The Cat Factor

Could craigslist be seeing it’s demise as a source for business advertising due to cheapskates? One never knows how long a site will stay in business, but more and more scams, spam and other unwanted elements have made their appearance on the popular site. Of course, because it’s free to advertise cheapskates have also seen craigslist as a haven for not only asking for cheap labor but also expecting it.

As a business owner, advertising on craigslist can be a money saver and it does result in calls which is always a good thing, but not when it’s someone expecting free service. It seems advertising on craigslist nowadays is a crap shoot. Sure, you can get some good customers from it who value your product or service but there’s also those who feel that your service is only valuable if it’s cheap.

It’s funny how some potential customers will base everything on price. I’ve gotten a few calls from potential customers that found my computer repair company’s ad on craigslist and the first words they ask is “how much?” Then after describing their problem, ask if the problem they’re having with their computer can be solved within an hour.  It makes me wonder if these people, if they needed emergency surgery at the hospital would ask the surgeon to rush through the operation in order to save a dollar.

No doubt this economy has caused some people to be afraid of spending money for fear that they won’t have it later. People have lost their jobs but fail to realize that it isn’t the end. Starting a small business can certainly put an end to that problem of being unemployed.  However, what about those who have the money but just don’t want to spend it and expect free service?

Craigslist is becoming more and more that mecca for people to ask that the service they want be free or cheap. The gigs section certainly has no shortage of people offering jobs for dirt cheap prices. Some offer minimum wage (or below) or the promise that if you do a good job then more work will be on the way. There have even been some people advertising that if you do work for them you’ll get a piece of whatever they collect from the customer. This usually could mean that you do the work and never get paid.

Craigslist, does have its good points like free advertising if you have something to sell, need someone for a small a job, or to simply post your junk for sale. However, there seems to be more (and calling it like I see it) tightwads and cheapskates who feel they’re entitled to get someone to do the work for free or at some low price made specifically for them.  That can be unnerving to not only the potential employee but to the business they call as well.

If you want quality service from a professional then you need to pay for it. If you want free or cheap service then doing the work yourself is always an option. Just ask yourself if all the stress of not paying someone skilled enough to do the work was really worth it.

Could it be that Google is making it easier for dishonest and fake businesses to get higher rankings on their search engine? It seems that the search engine giant is receiving more complaints from consumers about businesses posting fake reviews in order to get them higher rankings especially in the local business listings. I can see why people would complain, especially when the fake reviews could put consumers at risk of being defrauded by dishonest businesses.

When I heard about fake business reviews being posted on Google local business maps, I decided to try a little experiment. I simply typed in a search on Google for computer repair and found one business that had at least 107 reviews and another under it that listed 135 reviews. That might not seem strange given that the computer repair business is highly competitive, but what if the reviews were all posted by the same business owner? Yes, it seems that’s happening a lot more often and after clicking on the names of the reviewers, many of them were giving high praise everyday to the same business. In fact, these same reviewers were giving positive reviews to other listed computer repair companies owned by the same individual. As a result, the businesses fake or not were getting higher rankings in the local business listing on Google than the Apple Store, Geek Squad and the like which usually gain higher rankings and indeed have more customers than the smaller outfits do. Heck, even local Best Buy only had 17 reviews compared to these two small business listings.

Now the two companies in this experiment that posted the higher listings on Google Maps in Phoenix, Jon’s Phoenix Computer Repair Service and Sheldon’s PC Service must have a lot of satisfied customers but further investigation tells a different story on how easily the reviews can be faked. When clicking on the reviewers names, they not only gave positive reviews for these computer companies but also for others this individual owns. Glendale PC Service, Bud’s Computer Service, West Valley Computer Service, all of them received raved reviews when clicking on the reviewer’s name link. The reviewers in question had no profiles to speak of as well. Each day there were several new kudos being given to the businesses by fake reviewers.

How can Google allow this to happen? Their rules seem pretty cut and dry on what a company can or can’t do to get listed. According to Google’s rulebook you aren’t allowed to spam or post fake reviews which are intended to boost or lower ratings. You also can’t impersonate any person, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity or even post the copyrighted works of others in your ad as well. So, how is it that some businesses are able to get past Google’s rules in order to post the reviews? It’s pretty simple, they aren’t paying attention.

Phoenix wasn’t the only market that this was happening in. It’s taking place all over the country from Los Angeles to New York. Normally, a business lists themselves on Google’s local maps and then waits for someone to post a legitimate review, whether it’s positive or negative. It’s a plan that seems simple enough when you’re a legitimate and honest business owner, because there are ethics involved . However, for those who run shady, dishonest or untrustworthy operations, posting fake reviews to knock out the competition or elevate their listing on Google, ethics means nothing. Their plan of posting fake reviews to get business puts the consumer at risk, especially when they need to hire a professional company to do the work. The consumer, unless they check references and do their homework on a company can fall victim to dishonest business practices that are setup to get your money but leave the job unfinished.

In an effort to get it straight from the horses mouth regarding the fake reviews being posted on their search engine listings I contacted Google and they seemed pretty clear regarding their policies. They indicated that those who break the rules will get themselves erased from the listings but that Google needs to know about the violations before they can act on a listing.

“Posting fake reviews is a violation of our policies and we will remove them when brought to our attention or found by our algorithms,” said Elaine Filadelfo of Google.

Apparently, their algorithms need a little adjustment because more and more fake companies and reviewers are being spotted on the Google local business listings with rankings so high you’d think the companies in question were the only game in town. Unless Google acts quickly, more consumers will fall into the trap of getting ripped off by fake companies and of course unlicensed contractors that will not only take their money but fail to do the job they were hired for.

To sum it all up, Google needs to kick things into gear and crack down on the companies and individuals that post fake reviews. Not only will it help keep the consumer safe from falling victim to an unscrupulous business, but also gives them an opportunity to connect with honest, trustworthy and professional companies that are wanting to help them. After all, as a consumer, don’t you deserve the opportunity to make yourself feel valued and allow your money to work for you?

It’s hard to be the small media member, especially when you’re a radio station for cats.  It seems some humans have a real problem grasping the fact that a radio station for cats exists.  Even after checking us out, some of these people still think that a cat can’t understand what they’re seeing on TV or could possibly be interested in hearing a song on the radio. I can tell you, they do understand and the hurt can be somewhat painful, unless you’re a cat.

But how do you change the minds of those who just don’t want to accept the fact that animals not only think but also understand what’s going on in the world around them? Sometimes, you just can’t.

I had a dose of the traditional human way of thinking when talking to World Wrestling Entertainment about their Wrestlemania 26 event coming to Phoenix. Like any normal media member I sent a request to the WWE to cover the event and received a response to call them back. When doing so, I found out that there are still humans who have a hard time grasping the fact that cats (or any other animal for that matter) do enjoy listening to the radio and watching TV.

As I spoke to WWE’s media relations person Joe Villa on the phone regarding press credentials, he had a hard time understanding the concept of a cat controlled radio station that has non-human listeners. He seemed pretty reluctant to allow our station the opportunity to cover the event and even talk to these wrestling stars that take part in the event. Apparently, small media especially one where cats is the main audience makes some humans a little hesitant.

“I can’t tell one of the superstars that they’d being doing an interview for cats,” Villa said.

My response was professional and I told him we get artists (music or otherwise), politicians, members of law enforcement or members from the animal rescue community wanting to come on the air with us. We must be doing something right  if we get humans from many different industries wanting to come on our station. Villa still felt that it isn’t the cat that would be listening to the interview or even reading it so it’d be a waste of their time.

He also mentioned that the WWE doesn’t bother with internet radio and TV stations and that because of ownership rights they already broadcast their content via the web anyway. Funny, regular TV and radio stations already stream through the web besides their regular broadcasts on TV and they don’t get shut out of coverage. In fact, they followed us smaller broadcasters in the forward thinking of airing videos and audio on the web.

It was apparent to me that I received another lesson in being the smaller member of the media regardless of us being pioneers in our industry. Never mind that Cat Galaxy is a station for cats (yes we do get human listeners for some strange reason) and has won a broadcasting award, our station received what could be considered the corporate brush off.  Now big corporations might think they’re doing their company a service by saying no to the little guy when they want to do a story, they’ve also shown that arrogance can be their biggest fault.

It’s nothing new having to fight for acceptance in this world. Until our station came along, the cats of this planet didn’t have much of a voice. Then after listening to a cat named Isis, I realized that cats do understand good music and they do enjoy watching their favorite TV shows. Then Cat Galaxy was born because a human dared to listen to what a cat had to say. Yes, they look different and speak a different language that we humans do but they also understand us when we talk to them. Our station may be successful, but the prejudice against the species, in this case cats, still  exists.

This morning at the Masterminds meeting in Phoenix, which happens every Tuesday morning, the topic today was about perception. A question was asked on what we would like to have in our lives next. I stood up and said “acceptance.” In some circles we’ve gained that, but our station still has a long way to go in changing the minds of the humans who think that cats are just an animal and can’t possibly understand what’s happening in the world around them.

As the title states we should be willing to accept the coverage of all species. Many humans still think we’re the superior species and because we walk on two legs means that we’re the most intelligent creatures. This is indeed arrogance which is something we see every day. Our station has to fight for acceptance and I’m proud to say that each day we gain a little bit more.

In one of the Star Trek movies (Star Trek IV) a probe was sent to earth to find out why they lost contact with the whales.  In the movie, everyone on Earth thought the probe was doing nothing more than destroying  the planet.  When it was discovered the probe was actually trying to communicate with whales and that it was unaware of it’s destructive behavior, Dr. McCoy asks if it was the probe’s way of saying “hi there to the people of the earth?” I’ll never forget the movie’s most famous quote where Spock stated:

“There are other forms of intelligent life on earth Doctor. Only human arrogance would assume the message must be meant for man.”

At Cat Galaxy we throw away human arrogance because we feel cats do understand this world much better than humans do about what goes on in it. However, it’s the humans and their egos that fail to comprehend the fact that we aren’t the most intelligent form of life on this planet. It’s a shame that many humans still put the blinders on and let their arrogance and ignorance guide them. Think of all the things humans on this planet would learn if they just opened up their hearts and minds. The world would certainly be a much better place.

It’s funny how some people needing  their computers repaired will always do what they can to find the cheapest technician possible to get things up and running. Never mind if the person they hire is skilled or not, for some customers clenching on to their money seems more important than getting things fixed properly.  We put our entire lives on computers these days, whether you’re running a small business or you’re the average home user who uses them to surf the Internet.  Either way, you end up saving valuable data to computer whether it’s precious photos, valuable documents or both. We also save music and videos to them as well.

Computers are pretty much carrying our entire lives on them but when they crash or breakdown they often need a skilled technician to get them back up and running. While most people feel it’s worth spending the money to get a competent professional to come and fix the problem, there are others who become tight fisted when it comes to their pocketbook and feel that  paying  a professional technician to troubleshoot the problem isn’t worth the money.

Have those pinching pennies and scoffing at the idea of hiring a trained professional ever asked themselves how much their data is really worth to them? As a skilled technician running his own computer repair business, I get to meet many different types of people because I often go to their home or small business location to fix their issues. All if them know what I charge (as I’m hourly) but there always seems to be a select few who call wanting service but want to know how much it’ll cost and how long it will take. While it’s great to know those things up front so you can budget for them, when it comes to computers each scenario will be different.

Recently, I had the chance to service a customer who called with a big concern. Their computer wouldn’t turn on and they needed someone right away to fix the problem, because their entire livelihood depended on having the computer up and running.  They asked what I charged hourly and seemed fine paying the rate as they wanted someone to come out right away to fix the issue and rescue their data. After arriving on-site and performing proper diagnostics, it was determined that the computer needed to be replaced. After hearing the bad news the customer was ok with getting a new computer but went from someone who was willing to pay any cost to have their data rescued from their hard drive to someone who felt calling a professional technician was a waste of time and money. Cost suddenly became an issue where it wasn’t before.

It brought me to asking them how much their data was worth? Is it valuable enough to have it rescued and transferred to a new computer because you didn’t have a backup plan or is it only worth the amount of a cup of coffee? If you spill a cup of coffee then you may have to purchase another one. You can’t do that with data.

I often will find myself educating customers that by making a small investment in an external hard drive and backing up your data from time to time that it can indeed be a lifesaver, especially if the computer’s main hard drive needs to be reformatted for some reason or if they need a new computer and want to recover their data from the old drive.

The bottom line is, if you feel your data is worth saving then focusing on how much it’ll cost to retrieve it may not be the best way to approach the situation. The best question to ask yourself , “is my data worth enough to me to be saved at any cost or can I let go of that important document in the name of low prices?” Only you can answer that question.