Former Lehman Brothers computer programmer turned online eyeglass salesman Vitaly Borker has pioneered an unusual marketing strategy, the Times reports: When his customers express dissatisfaction, he “erupts” on them, threatening them with profanity, legal action, and acts of “sexual violence too graphic to describe in a newspaper.” But when the customers strike back by writing negative things about his business online, it pushes his company name higher in Google’s search engine, getting him more customers. Mwhahaha! “I just wanted to let you guys know that the more replies you people post, the more business and the more hits and sales I get,” Borker at one point taunted his customers in an online posting. “My goal is NEGATIVE advertisement.”
One former customer, Clarabelle Rodriguez, has been in a protracted dispute with Borker (including an incident in which he mailed her a Google Earth photo of her house with the message “I know where you live”). Once, after she disputed charges made by Borker to her credit card, Borker actually called the company, Citigroup, pretended to be Rodriguez, and canceled the dispute. Rodriguez was incensed, she told the paper:
When contacted by the Times, a spokeswoman for the beleaguered Citigroup “sounded mortified,” and the bank rectified the problem. But when the bank called to report her refund, Rodriguez reports:
Hey, if it works for the eyeglasses guy …
