They should have registered thewritingassistant.ph.
Nah! Not really. I have a (dot)com site (not related to writing). It helps with the search engines. I don't think this was part of the deception... if ever there was one.
They cater to primarily American consumers without acknowledging the ESL nature of the site and its writers.
Okay. They don't. Although, to the trained eye, it is definitely ESL.
There's nothing wrong with promoting on US search engines. Also, anybody who searches for their site on Google will find out that they are from the Philippines. But yes... NOT ACKNOWLEDGING that they are from the Philippines does look somewhat deceptive.
The writers at The Writing Assistant are all college educated and hold a PhD in their respective fields."
College educated in the Philippines? Probably. PhD (even in the Philippines)? Definitely not!
For the rates they charge, there is no way in hell they they employ American writers, let alone American writers with PhD degrees.
ABSOLUTELY!!!