On October 22nd, 2008, Ben Behrouzi / Eperks /LeapFish’s atorney, Ronald J. Cook filed for dismissal of their complaint against Vlad Zablotzkyy. This is yet one more embarrassment for Ben Behrouzi in addition to the public humiliation and ridicule that has already befallen him and his dieing brand ePerks, at the hands of the Real Estate community at large.
The withdrawal was likely the result of a settlement with Vlad (the terms of which have not been disclosed) in which Vlad was required to post a statement which is essentially a lawyer contrived “I’m Sorry”. One highlight is where “Vlad” requests that other bloggers covering the story print retractions. Vlad was outgunned and his willingness to settle clearly reflects that.
Considering that Ben Behhrouzi has threatened BrokerScience with threats similar to those he made against Vlad, we see this defeat as fitting, to say the least.
“Behnam “Ben” Behrouzi filed what’s called an “unverified” complaint against Vlad. That’s in contrast to a “verified” complaint, in which the plaintiff signs the complaint and declares under penalty of perjury that the statements in the complaint are true and correct. The lawsuit ended in settlement without Behrouzi ever making any statement under oath. Specifically, he never denied that he was responsible for the slander of Vlad.” – Brief Submitted to BrokerScience by Source that Wished to Remain Anonymous
While most intelligent CEO’s couldn’t attract the kind of bad publicity and ill will Behrouzi has managed to generate for ePerks on their worst day, this is an area where Ben truly shines. Then again, Ben has proven himself to be a tactless bully time and time again, so this is par for the course.
Ben’s reward for bullying Vlad Zablotzkyy with childish antics is the distinction of having negative results in 7 of the top 10 results for his name when googling “Ben Behrouzi“. Great job Ben! These will remain for YEARS and YEARS. A google search for “ePerks” shows 9 out of the top 10 results have negative content.
Spamming the Ben Behrouzi Way
To counter the extremely negative public reaction to his business practices in google, Ben began a spam / search engine dilution campaign in August by creating accounts with a large amount of service providers such as youtube.com, vator.tv and others in hopes these would replace the existing negative google results that come up when googling “Ben Behrouzi”. You can find the complete list at the bottom of this very unprofessional and amateur looking homepage Ben has created for himself here. Over time, these will end up being virtually useless for his end goal of spamming the results for his name.
He has also started maxstartup.com that was originally yet another ePerks splog until recently. Don’t laugh too hard when reading this gem from “MaxStartUp”:
I’ve had several failures in my life with some lessons that have left their spots, and have even been victim to online lies and an actual blog war instigated by the many that are motivated by the basest of human qualities.
Did Brabus Ventures Implode or is the Brand Simply Toxic?
It is worth noting that Ben Behrouzi’s parent company, Brabus Ventures has recently disassembled its corporate website at BrabusVentures.com including removing the Cultures and Values pages that Ben Behrouzi stole from Mervyns.com and Chevron.com. It seems that the root cause is that Ben Behrouzi is distancing himself from Brabus Ventures with a name change, after all a google search for “Brabus Ventures” shows 7 out of 10 listings have negative content regarding his company. We have no word yet on whether Ben plans on changing his own name to escape the embarrassment associated with it.
Simply Embarrassing:
Brabus Ventures Before Disassembly
Brabus Ventures After Disassembly
The New Face of Brabus Ventures - DotNext Inc.
The Next Generation of Fail: DotNext, Inc.
DotNext, Inc. is the new incarnation of Brabus Ventures. When most companies change their name, they give notice on their home page and redirect visitors to the new domain. Not Ben Behrouzi. His ability to single handedly destroy brands is the reason he is running from the Brabus Ventures name / reputation. When people think of Brabus Ventures, they think of Ben Behrouzi, when they think of Ben Behrouzi, they think of ePerks and when people think of ePerks, they think of ….. well you get the idea. Ben Behrouzi, his brands and his ongoing business practices are very negatively viewed in the Real Estate Community.
Notice that at BrabusVentures.com lists ePerks and Brabus as the only company properties. It is not until you go to dotnexinc.com that you see LeapFish, Ziddler and Ihype as properties with no mention of Brabus or ePerks. They are clearly trying to stop the bleeding and brand destruction caused by being associated with the Brabus Ventures / Ben Behrouzi names by isolating ePerks and Brabus together. Wow and sad.
On a final note, in recent months, current ePerks employees have been briefing us on Ben’s latest “secret” project, LeapFish.com, but to be honest we don’t care. We’ve wasted enough time highlighting the EPIC FAIL that is Ben Behrouzi already. Surprisingly, Ben has failed to garner any top search engine spots for “Epic Fail” yet, but it is one thing Ben is consistent with, so give him time.
Thank you to the community and everyone that did what they could to help Vlad Zablotzkyy defeat Ben Behrouzi / Eperks / Brabus Ventures!!! While there are too many to thank individually, an honorable mention goes out to Andy Beard and “Big Gun” Swann for putting their weight behind Vlad.
Related posts:
- LeapFish / ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Voicemails Exposed: Threatens to Blackball and Sue Employee
- Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place
- Ben Behrouzi / ePerks.com: A Case Study in Self Induced Search Engine Brand Destruction
- LeapFish CEO Ben Behrouzi Insinuates Legal Action Against BrokerScience, Cites “Damages”
- BrokerScience Acquires BenBehrouzi.com
I enjoyed your truthful article. I was severely misled by eperks and have been filing complaints with the FTC, Real Estate Commission of CA, AG of CA, BBB Pleasanton CA, and local AG office. I was promised a full refund if my exclusive zip codes did not result in a closed sale and they will not honor it. I have filed a dispute with my credit card company and now eperks is sending me to collections. I was told I would be a full refund and that is what I expect. I encourage all of you out there to take the time to file complaints against eperks. I was surprised that when I did a search on the BBB, there was no rating for eperks. Please take the time and let the world know that this company cannot be allowed to continue to condcut their biusiness this way.
Thanks for the update. I heard they settled but didn’t read much more information than that. We need to keep up-to-date with any new ventures this unprofessional, disrespectful boy creates so we can stay away before we’re in the same boat as Kathy and many others.
Dear Trace Richardson,
I applaud you in your efforts at attempting to look like you are a true journalist that cares about facts and people. You certainly work hard. Perhaps lesser minds will fall victim to the propaganda on this site and forget for a second that 90% of this website and its links you have devoted to me and 100% of the content is either completely inaccurate, incomplete and/or modified in an effort to paint a Trace Richardson version of the picture and generate the traffic you want so badly. You’ve simply built a weapon for a website and you are looking for traffic and looking to build a name at other people’s expense, while you shatter and redefine the definition of SPAM.
Regarding the lawsuit we filed against Mr. Vlad Zablotskky for his acts of defamation, there was no winner. Both parties are losers in the mess that you helped create in order to generate traffic. The fact is that neither I, nor ePERKS, and to our knowledge no ePERK’S employee had anything to do with Mr. Zablotskyy’s personal matters whatsoever. The alleged “evidence” was reviewed by both lawyers, Mr. Zablotskyy’s response was heard and there is a glaring reason why a letter of retraction was posted by Mr. Zablotskky himself. You can find his letter of retraction here : http://www.go-beyond-mls.com/eperks-and-vlad-zablotskyy-settle-the-lawsuit/
I am and have always been a firm believer of working with people and giving people second chances. I can’t share the details of the settlement with you, but we dismissed the case a few days after Mr. Zablotskyy publicized his written retraction and met obligations within the settlement.
Frankly, I don’t really understand why you have this enormous emotional attachment to me. However I do suggest that you make sure you have your facts straight and your judgments checked before you post something silly as you have many times on this broker website.
Now I do have to get back to work and I hope you have something useful to do as well. Best of luck with your agenda.
Regards,
Ben Behrouzi
President & CEO
DotNext Inc.
Ben,
I hope you did read the retraction letter before signing the settlement. Just to refresh your memory here is something from the very first paragraph:
“my statements were not based on forensically verified evidence”
I am opened to having the evidence verified by forensic experts. Are you???
That’s new Ben, you’ve used your own name. Congratulations and welcome to acting like an adult. So you say that this blog, that I visit from time to time, and indeed the entire site has content all of which is “either completely inaccurate, incomplete and/or modified” so if I find even one part of which that is not true that would make you (a) deliberately lying and subject to the same legal discourse as you tried to follow (b) stupid and subject to etc.. or (c) Wrong in some other way and subject etc..
So let’s see now.
Your statement does not appear to apply to the forum rules:
http://brokerscience.com/sf-forum/rules/forums-rules-and-posting-guidelines/page-1/post-7/#p7
This is a randomly selected post from the main page and again you statment does not hold water:
http://brokerscience.com/re-web/brokerscience/brokerscience-west-coast-tour/
I’d watch your back if I were you after all we do not want to prevent darts from being thrown but we do want to make sure that they are thrown fairly. Don’t we.
I’m sure you can agree with this so if I were your legal adviser I would suggest a retraction but it’s your life to ruin.
Prior to this post I would have charged you GB£1.8 UK billion (we have more 0s than you lot) but now I would have to make that GB£1.9 UK billion.
Out of interest does is sting particularly that there are so many reputation management types watching and thinking I could still fix that but doing nothing to help you? I ask only for information because it’s not a situation I’d ever allow a client to get into even if I was not doing paid RM/PR for him/her. You don’t have to answer if it upsets you as I understand that you have dug yourself a huge PR hole but I’m curious as to how you must feel sitting at the bottom of it.
Not that I plan to join you – it’s too expensive where you are.
Anyway gotta go – a tip of the ol’ hat to Trace.
Sorry to double post. I should verify for those that don’t know me that I sometimes take clients for SEO, Blog management and RM/PR and marketing issues. I didn’t make that clear and I don’t want Ben to get the idea that I’m offering any professional legal advice. Just my opinion which I charge a lot of money for unless I value the client in their own right.
Mr. Lord Matt,
You can rest assured that if I post something, which is quite infrequent, I will attach my name and title to it.
If you read my statement carefully, I stated that “90% of this website and its links you have devoted to me and 100% of the content is either completely inaccurate, incomplete and/or modified” That means 90% of the content of this website is about me, not you. Second, 100% of the 90% is either completely inaccurate, incomplete and/or modified. Just look at the links all over this website and the statements made.
Matt I understand you want to be an authority. I understand you want to appear like a decent blogger. I understand you want to be perceived as a voice of integrity. Unfortunately, I believe you are a product of hatred, insecurity, racism, greed and the very mess you have helped create. Your comments and posts all reflect this. You and your kind are driven by the basest of human qualities, working to appear as if you are not, while holding the banner of “we’re protecting agents and bloggers”, but really advancing your own self interest. People are smarter than that and I suggest you clean up your rogue blogging tactics.
In the end you and Vlad can make of this case what you please. But the suit is now in the past. I do hope you are able to muster some level of adult maturity and move on.
And as for watching my back, no need, I know you will be watching it for me.
regards,
Ben Behrouzi
Ben’s spamming isn’t limited to ePerks. Even though LeapFish is new, they are already engaging in harrassing and hard sales tactics: http://www.yelp.com/biz/leapfish-com-pleasanton
From the article:
Apparently Leap Fish is a new search engine in the market.
They have alleged sales people calling from their cell phones harassing folks to advertise.
This guy by the name of Scott calls and leaves what he thinks is a fun, hip, casual message…..Was browsing online…thought I’d give you a call…please…He’s probably sitting in his apartment in Modesto in boxer shorts making this call from his cell phone. (It really did come from a cell phone, by the way!)
I have had a dozen calls from these folks in the last week or so, I have asked to be removed from their victim list, obviously to no avail, so I hang up.
He calls back, tells me I am rude…his company was going to buy THREE houses from me (hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!) and that he is going to report me. At least I think that’s what he said….he had a Cheeto lodged in his throat.
I find this incredibly amusing….so….wondering who he is going to report me to, I call back to offer suggestions. He is not amused…plus he has to run out for HoHos and Pabst Blue Ribbon before his next round of calls, so he hangs up on me.
MY only recourse at this point is to report him to YOU!!!!!
Give him a call to say hi, His name is Scott, the number is 415-685-9327, and he offered me a free $100 gift card…be sure to ask for yours!
@Ben: That might be what you thought you wrote Ben but clearly you need to go back to school. I could spend all day pointing out your flaws but frankly I doubt you can afford my time and I don’t especially want to spend my valuable hours on a looser.
Really Ben – get a clue.
@Eric: I think some people are just put on this planet to give us normal folk something to write about during the slow days.
Trace, sorry to take up so much comment space but people making big claims but being unable to count tick me off as much as bullies do.
I count 13 posts containing the word eperks. I also counted 13 containing the word Google.
Now 13 out of 26 is 50%. Therefore as I previously stated Ben is factually incorrect. (not to mention rude and only fractionally as good as me at being condescending – we Brits are rather good at it you know).
I suggest that Ben apologise to Trace and the readers here and promise to speak the truth from now on.
Matt,
Unfortunately, in order to speak the truth, one must first understand the concept of of it.
You and I are “driven by the basest of human qualities”. lol
Unless of course we have fabricated the following voice mails:
http://brokerscience.com/re-web/eperks-com/ben-behrouzi-voicemails-threatens-employee/
I will not be surprised if he insisted that we indeed fabricated those voice mails.
Here is something interesting. Better Business Bureau just update ratings for ePerks. Can any one guess what the new rating is? – UNSATISFACTORY
http://goldengate.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=99&bbb=1116&firm=189963
Here what BBB says:
It’s almost like he has a need to be disliked. Why would anyone be like this? I’m tempted to go after every keyword in the SURPs Ben could ever want to rank for. I can not yet be totally bothered but I’m now thinking about it. The thing is what would I do with those rankings? I couldn’t exactly sell very much.
I am thinking the same. But first I will just reopen the comments on one little post, the one that ranks #2. I am tired of reading the e-mails for agents across the country, let there be a place for them to vent again.
By the way Ben, you are welcome to engage the critics there. However please behave or I will ban you from my website, a promise you should not doubt!
Ok Ben. Here is a free lesson. No thank you is necessary, nor expected even if you were capable of such a thing.
Choosing dotnextinc.com was absolutely unwise and actually stupid because Arizona’s DotNext LLC is already occupying place #1 on Google for “DotNext”. Trace with this post is #1 on Google for “DotNext Inc”- my guess is some of the bloggers will get pissed when they see this thread and will help Trace to be #1 for the term for next few months. But even if you beat him eventually, he will be #2 for as along as this website is live. You should have learned that from my “ePerks- A Scam or A Gem?” post. Early results on Google are crucial and you did nothing for Google to rank your DotNext domain. Hopefully you will learn one day, otherwise you should stay away from the internet altogether.
Which brings me to LeapFish…. Is that one of your $25 million dollars enterprises you talk about on your MaxStartup. If so, it is tainted as well. You can still re-brand it but not if you continue to be so full of it.
By the way your LeapFish is sending me some traffic my way for the term “ePerks”. Ironic is it not?
Bloggers could have been your best friends- you have turned them into your enemies. Bad move, especially if you still continue to promote iHype. If I ever decide to share the lessons I have learned from the lawsuit you can be sure I will bring up iHype.
Again good luck with your efforts.
We should probably stop verbally kicking Ben now. Even at school there was only so much of this I could take even when the bullies really had it coming. I think it’s safe to say he’s “down” and we can go away and do some SEO voodoo instead.
@Matt
No way, he deserves all of it, now that he is putting his own name to it there is no escape. I actually did not want to comment on this thread at all, and I would not have if it was not for Ben’s ignorant belligerence.
Just think about it, I can be potential clients for his iHype. But me is one thing. He was so ignorant about blogs that he could out Andy Beard and Greg Swann for having some sort of hidden agenda??? Does he even know that these guys a leading bloggers in their respective niches??? And he wants to compete with IZEA, SponsoredReviews, ReviewMe??? You have to be kidding me!!!
Let him be on the receiving end. I just think he is absolutely enraged by the fact that his newest “cover up” DotNex Inc has been blown out.
LeapFish spam on SEOMoz:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/tactical-seo-how-many-termsphrases-should-i-target-on-a-single-page#jtc70706
Does that remind any one of any other startup???
Well, I have to say it the man has done himself no favours. I might have under priced the cost of repairing his reputation add another 25% to that price I quoted.
Ben Wrote:
>Perhaps lesser minds will fall victim to the propaganda on this site
So He feels it necessary to insult not only the writer of this blog but also it’s readers? That’s a great way to build your reputation. This guy just keeps digging a deeper whole.
Ben clearly shows an IQ of a 10 year old, a joke, and a the little man on campus.He has limited business knowledge, based on his performance and the organization that he runs, well noted by his juvenile comments posted online. Hopefully, he will change his ways and realize the opportunities that are available for him. He seems smarter than these remarks! However, he is young and acts as a child when dealing with customers. Best of luck!
To-Ben and your eperks cronies you & yours will soon reap what you have sown. The truth is out! This is not where it ends many will be held accountable for such despicable May God forgive you! Not many in our industry will!Nontheless I will pray for you & your cohorts wicked souls~Shame(not that you know what that is)on YOU & YOURS!
To Lord Matt~ Thank you for the courage to speak the truth and to stand in the truth.Bless You always xox
Vlad~ We in the industry are proud of you and commend the honorable person you truly are. Your honor and integrity speaks in volumes to those of us you have tried to save from the harm, pain and anguish this company has inflicted despite your sacrifice and efforts~The Truth Has set You Free..Bless you always xox
Good Evening- I wish to tell my story and add it to the 90% untruths.
Vlad, i would wish to call you or to contact you please.
One of your sales persons contacted me and what they had to say about leapfish was really good. They so do believe in it !!! They also know that the money they get out of me and others like me will keep leapfish afloat and pay for their salaries. This is the truth of business, and i do not disagree with such…
What i disagree with sir, is that i was told that i would get to see a contract between leapfish and myself (a business trying to make a living and pay my bills as you are i am sure). Everything i heard from the sales rep over the phone was all good. I wanted leapfish to addvertize my business and i was willing to pay GOOD MONEY for it. Still am… but, i am NOT WILLING to do business with shihsters….
When i finally got the contract through the email, i could NOT sign it. I told this to Micheal. He put the pressure on me to sign it and return it so leapfish could work its magic for me and my business. I told him that i would love to do business with leapfish but… I could not sign this contract. I emailed him the words that are in the contract that i was unwilling to sign:
“You agree that leapfish may modify this agreement and the services from time to time. You agree to be bound by any changes Leapfish may make to this agreement when such changes are made.”
who on earth in their right minds would sign such an open statement giving full control over a company to do as they want or wish to do in regards to an agreement made?
this is not legal… this contract can not be legal, no contract can just change an agreement that was made, even if you say that you can, you can not do that. it is unconstitutional and ILLEGAL….
needless to say, i did not sign the contract and i wanted my money back. Micheal refused to give me my money back. I contacted him several times over the phone and in emails. The attitude that micheal gave me was to “screw you” We got your money and we are not giving it back.
i have not gone to the web site to use the service. The advertisement that is running is not of any quality and it was a hurry up and put it up there (while talking to the rep on the phone) and i would go back and fix it, which i have not. i do not want your service because of your customer service and the way in which you do not help your clients. All you had to do was to fix a contract that said what your salesperson told me and i would have been happy, but your Micheal is mean hearted and not caring about the customer.
I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW THAT YOU TOOK OVER 600.00 FROM MY VISA CARD AND THAT YOUR COMPANY IS NOT WILLING TO GIVE IT BACK AND THAT I AM UNSATISFIED WITH LEAPFISH….
so, i am going to bring a law suit to your door step … if i can find out your address and who i am suppose to sue. I will drive into calif. and take leapfish to court over a lousy 600.00 ….
not only that, i am also willing to spend my time making a web site telling folks all about leapfish and …. writing all persons who want to know about that company, its policies and how they treated me…
LEAPFISH IS NOT A NICE COMPANY AND THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT US, THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT TAKING OTHER PEOPLES MONEY. I work hard for my money, i dont just sit in a chair and answer phones and take peoples money, i manufacture a product and market it.. I am the back bone of America , I WORK for a living!
If you do not stand behind your business and your name and make it something to be proud of, you will NEVER make anything out of yourself or anything you touch because you will piss folks off and that karma, will come back to you 10 fold…
thank you (Trace and the others) for allowing me to vent on this web site… please GOOGLE LEAPFISH to find my new web site explaining how i was treated by LEAP FISH AND ITS Representatives… it will take me a couple of days to get it up.
@Liz Shwartz,
Hi Liz,
Could you please exlpain why do you think I am involved with LeapFish?
I think you might what to contact the LeapFish CEO instead.
ok, sorry, i thought you were involved with leapfish. thank you for responding… Lois
I just reported to BBB, and formal complaint with FTC, I just happen to have a friend at the FTC, who just happens to be one of a few Chief Investigators. Really. We won’t all get our money back but if we start now we might get some of it. Why is it that my company has a B+ rating and Leapfish has a D-?
It is pretty clear that ethics do matter. If you do some form of bad business, you will be rewarded with bad publicity. It just is what it is. So, let’s not bash this very troubled young man. Let us use the power of word to shake the tree.
I have been self employed for almost 20 years, so, that would be half of my life. I am very saddened that this Mr B, has got himself quite entangled in a web that will be very difficult to get out of. At his young age he may lose complete hope of any recovery and sadly make take drastic measures in resolve to a series of bad choice laid upon by worse mistakes.
He is probably a very smart kid, problem is he is so caught up, that he can’t see any unsold help in the distance. He should pray as we all should. This worls is a mess!!! Hopefully he can find a way out, with a positive new start. But only he can or cannot be man enough to make his wrongs right. But, there will be an ultimate outcome. There always is.
Most of the time, we know what our actions will create good or bad. When we actively do what is bad for pleasure or just survival, we are aware of our actions. That’s how we were built.
As for me I will fight to get ever fricken penny back for a great idea , just done wrong…..
FJ