We own Pet and feed stores in California and have been hearing things like this for the past two months. We sell all the flea & tick products talked about in these posts. They all work ok but there is a new product out that we think works the best. It is called "Liberty 50". My brothers and I ride our horses in the San Bernardino Nat Forest with dogs in-tow. We had to do "Bug-Checks" every day and always found ticks, lots of them even with Advantix or any of the others. We tried the Liberty 50 and have to say we were surprised. The horses and dogs were not bug free but none were attached, just caught in the hair.
After a good brush we found none the next day. It is not a foolproof answer but is the best I have ever used.
The ticks are the worse we have seen in many years and there is NO cure-all for them.
JMHO