All of us who have been doing this business for any period of time have a horror story on how bad a lead company was. And many who are new to this business have yet to see the tactics lead companies use to generate prospects that are "begging for insurance". I have used internet leads for over 5 years and still do today, but you have to be cautious. I have been able to avoid some potential losses because of experiences posted on this forum. So I invite those willing to share some of there bad experiences to post. I will start with an experience I had a couple a years ago.
I received a call from a company claiming to be new, and they claimed to have the best leads in the idustry. I asked a couple questions, receiving the usual sketchy answers, and then told them I was not interested. The company asked why. I responded that the pricing was much higher then thier competitors, the fact that they claimed to be new concerned me, and I had no way of knowing the quality of the leads.
The company was eager to acquire a new customer and kept insisting that thier leads were worth the price because the quality was amazing and the close ratio would be very high. After I said no multiple times the company asked for an oppurtunity to prove themselves. They said they would send me 10 free leads and then call me to see if I would like to set up an account, after I saw how good the leads really were for myself. Now, I was still skeptical but they used the magic word "free", and did not ask for a credit card or any information that could be tied to billing. So for the first time ever it really seemed like a company was going to give me some free leads to try out.
I started to recieve the leads the next day and got a couple a day. It took about a week for all 10 to be delivered. The quality was, as expected, just like every other internet lead company if not worse. After I recieved the 10 I tried to call the company to tell them I was not interested in receiving any more. I was placed in a hold que for 10 minutes before I hung up. So instead I emailed the company and told them I was not interested in receiving any more leads. The leads stopped.
Then about two weeks later I go into the office Monday morning and have a few leads from the company. Obviously a mistake, I attempt to call the company agian. This time I get bored in the hold que after only 5 minutes. Again I e-mail them. This time I explain that there is a mistake and I received some leads, re-stating that I am not interested in signing up with thier company. Well, this time the leads do not stop. I attempt calling one more time and re-send the afore mentioned e-mail again. Finally I give up and just delete the leads as they come in.
About three months pass with me deleting a few leads from this company each week. Then one day instead of a lead I get an invoice e-mailed to me. It is a bill for over $500.00. I am outraged and furious. I call the company and wait in the hold que for over a half hour. Still, no one ever answers the phone.
About two weeks pass and the lead company calls me. They call to inform me that my bill is past due and they need a new credit card number because the one I had on file expired. I finally get my chance to lay into them and I do. Needless to say they hang up on me. The leads finally stop and I assume everything is over.
But wait...it goes on. Some more time passes and I get another call from the company. Again it is someone trying to collect on the bill. My anger at this point is gone. I laugh at them and tell them I will not pay them anything, I was onto thier scam. I hang up. A couple days later the company calls again. This time they try to guilt me into paying. When I go over the whole story again the company states that I have no way to prove I did not work the leads and since I admit they were e-mailed to me I needed to pay for them. At this point it is becoming comical. I still refuse to pay and then they comment; how would my customers feel if they knew I did not pay my obligations. Now I am starting to get mad again. I tell them I will be happy to pay the bill if they fax me the signed copy of our customer agreement, which of course I know does not exist. At this point the company actually tells me they have the signed agreement but do not have access to it for variuos reasons. I know this to be a lie. So I tell them I will pay the bill immediatly after they fax me a copy of the agreement.
After this conversation I never hear from them again.
I received a call from a company claiming to be new, and they claimed to have the best leads in the idustry. I asked a couple questions, receiving the usual sketchy answers, and then told them I was not interested. The company asked why. I responded that the pricing was much higher then thier competitors, the fact that they claimed to be new concerned me, and I had no way of knowing the quality of the leads.
The company was eager to acquire a new customer and kept insisting that thier leads were worth the price because the quality was amazing and the close ratio would be very high. After I said no multiple times the company asked for an oppurtunity to prove themselves. They said they would send me 10 free leads and then call me to see if I would like to set up an account, after I saw how good the leads really were for myself. Now, I was still skeptical but they used the magic word "free", and did not ask for a credit card or any information that could be tied to billing. So for the first time ever it really seemed like a company was going to give me some free leads to try out.
I started to recieve the leads the next day and got a couple a day. It took about a week for all 10 to be delivered. The quality was, as expected, just like every other internet lead company if not worse. After I recieved the 10 I tried to call the company to tell them I was not interested in receiving any more. I was placed in a hold que for 10 minutes before I hung up. So instead I emailed the company and told them I was not interested in receiving any more leads. The leads stopped.
Then about two weeks later I go into the office Monday morning and have a few leads from the company. Obviously a mistake, I attempt to call the company agian. This time I get bored in the hold que after only 5 minutes. Again I e-mail them. This time I explain that there is a mistake and I received some leads, re-stating that I am not interested in signing up with thier company. Well, this time the leads do not stop. I attempt calling one more time and re-send the afore mentioned e-mail again. Finally I give up and just delete the leads as they come in.
About three months pass with me deleting a few leads from this company each week. Then one day instead of a lead I get an invoice e-mailed to me. It is a bill for over $500.00. I am outraged and furious. I call the company and wait in the hold que for over a half hour. Still, no one ever answers the phone.
About two weeks pass and the lead company calls me. They call to inform me that my bill is past due and they need a new credit card number because the one I had on file expired. I finally get my chance to lay into them and I do. Needless to say they hang up on me. The leads finally stop and I assume everything is over.
But wait...it goes on. Some more time passes and I get another call from the company. Again it is someone trying to collect on the bill. My anger at this point is gone. I laugh at them and tell them I will not pay them anything, I was onto thier scam. I hang up. A couple days later the company calls again. This time they try to guilt me into paying. When I go over the whole story again the company states that I have no way to prove I did not work the leads and since I admit they were e-mailed to me I needed to pay for them. At this point it is becoming comical. I still refuse to pay and then they comment; how would my customers feel if they knew I did not pay my obligations. Now I am starting to get mad again. I tell them I will be happy to pay the bill if they fax me the signed copy of our customer agreement, which of course I know does not exist. At this point the company actually tells me they have the signed agreement but do not have access to it for variuos reasons. I know this to be a lie. So I tell them I will pay the bill immediatly after they fax me a copy of the agreement.
After this conversation I never hear from them again.
