A final word on Ezgreen

[Tipsy]

This will be old news to many here but as their seems to be a lot of newbies about and recently we've had rather ignorant people saying how wonderful they are I've managed to dig up their e-mail that was sent a while ago. I think the mail says it all really. It was obviously written by somebody with a very low IQ and little (if any) grasp of simple law and how it affects your obligations to pay money owing. How they've managed to stay out of court (if indeed they have) so far beats the hell out of me. For those that have never seen it - enjoy.
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EZ-Green has owed me a lot of money since August of last year. They finally e-mailed me back with this message.Dear Sponsor,
EZ Green, Inc. has weathered some difficult times in the past
several months however I am pleased to inform you that with your
help and cooperation we will be in a position to pay you for
past indebtedness to you. You have been a valuable sponsor
partner with us in providing the finest in Internet
entertainment and we want that partnership to continue.

Therefore, effective February 1, 2001, we will begin paying you
currently for your sponsorship partner participation in our
program on your regular payment date. So long as you continue to
participate in our program, keep our banners on your websites,
and send us valid email addresses at an acceptable level we, in
our sole discretion, may determine, we will remit our past
indebtedness to you over time. As before, if you are engaging in
any fraudulent activity (as more fully defined in our terms and
conditions which are incorporated herein) you will forfeit all
sums that you believe may be due and owing to you. Additionally,
we expect you to refrain from posting, publishing or making any
critical comments about EZ Green or its principals, a violation
of which, at our sole discretion, could jeopardize your
payments.

The exciting news is that because of our restructuring, which
will pay you currently beginning February 1st, we have
inaugurated a new program. Please see the attached schedule for
the specifics of this program. . All other terms and conditions
previously in effect will still apply to this new program. The
past indebtedness we currently owe you will be paid in
installments according to the attached schedule so long as you
continue to comply with our terms and conditions and the
requirements of this email. Finally, beginning February 1, 2001,
due to new server restrictions, your statistics will now be
accessible each day for the previous day's activity.

We hope you are as excited about our partnership as we are. We
value our relationship with you and we look forward to our
continued mutual economic prosperity. As always, if you have any
questions, please feel free to email us at feedback@ezgreen.com.


PAYMENT SCHEDULE
-------------------
Beginning February 1, 2001 we are announcing our new competitive
pricing plan for valid email addresses sent to us as a sponsor
in our EZ Green program. So long as you are in compliance with
our published terms and conditions, and the email that preceded
this Payment Schedule, you will receive sixty cents (.60) per
email address.

Additionally, you will receive 100% of any past indebtedness
owed to you through January 31, 2001 payable over the next 18
months beginning March 1, 2001 as outlined below. In the future,
the arrearages check will be combined with your regular monthly
payment to cut down on administrative expenses for both you and
us. If the regular monthly amount owed by us to you is
insufficient to justify a check that month, please be assured
that the arrearages for that month will be combined with your
next current check. We look forward to our continued partnership
with you.

The first arrearage payment will be paid March 1, 2001 if your
scheduled arrearage payment exceeds $35.00. For those whose
scheduled payment is less than $35.00, it will be accumulated
and paid when you are eligible to receive a current payout
(commission is paid once you exceed the minimum of $100 as per
the terms and conditions). This action is being taken to cut
down on administrative costs for both of us. See example below:

Webmaster 'A' is owed $400.00 in arrearages. Monthly scheduled
payout of the arrearages would be $22.22 per month for 18 months
($400/18=22.22). Since that amount is less than $35.00 a payment
will not be made to Webmaster 'A' on March 1, 2001. Instead,
the first payment will be the number of months from February,
2001 multiplied by the monthly scheduled payout of the
arrearages plus the current payout (remembering that your
current payout must exceed $100.00). Therefore, by example, at
the end of month 3 you are entitled to a current amount due of
$110.00, you will receive the current amount due of $110.00 plus
3 months of arrearages ( 3 x 22.22), 66.66 or a total check of
$176.66.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation and support.

Ez Green Administration
feedback@ezgreen.com

[e-van]

WTG Tipsy, their site is now a newbie's trap, since 99% of the experienced webmasters have stopped using them...

[Tipsy]

I very much agree. Still, at least any here have had fair warning. If they choose to use them and end up getting burned they have only themselves to blame. It may be that they've got their shit together and do pay now but after I stunt like that I'd never use them again. Plenty of others out there who do pay and have been doing so for years

[Ludedude]

That's standard procedure for a company that went financially belly up. Actually, usually they don't pay at all.

It's a standard re-structuring deal. I have no idea if this was a legal chapter-11 or not, but the fact that they've decided to pay anything at all is unusual. Typically, the just re-open under another name with a clean slate.

I'm not endorsing their actions, just stating a fact of life in the business world.

[Backov]

Except that when a company decides to settle with it's creditors (the webmasters) it doesn't say "Oh, but you've got to keep sending us business, even though we haven't paid you, or we won't pay you."

If they owed me any significant amount of money I'd haul their ass into court myself. ;>

Cheers,
Backov

[e-van]

I could agree with them paying what they owe me and many webmasters over a period of time, no matter how lengthy it is, it's a standard procedure unless they go totally broke, which then should settle into a lawsuit and the creditors would then collect in other than money, e.g. impounded equiptment. However, I have not seen any of that, furthermore, I have not been paid a single dime, even more, they are blackmailing me to keep my mouth shut or they won't pay me, and to keep sending them surfers or they won't pay me.

Now, I'm willing AND glad, to lose the few hundred bucks they owe me just to avoid that any other webmaster gets ripped by me.

at the time this happened, I had a lot of expenses and they were my main sponsor and I was making very little money off the net... so they screwed me up pretty good, actually, this is like a personal issue to me, not like if they just stole a few bucks from me and I had at that time some other income to back me up...

[e-van]

damn...

ripped by me= ripped like me


stupid damn typo, sounds bad though... eh?

[Ludedude]

They can settle with their creditors in any fashion they like. If the creditors don't like it, it's up to them whether to accept the "terms of settlement" or not.

It does sound unusual that they'd say you have to keep doing business with us to get paid, but I guess if it's a lot of money, it's better than GFY! http://bbs.adultwebmasterinfo.com/ubb/smile.gif

I'm not sure how I'd react in a similar situtation, but certainly there's nothing wrong with a little education for newcomers.

[shunga]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Tipsy:
So long as you continue to participate in our program, keep our banners on your websites, and send us valid email addresses at an acceptable level we, in our sole discretion, may determine, we will remit our past indebtedness to you over time.</font>

"So long... keep our banners... send us... in our discretion... may... over time..." http://bbs.adultwebmasterinfo.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

I just received an email from them "These HOT new subscription boxes have been specifically designed to increase sign ups and make you more MONEY!". Make WHO more money..?

[Tipsy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">They can settle with their creditors any way they like</font>

Ummm.....no. If they are still trading and they owe you money then they owe you money, period. I started using my own 'harvesting' script a while before they stopped paying so they owe me less than $100. I'd be in court with them if it were more than this. You can't refuse to pay a supplier unless they keep supllying you. What a strange notion.

Either way the point is valid and been made (by their own hand) that they are unethical in the extreme. Yes - installments to get out of trouble are fine, but the shit about continuing to send them traffic although they haven't paid you and not complaing to anyone about it sort of sums the comapny up.

[Groovy]

i bet this is not the final word:0))

[WETDOG]

Well i just got some dumd ass spma mail from them today saying they have some new kick ass text boxes--crap... they dont pay.. dont use them..

[Jon]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang that is a big last word =)

Jon

[Mason]

You guys are talking like this was turned into a legal matter with bankruptcy.

It wasn't

This company just decided they were not going to pay and they didn't. This blackmail email was a gaurentee that the webmasters they owed money to would get so pissed off they would either fight back or forget about it.

If you do a search on this board for EZGreen you will see I posted the email when I got it way back when and I asked for help in finding an attorney in their area to go after them as a group, because there are a lot of us that got screwed, but I got no response. Yes they only owe each of us a couple hundred bucks but together I think it would be a class action no problem. We are talking webmasters world wide and there sure are a lot of us that never post or read a board so for all you guys here there are hundreds more that could be contacted. I am in Mexico and as such it is too far away to organize anything in person but this is the perfect company to make an example of in a legal way so the other sponsors woill think twice before pulling shit like this. If you read the TOS of most of the larger sponsors they have the "no talk" clause in there which I can't imagine being held up in a court of law.

If you tried this shit in a real world business the judge would rule against you just for pulling this shit with your vendors regardless of the facts. This emial was insulting at the least and they hurt a lot of webmasters.

I hope no newbie or any other webmaster uses them but if they do after all of these negative messages, well they just will have to get burned themselves before they learn.

No was that the last word or not?

[Tipsy ~]

Certainly sums it up for me. I found the attitudes above about settling with creditors rather odd and said as much because, as you say, they are very much still in business. Like I say they owe me less than $100 but I would still contibute to an action against them because nobody should be allowed to get away with shit like that. However I believe general lethargy would/has prevented that from happening.

I fully appreciated that the mail has been posted before on many boards. However there are many 'newbies' about it seems, some even defending Ezgreen who will never have seen the post and it was posted again for them. It seems some will indeed have to get burned themselves before they learn.

Bugger - I wish I had my password on this PC. Using a new account makes it look as if I never visit this board http://bbs.adultwebmasterinfo.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Ludedude]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">However there are many 'newbies' about it seems, some even defending Ezgreen who will never have seen the post and it was posted again for them.</font>

This is a good idea in any case. I stated earlier that I didn't know whether or not this was a "real" bankruptcy or whether that company was just fucking over the webmasters involved. It appears to be the latter which is why they can get away with such one-sided "settlement" terms. Yes, a judge would tell them where to go stuff it in the real world.