Enterprise SEO Blog

This one addresses the age old non-payment issue by a client (Trey Harris, Chris Crowl, DSLmarketing.com, and MyrtleBeachNow.com) stupid enough to force us into SEO warfare.

Our targets are:

- Trey Harris
- Claude O. Harris III
- Chris Crowl
- DSLmarketing.com
- MyrtleBeachNow.com
- many other long tails
- their client roster

Here's a couple of screenshot samples from the 20+ posts on different sites that went up yesterday, more going up daily, populated by news wire feeds and our own content creators:

Trey-Harris-fraud1.html
Trey-Harris-fraud2.html

Here's the backstory. Trey Harris and Chris Crowl run a business called DSLmarketing.com. They claim to be SEO experts, but in actuality, they are buyers of Adwords with very marginal skills at SEO. This is proven by the fact that they got the site penalized earlier this year.

Ok, they had a penalized site and they did one smart thing before the ethical failure we will address - they hired Bob Sakayama. And he got them out! Yet they were stupid enough to try to screw the team that fixed their problem, by ignoring the invoices.

After 6 months of no payments, we realized we were going to have to create consequences for them. They received adequate warning of what those consequences would be (Bob sent them a link to my original article on recourse), and they ignored that as well. Immediately, we started posting content across numerous sites to publicize this dispute.

Apparently we succeeded in getting their attention, because they tried to engage. But Bob refused to talk until the invoice was paid. At this point we started hearing lies. Trey invented a story about an ex-employee - making her responsible for his own malfeasance.

Unfortunately for Trey, Bob has a good relationship with this person, even has her cell, and he called her and sent her the email thread in which she takes the fall. She of course was both shocked, angry, and thankful to be informed of what was happening behind her back. In fact, she said she left the firm because of Trey's mistreatment of other staff. But just imagine the disturbing mindset and distasteful hubris it takes to blame others, behind their backs, when they are not able to defend themselves. This lie is really what got Bob's ire up at Trey.

And we talked with several other employees, all of whom had nothing good to say about the management of this firm. We hired several publicists, combined with our own writing teams and this story has just started to play out.

We will post followups as they occur. These guys have no idea of the consequences that will result. They poked the hornets' nest, but they won't be able to run fast enough.

More as this develops...

23 November 2009 update.

Unconditional payment demand met. Check is on the way! This after Trey tries to use his lawyer to place conditions on the payment of his debt. You wouldn't believe the "legal" document we received in attempt to intimidate - lawyers please look and comment. The email thread is killer. Posting for all to see. Lot to be learned here folks.

23 December 2009 update.

No check yet, but the story lives with new legs. Just heard that SC attorney, Reese Boyd III, has been harassing Bob on behalf of his client, Trey Harris, once again attempting to add conditions on the payment of this long standing debt. Think about the ethics of that move! It's like saying, "We'll pay you what we have owed you for months if you take down the bad press we're getting." Much more coming...

This is an awesome post. Can't wait for the followup. Do you know how many people out there would love to strike back for this same reason? Millions. This blog is priceless

My boyfriend used to work for Trey, and he would agree with your comments. Trey is NOT a nice person. Shut them down!!!!!!!!

Not celebrating until the check clears.

Remember that when attorneys enter the picture, they act in the interest of the client, often unaware of the ethical morass created by their client. But once they are made aware of the facts, they become an integral part of the story and their advocacy may not put them in favorable light. Make sure they are aware of this. Even lawyers want to protect their image. Make it clear that their actions will be truthfully reported in your posts.

We are posting more information relevant to issues created by lawyers assisting unethical attempts to coerce or otherwise influence the dispute.

Good point - go after the lawyer's cred. Since your approach is public humiliation via news, very relevant, and very likely to generate reader interest. Everyone would love to be able to push back against legal intimidation. More info, please!

The attorney in this instance is Reese Boyd III.

Got Bob's take on it and my writeup is in the works. I'm moving this to a separate blog post because there's a lot more to it now. See the post that starts "Reese Boyd III..."