Is Bark.com a scam
On 14 August 2024 we received an email from Bark.com.
Foolishly one of our team members thought that it was genuine and from a local Australian business.
It appeared to come from a business based in Sydney. It even had a Sydney phone number.
Here is the first email.
We sent an email back wondering why we received this email.
Our of our team members clicked the link..
Instead of a free opportunity to connect with the maybe real person shown in the first email, it was a demand for payment. Not so free after all.
The demand to purchase some credits to speak with the person that they offered for free was reinforced.
Apparently you need 19 credits but you had to buy $614.40 worth. Plus 10% GST
Every time you pushed "Contact Jamie" the demand for 19 of the $614.40 worth of credits was required.
Bark.com had created an account as a result of being a sucker and clicking the contact Jamie link.
The problem was that there is no escape from the account.
No button to close the account was on the account profile page.
Our team member called the alleged Sydney number and Mitko from a call centre somewhere in the known universe but not in Sydney, advised that the only way to close an account ( escape ) was to call bark.com or send an email and ask them to delete your profile.
Mitko offered 5 free leads as an inducement to not ask for Bark.com to close the account that we did not want in the first place.
It is rather cunning. Bark.com gets a new account every time someone is dumb enough to click on the link to help "Jamie for free" and there is no manual way to close it.
Bark.com can use all of the unwanted accounts to say to potential customers ( suckers ) that they have 1000's of contractors on their books.
We managed to escape from Bark.
Mitko closed the account.
We did not contact the alleged free lead.
We did not buy any credits at $614.14 a batch.
We wasted a lot of time escaping but it was worth it.
Make up your own mind as to whether or not you want to get Bark.com to find a contractor or whether as a contractor you want to work with Bark.com which is actually in the UK not Sydney.
And finally.. this arrived
Further reading. https://www.reddit.com/r/GraphicDesigning/comments/12b2nkg/do_not_use_barkcom_it_is_a_scam_they_wont_refund/
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Foolishly one of our team members thought that it was genuine and from a local Australian business.
It appeared to come from a business based in Sydney. It even had a Sydney phone number.
Here is the first email.
We sent an email back wondering why we received this email.
Our of our team members clicked the link..
Instead of a free opportunity to connect with the maybe real person shown in the first email, it was a demand for payment. Not so free after all.
The demand to purchase some credits to speak with the person that they offered for free was reinforced.
Apparently you need 19 credits but you had to buy $614.40 worth. Plus 10% GST
Every time you pushed "Contact Jamie" the demand for 19 of the $614.40 worth of credits was required.
Bark.com had created an account as a result of being a sucker and clicking the contact Jamie link.
The problem was that there is no escape from the account.
No button to close the account was on the account profile page.
Our team member called the alleged Sydney number and Mitko from a call centre somewhere in the known universe but not in Sydney, advised that the only way to close an account ( escape ) was to call bark.com or send an email and ask them to delete your profile.
Mitko offered 5 free leads as an inducement to not ask for Bark.com to close the account that we did not want in the first place.
It is rather cunning. Bark.com gets a new account every time someone is dumb enough to click on the link to help "Jamie for free" and there is no manual way to close it.
Bark.com can use all of the unwanted accounts to say to potential customers ( suckers ) that they have 1000's of contractors on their books.
We managed to escape from Bark.
Mitko closed the account.
We did not contact the alleged free lead.
We did not buy any credits at $614.14 a batch.
We wasted a lot of time escaping but it was worth it.
Make up your own mind as to whether or not you want to get Bark.com to find a contractor or whether as a contractor you want to work with Bark.com which is actually in the UK not Sydney.
And finally.. this arrived
Further reading. https://www.reddit.com/r/GraphicDesigning/comments/12b2nkg/do_not_use_barkcom_it_is_a_scam_they_wont_refund/
d
