Isentia sues Meltwater claiming ‘free riding’ and breach of contract
Media monitoring firm Isentia claims competitor Meltwater Australia has been ‘free riding’ on its services as it launches Federal Court action alleging one of the San Francisco-based company’s Melbourne staffers and his wife have breached contracts for media intelligence services.
Isentia alleges Meltwater’s Shasank Mohapatra, along with his wife and associates, provided the Australian company’s print monitoring services including “Slice” and “Mediaportal” to their clients, in breach of their iSentia contract, and is seeking an injunction against them continuing that service.
Along with claiming breach of contract, Isentia also alleges Meltwater has defrauded local publishers, including News Corp Ltd and Fairfax Media, of copyright revenue and goes on to accuse its competitor of making a series of false, misleading and deceptive statements to customers in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
Where are these rumours that iSentia will return to being a private company? The above link just goes to a Mumbrella article from Feb about their disappointing earnings result.
Hands up who survived the constant sales calls from Meltwater?
They were relentless and clearly didn’t do their research, the cost to use them were exorbitant for a tiny organisation that doesn’t do huge amounts of media.
Ahoy there…I am another survivor of the constant harassment from highly aggressive sales people. Similar scenario. Small organisation with small budgets. Then, when you do sign on, they sting you with an auto renewal clause in the contract that activates 3 months prior to actual expiry of the contract. Every question you ask about the service is greeted with an aggressive up-sell. Without doubt the worst supplier experience I have ever encountered. The only reason we use them is because there is nothing comparable on the market. As soon as that changes we’ll be switching – quick sticks. Ciao aggressive ‘account /sales’ manager!
Were the aggressive tactics from Meltwater or Isentia?