Complaint Review: Rip-off Report Investigation: FriendFinder - Palo Alto California

Rip-off Report Investigation:

By Ed Magedson - Founder Rip-off Report.com

This investigation is part of:

Rip-off Report Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program

A program that benefits the consumer and assures you of complete satisfaction and confidence when doing business with a member business ..a commitment to Rip-off Report and their customers by member businesses..

Rip-off Report Verified Business

As a matter of policy, when Rip-off Report is retained by a company to investigate independently and to publish our findings, we use every bit of information at our disposal to determine the truthfulness of the complaints against the company or individual...

NOTE: as part of the Corporate Advocacy Program Rip-off Report verifies all Reports and Rebuttals, and will expose only those posted erroneously.

Our philosophy...

ALL BUSINESSES WILL GET COMPLAINTS, BUT HOW THOSE BUSINESSES HANDLE THOSE COMPLAINTS SEPARATES GOOD BUSINESS FROM BAD BUSINESS.

Investigative Report:

Rip-off Report was contacted by FriendFinder / ADULTfrindFinder months ago, asking us to look into the complaints filed against them. Considering the actual nature of some of the complaints that did not seem to make sense. Many of the complaints had nothing to do with customer service, but were personal unsubstantiated attacks. With the millions of customers FriendFinder has, they have only a small hand full of complaints, and taking into consideration, they are listed on Rip-off Report at the top of the search engines, we ask, where are all the complaints, there seem to be minor complaints and more falsified personal attacks on members of the company, and that has nothing to do with the way they run their business... Of The Reports filed, only a fraction of them actually address real customer service issues. Our experience tells us that when a company does millions of transactions, there are bound to be problems.

Friendfinder doesn't want your money if you are not happy with its service and they do issue refunds when requested, the kind of company policy Rip-off Report would like to see every company have... A requirement for this program.

Friendfinder tells Rip-off Report they are always looking to improve their business, making things better for their customers. They also stated they take customer complaints and suggestions very seriously.

Rip-off Report finds that Friendfinder is not hiding from anyone, including its detractors; Friendfinder's offices are in California.

CLAIMS OF FRAUD, TAX EVASION, PERSONAL ATTACKS ARE LUDICROUS AND HAVE BEEN FOUND TO HAVE NO BASIS

Any claims of fraud, tax evasion, as well as the litany of personal attacks are ludicrous and have been found to have no basis. More than likely a smear campaign by a competitor or an ex-employee. Rip-off Report recently received several ridiculous phone calls about FriendFinder executives, actually admitting they were just trying to cause them problem. Then, several people tried to post a REBUTTAL/Consumer Suggestion, attempting to give a competitors web address. Rip-off Report has a policy, once a business is reported; we do not let anyone post any information leading them to go to another competitive business.

FRIENDFINDER PROHIBITS ITS AFFILIATES FROM SENDING E-MAIL - EVEN IF IT IS NOT CONSIDERED SPAM

We also see that FriendFinder prohibits its affiliates from sending email -even if it is not considered spam. Friendfinder also uses the services of third parties monitoring services to ensure that only the person who signs up for it s service will receive emails.

Another good thing we found about FriendFinder is, some websites require payment prior to reading "emails received" which turn out to be at least in part bogus in nature. This is not the case with Friendfinder

EXPOSING THOSE WHO ABUSE OUR USER POLICY

Rip-off Report encourages fair complaints about customer service issues but will expose those who abuse our user policy by making it look like FrienendFinder is doing something it is not, such as , ex-employees posing as a customer or consumers filing mutable reports as different people.

Please read below about the benefits to the Corporate Advocacy Program and further down, comments from the FriendFinder.

Rip-off Report Corporate Advocacy & Customer Satisfaction Program

Our philosophy....

ALL BUSINESSES WILL GET COMPLAINTS, BUT HOW THOSE BUSINESSES HANDLE THOSE COMPLAINTS SEPARATES GOOD BUSINESS FROM BAD BUSINESS.

As a matter of policy, when Rip-off Report is retained by a company to investigate independently and to publish our findings, we use every bit of information at our disposal to determine the truthfulness of the complaints against the company or individual...

This program is called Rip-off Report Corporate Advocacy, Customer Satisfaction & Remediation Program. A long name for a program that does a lot for both the consumer and the Reported business alike. This program requires the Member business to agree to satisfy all complaints past, present and in the future when applicable , even those complaints that come to us by e-mail.

The member business must also state improvements to their business that benefit the customer to avoid the reported problems in the future as many other business have accomplished with our Corporate Advocacy business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program..

Rip-off Report has, and always will be, working harder for you, the consumer, so you can feel confident about what to look for when dealing with a business. Remember, just because a company is reported on Rip-off Report does not mean you should not do business with them. Use Rip-off Report information as a tool to your advantage, so you know what to look out for when dealing with that company. No company is perfect, that is why political activists, and consumer advocacy groups like Rip-off Report are needed to instigate public action for the betterment of our society.

ONCE A RIP-OFF REPORT IS FILED, IT WILL NEVER EVER DISAPPEAR

Unlike other consumer agencies, once a Rip-off Report is filed, it will never EVER disappear. Why? Our theory is, it is better to see how a company or individual rectified complaints in the past, right? So, in the future, if you see no new complaints about a company, and you can see how they took care of those complaints, wouldn't you feel more comfortable dealing with that company or individual? After all, all businesses will get complaints.

RIP-OFF REPORT ENCOURAGES EMPLOYEE WHISTLE BLOWERS... PHONY REPORTS WILL BE EXPOSED...

Although Rip-off Report does encourage ex-employees and existing employees to become whistleblowers on the companies they work for, Rip-off Report does NOT approve of ex-employees using their employer's client lists for personal gain, filing phony Rip-off Reports, instigating problems for them and then going into business for themselves or for a competitor, all of which may have civil and criminal implications. Therefore, when Rip-off Report complainants do not give their proper contact info, or fail to respond to our efforts to contact them, we will have no option but to assume that the reports are bogus and those phony Reports will be updated and exposed accordingly.

RIP-OFF REPORT DOES NOT SOLICIT THIS PROGRAM

Rip-off Report does NOT solicit the Corporate Advocacy Program. It program is only for those businesses that come to us with a desire to rectify the complaints and change their ways after realizing they can do better as a business for their customers. Hey, thanks to Al Gore starting the Internet (ha ha ha) consumers now have the edge and don't have to wait for their 15 minutes of fame by their local TV Station or some newspaper that could possibly misquote them anyway.

FACT:Rip-off Report will only Report what we see and hear for ourselves and what we have investigated. No monetary payment to Rip-off Report can sway us to change our minds. We cannot guarantee the integrity or success of any company or product. In conclusion, in our opinion, if a company is pledging to cancel, give refunds, etc. if you are not satisfied, ...Rip-off Report feels this is a good risk, especially, when the company knows, you can always come to Rip-off Report if you're not satisfied..

IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO SATISFY ALL THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME...

It is impossible to satisfy all the people all of the time. Consumers can even feel more secure knowing they are a member of our Corporate Advocacy Program CAP, and, if a member business does not live up to their stated commitment, then the consumer knows Rip-off Report is here to make sure they do live up to their promised commitments to their customers. This program is now running 2 years as a test and is now ready to expand it further

The executives of friendFinder & AdultFriendFinder have set up a special e-mail address for any consumers or questions for Rip-off Report readers.

Anyone contacting this e-mail address will get immediate attention.

[email protected]

Read below comments from executives at FriendFinder & AdultFriendfinder....

ED Magedson - Founder, Rip-off Report

[email protected]

badbusinessbureau.com

www.ripoffreport.com

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COMMENTS & COMMITMENTS FROM FRIENDFINDER.com

In their own words.. ...

To ripoffreport.com readers:

During the latter half of November 2004, certain disgruntled individuals have repeatedly posted anti-Friendfinder reviews on ripoffreport.com. In this series of postings, these individuals have made a series of statements and listed a number of purported facts about Friendfinder and Andrew Conru alleging criminal behavior and unlawful business practices. With the exception of certain information that is publicly available, e.g. a civil lawsuit entitled Ferguson v. Friendfinder was filed (and ultimately dismissed without any finding of liability), these alleged facts are false and defamatory. These postings are beyond contempt and hurtful to Friendfinder, Andrew Conru and its employees. These comments also tend to marginalize valid reviews that other persons have posted on ripoffreport.com regarding our company.

To any open-minded person reading reviews posted on ripoffreport.com: Friendfinder, Inc. currently has millions of members enjoying our online personals services. We have over 150 dedicated employees who strive to create a rich online experience for our customers. Despite any efforts we make, we know we can do even better. As with any company with so many customers, we have complaints about our service. Normally, our customer service department resolves these complaints (and other issues) in a timely and satisfactory manner. If you are a customer who has a complaint or otherwise has an issue with your service, I invite you to call our customer service department at (650) 847-3100 or email them. (Contact information is posted on the individual websites.)

As for comments about spamming originating from Friendfinder, please understand that our affiliate agreement prohibits the sending of any unsolicited email on our behalf. Moreover, Friendfinder does not send unsolicited emails. If you feel that you are the recipient of an unsolicited email, please forward it to me at [email protected] so I can investigate and take the appropriate action.

Lastly, if you feel that you were treated unfairly and want to express your concerns about Friendfinder, I invite you to call me directly at (650) 847-3120 or our Director of Human Resources, Natalie Cedeno, at (650) 847-3176.

Sincerely,

David Bloom

General Counsel

Palo Alto, California

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Be sure to contact Rip-off Report about any business that is on the Corporate Advocacy Program. Your questions, comments and suggestions are always welcome and will be considered even if we don't agree with them. Please realize Rip-off Report is chartering in new territory, working to make a change for the consumer and business alike. We will make mistakes too as we all do.

ED Magedson - Founder, Rip-off Report

[email protected]

badbusinessbureau.com

www.ripoffreport.com

Don't let them get away with it.

Make sure they make the Rip-off Report!

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We are not a collection agency.

We are Consumer Advocates.

...the victims' advocate

We are a Worldwide Consumer Reporting News Agency

...by consumers, for consumers

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