Inspectopia has ripped me off

I paid for a 6 month premium listing with Inspectopia.com in November. My link on his site is dead and has been for the last month and a half. I have sent numerous emails with no reply. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT DOING BUSINESS WITH THIS GUY.

Here is the link to my premium listing. http://www.inspectopia.com/homeinspe…507.g.35.html

Don’t waste your time with them any longer Kev. Hopefully you paid via credit card. Put in a dispute and have the card company do a charge back.

I just checked my “clickthrough” for the last couple years. How is their “New and improved” website working? You tell me.

Safe Haven Inspections 2006 clickthroughs 996
Safe Haven Inspections 2007 clickthroughs 497
Safe Haven Inspections 2008 clickthroughs 238
Safe Haven Inspections 2009 clickthroughs 10

Needless to say their will be no renewal at the end of this month.

Stephen,
I didn’t think of filing a credit card dispute. I will do that.
Thanks

Inspectopedia has been soliciting me the last few days. Thanks for the input, i will stay clear.

Has anyone had success with any other listing companies? I would appreciate any input

Dennis, I think you mean InspectApedia, not Inspectopedia.

I got a nasty gramm from InspectApedia claiming he had a problem with NACHI using InspectOpedia. He thretened “legal action”, I told him to pound sand.

[quote=“kleonard, post:1, topic:45816”]

I paid for a 6 month premium listing with Inspectopia.com in November. My link on his site is dead and has been for the last month and a half. I have sent numerous emails with no reply. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT DOING BUSINESS WITH THIS GUY.

Just wanted to be sure everyone was accurate about the original complaint; I just placed an add yesterday, so I hope for better results, but will not renew otherwise.

Thanks guys.

I think INSPECTOPIA.COM has become

The site only home inspectors know about

Years ago he had a good site, then he got banned from Google for a while, may still be…

I haven’t been a member for years but he keeps spamming me.

I do remember if you wanted to contact someone FORGET IT, they don’t ANSWER emails…worthless POS…:twisted:

Same here Dale,
I was with him back when “Inspectionezone” was a real player. Then when his sites disappeared I no longer went with him. I had seen where he was starting to make inroads back in with the new makeover and thought I’d give it another shot. It was a mistake & for me, a lesson learned. I never did get a refund & as far as I’m concerned he still owes me.

He still sends me his “advertisements” about once a week. Received this one yesterday.

On another note. You can put free ads on his website, which the last time I checked were the same as his “paid ads.” And who knows, seeing he has a contact number now, maybe things have changed. Let us know Ron.

Ditto… InspectionZone got you noticed.

You got that right. And then in 2009, Google said goodbye and so did their stats. Here are mine for a 4 year period. In 2009, they changed to Inspectopia. See a pattern?

Safe Haven Inspections 2006 clickthroughs 996
Safe Haven Inspections 2007 clickthroughs 497
Safe Haven Inspections 2008 clickthroughs 238
Safe Haven Inspections 2009 clickthroughs 10

Same placement, well let’s say the same money, but they changed where you were placed. Rip Off.

Speak of the devil! I just recieved another e-mail from inspectapidia. is this the same one you guys got:
RE: Your InspectAPedia.com Inspectors-Directory Entry & INACHI Trademark Violation

From:Daniel Friedman danjoefriedman@gmail.com

To:csi.inspections@yahoo.com

[FONT=sans-serif]Some INACHI members have observed but you may not have seen, at http://inspectapedia.com/ashi/inspusa.htm (USA) and http://inspectapedia.com/ashi/inspcana.htm (Canada) at we have been forced to include a public warning that INACHI has engaged in U.S. Trademark Law violation (copying our website name and possibly copyright law violation too), resulting also in theft of our web traffic, income, and thus our ability to support our website from which inspection referrals are sent to you.
Having always enjoyed good relations with individual iNACHI members, we hesitated more than a year over this egregious trademark infringement. During that time I asked a number of fellows like you for their advice, as your association itself is intransigent. A number of your fellow members suggested that we bring this matter to public view - violators never enjoy having public light shone upon bad acts.
Please advise me: If you would prefer to remain listed in our online directory of home inspectors, I can remove the NACHI (trademark violation) warning and replace it with your state license ID/NR or other qualification.
[FONT=sans-serif]Or if you prefer not to be listed at all let me know. By no means are we seeking to de-list your service.
[/FONT]In case you did not see my comments on the unfortunate illegal acts by INACHI’s trademark violation, I’ve included details, just below.
I respect you personally and would be glad to hear any advice you can offer.
I understand that some of you have as a first reaction that INACHI’s illegal acts have nothing to do with you personally, although actually that’s not the case:
INACHI members as well as legal and ethical experts point out that illegal or improper acts by your association reflect poorly on its individual members and that principled members, once being made aware of the issue, should be expected to join in asking their association to cease and desist, rather than be a party to illegal and disreputable behavior.
The Trademark & Copyright infringement website where INACHI is cited, documents cases of egregious theft of property in the form of violation of registered U.S. Trademarks or plagiarized copies of copyrighted material. That site is at http://webthefthallofshame.com/ . Its listings are removed when violations cease.
The entry there about INACHI documents the specifics of that case and out of respect for individual INACHI members, includes text making clear that some INACHI members have been unaware of this illegal behavior on the part of their own association.
The Web Theft Hall of Shame - http://webthefthallofshame.com/ is a public information website that allows the light of day to shine on illegal acts of trademark or copyright infringement and assists thereby in discouraging that bad behavior by some who otherwise will respond only to costly litigation. It is accessed as an information source by the general public as well as by copyright and trademark attorneys and web hosting services.

For example, if someone steals a copy of your own website or company name, profiting thereby at your expense, you can submit that information to [FONT=serif]http://webthefthallofshame.com/ for verification and posting, at no charge.[/FONT]
We ask that you convey to your association management that you object to this illegal act - after all it is your association too.
If instead you, by passive acceptance, prefer to raise no objection to your association’s illegal act, I will as you ask, remove your referral listing and retain this documentation. Our website has been and can continue to be a source of professional and business referrals to you.
In sum, I really need your help in this matter. Stealing our registered U.S. Trademarked name is stealing our web traffic is stealing our income is impacting our ability to support our website and its service both to you and to consumers.

[/FONT]

Daniel Friedman, Editor/Publisher
dfriedman@inspect-ny.com
[FONT=Times New Roman][size=3][FONT=Arial]InspectAPedia.com® [/FONT][/FONT][/size]

Lawrence,

Different… altogether different site. The email you received was from Dan Friedman’s site.

The site being discussed is inspectopia.com

Sean sold this site a while back.

Hummm I still get emails (asking for money) with his name on them every few days.:cool:

So do I.
I still have the free listing though which averages three hits a month!:):slight_smile:

I use to get inspection work from http://www.homeinspections-usa.com/.

Hi folks,

This is Sean from Inspectopia.com (formerly InspectionZone.com). I wanted to jump in, say hello, and clarify some questions and concerns.

Kevin, if there remains an unresolved issue, please sign-in to Inspectopia.com and you’ll be given Pauline’s phone and email contact information. She is my new sales and customer support manager. Previously, I was the sales and customer support manager and let’s be honest, I was at best inconsistent and - at worst - a complete tool.

Originally my home inspector directory was InspectionZone.com. In 2008, InspectionZone.com was indeed banned by Google. So were 14 out of 15 of my other websites. It was painful. My wife and I had a horse farm at the time that I poured my heart and soul into and the Google ban reduced my income by 75%. We fought for a year to keep the farm but eventually we had no choice but to sell the entire farm back to the bank through a Deed in Lieu. There were (and are) plenty of other families throughout the country going through similar emotional and financial trauma so I’ll spare everyone the rest of my torch song.

I tried in vain throughout 2008 to get the ban lifted. No such luck. From 2009 to 2010, I continued to adapt and develop my websites. Traffic from other sources grew substantially. Inspectopia.com, however, was slow to develop organic traffic referrals. I should note, though, that prices for Inspectopia.com premier listings are a fraction of what InspectionZone.com used to be. My prices rise and fall with traffic volume because they are calculated in real-time. In 2008, inspectors would regularly pay several hundred dollars for 3 month placements. Today, it is typically +/- $70 for 6 months.

Suddenly, in March 2010, Google lifted the ban on all 15 previously banned websites. I was pretty amazed. All of the other websites in my network tripled in traffic. Except Inspectopia.com.

I’m hoping you folks don’t entirely give up on me! InspectionZone.com was just the 2nd directory I developed and it proved to be very effective for home inspectors.

Right now, I’m thinking that the best plan would be to transition back to InspectionZone.com from Inspectopia.com. I’m planning to do that soon. I’m hopeful that in doing so my website will be able to reclaim the authority it worked hard to develop.

I’d like to clarify some technical issues raised in this thread as well:***Safe Haven Inspections 2006 clickthroughs 996
Safe Haven Inspections 2007 clickthroughs 497
Safe Haven Inspections 2008 clickthroughs 238
Safe Haven Inspections 2009 clickthroughs 10
*** The 2008 statistic was dropped by the Google ban, but also at play here is my transition to Listing Profile pages. Prior to the transition, a listing entry - when clicked - would direct the user to your website. After the transition, it would direct the user to your profile on my website. They still retained the ability to visit your website, but the profile listing (with advertising copy, photos and specialty information fully manageable by the inspector) allowed the user to more easily review multiple inspectors and contact multiple inspectors through a singular website interface. As a result, clickthroughs are significantly reduced. However, the lead conversion has significantly increased. Today I’m delivering hundreds of inspection client leads each month to inspectors nationwide. I’d like to increase that by an order of magnitude in 2011. On another note. You can put free ads on his website, which the last time I checked were the same as his “paid ads.” And who knows, seeing he has a contact number now, maybe things have changed. Let us know Ron.
Premier listings own a specific position (#1, #2) for all city results on a countywide basis. So for example someone who is the Premier #1 listing for Seminole County would be #1 in Orlando and all other cities and towns within that county. A free listing isn’t guaranteed placement. Furthermore, the inquiry alert email that someone mentioned is a Premier listing benefit. Free listings also receive this alert; it contains the “Shop Around” lead’s needs/goals and other qualifying information but contact information is omitted unless you’re a Premier listing owner and the lead is located within your service area. If the lead itself looks promising to the free listing owner then the inspector with a free listing may opt to upgrade and gain access to the contact information immediately. With that said, if someone visits your free listing and then submits the contact form on your listing profile then you receive the complete contact information without having to upgrade. I experimented with various lead distribution processes until I settled on this one, which I think best balances fairness and transparency to inspectors while encouraging those who are seeing potential ROI to invest in some Premier advertising.

**Hummm I still get emails (asking for money) with his name on them every few days. :cool:
**Yes, I send out a once weekly sales email. I used to send out 2 emails a week but I dialed it down permanently. I realize that some find any sales emails at all annoying, so folks can sign-in and disable sales emails permanently through their My Account page.

In closing, I want to reassure everyone that I’m really working hard to build a quality resource. I know it used to perform much better for you back in the Halcyon era of 2005 through 2007. Eventually I will work my way back into your good graces. Here are some promises: I do not plan to ever sell any of my websites. I have never ever never ever sold or given anyone’s contact information to mailing lists and I never will. Like many of you I’ve worked my arse off for well over 10 years now and I’m not at all interested in any sort of get rich quick schemes. I know I can’t make everyone happy, but I promise to try! Inspectopia.com’s lack of growth has frustrated me given that every other one of my websites has literally exploded over the past 3 years. At this point, it’s become an obsessive goal of mine to turn it around.

I’m going to try and check in here from time to time to make sure I can answer any questions or concerns. I know I’m impossible to reach by email or phone, but if you have an Inspectopia.com account then you can contact Pauline and she’ll work hard to address your concerns.

Sean

http://www.inspectopia.com

Thanks Sean.

I see that crybaby over at the Johnny-come-lately, misspelled InspectApedia is complaining about us both. Let me know if I can help in any way.