In September, ARG Insider was asked a bevy of questions about the gift sites emanating from Caivis. If you missed it, please see "September surprises, Part 2." before continuing: http://www.diyfreebies.com/?p=4174 ARG Insider gives us the inside story on Cavis, and tells us where Brad Powers' subordinates ended up. What you read may shock you!
"Wozniak,
Your fears about Caivis are 100% legitimate, although I still think you are pretty paranoid. Let me give you the complete run-down. Here’s the bombshell–Sterling Interactive Group/XL Marketing IS Active Response Group (ARG); or what’s left of it anyway. Here’s what actually happened. When ARG was going under, many people left or got laid off because paychecks were becoming sporadic and health insurance was cancelled. About a dozen or so people were left over in the summer of 2008 when negotiations were going down between ARG’s debt-holder and potential bidders for the smoldering remains of ARG’s assets.
As you know, Caivis won the bid for ARG’s assets, which went for about a million bucks. Now, the primary things that ARG had that were worth some money was 1.) Their technology for building the DIY Freebie web sites, and 2.) People who knew how the business and the technology worked. For the dozen or so remaining people who knew how the technology and the business worked, Caivis made them job offers.
Now, the guy in charge of the faltering lead-generation/freebies division (Sterling) is named Steven Gerber (sgerber@xlmarketing.com.) He was a top business consultant at Active Response Group at the time of it’s demise. You can see his bio here: http://www.caivis.com/management.php which CLEARLY STATES he was an officer at ARG.
As part of the ARG fallout, the CTO, Brady Brown, who I know you’re familiar with did not continue on with Caivis, so in his place a guy named Keith Larson (klarson@xlmarketing.com), who was in charge of Information Technology at ARG, took over as VP of Technology at XL Marketing after a short stint at a competitor named Intela:
From: http://www.linkedin.com/in/keithdlarson
Current VP of Technology at Sterling Interactive Marketing Corp.
Past
Sr. System Admin at Intela, LLC
Sr. IT Engineer at Active Response Group
Partner at Econseiller LLC
Education Regis University
Connections 87 connections
In addition to those executives from ARG, a number of Web developers, Web producers, sales people, and yes, even gift fulfillment staff were also given positions at Caivis as well (many more than just the two former ARGers that you have already uncovered–do a search on LinkedIn for XL Marketing, Caivis, or Sterling Interative Marketing and you will see what I mean.)
As far as my comments about shutting down Caivis’ freebie sites–what I heard what that they were starting to lay off some people and that the XL Marketing freebie sites (that run on ARG’s technology) were losing significant sums of money and that the business as a whole was not very sustainable or profitable (keep up the good fight!)
To summarize, the whole thing is just a guise. Essentially XL Marketing under Caivis is a attempt to restart ARG’s failed business with many of the same people pulling the strings behind the scenes. Brad Powers may have moved on and despite any conspiracy theories to the contrary, he has no direct influence on anything going on at Caivis. BUT, his legacy does live on at Caivis through many of his underlings under the leadership of David Steinberg and former ARG executives.
P.S. You can see here that it’s obvious that Caivis is using ARG’s exact same technology platform through these links (and that they didn’t even bother to take out all the old ARG stuff):
http://www.mfl-center.com/pub.php?sk=Vack4&debug=1&bid=1 (Brandarama)
http://www.mfl-center.com/pub.php?sk=Vack4&debug=1&bid=12 (Your Top Brands) , etc.
In fact, all the old gift fulfillment data is probably still in there from ARG as well."
ARG Insider, thank you for your definitive response. You covered everything perfectly, and I'm not surprised that ARG's old crew resettled at Caivis. Had a sneaking suspicion that more soldiers crossed over, but it sounds like a whole army did! Didn't think Mr. Steinberg would hire so many from ARG. Even more baffling are those managing the resurrected gift program. Well, it never died, but how can they feel good resuming it like nothing ever happened? What about the populous DIY community that invested time and money into ARG's gift program? They contributed to it, and were cheated in return. Caivis should have done the decent thing by leaving it alone. At least give the victims that much. I know it's all about money though, and it's foolish to think they wouldn't restart it. David Steinberg aside when I say this; it wasn't his gift program or debt; but the former ARG employees who joined him. If it were me, I couldn't sleep at night knowing I was part of something that once caused financial suffering, stress and frustration on a vast number of people. I have to wonder how it doesn't affect them...
Shouldn't the policy for any company be to "make the customer happy"? None of us signed up for a "cash rebate program", yet we complied with the rules. Seeing how horrible the outcome was, I hope I won't be reporting any Caivis scams in the future. Moreover, I hope another innocent company isn't made out to be the scapegoat. We saw how Mpell Solutions was discredited by all this. I'll admit it right now. I was one of the members who blamed Mpell last year. Most of us were mad at the situation, and wanted someone to take responsibility. After I weighed everything in my mind, I couldn't blame Mpell anymore than I had. They did their job of handling the certificates; ARG should've paid us plain and simple. The stigma of having been a scam will remain with ARG and all things connected to it, Cavis included.
I forgot to mention Consumer Gain's offer rotation last month. It's easier to copy and paste their response instead of typing it out...
"Hello,
Thank you for letting us know that you received your check. Happy Spending!!!
As for your friend, what is their email address (if you know it)? Once I look him up I can see what we can do to work with him.
The offers rotate, but it's hard to say what Section they will be rotating from and to. It's really based on popularity from previous months.
Regards,
Member Services"
This confirms they rotate offers, just not frequently. They'll assist you with this problem, though I have no inkling as to how they go about it. All questions should be sent to their customer support by clicking "Member Support." If that fails try their direct e-mail: cgmemberservices@gmail.com
A member also wrote in about her Consumer Gain, and Nuitech rewards. I thought this might cheer everyone up. :)
member, "from member
to wozniack
date Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 5:26 PM
subject Re: ilikethatoffer.com
mailed-by xxxx.com
signed-by xxxx.com
hide details Nov 7 (9 days ago)
I did get in touch with Consumer Gain and they are wonderful,I completed my offers and got approval on October 7,2010 I then received a check for 500.00 on October 26,2010.
I want to thank you so much I got the link from your site and help from you again.
I should have emailed sooner,I guess I got caught up in the excitement and forgot.
I am also due to receive a VISA gift card from myrewarsvault.com soon which I also got from your site,this has taken longer than Consumer Gain I signed up myrewardsvault July 24
and Consumer Gain September 7th,but I will be happy to get it."
me, "from wozniack
to member
date Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 4:25 PM
subject Re: ilikethatoffer.com
mailed-by xxxx.com
hide details Nov 8 (8 days ago)
Hi member,
Congratulations on your success with Consumer Gain! You're very welcome, by the way. Which myrewardsvault.com site did you do? Nuitech are wonderful, and their customer service is always willing to work with you. I post their links like myrewardsvault.com as they're one of the few decent companies out right now. I-Deal are great, too, though their deals have been really awful. Anyway, thank you for sharing this bit of news with me. Do you mind if I post it for other readers? If you do, I understand and will not share it. I just thought it would lift people's spirits by hearing something positive for a change. :)
Thanks, and have a great day!
wozniack"
"from member
to wozniack
date Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 7:51 PM
subject Re: ilikethatoffer.com
mailed-by xxxx.com
signed-by xxxx.com
hide details Nov 8 (8 days ago)
More good news today I received the $500. VISA gift card from myrewardsvault.com .The site
was Ellen vs Paula survey and yes the customer service has been very good.Please feel free to post my good news. Thanks again .
member"
Congratulations again! I hope you have/still are enjoying your profit. It's nice to hear someone getting paid. :)
Who wants to carve the turkey?
*Thanksgiving link list*
Nuitech--
http://gofreegifts.com/LP/prom-204632/e3b0ab9251.php?a=2781-AmP&ce_cid=000hZN0000001iNZZ.4zj9grHp000000 - 8 offers, no refs/$500.00 Travelocity gift card
I-Deal--
http://www3.holidayrewards.us.com/?session_id=90f4e456f49111dfa20c318da68cb92e - 12 offers, 2 refs/$1,000.00 Visa
Member Source Media (ConsumerGain)–-
http://daily-offer.net/G/landing?campaignId=3221&subcid=200011&uid=220132160#cid=3221#sid=122#vid=1593 - offers unknown/$500.00 check
http://thegoodgifts.net/G/landing?campaignId=3223&subcid=200011&uid=220132167#cid=3223#sid=122#vid=1498 - offers unknown/$500.00 check
http://pickyouroffer.net/G/landing?campaignId=3152&subcid=200011&uid=220132054#cid=3152#sid=122#vid=1150 - offers unknown/$1,000.00 check
Will have the Thanksgiving link list up soon. Needed to get these blogs up before tackling it. "Appalled" merely describes the way I'm feeling in regards to everything that is happening. I feel like I've been slapped with a cold, wet fish! Anyway, it doesn't stop here. There is much much more! Head over to Part 2. where the pumpkin pie is waiting...
See you there!
wozniack
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