Citysearch the online business directory owned by Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, is also an affiliate of Merchant Circle and are based in California and listed in the NYSE as IAC.
I will explain in as much detail as possible of how Citysearch.com promotes a Pay-per click scam and perpetuates racism through their website.

“Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (a common name for Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996) is a landmark piece of Internet legislation in the United States, codified at 47 U.S.C. § 230. Section 230(c)(1) provides immunity from liability for providers and users of an "interactive computer service" who publish information provided by others:

No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”

How the Scam works:

If you have registered as a business, let’s say [Atlanta, Georgia] your information becomes part of a public record. What companies like Citysearch.com do is list that information on their web site or you can list it yourself. The fact is that anyone can list a business on Citysearch.com .Once your listing appears you have a good chance of being found by someone who is looking for your type of business.
Read the following:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) September 13, 2009 --
City Search city guides is a popular online Internet service
that Internet surfers use to locate services across the United States, but lately City Search has come under scrutiny for its deceptive scam marketing practices, and as a result, consumers are filing complaints and class action lawsuits against City Search to bring consumer awareness to the deceptive business practices of this company.

This is what one customer’s complaint has to say about City Search, “I am a restaurant owner starting a class action lawsuit against CitySearch.com,
City Search Facing Class Action Lawsuits by Business Customers

I have had fake reviews posted by an anonymous reviewer signing up under multiple names and writing completely fabricated reviews in violation of CitySearch Terms of Use. CitySearch is aware of the problem and ignores it because their policy is to NOT PROVIDE SERVICE TO ANY RESTAURANTS THAT DO NOT ADVERTISE WITH THEM
I actually have internal CitySearch correspondence stating they won't fix the problem unless I advertise and that they do not even review complaints unless you buy advertising from them. The Salesman then goes and uses the problems to blackmail restaurants into buying services. AGAIN I HAVE SPECIFIC WRITTEN INTERNAL DOCUMENTATION detailing their predatory and unethical policies AND ILLEGAL POLICIES. If you have any similar complaints please email me at [email protected].”


The Scam:
I currently have Google analytics attached to my website. I have been paying attention over the past few months, since becoming a City Search customer, that I am not getting any "bang for my buck" so to speak. I have been paying over $350 each month and have yet to see any significant clicking to my website. Even the Google cpc, which I understand comes from my City Search account, from June 20 through July 20 is only up to 15 clicks. I can easily get that through Google paying for the advertising myself and it wouldn't cost me anywhere near what I'm paying City Search.

Clicks from City Search since May 1, 2009... Zero. I find it difficult to believe that 900 people are looking at my City Search account every month and not 1 clicked through to find out more information from my website. The simple law of averages state's that's just not possible. If any one of these people were actual customers looking for a Hypnotherapist in their area, I'm sure at least 1 would want more information.

While I understand that I signed up for 6 months of service, I don't feel that I am getting what I have been paying for. I would like to find out if there is any way that I can cancel my account without the cancellation fee's as I feel that your company has not lived up to their end of the contract and I've already payed more than enough money for a service that has no real value to me or my company. I'm beginning to think that the only people clicking on the City Search page you set up for me are the one's who your company calls trying to scam into the same deal that I feel I was scammed into.

Here’s the link the original complaint:

http://www.complaints.com/2008/august/27/Citysearch_is_a_scam_and_employees_very_unprofess_183082.htm

How would a racist would use this site to promote discriminatory behavior against minority businesses in their community?
First let’s ask the question, does racism exist?
The main reason why we have racism is because people want to have a sense of power and privilege over another group. Everyone wants to be able to have power and in order to have power you must defeat or overpower others. This is why there is racism. “Racism is the systematic, institutionalized mistreatment of one group of people by another based on racial heritage.”
Today in the modern day South or the “New South” as it being called still has the racial prejudices common to their regions at that time of the “Old ‘Jim Crow’ South” but also deeply rooted Bible belt notions of public rectitude.

How does the discrimination occur?

Let’s say someone came into your business or contacted you to purchase a product or service. If for some reason they did not like you the typical response is to post their concerns on the internet. In our research we discovered that minority business owners were more likely to receive 2-3 times as many negative reviews about 20% versus non-minority business who received less than 5% negative reviews on different web sites around Atlanta, Georgia using a mix of various business types.
Many of the negative reviews written against minority businesses contain prejudicial and inflammatory statements that enforce mistrust, suspicion i.e., “Watch Out, Who do trust? or, I would use a more established firm” and others.
The negative reviews posted are in the context of personal attacks and do not give the reader a true experience of the business and go unchecked by Citysearch who promotes this type of behavior in order to sell its Pay-Per Click Program.
I hope that this information has been helpful and informative


We welcome your comments.

Below you will find a copy of two emails that I sent to CitySearch. The first on July 21, 2008 and the second August 27, 2008. The two together explain just how horrific their services are and what an incredible scam their advertising is. [Some names and phone numbers were withheld in this complaint copy]

Email sent July 21, 2008.

Hi Michael,

I currently have google analytics attached to my website. I have been paying attention over the past few months, since becoming a City Search customer, that I am not getting any "bang for my buck" so to speak. I have been paying over $350 each month and have yet to see any significant clicking to my website. Even the google cpc, which I understand comes from my City Search account, from June 20 through July 20 is only up to 15 clicks. I can easily get that through google paying for the advertising myself and it wouldn't cost me anywhere near what I'm paying City Search.

Clicks from City Search since May 1, 2009... Zero. I find it difficult to believe that 900 people are looking at my City Search account every month and not 1 clicked through to find out more information from my website. The simple law of averages state's that's just not possible. If any one of these people were actual customers looking for a Hypnotherapist in their area, I'm sure at least 1 would want more information.

While I understand that I signed up for 6 months of service, I don't feel that I am getting what I have been paying for. I would like to find out if there is any way that I can cancel my account without the cancellation fee's as I feel that your company has not lived up to their end of the contract and I've already payed more than enough money for a service that has no real value to me or my company. I'm beginning to think that the only people clicking on the City Search page you set up for me are the one's who your company calls trying to scam into the same deal that I feel I was scammed into.

Please understand, that I am not saying any of this with anger, as I know that it's hard to put a "tone" to words typed on the computer. I would simply like to go our separate ways. Please call me at [number here] at your earliest convenience to resolve this matter without involving my lawyer and having a big investigation into the practices of your company. Thank you for your time.

C.J. Cantrell

Copy of email sent to the President of the company on August 27, 2008

Dear Mr. Herrati,

My name is Candy Cantrell and I was a customer of CitySearch for a few months. I found the service to be poor and not at all useful for my business. I tried on numerous occasions to reach Michael Goggins, the rep in charge of my account by phone in early July with no response to cancel my account. On July 21, 2008 I sent him an email, with still no response. On the 24th of July I finally called the other number for CitySearch customer service and spoke with someone (you have record of the phone conversation) who's name I cannot find. At that time he offered me 2 free months of service but I opted to simply cancel the account instead. At that time he told me that the account was canceled and that I would no longer be charged. I logged on to my account a couple of days later to make sure that my account was, in fact, canceled and found that it had been. At some point, someone in your company illegally opened again without my permission or even informing me of this activity.

On August 15, 2008 at 9:15am, which I still have saved in my voicemail, Michael Goggins called me. I tried calling him back 2 or 3 times with no return call back. I assumed the matter was resolved, until August 25, 2008 when I went to get new tires on my car. At that time I was told that my card was declined. I called my roommate, [name here], and asked him to look at my account and tell me what had happened because as far as I knew, there was plenty of money in my account to cover that $185 purchase. He said that there was a hold placed on my account from your company in the amount of $264.65.

At this time it was about 6pm EST and I tried to call CitySearch to resolve this matter. I was transferred over and over, placed on hold, hung up on while on hold, sent to the wrong departments and so on. I called on both my personal and business cell phone for an hour and was given the run-around by everyone that I spoke with until, conveniently, you were closed at 7pm EST. I just cannot even begin to tell you how disappointed, but not at all surprised after the poor service I had received in the past, at the complete lack of professionalism and customer service from your employees.

I called the bank to dispute the charges and there was nothing they could do until the transaction had gone through because at that time it was just a hold placed on the account. I was stuck at the tire place, embarrassed, with no way to pay for my new tires even though I had, until your company illegally withdrew the money from my account, the funds to cover that important purchase.

The next day, August 26, 2008, I called again and spoke with a man named Ray. As you can imagine, I was understandably not the most pleasant person and will freely admit that. I wanted to have my money back. He asked me to forward the email that I had sent to Michael Goggins on July 21st to him, which I did. At that time he offered as a "courtesy" to refund me only $200 of the $264.65 that was withdrawn stating that I would only be refunded the amount from July 21 (the date of the email). This was unacceptable after everything that I had already gone through, and the fact that I was told by a representative of your company that I would no longer be charged, so I asked to speak with a supervisor.

I spoke with Joyce Marshal and she stated that she would listen to the phone conversation from July 24, 2008 and get back to me between 3:00pm and 4:30pm on August 26. I informed her that after 4:30pm I would be in session with clients and would not be available. She did not call me back until 6:05pm at which time, as I had previously stated, I would not be available. I did not get out of sessions with my clients until 8pm at which time your company was closed.

This morning, after my first client, I again called Joyce Marshal and was again only offered a refund for the amount after July 21, 2008. She stated that she listened to the phone conversation and that the man I spoke with on the 24th did not say that I would not be charged. This is wrong. I know what I heard, and I specifically asked him if I was to expect any more charges because I need to be able to keep up on the money coming in and out of my business. I am not a stupid person, and I make my living as a hypnotherapist listening to people and taking down every detail. I know what I heard.

This is my last resort before contacting my attorney and the BBB and any other association that I can find. I am not, at this time, asking for compensation for the fact that my account was illegally opened again after I had canceled it, I am not asking for compensation for the fact that I was completely humiliated when I went to make a purchase with my hard-earned money, I am not asking for compensation for the run-around and frustration that I have endured since this illegal transaction took place, or the hours upon hours I have spent trying to resolve this matter. I am also not, as of yet, asking for compensation for the physical and emotional toll that this stress has taken on me. All I am asking for is my $264.65 to be deposited back into my account by end of business day today. If this matter is not resolved today, you will leave me no other choice but to seek legal assistance which will end up costing your company a lot more that the additional $64.65 that I am asking to be returned to me.

I can be reached until 4:30pm EST at [number here] at which time I will, again, be in session with clients as they, and my business, are first priority. After all of the unprofessional, poor service I have already received, I certainly hope that as president of the company you can show your employees what good customer service really is.

C.J. Cantrell.