Sightly is a complete SCAM be Warned

1.0
They contacted me claiming I would be first on the Google page and I asked how long it would take to get me there, they claimed about 2 days so I began checking every day after the 2 days had past and I never even saw my company within the first month anywhere near the front page, so I contacted them to cancel and there cancelation policy is that you must cancel within 48 hours of the billing period, maybe that's why it takes 2 days to get on the front of Google, however it will never happen and they will not give you your money back, I even tried to have Amex take it back but they wouldn't so I decided to cancel them too for their lack of support on the matter. Both companies suck big time.
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#568861 Review #568861 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Location
Lake Forest, California
Reason of review
Not as described/ advertised
Loss
$300
Preferred solution
Full refund

Do not do business with this company Scam scam scam

They promise they going to put me number one on google in the call for click And it's going to be 5.99 for each call then after 20 calls and at least 10 scam calls (from the 20 calls) which I believe they responsible I calling them and let them know I never see my add in the first position and therefore I like to cancel my account they told me I owed them 360 something $$$ so I told them I want to pay only 5.99 for a call like I been promised they didn't want to so I make a dispute and then even i Cancelled the account after 12 days I lose the dispute and they take all the money (599) so beware of them and if someone can help me please call 408-320**** tnx
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#425408 Review #425408 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Location
Canoga Park, California
Loss
$599
New Reviewer

Complete scam

Update by user Jul 17, 2013

It has taken me a while to post an update. Sightly did in fact end up refunding all of the money they had stolen from my business.

Although it was not easy and took me posting multiple complaints online, including the BBB, their facebook page, and the attorney general in California and my state as well. Allison is a very rude and unethical person who should not be in a management position. She has no customer service skills whatsoever. She never would take responsibility for the lies that her staff told and all the way to the end very rudely insisted that I was wrong and the one being untruthful.

This has definitely been a learning experience for me and my business. Always do your research before giving out any credit card information. There are way too many scams out there these days.

What seems like a reputable company because they try to portray that they are associated with google. If the company can't wait for you to do your due diligence then they are a scam.

Original review posted by user Dec 04, 2012
I was contacted in February 2012 by a representative claiming to be a partner with google and doing youtube videos with a 30 day free trial. To summarize the situation, the 2nd representative was told we were no longer interested. They have now been billing me for 10 months, 89.95 per month. Plus, in the ad they have been displaying on youtube it has the incorrect information. My business' name with the wrong phone number. No telling how much incorrect information is out there about my business now, that I have to pay yet another company to clean up for me now. Also, in the ad it says up to 80% off, I don't run specials like that and I feel that it is very misleading to potential clients. Maybe that is how Sightly gets business but that is not how I do business. I don't "trick" my clients into my services. I have spoken to numerous managers with Sightly and they have all told me they would get back to me. Most recently today, I spoke with Patrick and he informed me that Allison has said she "will not" refund my money. This is absolutely unethical and ridiculous business practice that you have Sightly, CitySquare, Backyard...whoever you are!
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2 comments
#601063

We were scammed too. So have dozens of other businesses.

hey prey on small businesses because they know it's not worth the time and legal expense to go after them for a few hundred or thousand dollars.

Weasels.

Elocal Listings = Pepperbottletechnologies = Jhe = Vidgits = Pixeflish = Backyard.com = GoBackyard.com = Citysquares.com = Sightly.com = Appstack = Scam

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#582689

You have to contact your credit card company. This is a business that should be in jail for lieing.

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#364632 Review #364632 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Location
Savannah, Georgia
Loss
$899
New Reviewer

Sightly.com total liars and scammers

I was called by Kelly who guaranteed me one of the first 3 listings in Google search. Well you cannot find my ad except in the 5th page. I had a Google Adwords account and was doing great. he convinced me to go with them for the guarantee and to save money. What a diaster. I have contacted credit card company for full refund. I do not understand how the owner allows this to happen. I have been in business and will not have an unhappy customer. They lie cheat and attempt to steal. If you want to CALL ME ON MY CELL PHONE i WILL VERIFY ALL THIS INFO IS CORRECT. Stay as far away from these scammers as possible. My one good experience was with the account manger who after a week told me that my budget would be burned up if my ad were bid higher. I was spending $800 a month with Google and getting results. With them I have lost at least $9000 in business this week. My cell is 304-270-**** my name is Howard schwartz my business is heatman.com. It disgusts me to have to deal with scammers like this. However I will recieve a full refund from my credit card company. I have already put in a protest because of their lieing salesman Kelly. Beware and call me for info I am glad to stop a thief. Howard Schwartz
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5 comments
#624742

Seems almost every person calling from Sightly has an Arab accent.

These companies tend to be scammers anyway. If you are *** enough to support scam organizations, at least support American scammers.

Do they really believe we cant recognize an Arabic accent? Seriously no one believes your are named Kane.

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#575563

As greg promised they refunded my money. Be aware that they are not going to do what they say.

they have informed me they spread the budget out over a month. This does me no good I have 6 vans running everyday. Their dashboard is a total scam. They had 1/4 of the homes in my area seeing my ad in 1 week.

On average for the last 30 years 8% has heating problems. In short they can do nothing for any business that you cannot do for yourself. In a test day between thye company and myself I never ecieved 1 phone call. We checked on 10 smart phones and not one found my ad before page 5.

A far cry from the top 3.

My own advertising campaign is back up and my ads are showing and phone is ringing. Beware of their claims.

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#590937
@Howard S Bdg

I also let them run an adwords campaign for my carpet cleaning business. Kelly was the one who sold it to me, too.

I then had the displeasure of working with Samantha and her manager, Patrick. My ads were supposed to be showing within a 20 mile radius of my zip come in TX. I only recieved 4 legitimate calls in the first month. They were all well outdside this radius and one of them was from MASSACHUSSETTS!!!

No one could ever tell me why there was a problem. Kelly wouldn't return my calls and Samantha kept telling me that if I would just try another month it would work better...Are you kidding me?

Account cancelled. They will never get another dime from me.

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#601066
@Howard S Bdg

We were scammed too. So have dozens of other businesses.

They prey on small businesses because they know it's not worth the time and legal expense to go after them for a few hundred or thousand dollars. I had to actually cancel my credit card in order to stop the billing. Meanwhile they would continue to promise resolution that never happened.

Weasels.

Elocal Listings = Pepperbottletechnologies = Jhe = Vidgits = Pixeflish = Backyard.com = GoBackyard.com = Citysquares.com = Sightly.com = Appstack = Scam

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#574195

an honest reasonable man. I am giving them 1 more day to fix this.

then going to Google and my bank card processor. I hate being lied to, Howard Schwartz

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ID
#362558 Review #362558 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Location
Martinsburg, West Virginia
Loss
$400
New Reviewer

Sightly.com is a scam

Pixeflish = scam Backyard.com = scam GoBackyard.com = scam Citysquares.com = scam Sightly.com = scam They change their name and their employees every few months. This place is an intentional scam designed to lure small businesses in. They will bill you over and over, while changing account reps (none of which have any record of past promises or processes) so that you never get what you've been promised and you will have to cancel your credit card to get them to stop billing you (because they never will). They seem very competent and professional in the beginning. DO NOT BE FOOLED! Pixeflish = Backyard.com = GoBackyard.com = Citysquares.com = Sightly.com = scam
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19 comments
#690131

2 month customer here. All I get for past two or three days is a busy signal.

I left a voice mail with my contact (J. Logback) a week ago and he never returned my call. I stopped my account online 2 days before my billing date yet they went ahead and charged me the $299 anyway. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE at best ...

a total rip-off at worst. Contacted my credit card company and I am getting a full refund ($399 + $299) due to non-performance since their "targeted ads" were not as they promised (no video created either).

Too long to get into the details here but let's just say they did NOT perform as agreed. Credit card company (Chase) has been very helpful in protecting me financially from this company.

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0 0
#682061

Sightly (formerly PixelFish, Citysquares, Backyard) closed its doors yesterday, and fired all remaining employees. The CEO and COO should be ashamed of what they've done to so many small business owners.

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#688298
@PissedConsumer682061

Blown away...Was scheduled to start working for this company. Drove by today only to see what looked like a scene out of boiler room.

Immensely disappointed to see what seemed to be such a promising venture turn into such a disaster. I'm sure Google isn't too happy to have their name involved in such an unfortunate situation.

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0 0
#640687

has to be the greatest scam of all times.

i decided to try them after they had called me every day for a week. $399 plan for 30 days bla,bla,bla.

to make a long story short i started geting calls from people looking for every contracting company in massachusetts except mine. i was geting 7/8 calls a day, meanwhile the tab was running up.

1 guy called me i swear he was asleep while talking to me, that's when the penny dropped with me that this was a setup.

i called their office i believe it was the manager patrick who i dealt with. he was a nice guy.

i told him my story so he changed the campaign wording & keywords.

i stayed on the mobile advertisingfor another day or so and then i dissapeared altogether.

in a 2 week period they had me down for 52 leads, so my $399 was gone in 2 weeks.

the 1st call i got was genuine the rest were trash.

what a terrible service.they really are scam artists and should be punished to the full extent of the law.

i hope the people that work for them can sleep easy at night knowing they are stealing the food out of our childrens mouth.

i would like to meet the ceo in private for 1 hour the ***. :( :( :(

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#624712

So, some guy calls me up named "Michael" with a distinct Arabic accent. He starts rambling about Sightly.com ( never heard of this company). Tells me about Mobile SEO and the benefits it will have to my company. Hello...Scam alert. Every one with a computer now thinks they can help Small businesses with SEO ( of course at insance fees).

Asks if Id like to speak to his "manager" so since I am having my morning coffee and have half a headache anyway, I say ok.

Another guy with a pronounced Arabic accent gets on the phone. Get this! His name is Kane McIntire. RFLMAO. Yes...I'll say it again. Kane McIntire. LM Friggin AO.

So I listen, and while I am listening Kane, I was browsing info on your site feedback. Ive been running my business for 12 years now. Ive heard every scam in the book. You are a little late to the game, but never have I heard of any Arab trying to pass as a Irishman!!!!!

You guys are going to have to go back to English school to get rid of that accent. Get real, but thanks for the laugh my friend!

WARNING to small business owners. Do not pay more than $150 per month for your SEO work.

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0 1
#607920

BEWARE! This company overpromises and underdelivers.

They hire you as a closer than tell you some openers have quit so you now need to be an opener to help out who knows for how long cold calling even though you weren't hired for that position. A boiler room/military atmosphere similar to stock market at Wall Street all about the sale and not really focusing on customer.

They lie about your starting salary during interview and start you out lower and as a Independent Contractor to reduce any liability. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY......

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0 0
#595172

Elocal Listings = Pepperbottletechnologies = Jhe = Vidgits = Pixeflish = Backyard.com = GoBackyard.com = Citysquares.com = Sightly.com = Appstack = Scam

The works of Todd Johnsen, Jeff Einstoss, Steven Espinosa

They have been at it for years! Its is very sad. They all opperate or used to opperate out of Temecula, CA Look them up

Steven now runs appstack and Todd is the VP of Sales

This guy lies to everyone giving them false hope of eventually haveing a huge payout. You can read about the church of Todd online and his monday morning meetings LMAO or better known as CatMan Todd

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0 0
#594993

They were reasonably priced for the service I received. I actually started getting recognized by locals after my advertising went out. I plan to use them again after the holidays.

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1 0
#600816
@PissedConsumer594993

An anonymous post (from the same town even) talking about how great they are. No, that couldn't possibly be someone from the scammer company...

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0 0
#586345

I signed up with this company because they gave me a free month trial. If they brought me new customers I was going to stay with them and keep paying.

I ended up canceling and my card was never charged. I don't know much about the company but they didn't scam me.

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ID
#346858 Review #346858 is a subjective opinion of poster.
Location
Des Moines, Iowa
Loss
$1400

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