I had an interesting experience this week.
While approaching my website with voice-to-text, my search engine plopped up two “sponsored” ads.
This was no surprise. Other companies in our industry often buy ads to promote their businesses. What was surprising, was seeing MY company name- IN LARGE FONT HEADING- inside those ads!
One of the ads was from a local colleague, so I called and let him know. Unaware of this, he had his tech team check it out. The other ad was not a locally based company with whom I had rapport.
My colleague did ask me to type his company name into search engine. I obliged and the other company not only put my colleague’s company name (in large-font heading) at the top of their ad, but also used my colleague’s business photo and phone number at the bottom of it!
“Click on that phone number and tell me what comes up,” he said. When I did, a completely different number opened in the window. Interesting!
After sending him a screen shot showing the phone discrepancy, he thanked me and planned to address it with the advertising company.
It took an act of my will not to get up in arms about this online trickery. I’ve heard stories about non-local companies doing this, but it didn’t really hit home with me until this past week.
I thought to myself, “How many people have seen ‘417 Rekey’ in a big heading, scrolled to the bottom of the ad, and unwittingly called another company?” Then I remembered several instances of folks who saw our company name, supposedly called us, and received locksmith services from a completely different outfit.
So why I am I sharing this story?
Am I wanting sympathy? Should I play the victim?
Should I hire a big, scary lawyer to issue a cease-and-desist order to the company? Call the attorney general? File a report with the BBB?
I remember Ashley Reynolds with Contact KY3 did an awesome job confronting a locksmith scammer a few years ago, but I knew this wasn’t the route to go. After all, our amazing customers deserve good service- not a publicity side show.
417 Rekey has worked for over a decade to establish our good name in Southwest Missouri. I concluded that if someone is trying to capitalize on this good name, it will eventually catch up with them. Besides, the company in question has no licensure with the City of Springfield, no membership with the Better Business Bureau, and no standing in the local real estate community.
My sole purpose for sharing this is to encourage our community to find a local locksmith company that is trusted and save them to your phone.
A saying that has always stuck with me is, “When people don’t know who to call, they go to the Yellow Pages.” What that quote taught me is to do such a great job with my customers that they know immediately who to call next time. They won’t bother consulting a search engine.
I get it: search engines have their place. I’m not knocking them, but would you use a search engine to call your best friend? Of course not. Your friends are saved to your phone….on “speed dial,” as we used to say.
The moral of the story?
Save a good, local and trusted locksmith to your phone. This will give you peace of mind going forward and allow those online search engine scammers to fall by the wayside.
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