Affiliate Marketing Forum

multimastery · Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 81

I just want to give everyone a heads up on The Newbie Club. Initially I was v e r y excited about The Newbie Club affiliate program. But then I found out that they have poor affiliate/customer support ( like too many programs on the web).

Whenever they do get back with you it's with short, vague, unhelpful and frankly oftentimes stupid answers. Then you have to spend all of your time emailing back and forth just to 'try' to get some clarity -- which could have been avoided if they gave complete and thorough support/guidance upfront, instead of just writing in careless short words and phrases. They state that if you need help with anything at all don't hesitate to contact the The Newbie Club "support team". But that's just lip service. What support team??? It's a JOKE!

Furthermore, The Newbie Club website Affiliate agreement and policy contains misleading and invalid info. (bounce-back email addresses, outdated policies,etc.). I guess they leave it that way just to get you all excited and draw you into their opportuniTEASE. And when you ask them about it they just respond by saying "Ohh we changed that a while back but Obviously forgot to update our website." Sad thing about is that they STILL don't bother to update even then -- Even more sad is that they sell a website program-- so what type of example and message are they sending. P-l-e-a-s-e. This definitely doesn't invoke confidence in their company Or their products (at least NOT for me!).

I wish I would have thought to read reviews on The Newbie Club before I joined because now I see that respected sources did reviews on them and did indeed in fact say that they had flaws in their affiliate agreement. These reviews were done a while back and their STILL are operating with flawsss. Not good business at all.

>But it doesn't stop there. Joe Robson - owner and marketer of The Newbie Club has no class at all to do what he did. Can you believe he cursed me out via email??? I still can't believe it! He went on and on saying that I asked too many questions and was disrespectful to his support team and that they're not in India working for .50 cent an hour and blah-blah-blank and blah-blah-!#$% -- WHAT??? and TOO MAY QUESTIONS???... Any sensible businessperson knows that questions no matter how big or small are a sign that you have a serious affiliate. And any GOOD BUSINESSPERSON knows that you don't talk nor respond to an Affiliate, Customer or Anyone for that matter by cursing them out (even if they're irate, which I wasn't). It's just Bad Business.

But obviously Joe Robson of The Newbie club isn't worried about bad business because he made it very clear to me that regardless of whether I was his Best Affiliate or Best Customer - he could care LESS. I don't know where this man learned his customer service skills but This is definitely a Customer Service 101 violation.

>> Even more shocking, after he finished his email tornado of cursing me out he ended by saying that I could take this personally or we can do business and to keep smilin'. DO BUSINESS??? KEEP SMILIN'??? This man just cursed me out he gotta be CrAzY! Yes I did have questions, and Yes I did have concerns and confusion as anyone new to a program sometimes do (especially with misleading marketing messages and the lack of Quality support). -- But I Never, and I repeat NEVER cursed this man out nor his quote unquote "support team". And I didn't even respond to the email even after he cursed me out!

I vow to NEVER...EVER do business with Joe Robson and The Newbie Club e v e r again!!!

If you're considering becoming an affiliate (or doing business) with The Newbie Club then learn from my experience.. It's just not worth it. There's just too many Quality and Supportive and Up-To-Date programs on the web. And as affiliate marketers we don't have to tolerate this Nonsense and UNPROFESSIONALISM At All. Don't fall victim.

Best wishes fellow affiliates,

Richard

Joe Robson · Joined: 23 Nov 2005 Posts: 1

I was given a heads up about this posting, otherwise I would
never have seen it.

I do not want to wash dirty linen in public, nor do I wish to
attempt any 'defense', but this is a very respected forum and I
refuse to allow lies and deceit to be written about me, by
someone who is very brave when hiding behind the anonymity of an
email address and a forum pseudonym.

I write this response because I think there is a lesson to be
learned here, and a question of principle that those of us in
business should - in my opinion - apply more often.

In short, this guy asked about 6-7 questions in about 5-6 emails,
about our Affiliate program, which were already explained in
detail in the Affiliate Clubroom.

He is one those very pedantic people and wanted clarification on
one point after another. Fair enough, that's par for the course.
We answered them all courteously and tried to help where we
could.

Then he couldn't get his affiliate URL tracking code to work.
This system has been in place for 5 years and we have never had a
problem with this from any of our 16,000 affiliates.

However, his emailed question was ambiguous so we asked for
clarification. In fact we asked for the exact URL that would not
work. Sounds simple enough.

His reply was abrupt, aggressive and sarcastic and still did not
give us the information we needed to resolve his problem. But the
comment that triggered my personal intervention was "if you
(meaning lowly support person) are not capable of answering a
'serious potential affiliate's question', then turn me over to
someone who can.

So this time I replied personally and said ...

"Who the hell do you think you are talking to?"

Then I went on to say that I will take NO crap off anyone -
affiliate or customer".

And that's true. Providing service is one thing, and no-one knows
better than I do how important that is. Heck I've been in
business for over 30 years! My Support people would NEVER reply
to someone like that, but I will if someone oversteps
the mark between acceptable behavior and downright rudeness.

The Customer is NOT always right, and there is far too much
aggression and obnoxious behavior on the net, and I won't
tolerate it. Why should I? Why should you? Why should any of us?

If we refuse to accept rude behavior in the 'real world' why
accept it online? But the same people would never dream, nor have
the courage, to behave like that face-to-face in the real world.

Talk like that to the guy behind a bar and see what happens!

Newbie Club Support deals with frustrated green newbies on a
daily basis and we are VERY skilled at dealing with questions
which don't always make sense. Unfortunately this guy choose to
take his ball home because I would not grovel or accept his
rudeness without comment.

Why do people like him resort to flailing their arms around on
forums? Why do they knee jerk and scream "I've been hurt, please
feel sorry for me" Why do they seek consolation over such silly
little setbacks? Why do they waste so much time and energy
seeking revenge because they can't get their own way? Most people
grow out of such childish behavior when they become adults.

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away
childish things"

This week I was 'in my opinion' ripped off for $300 by a well
known marketer. When I realized I wasn't getting anywhere I took
it on the chin, and didn't moan to anyone. I got on with my life.

There's a well known and very true expression ...

"The more successful you become, the more likely you are to be
attacked."

Here's the complete email which triggered a furious response of
anger, intolerance and outright vitriolic abuse from him. I will
not publish his reply nor answer his individual exaggerated
accusations made on this forum (and probably others). I have
better things to do with my time - like helping my many 'grown
up' customers and Affiliates.

<begins>

Richard this is Joe Robson,

You wrote ..

>>Hopefully you can understand my concern as a serious affiliate
>>but if not please turn me over to someone who does.

Why are you being so aggressive? Just who the hell do you
think you are talking to - robots?

You said the tracking link you created did not work. So we
asked you to send us the EXACT tracking URL that did not
work so we can then tell you WHY it does not work and what
to do to MAKE it work.

Otherwise we can only advise you to do what the instructions
in the clubroom tell you to do, and that does not work for you.

Now stop being so damned aggressive and realize that my
support people are trying to help you.

They are affiliates themselves not students in India working for
peanuts with no first hand experience of the problems encountered
in Internet marketing.

We have NEVER, in 5 years, had so many questions from one
affiliate. Fair enough, there's nothing wrong with that. But stop
the aggression and stop talking to my support people as if they
are kids.

Now you can play the game properly or take this message
personally and take your ball home. I will NOT take crap from
anyone - not even my best affiliate or customer.

Now send us the affiliate link that did not work for you and we
can start doing some business.

And keep smilin'

Joe Robson

<ends>

multimastery · Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 81

administrator · Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:23 pm Post subject:

I'll lock this topic now. It's essentially a private conversation as no-one else has joined in and Joe Robson probably won't be indulging in further exchanges as he's made his point. I'll probably delete it in a few days.

Wally Morgan - Moderator

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