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Posted by: philwinter Oct 21 2008, 11:46 AM

Hello,

If this is not the right forum, I apologize.

I've been approached by a person from Modern Marketing Systems. Their proposal is to create a number of small, informational Web sites that contain Google Adsense ads. The small sites then generate their own revenue as well as drive traffic to a main, e-commerce site. Has anyone been approached by MMS, or have any experiance with them good or bad?

Posted by: Brian Chandler Oct 21 2008, 10:58 PM

Why are they approaching _you_? (I've been approached recently with offers to launder a total in excess of $200US million, also by a total of 58,885 Russian ladies who are desperate to sleep with me, and with some amazing offers of s0ftw@re of unspecified type.)

If you are a web programmer and they want to pay you a reasonable fee to generate junk websites, link farms, whatever you want to call them, it might be a small job, albeit of negative social value. But notice that you only really need one (not very complicated) program to generate an unlimited number of such sites, so it doesn't really make any sense at all.

The front page of today's Asahi newspaper is all about people in Iceland having their home loans denominated in yen, and finding that their payments have just doubled. There's a lot of that sort of thing about.

Posted by: johnj May 6 2009, 04:00 PM

I received a phone call in late April 2008. The man was pushing an investment opportunity called Modern Marketing Systems. This is a company that builds micro websites that are supposed to generate revenue. The man told me the investment was for a package of micro sites. He told me I would make anywhere from $4500 and $7500 every month after about 6 months if I purchased 50 micro sites. That’s $3.00 to $5.00 dollars per site. They also have a written guarantee that states Modern Marketing Systems will pay the difference between the purchaser’s price and any shortfall in earnings up to a full maximum of 120% of the original staring purchase price not to include additional promotion. I purchased 50 sites for $11,242.50. The man made it clear that I was paying for 12 months of hosting up front. He said I would not be required to make a payment for 12 months. After the 12 months I would be required to make a monthly payment for the hosting of each website. The monthly payment would be $19.95 per site. I called the company several times to see if there was anything I could do to ensure that I was getting the most for my investment dollar. They said I should not attempt to improve the sites in order for them to satisfy the contract. They optimized my sites every month per my request and did not say anything about a monthly payment. There was also no bill, late charge, or attempt to collect any monthly payment. The 12 months past and I had earned $10.00 from the micro sites. I received a phone call from Jim Ford, the quality management supervisor. He informed me that the reason I was not making as much money as they said I would, was because I had failed to make the 29.95, per month, per site, as it was stated on the bottom of the invoice. This by the way would have come out to $1497.50 per month on top of my original investment. I told him I had called several times, and was in contact with Celeste Wills trying to see why I wasn’t making as much as I was told. She never mentioned any payment. I think she would have noticed $1497.50. He told me I had a victim’s mentality. He would like to help me but I need to sign the new contract stating I would be required to pay $29.95 per month for the whole package. But the invoice for the new contract states the monthly payment of $7.95 per month, per site and a maximum of $29.95. I did not sign the new contract. As you can see Modern Marketing Systems is a total scam.

Posted by: philwinter May 6 2009, 04:44 PM

JohnJ,

I'm very sorry this happened to you. This is, indeed, a total scam. If I were you, my next call would be to an attorney - or a hit man. Just kidding about that last part. Sort of.

Posted by: JSmith Jul 24 2009, 11:21 AM

We had the same experience as Johnj. We purchased 25 microsites for about $6,000 and were told there would be no more expense for a year. We got the same 120% money back guarantee in writing. Now that the year is up, Jim Ford is scrambling to get us to sign a contract for another year (with the same guarantee) and pay the 29.95 a month for the hosting fees. We were also in contact with several people at Modern Marketing and no one ever said anything about these supposed hosting fees being due throughout the year. Jim Ford told us that it was a lot their fault but a little bit our fault for not being sure we knew what we were signing when we signed the invoice. The invoice states "Any monthly hosting fees due will be covered in a separate agreement called 'Hosting Agreement'." We never received such an agreement and thus never signed such an agreement. They all of a sudden made up these hosting fees when our sites only made $2.00 in a year. They said that since we didn't pay these so called hosting fees throughout the year, the micro sites were not promoted and that's why they didn't make money. We feel so trapped because we desperately need the money back, but they claim we have to sign another contract for another year in order to have a chance to get our money back. I don't trust them to honor the guarantee next year either after we pay them another $30 a month. We are not sure what to do other than contact the attorney generals in our state as well as in Arizona, and contact the better business bureau. Sue them?

Posted by: Frederiek Jul 24 2009, 05:16 PM

This really looks like a fraudulent practice. They ought to be sued, but just the one person against a company with 30 employees seems a lost case beforehand. There seem to be many more complaints about MMS. Filing a complaint together at some (Arizona based or federal) consumer organisation might be an idea. (BTW, I'm not American, but European). At least they might be able to point you to the right (professional?) organisation to file a complaint in such a case.

Posted by: MJFox Aug 21 2009, 07:32 AM

I was called in July '08 and purchased 12 micro sites. My experience was identical to everyone else posted here. My sites were up and ready by September '08 using Google Adsense. Early in '09 I received a phone call while I was at my workplace from one of the girls at MMS...cannot remember if it was Sara or Celeste, about switching my sites over to generate more sales, since they had made a whopping $2.00 or so. At NO TIME, during the initial contact and agreement or this later phone call was there even a mention of hosting fees. In April '09 I received an email listing the 2 sites completed and included my Amazon log in information, stating that all 12 of my sites would look like that soon, to just be patient. Within the last 2 weeks, I have called these people to find out why only 2 new sites had been created and what was the status of the other 10 sites. That is when they told me they would email me with the new contracts and first mentioned hosting fees. I have never received such email. I spoke with Sara again yesterday, and after a rather heated exchange, she said she would email the new contract and a copy of the old contract. I have not received that email either. Needless to say, I am very upset. I don't know how to go about a class action suit nor do I have the funds to pay an attorney to fight this alone, but if anyone else starts one, I would certainly be willing to do what I can. I will contact the Arizona Attorney General.

Posted by: ncope60 Aug 25 2009, 07:06 PM

Modern marketing did the exact same thing to me. I urge you to contact the Arizona Attorney Generals office. He told me that he needs more complaints to get a pattern of deceit before he can do anything.

Also, the ahole Jim Ford, told the Attorney General that the reason I didn't get the money back was because I failed to pay the hosting and was given an opportunity to correct that. I responded that it was not an opportunity to correct the hosting fees, but an opportunity to sign up for another contract for thousands more.

Please file the complaint and maybe we can put these rip off artists out of business.

Posted by: whatis77 Sep 17 2009, 01:48 PM

I've got the same BS. Now they won't return my calls.

What can be done???

Posted by: Brian Chandler Sep 18 2009, 01:17 AM

Someone said:

"I received a phone call in late April 2008. The man was pushing an investment opportunity..."

Someone else asked:
"What can be done???"

Here's the Answer: "Education".

That is all that is needed. If someone phones you up with an "investment opportunity" it is a scam. It is always a scam. You do not even need an advanced course in logic to know it is a scam.

In particular, if someone has a Magic Machine that just makes money, and the marginal cost of making an extra one is zero ("below detectable limits") and the running cost of this MM is negligible, why would they choose to donate the money made by the MM to someone else (pronounced "you")? Since these "websites" apparently require zero creative input, their marginal cost of reproduction is essentially zero, and they are obviously Magic Machines. Or at least you have to believe that to fall for the scam.

Posted by: Darin McGrew Sep 18 2009, 01:48 PM

It's like a gold rush. In general, no one made money as a small-time gold miner. But a lot of people made money selling supplies to small-time gold miners.

Posted by: starion Dec 29 2009, 04:53 PM

Your best bet would be to contact the AZ Attorney General. If you are a victim of MMS from Massachusetts, the Mass Attorney general will be open to your information. As a former employee of MMS, I was in the website design dept not associated with sales and was not privy to communications or interactions between MMS and clients. When I found out what was going on - that MMS had promised thousands to people at the rate of $3 to $5 a day per website for a several thousand dollar fee - I was disgusted and left MMS soon after. BTW, the cost to us to build a website was about $2 (two dollars).

Posted by: shantiquarian Feb 27 2010, 12:37 PM

There is an attorney in MI that is looking into a class action lawsuit if any one is interested: want to join a class action lawsuit???against modern marketing..call thomas cecil atty. at 1-888-351-9675 

Posted by: jackmcmahon Dec 8 2010, 02:40 AM

Thanks for the contact details shantiquarian.

Posted by: Adrio Aug 30 2011, 01:53 AM

+1. Producing your own, even on a small scale, involves a number of problems