One day at work, the phone rang, as it has a habit of doing quite often. I picked up the receiver, thanked them for calling as I always do, and asked how I could help them. The person that answered spoke so quickly that I didn’t catch their name or where they were calling from. I politely asked them to repeat themselves. After a loud sigh, she repeated, “This is Erin from Site Dudes.”
She proceeded to ask me if we had a website, to which I replied that we did not. Immediately, she dove into what can only be described as a scripted spiel about the benefits of having a website and why we should pay her company to make one. When she finished her speech and asked me if I was interested, I politely told her that no, we were not interested. Naturally, having dealt with a large number of telemarketers (as most of us have, unfortunately), I expected her to rebut with further points as to why we needed a website, which is exactly what she did. What I did not expect, however, was the exasperated tone she took to while explaining why a website made by her company was essential. I waited until she was done telling me that “everyone needs a website” and that we were “doing our customers a disservice” for not having a website, and then politely repeated that we were not interested and requested that she not call back. She then sighed at me again and began another stern talking-to, but at that point, I felt that I had made it clear that we did not want a website, so I hung up. I figured I would not hear from Erin at Site Dudes again.
I was wrong.
On two more separate occasions, I received calls that went very much like the first one. By the third call, I was frustrated, exasperated, and all too ready to exclaim “Really?!” when I saw on the caller ID that Erin was calling once more. Canada’s National Do Not Call list is, unfortunately, only for consumers, and I can not register the clinic’s number. The third time she called, I asked her if she really expected us to use the services that Site Dudes had to offer. She said she hoped we would. I hung up.
I finally decided to find their website (www.sitedudes.com) and see if I could find anything out about this company that could help stop them from calling. I was happy to find that they had an online chat feature, which was convenient, because that meant I could do other work while talking to them, and didn’t have to worry about being hounded via a phone conversation again. I connected to their chat server and was “helped” by Diane.
Click HERE to read my conversation with Diane.
Diane seemed to be under the impression that it was OK to continuously call a business even after they expressed that they were not interested in the services. She brushed aside Erin’s pushy attitude as an agent “just doing her job”.
But the thing that bothered me the most was that this company does not keep an internal list of businesses they’ve called. Asking to be put on their “do not call” list will get you nowhere, and the company has no procedures in place to stop their agents from continuously calling a company.
When typing in “Site Dudes” into Google, the second option that populates is “Site Dudes complaints”, which can be telling in some ways. The most interesting forum I found online, with numerous similar stories to mine, was here . Many people encountering a solicitor from Site Dudes only had a number to go by, as the caller did not clearly identify themselves.
The ironic twist to this whole situation? The clinic I work for is now looking for a company to make a website, and after the unprofessional way we were approached and the irritation they caused us, we know for certain that we will not be using Site Dudes. Which is sad, since by all appearances, they are great at what they do.
You can file a complaint about telemarketing callers online:
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI am a representative at Site Dudes, and I just wanted to address some of the issues that you bring to light with this blog review.
I first want to mention that the sales associate that you mention in this review no longer works for us.
We are a fairly young company, and are constantly taking strides to improve our customer service, and improve the way we interact not only with clients, but with the general public as well. There is nothing wrong with telemarketing, as it is the best way for us to reach our target market (business owners who are often very entrenched in their businesses), however we do agree that there is a tactful way of going about said marketing.
Since you posted this review, we have made many improvements to our customer service and sales departments that I think would satisfy your grief about our company. We now hire a higher number of qualified customer service staff, and maintain a tighter, more standardized sales strategy that minimizes unpleasant phone transactions like the one you experienced.
At the end of the day, we have thousands of happy clients, create a wonderful product, and maintain an A- BBB rating. I truly regret that you had a negative experience with our company.
If you would like to talk more, I encourage you to call our office at 1 800 840 1797, so that we can use your experience to improve our customer service.