Well, I’ve had my supper and calmed down a bit, down some work, and gone back online.
It looks like Adfero are experts at snuffing out anyone who doesn’t like them.
This hasn’t just happened on A4U - where Sean Hofer, Adfero’s online spokesperson admits that they asked other blogs to remove posts which ‘weren’t substantiated’ - a similar thing happened on another business forum, except that in this instance, the administrator publicly said that he had got a ‘take down’ notice from Adfero.
Does it surprise me that Adfero, who’s slogan is supposed to be ‘bringer of news’ is an anagram of ‘Do Fear’? Perhaps their slogan should really be ‘bringer of sues’.
Note - I should point out that the above comments refer to Adfero Ltd, and the Adfero DirectNews product. It does not relate to Adfero Group, a Washington DC based media agency.
[...] Re: Has A4U been bullied by Adfero? Right, have had my fill, but found this link to another forum where a similar discussion took place. Take note of: “Guys, Adfero are not very happy about this discussion, and to be honest I’m a bit suspicious about motives here too. {snip} I’ve removed posts as a result of the takedown notice from Adfero.” It looks like this company will threaten anyone who says anything against them. How much trust should clients place in a so-called news provider which is so hell-bent on destroying the truth? Is it any surprise that Adfero is an anagram of Do Fear? __________________ James Avery Founder - Flightmapping.com. http://www.flightmapping.com/ It’s all about knowing where you are going. [...]
Pingback by Has A4U been bullied by Adfero? - Affiliate Marketing — March 30, 2009 @ 10:53 pm
I was the ex-adfero employee who wrote the comments on UK Business Forums. I got a private message off the forum owner saying he had been threatened with legal action for allowing defamation to take place on his board. load of rubbish but those are the tactics adfero use; awful company, worst time of my life working for them. They treat their staff like {JA Edit - Barry White}, overwork them to the point that people end up on sleeping tablets for stress, pay them a pittance and even deduct half an hour a day from pay for toilet breaks (catgorised as ‘time away from desk’)! Leeches. They deserve every bit of bad press they get and more.
Comment by john — May 31, 2009 @ 10:16 am
John,
I got a call from one of their employees the other day (won’t name and shame, I hope he finds other work soon), trying to sell me Adfero again. Clearly he’d just pulled our file from a database somewhere and hadn’t checked any case history - as if they cared. He promised me they could guarantee us more traffic and get us #1 on page 1 on Google for the search term ‘cheap flights’ - that would be worth millions to us if they could.
I just told it to him straight - you are lying to me, this conversation is closing in 5 seconds….
Comment by admin — June 1, 2009 @ 1:12 pm
A close friend of mine worked for Adfero for a couple of years and he told me they treated their writers with contempt, overworking them and underpaying them. From what I’ve heard, Adfero has a reputation for treating their writers (many of whom are in their early 20s) quite badly. There is a “conveyer belt mentality” at Adfero and if you can’t keep up with the incredible pace of 25 stories a day then you’re finished. Moreover, a lot of the writers at Adfero don’t actually have journalistic qualifictions but are just “glorified copy writers” (to quote my friend).
Comment by Molly Dale — June 26, 2009 @ 1:56 am
I read the other day that Adfero is owned by Tory MP Adam Afriyie, a supposed rising star. Watch him closely!
Comment by admin — June 26, 2009 @ 11:26 am
Adfero is a lousy company that rips off clients and employees alike. They charge clients a fortune for articles (a lot of which are just rehashed press released) and the writers are paid a very small fraction despite doing most of the work. A lot of Adfero’s writers have left the company feeling disgusted and exploited. Adfero claims to be a professional news company but it is really a tinpot operation run by obsessive managers who like to micro-manage at every level. Morale is really low among Adfero employees. There’s even a webpage called We’ve Escaped Adfero set up by ex-employees who have had enough.
Comment by Mark C — June 28, 2009 @ 1:33 pm