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Sunday, April 1, 2012

That's not how you run a company!

As many of you are aware I have started finding ways to make money since I am home all the time.  One of the sites I found was called Calyp from the company Blue Calypso.  It's an advertisement based site.  They find companies like Coke, Body Glove, Crystal Light, Glade and many, many more who are looking to find someone to advertise their products.  Calyp then pays their endorsers(people like me and you) to share ads on their Facebook page, Twitter feed, Linkedin account, and blog.  They will also pay you if someone clicks on one of the ads to check it out.  I didn't make alot, but did manage about $40-50 a month.  Nothing that would feed a family or pay rent, but definitely helped with the non-essentials.

Today I log into my account to see what, if any, new ads were there for me to share.  Imagine my surprise to find that they had taken almost $30 out of my earnings for the month.  After sending an email to find out what was going on I find out that they did this to just about every other person who was doing this program.  Their reasoning: "We have identified both individual Endorsers as well as common locations which are abusing CALYP and have taken steps to stop the abuse. Accounts for those abusing Endorsers at such locations have been permanently locked out and have been blocked from further participation with CALYP. This includes the ability to interact with campaigns that are posted by any Endorser."

I've checked my account, I still have access, so I'm not blocked....why are you punishing me?!?!  Not only did they take back monies, they did it on the weekend, with no notice and no answers for over 8hrs and even that was the run-around for another 3 hrs.  If they KNEW about these problems, why did they allow them to continue, allowing our balances to increase??  Giving us a false sense of earning???   Why did they do it on the weekend if not to try and get it past their endorsers?? If they knew they were going to be doing this why did they have to wait to tell us about it???  And why on earth were they NOT ready to address the issue as soon as it happened???

Not only did they take people's money, they have also changed the way they are going to pay people for sharing now....no notice, nothing. And all of those that have reached a certain level will all start over.  So all the points we earned to reach different earning levels will be gone.  All the posting we have been doing will be for naught, nothing, zip, zilch.  Now, I am sure they get paid a fair amount of money by the advertisers to use this program and have already been paid for past ad campaigns.  So they've been paid, but aren't going to pay us.  I'm sorry, but to me this doesn't seem like the way to run a company.  I'm fine with them wanting to change things and make it better, but you don't screw the people that work for you in the process.  You don't take back that what you have already promised you were going to give.  I'm okay with changing how the payout is figured, but you don't do it without warning and without taking into consideration the people that have already achieved certain levels.  How would you feel to have worked to achieve a certain pay grade and then they said, sorry, we're going to start you at the beginning rate?  I'm not looking for things to just continue the way they have been.  It's apparent it wasn't working, but you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I have also noticed a problem with communication in this company. They tell us the money is being loaded to our debit cards, it shows it's been taken out of our earning account, but it takes 4-5 days to show up.  They've told us each time it would only take 2.  They tell us the bank is responsible for loading the cards with our funds, we call the bank and they say they don't have anything to do with it.  We ask about it and they reply with "We're looking into this".  I was fortunate enough to win a prize from them on February 14th, only it was missing pieces and to this day I still have NO IDEA where they are.  I sent numerous emails, posted numerous times on the Facebook page and get the same answer: "We'll look into this".  After checking their Facebook page it looks like this is a continuing problem as several people are trying to find out about the prizes they have won.  This is how's it's always been since day one with this company.  I was willing to put up with it because it really was an easy way to earn a few bucks.  But when you steal what was owed,  when you take back what I have earned, you no longer deserve my patience and understanding.

To my friends and family on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin I apologize for bombarding you with those ads, for wasting the space I used, for encouraging to you to even look at anything you were interested in.  Please avoid having any dealings with the following: Blue Calypso, Inc., formerly JJ&R Ventures, Inc and Blue Calypso Holdings, Inc and please pass the message on.

10 comments:

  1. Very well said. It certainly is a frustrating situation.

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    1. Thank you for the positive response. It takes alot to get me riled up and this did it.

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  2. Excellent post about a company that doesn't know anything about public relations, being fair, or treating their endorsers with respect.

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    1. Thanks for the comment. It looks like we've prevailed and they will be giving us all the money we've earned. One small step I guess.

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  3. Very well said...not that it will do much good... they always have generated answers for every thing...they told people that a few ppl where cheating and that they was blocked after a suspension...but yet told all but a few that was suspended that they where not the cause of this and that every thing would be ok with them.. this is what i was told:

    There are a group of endorsers that have banded together to click on each other's endorsements for the sole purpose of driving up points and earnings. Unfortunately you are related to some of these people through one of your social media accounts.

    NOTICE: --->> After reviewing your account we have determined that although you are related to these people you are not participating in the abuse and we have lifted the flag on your account.

    SO INSTEAD OF THESE IDIOTS TELLING US WHO THE PERPETRATORS WHERE THEY CONTINUED TO LET THEM DO MORE DAMAGE TO US INSTEAD OF SOLVING ANYTHING.... BY THE WAY THEY TOOK 35 FROM ME AND YEAH I AM VERY MAD OVER THIS...DONT TELL ME I AM NOT A CHEATER AND THEN TREAT ME LIKE ONE ..KARMA WILL GET YOU ...

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    1. Thank you guys for the positive response. It takes alot to get me riled up and this did it.

      Thankfully, all our outcries were heard and they are at least going to fund ALL our monies earned and owed. However, I'm still on the fence as to whether I will continue with this company....I will just have to see what the new pay-scale and such they have planned is like.

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Thanks for the invite to post here Bev! I am in no way trying to influence anyone's decision to stay with Calyp or go - that is a personal choice, and we are all at different stages in our lives. However, I cannot go on supporting a company who treats their base the way they do. Here is a post that I left on their FB page in response to everything that has occurred:

    Calyp Endorsers, I am done. I am done being treated like an idiot by the people in your organization. I am done being ignored repeatedly when I send emails. I am done asking for help on your wall, being told that someone will personally look into something for me, and then being ignored again. I am done with receiving evasive non-answers about MY account - information I am entitled to - only after threatening to go to the BBB.

    I am done listening to you blame everyone else for things that are your responsibility, whether it is cards not being sent on time, late payments, wrongfully suspending innocent endorsers, or taking back money that endorsers earned. It is not the bank's fault the payments are late, or if it is, then it is your responsibility to find a better bank. Nor is it the fault of a few wrongdoers that YOU punished other endorsers without doing some simple investigations before handing out suspensions.

    If you had put a little thought into what you were doing before you took money from people, you would have realized that it was the wrong thing to do. You could have easily said that the payment system would change following this payment, but instead, your solution is to just take money from people with no explanation. It is YOUR responsibility when these things occur to act like adults and own up to the mistakes, but once again, you did nothing until you realized you had a PR nightmare on your hands.

    So now you want to pay people based on how popular they are. I understand people with thousands of 'friends' have a greater reach than someone who only friends people they truly want to interact with, but now those with low numbers are being punished even though they may have already reached platinum or even elite status under your previous system. I guess being passionate about a brand only takes you so far; it's much more important that you have the numbers - or in your words, 'Popularity Pays!' I'm not in high school anymore, and I am not playing that game.

    It's been nothing but a headache to try to work with your company. I am done being punished for things I have no control over. I am done being blamed for things I did not do. I am done watching you delete comments from your wall that are negative instead of addressing the criticisms. I am done being lied to.

    I have never dealt with a more dishonest, shady, disorganized company in my life, and I have more pride and integrity than to let liars and thieves (who got caught) continue to make money from me. Without your endorsers you are nothing, and your customer service has repeatedly shown how much you 'care' about them. I know it means nothing to you since you have plenty of others to fill the gap, but I am done with you. No longer 'socially yours'.

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