The problem with doing business on the web
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008The problem with doing business on the web is that any idiot can make a website. And then these idiots interact with other webmasters.
If you look at my directory, you can see fairly easily that it is a paid inclusion directory. It says so on the homepage. It says so in the add site info. It says so on the link submission page.
So anyway, business as usual, I send out a PayPal money request to sales (at) fi-adv.com because they submitted to my directory. My typical money request message says something like ‘thanks for the submission; it was approved and will be added to the directory after payment.’ I sometimes add a not about how approval is actually somewhat rare since I reject most submissions.
I get a response today: “We don’t know you, nor does or company owe you any money. Don’t email us again or we’ll have our attorney’s contact you.”
I’m not in the mood for idiocy so I reply:
Actually, you submitted your website to jtrotta.com. I have this email as well as the IP you submitted from on file. When you submitted your site you agreed to our terms of service.
Now if you don’t want to be listed in jtrotta.com, that’s fine. If you threaten me with your lawyers one more time I will be contacting your web host and domain registrar to report you for spamming my directory.
So here’s a question: do you want to pay for a listing in jtrotta.com? Here’s another question: do you want me to reject your submission because you are unwilling to pay? Here’s my last question: do you want to continue being a jackass by making stupid threats?
For a company that claims to be a bunch of advertising pros, they sure seem lacking in both professionalism and smarts (not that my response is a lesson in professionalism). I’ll let you know if I hear from his lawyers 
Also, I resisted the temptation to point out this guy’s grammar error. Can anyone find an error in his email?