Traffic Power Profiled in the WSJ - It's Not Pretty, Folks

Well, I can't think of a single way Traffic Power could be pleased by an article like this [sub req]. Some quotes:

Harold Hollister, a former salesman at the firm, said he was present during a morning pep talk on the sales floor where a manager stood on a desk and told salespeople that "a sucker is born every minute." Salespeople sometimes showed potential clients reports on existing Traffic Power clients, he said, highlighting how well the sites had done with the company's help. But some of those reports were falsified by the company, he said, and sites were listed with higher ranks than they actually had.

To be fair, Traffic Power denies that sucker is born claim:

Traffic Power said it was "absolutely untrue" that reports were falsified, and denied that managers ever told salespeople "a sucker is born every minute."

Now I don't have a perfect myself (tended to drink a bit much when in the Navy and such), but I can't imagine the Traffic Power CEO likes this WSJ profile at all:

Mr. Marlon, 61 years old, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy-court protection in 1996. In 1997, Mr. Marlon was indicted on charges of conspiracy to manufacture a controlled substance. He later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, related to possession of a chemical used to make methamphetamine, and was sentenced to three years of probation, including six months of home confinement. The court record for his drug offense said he also had an alias, "Jimmy Ray Houts."

As far as past claims that Traffic Power and 1P are one and the same:

Not long after clients complained about getting dropped from Google -- and Traffic Power's own corporate site disappeared from the search engine's results -- Traffic Power began using different names to promote the same business, said former employees. Other names the company has used include 1P.com, or First Place.

Mr. Kwasny, the former Traffic Power employee, said this strategy backfired with at least some potential clients. The company, he said, failed to change its name with its phone company, so when salespeople began calling potential clients and saying they were from 1P.com, the listing on the client's phone said the call was coming from Traffic Power.

They sure are giving their PR firm some work! I can't imagine this article helps their lawyer much either.

Published: September 22, 2005 by Aaron Wall in internet

Comments

September 22, 2005 - 1:39pm

Your PDF should be it's own post - it's worth it's own posting. I love it.
To sum it up for those who won't read all of it, it containts tons of:

"Wall denies each and every allegation set forth of the complaint...."

"Wall is withough sufficient information ...on that basis denies every allegation contained therein...."

September 22, 2005 - 1:41pm

as you wish...done :)

Madison
October 29, 2006 - 5:46am

I worked for Matthew Marlon, (not his real name), for his company called Windfall Systems. This company solicited people claiming that they would be saved from forclosure. Matt would give these people maybe a couple hundred dollars and they would just move out of their homes. Matt then would rent them out and not pay on the FHA loans. This practice is called "equity skimming". I quit when I discovered what it was all about.
At one time Matt told me that he had 1,500 homes in three different states at one time. No wonder his three kids went to ivy league schools and that his brother was able to build "Sierra Heath Services" . By the way is something like 13th on the NAZDAQ! Matt still operates this type of business under the fictitious firm name of Wind Fall System. There is so much more to tell. If there is anyone out there that has the ability to stop a maniac like this please feel free to e-mail me.

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