Any of you advertise via Party Pop. com?

I put my "business" listing on there for free in 2005 (barely remembered it!) and of course since then I've become licensed and have been deciding how best to spend advertising dollars locally as far as networking or what other things I want to do.

Well lately I've gotten several voicemails from PartyPop and I just didn't feel like messing with them, I knew all they would do is try to get me to upgrade, yada yada, and so I never called back. Well finally today I decided to answer, and the guy was talking to me about it. I've been busy in the kitchen and have a cake to finish today (and for the next three days after this!) and didn't feel like talking. I simply told him that I don't have money right now for advertising in my budget and that if he has to remove my listing that would be fine. He started getting testy with me and said "Have you been getting alot of traffic from us." And I said "Well no not really so its not a big deal" and he started getting upset and said "Well that's because you only have the free listing. Let me tell you about our upgrades." I cut him off and told him I don't have the budget for that right now and he started being sarcastic with me saying, "Oh, you are so busy you don't need any more business?" and I said actually I am too busy to talk to you right now, DOING my business...if you have to delete my listing, I understand. And when I do have money in the budget for advertising, I plan to spend it in local networking with brides rather than party websites." He got really mad and said "Fine then, if you don't want to make money and get more business, you're done." and hung up!

Geez. Real professional. So anyway figured I"d share my experience in case any of you think about advertising there...that's what you will get if you don't start forking over the bucks!!!!

Yeah, I've gotten the calls too. Nothing that rude, but definitely pushy.

I advertise on the Knot and when the contracts were renewed the price increased slightly and they included party pop and their other wedding site. When I check my sites traffic I don't think I have had any Traffic from it.

I know direct sales is a hard way to make a living but it does not help if you are rude!

We never signed up for their free listing, but they put us on their UK site anyway. I had no idea until we had a call from the US office asking if we wanted to upgrade our listing. They were pretty rude when I said no!

That reminds me of a conversation I had when I tried to get rid of AOL (yes did drop them after several phone calls) . . . man was the guy so pushy and bordering nasty. What makes them think that being rude and nasty will make me want to stay with their company?

deb

I got a call from them, too, they were trying to get me to upgrade. I told the guy (It sounds like it was the same charmer that called you) that I only do wedding cakes, so I don't get any business from people searching for party cakes. He went into his "Hey there little lady let me explain this difficult concept to you" tone, and told me that they were a search engine that came up first on google. So I told him that when you put in "wedding cakes" and my city on google my website comes up first. He didn't like that and gave me the "I guess you don't want the business" line, too, so I told him I didn't. He said "okay then, I'll delete your listing" like that was my punishment...Then he practically slammed the phone down hanging up so fast.

That must be a great place to work, they train their salespeople in such amazing customer service.

Thanks for the warning. I have seen this website and considered advertising there but never really looked into it. Now I know I don't need to bother wasting my time...

I had the same co. try to get me to upgrade also. I had the free listing and he was saying just how many hits I should have from them. So I said "ok, let me check my stats".. nope nothing.

Then he tell me how they come up first... so I tried that and still it was nothing...... this went on and on.... I was not busy at the time and found it intertaining.. in an evil sort of way.

He finally got the hint that I was NOT impressed.

Don't waste you money.

I talked with the rep for HOURS over several phone conversations. I asked about traffic and search engines, and guarantees/refunds. I told him I had a limited advertising budget and he had to tell me why his company would be my best option. I expressed my concern over their very simplistic website. It looks cheesy, and I didn't think it would impress the high end clientele I was seeking. I told him I would think about it and let him know if I decided to go with them. He asked if he could call me back in a week or two, and I agreed.

When he called back, I told him I was still researching my options - but feel free to check back at a later date.

He was always very nice, but honestly, I am not at all impressed with their website.

I have the free listing also and don't think I'd spend my advertising dollars on an upgrade with them. I think there are better ways to market my business for sure!