About the sleaziest move a competitor could make!

[Bob Foster]

My company name is Expert Carpet Care and it has been for over two years.
I have featured my company name in anything that I have used.

Here is a copy of three of my ads so you can see my branding (Wayne Miller's work)

Here is my business card that I have been using for over 2 years

The yellow pages for my small community arrived at my door this morning and here is my one and only $10 per month investment in that book because I don't believe it's the best place to invest in advertising.

But look what a scumbag competitor of mine did - look at the highlight type of his ad right at the top

I'm so disappointed and mad I don't know whether to shit or steal second!

 

[KevinD]

Things like this are going to happen when you use a common adjective for a company name.

 

[Desk Jockey]

With the name "Expert" you're bound to see the word used in competitors ad's. But I agree it looks as if he did it on purpose. :shock:

 

[John Olson]

I don't see it Bob. Expert carpet and upholstery cleaning is what they offer not who they are. Now if it said in big bold letters Expert Carpet Care and little tiny letters aquamist then maybe but I see nothing sleazy about that ad. They don't even have an Orange in their ad. By the way whats up with the Orange? Your customers eat alot of oranges or do you give them free oranges when you clean?

 

[Bob Foster]

It absolutely was done on purpose. None of their previous ads highlighted those words so strongly. They are a well established 4 truck operation so I really don't understand why they felt the need to stoop so low as to deliberately disrupt my one man operation.

And for the record, up to this point I have never said anything negative about them ever.

 

[CanYouHemiNow]

John Olson" data-source="" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch">

They don't even have an Orange in their ad. By the way whats up with the Orange? Your customers eat alot of oranges or do you give them free oranges when you clean?

I think it's a Canadian thing...

9]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzbP2UqiZXQ9]

 

[John Olson]

Well ok this big company decided that they wanted people to know they offer expert carpet and upholstery cleaning just to pick on you :? Since you don't have an ad that looks anyting like theirs nor do you have an ad in the yellow pages just what advertising of yours did they rip off or are you the only company that offers "expert carpet and upholstery cleaning" in Canada?

Edited to add if you want to see sleazy serach superior cleaning solutions on facebook. Some Jack ass is using our name and logo but with different colors. Since it is a cleaner I haven't wanted to spend the money to take him to court for copyright infringement but will be sending him a C&D.

Edited again... So Bob your ripping off that other Orange company right? Hmmmmmm

 

[truckmount girl]

If there was an Affordable Carpet Care in your area, I'd bet he was pissed about the third ad.

As was mentioned previously, it's a stretch....however, you can always send him a pajama lawyer letter and see if he pulls it.

Legally, I doubt you'd have a real case, but you never know.

Take care,
Lisa

 

[joeynbgky]

Contact the yellowpages sales, rep they should have known better than to do that. I would not pay my advertising bill

 

[Gary Taylor]

If you had a company named "Piss Poor Carpet Cleaning" one wouldn't need to worry about being ripped off.

 

[Bob Foster]

No there is not an Affordable Carpet Care in the area but I have lead with that heading on my "B" market approach for apartment carpet cleaning in some of the very limited advertising that I have done. That's fair game.

This competitor is very aware that this community is very word of mouth so that's why they are deliberately attempting to trade on my company name. Their pathetic move is not the end of the world and not worth getting all legal about either.

So my competitor just forced me to up my game. I can zig-zag faster than they can. Believe me I have already thought of many ways I can deal with this. And by deal with this I don't mean retaliation.

Since this thread was started an hour ago I'm now over it and on to what I can do positively to make the best of my business. My biggest challenges to my business are not from my competitors but are from myself on how to better focus my effort.

 

[Bob Foster]

Contact the yellowpages sales, rep they should have known better than to do that. I would not pay my advertising bill

It's not YP's issue. I don't even think I have any legal remedy worth pursuing because my company has very generic words in it. It was my decision to use this name knowing this.

 

[John Olson]

No there is not an Affordable Carpet Care in the area but I have lead with that heading on my "B" market approach for apartment carpet cleaning in some of the very limited advertising that I have done. That's fair game.

This competitor is very aware that this community is very word of mouth so that's why they are deliberately attempting to trade on my company name. Their pathetic move is not the end of the world and not worth getting all legal about either.

So my competitor just forced me to up my game. I can zig-zag faster than they can. Believe me I have already thought of many ways I can deal with this. And by deal with this I don't mean retaliation.

Since this thread was started an hour ago I'm now over it and on to what I can do positively to make the best of my business. My biggest challenges to my business are not from my competitors but are from myself on how to better focus my effort.

Now thats the Bob we all know and Love! Don't sweat the small shit brother.

 

[FB7777]

To be honest , Bob... I don't think your name stands out in any of those ads you have


the cursive writing looks more like Export Carpet Care than Expert Carpet Care to me


and like Lisa says , in the 3rd ad it looks more like your name is Affordable Carpet Care and you provide export cleaning care

:mrgreen:

why not change your name to

RADAR CARPET CLEANING
"clean carpet should be on your Radar"

 

[XTREME1]

they seem to be the experts and you seem to be selling oranges

I have a guy a few towns over that was Crowley Carpet Cleaning then I switched to Xtreme Carpet Cleaning and he became Xtreme Carpet Cleaning. I have no claim to Xtreme there are tons of them. Xtreme this Xtreme that and I knew that. The guys last name was Crowley so I have no claim to that. I don't see getting angry when you choose a name like expert.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Since this thread was started an hour ago I'm now over it and on to what I can do positively to make the best of my business. My biggest challenges to my business are not from my competitors but are from myself on how to better focus my effort.

It's reasonable to shocked and disappointed, but at least it is only the YP ad's.
Just keep your NAME & NUMBER in front of them, so they call the right "Expert" and you'll be fine.

Good luck Bob!

 

[Bob Foster]

To be honest , Bob... I don't think your name stands out in any of those ads you have


the cursive writing looks more like Export Carpet Care than Expert Carpet Care to me


and like Lisa says , in the 3rd ad it looks more like your name is Affordable Carpet Care and you provide export cleaning care

:mrgreen:

why not change your name to

RADAR CARPET CLEANING
"clean carpet should be on your Radar"

You're right Fred and so is Lisa. The affordable ad was one of three that Wayne made and even though it looks good it is my least favorite for just that reason. These ads are aimed at a down market price conscious on-line advertising medium called Used Victoria that is more popular than Craig's List in this greater Victoria area. I get lots of calls from it. That's my B market.

http://www.usedvictoria.com/classifieds ... nk-removal
http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/11238440

 

[Desk Jockey]

Great photo's in that ad. 8)

 

[joe harper]

Bob...

There may be a UPSIDE to this... :wink:

He is a larger 4 truck company....You are more apt to receive some of HIS customers
by MISTAKE...than yours are to go to HIM..


Change your website.....to have the heading "WE are Expert Carpet & upholstery Cleaners"
"Goose-Gander"...You can PROFIT from his ADVERTISING..."If your are positioned BEFORE
him on Google"... :idea:


Ps I am with Fred.."It thought your Company was EXPORTING Oranges..."

 

[hogjowl]

Did you really mean to say that Wayne Miller made those cheesy ads for you? Man ... I appreciate you telling me that, before I called him.

By the way brother, my heart goes out to you with this pissy little problem you have.

If I can help you in any way, call me on Ladwigs phone.

 

[Lyman]

You have been selling oranges for two years as a expert from canada. No wonder why you started cleaning carpets.

 

[Desk Jockey]

If I can help you in any way, call me on Ladwigs phone.

FRIDAY..............I'll hold him Bob, you hit him! :wink:

 

[The Great Oz]

Back when we used YP ads, we got a call from a YP guy that said one of our competitors had sent in our ad and wanted to reuse it for themselves, just changing the name and phone number. A competitor copied one of our ad camaigns almost to the letter, even using photos staged exactly like ours. (Both are out of business.) We also did some business with an industry ad agency that stole our copy and is still selling it all over the country, but it has cost him business as they now have a reputation of being less than perfectly trustworthy.


There might be a way to use this YP ad (and I'm sure an larger campaign that will go with it) to your advantage. Humorously poking fun at the big company that's trying to mislead consumers by trading on your reputation for doing higher quality work could turn this into gold for you and lead for them. Put together a plan and issue some press releases, followed by your own mailing campaign.

PS: Ask Ken Snow how Hagopian handles the "other" Hagopian.

 

[randy]

Many new business people in the U.S. are under the assumption that if you Incorporated or formed a LLC under a certain trade name or phrase, you now own it. You don't , only by obtaining a TRADEMARK can you even begin to be upset about this kind of thing. I don't know about Canada but here it would be impossible to have a common word like expert trademarked & affirmed if challenged.

Recently on ICS a cleaner was asserting ownership of his business name, "because he has a business licence under that name and now no one can start up in his county under that name". Actually a upstart could go and trademark the name , get a business licence, start up operations, send a cease & desist demand to the original cleaner and then successfully sue the original cleaner for trademark infringement if he didn't drop the name. Fair ? Maybe not but, that's the law.

If you love your name trademark it or it may not be your name for long. Even if you have your first or last name in your business name it can be trademarked by another individual. My last name in trademarked in the garden center industry,restaurant industry, landscape industry, and several others as well. I couldn't legally use my own last name in a business within those industries.

Bob the way Bob, nothing stops you from attempting to trademark your business name now and forcing the guy to give up the name.

 

[Dolly Llama]

Bob...

There may be a UPSIDE to this... :wink:

He is a larger 4 truck company....You are more apt to receive some of HIS customers
by MISTAKE...than yours are to go to HIM..

zaccly what I was thinking...

..L.T.A.

 

[Art Kelley]

As everyone else has stated you don't have a leg to piss on (or something like that). I have dropped my yellow pages ad to one line: "Expert Cleaning By Art Kelley" with my company name. It used to have two lines: "Expert Carpet And Upholstery Cleaning Performed By Art Kelley". I'm sorry your having troubles about this. I think many people tend to obsess on the minutiae in life and miss out on what really matters.

 

[Studebaker]

What upsets me is thats my picture on the side of all those Citruso vans driving around.

 

[bonesheal]

I'm disappointed! Even if they were purposely trying to steal customers looking for Expert Carpet Care, this would hardly be their sleaziest move. I opened this thread imagining cut brake lines, fake bad reviews, complaints to the BBB, replacing your Stain Magic with your Red Relief, and maybe kinda hoping to be exposed to some new, lower form of sleaze.

 

[Doug Cox]

This is probably one of the best threads on here with some great responses. I actually like your ads Bob and probably wouldn't have noticed (cared) if it was mine. Then again, I don't rely on YP ads much anymore.

 

[Royal Man]

Who reads the yellow pages anyway?