Mary McKnight Discusses What Is Going On With RSS Pieces
July 18, 2008
We have all heard the rumors. We have seen the exchange of barbs on various social networks. We’ve read the biting comments. What actually is going on with RSS Pieces and Mary McKnight?
We have been contacted by a number of clients who have purchased blogs from RSS Pieces who are wondering what exactly is going on. It has been reported that no one is returning phone calls, customer service has denigrated and the livelihood of real estate agents across the Country have been but in jeopardy by the sudden firing of Mary McKnight by RSS Pieces.About a week ago, we became aware of the demise of the relationship by and between Mary McKnight and RSS Pieces. Since that time, the issue has taken a life of its own and raced throughout the real estate blogosphere. Many clients of RSS Pieces became clients mainly because of its capable and expertly recognized figurehead, Mary McKnight.
After the news was made public, Daniel Potvin stated that “As you may have heard, Mary McKnight is no longer part of the day to day operations of RSS Pieces. We still have the same development and management team that will continue to provide the service you expect and keep our operations moving forward.” Unfortunately, soon there after a storm of complaints ensued wherein angry clients were not able to get in touch with anybody over at RSS Pieces. No customer service, no tech support…a business that thrives on working with real estate agents seemed to be lost without McKnight.
“I have an RSSPieces blog. I can’t get tech support to respond to requests to reset my password. Meanwhile, someone else’s name is on MY blog and I can’t even create posts yet?!? And I’m supposed to believe that, according to this post, everything is A-OK with you guys? - Sean Giorgianni
“I am Mary McKnight’s client not RSS Pieces. I have no faith in any other member of the team as customer service is not responsive.” - Dennis Blackmore
“I’m unhappy with my service thus far. I’m out more than $2,000 for my marketing for the year, and still I have nothing to show for it. My traffic increases, and yet I have no leads?! The coach, and reason, I signed on with RSS Pieces has up and disappeared without response, and I have nothing to show for it! I have questions… and not many answers. (but I’ve spent a lot of time on hold!) I am sympathetic to personal issues, but they are not my concern. I am disappointed. Without direction, this service is of no value to me. My husband is a graphic designer. I didn’t need to pay $1249 for a blog design that he could have done for free. I paid for a service that I thought would provide leads to my business. I also paid $600 for an MLS IDX link to lead capture property browsers, since Park Place was not available in my area… AND, I was already charged the $99 hosting fee, for service that doesn’t exist. Really? I am thinking refund. I’m an not happy. Not happy at all. I had more leads from Active Rain… and that was FREE!” -Julie Ferenzi
Well, just what is going on with Mary McKnight and RSS Pieces? Is Mary still an owner? Will RSS Pieces survive? Well today at 5PM, Mary will be on Real Estate Radio USA to answer some real direct questions. We have also invited the staff of RSS Pieces to come on as well.
This will be an interview you won’t want to miss and if you are an RSS Pieces client you’ll most assuredly want to listen in.
To listen to the episode… CLICK HERE
Wow, that is a shame for RSS Pieces. I have listened to Mary on your show and enjoy her insight. She will definately land on her feet and with a following!
I’m looking forward to this interview. Mary introduced me to RSS Pieces at the Phoenix Bloodhoundblog Unchained this past May.
I think the lesson learned for anyone looking to pay for a blog, is to investigate just how hard it will be to leave, and bring your content with you, before you sign up.
The beauty of using WordPress as a platform is that it can be hosted just about anywhere, or exported to TypePad, MovableType, or a dozen others. And you don’t have to count on anyone else to do it. The tools are right there in your dashboard.
WordPress is also open source, so there’s no worries about the company selling out, or going under. To many volunteers are involved in making it all work.
Todd,
You are so right on!!!!
I have self hosted three Blogs on Wordpress. Very easy and simple.
Most hosting services already have the Wordpress software in the hosting control panel.
Once you get the hang of it, wordpress is indeed easy. Maybe the people at RSS Pieces thought they were irreplaceable.
Bet I know one guy who is pretty much sitting in the catbird seat right now…Jim Cronin from Real Estate Tomato!
I listened to Mary’s radio show on Thursday July 17th - she made herself out to be the victim. I worked at RSS Pieces while she was there (I don’t work there now solely becauseof her). On the radio show she accused Paul and Tom of not doing their job properly. They WERE doing their job properly. RSS Pieces was going BANKRUPT in 2007 when Tom approached them and offered them out of their problem. They GLADLY accepted this kind offer as they were BROKE, but what Mary COULD NOT accept was not being in control. She is a control freak. She spoke about Paul not being able to invoice customers properly, well that is because whe she handed over the accounts and accounting, the pay tiers (and special offers she made to special friends) to Paul when they were bought out, the accounts were in a shambles and Paul had to start all over again.
As for her saying that she was exected to be everything in that company, i.e. graphic advisor, accountant, customer service rep and everything in between - BALONY. Mary insisted on being part of everything in that company and would literally throw tantrums when she was not included in decisions. What clients do not see about Mary McKnight is the manipulating, petulant, child who screams and shouts until she gets everything she wants.
It’s probably best you should know that THE Mary McKnight is not actually who she pretends to be. She is self-centered, ego-centric, controlling and manipulative. This is merely an attempt to make herself feel that she is in CONTROL. Her lack of integrity, her rudeness, her inability to communicate properly and inability to have working relationships with anyone speaks volumes.
On Tuesday March 25th, Mary actually resigned from her meager position at RSS Pieces after a huge fireball fight with her husand that happened in front of about 5 people. But hey, 2 weeks later she was back. And now they fired her for good. Good for RSS Pieces.
She could be back at her 1 Park Place desk, blogging away and trying to pretend that she can really help Realtors increase their SEO rankings. Realtors are a very vain market, and Mary picked the correct market that suits her to the “T” - VANITY. But truth of the matter is, you can get any SEO package off the internet for FREE and do it yourself. Yes, you can do it yourself without her help.
Truth of the matter is - Mary is a great visionary - but a poor executor. She has these wonderful ideas, but has a crappy personality to go with it, so no-one wants to do business with her - and what just happened at RSS Pieces was a culmination of her fighting, bitching and moaning with the entire team until she got her way. Obviously they decided they had enough of her.
Mary’s “client face” is great, get to know her and she’s a 1st class you-know-what. No wonder she walks around all the time and sats “I have no friends”.
Deanna, we don’t censor comments so you have your right to say what you feel. I just wish it was not posed in such an attacking manner.
I also have to say that much of what you say is opinion, which you are entitled to.
I sincerely hope that Mary and John resolve their differences, and I wish Tom well in overcoming all of this and hopefully RSS Pieces can return to its position in the business.
All in all, this is a very tough issue to deal with from the client’s perspective. They are the innocent victims in all of this and instead of the public slaughter, I would hope that Mary and Tom lay down their weapons and work to ensure that at the very minimum, the client’s are served and supported in the manner in which they have come to know and expect.
Barry - you’re right - I apologize if I came across as attacking Mary.. I was a bit harsh and that was uncalled for - you have my permission to delet my posts if you like. I just want people to know that there are two sides to every story. Especially this one.
I have been following this story. I wish the best for all. I truly hope, that maybe all can come together for a favorable result for all. Mary is such a talent with a great product to offer and I hope that maybe RSS and Mary can work out their difficulties, and I truly hope the same for her and her husband. I wish all the best to the people involved.
Interesting, Mary was attacked harshly twice - word for word, exactly the same, by the same person - here and on an ActiveRain blog. (Russ Ravary’s blog). Even the “apology” is the same.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/576391/Mary-McKnight-no-Longer
[...] recently, we saw the fiasco involving Mary McKnight and RSS Pieces play out over the internet. Once again, nearly everyone came to Mary’s side. Whether it was wishing her well, helping [...]
It’s funny how Deanna blasted Mary above but when RSS pieces delete post on their site (the one about RSS pieces is still here was deleted then put back up) or don’t return phone calls and emails, I have a hard time believing in RSS Pieces. They haven’t added a new informative post since their RSS Pieces is still here post so I don’t feel confident in their SEO ability without Mary.
Can these questions be answered?
Mary says that she is the owner of the RealEstateExpertNetwork.com . This does not appear to be true. Reference below. Same name is the reg. for RSSPieces. Can anyone explain?
Registrant:
DevElement Corporation
1015 10th Street
Lake Park, FL 33403
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: REALESTATEEXPERTNETWORK.COM
Created on: 02-Mar-08
Expires on: 02-Mar-09
Last Updated on: 19-Aug-08
Administrative & Technical Contact:
Buckett, Brian bbuckett@develementllc.com
DevElement Corporation
1015 10th Street
Lake Park, FL 33403
United States
5617132163
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.US.EDITDNS.NET
NS2.US.EDITDNS.NET
NS3.US.EDITDNS.NET
Registry Status: ok
Report Invalid Whois
See Underlying Registry Data
Mary said that John wasn’t there any longer but he was an employee at one time. Was he fired as well? How was he informed of his being let go since you were informed by email?
Good interview guys, When’s the follow up? Did she give you the SMX stuff the following week like she said she would?
All the best, Amil
It is not uncommon for someone to have their web developer listed at “Administrative and Technical Contact” - when I was a web designer I was listed as the admin and contact person so that I could have access to change the DNS info if needed or update the account - my clients wanted nothing to do with that end of the deal.
I would wonder why it even matters, but hey…
“I would wonder why it even matters, but hey…”
During the interview Mary mentions that she doesn’t know whether she is part owner or not of RSS Pieces because she didn’t see her name at the FL registrar. How do you not know? Then she acts like she didn’t read the contract agreement she signed for the sale of RSS and can’t answer basic questions about how much stock she owns in the company. How do you not know?
So then she laughs and says that they can’t do anything without her since she owns the names. Well the “Administrative contact is the owner. The Technical Contact is just that. Noone has answered the questions as yet. Todd Carpenter wrote an article about her “Peddling Hype”. The article was a rough blow since Mary is well liked, but it was correct. The Math she used was faulty.
So who is the “Real” Mary McKnight? I know she’s well thought of and talented but there are other things that we apparently do not know. She has one employee here who says its not like others think.
I think its a mess and its a mess from both sides.
Everyone needs to clean up their act so we can get back to good business practice.
Quresh