Discover your free Construction Marketing Ideas Email Newsletter

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Servicemagic and spam?

Was this spam email authorized by servicemagic.com? It is the second similar email I've received today.

Many in the industry have strong opinions about the leads service provided by Servicemagic. See this relevant forum on contractortalk.com. I won't editorialize on whether Servicemagic offers a good or bad service, but today, noticed a couple of strange emails in my in-box. I've posted a screenshot of one above.

When you click on the email from haleyi@thejohnnylang.com you are directed straight to the servicemagic.com site. But who is "thejohnnylang.com"?

A direct visit to the site gives the 404 error code:

Error response

Error code 404.

Message: File not found.

Error code explanation: 404 = Internal Server Error, please try again later.

And a whois.sc search takes us to:

So this is a mysterious, recently registered domain.

I googled "Servicemagic Spam" and discovered other bloggers have reported that when they sign up with Servicemagic, they have begun receiving spam emails, apparently because their agreement with Servicemagic allows this to happen.

Is Servicemagic starting to spam itself, or has some contractor or supplier set up a program to direct leads there? I don't know -- but do know that I certainly didn't request the email from thejohnnylang.com, whatever that organization actually is.



2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm a homeowner and the founder of ContractorSolutionNetwork.com. I've used ServiceMagic and found there's more to be desired from my own experience and from contractors who I've spoken to.

Please check out http://ContractorSolutionNetwork.com. We bring Pros & Homeowners together. Community oriented & no fees.

Anonymous said...

I've been bombarded with spam from servicemagic.
None of it is "branded" with their name, but roofing, windows, housemaid etc ads, all using different 3rd party services, with no reputable way to "unsubscribe"
This blows big time, and show complete disrespect for their customers.
Boycot them.