Ciao-- Go figure!
By guss2000
@guss2000 (2232)
United States
May 13, 2009 12:14pm CST
Well, the other week I posted that I requested payment from Ciao for $87.70. The payment was due to come out mid-May (any day now). Today I logged in to check my account and my account is GONE! It says I have been blocked. I'm in the United States, and I didn't think they had blocked the U.S.? I'm really angry now, is anyone else having issues, will I still be paid?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@anonymili (3138)
•
14 May 09
There's no reason your account should be blocked if you're from the US unless you've been reported by someone for abuse of some sort. Even those from banned countries have been receiving the monies they are due and from what I understand honest members from those countries have been allowed back in. There are several reasons for possible account closure including: pasting text in a review from another site from an article/review that is not your own work, writing reviews that make no sense in English (which I doubt cos your post here is written in very clear English), giving revenge ratings to people (i.e. giving low ratings to people in response to receiving low ratings from them) or spamming people in comments, on their walls or inboxes asking for ratings. If you're 100% sure you haven't done any of these things, I can't imagine why someone based in the US would get banned at all. Can I ask what your username is and I can do some investigating? Or you could try dropping Ciao a line directly asking what has happened to your account at info@ciao.com :) (p.s. Ciao is definitely legit as I've been on the Ciao.com site since the middle of last year and on the Ciao.co.uk since 2002 with no problems with payment).
1 person likes this
@anonymili (3138)
•
14 May 09
Hmm I can't even see your account there so it seems that it's been permanenty deleted. How many people did you refer to the site? Did you know them personally or were you referring them through some link? If you never reviewed anyone there how were you receiving ratings on your reviews? Reading and rating others on the site is part and parcel of being an active member on the site although it's not compulsory by any means. If you had referred lots of people who were committing fraud they might have assumed that your referrals and you were in it together. If just your referrals were rating your reviews, it would also look like you were referring people just to rate your reviews. Difficult for me to do any investigating as your reviews/name aren't even on the site anymore...
1 person likes this
@guss2000 (2232)
• United States
14 May 09
Hey thanks so much for your help! I did write them, and they wrote me back-- they said my account was deleted because it looked fraudulent because I had an "excessive amount of earnings for one review and only had 2 referrals".
The thing I don't understand is, my balance was not ALL from that one review, it had been generating over time (since September) and I believe it said affiliate commissions or something next to the dollar figures in the earnings break down.
My user name there is kjsgirlx2.
I have never reviewed ANYONE there, so I don't think I could have been banned due to that, they said it was mainly the earnings. I don't understand and I've asked them to clarify-- but obviously now they are ignoring me. I'm sad :(
1 person likes this
@guss2000 (2232)
• United States
14 May 09
Well thanks for searching for me. I only had 2 refs supposedly, and I'm assuming they are people I know in real life. I have no idea anymore, but I know that all of that earnings was NOT just from the one review. I just wrote them AGAIN and told them to please review where the money came from, it wasn't like I begged people to review me--- I never even told anyone too. LOL So, maybe they will atleast explain it to me. Thanks again though! If anything new happens, I'll let you know!
1 person likes this
@tabsnlos (587)
• United States
13 May 09
uh oooo!!! No this hasn't happen to me just yet. I just started using ciao and I don't know much about payments. I want to know if this has happen to anyone else too before I waste more time on reviews. Please keep me posted
@guss2000 (2232)
• United States
13 May 09
I will! I hope they still pay! I don't know what I did wrong to have my account blocked? I'm so confused and although MANY have told me this company is legit and I see payment proofs from others, I'm starting to be a little skeptical :(
Good luck to you!
1 person likes this
@guss2000 (2232)
• United States
13 May 09
tabsnlos- I wrote ciao and asked why I was banned. They told me I was deactivated due to fraud. They said I had a high amount of earnings for the review I did.
How would I control the amount I earn for a review? I have no idea how to even figure that out. So my account is gone. I have wrote them back, but I doubt they will fix it for me. So mad!
1 person likes this
@marina321 (4556)
•
15 May 09
Keep writing to them...If some people from banned countries are being allowed back, you may stand a chance of getting your account back if all you did was legit
, that's a lot of money for two reviews. Just out of interest, how many ratings did you have on these two reviews?
, that's a lot of money for two reviews. Just out of interest, how many ratings did you have on these two reviews?@guss2000 (2232)
• United States
15 May 09
Good point about others getting there account back, but I don't know they are just not writing me back now :(
I only had ONE review, and I have no idea how many ratings.
The money I had earned, was from affiliate commissions, and I pointed that out to CIAO, but they still do not respond.
MOST of my earnings on there said "affiliate commissions". What does your earnings say next to it?
I'm confused too, it's a mess.
