How to threaten customers and move up the Google rankings

If you haven't gotten to David Segal's jaw-dropper about the online retailer who verbally threatens customers when they complain about the merchandise, I would heartily recommend it. Not only does Vitaly Borker admit to his bad (and perhaps illegal) behavior, he sees it as a way of moving up the Google rankings. That's because Google does not delineate the kinds of links that merchants receive - and since the guy is the subject of so many negative online comments, he stays at the top of the charts and keeps getting customers in the process. From the piece:

[Clarabelle] Rodriguez placed an order for both the Lafonts and a set of doctor-prescribed Ciba Vision contact lenses on that site, DecorMyEyes.com. The total cost was $361.97. It was the start of what Ms. Rodriguez would later describe as one of the most maddening and miserable experiences of her life. The next day, a man named Tony Russo called to say that DecorMyEyes had run out of the Ciba Visions. Pick another brand, he advised a little brusquely. "I told him that I didn't want another brand," recalls Ms. Rodriguez, who lives in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. "And I asked for a refund. He got rude, really obnoxious. 'What's the big deal? Choose another brand!' "

With the contacts issue unresolved, her eyeglasses arrived two days later. But the frames appeared to be counterfeits and Ms. Rodriguez, a lifelong fan of Lafont, remembers that even the case seemed fake. Soon after, she discovered that DecorMyEyes had charged her $487 -- or an extra $125. When she and Mr. Russo spoke again, she asked about the overcharge and said she would return the frames. "What the hell am I supposed to do with these glasses?" she recalls Mr. Russo shouting. "I ordered them from France specifically for you!"

"I'm going to contact my credit card company," she told him, "and dispute the charge." Until that moment, Mr. Russo was merely ornery. Now he erupted. "Listen, bitch," he fumed, according to Ms. Rodriguez. "I know your address. I'm one bridge over" -- a reference, it turned out, to the company's office in Brooklyn. Then, she said, he threatened to find her and commit an act of sexual violence too graphic to describe in a newspaper. Ms. Rodriguez was shaken but undaunted. That day she called Citibank, which administers her MasterCard account, and after submitting some paperwork, she won a provisional victory. Her $487 would be refunded as the bank looked into the charge and discussed it with the owner of DecorMyEyes. A final determination, she was told, would take 60 days.

As that two-month deadline approached, Mr. Russo had dropped his claim for the contact lenses he'd never sent. But, she said, he began an increasingly nasty campaign to persuade her to contact Citibank and withdraw her dispute. "Call me back or I'm going to drag you to small-claims court," he wrote in an e-mail on Sept. 27. "You have one hour to call me back or I'm filing online." Ms. Rodriguez placed an order for both the Lafonts and a set of doctor-prescribed Ciba Vision contact lenses on that site, DecorMyEyes.com. The total cost was $361.97.

Russo turned out to be Borker, and Rodriguez went through a lot more tumult. Perhaps most stunning is that Borker agreed to speak to Segal (probably figuring on more publicity) and pretty much fessed up to the scheme. "I've exploited this opportunity because it works. No matter where they post their negative comments, it helps my return on investment. So I decided, why not use that negativity to my advantage?"

The only real limit on his antics is imposed by Visa and MasterCard. If too many customers successfully dispute charges in a given month, he can be tossed out of their networks, he says. Precisely how many of these charge-backs is too many is one of the few business subjects that Mr. Borker deems off the record, but suffice it to say he tracks that figure carefully and dials down the animus if he's nearing his limit. Until the next month arrives, when he dials it back up again.

This only scratches the surface. Best to read the piece in full.