Advisory

Business directory service, Finda, (which is part of the Yellow Pages Group) has alerted the Ministry of Consumer Affairs that they have recently become aware of a company falsely claiming to have a reseller relationship with Google.

"The company is calling itself ‘Front Page Google’ and is claiming to have secured the New Zealand rights to sell the front page for Google.

"This claim is false! Finda is an official data provider to Google in New Zealand, providing Google with local business data which Google uses for its Google Places listings.

"Finda has raised the matter with Google and they are looking into it. Anyone who wants to find out who is a verified Google partner can do so on Google Partner Search," says Finda.

Right of reply

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has been approached regarding this advisory notice and has agreed to publish the following information for the purposes of fairness and transparency:

"Firstly, we apologise for any inconvenience to our existing customers that have been alerted to this situation and have been waiting for our response, we thank you for your patience.

1. We would like to advise that at this point we are unaware of anyone offering the same products that our “Front Page Google” service provides, and this is our point of difference, and is only available through our company, in this regard we do not have a reseller arrangement with Google, nor do we have any preferential relationship with Google, our relationship with Google is simply that they are aware of the “Front Page Google” products and services that we offer to NZ businesses.

2. Front Page Google is not our company name rather it is FPG. The allegation that our company is called Front Page Google is false, therefore to avoid further confusion regarding Front Page Google and the products we offer we have renamed our company “At The Top”. It is explicitly stated that we are not an exclusive provider of Google Maps nor have the sole rights to sell Front Page Google.

In summary, being labeled a scammer is inflammatory to us, but it will only make us more determined to succeed in our endeavor, particularly when promoting “Front Page Google” services to our clients, with a fresh face company like ours, one that is offering a unique service with a 100% “At The Top” money back guarantee."