Yes, I literally heard that today from another SEO company... although they didn't say "crap".
No wonder SEO companies have a bad rap... they have no idea what they are doing and people pay thousands for nothing!
I've also heard, "we put content out there that no one 
would want to read with your link in it.." are you kidding me?! Every piece of content should be intentional and purposeful always leading back to the client's website and provide good information for the customer.
But the one I heard today was ridiculous...
"I just throw s**t out there and hope it sticks"
So instead of helping the client that was already on page 1 and 2, with this other SEO company the customer is now on page 6-7 and dropping fast! Bad back links on stupid, non-related directories and sites are diluting the validity of the website and therefore Google will kick it off the home page. It might be a great site but because of poor and negative SEO Google will keep shoving them to the back of the line.
So what do we do when we hear this?
Well, we can spend hours disavowing thousands of bad links or just wipe the slate clean and start again (with a new domain). Either way it will probably take just as long to be trusted by Google again with a new site or with a penalized one. I know people will probably disagree with me but how much time, energy and money does a person want to put into trying to fix something that's broken rather than just buy a new one?
So again.... don't trust an SEO company that promises guaranteed rankings! Don't let them put your link just anywhere and every move they make must be intentional. Ask, "How do you know what to do? How do you keep up with the trends?"
If they are just throwing crap out there to see what works, move along....
