I am pleased and a bit relieved to announce that the whole escapade with Bloggerwave (1 2 3) has at last come to a conclusion. Over the past week several members who had not yet been paid were receiving their payments at last. Then yesterday the following email went out:

Statement about Bloggerwave

We are fully aware that bloggerwave.com has been receiving quite controversial reviews in recent days. The supporters of bloggerwave.com know the facts and have praised our transparent approach to business. The negative approach indicates that we do not pay attention to the needs of our bloggers.

One thing is certain; bloggerwave’s current and future success is based on our bloggers, who are our most important assets. We understand that in order to make a historical cornerstone in the business of advertorial content we need you.

We apologize for the delays in the payment process which has been subject for discussion on a number of blogs; the delay was external and not directly under our control or caused by our system. This is not an excuse as it our responsibility to make sure that you are paid on time and in accordance with the agreement. We further apologize for any inconvenience that could have been caused to you as a result of the delays. We are now looking at various options to have a backup payment system in place to ensure you receive an improved service from bloggerwave. com .

We are about to fine-tune several things at bloggerwave.com so we can meet the growing expectations by our advertisers and bloggers and you will witness these improvements over the coming weeks and months.

Bloggerwave.com will get a total redesign and add more functionality to the site. The new design and its functionality will clearly differentiate us from our competitors and provide us with stronger brand recognition. All of the affiliated bloggers are invited to comment and make suggestions to our upcoming design.

We have also decided to launch our services to more countries in Europe and Asia. We are continuously getting a positive feed back from these markets; both from companies who want to launch a campaign and bloggers who want to join us. We have signed an agreement with a major media & marketing agency serving blue chip companies in media planning. As a result of this cooperation our bloggers will benefit from wide spectrum of expanded business in the European as well as international market.

I would like to thank you all for being part of Bloggerwave.
Yours faithfully,

Ulrik S. Thomsen
CEO Bloggerwave.com

Considering the fact a transparent company is just that, transparent and does exactly what it says it will and keeps it’s members informed and appraised of the situation I would hardly call this company transparent. After all, the members who had not yet come upon their pay date and are not members of other online advertising companies or frequent the blogs of other members who are didn’t even know there were any payment issues until this email went out. Not once did Bloggerwave mention this incident in their blog or at least address the concerns of members publicly.

As I mentioned before it took the threat of legal action to finally get a response out of these people and then it was a poorly written and unbelievably brief little note saying they would make a payment when the problem was fixed. Gee, how kind.

Brett of Top10Tech.com was able to get the most information out of them since he approached them differently and instead of wasting his breath trying to get answers from Bloggerwave, who weren’t forthcoming, he went to PayPal themselves to find out why funds were being withdrawn and concludes that:

1. It would appear that Bloggerwave may have been a victim of an over zealous security protocol at PayPal and in PayPal’s defense, Bloggerwave may not have been prepared to deal with that protocol effectively and swiftly, but they are now.
   
2. After I was finally able to get in touch with Bloggerwave this week, everything they told me for the most part has been true. As of today, I’ve been able to verify the information they provided me while they were attempting to clear things up. This almost as important as getting the payments fixed in my mind. In the face of a situation that was almost a scandal they could have spewed a corporate line of BS, but instead they got engaged, fixed the problem and provided the facts. For more details please read Brett’s entry.

Today I at long last received the money I was owed for Bloggerwave as well, exactly 22 days after payment was due. I agree that my belief that Bloggerwave is a legitimate company has been restored and I no longer believe them to be a scam or dummy site meant to collect and steal personal information. I cannot however recommend or endorse bloggerwave in good faith. This company was probably the victim of misfortune in this instance yet they went about it in completely the wrong manner when it came to resolving the issue.

They were not up front, they attempted sweep the mess under the rug and for the most part ignored the concerns of their members, their bloggers. This is not the behavior of a company I would feel comfortable dealing with. If there is an issue with payment then you tell your employees and assure them that alternative methods are being sought. You do not leave them standing with empty hands and a billion unanswered questions come payday.

Some members stated in a thread at the boards of another advertising company that they had no such problems and were shocked and disappointed at the alarmist reaction that occurred. To that I have but one thing to say, shut the fuck up. You were a minority, congratulations, if someone was playing around with your money you would have wanted to know why as well and if no answers were forthcoming and a legitimate and established site such as PayPal was having their doubts about them at the same time you would have been equally concerned. Do not judge until you have walked a mile in another man’s shoes.

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