Apr
2009
Armando Montelongo’s “Legal Team” Says “Howdy” To Me
I’m always up for a good laugh, and thanks to a crack “legal team”, I got one last night.
Back in August 2007, I wrote a post about Armando Montelongo, one of the people on the series Flip This House that goes around buying cheap houses and “flips” them quickly to resell them at a higher price after he’s fixed them up. The post focused on a particular episode known as “The Cathouse” that led to Armando’s brother, David, calling his partnership with his brother over as he walked away from the house in disgust over the cheapness Armando was trying to get away with.
This post, approaching its 20-month anniversary of when I wrote it, has been a constant performer for me in terms of visitors and pageviews. I can always tell when an episode of the show with Armando airs because I see a spike in visitors to the post. Beyond that, I no longer watch the show, and I don’t give the Montelongos a second thought.
Well, last night that all changed when I received the following email from legal@armandomontelongo.com:
Mr. Aune:
Re: Your web page at http://www.seanpaune.com/2007/08/26/armando-montelongo/
Armando Montelongo’s image is copyrighted. Please remove the photo you have on the above web page immediately.
Thank you,
Legal Team
Armando Montelongo Worldwide, Inc.
This email came in at 1:00 AM CST, and I replied to them at 1:10 AM CST that the image had been removed, and they replied at 1:19 AM with a simple “Thank you.” No biggie, right? Well, I have questions about this whole thing, so lets analyze it, shall we?
- Have you ever seen an email from a lawyer that didn’t include their name, let alone the name of their law firm? The law firm name I could almost excuse because it is quite possible Mr. Montelongo has a full-time lawyer on staff, but no name? Doubtful.
- It came in at 1 AM… on a Sunday night/Monday morning… of Easter weekend… what lawyer is cruising web sites looking for pictures of their clients at a time like that?
- There is an actual process to officially request the removal of copyrighted materials from a web site. I’m not going to name it here as I’m not doing the work for his “legal team”, but you would be hard pressed to find a lawyer that doesn’t know how to do it, but apparently this “legal team” is not aware of it.
In short, I feel the email I got from legal@armandomontelongo.com was actually from Armando himself. Do I have proof? No, but considering the things I mentioned above, who else would be looking around for pictures of him at 1:00 AM. I would say “Googling himself”, but my site records show the person coming in via a Yahoo search for “Armando Montelongo”.
So, why do I bring this all up? No matter who it was behind the address, was the image really causing that much harm? It had been there for 20-months, but it doesn’t change the post which is not friendly to him at all. They also didn’t take into consideration this may lead to another post talking about Mr. Montelongo in a negative light. Or that I may contact another blogger who is considering writing about this in a future post of his own.
Reputation management is an amazing thing, and annoying bloggers is not a way to do it. Instead of getting a picture removed, they got a picture removed and yet another post on the Internet that doesn’t cast them in a favorable light. Good thinking.
There is every chance that this was an actual lawyer, actually doing his job, but there is a point where it is better to just let one slide. I obviously don’t like the guy if I took the time to write a rant about him, so what did they think I would do when they reached out to me and told me to remove an image? Yes, they got their way, mainly because I didn’t feel it was worth the headache of arguing with them, and, hey, I had to give them some sort “thank you” for giving me an excuse to write about the guy again.
My gut tells me this wasn’t really a lawyer, but I just also don’t really care. So, thank you, Armando for giving me fodder for another post!
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Jack | April 24th, 2009 at 8:05 pm #
I really think some of the people on here really need to check into reality. I am a student of Armando's and I recently made $56,000 on two flips. I have learned more in the last 2 months than any other product has taught me. His Master Course is amazing and if you implicate what he teaches and gives you in the books, you will be successful. if you see past all this sadness that is jealousy and laziness, check out his blog and read all the positive people that are taking his gift he is teaching us http://www.armandomontelongo.com/news
seanpaune | April 24th, 2009 at 8:37 pm #
Again, there is that \\"jealousy\\" comment anytime I speak negatively about something or someone. I really should collect all the comments that call me jealous into a book. Apparently I am jealous of just about every job in the world. As for me being lazy… bwahahahahahahaha read my blog for about two seconds more than you did and you will see I am about the furthest thing ever from being lazy.
By the way… you may want to look up the word implicate in a dictionary when you aren\\'t busy signing the praises of Armando. Just a thought.
Jack | May 11th, 2009 at 6:10 pm #
: to involve in the nature or operation of something
vero | May 15th, 2009 at 8:43 am #
Jack is probably really keith some ugly dude from Las Vegas that cover each other cheating on their wives LOL dumb girls
jack | May 27th, 2009 at 3:43 pm #
Wow I really have no idea who keith is, I'm just a guy happy with the success I have made from a man that created a product that truly works. You can have your own opinion of him if you want but IMO he really is helping people.
Lynda | June 24th, 2009 at 4:20 pm #
I just want to say that Armando and his coaches took me for over $14000 for one-on-one training. My coach had one hour training on the internet where she just read the slides from our book. After 10 weeks of this she called me laughing to tell me that she found my homework in her spam box with 400 others. That is where all my communications went and she only called me this one time in 10 weeks. I could call and speak to the coaches if I needed to but most of the time the call went to voice mail and they hardly ever did reply to my messages. Beware of Armando and his coaches – don't waste your money. They refused to give me a refund.
Mark | July 25th, 2009 at 7:34 pm #
Congrats on making your money.But when and if scam Armando scams you or any other person that gives him props then you and everyone else will think differently about him.And yes scam Armando did rip me of as of to date.Yes some people maybe lazy and some are not.That doesnt give scam Armando or anyone else the right to rip people off.There is alot to say about this but ill keep it short.One of the persons that I was working with was Jordon far as I know he is Armandos brother in law.
Matt | August 15th, 2009 at 3:18 pm #
Armando is now a "celebrity" by being on Flip and having written a book. Using his image is allowed. Also, a lawyer would never contact you through an email. You would receive a C&D (Cease and Desist) Order through the mail, as your address is available because of your website registration. Having made my money through websites over the last 10 years I have had a few occasions to learn what is allowed and what is not.
Just as I can say that it is my opinion that Armando is an ass. I also suspect that his history of abuse towards workers and his lack of common sense by disobeying the law during his "renovations" will see an end to the BS he sells people.
Sean P. Aune | August 16th, 2009 at 4:26 am #
Yeah, I didn't give it a whole lot of credence, but it made a fun follow-up post :)
JP3 | September 3rd, 2009 at 7:42 pm #
I was interested in his material once and asked "for more information" which landed me on his spam list. This has been going on for a couple of years. Although my filter sends him directly to the trash, it still pisses me off. At that time, his program was relatively new and I did not think that a "professional" would utilize spam as a marketing scheme. It did not take me long to learn that he is not a professional, and there is no way in hell I would trust with my money. He is the only source of spam that I get in all of the years that I have had my email account, and I let him in because of the TV program. I have asked several times to be removed but he is not honoring my wish. So, every email that I get I forward to the government's spam link.
Suzie | September 12th, 2009 at 5:23 pm #
Sean – I'm taking Jack's advice and checking into reality by saying – Thank you (Sean) for being honest and having an opinion that you are absolutely entitled to. There are clearly those out there who have nothing better to do with their time than search for bloggers like you, and pretty much "bash" your right of opinion. If you were even remotely jealous, you would be spending your days trying to be like everyone else in the world. Instead, you are doing what you enjoy doing; which dismisses all of the inaccurate jealousy arguments. I'm waiting for the day some of these "tv personalities" and their groupies realize; you can be successful without attempting to act like others are beneath you. There are plenty of us out there (myself included) who are successful and respectful. People should put effort into having some standards and less on acting like "they are better than you." Unfortunately, they typically accuse bloggers like you of jealously simple to fulfill their own sense of accomplishment.
(Sean) keep up your creative spirit and continue to do what works for you. If others can, why can't you…
Juan | September 24th, 2009 at 9:40 am #
Lucky Bastard!! I want Help Too
ricky | September 29th, 2009 at 12:10 am #
heh heh
joe | October 5th, 2009 at 1:57 am #
Armando is a little bit of a hot head but there is no one out there that can flip the way he does. Dont hate on him because he is a sucessful flipper. i can see the jeoulious people and the ones who know his system works. i have been reading and studing the armando way and it has made me my first million at the young age of 40 yrs old. good luck to the haters
Baine Teas | October 6th, 2009 at 4:49 pm #
Joe, you are part of the con, and IF you made your million Armando's way, then you did it by hustling people. As a rip-off artist, Armando is good, but if his son grows up all messed up because of the abuse Armando inflicted upon him, then no amount of money will be helpful. I still contend his wife has a nice store-bought rack.
Sb Shep | February 24th, 2010 at 5:40 pm #
No Doubt I agree with you!