Ed Magedson (pronounced Maj-ed-sen) is the founder and "ED"itor-in-Chief of the Ripoff Report website located at https://www.ripoffreport.com/, which he began in 1997. Over the past decade, Ed has been called everything from "consumer hero" to "internet terrorist". However, Ed's story began long before there was such a thing as the Internet.
A native New Yorker, Ed was born in Brooklyn and raised in Long Island, New York. His family lived across the street from a carnation farm and when he was 10 years old, Ed occasionally worked around the farm. This prepared him for his first business venture, a nationwide flower business called The Flower Children.
When Ed was 12, he wanted to be a veterinarian. He bought several horses over time and competed in many horse shows with many trophies. He worked nights in a Long Island bakery and spent his days helping a veterinarian at the Roosevelt Raceway. He was fired after turning in trainers for pumping injured horses with drugs so they could race. Ed is an animal lover and started a Foundation to stop euthanization of dogs by counties across America. Still a work in progress, Ed vows to complete it. Learn more here: Forever Care No Kill Pet Rescue Foundation.
Ed also had a natural ear for music. At just 5 years old, he taught himself piano, and by 12 he was playing organ in popular rock bands with musicians twice his age. Too young to enter bars legally, he was disguised to look older so he could perform.
Ed’s entrepreneurial drive began when he started selling flowers on street corners. By 17, he had expanded this into a business, and by 21 he was president of a nationwide firm called The Flower Children. At its peak, it operated in 35 states. Media dubbed him “The Flower Child Entrepreneur.”
Click here to read a 1973 Tampa Tribune article about Ed's flower business
From the very beginning, the flower business flourished. But the business also met with serious adversity, which started Ed in the direction of his current passion for consumer advocacy. Big flower companies used their political influence to harass Ed's vendors with phony violations, but Ed never backed down.
Click here to read about Ed's battle with zoning inspectors
These early fights planted the seed for what would become Ripoff Report. Ed always challenged corruption, never paying lawyers a dime, and always standing up for his workers and his principles.
In the 1990s, Ed developed housing projects in upstate New York, where he faced discrimination and harassment. Later, in Mesa, Arizona, he battled city corruption while standing up for exploited immigrant workers, raising awareness of their mistreatment long before it became mainstream news.
All of these experiences — entrepreneurship, corruption battles, and advocacy — led Ed to launch Ripoff Report as a mission, not a business. His book Rip-off Revenge explains how his goal was always to give consumers the tools to fight back against business bullies.
Today, Ed Magedson continues his mission from Arizona, fighting for free speech and consumer rights while supporting no-kill animal shelters: Forever Care No Kill Pet Rescue Foundation.
Kristine
anita bordlemay
TED
Not Ed
Rafael Quinones Lopez
payment !
can't thank you enough , mr. ED :
not the $$ amount - but thanks .
Oliver warders
Loraine
Thank you Ed. Your story is amazing and inspiring
Loraine
Thank you Ed. Your story is amazing and inspiring
Anonymous Email
Sherri Greene
Joanna
We know that the word "ripoff" or "scam" in a social media post or online forum comment can have an instant and very measurable impact on sales (even the question "is this a good deal or a ripoff?) through to wildfires that become uncontrollable if a "motivated" consumer (AKA justice warriors) decides that the comment has veracity and fans the flames, sometimes burning down entire expensive & legitimate campaigns based on misinformation and group-think sparked by that sort of language
I am all for consumers having the right to give feedback, and they should. However, as a business, it's hard to be on the front foot when often the first person to comment is someone who is not happy (and if you sell 1000 widgets, at least one person won't be) Anger is more motivating than happiness, which is why happy customers are often hard to motivate to write positive comments.
Customers also lie and exaggerate, relative to how much they have worked themselves up (if they have the word rip off or scam ringing in their ears, this is usually quite a lot) and businesses are left to react. Just as in real life, dignifying crap that is thrown often leads to people assuming it has some truth to it.... the cycle begins.
I am sure you know all of this and while I believe people should be able to comment good and bad, there should be as much responsibility on that person and a relative consequence (a potential cost) as there is on business who may lose thousands or even millions of dollars due to unwarranted or exaggerated negative comments. Right now there isn't. Anyone can say anything under the guise of "free speech" - having real effects on other people. (loss of income, jobs, stress, depression)
There are scammers and ripoffs out there, but the vast majority of business is not either of those. Those terms should be used very carefully.
Maybe you named this site impulsively and you'd now give it another. In any case, the domain name bestows an inference most businesses would prefer not to have.
Angie
Helpful to a very good
Friend who is having
Hella problems w/this
Slumlord in Toledo
Oregon shes something else.
Dawn EM
of pressures on body in location.
So lab supplies of $1k+ for 2 visits.
Ty for your site & fight. Realized myself since 2008 there is a presentation of aimable society, there covert society meant to bludgeon any who challenge status quo for real civil rights, and there are those who demand oblivious society to continue same function, review your next hospital er visit folks check your entrance door if it reads select population pretty sure you'll find root solutions to your questions about your life's hardship its been a created paradigm, not in your favor.
When I say all things are not equal as our country's forefather Creed we learned .... Well pretty sure you know the answer by reviewing the US for last 100 years.
Rev. H
ami
please remove this link
https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/specific_search/susan%20n%20wellner
Susan Wellner resolved all issues and there is not longer a need for this.
Please remove asap
<strong>Ami,
Sorry; we do not remove reports upon request. This is explained about 400 times on our site, but you can also read our FAQ page answer to that question here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/faq#whyripoffreportdoesntremovereports
--ED</strong>
Lisa Brodkin
Terry Huntzinger
<strong>
Terry,
What are you referring to? It sounds like you are confused about something?
--ED</strong>
Johan Michael
<strong>
Johan,
You have already emailed us multiple times about this same issue, but since you keep asking here's your answer. First, Ripoff Report is a PERMANENT RECORD of information. This is explained multiple times before a user is allowed to post anything.
Second, when you submitted your report, you were required to verify that your report was 100% true. You are now saying that your report is not true. How can we believe anything you are saying? Maybe the report is actually true, and you are just lying and claiming the report is not true for some other reason (perhaps the company you reported is threatening you?) Anyway, when people approach us and claim they lied in a report, that makes it impossible for us to know if they are telling the truth.
Third, although ROR's policy is not to remove information, you certainly CAN update your report at any time. If you really posted something false (which we are not in a position to determine), then all you need to do is update your report with a retraction -- just let readers know that the matter has been resolved, or you have learned new information that shows your original report was a mistake (or whatever the situation is). This should completely resolve your issue.
--ED</strong>
Rather not say
Omar
Biggest thanks to Ed and to all those who contribute to this site. I only wish that I had looked at Rip-Off Report more when job hunting. I was already hired at this horrible job when I decided to scrub for more information on this particular company and found outstanding accounts from Rip-Off Report from it! I just quit and put my report in. They can hide NO LONGER!
Sannjay
Sannjay
Palmerjamesmaddoxjr
Jan Van Note
<strong>Happy to help. -ED</strong>
C.D.
Adam Steele