LeapFish and the Facts
Posted by: Mark Kithcart Director of Marketing on: February 4, 2009
A blog post about LeapFish hit the internet yesterday. This is the LeapFish response in light of all of the “talk” out there and we wanted to get the facts to you.
We were made aware of the poor choice in judgment by an individual LeapFish sales representative via a post on the internet and regrettably found that a portion of the activity referred to had indeed occurred. The correspondence from the individual in question in the article was not from a corporate email address but from their own personal email account which is further verification that the individual acted on their own accord and attempted to cover their tracks.
We contacted the recipient of the message from the individual and offered an apology for the actions taken by that individual. We also expressed our regret and embarrassment over the situation. After a careful internal investigation we took swift and immediate action involving the individual. LeapFish does not condone nor endorse such behavior in verbal or written communication in any way.
Our sales staff have not ever been coached nor encouraged to engage in such tactics and this is a regrettable act by a single individual who exercised poor judgment. We held a special session with our sales team this morning and reiterated strongly that LeapFish, nor any of its representatives, will engage in any correspondence or conversations that are not of the highest standards and uphold the utmost in integrity. We also informed the sales team that anyone engaging in any behavior that does not uphold the utmost in integrity and goodwill will be terminated immediately. LeapFish has a zero tolerance policy toward this type of behavior.
Our only regret with the internet article is that we were not contacted immediately by the writer of the article to verify the facts. As it was, the article came out without ever giving us a chance to take action. If we had been made aware and had taken no action, then we would understand such an article being written. However, we took action and will continue to put measures in place to be proactive in preventing an action by an individual such as this from happening again.
People are not perfect and we do not claim to be either. This was an event that occurred and we took immediate and swift action with all of the facts in place. Our recourse at this time is to focus on what we have always focused on and will continue to focus on in the future – creation. Creation of value, creation of jobs and most importantly the creation of the best of the web in a click-free search.
1 | markdotnextinc
We will post ALL comments here for those that want to comment. We just need to keep the comments clean.
David wrote – “Too Late LeapFish”
2 | Adam
I’d love to know why you think a writer should ask you to change before reporting your activity.
It seems to me that writers, bloggers, and journalists are under no obligation whatsoever to help you. Your business is, after all, your business. You don’t share the rewards–why would you share the obligations?
3 | Jeff
Just curious as to what would have happened had TechCrunch not posted the article? Would this sales person do it again to someone else? How many businesses would be defrauded by your company? Do I think you should be happy that TechCrunch posted this so you could give the boot to a problem employee? No. However, I think you should be happy that more companies are not reporting this, so with as much damage that has been done, its not more.
4 | The LeapFish Chronicles: “Admitting To Click Fraud Is An Interesting Business Model.”
[...] Behrouzi responds on his blog. He’s disappointed in TechCrunch. See also the official LeapFish blog post. CrunchBase Information LeapFish Information provided by CrunchBase [...]
5 | Digg
Read what actual people think: http://benbehrouzi.org/2009/02/04/leapfish-gets-second-lashing-from-techcrunc/
6 | Francesco
Quality control is your company’s responsibly, exclusively.
That attitude towards techcrunch article looks just another form of the same aggressiveness that is being judged.
7 | Adam
Yes, that’s always the solution when your mistakes blow up in your face. Blame the media.
Man, I sure wouldn’t want to do business with a company who faces such bad PR. Too risky.
8 | EdSF
@Adam:
You mean a reporter can just write anything without confirmation? Oh, sorry, it was a BLOG post, not actually a news story.
From what I read, yup, it was pretty sleazy behavior. No excuse for it.
For the sales person getting canned, well, that’s just about right. You’re speaking for your company, and yes, as everyone here says, you were Leapfish.
As for Techcrunch, well, let’s see, I guess you could get away with your blog post because it is a blog post, not reporting. It’s the same with news reporting and talk radio. They’re under the cloak of giving opinions, not reporting. So yup, they can pretty much say whatever it is they want to say, but please don’t equate that with “journalistic integrity”.
As for the comment on the Techcrunch blogger Robin Wauters:
My advice to Leapfish – get over it. Robin’s a blogger. She has every right to blog about her opinions on Leapfish. I mean she sounds like a self-proclaimed guru of all things cool and useful on the web. Kinda like a human version of an eight ball.
You already know she’s got no confidence in your model, so the only good thing for you to do is move on and slap her silly with a successful service. Work on your service – which I found fascinating by the way.
So just make sure the speed of the site remains acceptable after you get hit with more traffic! That’s where you should spend time on. Dust yourselves off, concentrate on building, learn from criticism and mistakes, onward, forward!
9 | JESUS
THEY SAY THAT IN EVERY BUNCH THERE’S A ROTTEN APPLE. TRUE. BUT IF YOU CAN GET RID OF THE BAD APPLE BEFORE IT SPOILS THE BUNCH. WELL I CAN SAY THE REST WILL BE FINE. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE FOR SOMEONE TO WRITE AN ARTICLE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR COMPANY WITHOUT GETTING THE FACTS STRAIGHT? PUT YOUR NAME AND YOUR REPUTATION AT RISK? WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR COMPANY TO LOSE MILLIONS OVER SOMEONES PERSONAL AMBITION? I DIDN’T THINK SO!!! MOST COMPANIES HAVE GREAT PEOPLE WITH FAMILIES AND A PROPER WORK ETHICS. SO WOULD YOU WANT TO LOSE YOU JOB BECAUSE OF SOME KNUCKLE HEAD THAT WANTS SOME RATING TO DEFAME PEOPLE AND COMPANIES? JUST TO CURE THEIR ENVY. AGAIN. I DON’T THINK SO!!!
APOLOGY IS MANDATORY.
10 | JECBT
This company is essentially a telemarketing firm.
such firms can NEVER blame the person on the phone. The chances of this being the first case of improper behavior is very slim.
Tighter quality control might have been a good idea.
They appologised for the one example, but did they make a point of seeing who else was delt with in such a manor? were those people offered an appology, let alone made whole?
The only reason i am on this blog is i was contacted by this company today. I will be sure to let you know how it goes.
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