Today I was contacted by a guy name Eric Thom from RSS Applied (www.rssapplied.com). They are some kind of blogging company that sells “internet visibility systems,” whatever that means.
I wanted to share my experiences with this person from RSS Applied (www.rssapplied.com) so you will know what kind of company they are, should they contact you about their services.
It all started when Eric Thom from RSS Applied sent me an unsolicited email that was short to the point of being both cryptic and rude. I replied to ask what he meant, explaining that his short email was a bit confusing. He replied in an equally curt and abrasive way. So I politely recommended he get a book on business communications — I do what I can, after all.
That led to a series of insulting “attack” emails with content such as this:
“Those phrases you speak of are a joke to get ranked for number 1, your design is from th stone age number 2, and fiianlly Frankly graigslist would be a step from what content we see on your tiny site. Nice talking to you Farmer, must suit you, farmer.” [Sent from Eric Thom of RSS Applied]
> ——– Original Message ——–
> Subject: [SPAM] Re: [SPAM] Re: blogging
> From: “Eric Thom”
> Date: Thu, March 15, 2007 4:45 pm
All typos have been left intact as not to misrepresent Mr. Thom.
This kind of personal attack bothers me a great deal. Not because I’m the least bit intimidated by a 12-year-old posing as a business man, but because this company (RSS Applied) claims to be in the business of communications. They claim to be experts in blogging, blog content, etc.
I don’t know about you, but RSS Applied isn’t the kind of company I would want giving me communications advice … unless the name of the lesson was “Insults 101.”
I don’t like to bring negativity into this blog. But I realize that most of my readers are regular bloggers, so there’s a good chance this company (RSS Applied) will contact you about their services. I only want to share my brief but distasteful experience with RSS Applied so you’ll have an idea of who you’re dealing with, should they ever pitch their services to you.
Legal Disclaimer: I make no other assertions or claims about RSS Applied (www.rssapplied), aside from sharing the abusive emails I have received from them.
~Brandon
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4 Comments to 'RSS Applied - A Blogging Company With (Bad) Attitude'
March 16, 2007
I don’t know much about RSS Applied, but I have seen some good articles from them in the past. How confusing and distressing to hear about this - I hope the confusion gets cleared up soon. Hopefully it’s not as it seems.
June 4, 2007
I was very interested to see this. Last week, I called Eric about a position advertised in a school Newspaper. Eric immediately set me on tasks that I told him I could not commit to until the term was over. The entire time I was talking to him over the phone, he was very curt and pushy. He would say things like “Well, when you graduate, you will have to learn to multi-task” in regards to me wanting to wait to start until finals week. He assigned me ten “articles” to do in a weekend. I contacted Eric and told him that I did not think the agreement was going to work out, and that I am sorry for any inconvenience. He responded with this:
“This has put me in a very BAD position regarding the content you committed to, here is a tip DON’T commit to any business venture in the future unless you can keep it!!”
How rude and unprofessional is that? First off, if someone you’re “testing out” is going to shut down your whole operation by not being able to work for you, there are some SERIOUS problems involved. Secondly, this was not a “business venture” for me. It was a possible summer job.
Eric is a very unprofessional, touchy IT guy. The articles from RSS Applied are good, but he doesn’t write them. He hires people to do it for him. I am contacting the student newspaper that I saw the advertisement in and requesting that they pull it.
July 31, 2007
This guy just contacted me, and when I googled him I found this page. Thank goodness. I also asked him to “explain” what they offered, I wish I hadn’t done that!
January 25, 2008
Unfortunately I agreed to do some subcontract work for him. I got paid on the first couple of projects, but he stiffed me for the last $1700 and will not respond to my attempts to contact him at all. Several months have gone by. I even agreed to settle for 40 cents on the dollar if he would just pay me. I’m still waiting, with no explanation or contact at all. That’s no way to do business.
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