about how they are going to flood you with clients and all you get are large bills and no responses.

And then this YouTube (see below) video showing a Realtor hit by a truck- evidently meant to convey a message that a potential customer will get a better deal using a Realtor listed on ePerks. However Realtors are/were one of the first after whom founders and creators of ePerks “went after”. So what do you think about ePerks? Is it a gem? Is it a scam? Please leave your comments below. Here is the video:

UPDATES:
This post is long overdue for some updates. The Brabus Ventures (now DotNext Inc) lawyer Ron Cook sent me a cease and desist threat on February 13, in which he accused me for having “fabricated” all the negative comments on this post, and of course he was very upset over the fact that I challenged few “positive” comments made most likely by the employees of ePerks. I certainly feel vindicated in this regard, when the astortufrifng on behalf of Brabus/DotNext Inc’s newest startup LeapFish.com became so obvious that the worlds leading technology blog TechCrunch had to block their IPs to stop them from astroturfing.

In June of 2008 Brabus Ventures file a civil claim against me and this blog- the case was settled in October. I have to say a huge thank you to Greg Swan, Andy Beard, Lord Matt, Trace Richardson and hundreds of other bloggers for supporting me during this time. Without you support and spreading the word about my troubles I simply would not have been able to afford an attorney to defend myself.

I have to point out that for over one year comments on this blog post were closed, however the dissatisfied clients continued to express their frustration- out of all websites I would like to point out two in particular – the Ripp Off Report and BBB.org

ePerks Reviews on Ripoff Report:

However, if you hesitant to believe things written on Ripoff Reprot the BBB.org website has updated their rating of ePerks to Unsatisfactory.

In recent days many agents trying to demand a refund are given an answer that ePerks is to file for bankruptcy and offering a 20% discount. It is very likely that many of these dissatisfied agents are not aware that Brabus/DotNexInc have just launched a new startup called “LeapFish.com”.

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125 Comments

By Utah County Real Estate, August 13, 2007 @ 4:43 am

Wow…sounds like ePerks is a big scam. Glad I never got involved.
By Frank, October 5, 2007 @ 4:39 am

Eperks initially had a section with your credit card number where you could change credit card numbers or cancel… that was removed. I manually went into my panel and removed my zip codes and sent an email to customer service stating I wanted to cancel and then I got an email saying I had to call some particular person who wasn’t even my initial sales representative. (he left also)

When I called this guy on the 3 of October he said I would be billed for October regardless what I told him and he denied that the eperks site had any issues. Their not interested in customer service, just taking your money. I have contacted the District Attorney’s office in the county where Pleasanton is located and sent a letter to NAR
By Jill, October 5, 2007 @ 7:23 pm

Hi,

I’m a Realtor also. I hae been contacted by Eperk, both pre-lunch and today. I looked at the site today and it’s up with agents in my area. Maybe it just got up and running???

Are you still having those same problems? Are they still not contacting you?
By Steve, October 18, 2007 @ 4:40 am

as far as im concerned all these comments seem absolutely ridiculous. If an agent were to partner up with eperks, they would have to be smarter than to knock down a company that they are invested in, and if they aren’t signed on with eperks, why would they care enough to post unless they were competitors that are concerned about a better concept and system that will probably wipe them off the market…and i guess if i was an agent that didn’t want to use the internet for its potential cause i was old school and like sitting around and making phone calls, that would make sense aswell. Might as well beat up on the new ideas. This is sort of like the fight between church and state. Its about capitalism, making money, and going with a program that makes sense…this is real estate not politics, and this is the last comment i will post on this subject. Eperks is a legitimate company, with a straight up, honest owner and an amazing system that will surely have agents and consumers going through them and reaping the benefits…ePerks, and anyone who is familiar with any successful startup company/investment knows its not an overnight thing. You get on in the beginning because thats where the most potential lies, all good concepts need fine tuning, something that eperks has continually done and is showing continuous success. Companies that start out well and go downhill are what you want to look out for, not companies that start out well and get better and better as they quickly expand exponential. A brilliant, revolutionary concept, with the support team to market, develope, and refine any quirk that rears its head. Powerful concepts executed properly are what keeps modern day moving into the future…ePerks is absolutely a revolutionary tool in the future of real estate, automotive sales, general contractors, and has incredible potential to work well in all consumer services. Think about it? : )
By Vlad, October 18, 2007 @ 4:42 am

Steve are you reading the comments or you just here to spam as were other ePerks employees?

Look ,these agents feel they were mislead, it’s not like they are buying company’s shares on Wall Street. They have purchased the service and ePerks failed to deliver. How can you blame them for criticizing ePerks?
By John, December 20, 2007 @ 4:44 am

I got into ePerks, too. Considering that it’s a startup, I went into it knowing it might be slow. So far, no conacts, but I’m willing to hold out a little longer. I figure with my three zips and the guarantee, I’ll be good riding the program for eight months. If anything, I’ll get all my money back in one lump sum. Love the commercial, BTW.
By Larryk, December 20, 2007 @ 4:45 am

I just received 2 buyers last week and they are real leads. So far I am happy and I have seen the ads on googles and yahoo homepage. I think its great but I think its going to take a little time all parts of the nation to work perfectly. If you are an agent that wants to make $20,000 with $21 investment you are confused and should’t use it. It think its goingto get better also.
By Christi, December 20, 2007 @ 4:46 am

Great program and great results so far, seriously. I’ve received only 1 buyer lead so far but a solid buyer that will end up closing. My guess is these zip codes will go up in serious value shortly even if not in price.
By Michael, December 20, 2007 @ 4:47 am

I bought 7 zips and have had one lead so far. I think the program is a GEM! There google ads spread throughout and there was a front page ad on Yahoo.com. Eperks differs from all other in that it doesn’t take some flat fee for you to compete with other agents over leads. They have a serious in interest in wanting you to close deals because they receive 3.5% of agents commission for every deal closed! It will only get better as the days go by! Honestly, one deal closed covers the cost of my zips for an entire year, two makes it profitable. You can’t lose.

Oh BTW I’ve had no problem getting in touch with Customer service, just e-mail Kevin Morris. He’s prompt and great.
By John, December 20, 2007 @ 4:48 am

I’m in Vegas and the way I look at it is like this. If I don’t make my money back in 8 months than these guys are going to give my money back. I can shoulder 8 months to find out. I think the program makes a lot of sense. . I think the pay off down the line will be sweet it’s way to early to evaluate it’s performance. It will take a year for it to take off the way it should
By alex zuniga, December 20, 2007 @ 4:50 am

I purchased 4 zip codes in my area. I surf the net regularly and have not seen any of the promotional ads on google or yahoo. My concern or question now is if the ads run differently on these major search engines with relation to where you live or how big your market is? The idea is wonderful and yes I would agree with Michael that eperks wants to get to word out to as many people as possible, so that the agents and eperks profit. At my cost I would need to close 2-3 deals a year to break even. I’m willing to hang in there at least 6 months and am considering integrating my personal advertising to showcase eperks. Am I making a mistake in doing so? Am I promoting the savings versus my full time real estate services? I personally do not want to be viewed as or branded as a potential discount broker. To conclude, I thought the commercial was a bit tasteless. I am going to stay optimistic and see if the program improves.
By John, December 20, 2007 @ 4:50 am

I laugh at people like you who are negative about everything in life. You send out your garbage because “misery loves company”. you’re abviously jaded and are always the “victim” when life happens to you. life’s passed you by already fool…no catchin’ up for you…pray…it’s all you can do
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 4:51 am

John,

Please do not attack people who leave comments here or I will mark you as a spammer again.
By Mina montgomery, December 20, 2007 @ 4:56 am

I think its a phenomenal idea and it leaves the agent in control of how much of a discount they are willing to provide. I just purchased 4 zip codes and even if I get just 1 deal Im in the black. I don’t expect them to go away given the idea has so much potential and I will try the program for a few months.
By Agent in AZ, December 20, 2007 @ 4:57 am

I am one of the largest clients and I would like to say that the ePERKS model is the inevitable future of our business like anything that goes through changes. Unfortunately ePERKS launch too soon. Their commercials were not ready and marketing is not on track yet. The commercial, I’m glad they canned it, was rude, violent and would have killed this company right out the gate. We deal with families and no parent would ever want their kid to see this commercial. As to the guarantee, I came from corporate America and ran billion dollar projects prior to real estate. The guarantee is only as good as long as the company is successful, if they fail in eight months, nobody gets anything back. If they win, then those that stuck it out wont need to ask for funds back. So you are either in or your just watching. I am betting they win.
By Capecoral Realtor, December 20, 2007 @ 4:57 am

Its a Gem for me! its starting to pick up for me. 1 out of the 2 prospects that have called me is an A and Ill be able to close the account within the next 60 days. I do wish the site was a little better but prospects are what are counting for me. To the sucker guy, NAR has no authority. don’t be made you were eliminated by an exclusive . One of my zips did and it pissed me off, but the other are exclsuive
By BOB, December 20, 2007 @ 4:58 am

Assuming that this is working for some of you – where/how are your leads finding you?

Also,

Why would anyone purchase more than one exclusive area if there are already multiple agents using eperks in their city?

I believe that most buyers/sellers would not search by zip code, but rather the city name and state, in this case the customer will see all of the agents active in the area and what will they do… Go with the agent offering the largest rebate!
By Christina, December 20, 2007 @ 4:59 am

I really, really hope this is not a scam. I am very nervous , but the idea just seems so logical. Haven’t got anything, i’m spending abt $140 mo. I’m not putting my faith in the money back guarantee. I feel irritated that I haven’t seen any ePERKS ads. But spending money on advertising that may or may not work comes with the territory in our business so I accept the risk. I HATED THAT COMMERCIAL!!!! I emailed them that it was disturbing and sick!!! (and I am hardly a prude). How can people find it funny that a perfectly nice lady doing her job gets killed? Whoever mentioned Kevin Morris was right on. He always responded courteously and promptly. Some of those “contact support” buttons just don’t work. Anyway he said that he would pass on my comment about the commercial to the marketing department. So if in some small way I helped to nix the stupid commercial, I’m glad! It was not professional and I think it would have offended a lot of potential clients and we sure don’t want that!
By Brian, December 20, 2007 @ 5:00 am

I also hope Eperks does well, as I also have not received any leads as of yet but I know these things can take time. I just wanted to comment that I liked the commercial. I know it may have seemed a bit rough but the point of it is after it airs everyone will remember it and know eperks.com.
By BOB, December 20, 2007 @ 5:00 am

TOP PRODUCER, what area of the country are you in?

How and where did your customers/clients find you?

Do you have any affiliation with EPERKS???
By Jen, December 20, 2007 @ 5:01 am

I almost cancelled but I just started to receive prospects calling me, so I am going to continue using them. It looks like the advertising is kicking in and picking up for me. I am not sure why some of you may not have received buyers.

I think they have the seach ads everywhere. I don’t know why some of you are noting seeing htem but I see them for california territories. I also saw them on zillow the other day, but I don’t think these guys are a scam as I actually have a phone number that I can call and get my support.

I actually liked the commercial and not sure where it went. I thought it was done in a way that would get attention and wouldn’t be forgotten.
By Jen, December 20, 2007 @ 5:02 am

By the way I see a lot of negative comments?

Is this eperks competition writing these, because I can’t see how its so real?? I know others that are also receiving activity. if these are eperks competitors doing this, i think that is wrong. thanks
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 5:04 am

Jen,

As far as I can see all comments negative comments are genuine, I do however suspect that most of the positive comments here are being written by some one who is trying to spam on behalf of ePerks- looks like one person writes multiple comments using multiple names during the same visit to my blog.
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 5:06 am

Jen,

We doubt eperks competitors are responsible for any of the negative comments. If you notice majority of the comments here do not even have links back to websites. Every one is free to comment on this website, and we hope that both positive and negative comments are genuine.

ePerks is really new company and if they are keeping track on blogs like this they should definitely act on “valid” criticism.

We will try to feature more about ePerks and appreciate every comment we receive be it negative or positive.
By steve, December 20, 2007 @ 5:06 am

with a company that is selling out zipcodes, realtors are selling off their referrals, because they cant handle all the business eperks is giving them, and agents are still making money on referrals because eperks has such a cheap referral fee…this is a startup company that has expanded advertised and developed incredibly quickly. Do you honestly believe that every single person who partners with a nationwide company is going to see instant results? No, will they see results? Absolutely its a phenomenal idea, company, approach and yeah it takes time…is ebay a tremendous success? Yes. Does everyone who uses it always have success? No, if you use it right can you have a business that fully operates with ebay? Yes, and if you work eperks, and let eperks work for you….it will, there’s a gaurantee, and if you aren’t seeing results than walk away from it, don’t bash it. Let agents and consumers who will find success, will swim in the profitabillity and PERKS of this brilliant market place take advantage of a good thing!
By NorCal, December 20, 2007 @ 5:07 am

Lol. Well here are my 2 cents… I don’t believe these negative comments either. At all.

I think they are from agents who have weird expectations with their $69 dollars. I’ve met with 3 interested parties form eperks thus far. thats insanely good!

These are odd negative comments. Either these agents lack any intelligence and value for their time or they are disguised competitors attempting to kill an honestly good idea.

Bob and others who are posting supposed emails over and over must have nothing to do, really. The SHOCK thread to me is that a so called realtor who claims to have spent 69.95 expects to receive some magic with that insignificant amount money! You’re right Id be pissed too if I didn’t closed 18 homes with my 69 dollars in 1.5 months. Im spending near $700.

Please… I spend thousands with online marketing from house values to fly by night lead sites every single month! All to get 1 or 2 actually decent leads a month that may close 6 – 12 months out. I will seriously say that out of everthing I do eperks has the best model in mind so far. I haven’t closed a deal…., but its only been around for a few months and my expectations are no better than lead gen sites for now.

Trust me, I definitely want to see how it unfolds but these negative comments way too much and are ridiculous to me. This is the real estate business…

No I personally didn’t like the commercial. but you’re right i did remember it.
By Grant, December 20, 2007 @ 5:08 am

A buyer and a ready seller have contacted me.
Buyer might not pass to close the loan but i\’ve been showing homes.
3 exclusives
By BOB, December 20, 2007 @ 5:09 am

The topic was… ePerks- A Scam or A Gem
Not, how do agents budget their time.

My point is this – rather than wonder if these posts are legitimate just pick up the phone and call a few agents that have exclusive areas within their cities and see what they have to say!
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 5:10 am

There is nothing wrong to expect a return even if you pay one cent. Good pay per click campaign can bring you about 7000 visitors to your website and if your website is only able to convert 1% of those visitors into solid leads you can end up with 70 leads.

It does not matter how much is spend, those who spend $50 are entitled to expect returns no matter how low those should be. From comments here we can deduct that many real estate agents are not too happy with the results.

By the way, thanks every one of your honest feedback.
By dave, December 20, 2007 @ 5:10 am

i wish i would of seen this first i paid with a credit card im going to use my credit card services to refuse the payment…………….
By Paige, December 20, 2007 @ 5:11 am

I am going through the same thing. Have you made any progess or are we just out of luck? EPERKS IS A RIP-OFF AND A SCAM!
By OregonBroker, December 20, 2007 @ 5:11 am

It is against Oregon Real Estate License Law to offer “incentives”, “KICK BACKS” or other RESPA violations to buyers and sellers. The only referral fee arrangments which are valid are to licensed brokers/brokerage.

I am reporting eperks, and the agents in Oregon to the Real Estate Commission. This type of pimping, and you whores that participate, erode the very system that you are working in. No wonder the buying / selling public has no faith and/or trust in Realtors. You keep cheapening yourselfs, and your services. Keep dreaming that eperks, or any other lead generator has your back . . . HA HA HA. They don’t. They are only making money, or trying to make money off your agents. And you idiots let them.
By BabyRealtor, December 20, 2007 @ 5:12 am

@Oregon Broker

Thank goodness some one brought it up. For those Realtors unfamiliar with RESPA here is section 8:

Section 8: kickbacks, fee-splitting, unearned fees

Section 8 of RESPA prohibits anyone from giving or accepting a fee, kickback or any thing of value in exchange for referrals of settlement service business involving a federally related mortgage loan. In addition, RESPA prohibits fee splitting and receiving unearned fees for services not actually performed.

Violations of Section 8’s anti-kickback, referral fees and unearned fees provisions of RESPA are subject to criminal and civil penalties. In a criminal case a person who violates Section 8 may be fined up to $10,000 and imprisoned up to one year. In a private law suit a person who violates Section 8 may be liable to the person charged for the settlement service an amount equal to three times the amount of the charge paid for the service.

I have just recently received my license and I am surprised at those who praise ePerks- guys you better not cross my path in this business. To those who feel deceived by ePerks I have one thing to say- where was your brain?
By Jill, December 20, 2007 @ 5:14 am

First off I want to tell you how happy I’m am to see your passion for the ethics of our business, and going by the book. It will serve you well in your first years of real estate, and that’s the way all RE agents should be.

I wanted to touch base on the RESPA sec 8 remark. Like the person above you said “The only referral fee arrangements which are valid are to licensed brokers/brokerage.” I do know that the rep I spoke to a ePerks is a licensed real estate agent, there for they can profit from the transaction. Just as an agent referral from one to another can profit. It is done in Texas all the time, and legal.

I’m still not sure ePerks is the “real deal” as far as producing real leads, but guess I’ll find out very soon. I will let everyone know how it goes.

Thanks
Jill
By John, December 20, 2007 @ 5:14 am

Sure ePerks does not participates in “kickbacks” but all the “Realtors” on ePerks offer “kickbacks”
By Comment by ePERKS vs propertymaps???, December 20, 2007 @ 5:15 am

I am a Florida Based Real Estate Agent who signed up with both ePERKS.com and Propertymaps.com services. Here were my results Although propertymaps has a great site, and a lure of free leads 10, that is nothing as any of us seasoned agents know its take 200+ leads of these types to convert into sales . On the other I bought 2 exlcusives zips pre-launch with eperks.com and closed my first transaction with them this month so my 3 month investment of $300 paid off for me with immediate results as the potential buyers directly contact me thus providing a superior lead if you will vs spam leads that are unverified at propertymaps Here are my calculations on the 2 programs you can judge your self. Knowing that I would have to buy atleast 50 llive leads from propertymaps minimum with even the slightest chance to maybe land a customer which I did not. propertymaps would cost me about $1000 investment to maybe get one potential buyer or seller with my $300 investment with eperks a I have already closed a deal and have able & willing buyers & sellers contacting me directly . So you be the judge my choice is clear the results speak for themselves. Florida Broker..
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 5:16 am

Warning: The above message is left by some on associated with ePersk- maybe even an ePerks employee.
By inguru, December 20, 2007 @ 5:16 am

How did you come to this conclusion?
By inguruComment by ePERKS vs propertymaps???, December 20, 2007 @ 5:17 am

Well maybe this Virginia agents lacks propert closing techniques.

Because I have closed 3 transactions in Virginia,MD,Pn off my ads on eperks.com

Its a great program just novice agents expect immediate results realistically programs like this are a 1 year investment or more

So plan ahead agents improve your profiles and content on the sites like eperks.com
By Adam, December 20, 2007 @ 5:18 am

I used to work for ePerks in Pleasanton and I have to say, the business model is good but the company structure is not. They have their sales people looking up realtors at google and on sites such as realtors.com. No CRM whatsoever. So if you have them calling you even though you’re already a customer, that is why.
By L.D., December 20, 2007 @ 5:19 am

I just canx my eperks account. I signed up with them when they first rolled it out. My broker also signed up with them and took 2 zip codes. While they were supposed to be exclusive eperks sent the same leads to agents who were on the regular plan and share zip codes with other agents. In two months I recived three leads. One which was a refi, one who is just looking and can’t qualify and one who never even aswered any emails or phone calls. After several converstaions and a lot of digging I’ve arrived at this conclusion. While the concept is great and the potential is there eperks has not done the advertising campaign that should have been done. they seem to be advertising as they get money from their accounts every month and using the agnt to cover their startup costs. After three months I closed my account and it was to close 9/30/07. I went into the account to check for activity on 9/28/07 and found that they had closed it 2 days early. While this may not seem like much it is the principle of the matter. I paid for a service and did not receive the service promised. I would urge all agents to think long and hard before investing your money in this service.
By Frank, December 20, 2007 @ 5:19 am

Terrible experience as well… they don’t return emails and canceling is becoming a hassle. I think it’s time that the Pleasonton, CA district attorney’s office looks into this one!!!!!!!!!!
By Linda, December 20, 2007 @ 5:20 am

maybe some areas are better marketed then others. I’ve been fairly successful with eperks. I’ve a member for just over a month now and have listed one home (hasnt sold yet ) and have several prospects looking to buy shortly.
By Jill, December 20, 2007 @ 5:21 am

Linda,

What state are you in? And how many leads from ePerks would you say you have had in that time? You didnt give a number in your comment. ALSO, how much of a rebate are you offering the buyers? ePerks starts it at 19%, but I see agent offering up tp 50% on the site.

I just signed up with ePerks, but the feed back on this site has me concerned.

Thanks!
Jill
By Linda, December 20, 2007 @ 5:21 am

Jill,

Im located in California. To date I’ve received 8 leads and 3 phone calls. I’ve been offering 15.5% cash back but may increase it a couple points. Good luck.
By Jill, December 20, 2007 @ 5:22 am

WOW, well great! I did sign up, and I’m on the site. However, I was very surprised when I found agents on there UP their cash back to the buyer at 50%. Of course ePerks only stressed their 19% fee (and 80% of that is what is rebated to the buyer), I wasn’t expecting to see agents offering 50% to the buyer (which is 53.5% total w/ePerks split).That means regardless of my zip code, if I’m not willing to match that agent in my general area offering the most back, I’m wasting my time/$$$ ….And ePerks collects my $130.00.

They did tell me when you cancel you have to do it before the end of each 30 days, or it goes another 30 days automatically. I have the rep’s cell phone number, so I hope that will help me, sinc ea lot of you complaints were not being able to contact your rep.

In my 5 years in RE, I have not ever used one of these referral companies till now. I finally try and this is what I get …. Well, there ya go!!

I will let you know how it goes.
By Henry, December 20, 2007 @ 5:23 am

Im going to have to say its a gem. I have two zip codes exclusive. I’ve received several contacts and hope to have one close soon. Became a member in August. I agree that the site lacks in content.
By Jill, December 20, 2007 @ 5:23 am

I’ve left a few comments now, but I have a new major concern with ePerks. I was told by the marketing rep that signed me up; the zip code I bought was getting 24 leads a month. She went through several other zips and quoted me lead statistics, and based on that info I signed up.

WELL, after the fact, I called all the other agents already signed up in other zip codes she told me about. They said they had received no leads so far. I called several different agents in different zip codes in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Not one of them had received a lead yet.

NOW, how this possible if is what the ePerks marketing rep told I was true. I do believe she was quoting written figures, because the other agents were told the same figures. If no agents have had a lead, who is getting 24 a month?????

Now that I know that the lead generation info I was given isn’t verifiable, I feel more like I was taken to the cleaners. Especially after hearing that some of you tried to cancel and they are still billing you. Did any of you cancel and not have a problem doing it? Not given the run around, and were not charged again after you cancelled. I sure would feel better know that some one cancelled and that was the end of it, no problems. Please Reply!

I do hope this is just the sign of a new company with bugs that need to be worked out and not a scam as so many of us are feeling. It’s only been 3 days since I signed up, and I’m waiting to hear back from my account rep to go over these concerns (it’s the weekend). I’ll continue to keep you updated.

Jill
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 5:24 am

Jill,

Thanks so much for your feedback. All I can say it that ePerks spent way too much time and efforts on marketing the product while neglecting the product itself.

They would benefit much from bringing on board real estate agents. I still think the idea is good, but as long as they go and lie about their product they are doomed.

By the way, they also claimed that most of these comments are written by me and not by real estate agents.
By John Flores, December 20, 2007 @ 5:25 am

Well guys, I am going to try eperks.com. I know, I am a sucker. I will let you know what happens.

Besides, when joining this forum did anybody else get confused by the human tester and place the numbers in the box instead of add them together:

? Please add 2 and 10. sorry, this is to make sure you’re a real person
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 5:25 am

John,

Sorry about the math test. It really cuts down on “bot” spam.

I hope this is just small inconvenience and none of the real estate agents have trouble to do the math, if you know what I mean
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 5:26 am

John,

Just to clarify. This page is not a forum, it’s part of the blog and there is no need to join in order to leave a message.

The plugin in place wich protects from computer-generated spam. I am working on modifying it, I think + in place of and may do the trick. By the number of comments though on this post it does not look as if any one had a problem with it.
By BOB, December 20, 2007 @ 5:26 am

Jill, as far as the numbers that Eperks were quoting for the “leads” – I was initially told that these were going to be actual contacts, not just visits to my profile page in Eperks.

After speaking to another representative I was told that these are their estimates based on historic sales data for the zip codes (they would have to assume that every home buyer was aware of their program). As far as I’m concerned their numbers are useless.

I have received one lead to date, which was from someone looking for a 1800 sq. ft. home for $120,000. The prices here are three times that!
By Jill, December 20, 2007 @ 5:27 am

Thanks Bob.

I knew those numbers were too good to be true. I have also only had one lead. You thought your’s was bad … Mine wanted me to find a house for $3,000. YES, $3,000!!!

I’m sure I will cancel before the end of my first 30 days. Please let me know if you have a postitive experience between now and then. Best of luck.

Thanks again,
Jill
By L, December 20, 2007 @ 5:27 am

My 1 lead for some reason seemed like a fake. Did anyone else get that feeling? Just the information that they provided, seemed so unreal.

I see that others had the same issues, i’m wondering if someone in ePerks is just hired to do just that. Give a false hope to the agents to continue to do business with ePerks.
By Jim, December 20, 2007 @ 5:28 am

Well I have had eperks for about 3 months and have had ZERO leads as of yet. I do think it is a good business plan; however will the leads start?

I think anyone who expects or expected a lead after a few weeks is not being realistic. This should not be your only lead-generation tool or you will be out of business soon.

I was planning on giving it the “8-month” try; of course as talked about – if they are gone in 8 months there will be no one to get my money back from.

Not sure if I believe if anyone has completed a transaction – I suppose if REAL agents have a closed transaction – they could provide a website link or something to prove it to the rest of us!
Cheers from DC.
By BOB, December 20, 2007 @ 5:29 am

There are a couple of things that really concern me about the Eperks program and I think that everyone that is using the service should be aware of.

Jill had mentioned above that she has seen agents offering 50% back. I know of one company offering 66 – 95% depending on price!

The company is AmeriBuy Realty Group – you can find them listed in Eperks under Anaheim, Riverside, Corona, etc. in California.

If you visit their site you will find that what they offer is to write the purchase agreement for the consumer after they have located a home – this means that the buyer will probably be using a local agent to view homes and find the one that they would like to purchase, just to turn around and have this company write their offer.

The thing that really irritates me is that while I’m spending over $1,000 a month with 6 exclusive areas they come in and while only spending $49.95 for a standard listing take all of the surrounding zips that are not Premier or Exclusive. Neither I nor any of the other agents in my area will stand a chance when a buyer sees this (the rest of us are offering 20% or less) and the only way for me to get rid of them is to buy those areas as well and I’m just not willing to do that until I get a lead that I can close.

My area is not the only one that they are in – for those of you that didn’t realize it, the standard listing allows them to take ANY zip code ANYWHERE that is not taken as a Premier or Exclusive area.

Take a look at their profile page at Eperks. They have taken zip codes in 254 cities!

This company is not the only one doing this – there are 14 other agents that I have seen (so far) doing this and as far as I’m concerned they have no right to be in the areas where they are not members of the local Board of Realtors and have no MLS access.

EPERKS NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS BEFORE IT GETS OUT OF CONTROL.
By Cye Lee, December 20, 2007 @ 5:30 am

I am in california and the number of people calling is increasing since their new website. I have received some calls and some leads since the beginning with some good prospects and some ridiculous prospects. The ones that are quality I have been showing homes to and I just took a listing from one of them also, even though I don’t want listings right now.

I have a buddy however that is getting less results than me so maybe its different in different area.
By BOB, December 20, 2007 @ 5:30 am

What area are you in?

I’m paying just under $200 for each zip.
By L.D., December 20, 2007 @ 5:31 am

I guess eperks is raising the rent to cover their losses. I only paid 129.95 for an exclusive zip and had three leads all bad.
By Orlando Real Estate, December 20, 2007 @ 1:01 pm

I am amazed by all the possible self promoting comments that this post has received. I like every other real estate agent was contacted numerous times by eperks. I was very tempted by all of the advertising that they had done prior to launch. However I decided not to join. Since the launch I have not seen eperks listed in any of the relevant search engine results in the Orlando area. Maybe I am missing something but after reading the comments I think I will put my marketing dollar elsewhere.
By Jax Real Estate, December 20, 2007 @ 1:02 pm

I just checked my account and see that I had one lead a couple of weeks ago. Do not remember being contacted by them about it. Sent an email and will find out if it is a bogus lead or not. The name does look funny.

Have been involved since pre launch. I was also called by someone a couple of months after I had been a member trying to sign me up. He could hardly speak English. I had to tell him I was already a member.

Contacted other agent in Jax that has many zips and he has not had any leads yet either.

At least with Realestate.com I get 10 leads a month and credit if they are junk.

I think if zillow did something like this it might work better.
By Jax Real Estate, December 20, 2007 @ 1:02 pm

http://www.yesterdaystruck.com/cgi-bin/viewit.cgi?bd=trforum&th=25739
By Benjamin, December 20, 2007 @ 1:07 pm

Sergio or whatever your real name is. Your are a hoax. There is no Sergio Gala! You have been SPAMING the heck out of this blog with complete nonsense. Is this Dan?

You need to stop making garbage accusations due to your competitive affiliations. I have forwarded this to many people and they will pursue you for attempting to do this for your own business sakes. You need to stop these lies Dan because you are getting yourself in more and more trouble.
By inguru, December 20, 2007 @ 1:07 pm

Vlad,

I’ve read a lot of these comments and have to say you seem very engaged, almost to the point where it becomes suspicious. Typically admins of a blog make sure content is appropriate and organic. You seem more focused on instigating negative publicity.

I personally dont care what is said on this blog but I have to say I am a frequent blogger and never seen such instigation by an admin or owner.

You say this “Benjamin” is the same person using different names however how am I not to believe that all the other comments are not the same person either or even worse you trying to gain hits to your site.

You will probably answer by saying IP addresses, unfotunately these can be manufactured as a result they hold no real value.

More importantly I dont care at all about eperks or these other “bloggers” or even for real estate (I rent ).. I just think this specific blog as well as some of the others you have are little questionable as to their legitimacy.
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:08 pm

inguru,

if i was one of the ePerks founders and you were charged with damage control you would have lost your job long time ago.

Yes I am engaged. As a former real estate agent I have utmost respect to my former colleagues. Now I make my leaving from the internet and think that real estate agents can use the money they have paid you for their PPC campaigns as Sergio described.

As to IP Addresses I have to agree with you. However if you ever used any sort of tracking software you can say that the same person leaves 4-5 messages during the same visit. This of course is not that unusual except that every comment appears to be left by five different people. So in this respect you are completely off the mark.
By inguru, December 20, 2007 @ 1:08 pm

Vlad-

English is clearly your second language. Regroup your thoughts and express them in a manner that is comprehensible to humans.

Your 1st paragraph makes no sense. please refer to comment left above.

No one has paid me. Maybe someone should .

You took my comments way to literal. Of course you can be engaged. I just find it odd that you call everyone who makes a positive comment a phony. For god sakes I left a neutral comment and you came at me like this!

I’m no genius and luckily I dont need to be, to understand that you have something against the company. By the way I checked out the company you keep promoting (property maps). What in gods name do they do?

From my point of view (which is neutral) you do sound like a competitor. This is only my opinion nothing more.
By inguru, December 20, 2007 @ 1:09 pm

Sergio G., I dont know “Benjamin” but I have to say I agree with him. The fact that you looked up the word spam is ridiculous. Spam is not solely dependent to emails, it can apply to all sorts of media including blogs and forums. You are a complete idiot for not only looking it up but also posting such a thing. Second, I dont know if I’m the dummie for actually reading your novel or you for taking so much time out of your day to write one. I can see why you dont sell any homes, too busy blogging all day. I dont have answers for your 1-4 “questions of the decade” but your #5 statement is absolutely ridiculous. I dont know what keywords you are buying but top searched keywords can run $30 per click. According to your math thats $50 for a website (wow that is one cheap website–I wonder what it will look like). No one legitimate hosts websites for free, that statement like others you make and is absolutely ridiculous. I will give you the benefit and say it only costs $10 a month. So that gets you one cheap looking website and a low end hosting service for a total of $60. Great! You can now afford to get two clicks to your site. I really hope you dont go into marketing…ever! I will end on this…your comments are so extreme that I am willing to bet anything that you are ficticious meaning as “Benjamin” said a competitor. Just so that you know it can also be called SPAM! These are my opinions nothing more.
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:11 pm

Sergio,

Thanks for your remarks. I really think they just simply not getting it.
By inguru, December 20, 2007 @ 1:12 pm

Sergio Gala,
I wasnt going to respond to this but you left me choice. For some reason I know im going to feel better after responding to you for you will be put in your place.

My responses will be much shorter than yours yet have twice the impact.

You posted “spam” for fun? You need a hobby and it should have nothing to do with computers. Everytime your fingers touch a keyboard embarrassing things happen to you. Who posts definitions for fun?..and you say im bored!

I’m glad you’re doing well, but lets be honest no truly successful professional has the time to posts all the comments you have. I think you said you spent a $100..what successful person has the time to spend half his day crying about it. My recommendation is to move on.

You say all agents need to blog for an hour a day at minimum. Who died and made you real estate king? Focus on your little neighborhood and providing leads for your “team”( I guess 1 agent does technically constitute as a team). No need to tell other professionals what to do unless you have credentials to back it up..i.e. Donald Trump.

Im glad to hear that you are running ad words at $3 a day, but not all of is live in the middle of Kansas where only 1 computer exists per county. If this is not the case then god only knows what search engine you are using. Just so that you know close to 60% of market share belongs to Yahoo and Google. If you pay $3 a day for top seach keywords then you either have inside connections or are full of it..im thinking the latter.

You claim to be a successful real estate broker and now claim to be a network specialist, software engineer, as well as a designer. Wow, you just know everyhting…do you know who killed JFK too?

I really cant believe you just posted the specs of some servers..what magazine did you read that in? Some FYI- No one cares! Are you trying to sell your hosting service? Again im confused are you a broker or a web hosting company? Maybe you offer hosting services because your real estate company isnt doing so well..go figure!

I dont know how many real estate agents use word press and really dont care. I’ve never heard of it and use the internet all the time..if its a marketing tool then it obviously isnt a good one.

Its funny that you say you are tired of getting ripped off. Your marketing skills obviously suck (apparently no one has been able to satisfy you) or you just cant close deals..I’m thinking both.

I only speculate that you are a competitor for you’re waaay too dramatic. Also I find it even more odd that you and Vlad (who happens to be the owner of the blog) seem to be such good friends. To be honest this whole thread seems way too artificial. If I was an e perks employee I would be upset as well.

I know I said it will be short but I couldnt help myself
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:13 pm

Yes, English is my second language. But I doubt that your first language is English- I am guessing it is ignorance. Am I right?

Sergio posted the “definition of Spam” for fun- don’t twist his words Mr. Ignorant
By inguru, December 20, 2007 @ 1:14 pm

Vlad,

I have not twisted words. I was just informing him that he doesnt know what the word means. No one posts definitons (incorrect ones at that) for fun, that is a ridiculous comment.
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:14 pm

Inguru,

This website is powered by WordPress. I really do not care what would you do if you were an ePerks employee.

I do not know Sergio but yes, I would consider him a friend. I would consider every one a friend who helps me out to expose ePerks for what they really are- a scam.
By inguru, December 20, 2007 @ 1:15 pm

So i guess anyone who makes positive or even neutral comments (which is what I left) is not only an enemy but a spammer? Wow–what kind of blog are you running here?
By inguru, December 20, 2007 @ 1:17 pm

Sergio Gala,

Take a deep breath and relax. Its obvious you didnt like my last post to you. I wouldnt like it either if someone put me in my place.

Yes, I do not know what wordpress is. Shoot me for it! As I said earlier I use the internet regularly and would consider myself nothing more then an average consumer. Believe me if I dont know what it is, then millions of others dont either.

You dont offer your services because you do NOT have any. Hence the reason I say you are spammer.

I love how you say you will only comment on one of my many statements to you. Is it because you only had 30 seconds as you state (you were on the blog for 2 additonal hours) or just have no rebuttal..im gonna say its the latter.

I dont want to keep going at it with you (I’m starting to feel pity for you). I refuse to believe you are a successful agent/broker. In fact I refuse to believe you are one at all. From the looks of it you just spend all your day writing novels on this blog for personal benefit. In fact I suspect you are Vlad-the owner using a different name.

I will end on this. As a consumer (which is all I am) I would definitly use the site if I was looking to buy or sell a home. In fact I would use it for the other services too. Keep in mind I say this assuming that as a consumer I do not have to pay membership fees which is what I believe is the case. Its an absolute no brainer!

Your other marketing “stuff” may work but at the end of the day money talks and thats why I would use the site to find an agent.

I think the reason you may be so upset is that you know you are about to lose a lot of business to agents who are on the site, hence the reason you dont want any of them to join. It looks like this is where your industry is going and if you dont like it then you may need to find a new career. It looks like you are putting good at blogging so maybe you can look into that.

Thanks.
By Sergio Gala, December 20, 2007 @ 1:17 pm

I forgot to mention I have no Idea who VLad is but I do know he is a wonderful person for running this blog and alerting people to possible mistakes.
By Sergio Gala, December 20, 2007 @ 1:18 pm

Just another FYI, this blog we are bloggin on is a WordPress blog.

Inguru, didn’t you say you never heard of Wordpress?? Wow, your a sharp one.
By Sergio Gala, December 20, 2007 @ 1:19 pm

Vlad, why am I unable to post my last longer post here?
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:20 pm

Sergio,

Sorry about that. I marked “inguru” as a spammer and since your mentioned his name all your posts were held for moderation. Fixed.
By Sergio Gala, December 20, 2007 @ 1:20 pm

ooops I just spammed, sorry about that everybody
By inguru, December 20, 2007 @ 1:21 pm

Sergio,

I am not at all trying to obtain your company information, believe me I can care less.

Just because I pointed out flaws in your campaign doesnt mean I am attacking you.

I am so tired of hearing you talk about yourself and your so called company. I refuse to believe you are a successful broker merely because of the time you spend on this blog. You would think you would’ve just left one or two comments and moved on however you are posting on this blog everyday. To be honest I think you’re on this site more then Vlad (the owner) himself! That is odd and now see why “benjamin” calls you competitor.

If you are a realtor, then you are worried sick and have probably lost a whole lot of business to these agents that are on the site. and. Be honest with yourself for a moment. Why would any comeptent human being use a full price agent rather then an agent who offers discounts?

As I stated earlier several times I am NOT an employee. Just because I disagrees with you doesnt mean I work for the company. If I agree with Microsoft on a blog does that make me an employee of the company?

Too bad Im not looking to buy a home, believe me if I was I would definitly use the site. I am however looking to trade my car in soon, maybe I’ll use one of their dealers. In any regards i am nothing more than a consumer surfing the web. I heard about the site from a commercial I saw and thought I check it out.

Lastly all my questions in this comment are rhetorical so please do not reply to them. Im sure you have better things to do and if you dont then please find a hobby.
By Paige, December 20, 2007 @ 1:23 pm

Okay, so consider me a “sucker,” and yes, I will be the first to admit it. I signed up for EPerks 5 months ago. I paid for three zip codes for months. I did get two calls from referrals but they both went no where. Everyone at Eperks was so nice and helpful to begin with. As soon as I decided to cancel in October, the gloves came off and the claws came out. They were beyond rude and completely unprofessional. Even though I paid for three zip codes, they refused to refund me any of the money. At that point, they began to say that I had to pay for 8 months, which they did not tell me to begin with. THERE IS NO MONEY BACK GUARANTEE!!! THEY ARE CROOKS!!! DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE!! OR LACK THEREOF. I called me credit card company to dispute the charges and now eperks is threatening to send me to collections. WHAT CAN I DO? I have excellent credit and do not understand how they have the ability to send this so called account to collections. When I called to discuss things with them I was left on hold for over 25 minutes without so much as a “Would you like to keep holding?” HAS ANYONE HAD any success in defeating these crooks? Is this just an expensive lesson learned?
By Benjamin, December 20, 2007 @ 1:24 pm

of course there is a money back guarantee, but you have to be been on the program for 8 months. you can’t cancel midway and request a refund. The contract is month to month, yes. of course you can cancel the program, but you can’t have used the program and take a refund for 3 months. Thats makes no sense. You are choosing not to partake but you can’t have your cake and eat it to. either you are on board and you get your money back if you are unable to close the deals we send you or you cancel becuase we are month to month.

you accusation is completely contradictory. Other agents are closing, please don’t take your inability to close the referrals out on us. The program is legitimate and agents are closing deals across the entire country in the winter!!
By RoseBC, December 20, 2007 @ 1:25 pm

Just an update (11/12/07) for this “ePerks – scam or not?” blog, I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I learned a lot from talking to the fellow who was trying to get me to sign up – he said they “launched at the end of July and it took 47 days to close our first deal and now we are up to over 600?. Hmmm – that is extremely small for the entire United States! Over 3 months and only a little over 600 deals, which equals out to less than 200 a month at this time. Ok, our market is soft right now, but that is an extremely small number when you look at the number of cities we have and the number of realtors. It seems they are making out good with the money coming in from the realtors that have signed up and not seen anything or very little that has worked out! I did contact a realtor that is signed up with them in a town not too far from me and this is what she had to say: “I have been a member of E-Perks since it launched which I believe was this past summer, August I believe. I honestly have not received a single phone call from the advertising that I am doing on E-Perks. Hopefully I will in the future but as of now, none. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.” This has caused me to believe that the monthly fee for being in this is money going down the drain! I would rather use it for advertising in the color real estate books!
By Paige, December 20, 2007 @ 1:26 pm

Sergio, Yes I think it is absolutely ridiculous. They have let me cancel but refuse to refund any of the money that I have paid. I canceled towards the beginning of October and had to pay for the entire month. It was not explained to me that you would have to pay for 8 months and then cancel to get a refund and the intentions or guarantee on their website are still unclear. Honestly, I feel like a sucker and will not ever buy into another referral or lead service.
Ben- What is it that you refer to as the “contract”? As far as being able to close leads, I only ever received three referrals. One of which never called or emailed me back, even though I attempted to make contact several times. The other wasn’t a true referral because he was in no position to buy. He wanted to trade homes with someone in NWFL with his house in Tampa. The third went no where as well.
My vote, SCAM.
Sergio ~~~And YES, I will be looking into the matter further. Drop me a line. I am going to find out how they can legally refer you over to collections if there is no contract and even if I didn’t pay a bill it seems like it should take a long time for it to get to that point. They have told me now that if I don’t send them a cashier’s check for the two chargebacks for 2 months that are going to send me to collections tomorrow.
By Benjamin, December 20, 2007 @ 1:26 pm

YOU ARE SIMPLY TRYING TO DEBUNK A GREAT SERVICE!!!. YOU ARE A CHEAT WITH A FAKE NAME.

sergio (dan) you are a little child. You are hiding behind your fake name and hurting this company with this bullshit all over this page. You are a lyer, cheater and competitor and you will not get away with this. By the way say hello to vlad for me, the owner of this blog that harbor your negative marketing garbage.

Agents are closing deals across the entire country. This is fact! And these agents continue to use the program month after month. Those that chose to drop off before 8 months made their choice. But you cannot cancel and expect not to pay for the time you were on board. You either follow the program in full or you don’t but we are not going to provide charity to an agent that cannot close deals.
By Scott Hayne, December 20, 2007 @ 1:27 pm

Well, add me to the list of people that got burned. After having a very very specific conversation with the sales rep that initially cold called me regarding and affirming that the ROI guarantee DOES apply to the standard account – I have since been told that it DOES NOT apply and was referred to the fine print.

There is zero marketing that is visible to me. No reasonable reason to see that they will drive enough traffic to keep even 1/50th of the agents on the site supplied with leads.

Up until last week a google search for “Eperks” returned a full page of negative reviews above their own site.

I feel that I was burned to the tune of $240. Live and learn.
By Scott Benjamin, December 20, 2007 @ 1:28 pm

Scott,

Clearly you are either sergio, dan or vlad himself. Why, because we have no fine print.

AGAIN ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO DEBUNK A GREAT SERVICE.
By CHARLIE SANCHEZ, December 20, 2007 @ 1:30 pm

Hi

I joined eperks in Oct 07. Paid 129.95 for a territory. Never received a single lead. Eperks charged my card again in November. I cancelled my subscription with them in December. I just received a collection notice for $129.95. and have no idea what it is for?
By Kirk, December 20, 2007 @ 1:31 pm

Charlie,

Not picking sides here but no one just sends people to collections for fun. Lets be honest you most likely didn’t pay your bill or told your credit company to reverse charges. If its the latter then you’re just playing dumb for some pity.

It looks like the company has thousands of clients, if all of them were being sent to collections for fun then this blog would be thousands of posts deep.

please dont insult us.

Kirk
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:31 pm

Kirk,

Please stop insulting my readers and those who left comments here or I am going to ban you from leaving further posts. Just a word of advise start treating your customers even if they are dissatisfied with dignity or you may end up looking for another job soon.
By Kirk, December 20, 2007 @ 1:33 pm

what customers?! I am an Broker you idiot! For god sakes the second I argue against someone you like, I am considered spam?

Your’re absolutely ridiculous. Something is fishy about this blog.

Kirk
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:33 pm

Kirk,

It sure looked like you were taking ePerks’ side replying to Charlie’s comments saying he is “playing dumb”. By the way, if you ever call me or any one else on this blog a dumb or an idiot your comments will be deleted and you will loose the privilege of commenting here.

Also if you think there is something “fishy” about this blog- stay way.
By John, December 20, 2007 @ 1:35 pm

Clearly this is one of those ideas that has to hit the tipping point. If the public lets it of course. Clearly there will be customers that don’t do well but obviously there must be some group of agents, perhaps the ones that purchased the right zips or stayed on long enough, that are doing well as they look to be doing ok. My guess is that it is probably very important in a model like this that you take good zip codes. Perhaps some of the dramatic people purchased less desirable zip code maybe.

Its an interesting idea for real estate.
By John, December 20, 2007 @ 1:36 pm

By the way, I am just a marketing director but something tells me the owners this blog Vlad or Valdimer is some how earning money for having vested so much interest into this topic on this blog. Actually surprises me how so much work has gone into this topic on this blog. I’ve counted at least 3 articles on this web site. Again, I am no attorney, but I would guess you are bit over doing it and perhaps exposed personally for all the energy put into debunking something.

Vladimir huh, interesting.
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:37 pm

John,

I don’t know who you the hell you are, but you are beginning to get on my nerve. Don’t try to spell my name it just makes you look not so intelligent. In fact if you had read all the threads on my blog you would discover that ePerks were the one to pay me to write my first review. I had little to do what other people have said and am gald they continue to sound out.

John please stop threatening me. I am no attorney but I do have one who is waiting for me to give him a go ahead. I have less to hide than the crooks at ePerks.
By Paige, December 20, 2007 @ 1:37 pm

Charlie – My guess would be that they are trying to force you to pay for December and hose you like they have so many other people….myself included..
By John, December 20, 2007 @ 1:38 pm

Vlad I did not threaten you, but I don’t like your site, your comments or you for that matter. I am aware of your kind. The eperkscom people might not konw what rights they have. So because you and the comment you made iritate me I will personally call their offices and forward this thread and page directly to their mangement team as well as to a legal team that deals with precisely your type of agenda. I do hope they come after you personally. I dont like your kind.

I understand you are not a lawyer. I do have a real estate background and a legal background and what you have here is not a blog anymore it is vendeta.

And please don’t threaten me with your attorney threats. I have done nothing to you for you to suggest that your lawyer is just waiting for you to give a go ahead against me. I wish you well volodomir and I hope they do generate costs for you.
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:39 pm

John,

You were the first one to bring up the “attorney talk” in your comments.

You can e-mail this thread any one you wish. If you do not like my website theres is a simple solutions- stop coming here.

Cheers!
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:39 pm

John,

I do not hide the fact that I own http://www.volodymyrzablotskyy.com/ so you can expose me as much as you like
By John, December 20, 2007 @ 1:40 pm

…And I just did some research on you vlad. And you know what, im going to let you find out who I am. I’ve decided to expose you online. Nothing illegal, but I just don’t like you and your tone. Hopefully you enjoy reading about yourself online and from what I have found you do. Chow.
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:41 pm

John,

I am assuming you have subscribed to the comments on this blog. There should be a link in each e-mail to let you manage subscriptions. If you can’t find it I can remove you myself and you will not receive further e-mails.

To be honest I am sick and tired of this thread myself as well and it is my website!!! I personally have no reason to report them to BBB, I never did any business with them as other real estate agents did.
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:43 pm

I have decided to close this thread and for that matter all the threads concerning ePerks on this blog. I am sick and tired for being attacked by some teenagers who know nothing about real estate yet think they can make a fortune just because they know how to create a website. I really hope these threads where useful to some of you and have saved you some headaches. Or at least you had a place to rant about how badly you were treated. I personally have better things to do than to deal with these insulting attacks. However before I close these topics, I have one question to ask every one who still follows this thread….

How realistic are the incentives with this company?
Here is one example right from their website:

Let say you are a real estate agent who’s firm charges 6% for the services. You are about to sell a $300,000 house. How in the world can you afford to offer an incentive of $20,000? Even if you sell the listing “in house” getting some extra incentive from your broker you will not be able to offer even $10,000 as an incentive. But let say your listing is sold by an agent from another company. If you work on 50/50 split you probably will end up with about $4,500 in your pocket, right? I personally think you deserve all of it. Tell me how much of that $4,500 hard earned money will you be willing to give away??? Whatever you decide to give will be a far cry from what the advertise on their website!

Here is another example with a real estate agent offering 20% cash back:

My question is 20% of what? Of selling price? Not likely? Of the 6% that your company charges for services? Unlikely. What if house is sold by another agent who is not from your company? That leaves only your portion of commission- the $4,500. 20% of that will be $900. Again far cry from “Up to $20,000 in incentives”.

As I said I am sick an tired of ePerks. If you would like to respond to this comment please do so by 10 PM eastern time – after that the comments on this thread will be closed. As well as on the rest of the threads about ePerks. John has provided links to BBB- do what you wish with them. The 150+ comments in this thread should give good enough picture what you are getting yourself into.
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:46 pm

Vlad, and the other 2 people that are heavily involved in the negative comments on this blog.

You have clearly used this companies name to simply bring traffic to your site and to increase your members. I run several blogs and I am now in contact with this company and I will be personally exposing Vlad and this agenda online.

Vlad, you have decided to make your living by defaming this company and calling them names while playing a victim and claiming that they or others are attacking you. The only individual attacking anything is you. You are attacking people by calling names and your entire blogs is attacking eperks.

I also want you to know Vlad that it looks like certain people were not entirely aware of this blog of your at this company. I had a long conversation with a VP yesterday and they are now aware of you full on.

I will be personally working to expose you online and as I understand it you will be served by them shortly as you have damaged a good idea and company.

I hope you as well as your type of people learn not to play dirty anymore.
By John, December 20, 2007 @ 1:47 pm

By the way. I am involved heavily in blogging and marketing and I want every user to know that Vlad is closing this thread purely for search engine positioning reasons. See there is a dirty agenda here that looks to be funded perhaps by Vlad or competitors. Vlad wants things prime and center on the engines and so he is waiting for the right moment to close of the blog.

Another tactic known in the industry. Another angle of agenda by mr vladimer. Everyone should know this on this blog. We will soon have a blog about Vlad and if vlad has this site still open I will make a post inviting everyone to discuss their experience, knowledge of this mans tactics and affiliations.

you can contact me at: jsadighij@yahoo.com
By Vlad, December 20, 2007 @ 1:49 pm

John,

Your comments are back, but I did took them off because they did not address my question above about incentives.

However I changed my mind after trying to e-mail you. Turns out it is a fake e-mail.

Anyway, your comments above show me that you know as much about marketing as you do about real estate. Keeping comments opened on a thread like this means more content for the search engines. I can tell you how many times this article came up on the first page of search engines because of the keywords in the comments. Nice try though.

Again f you would like to address my question about “ePerks incentives” you are welcomed to do so. If you continue to attack and threaten me- your comments will be deleted for good.
By Vlad, December 20, 2008 @ 1:54 pm

After moving the comments moderation to IntenseDebate, I have decided to once again open the comments on this post. Anyone from DotNex Inc, Brabus Ventures, ePerks and/or any other affiliated company or business should be aware that astroturfing will not be tolerated and you will loose the privileged of commenting on this blog forever.
By CLIFF Adams, December 22, 2008 @ 7:51 am

I am a broker and own a company in Austin TX. I have an 800 credit score and always pay my bills (ligitimate ones)
We had been solicited by Eperks about a year ago. They never provided any of the leads they promised. We filed with our
credit card company for a charge back close to year ago. I just got a call today 12/22/2008 saying they became aware of the charge back
in September. When trying to explain my reason for charge back (DID NOT PROVIDE SERVICES PROMISED-NONE) I was rudely interrupted
and threatened with collections. Finally I just hung up. Beware of this company- they need to be shut down.
By Monica Maney, December 24, 2008 @ 2:32 am

I signed up with Eperk about a year an a half ago. Never got any leads from them. After a while, I called and complained. All the sudden I had leads here and there, but they were all garbage Either the phone number doesn't work, a fax number doesn't work, or no one answers the phone. And then they started to double charged me for their monthly service, and they charged me an small extra amount.

I cancelled the service back in August and asked them about the money back gaurantee program that they offered when I first signed up. Within a week,they sent me a stupid stamped certificate, saying that I qualify for the refund, but I won't get it for another 5 months. The time has finally arrived and I still have not receive any checks. I have been calling the company for about 3 days, finally I got a hold of someone. They told me since the economy is so bad, they do not have enough money to pay back all the agents, and they are in the process of filling for bankruptcy as well. Therefore I have two choices, one is take 20% of the total refund, or 12 months installments, but they still don't guarantee I will get my money back once they go bankrupt. Later they sent me a settlement and general release form to sign. The agreement also included a lot of terms. If I sign the release form, I will agree that I will not directly or indirectly diclose the fact of and terms of the agreement to anyone except my attorney or accountant for tax purposes. Release any claims with Eperks, and agree not to make any comments in any capacity relating to the company.

Is there anything we can do about this company? Who and where can I report this issue to? Is there a class action going on?
By Monica, December 24, 2008 @ 2:40 am

Good luck on the money back guarantee that Eperks had promised. I had cancelled my service with them and they told me that since the economy is so bad, they do not have the funds to pay back the agent and they are in the process of filling for bankruptcy.
By Monica, December 29, 2008 @ 4:33 am

Vlad,
I have talked to some agents that had joined Eperks and had no success at all. When they want to cancel their service, they are getting the run around as well. I have recently contacted Eperks to follow up the status on the Money back gaurantee program, (which I cancelled my service back in April, and they sent me a stamped certificate that said my refund is approved and I still have to wait another 8 months to get it). The Eperk representives told me that they are in the process of filing bankruptcy, they have no money to support the refund program. He suggested me to just take 20% of the total and be done with it.

Eperks is a total scam and ripping off money from all the agents out there. If they are so good and so successful like Linda and Henry saids in the common, why would they file bankruptcy?

My question is, is there a class action going on against Eperks? Can we do something about this?
By Monica, December 29, 2008 @ 4:36 am

This is exactly what happen to me and other agent I work with as well.
By Monica, December 29, 2008 @ 4:42 am

Cliff,
Is there anything we can do about it? I believed there are a lot of agents out there got rippoff by them as well.
By Monica, December 29, 2008 @ 4:48 am

christina,
Good luck on the money back guarantee that Eperks had promised. I had cancelled my service with them since March, waited 8 more months for the refund and they told me that since the economy is so bad, they do not have the funds to pay back the agents and they are in the process of filing for bankruptcy.
By Monica, December 29, 2008 @ 4:56 am

This is exactally what happen to me. I'm trying very hard to find out if anyone has filed any class action against this company. They need to stop scaming people and refund our hard earn money.
By Vlad Zablotskyy, December 31, 2008 @ 3:56 am

Monica,
Sorry for taking so long to reply. Unfortunately I do not have an answer to your questions. This company as well as other start ups by the same group of people are turning out to be real train wrecks.

I find it particularly curious the reported release form the want agents to sign. Not healthy dialog if you ask me. Today when the information is so easy accessible transparency should be the key, the sooner these start ups realize that the better chance for success they will have.

If you find out anything about class action suit please let me know.
By Mathias_Serfaty, January 20, 2009 @ 9:01 pm

I am a contractor in the DC area and also got ripped off by ePerks. They charged me $399 to supposedly have a huge amount of traffic come to my web-site. after two month, not even ONE visit to my site came from ePerks. After being refused a refund, I called American Express to dispute the charge and was happy to learn two weeks later that the dispute was resolved in my favor. Unfortunately, this was simply a maneuver on ePerks side to undertake the legal battle with me instead of American Express, as they sent me a Notice of Delinquency a few weeks later that stated "Last Notice" (the only notice I got) and threatened to report this to the credit bureaus. I have since done some research on the net and found out how sleazy this company is and that I am not the only one being ripped off. How can this be allowed to go on? What do we need to do to stop these eJerks!!
By Kathleen Krize, February 23, 2009 @ 9:08 pm

I cancelled my account after the 8 month guarantee period and asked for my guaranteed refund since I had no leads during that time. They sent me a letter confirming that, indeed, I qualified for a refund. BUT they took another month payment and charged to my credit card AFTER I HAD CANCELLED. When I complained, they said they would include that charge on my Refund Certificate. When the refund certificate came it promised a refund 8 MONTHS away and the extra charge was not included. Many phone calls resulted in no customer service at all!. I finally called my credit card company to dispute the extra charge taken after cancellation. Several months later I get a collections notice for the exact amount of the disputed charge. When I called to get it resolved I was told that I NO LONGER QUALIFIED to get a refund because I was delinquent!!! Delinquent on a charge that wasn't theirs! I followed the rules by maintaining an account in good standing with timely payments for 8 months per the requirements for a refund guarantee if there was no ROI during that time. Beware. They will find any excuse not to refund your money per their guarantee.
By Alan, February 23, 2009 @ 10:53 pm

Part 1) I have had the almost the exact experience with Eperks. I am thoroughly disgusted with them. I argued the ninth month charge as well but I let them take it assuming I would be reimbursed. Well the only thing they got right was the amount on the bogus Refund certificate they sent me. Wait an additional 8 months who ever heard of such a ridiculous claim. I filled out their forms to verify that I had no closings with their customers closings hell I never go a lead with three zips! I finally contacted the Attorney general in My state and they managed to get an email reply at the beginning of this month (Fef 2009). They skated around the issue and said they never said we would give him his money back right away.
By alan, February 23, 2009 @ 10:54 pm

part 20 I tried calling today and there is no answer. the phone rings and rings and then finally hangs up. NOT A GOOD SIGN. I AM PRETTY SURE THEY SCREWED ME! I will be contacting the Attorney General in California very soon. Brabus Ventures is closed the phone is disconnected but DOTNExt (do you believe the name dotnext should be dotnext rip off or dotnext succer) and something called SAVESTUB are operating out of the same address and one has the same phone when you search the local yellow pages. This COMPANY IS A SCAM A RIP OFF!. And if they want me to shut up all they have to do is return the money they owe me over THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS. the bastards! All pf us that are involved should do the most we can to get our money back (doubtfull) and prevent others falling for the e-perks scam.
By Todd Jackson, February 26, 2009 @ 9:17 am

Steve, do you have a college education? Sounds like you don't. Please reply only when you have "real" information, as it clusters this domain. You are obviously employed by the company and your word means nothing. Thank you in advance for being a "true" professional. How are sales? That is, if you still work there!!!
By Todd Jackson , February 26, 2009 @ 9:25 am

So, how about wasting your money now, how does it feel? Haha!
By Todd Jackson, February 26, 2009 @ 9:32 am

You got ripped off. What do you have to say now?
By Dana, March 16, 2009 @ 7:59 pm

Eperks is a rip off!!! I have told them to delete my profile as I do not give "cash back" and that I don't know how I even got on their website. She told me it was free and I told her "I don't care, take me off". She never did. Called back a second time was told I would be taken off and never was. Called back 3 times and now no one answers the phone so now I am filing a complaint with the BBB. We'll see what happens. You best believe there is someone working for eperks sitting down at a chair writing these BS positive comments. Eperks is a joke!
By Rocklin Agent, September 11, 2009 @ 2:19 am

I really need to find out the answer for the following questions. If anyone have any information, please let me know, and I Thank You in advance.

1. Anyone hear anything about a class action against eperks?

2. Office address or customer service number?

3. How do you join eperks?