Open Directory Project at dmoz.org

Friday, August 17, 2012

Zeek Rewards is currently unavailable. More information will be available shortly on this website.

zeekrewards and zeekler offline, zeekRewards shutdown
ZeekRewards and Zeekler Shutdown?
The company behind the penny auction website Zeekler.com and Zeek Rewards has closed its headquarters in Lexington.

Three signs posted outside the headquarters of Rex Venture Group at 803 West Center St. indicate the building will remain closed for the rest of the week.  The signs also instruct visitors to check the company’s websites for more information.

As of noon Friday, both Zeekler.com and ZeekRewards.com displayed the same message stating: “Zeek Rewards is currently unavailable. More information will be available shortly on this website.”

The signs were posted on the windows of the building around 4 p.m. Thursday.  The websites themselves began featuring the notices around 9 p.m. Wednesday.

A spokesperson with the Better Business Bureau said their office began receiving complaints concerning the company about one year ago.

At least 39 complaints have been filed regarding the investment aspect of Zeekler, however there have been more than 20,000 inquires filed against the company within the past 30 days alone, the spokesperson said.

Most of the complaints have appeared in recent days, the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson said those with money tied up in Zeekler may have reason to be concerned, but he could not elaborate further.

According to The-Dispatch of Lexington, the North Carolina Attorney General’s has made a civil demand for Rex Venture Group’s documents, but they have not shut the company down.

“We have not taken action to shut the company down and are currently working to get more information so we can pass that along to consumers who may be impacted by this,” the spokesperson told the paper.

The-Dispatch reports dozens of complaints and inquiries have been filed through the Attorney General’s office since February 2012.

A man who did not wish to be identified but told paper he was speaking on behalf of Zeek said the closure is necessary so the company could “answer inquiries from the Attorney General, made in the form of a Civil Investigative Demand.”

A CID is an administrative subpoena issued when the Attorney General suspects an individual or organization may have information relevant to an ongoing investigation.

On ZeekRewardsNews.com, the company stated it was canceling its ‘Red Carpet Wednesday’ event. No further information was provided in the notice other than to continue searching for updates on Zeek’s websites.

The company announced Monday on ZeekRewards.com that there would be no training, recruitment or leadership calls in the coming days “while planning is going on.”

While rooted in its penny auction website, Zeek expanded in the past year by allowing users to “buy in” through an “affiliates program,” The-Dispatch reports.  Online reports indicate there are more than 700,000 affiliates using Zeek Rewards, however company officials gave the paper a lower estimate of more than 200,000.
Today is August 16, 2012 a depressing day for many when hundreds of thousands affiliates tried logging on to ZeekRewards only to find the following message “ Zeek Rewards is currently unavailable. More information will be available shortly on this website.” While the news site for ZeekRewards “http://www.zeekrewardsnews.com” is up and actively running it is flooded with so much incoming traffic that you will more than likely be getting the “503 Service Temporary Unavailable error” As ZeekRewards has over 2 million affiliates.

Why exactly did ZeekRewards and Zeekler shutdown and should we be worried? At this time affiliates need to remain calm as ZeekRewards is doing everything they are told after being put under investigation by the North Carolina Attorney General. This is not the first time an MLM company has been put under investigation, nor is it the first time ZeekRewards has been investigated. According the the North Carolina Attorney General there has been numerous complaints on Zeekler and ZeekRewards, in fact so many that it led up another investigation to ensure that everything Zeek is doing and has been doing is legal.

We need to allow the investigation to run its course, we can’t fan the flames and set false expectations or give out mis-information. Typically we can expect a downtime of 3 or more days and we should check the Zeekrewards and ZeekRewardsNews website regularly for updates and announcements. Some concerns raised by affiliates is “Will my earnings still accumulate for these days Zeek is down?” More than likely no as no money is going into the system, we will have to patiently wait for Zeek to come back up. Many are worried if they have lost their money or if the company will even come back up; at this point and time we can’t make assumptions even though superficially it may seem like a tragedy in the day of Zeekland.

Troubles for Zeek Rewards began this week when the company abruptly announced the cancellation of all ‘training, recruitment or leadership calls ‘ on Monday. Zeek Rewards attributed the cancellation to ‘planning’ but what they were planning was not disclosed.

I’ve received and read different accounts of what exactly went down at Zeek HQ today, but from what I can gather around 2:30pm local time someone was seen changing the locks of the office with Zeek Rewards, whilst Zeek employees were observed leaving the office via the backdoor and carrying boxes of office supplies.

Supporting these observations, unconfirmed reports that Zeek Rewards employees were fired have also emerged:

    Charles Marsh – Anyone know why they closed the doors, fired their employees and changed the locks this afternoon at 2:30?

    Zeek posted a note and said they would update affiliates on their website but I haven’t found anything yet. Anyone have any idea what is going on? Presently there is no access to the official ZeekRewards Facebook page, however there are other fan created Facebook pages with a plethora of comments and links. We need to be cautious about the information that users are putting out there, no accuracy can be 100% guaranteed unless it’s coming from the company itself.

Troy Dooly has been following Zeek for sometime (see video above) here are some of the comments and updates we have from him: I myself personally dialed into a conference call with Troy, they are doing everything they can to make sure the company is protected.

Update 9:22am August 17th, 2012 – Zeek Rewards have just pulled the plug on their company Facebook page. No explanation has been provided.


Update 10:08am August 17th, 2012 – Troy Dooly has surfaced in a new video claiming that the changing of locks at Zeek HQ is only evidence of an “administrative investigation of some kind”.

Dooly also claims that employees carrying boxes out of Zeek offices means ‘there’s not any type of criminal investigation going on’ and that the Zeek Rewards and Zeekler websites being pulled offline is a ‘good indication has told Zeek (Rex Venture Group) that “you’re not taking in any new money, period.”‘

Despite claiming just a few days ago that Zeek’s Red Carpet day was going ahead as planned, Dooly also claimed Zeek cancelling the event “was expected”.

He confirms that as of yet he has heard nothing back from Zeek Rewards management on today’s events.

Update August 17 11:24 AM, Attorney General confirms demand for Zeek records:
The North Carolina Attorney General’s office confirmed Friday that it has made a civil demand for Rex Venture Group’s documents. However, officials say they have not shut the company down.
What Typically Happens in an Investigation?

Zeek is very strict with compliance and legalities which is why when an investigation is underway the first thing that needs to happen requires the website to be shut down so no further money can be brought into the system. Zeek of course did comply, secondly everything will have to be thoroughly investigated to ensure that Zeeks compensation plan is legal and everything they have been doing is legal as far as the revenue brought in by both Zeekler and ZeekRewards.

Once everything checks out Zeek will be brought backup online, once again I can’t give out an exact time frame unfortunately. Please keep posted to the official sites of ZeekRewards for the latest news and updates. Please leave any comments or questions you may have.
Frequently Asked Questions and Concerns:

Q: Is ZeekRewards really shutdown and will it be coming back up soon?

A: Please check only official ZeekRewards pages regularly such as: ZeekRewardsNews, ZeekRewards and Zeekler

Q: If I sent off money recently to purchase bids what should I do?

A: Once again please stick to official updates and be a bit patient, It’s normal to be worried but we can just make a bunch of assumptions just yet.
My Passion and Experience with ZeekRewards:

My name is Chris Groves (from Utah) and I am a ZeekRewards affiliate and have been promoting it since February of 2012. I figured I would share my personal experience as I have worked very hard like many of you have in the business. Zeek is the company the brought one of the most unique business models to the MLM and Network Marketing Industry, a lot of buzz has been created from the company that showed us how pennies can make people money.

Zeekler is the penny auction site which we promote on a daily basis. ZeekRewards has done nothing wrong in my opinion, we are actually nothing more than an advertising platform- a rather fast growing one if I may add. Affiliates post one ad per day for Zeekler, which may not seem like a lot of work; however with millions of affiliates working together we drive real traffic to the penny auction site which eventually turns to revenue and profit sharing rewards.

A concern some people have had that I know of include how can a company that grows so large sustain itself? For one we are talking about advertising, it is a check and balance system: More advertisers equate to to more expsoure to the site which converts to more traffic and ultimately more profits.

How is ZeekRewards any different then Amway or USANA? When somebody is sponsored you earn a commission. The only difference is we are talking about a virtual product or bids. Bids can of course be used on Zeekler and as affiliates we do get bids (that’s what are monthy subscription determines). ZeekRewards I can assure you is within compliance, especially since their compensation plan has been analyzed across the board.

Unforutantely to this day ZeekRewards has received a numerous amount of complaints which ultimately led to the investigation. I feel very positive that ZeekRewards and its sister sites will be back up and running, it’s hard to tell when, even if it means Zeek has to move office locations.

It’s nice to see all the support of the affiliates. I have made some really great friends in ZeekRewards and I plan on making many more, i’m sure many of you have the same experience.

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