| Small
Business Blog Marketing, Managing and Growing Your Business |
|
|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Previous: Can't make the Aug. 15th tax deadline? Get an extension If you get a call saying that someone from your company ordered a listing in a national small business directory and that your invoice and directory will be arriving shortly, be on your guard. You could be a victim of a scam. As some of you may know, we have a free business directory on the web called The National Small Business Network Resource Directory. This was set up years ago to give small and big businesses a way to find small business suppliers and vendors. Listings in the directory are free. All you do to get listed is fill out a form online. Unfortunately, from time to time, telemarketing operations use very similar names to ours to promote things that are either scams or that have questionable value. Sometimes the telemarketers will identify themselves as a national small business association and try to sell memberships. This time, based on what I was just told by a business owner who called here to see if we were the same company that had just called him, there's a telemarketing outfit calling themselves National Business to Business Directory that is using techniques that are typical of those used by scam operations. The business owner who contacted us said he got a call from this group saying that his company was listed in their national business directory, that the directory was being mailed to him, and his company was being invoiced $389.95. When he was asked who authorized the listing, he was given the name of a person who no longer works for the company. While it might be possible that the ex-employee authorized the listing, the US Federal Trade Commmission reports that small businesses, churches and other small organizations lose millions of dollars each year to bogus firms that mislead or trick them into paying for unordered and unwanted directory listings. For more information on directory scams and how to avoid them, read the FTC's article on business directory scams. Posted on August 19, 2005 at 11:48 AM| Comments (152) Comments SCAM. Posted by: Irene on October 26, 2005 at 3:41 PM actually, our company has a business relationship with Access America, in Rolling Meadows,IL.To date, not only do we utilise their site for marketing research, we find their customer service and IT staff quite helpful. Posted by: Tracy on November 4, 2005 at 2:19 PM Tracy, Can you provide phone numbers or complete street address and web links for the company you are doing business with? Posted by: Janet on November 4, 2005 at 4:57 PM We have had several companies call regarding internet directory listings claiming they have someone from our department on tape. The person calling is barely understandable. They send us a bill for $300-$500 for a listing that is poorly written, incorrect, and not searchable. Their sites are not professional nor impressive; therefore, showing their lack of intelligence and inability to provide a service worth near their price. This needs to be stopped—it’s a scam. We need to develop a list of all these companies to submit to the FTC to warn others of this scam in order to put them all out of business. Posted by: Vickie on November 16, 2005 at 12:02 PM We just were hit with this scam from a company called Business Data Center. They requested the update information for the directory then quickly stated that we should expect our “ordered directory” to arrive and then hung up. We’ve reported them to the FTC and will be filing a BBB complaint shortly. Here’s the info in case anyone else runs into them: Business Data Center They’re using textbook methods like aggressively pushing us to issue a check for the order ($479) and stating that they’ll take us to collections if we don’t comply. We don’t plan to comply, and neither should anyone else. Posted by: John on November 29, 2005 at 7:37 PM I am responding to the comments above concerning “ACCESS AMERICA INC. Access America Gary Posted by: Gary Keen on December 15, 2005 at 6:06 PM I have dealt with literally DOZENS of these scam operations since I joined my current company 8 months ago. The person who preceeded me paid these invoices for years. I did some research and in 2004 our company paid over $24,000 to these bogus companies! Sometimes 8-10 in a month! I now either hang up on these people when they call, or just flat out tell them I’m not paying the invoices. Of course, they get incredibly nasty, but I stand my ground. Please, DO NOT PAY invoices from these scammers! Posted by: Deborah on December 16, 2005 at 7:37 PM John or anyone else with problems with Business Data Center, please contact me. Dan Forman at dforman@manatt.com Posted by: Dan on December 22, 2005 at 2:37 PM Janet: We got demands from the “Medical Data Center” listing the same address as the “Business Data Center” (eg.-12 Nepco Way, Plattsburgh, New York.12903) They used the same modus operandi as the Business Data Center which others have posted on your website. It was followed by a notice from the Commercial Debt Recovery Services (CDRS a purported collection agency.) I would anticipate they are just another seat in the same “boiler room” scam operation. When I checked their phone number on Google no name was attached. We get several of these directory scam demands a year; we use a templated blow-off letter that we edit for each offender; refusing to engage in any discussions with these folks. Our accounts payable staff have been trained and are very good at intercepting this stuff. Posted by: Bill on February 7, 2006 at 4:45 PM I work at a hotel and was approached by New Corporate America Publishing Inc. They called and spoke with a host in our hotel restaurant who confirmed information about the property. Then we got an invoice for the amount of 447.89 CAD for “Two Year bold character add listing in all sections of the national business to business corporate package.” I have been disputing this charge since March of 2005 and it’s Feb 2006 now! They called again insisting payment, I faxed them a printout of this website/blog stating that we weren’t going to pay as this is a scam and they have no info to prove to me that we have participated in something legit. No website, no copy of what we advertised in- nothing. A few minutes later I get my invoice with a 0 balance! I am happy about it but I just want to make sure that others are aware and that these things are prevented in the future. Posted by: Jennifer on February 15, 2006 at 2:01 PM We just recieved a invoice from”TRADESHOW DATA CENTER” 12 Nepco Way, Plattsburgh, NY 12903 and they wanted us to pay $679.00 invoice. Very pushy salesman said he would just send his product(CD and a pamplet)and if we do not want it just send it back within 15 days. Posted by: Clayton L. Cameron on March 7, 2006 at 4:25 PM Under federal law, you do not have to pay for or return merchandise that’s sent to you that you didn’t order. Here’s what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has to say about unordered merchandise. Be careful to read the small print when when you enter contests or send away for information or free samples. Be sure you aren’t actually agreeing to buy something after an initial free trial period is up. Posted by: Janet on March 8, 2006 at 11:04 PM My company’s AP department has been harassed by the collection agency (CDRS) representing the Tradeshow Data Center for about a week. This is how they make their money. They count on AP just paying the bill wihout question. Fortunately, our AP is a bit more saavy. They claim to have spoken with the President of our company who ordered their products over the phone. This is a complete fabrication. Short of a verifiable recording of the President of my company stating that he wanted to purchase their product, we will not pay this illegitimate debt. We have fired off a “cease and desist until verification of debt” letter to the collection agency (see http://www.creditinfocenter.com/forms/sampleletter9.shtml). This is usually enough to get them to shut up. If they violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act or the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act we will litigate (and enjoy it). We are a medium sized business, so this sort of collections activity on our credit report has little effect on us (it is actually a sort of badge of honor for our AP), but for a small business this sort of blemish can be a scary proposition. Don’t give in. Posted by: Tom on March 14, 2006 at 10:39 AM My company just recieved an invoice from “MEDICAL DATA CENTER” 12 Nepco Way, Plattsburgh, NY 12903 and they wanted us to pay $685.00 invoice. Today, March 16, 2006 at 1:30 pm I talked to Mr. David Turnbull, Collection Agent from Final Assessment Collection Agency and demanded that he fax me every piece of information/documentation regarding this order/invoice, he agreed to fax it righ away and I am still waiting. “MEDICAL DATA CENTER” is listing the same address as “Business Data Center”. Posted by: Irene Silva on March 16, 2006 at 4:00 PM Is there a master list of these companies anywhere? Here are some my office has dealt with: Access America Communications (recent) Posted by: Tomas on March 16, 2006 at 5:43 PM The problem with general lists of companies that people don’t remember buying things from is that sometimes companies really did order something and don’t remember it. Another problem is that there can be more than one company using the same or similar names. I kind of doubt it would bother a scam artist much if they accidentally (or may purposely) used a name of a real business. In fact, I suspect a lot of scammers try to make their name sound familiar. In the list you posted above, for instance, I know that one of the names is the same as the name of a company that sells telemarketing lists. Posted by: Janet on March 16, 2006 at 6:04 PM Back in December 2005, my AP department asked me to verify an invoice from “TRADESHOW DATA CENTER” 12 Nepco Way, Plattsburgh, NY 12903 in the amount of $679.00. I did not order anything over the telephone. As a matter of fact, I never take sales calls unless they have an appointment; nor would I order anything of that amount without consulting with our CFO for clearance. My AP department responded back and said that we would not pay. This company went as far as providing a signature page from “Fed Ex” showing “signed by DW” with a chicken scratch signature. Not my signature and not my initials. We have since been hounded by very agressive telephone calls from collections agents. Just today I was informed that we have five days to pay and they will send to collections. I asked if they had a voice recording acknowledging this order and they do not. Big mistake. I told them to go ahead and send to collections because we would not pay. We will take this as far as possible. I am calling the “Better Business Burear” and turning this scam over to our attorneys. Posted by: Debbie Richard on March 17, 2006 at 12:15 PM Recently my AP department asked me for authority to pay an invoice from “TRADESHOW DATA CENTER” 12 Nepco Way, Plattsburgh, NY 12903 in the amount of $679.00. Since I knew nothing of this matter (and I approve all expenditures) I inquired and found that they had talked to one of my employees concerning placing an ad or listing. He had listened to their pitch and apparently answered some questions but never agreed to purchase any advertisement or listing. When confronted with this information they replied that they had a recording wherein the employee had agreed to the listing and stated they would call us back and allow us to hear the recording. A day or so later they called and played a recording where the employee seemed to say that he was authorized to make purchases (which he is not) and that he authorized the purchase. The audio was obviously edited which, with readily available software, can easily be done on a PC. So there is now a new twist… edited audio recordings with words, questions and answers moved around to “prove†that a fabricated order was/is valid. This is obviously nothing more than a modern version of the old unordered office supplies scam so beware and don’t pay the SOB’s. Posted by: Wm Clark on March 23, 2006 at 2:06 PM We also had an encounter with “Tradeshow Data Center” today. SOLUTION: I faxed them a copy of a February 21, 2006 press release from the Federal Trade Commission that announced the successful prosecution of a Canadian company that was doing the same thing (almost $1 million judgment). I also threatened to contact each of the 12 “sponsors” listed on their website and inform them that their logo was being used without permission (copyright infringment). They closed my account stating that no-one else would call. Hope this helps. Posted by: Shannon Green on March 24, 2006 at 12:36 PM Martin Matthews from Commerical Debt Recovery Services just called for an overdue invoice for Medical Data Center. I asked he fax me the invoice. I remember receiving this last year. Total scam. Invoice was for over $900. BEWARE! I called Medical Data Center directly and ask the rep “Elliott Michaels” to put me in contact with a marketing rep or supervisor, he would not and became defensive/rude, I asked for voicemail and the company had none. Wow, what criminals they are. Posted by: Gabby on April 6, 2006 at 10:57 AM I had a client contact me regarding a invoice for advertising that he never saw or heard of. Of course, an ex employee gave the authorization for the ad. I contacted the person who supposely represent the advertising agency, “Steven Ross”, who went belligerant when I ask who authorized the ex employee to bind the company. His response prompt me to google the phone number and I found this site. The internet is great! Just as a note, ONLY the company( the Principal) or company officer(agent for principal) can bind the organization, unless one of these people, authorize someone else to bind (that is, they [the officer]must tell the other party[sales person] that a person [employee or other] has authority to bind the company, then that person can rely on that representation made by an officer of the company that another is an agent of the company and thus can bind the company to a contract. A person can not by his own action bind another( person or company).I hope this helps!!! Posted by: Attorney Robert Woods on April 10, 2006 at 11:56 AM We have another warning for everyone on a company calling themselves Teledima. They represent that they have taken over/ purchased Data Direct International. The further state that your company has placed listing at the direction of a former employee. (You may have actually paid an old invoice that you received in the past. Watch your accounts payable people.) Then they notify you the end of the contract is over, three years later, and four hundred dollars are due. Posted by: Brad on April 12, 2006 at 12:36 PM Just received an invoice from “New Corporate America Publishing Inc” for $447.89 CAN Ha, these people didnt even call me. Our AP brought this to my attention, I did not remember the transaction and found this site on google. Do not plan on paying! Posted by: Ivan M on April 18, 2006 at 6:40 PM I just got off the phone with someone from Teledima. It was initially referred to me by one of our departments dropping off a package with a CD-ROM in it and saying that he did not want it, did not order it and that the company keeps calling him and harassing him for payment. I drafted a letter stating that we did not order the items, were returning them and requesting that they no longer contact us. Their phone rep, who was somewhat agitated and patronizing (stated he wanted to “find out what’s going onâ€) stated that we ordered the discs from a Newline Publishing, dating back to 1998. This company was apparently sold to Teledima and their representative would have called us to offer the discs. He claimed that we received and paid for two sets of discs in late 2005 (hoping I’m sure that we would not check facts). However, our employee told me he did not know how they got his name and that he did not order or want the discs. The rep claimed that they questioned our guy repeatedly if he had authority to order the product and was assured that he did and not to speak to “Mr. Robertsâ€, who Teledima believes is our guy’s supervisor. It appears that aggressive phone reps make this work and people will often pay out of fear or simply because they believe “someone” at the organization ordered the product. Posted by: Pete on April 20, 2006 at 5:04 PM My company received this same advertising scam. We never placed these orders. The scam is they ask if you would like to preview their disk. Posted by: Jan on April 26, 2006 at 7:53 AM I think bigger companies fall for these scams ALL the time without even realizing it. One department will get the call, another will receive the “directory” and yet another will get the invoice and pay it without any idea of what just happened. I run a small business, and about 5 years ago, I got one of these directories, along with a $400 invoice. I sent it back right away. But I would get calls about twice a year. Being on their scam, I would call them out on it, and they would hang up on me immediately. It blows my mind how dishonest and unscrupulous people can be. Posted by: Paul on April 26, 2006 at 11:53 AM Alot of time these directory companies are being classified as a scam by companies who are either trying to dodge responsibility of their invoices for services rendered, or if they are unaware of what actually transpired and base their positions on assumptions. Posted by: John on May 9, 2006 at 1:27 PM We sell products to thousands of businesses each year, and in my experience, there are very, very few who don’t pay their bills. (And among those, were a couple of businesses we suspect were wiped out by hurricanes last year.) We get a handful of customers with questions about bills, but a copy of their original purchase order or copy of their online order and the tracking information showing it was shipped and signed for, is all it takes to get paid. Any legitimate company that sells to businesses knows that there is usually one person or department authorized to approve orders and that the way to be sure the order is recognized and paid for is to get a signed purchase order or advertising insertion order. Posted by: Janet on May 9, 2006 at 3:59 PM We are just becoming familiar with the Tradeshow Data Center and their wonderfully condecending Mr. Steven Ross. We have sent off serveral refusals to pay their $679 invoice as well as a detailed letter explaining basic contract law and all the missing elements of their alleged contract. I have instructed my employees to answer further phone calls by reminding them to contact us in writing from this point forward. As a licensed attorney I look forward to seeing just how far this company wants to take their scam. Posted by: Jeff on May 16, 2006 at 12:53 PM I just spoke with the DA office in Clinton County where TradeShow Data Center or whatever they are calling themselves this week is located. They are all well aware of this scam. They would like anyone to fax invoices and other info to them at (518) 565-4777 and to the Attorney General at (518) 562-3293. Posted by: Jeff Borovitz on May 16, 2006 at 2:18 PM I too had a very unfavorable experience with a company called Tradeshow Data Center out of Plattsburgh, NY. The company called to see if we would like to review a CD for thirty (30) days and if we like it we would pay them $679.00. We never received the CD yet the company says we did and that we owe them the money. After a number of calls back and forth we decided to do some checking into this company and came across this site. I personal received two of the most unprofessional calls I have ever received from a sales person in my life and when I asked to speak with the supervisor he said he would not speak with me. The man I was speaking with kept saying that you and you alone are responsible for this and that I need to take care of it and that I should not go down the road of not paying for the CD because I did not have a leg to stand on. It was at this time that I contacted our legal department and they send them a letter and we have not heard from them. Posted by: Mark Thompson on May 18, 2006 at 12:39 PM The postings I read are all to familiar. Our company was scammed as well. A few names that come to mind include International Business Directory and the latest, Data Direct. Do not pay, contact your State’s Atty. and the BBB. The FTC in the midwest is currently pursuing litigation against Data Direct and hopefully will shut down this particular scam. But beware of similar directory offerings with a familiar sales pitch. Posted by: Bob B. on May 19, 2006 at 2:40 PM My first experience with one of these companies was with a company called I-Pages America and it took over a year and a complaint to The BBB to resolve. We have not heard from them since but we have received calls from numerous other companies. I-Pages America American Business Information Center, Inc. ClearView Corporate Communication, Inc. A couple others that I was unable to get address information from over the phone:
Posted by: April on May 22, 2006 at 4:50 PM Our company has also had dealings with Tradeshow Data Center, and received an invoice for 679 for something we did not receive or order. I have not paid the invoice, but when I called them to inquire inquire about it, they were very rude - ruder than any company I have ever had to deal with. Rather than mess with them any more I reported them to the BBB. As far as I know they have not attempted to collect on the invoice again. I am still on the lookout for them though and will not pay it. I ran across this when I was looking for info on them. It seems there are many people dealing with this company. Here is another link to some info about them: http://www.memphis.bbb.org/newsrelease.html?newsid=96&newstype=1 Posted by: Debbie A on May 26, 2006 at 5:18 PM New Corporate America Publishing Inc. has been doing this dance with me since 3/2/2005. After repeated requests for copies of publications, I still have not received one. They have a copy of a voice confirmation, but no indication of what I committed to. Address of company is Box 5 stn N.D.G., Montreal Que. (Maybe NDG stands for No Damn Good). Inv. amount is $299.95. Thanks for this blog, as I was thinking of paying invoice, but they can stick it where the sun don’t shine Posted by: John on May 27, 2006 at 2:54 PM thank you all so much for the posts. I too got an invoice from New Corporate America Publishing (for $477)and called the first time and they told me that one of our managers signed a 2 year contract agreement. It sounded sketchy. A few weeks ago, I received an invoice and then just called them to request a copy of the signed contract. Of course, they said they don’t keep a copy of it. The man on the phone “Rueben” told me not to worry about it, and it would be cancelled. I am going to report them to the BBB in Vancouver. Terrible!!! Posted by: HC on May 29, 2006 at 3:49 PM I have been dealing with a company calling themselves Teledima out of South Plainfield, NJ. The person I spoke with was Ralph. He informed me that they bought out Global Access Publications and we paid an invoice for $211.95 in Feb 2001. I asked him to provide me with a purchase order # or a signed contract to carry this service on. He was unable to provide me with this information. He as harrassed us and sent us statements for a new invoice dated 5/29/06 in the amount of $408.89. He states they shipped the CD ROM on 4/13/06 which we have not received. He had his shipping dept call me to give them info to send it again. I have refused and he is not a happy person with me. I knew it was a scam. Posted by: Fran May 30, 2006 2:16pm Posted by: Fran on May 30, 2006 at 2:18 PM I received a bill for $479 from AMS American Marketing Services of Saugus MA. They used a bunch of BS high pressure tactics on the phone, and I wouldn’t confirm anything with them. Nonetheless, they sent me a CD and then an invoice. I think it was a reload from a compnay called CBA, also out of MA. Posted by: Joe C on May 30, 2006 at 7:41 PM I’ve worked for a business directory company in the past. I had worked in all departments, from sales, to management to customer service. When our sales representatives called businesses they’d always ask for an office manager and they’d let the person know what the company was offereing and prices affiliated. If the client was interested an order was written up and sent to our shipping department. The department would then call the client later in the day to confirm the mailing address, as well as the price, ask if a PO# was required as well as to confirm if the person was authorized to confirm payment. There were times when we had an owner or corprate office call in and state this person never ordered this or they did not have the authorization. I was amazed at some of the calls I had recieved from companies stating that we just ship out a product or just called to get someones name to put on an invoice. All our shipping calls were recorded so when needed we would play the audio back to the company and they would hear the price quoted as well as the person stating they are authorized to confirm payment, after this point… what is the publishing company to do? The information has already gone in to print and yet clients still make complaints and claim we are a “scam” I think its about time for people to start accepting responsibility for their mistakes, if you were not authorized then you should have forwarded the call to a higher person, if you made an error well its only human, you pay for the services that were provided and cancel and further services, you don’t not file false aligations towards a company. Posted by: Marcia on May 30, 2006 at 7:44 PM I’ve noticed that when you subimt a comment it needs to be reviewed before being posted online. I don’t feel this allows freedom of speech, as the host allowing people to trash business directory companies gets to decide what gets posted and what doesn’t. I bet that someone who posts something on here to back up a company the blog will not be posted. I’m pretty sure this one won’t get posted either. I’ve noticed as well that Janet wrote a person who submitted a blog used a hotmail account as opposed to a company e-mail and wanted to know what compay they worked for and such… why should it matter what e-mail it comes from? An opinion is an opinion, a blog is a blog, isn’t the whole point of having blogs to allow people to state their opinions? Aparently not. Posted by: John on May 30, 2006 at 7:50 PM We originally had the blog set to allow all comments automatically, but we were getting deluged with spam , with comments that were gibberish, or that included URLS leading to porn sites, and posts that were racist. We did not want readers exposed to comments like those. Posted by: Janet on June 1, 2006 at 9:45 PM I myself have also worked for many a directory company in the past, and have held positions from sales to collections manager. I have always been amazed at the number of fales aligations and ridiculous complaints being made. There are usually strict quailty control policies and procedures in place, (i.e. verification, verbal recordings) to ensure that each sales representative has provided accurate and vital information. The price is mentioned, the services are gone over, the listing information is taken, and a request for PO# is usually the standard. Once the reps have had this inital conversation, a second call will take place, as verification and confirmation, as well as a request for authorization to issue the invoice. As all other business’, there is a process, a procedure to an order being place and by following this procedure, a lsiting will be provided, an invocie and product sent out, and eventually, payment will be expected. Posted by: Frank on June 3, 2006 at 7:10 PM As most people on this site have stated, we did contact the company to no avail. I am sure there are a few reputable companies - but most of them, included the ones mentioned on this site are acting fraudulently - if you search the BBB for these companies you will see there are more than just a few complaints unanswered from at least one of the companies. (American Tradeshow Directory.) Posted by: Debbie on June 5, 2006 at 12:11 PM Contacting the company and accusing them of being a scam from the get go is no a constructive attempt for a resolve. More oftern than not, when a client contacts the company in question, they have already formed their bogus opinions and continue to make their allegations as opposed to trying to resolve the matter amicably. Also, regarding your comment on their BBB files, only two of the above mentioned companies actually have an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating, as the others do have complaints, all of which have been resolved. Alot to times consumers will also use the BBB and registering a complaint as a way to intimidate the company in question, nad have their account credited as they know what a BBB complaint can do to a business… By no means am I saying all business’ are acting this way, and I can conquer that there are few out there acting fraudulently, but to go ahead and make complaints to the BBB without investigating the claims still results in a BBB report being generated, which leads other consumer’s to beleive the company they are in business with is doing this type of scam, when in fact, it is not. Posted by: John on June 5, 2006 at 5:21 PM If the Process was what Frank posted then I would say it was a legitimate company. However in the case of TradeShow Data Company they are a fraud. There was no confirmation call, and no request for a PO. They even sent me a fraudulent fedex form that allegedly showed my signature the only problem is that our mail is delivered to a ups store and I do not sign for the fedex packages the ups store people do. Also, the signature sent does not even closely resemble mine. When you try to call them there is just an operator, no voice mails, and no emails. This is supposed to be a legitimate company? I don’t think so. Posted by: Jeff on June 5, 2006 at 6:49 PM The descriptions some of you have posted about attempts to get you to pay for unwanted directory listings sounds very close to the modus operandi of an operation the US Federal Trade Commission filed a claim against two years ago. According to the FTC, The FTC’s complaint states that, after speaking with consumers, the defendants mail invoices, typically billing consumers $389.99 for a “2 YEAR SILVER STAR LISTING at ‘www.allpinacle.com,’†$279.99 for a two-year listing in M.D.S.C.’s “American Business Directory,†or $336.99 for the “M.D.S.C. AMERICAN CORPORATE & COMMUNICATIONS C-D DIRECTORY.†The invoices allegedly claim that the consumer with whom the defendants spoke authorized the order. The FTC charges that the defendants mailed invoices even to those consumers who expressly said they were not interested in the directory. According to the FTC, upon receiving the invoices, many consumers realize that no one from their organization ordered a directory listing. When they call to cancel the order, they allegedly are told that the defendants have a tape recording of the order being placed. The defendants allegedly claim that the recording is a “binding oral contract,†and they therefore refuse to allow consumers to cancel orders. In numerous instances.” I’d suggest those of you being hassled by companies trying to collect for directory listings you didn’t order go to the Federal Trade Commission website and file a complaint. The link to do that is: Posted by: Janet on June 5, 2006 at 10:47 PM We also received a call demanding payment for a tradeshow directory cd and listing. My accounting manager stated that she sent the CD back unopened, yet the caller “Deborah” demanded payment of $679.00. After searching the internet, we located a host of companies with the same issues. SURPISE, they all point to a company located at 12 Nepco Way, Plattsburgh, NY 12903, with tel # 877-932-9092 which we were provided extension 415. After hours there is not a directory or company name listed. We will not be paying this invoice. We have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at the advice of the posting above this one. Additionally, on a domain registry lookup we discovered that the registration for www.tradeshowbiz.com was suppressed. Upon further digging we located the following registration information for the company. If anyone needs additional support, please use this information: Posted by: Holmes on June 8, 2006 at 12:27 AM I work for a small business, and I am on the recieving end of these ‘business directory calls’ and we get one just about every day. The names of the companies range from ‘yellow page directory service’ to ‘small business enterprise’ to just about anything else that sounds like it could be legitimate but still very generic. They state that we already have an account with them and their service is free, and that they just want to verify some information. They ask several questions and then ask if I am authorized to make changes to our account, and when I respond that they have to call another number for that, they tell me to just say yes and ask for my name. I repeat myself and then they become rude. I usually end up hanging up and sometimes they call back several times a day even after asking them to remove me from their directory. I try to imagine how many people get duped by these. Posted by: Belinda on June 19, 2006 at 1:14 AM I too have become a victim of AMERICAN TRADESHOW DIRECTORY, aka TRADESHOW DATA CENTER aka BUSINESS DATA CENTER, etc…… 12 Nepco Way, Plattsburgh, NY. I was suspicious when they first called but was assured by the saleslady multiple times that I was under no financial obligation unless I initiated contact to them to authorize the service and charges. I repeatedly told her she could send me free information to review but that I would not commit to a purchase. She then proceeded through the “recorded authorization” part. Of course, she rattled through it so fast that when I heard the “agree to pay $695” I stopped her and clarified that I was NOT authorizing any financial obligation. (After all, this was being recorded…) We have since received the $695 invoice and when I called to dispute it, I was met with a very rude and defensive response from Steve. He even played back the recorded “authorization”, which had been conveniently edited of my non-agreement statement. When I told him this had clearly been edited, he was very defensive and accused me of slander and insisted that we were obligated to pay. After a shouting match ensued, I hung up on him. He even had the nerve to call back, asking for my supervisor and was very rude to our secretary. Although I tried to cover my bases from the start, the only way to avoid this scam is to never even take the call in the first place. Unfortunate for legitimate companies looking for business… I really appreciate all the above suggestions on how to deal with this scam. Wish me luck… Posted by: Natalie on June 21, 2006 at 8:27 PM OXFORD DATA INC. They called me up months ago to sign up for online advertising, I said no, then they asked if they could send me an information package instead just to see if it was something we might be interested in, I said yes. We recieved a bill for 385 dollars, which we refused to pay. Then they started calling and threatening legal action. Here’s the crazy part, they had a manipulated voice recording of me confirming the address for the “bill to be sent to”. Technology. Also the bill says that it can be cancelled within thirty days of the date on the invoice, but the invoice arrived after those 20 days were up. The billing address for them is: Oxford Data Inc, The guys said his named was “Mike Clark” when I asked. He told me to grow up and that no one but a gun to my head to agree to the purchase. Insane. Posted by: James on July 5, 2006 at 12:31 PM Has anybody reported the Plattsburgh company to NY State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer? New York has a strong record of going after scams like this one. This company should be put out of business and there should be hefty personal fines assessed against anybody proven to be complicate in this scheme. Posted by: M.A.A. on July 8, 2006 at 6:15 AM Tradeshow Data Center I have used a number of suggestions from the above postings in dealing with this company (thank you everyone!!!). When Steven Ross has called regarding the “past due” invoice for $679, he is advised that all communication must be in writing - his call goes no farther than the receptionist. He’s responded rudely (surprise, surprise) and attempted to intimidate a few of our staff by suggesting they are breaking the law and could go to jail for interfering in collection of a debt. In the meantime, I have filed complaints with the Clinton County DA’s office, the NY Attorney General (Eliot Spitzer), the Federal Trade Commission, and the BBB. The beautiful thing about written correspondence is that I can continue forwarding it to the aforementioned agencies, or if it ever comes to legal proceedings, we will have documentation. Our company has struggled through its own financial woes the past few years and we’re all too familiar with how a legitimate collection process works. However, I can see how a small business that pays their bills timely could feel intimidated and “trapped”, especially if they think their good credit is threatened or they believe it would be cheaper to pay the invoice rather than hire attorneys and waste time fighting it out. (Our credit is already compromised, so it doesn’t scare us.) We have not heard from Mr. Ross for about a week, but I am not counting him out yet. (I can only hope this is because he’s been shut down.) I fully expect to receive calls from their “Third Party Collection Agency” (Commercial Debt Recovery Services, perhaps?), which will be handled in the same manner. Posted by: N.P.S. on July 14, 2006 at 1:04 AM Many years ago a company called and asked if I wanted to be listed in the Business Yellow Pages, thinking it was the real Yellow pages I said yes, and I paid them a couple of times unkowingly. Now a company called Teledima has been harassing me saying that they purchased Global Access Data and I am listed in their directory that I Ok’ed it back in 2001 or 2002. I am not sure what good a 4 year old directory does me. I have brought up the former company’s BBB record and asked for a PO, date of purchase or a recording of the phone conversation but I was hung up on. I do recelect someone calling me and getting my info and telling me that I had no choice to continue but after 4 or 5 years it does not seem resonable to send out a CD and invoice. Posted by: RJE on July 19, 2006 at 12:26 PM It turns out that the Plattsburgh address for Tradeshow Data Center is simply a mail dump. They are a Canadian-based company, according to the NY State Attorney General’s office, which has informed the Department of Homeland Security about them. Here’s hoping that this scam gets shut down soon and that the perpetrators are hit with huge fines. Posted by: M.A.A. on July 19, 2006 at 4:54 PM Re: New Corporate America Publishing Inc. out of Montreal, I have had several dealings with these people, and this last time just ticked me off. I contacted my Member of Parliament, and all the MP’s for Montreal, requesting their aid in getting these people shut down. MP Marlene Jennings office emailed me back with the Phonebusters address (Ontario Prov. Police telephone scam hotline) info@phonebusters.com, whom I have contacted and put in a complaint. Any others who have the same problem should do the same. They won’t get the money, but they sure do take up a lot of valuable time, not only for me, but the staff. Posted by: Karen on July 26, 2006 at 9:48 AM I too had dealings with a company called Teledima. They insisted that Bettie from our company authorized our listing in a directory back in 2000 or 2001. Conveniently (and I don’t know how they knew this) but Bettie had left the company several years ago so I had no way of verifying what they were telling me. The person who called indicated that another person from their shipping department would be calling to verify our mailing address to send the invoice, which they did a few days later. Again, I asked them to explain what it was they were billing us for and they gave a vague answer about a directory listing. I said, okay, I’ll take a look at it when it comes in, but I didn’t think our accounting department would pay for something that occured 4 or 5 years ago. About a week later I got an invoice for over $400 and a CD. I called the phone number on the invocie and again asked what it was we were paying for because we are not the type of business that would be listed in a business directory. The person who answered was condescending, rude and interrupted me when I spoke. He asked me, “didn’t you understand when so-and-so from our company called you and told you what the product was you agreed to pay for back in 2000?” I told him I could not verify something back that far and that my accounting department would be in touch. He hung up on me. When I asked our accounting department about it, we googled Teledima and found this blog. I immediately called Teledima back and got the same guy. I told him we would not be paying them anything, that they were running a scam. He was even more belligerent than before, screaming at me “do you believe everything on the internet?”, etc. Then he had the nerve to demand that I send his “product” back. I laughed and said I would be sending him nothing back and instead I would be contacting our attorney and the FTC. He hung up on me again and I have not heard anything from them in over 6 weeks. Posted by: Dana on August 2, 2006 at 5:23 PM I Just recieved an invoice from “Promedia resources” in Montreal, Quebec. I’m pretty sure it’s a scam.. has anyone heard of them. It’s an invoice for $399 for the Canadian business resources guide. Once again, I phoned and spoke with someone who told me that we signed a contract in 1998 and the most recent guide was sent out last month - which of course I never saw. I asked them to resend me a copy, which I am pretty sure I will never recieve. Posted by: HC on August 9, 2006 at 1:27 PM We received a phone call from the Tradeshow Data Center last winter (March 2006) asking the employee who answered the phone to please “verify your shipping address” which he did. About two weeks later we received some paperwork and a DVD in the mail (US Mail, not Fed Ex). The paperwork said that if we were not interested in buying a listing on “Tradeshow Biz USA” that we needed to send the materials back to them within the 15 day waiting period or we would be billed $685. Imagine my lack of suprise when I noticed that the letter explaining this was dated more than three weeks before I received the package. This and the fact that the cover letter was signed “The President†were pretty good indications that this was a scam. I let my co workers know right away to forward any and all communications from this company to me. In April we started receiving faxed invoices requesting a credit card number to resolve our past due account. Each of these included a phony Fed Ex delivery report showing our address and a signature of someone named Donnlly (we are a small company and no one by that name has ever worked here) I called the representative listed on the letter that accompanied the invoices (he called himself Ethan Blake) and was greeted with a very rude individual (with a thick Montreal accent) who insisted that “your company ordered our product so now you must pay for itâ€. He threatened all kinds of legal and collections actions and let me know that he would destroy my business if I didn’t pay right away. He even offered to put the whole thing to rest if I’d just make a $500.00 credit card payment right away. Unfortunately for him I’d already done some research on the Tradeshow Data Center and I was already well aware that this scammer had no power to do anything to me or my business. I let him know that it would be a chilly day in hell before he ever saw a penny from me and hung up the phone. After two or three more faxed invoices arrived I decided that it was time to turn the tables. I made copies of all of the info we received from the Tradeshow Data Center as well as copies of my states laws concerning unwanted solicitation, complaints I filed with the BBB and FTC, and all of the information I’d dug up on them on the internet (whole package about 60 pages) and proceeded to fax it several times a day to every fax number I was able to dig up for this company. I concentrated heavily on faxing during the weekends because no one was there to turn off the fax machine and I stopped the deluge only for as long as they stopped invoicing me. Each time they faxed another invoice, they got thousands of pages back over a week or more. In early June I got a fax saying the account had been “transferred to Commercial Debt Recovery Services for credit reporting and claims filing†– all that gave me was a new fax number to add to my list. Well, I guess they got tired of refilling their fax machine because on July 3, 2006 I got a fax from someone called David Woods at the Tradeshow Data Center saying the following (poor punctuation, spelling and grammar included): Mike B, It is very obvious that you are not interested in our product, and do not feel it is something that can benefit your company. However, sending multiple faxes containing numerous pages is very unprofessional. I order this childish behaviour to cease immediately, otherwise I will take legal action against you. Even though you approved receiving our product, I will delete your listing from our databases, and I will be reporting your company to the BBB. I have credited your account in full and your invoice now reflects a 0$ balance. David Woods Attached was indeed an invoice showing a $0.00 balance. I suspect that I will never hear from these dirtbags ever again but just in case I do, I’ll keep my little information package handy in case I need to do some more faxing. I thought I’d post this so those of you in the midst of being harassed by these folks might get a few ideas. If enough people can make this scam more trouble than it’s worth maybe some of these people will have to get a legitimate job. Good luck. Posted by: Mike B on August 10, 2006 at 6:29 PM Add Horizon Data of Champlain NY to your list of scams. They are the typical Canadian directory scam operation with a drop box in up-state New York. The name of the so-called directory is “The US National Corporate Directory”. DO NOT PAY these Canadian scumbags. Posted by: SteveB on August 16, 2006 at 12:42 PM To HC: Thank you - We’ve noted your comments and are in the middle of investigating this problem as well. Our company was also hit by Promedia (a.k.a. Newline Publishing). Posted by: SM on August 21, 2006 at 3:22 PM The Horizon Data Inc. of Champlain, NY is a FRAUD!!!! They keep sending me bills and I have told them over and over again that I did not authorize this service and I do not want it. They have it taped and played it for me….and yet they say I authorized it even after they listen to me on the tape saying I am not interested! IDIOTS!!! I argued with Gloria (the representative that kept furthing my side by playing tapes) refused to give me her manager’s name and number. I told her she legalally had too. She told me to figure it out fo myself. I argued with her more and she told me to ask the receptionist and hung up! Needless to say, Now Madamme Brooshard the VP supposivly says she would be happy to clear my account for a $99 cancellation fee. I asked her why I should have to pay that when it clearly says I was not interested. Long story short they are very unprofessional and a SCAM!! Posted by: Casey P. on August 23, 2006 at 4:04 PM Ditto on the Horizon Data being a scam. Gloria also called me with a notice for an outstanding invoice for $450 or so. I told her where she shove the invoice. Then she replayed some recording with my voice on it, manipulated somehow and actually authorizing to invoice to be sent. All I had agreed to was the info packet to be sent. Then today someone named Helen called and said she was taking over Gloria’s file and asked for accounts payable…hoping to circumvent me and get a cheque or visa # from the bookkeeper who has no clue what’s happening. When the CD did arrive, it had my business address from over 5 years ago. WOW, now that current and worth big $$$. I run an automotive repair shop in BC, Canada and these french freaks are based out of Quebec I believe. Stay away and be very leary of any phone calls…don’t agree to anything, just kindly let them know to pound salt and hang up :) Posted by: Dave on August 29, 2006 at 1:49 AM I own a small plumbing/heating/AC business in Edmonton, Alberta. I too have received an invoice from New Corporate America Publishing Inc. out of Montreal, for $299.95. The invoice states it is for “two year bold character add listing in all sections of the national business to business corporate package.” (That’s what it says, complete with typos.) I received the invoice back in February/06 and contacted them at that time, requesting proof of our agreement to advertise with them. They had a tape with my partner’s voice on it, however, there was no “conversation”, just my partner saying things like “yes” and “ok” (which could have been answers to ANY question). Also, the tape sounded like it may have been spliced or tampered with. I was suspicious back then. I refused to pay. Yesterday, Sept. 13/06, I received a further faxed copy of that Feb./06 invoice. I sent them a fax, saying I wasn’t paying without proof that we agreed to purchase the advertisement. I then decided to “Google” New Corporate America Publishing and voila, here you are! Nice! Thanks for your help! Posted by: Heather on September 13, 2006 at 1:11 PM I’m 18 years old and work at a motel in California, and of course I’ve also been hit by trade show biz. I never confirmed for them to send me a cd, and I receive the cd not knowing what it was and threw it in the trash, and a 2 weeks later I get a call. I argued with them so much and then finally I just hung up, telling them that I won’t pay for it. Then they kept faxing me the invoice 100s of times and kept calling, but each time I kept hanging up. Four months later I get a call from Martin Matthews from some bogus Debt Revocry thing, and saying that they will take me to court, and of course I hang up again. I hope they sure do take me to court, no way will they win. I won’t pay them a dime. Posted by: Nick on September 19, 2006 at 10:02 PM Someone operating out of Champlain NY (but mailing invoices from across the border in Canada) is following the same MO; business to business directory, 389.95 plus shipping and handling…blah blah blah. Oh, and there’s this WEAK letter pretending to be quasi-legal. Anyway, they are using the letterhead UKP Ltd., for Unlimited Knowledge Publications. And their billing address is a real address!! 33 Elm Street, Champlain NY 12919. They were using a different address previously: 600 17th Street, Suite 2800 South, Denver CO 80202-5428. Hey! feel free to post the phone number of “Ms. O’Riley C.O.” in any public restroom: 706-621-4092. Oh, and go ahead and fax bomb ol’ UKP at 1-866-367-7491. It’s TOLL FREE!!! Posted by: Stuart McDowall on September 21, 2006 at 7:49 PM New Corporate America Publishing has handled my adverisiting for over 3 years now. I have a great relationship with the team there. I feel they have great customer service. Just thought I would post asd I noticed thier name above. Posted by: Scott on October 4, 2006 at 1:47 PM I got a call from a Steve Twain at from Executive Solutions on Friday of last week. Was he ever a jerk!!! He asks for me and I answer it’s me he then asked if I recognized him and I said no. He said I should cause I approved some online listing with him back in February and I said I never did. We’ve had calls from MNC Publications, Oxford Data, Teledima, Direct Data (all phonies)and we’ve said NO to all of them. Back to may pal Steve - I told him that I had never agreed to anything with him because our company does not to online profiles, and I also told him that back in March of 2004, I paid them 344.99 to get rid of them cause like some of you have mentioned, they called and said that Ghislaine had approved this in 1997 for 7 years (what a coincidence) Ghislaine does not work with us anymore since 1998). He flat out told me I was a liar, I tried to tell him a had a copy of the letter I sent him back in 2004 and he kept interupting me telling me I was a liar and I do have the copy of the letter, the check he cashed and the facsimile transmittal sheet for proof that the 344.99 was to be my final payment and that I wished to close out any account I had with them. He was litteraly harrasing me. Posted by: Sylvie on October 10, 2006 at 8:13 AM We have been receiving invoices from a Ms. O’Riley - C.O at UKP Ltd. for over a year now. I have repeatedly tried to call and confront them, but to no avail. The invoice that is attached claims that we ordered a Business to Business Directory for $389.95. As if this was not enough, an additional $21.00 for S&H is added on, bringing the grand total to $410.95. I have sent letters advising them to stop sending these invoices, and I have tried phone calls as well. Either way, please be aware that this is a scam and that you should NOT pay. Posted by: Gabriel S. Slominski, Esq. on October 13, 2006 at 12:10 PM TRADESHOW DATA CENTER I want to start by thanking all of you for posting. It helped immensely, so I thought I would document how I was able to combat this company from scamming us out of 697.00. The above descriptions of their selling techniques hit it on the head. May 2006, Contacted me. I said no three times. They had to restart the recording every time. But since he assured me that we wouldn’t be charged, I fell for it. ~sighs~ August 11, They say somebody called and reminded us of the invoice. No one here remembers talking to them and they gave us a name that we had never heard of. No one remembers signing for the “opportunity†either, yet they have a FED EX form with a signature on it. I had everyone sign their name on that little piece of evidence the Tradeshow Data Center sent over so that it would be documented that it didn’t represent even closely anyone’s handwriting at our business. August 29 I find this blog and print it, go through it and start contacting the people that you have mentioned. Send Grace a letter stating that they can only communicate with them through fax, email or pony express. Sent info over to Clinton Country DA (wrong place) October 5 I also went to their web site and looked us up on it. We were there on the web site, however they had the wrong info for us. So I also request that they take us off their web site. Every Sunday I fax everything I have gathered on them with a new letter, requesting we be taken off the web site. At some point I got a letter from the Clinton County DA saying that they couldn’t help due to jurisdiction and they let me know to send the stuff over to the Attorney General of New York, Elliot Spitzer. October 12 October 23 So my advice to anyone still dealing with these foolios is to not give up!! Keep faxing them all the information you have, fill out the complaints and let them know you have done so. And contact Elliot Spitzers office!! Elliot Spitzer: State of New York, Office of the Attorney General, Plattsburgh Regional Office, 700 Clinton Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901-2818. Also Toni Fagan of the BBB is working on this from their angle (901) 757-8627 Once again, thank you all so much for your help!!! Posted by: Jamie on October 25, 2006 at 12:59 PM As per the information posted regarding Horizon Data Inc., I would like to clarify a couple of your comments, as we are rather surprised to be reading this report, as it has never been our intention to force our products or services upon any customer, no matter what the circumstances are. All customer have the choice to purchase our services or not, and if the customer decided he or she want the services we do provide them just that. If however, the customer does not want the service we provide, we do not proceed with an order, and the issue is closed. It is true, we cannot always please the customer, however, we do provide a toll free number, and e-mail address, fax number, to contact us if they have any questions, and because we have a customer service department available to answer to their questions, comments, quires etc… Andrea S. Customer Service Manager Posted by: Andrea S. on October 26, 2006 at 5:44 PM Thanks Jamie (who posted) at October 25, 2006 12:59 PM. That’ll definitly help the next time they call. Posted by: Nick on October 27, 2006 at 10:03 PM I received the first contact from Amerinational, Inc. in June 2005 via invoice - $459.95. So, how long does this go on? What other options do we have to stop these ridiculous, rude and time-consuming phone calls? Posted by: Wanda on November 7, 2006 at 5:38 PM We have also been hit recently by these scams from New Corporate America Publushing as well as Megabyteinfo.com as well as Canbic Inc. All these companies seem to have origins in Quebec Canada, I see this form is mostly about the US businesses. Here is a suggestions for canadian businesses: the FTC uquivalent in canada which these sites suggests to file a copmlaint with is the “Competition Bureau of Canada” (http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/internet/index.cfm?itemID=2051&lg=e) as well as for these scammers you can also file a complaint with “Office de la protection du consommateur” (http://www.opc.gouv.qc.ca/programmes/pespl_services_en.asp) since they are mostly located in Quebec. I have threatened most of them with such action and followed through and immediately received a new invoice with all balances being “0” ZERO!!!! DO NOT PAY THESE PEOPLE!!!! Posted by: ernest on November 30, 2006 at 11:26 AM This is great that everyone is talking about their experience. I was hit for the first time in 2004 and it will really rattle your cage the first time you experience it. we are a very small company and it really did not take too long for us to catch on. but here is how you stop them…..cold…….the MO of the calls are all the same. get as much information as you can from them, and if possible get personal info from the person calling..be friendly whatever it takes to get as much info as possible, ask to hear the tape, I have heard several of my office manager and they are getting better quality all the time, then change tone and inform them that they need to get a different scam going because you are on to this one and know that they are nothing but criminals tell them your next call is to the FTC, the mailing addresses can be traked down, they are just P.O. Boxes and I found one that was a UPS store, and tell them you are going to call the local authorities. call them back..harass them. I question the person calling me about how long they have worked there and if they get a lot of angry calls like this (I have wondered if some are hired to do this not knowing they are trying to collect a scam dept) the legal departments they speak of are as fake as they are….Pay them nothing. Posted by: Kelly on December 5, 2006 at 12:11 PM I had a dealing with one of the companies mentioned above and ended the harrassment quickly. First I insisted that all communications be sent via email or fax. Any phone calls made to my office were answered, but any inquiry made got the same response. “I will be happy to acknowledge that question. Please put it on an email or fax and send it to me” Here is the first, and only letter I recieved from them and my response: Dear Dan, I have checked our files and have a confirmation of the order. This purchase was concluded by (withheld) with our sales representative, (withheld). Subsequently, it was verified by our Quality Control team and that call was monitored. The monitored tape call was played back for you. The software sent to (withheld) was complimentary and our invoice covers the cost of advertising only for the two years. The diskette was delivered to (withheld) by (courier) on October 25th, 2006 at 3:47p.m. and was signed for by (withheld). Please call me so that this can be resolved. Thank you. Sincerely yours, (withheld) Tel: 877-XXX-XXXX ext # 281 www.(company).com Dear (withheld), I am hoping that this message will reach you as I can see that this is not a personal account. I have discussed the matter with (withheld) and have investigated further myself and will provide you the following information: 1. (withheld) does not recall any agreement to purchase any product or service from your company. 2. The monitored call you played for me over the telephone did not satisfy me that there was ever any agreement to purchase a product or service from your company. 3. Your company does not offer a product or service in which we are interested. 4. I have found complaints listed about your company billing for unwanted or unordered services We will not be paying the invoice that you have sent us. I expect that any future communication from your company will be only to confirm receipt of this message. Regards, Dan I recieved a fax today from the company advising me that they have “cancelled the bill in full” due to a “misunderstanding”. Furthermore, they requested I send a reply back stating that “the matter has been resolved and that no further action will be taken”. I have not responded yet. Posted by: Dan on December 18, 2006 at 4:56 PM Our small company was hit by New Corporate America Publishing last year. I had cancelled my supposed subscription. I didn,t even remember talking to these low lifes. They had me on tape, saying I wanted their garbage. I paid the bill and passed on, in no uncertain terms, to never call me again. The first of December, I got a call from a lady from Canbic Inc. She informed me that I owed 399.95, plus 19.95 S & H, plus GST. I informed the lady that I had never heard of them and really had no intention of ever paying them. But in the mail comes the invoice. I, Thank God, tryed to find these people on the net, no go, but I did find this site. And low and behold it confirmed my suspicions. These people are some of the lowest form of SCUM on the earth. I phoned the number on the invoice and got a very official message, about how they were all busy. I left a very to the point message. I hope they have the lack of common sense to return my call. Posted by: Wayne on December 29, 2006 at 12:04 PM Everyone that gets these should also alert the department of homeland security somehow. I’m not one to wave the flag of fear, but financial frauds like this can often be tied back to organized crime and/or militant organizations. There is a huge push on now to quash the funding of organizations like this as a way to cut off their means of doing anything. Just a thought. Posted by: Warten Gee on January 4, 2007 at 3:11 PM TRADESHOW DATA CENTER FRAUD — awful awful scam artists. Same situation, these are just really soulless people. Small inn that has nothing to do with tradeshows… I’ve tried to settle with them for $200, and they claim that the best they can do is $.50 on the dollar, so $335 is what they’ll settle for (for people who want to settle). The people are remarkably rude, and Grace Beckman even threatened to go after me for harassment b/c I had called her twice today complaining… I’m reporting them to the BBB… why are they still in business? they’ve had over 200 complaints in the past 12 months alone! Why hasn’t NY done anything about them? Posted by: Linda on January 5, 2007 at 3:03 PM “Hello Deborah @ TRADESHOW DATA CENTER! You know who we are, and we know what you are. Do not call again.” Signed, Hope I was able to provide Deborah and her cohorts a good laugh. I thought I would cut to the chase by making contact directly from here. The first reference I came accross was from 2005. It is now JANUARY 2007 and we just received our first invoice. They are still at it. It seems astounding that the ‘authorities’ let them get away with it for this long! Then you quickly realize that the ONLY way these rackets survive, is by utilizing the very same information provided by the victims, the nice folks who are trying to help by getting the word out. It’s the worn out old story of Cat + Mouse, Cop + Robber. They know the human psyche, so they sit back confidently patient, being all too familiar with the multitudes of do-gooder consumers anxious to save others from a similar fate by posting another savory tidbit of information as to what they are doing wrong legally and why. They know there is no shortage of self-congratulating legal whizzes who are gallantly firing off detailed letters (free legal advice!) alerting them to the next loop-hole they need to close up. They are honing their skills and sharpening their tactics off of us in order to stay ahead in the game. Makes you wonder if any of these posts are disguised from them in order to prod us along to do the same thing again and again? If you were them, wouldn’t you create a blog to string the innocents along?! Boy, am I getting paranoid!!! I will follow the suggestions and report to the proper authorities as the countless others have (apparently) done already. Posted by: Melissa on January 22, 2007 at 6:45 PM I am so happy to have found this site. I received a call about four years ago when I started at this job to “confirm” information, which I did. I asked a few questions but got a run around answer that didn’t clearly answer the questions I was asking. I was told the listing was published previously, etc. We are a doctor’s office so I thought it was a free directory for physicians in Canada, which is a legitimate directory. Once the bill came, my boss didn’t’ want it and refused to pay. I felt bad because I had told them to send it out so after several reminders and phone calls, I paid it out of my own pocket. To my horror, they called the next year saying the second installment was due!!!! After ignoring the invoice, they promised to send me a letter indicating the file was closed and not contact us any more (under Global Access)after I paid the bill. I got a letter. I again paid it out of my own pocket. I was livid. Then just before Christmas this year another company, Teledima called with the exact same story. I couldn’t believe it. I told the guy about my previous story. He claimed it was a different company, etc. but he gave me the same account # as the one that was supposed to have been cx’d. I told him I wanted to check account #, invoice #, dates of payment, etc. and I would be in touch. He called a second time with all the information from Global Access but insisted it was a different directory, that they have many different publications and this was another one that was not yet closed and I could get the letter of closure, etc. upon paying. I work in a busy doctor’s office and didn’t have time to deal with him or argue over the phone in front of patients so I reluctantly agreed to have them send the invoice. They gave me a credit for not having the CD. I got another cancellation letter from Teledima, but reading over this site, I relize Janice Posted by: Janice on February 8, 2007 at 12:36 PM A friend of mine who is a small business owner also received an invoice from Canbic Inc. for $447.89 for “Two years of corporate listing in business to business package.” My friend has never had any previous contact with Canbic Inc. In a telephone conversation Canbic claimed that 4 years ago they shipped a directory free of charge across Canada, that they put ads on a CD-ROM, that the CD-ROM is still in the warehouse, but since my friend has not made any commitment to buy the CD, he will cancel the invoice. So, they are just mailing out invoices hoping people will pay. Posted by: Chris on February 11, 2007 at 4:44 PM I too have a similar story. I have found some info that is interesting, but I suspect that the scammers read this blog to get info too, so I will only list the “companies” (scumbags)that have targeted me over the last 5 years. Hopefully this will help any newcomers to the blog that have the same “people” calling them: Clearview Corporate Communication Inc The above is being represented by AMS Financial / Collections which has “offices” or boiler rooms in Champlain NY and Montreal Global Data US Business Directory I think the only fool-proof method to keep them from getting a voice recording that can be made to sound like an order is once you hear their initial speile that they are sending a directory and just need to confirm the address as…. YOU have to avoid saying your name / address / and especially the word YES. Assume at all times that you are being recorded once you feel you are dealing with the next scammer to call. I found just asking THEM for what they are looking for from you, ie: Name and physical address along with the phone and fax to their company(don’t settle for the 800 #, ask for the actual #) This usually ends the call quickly. If they persist, just try to get the info you can and write to both the FTC (on the off chance that it is actually a US company) and Phone Busters of Canada which is usually the place these bums are calling from. Anyone who is tricked should realize even if something is sent, you are not required to pay. If your voice is recorded saying yes, if you were mislead to believe this is a re-order / the 2nd year of a multi-year contract / or whatever BS they throw at you that the law is on your side. Good Luck to all the honest folks reading and please be careful as these guys try to make you beleive that anything you say, can be used against you. Posted by: Rose on February 16, 2007 at 2:39 PM Horizon Data ..Also recieved an invoice for product not requested … rememeber the call and These scammers must be stopped … Posted by: Chris on February 19, 2007 at 12:56 PM Has anybody recently been duped by a company with the name Access America. They claim to have a recording, however our business name and city are spelled wrong. I tried to be polite and pay for a month and have them remove the listing because it is a an electronic posting, they said they can’t have the technicans delete. I have done websites and it takes about a minute to delete something. the service rep is very un business like. Please post if you have had an issue with Access America and how you dealt with it. Posted by: Mike on February 20, 2007 at 11:02 AM We also have had issues with repeated phone calls from Access America. They even claim that they issued an invoice in 2006 for $699.95 that we paid and cite a check and invoice number. I confirmed with our accounting department that we have never issued a check with that number to anyone, that in 2006 we never issued a check to Access America, and that we didn’t issue a check for the exact amount of $699.95 to anyone. I asked Access America to provide a facsimile of the check they claim to have deposited and they refused. We have had numerous harassing phone calls from a Mark Edwards at Access America. His phone is 902-429-1984. He called back today 5 minutes after I told him to never call again! Holly Stevenson, their customer service manager was also no help. They should be criminally prosecuted as far as I’m concerned. Both Stevenson and Edwards claim to not have a supervisor, to be the head of their departments, and that there is no president, CEO, etc. in charge of them — only a “board of directors” which they won’t name of course. Their domain name na411.org is registered to someone with a hotmail email address in Canada, rather than Illinois. And there are no corporations registered with the State of Illinois using the name Access America or North American Business Directory, or North American 411. Not surprisingly, a search of Google Maps for Gulf Road in Rolling Meadows, Illinois comes up empty. I filed complaints with the Michigan Attorney General, Illinois Attorney General, and the Illinois Better Business Bureau. I encourage others to do the same. Posted by: Jeff Seaver on March 12, 2007 at 11:48 AM Regarding the 3/12/07 posting: If you put in the phone number at this website www.intelius.com for “Access America” you will find they are actually not in Illinois or even in the US. 902-429-1984 The best thing to do is try to track these guys down because they lie about their location, which is usually in Canada or some other near by country. Once you catch them in that lie, it is a lot easier to scare them off. Try to get them to send faxes, so that you can document it in case they ever do turn any of you into collections. Another word of caution is to be very careful what you say from the moment you get on the phone with one of these scammers. You have to assume they are recording you the whole time and that they will dub the tape to suite their needs. Just keep saying no and asking questions about them and their supposed company. Good Luck! Posted by: Rose on March 13, 2007 at 4:10 PM Tell me what is the legal way to begin a buying and selling website or web pages? Posted by: Carolyn J. Welch on March 15, 2007 at 9:01 PM I’m not sure this is the right topic for your question. But if you mean how do you start a business on the web where you sell things from your site, you’d register a domain name, register your business locally, register to collect sales tax if your state has a sales tax, and keep records of income expenses - and report both on your taxes. (Also remit sales tax on whatever schedule your state specifies.) For more information on starting a business see our main website - http://www.businessknowhow.com. We have a forum there that you can ask questions in, too. -That’s at http://www.businessknowhow.com/forum Posted by: Janet on March 15, 2007 at 9:32 PM UPK Ltd. Has hit us in Houston, Texas. We just received some bullshit letter stating that we owe them 410.95. I was totally unaware of this scam until I read some of the posts on this website. Thank all y’all so much! Posted by: karo on March 19, 2007 at 6:12 PM I posted a note here in early Feb re: Telidima. I faxed a long letter describing in detail my hassles with them over the last two - three years, along with supporting documents as well as pages and pages from this site with reference to their name. I recieved a voicemail from the customer service rep shortly after asking that I call her to discuss the fax. I never did and I have not heard from them again or even received a “reminder notice” to pay the invoice and it has been about six weeks. Normally the reminders came every week or two. I am hopeful that this is the end of it. I will be very wary of anyone who calls again to “confirm” information for a directory. As a physician’s office, we do not need any advertising or our information being published anywhere. Thanks to you all for your information and the support to deal with this. Janice Posted by: Janice Rogers on March 22, 2007 at 11:15 AM Doesn’t anyone find it odd that these companies who supposedly ‘scam’ - ‘cheat’ and ‘defraud’ people are still in operation? And if what you say is true, that they call up and lie and force you to take the sale… can someone please explain how they are forcing you? Another point… I am sure you are all aware that there are sometimes transitions between companies, sales between owners, and even corporate take-over’s which sometimes leads to: address changes, name changes, system glitches and account mishaps.
Posted by: Kevin on April 18, 2007 at 4:03 PM ProMedia Resources has recently targeted our firm, sending us various “directories”: Western Canadian Business Resource Guide, American Business Resource Guide, etc. They are basically just CDs with company names that anyone could get from the phone book. They then send bills for two CDs at a time for $866.96. When we called to ask about the bill, they said we had been a client since 1997, that they have spoken to person X (a VP whose name they probably got off the Internet), etc. They are very persistent and on two occasions our firm just paid the bills because we didn’t look into it. After doing some research into directory scams, we are on to them now and I have sent back the CDs they sent and told them we are not paying the bill. I wanted to alert other local businesses so contacted PhoneBusters, Better Business Bureau, and the Competition Bureau of Canada but they have not responded so far. So, just wanted to alert other firms that ProMedia Resources is definitely a scam - don’t fall for it! Posted by: Laura on April 25, 2007 at 3:09 PM I’ve just received a phone call and then an invoice from ‘Internet Directory Services’ claiming I owe them $485.10 for a 1-year listing on their website: www.idsworldwide.com. They posted my company, but with less info than they could have gotten from my own website, and the listing was not even searchable by the categories they list. Posted by: Lelia on May 3, 2007 at 1:03 PM Our company received an invoice from Direct Media Source for a business listing in the amount of $399.95. After checking, it appears to be the same type of scam as the Canadian scam. They list an office location as 305 Madison Avenue,Ste. 449, New York, NY which appears to be a virtual office. I could find no info about them on the web. They did not list a web site address, but their telephone was 877-718-2006. Has anyone dealt with them? They talked to a salesperson of ours who transferred the call when the sales pressure came on, but they still listed him as the authorized purchaser. We never received anything from them except for a bill. Any comments are appreciated! Posted by: Rebecca on May 15, 2007 at 2:34 PM Thank you so much for posting this blog - and to think I was just about to pay this Teledima invoice to avoid any hassle, but thanks to the power of a google search, I came across this blog. When they called me, they used the “So-and-so-ordered this a few years ago and this is the last installment you need to pay for”. They even knew the previous contact’s name. So be warned that if they call you and got your name, they will probably be calling back in a few years and using your name as the previous approver! They sent me a 2nd invoice request and I called them to say I did not receive the material. They said they are sending it again. I am just going to send it back. Thank you to those who posted sample ‘response’ letters - I hope it’s ok that I use that to respond. Posted by: Cristina on May 15, 2007 at 5:35 PM FYI….we have run across a number of these types of telemarketing scams over the past few years (Teledima has been calling one of our people this week). They all follow the same MO (contacting employees who would not normally be associated with contracting for directory listing services and attempting to intimidate or cajole the employee into agreeing to accept the listing service and/or approve payments to the scammer). Many of these telemarketers operate out of Quebec (although some have set up shop in Ontario). The Government of Canada and the RCMP have been made aware of this situation. To stay under the legal radar net the scammers are careful to actually provide a “product” or “service” (i.e. they set up a website or CD with a listing showing one of the offices of your company). This puts them into a grey area of the law. However you don’t have to pay for services/products that you did not contract for. Therefore the best policy is to simply refuse to pay and instruct your employees to direct all calls from directory listing services to a person or group in your organization specifically tasked with dealing with directory listings. M.D. Chernichen L.L.B. Posted by: M. D. Chernichen on May 29, 2007 at 3:59 PM We just got our invoice from Executive Solutions, 8190 Blvd. Newman #204, Montreal Ph:1-800-715-0360 Fax:1-800-715-6118 for $455.79 for a “virtual lising”. The sales rep (the name “Madison Feeney” is printed on the invoice) called repeatedly and a)made misleading statements about a “renewal” of a listing (there was no renewal) and b)badgered the employee who repeatedly told them he was not authorized to make purchasing decisions. He was told that the conversation was being recorded. He was transferred to the sales manager. He was told he had to authorize because “it was in his name”. He was told that the publication date was June 1. All bulls**t. Have faxed a cancellation along with the FTC advisory and notice that we are submitting the material to the fraud department of the Montreal police and RCMP. Posted by: Glen T on June 1, 2007 at 1:55 PM After getting calls from “Oxford Data” for months threatening legal action, I informed them I cannot and will not pay the invoice as it was handed over to police for investigation (true it was given to police). NOTE: They cannot record you without informing you that they are doing so, it’s illegal. The tapes they play back are useless to them and probably spliced. The daily calls stopped after my last conversation with them. If you get a call from OXFORD DATA, do not EVER say the word “yes”,either hang up without saying a word or scream in their ear, “NO” and keep repeating that word. “NO NO NO NO” Posted by: Mary on June 4, 2007 at 8:39 PM The following letter was written in repsonse to an invoice recieved this week. Anyone needing to write a similar letter? Please feel free to plagiarize the wording here. Those practicing “guerilla sales tactics” need to be put out of buinsess! INFOCHASE RE: Your Invoice #28694 Dear Mr. Michaels, We are in receipt of a copy of the aforementioned invoice dated, April 18, 2007, which you faxed to us on June 6, 2007. Thank you! That invoice advises us of a debt of $449.90 that your firm is attempting to collect for a National Business Directory published on CD-Rom, and includes charges of $19.95 for shipping and handling via Federal Express. First and foremost, your invoice (and therefore the information on the CD-Rom purported to have been shipped and which we never received) lists an address that no longer exists. That address was modified several years ago by the United States Postal Service. Can you tell me why we would order an information-listing on CD–Rom using the wrong address? Second, we have not in the past, we do not currently, nor will we ever in the future, purchase products from your company. I can assure you that our entire organization is well acquainted with and schooled in the tactics of your segment of the information-listing and directory-services industry; what the Federal Trade Commission calls “guerilla sales tacticsâ€. Third, I can also assure you that the gas station industry does not find it necessary to advertise or post its locations in the manner you are selling. As a side note, when was the last time you looked up a gas station on the internet, in the phone book or on a CD Rom? Therefore, it would be highly improbable and plainly ridiculous for one of our operators to authorize information-listing products from you or anyone else, let alone purchase those products from you at the cost you are charging. That is, unless they never knew the cost because guerilla sales tactics were used by your firm and through the use of deceptive tactics you gained information under the guise of doing something else. In summary, this is not our debt and you will not be receiving any payment from us for it. Instead, if we do NOT receive a zero-balance statement from you by June 15, 2007, we will file a claim with the Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau of both Oregon and New York states, as well as the Attorney General of both Oregon and New York states. As such we recommend that you follow the terms of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and that you refrain from any further correspondence with us, except to mail or fax to us the zero-balance statement. Any violation on your part of the FDCPA will be aggressively prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. Yours Truly, Posted by: Steve on June 6, 2007 at 9:15 PM “Business Data” what a joke….4 times they have called here…@ 4 months apart stating that our “2d Edition CD Rom” is on it’s way along with an Invoice of $839.00 blah blah blah… Posted by: Mark on June 26, 2007 at 10:13 AM Hi I just wanted to give you all a bit of advice. I used to work for a company that scamed businesses like yours. I am from New Zealand, what is happening to you people happens all over the world. In New Zealand we are refered to as telephone blowers if you look it up in google you will see lots of similar stories. You people are being bluffed into paying these bills. Legally you dont have to pay them, as they dont have anything in writing from you. The best thing you can do is just hang up on these people, or play their bluff and ask them to take it to court of take legal action and nothing will ever come of it, if it did then you could take people like us to court. The reason that these businesses continue to scam and rip people off is because people keep paying and we make more and more money out of it. I was earning $2000 per week and my boss who trained me, earned $3000 per week for less than 20 hours. The reason people like the girl at the doctors office got done over again and again was she was an easy target and these companies know what to tell you to get you to pay. I know that alot of these blowers or con artists will be reading this knowing that what they are doing is wrong they have family to look after or are living the high life style and know no different to stop, so I ask you to treat them like a drug attack and stop feeding them their hit, I worked for one company run by bikies that paid some other staff in crack, these drugies wanted their hit, so did what ever they could to make you belive that you authorised advertising in these bogus or directory or magazines which are just printed for the people who demand to see it. In some cases they send a bill with the useless publication. A good way to stop them would be to get their magazine and ring every person in their and get them all together to make a formal complaint and sue the company for your money back, but until you realise the only way to stop them is to hang up, as soon as they say where their from just hang up, do sign anything do not pay anything and forward any bills to FCC and as for the doggy rich men out their running these businesses, realise now that people are getting together and you can use fake addresses, and work out of back yard offices but as you know your days are coming to an end, and people are starting to work it out. In at least every office at least 1 employee has been screwed over or been told of scams like yours and it will be the next place you call that they will take it to the next level. It could be an office raid and all your leads will be each in a court case, but with your tax id, and payment details you are gone, and I know better than anyone how easy the game used to be but because of sites like this YOUR F&(*(*&D. I apologise for how you feel, I suggest you start a list and make sure it can be googled and please hang up on them, and play their bluff and tell them to take a run and jump because they are full of it. Thanks Posted by: Adam Jackson on July 6, 2007 at 3:56 PM Hi just wanted to add after reading the complaint above, that these telemarketing blowing offices, all use fake names on the phone, and will call you back as a debt collector when it is the same person or people you are dealing with all the way through. I wouldn’t even bother waiting to get a zero balance. It means nothing, their bills are not worth the paper they are written on. U would rip them up. Also let each caller know if you are going to waste your time entertaining them, that you are recording the call for quality assurance purposes and that you have to advice them of this as it will be forwarded to FPC. A blowers 3 biggest fears; Remember that if you have been caught before it will be the same people calling back, just using different company names and changing their name and maybe speaking deeper. Try playing games with them call their office number and say you are standing outside their office and you cant find where they are. You need to catch them out, dont play their games, dont argue, just laugh at them and tell them to get a real job before they are done for fraud. Forward any bank account information and tax id to authorities this will be traced back to people. Most if they screw businesses will the not paying their legal obligations too to the Government. FInd out where they are really located and contact the television shows that expose the bad people. Give these people as much bad publicity as possible. Janet great website, love your work add a link where people can add a business in and then add comments for each one. make it a world wide list because companies like i&T from canada are world wide. You spoke about call centres in India being used to ring people and tell lies your right. The company I worked with hired them. The people who ran the indian centre paid the staff $500 a month for 50 hours of work per week. Thats $2.50 an hour and our company paid the con men to run it $10 an hour, work out the profits. So inconclusion if you continue to pay them they will keep re selling you into other magazines, dont give out order numbers or secret passwords as purchase orders over the phone they will use them against you in the future for more bogus advertsing. Instead I would be demanding your money back, send them a bill threatening legal action with your FPC and go through your accounts and send it to the same address that they made you mail a check too. Cancel any credit cards used they will keep debting money. Stop scams and hang up dont play their game! p.s doctor lady, you should not have paid that out your own pocket, I would seek information from a debt collection agency to get your money back from the manager of the company. Someone is liable. Their is a business idea for someone here start a worldwide debt collection agency just for getting money back from bogus advertising companies, use the scare tactics on them, the differnce with you is that they cant do anything but with them you have their bill, would have their finger prints on it, and its been sent by them and their doing it to lots of people, so when you threaten they have to listen or else they could be in the middle of a police investigation for fraud and as I said earlier they will, just give it a little time, they get more greedy and more pushy and go over that line, and then bang raided. Posted by: Adam Jackson on July 6, 2007 at 6:19 PM Wow. This thread seems to run on forever. Why would anybody even respond to these obvious scams? This is what I can’t figure. All of these con artists work on percentages. They know that with a mass-dunning via email they can get up to 5% to respond—just one out of every twenty. I’ve been getting these phony invoices, off and on, for the past 40 years, and never responded to a single one. Never had a bit of trouble as a result. When you prove they can’t harass you, they discard you and move on to the people they can. This is a well-known, common con artist trick. —Jack Payne Posted by: Jack Payne on July 13, 2007 at 11:58 PM Just got a call from Horizon Data Inc. from Montreal. Just to make this page more recent, they’re still out there. Posted by: Phil on August 13, 2007 at 9:27 AM I think I am a victim, but not sure how far I am in. I too received a call from Direct Media Source and now have a bill for $499.95. I am just a resident apartment manager of a complex of only 20 townhomes. Unfortunately, when they called, I didn’t hear there name as my baby started crying as soon as I picked up the phone. All I heard was “update your listing” and so I assumed it was the frequent call from yellow pages. After updating my info I was starting to get suspicious that it was a telemarketer and asked if there was a charge. They said “four forty nine.” I was naive, and well, jsut stupid and thought they meant $4.49 (I was probably just distracted by me screaming baby and wanting to get off the phone). They asked if they could send me the invoice, and I said yes. As soon as I hung up, I realized my error, but had no idea who it was that called me or how to return their call. They day I received their invoice I tried calling their number. Each time the “customer service representative was busy” and asked to leave a message, but the mail box was full. I called several times a day for a full week and got the same response. I finally faxed in a letter asking for my order to be canceled. ANYWAY, I’m asking you, have I already gotten myself in too deep where I have to pay? I am not the one “authorized” to make this decision…that would come from the corporate office, but is my verbal agreement already binding? Posted by: Trisa on August 13, 2007 at 3:19 PM I am so glad I found this site. Our company has been harrassed by New Corporate America Publishing Inc for over 2 years. Bill dated April 2005. Same story as everyone else. However, they were nice enough to send me TWO faxes recently(different writing) stating that “as per our coversation” they would accept $299.95 !! How sweet. We never had a “conversation”. We never ordered this service. I have told them we are not paying this bill, yet they still keeping faxing and mailing us invoices!! I am faxing them all comments from this site (names ommitted) and hopefully they’ll get the point!! Posted by: Lisa Oshawa ON on August 16, 2007 at 11:12 AM Just got a call from Horizon Data Inc. from Montreal. Just to make this page more recent, they’re still out there.
Hopefully, not for long though. Time to turn the tables around and keeping that good ol recorder handy! Sometimes you have to fight fire with gasoline! Posted by: Cheryl on August 22, 2007 at 3:01 PM to “I think I am a victim”, when they said they are updating your listing, they are misleading you by implying there is an existing business relationship. Therefore, the call and any subsequent invoice is fraudulent and illegal under Canadian law (it’s a safe bet these telescammers are Canadian). You can be sure that they will be calling you regarding the unpaid invoice. Tell them you were mislead by them implying there was an existing business relation ship when there in fact was none. Inform them that you and they both know this is illegal, and that you are not paying. Inform them that any further contact from them by phone, or fax, other than a written statement indicating a zero balance on your “account” and removal of your name from the call list will result in your contacting the Competition Bureau of Canada, The US Federal Trade Commission, the US Postal Inspection Service, and the Attorney General of the state where the return address is located. Then simply hang up. Posted by: Steve on August 22, 2007 at 3:11 PM Has anyone deal with US Data or Corporate Business Index? US Data sent me a CD and I returned it “Refused” and then they sent me an invoice to pay. I called later for someone to call me regarding their return policy for customer guaranteed satisfaction and no one has returned my call. I just received a call from Coporate Business Index for an invoice I still have for a CD (which I don’t have) and the person said they were going to find my audio with permission. I don’t have the CD and if they call back, I’m asking for a fedex signature. Are there any other steps I should take? I have a folder full of these people calling and I keep a log. I did receive a call from Horizon Data and I told the person their company was on the scam listing, they hung up. Posted by: Regina on August 28, 2007 at 11:53 AM US Data has a Plattsburgh, NY mailing address which happens to be a Mail Boxes Etc. The CD I got from them was postmarked Champlain, NY. Did you talk to them or verify any info that they may have recorded after they implied an existing business relationship? Posted by: Steve on August 29, 2007 at 2:28 PM Reply to Steve, Posted by: Regina on August 31, 2007 at 1:23 PM Looks like another directory xxxxxxxx is based in Champlain, NY. All Purpose Business Communications Inc. The alleged directory is the “National Business to Business Guide.” We received a call informing us that per our wishes we would not be in next years directory and our account was being closed. All we needed to do was to send in payment for the last years listing. In order for them to send us an invoice, someone from their mail room was going to call in order to verify our address… When the shipping department called, I was told that the call would be recorded. I was asked to verify that they were sending an invoice for $599.95 — to which I’m sure they were hoping for a an unqualified “yes,” which I did not give them. I received the invoice today and there was a charge of $24.99 for shipping and handling. All that was sent was the invoice for the alleged directory. I have filed a complaint with the FTC. Posted by: John on September 1, 2007 at 2:17 PM John, The address for All Purpose Business Communications (APB)is a mail drop (see below). You might call APB and ask if they are located in Champlain, NY. If they say, “yes”, tell them you know they are lying, that they are in Canada somewhere, and that you are not paying a cent.
Posted by: Steve on September 5, 2007 at 3:08 PM My Grandmother got a call a few months ago from someone claiming to be from Horizon Plus and they told her her identity was in danger of being stolen and they needed her bank # Against her better judgement which she immediately regretted afterwards she gave them her bank number. They made no mention of taking any money out or she wouldn’t have done it. They said it was for the identity theft. Well they ended up taking over $400 out of her account putting her behind in all of her bills and this is a 73 year old woman living on social security. Whenever she contacts them they have a new excuse as to why they haven’t reimbursed her yet. First she had to wait 30 days for this literature they were sending. It never came then she had to wait 30 days for something in the mail. Still hasn’t come. The address they gave her is 1320 State Route 9 Champlain NY 12919 which I typed into the computer and how I came across this site. She doesn’t own a business but it seems to be the same horizon that’s scamming people. Posted by: Christine on September 13, 2007 at 8:04 PM I also have an invoice from All Purpose Business Communications for $399.95 and $24.99 for shipping. They have been calling me every month and sending/faxing me invoices. Is there a way to get out of this if you said “yes”? Posted by: Mirage on September 25, 2007 at 1:17 PM Wow! I finally found other people who are suffering with harrassing phone calls from All Purpose Business Communications. I have been dealing with these calls for about 2 years. They used to be called OISPages.com. They sure fooled me the first time they called, saying that I agreed to be listed in their directory for 2004 and 2005. They wanted me to pay $487. I reluctantly agreed to pay it after they reduced the bill to $440, just to make them go away. However, I disputed the AMEX charge a few days later. AMEX never contacted me. OISPages.com kept calling, but after about 10 calls, they went away. In July 2007, a “new” company named All Purpose Business Communications called with the same claim, only a little differnt. They wanted to charge us $399.95 for 2 years of listing in the National Business to Business Guide. They offered to backup their claim by sending us the CD version of their guide. Luckily, the man that answered the phone had no authority to authorize the charge. However, they have been calling every couple of weeks. They pass the phone from “manager to manager” trying different tactics to collect. They keep saying they have taped conversations proving we agreed to their “guide.” Next time, I am just going to tell them that I am going to call the FTC and Competition Bureau of Canada and hang up. Posted by: Mike Peterson on October 3, 2007 at 2:16 PM In April 2006 received an invoice from a company by the name of Canbic for something that had supposedly been sent by Canada Post. Contacted the phone number on the invoice and left message that I had no idea what they were talking about and had never received anything from them. Someone contacted me in May 2006 and told me that the “listing” had been authorized by ……… who was the previous owner (business sold in January 2005). We had supposedly received 2 free years of listing in exchange for two paid years. I could not prove or disprove that statement so said that I would pay the invoice (told it was for the two years we owed)under duress but that I wanted our name removed from the call list. Told that was no problem - that once the cheque cleared the bank they would send me in writing something showing that our account was closed. (also they would send me a copy of the listing again) Guess what - never got my letter saying the account was closed - never say proof of product. So today who should call again but Canbic telling me that I owe for my second year - told the gentleman that I had cancelled this last year (May 2006). Told me I was wrong but that that coversation actually took place this May (2007) - dug up my notes and low and behold they state that this was supposedly settled back in July of 2006. Called up their number - got a recorded message saying they were all busy and left a message requesting them to call me back - plan on telling them that according to my files my account with them is settled and that I have no intention of paying any more invoices and will if need be forward all my informaiton on the the Better Business Bureau. Who knows if this will be the end of them or not Posted by: nancy on October 3, 2007 at 3:41 PM These stories are funny to me. You place an order and then scream you didnt. You authorise an invoice to go to your attention and then claim that they said it was free. What I find to be funny is that the companies record verbal authorisation and quote the price to you. ask if they require a p.o number or to your attention. That means do we require a purchase order number from your company authorising a new order or do we simply put it to your attention? That is straight forward. When recieving the billing you complain you didnt authorise it. That is not true. Posted by: somebody on October 5, 2007 at 1:11 AM janet is retaded Posted by: somebody on October 5, 2007 at 1:28 AM why didnt you post my comment. The fact is people are stupid enough to get duped into a sale. They dont realise that the sale was authorised by them because they dont pay attention. That their own stupidity. Trith is if your on a buissness call you should pay attention. If you authorise an order without realising it…its your own fault. why not post what I wrote last time? is it because it didnt agree with what you said janet? The truth is that people authorise shipment without a po number and stipulate to send it to their attention. Is that a scam? And these companies have done buissness before with some of the companies. I for one know this for a fact cause I sell advertising. We stipulate the truth and have no candy coating around any of our products. We use our real address and anyoone can come to the office. so instead of giving all publicity companies a bad name….maybe you should do some investiagtion….thanks for your time janet and please enjoy your thanksgiving turkey.
Posted by: somebody on October 5, 2007 at 9:36 PM For starters, there were a lot of comments on various topics that didn’t get released - I missed notification of them in email. We just moved the blog to a new server, so it’s possible the email function isn’t working right (something I’ll have to have our tech team check out for us.) That said, I can’t say your comments give you very much credibility since you use the name “somebody” instead of a real email address. The name calling doesn’t make you sound very credible, or professional, either. We will enjoy our Thanksgiving turkey - the end of next month when it’s Thanksgiving in the US. :) Posted by: Registered User If someone agrees to receive a directory and pay an invoice, then they should be expected to pay. No scam there. The scam occurs during the initial call when the telemarketer lies (either knowingly or otherwise) to the person by implying there is an existing business relationship, and that this call is to either continue it or to end it, with either choice resulting in an invoice. This is a well known deceptive telemarketing tactic that has worked wonderfully for telemarketers. On the other hand it is illegal in Canada, and it has landed some of the worst and most egregious practitioners in prison with heavy fines. see http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/epic/site/cb-bc.nsf/en/02095e.html and http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/ftc_biz_directories.html and http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/02/ftc_biz_directory.html and http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/epic/site/cb-bc.nsf/en/00268e.html So the next time an obviously Canadian sounding person calls your during your busy day and asks you your name, say “yes” and shut up. The moment they mention the word “listing”, simply hang up without saying a word. If you don’t talk to them, you can’t be scammed. If they call and mention to you they have a tape, state that the tape is null and void, since it was obtained by deceptive and illegal telemarketing techniques, and any further contact from them will result in a complaint to: The Competition Bureau, The FTC, the Attorney General of the state where their mail drop is located, Phonebusters.org, and the RCMP – and then hang up. Posted by: Steve on October 23, 2007 at 10:34 AM I received a call on the 9th of november, 2007 from a so called representative of “New Corporate America” publishing in which the individual said that my company had a past due notice of payment outstanding. I , today the 20th of November recieved an invoice for $423.00 from this company after calling the number listed in the Montreal Quebec area My secretary spoke to a Mark Larenzo(believed to be a false name)My secretary is still waiting for a return call from customer services. I am going to the RCMP Fraud section on this matter. These people should be shut down and deported else where. Posted by: George Chiasson on November 20, 2007 at 11:42 AM I had posted back in October 2006 in reference to Executive Solutions. Well this morning I received a “Reminder Invoice” from Oxford Data Inc. They have a lot of nerves to send us a Reminder Invoice as back in 2004 I had sent them a letter attached to a cheque in the amount of $344.94 advising them to stop bothering us, that we had not ask to do business with them and that we won’t be doing business with them in the future either but for them to sop harrassing me, I sent in the “final payment” of $344.94. Four years later, they have the nerve to send me a “Reminder Invoice” of $490.14 which, by the way, I will not pay. I sent them another letter this morning attached to the invoice and the letter I had sent them in 2004 and I’ve also faxed this letter to the RCMP. The funny thing about all of this is that back in February of 2006, the company I work for was sold to another company, it’s been 2 years - the “Reminder invoice” they sent me was in the name and the address of the old company. When will these scammers get caught!!!! Posted by: Sylvie on January 14, 2008 at 10:05 AM This is an old, old scam. Back in the 1970’s, when I was a new employee, our office manager showed me a bogus invoice that he’d received for some sort of directory that we’d never ordered or received. He said he got several of them every year. They’d just send them out in the hopes that someone would pay without checking - which obviously happened enoung times to make it worthwhile. And that was in the days before e-mail, websites, 800/900 numbers, or even faxes (anybody remember telex…?). Sounds like they’ve gotten a bit more sophisticated now, but these scams have probably been going on since shortly after the invention of mail service. Posted by: Dave on January 25, 2008 at 10:13 AM I am in the process of disputing an invoice from New Corporate America Publishing Inc. out of Montreal, Quebec. Though they have a tapped conversation where, at the beginning, they confirm the mailing address, they can’t explain why the rest of my conversation is not recorded where I had requested a copy of the contract. I know the business I work for and know that we would not be paying this invoice. I was just contacted - this very minute from the company after faxing them with copies of this blog — they stated that I confirmed our advertising — I did not, I confirmed the address — this gentlemen then told me that the ‘shipping department’ called to confirm. If anyone receives an invoice from NEW CORPORATE AMERICA PUBLISHING, my advice, call them and tell them you will not be paying and copy the blogs which pertain to their company and send them off. Guess what folks - I’m not paying! Posted by: Lisa on January 29, 2008 at 2:39 PM Hi. I also am in the midst of a scam with Direct Media Souce. My situation sounds exactly like the gal with the crying baby who is dealing with the same company and feels as though she is in the thick of it. I also am an apartment manager- small complex of only 39 units so I am the only manager and my home is also the office. I have only been at this complex for 9 months. And I am also a stay-at-home mom. When I received their initial phone call, the salesperson made it sound as if we had an ongoing business relationship with them. Against my better judgment, and because I had been at the complex for a short amount of time, I assumed that the owners of the complex had already made these orders in the past and I was just confirming that address, name and phone number were all still correct. I am not authorized to make orders. When I receive advertising in the mail, I send it on to the owners and they sign off on it or reject it. So I just assumed I was JUST confirming. When I received the first invoice I grew suspicious. I called Direct Media Source and got a voicemail. Two weeks later I received a phone call from “Chris Brown” telling me they have a recorded confirmaton of my order and that we owe them $473.00 (this was after interest had accrued. Over the course of two months I have called about 20 times and NOT ONCE have I ever reached someone at their office. Always voicemail. I was about the pay the bill out of my pocket because I felt bad that the owner hadn’t ordered anything. I felt this was my fault. Then my husband decided to google the business to get an email address. We found NOTHING. The only reference to Direct Media Source was this blog. Then my husband looked up the company’s address and found it was a “virtual address”. So they are not really in New York (305 Madison Ave. Suite 449. Who knows where these guys are located. Then I called these people five times in two hours and received a phone call back. I asked “Chris Brown” if I could talk to a supervisor. He said the supervisor would have to call me back in 1.5 hours. Three hours later I still didn’t hear back. I am still waiting as I write this. Funny how an “advertising company” wouldn’t have an email address, website, real office where you could go and look at your product AND not send out your product before billing. We will see what happens from here. Posted by: Veronica on February 21, 2008 at 6:21 PM Joining the crowd, i received three calls this week. These people are super aggressive. Right now they are saying they need this reference number issued to take us off the list, blah blah blah….the story always changes. Wednesday and Thursday I spoke with a “Mike Norris” who sounded too intelligent to be involved with something like this. He claimed to be from “Data Sources Solutions” and wanted to renew our listing. We have no such thing. Today it was a gal who asked for a former employee saying that she signed up last January (1/2007). The former employee was not even hired at that time. She proceeded to tell me that was impossible!! I asked to get her phone number so the president can call her back. She said she had to send us an invoice for 649$!! When she told me to hold on she will get the 800# she hung up on me :) 3 days in a row. bring it on, cause i’m not being nice anymore. Can’t wait to see any REAL mail coming in. Posted by: gina on March 7, 2008 at 12:00 PM Haven’t read every post so I don’t know if anyone has stated this before. They now tape your conversation and edit out the refusal of service and manipulate it to sound like you agreed to the invoice. Do not talk to these people - 411 business direct tried this with me. An obviously foreign lady named Jill Sullivan, LOL - maybe name change? Posted by: Nathan on March 19, 2008 at 11:06 AM Seems like this is happening in Canada as well. The name of the company is Teledima and it is the same story. We received an invoice stating that a past employee (conviently enough) ordered the 5 year term through a VERBAL agreement. Then they said we paid 2 invoices and that $400 was due at the end of the term. This seemed fishy so I looked into the company. Google found a website that was a total of 3 pages which was very unprofessional. Then luckly I came across this site. Thanks to all those who have posted. I called them back and told them that if they wanted to take us to collections then they could do so. Posted by: daniela on May 22, 2008 at 2:27 PM We have been receiving the business directory calls yearly, When I was managing the office I always caught it before they tried to send me anything or charge us anything, but I went on Mat leave last year and I don’t know if my replacement caught it or not, but we got it again from Teledima this year, and I would have to say they are far more agressive than before. Posted by: Sherri on June 12, 2008 at 7:58 PM There is a new one by the name of (Media Distribution Network) 260 Labrosse,Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada H9R5L5). Invoiceing for American National Commercial Reference Manual $ 796.89 Posted by: Hilda on June 17, 2008 at 3:16 PM Paid an invoice back in 2002 to Global Access Publications (which upon hindsight we never should have done), and now Teledima phones up saying they have bought out Global Access, and we owe $389 plus taxes for something called the Western Canadian Business & Communications Directory. Got a CD from them which isn’t even worth the cost of the CD…anyone could have pulled the information from any other publication and copied it onto the CD. It is of very poor quality (my teenage daughter could have done a better job). I am contacting Teledima to tell them we are not paying this recent invoice, and that all advertising done by our company have a written and signed contract (all our purchases have a purchase order number assigned to them). I am also informing Teledima to expunge our company information from their system, that I am contacting the BBB with their scam, and that any further contact from them will involve our lawyers. Hopefully this will get them off our backs. Posted by: Bill on June 18, 2008 at 11:27 AM Anyone else get a call from ” MEDIA DISTRIBUTION NETWORK ” claiming that we are listed in their National Business Directory ” and that we have 2 invoices due at the end of June for 700.00 each ? They say, we have paid invoices for 700 each in 97, 98, 99. And for some reason, the final bill was due in 2008. I ask them ” where is this advertising I pay for ” They claim ” you were mailed a copy ” I have NO such thing. I demanded to see such invoices we ” paid ” in 97 ( problem is..company originated as Falcon in 200o ) . They tell me ” I ‘ll fax ” Im still waiting. They give me a number of 866 906 0269. They say they took over from NewLine Publications. Any one else get a call like this ? Im reporting them to the BBB..just trying to see what one to report to ,,and Im trying to get them to fax me scammy invoices. Also said was authori Kathleen Posted by: Kathleen Bain on June 19, 2008 at 10:07 AM I’m helping out one of our sister offices, and they received a letter from Edinburgh & Associates (which I cannot locate anywhere on google or yahoo), with an invoice from Direct Media Services for $449.95 plus $148.48 in “interest”. They too have a recording of an ex-employee authorizing a supposed listing. I found it all to be very strange, including the recording. All I heard was “yep” from the ex-employee for every question asked. I guess it could be doctored, but has anyone had any luck in disputing this actual company and its invoices? Posted by: Amy on July 15, 2008 at 12:52 PM What was the end result for those who refuse to pay the bill from Teledima? I have gotten snagged as I am new to the company AND we moved. They said we have a 6 year contract but gave a 2002 Invoice # and Check # for 20% of what they are charging this year. Let me know as this is what I am dealing with currently. Posted by: Mary E. Messina on September 8, 2008 at 12:16 PM I also just got a call from “Media Distribution Network” saying we have a bill of $778.00. I am so glad this blog exists - I had no idea this was going on. I will report them to the BBB, and not pay the bill. They also have a name of a previous employee, and unfortunately I confirmed my name and address with them… please let me know if there is something else I can do to take action against them. Posted by: blue room theater on September 9, 2008 at 2:27 PM I just got this same scam worked on me. We also paid a bill to Global Access Publications in 2004 that this company that called us claims was only the first part of our payment. Apparently now we owe them over $400 in addition to the $311 we foolishly paid in ‘04. When I asked the gentleman which company he worked for, he said he was in the “Records Department.” His name was Luke Owens. He eventually hung up on me, but only because I kept pestering him for a name and phone number where I could reach him. Hopefully he’ll send an invoice so I can get the info to the BBB. This money is supposedly going to pay for a CD-ROM—the Wisconsin State Business Registry. Posted by: public library on September 16, 2008 at 3:30 PM Here is a new one For the amount of $519.89 Posted by: Public Library on September 24, 2008 at 11:16 AM Blue room, Just got the same !!! But my bill is $835.89. I am not paying this! Luke said we had paid this in the past and this would be the last payment we ever have to make. I just took this company over and they mentioned the previous person who worked here before by name! I thought it was real! How do we as small business owners stop this???? I showed back invoices paid to Global as well..so this has been since 2001! Posted by: Carolina's Electric on September 25, 2008 at 11:53 AM All Purpose Business Communications Inc Invoiced my company $499.95. They used a company name that we had legally changed 4 years prior. (so know I did not authourize listing.) After innumerable phone calls it the “last” man before collections, offered to cut the bill to $250.00 and close the account if I paid immediately. Not going to happen. Thank-you for this site. Posted by: Barbara on December 9, 2008 at 4:40 PM My husband got a call on his cell phone telling him we had ordered some advertising of some sort and my husband argued that we had not ordered this. He got quite lippy and told us we would be getting a bill. We just got an invoice from All Purpose Communications Inc. in the amount of $499.95 plus tax. We are a small company and we do not advertise as we contract for one major company only. There is only my husband and I they would talk to and we know we didn’t authorize this. Can they actually take us to collections? There is no way in he** that I’m paying this bill! Posted by: Renee on January 2, 2009 at 1:46 PM Horizon Data from QC [has] been bugging me for over a year and now have passed onto a collections company called “Global Wide Receivables Services Inc.” - has anyone heard of them?? I never authorized this and when Andrea played back the recording it had been changed to say that i did request this - however it was not explained at all what the product or service was. Anyways now there is a guy by the name of Pat Lance at Global Receivables that keeps harrassing me and has said he has filed this against my personal credit bureau when I work for an incorporated company. Has anyone tried to sue or take action on these idiots? any response is appreciated thanks Posted by: jeremy d on January 21, 2009 at 11:30 AM We are a small business in Alberta. We are being haressed by a company called Teledima and one called Direct Data. They claim that we agreed to use their service and they have my husbands voice on tape saying that he agreed to this deal. They have both sent several invoices through the mail and now they have our fax number as well. I have called them to say we don’t want this service and they become very rude and agressive. We received a fax this morning at 6:30 am informing us that they are turning this over to their collection agency. I have refused to pay any of this but they are driving us crazy. I’m glad to here that we are not the only ones having problems. We need to put a stop to these kind of people disrupting the lives of small business people Posted by: Linda on January 22, 2009 at 11:36 AM I too am in the process of arguing with a man named “mark” from All Purpose Business Communicatons and said I agreed to the National Business to Business Directory. I told him I know he is scaming me but he says we are not and that the bill is real. I hope that there comes a time when the law can prosecute these people for their unlawful and deceptive business scams. I am not paying it and he can call all he likes he will never get a cent from our company. He too made me believe that there was a past relationship with our company when in fact there has never been. Posted by: Lori on January 29, 2009 at 12:14 PM My company received 3 such invoices. All for online directories which are essentially useless. One called 411 Directory Assistance. Another called EuroPages. All authorized by the same ex-employee (who didn’t have authorization). 2 Companies have a Montreal address, the other in New York. I reported all of them to the Competion Bureau of Canada. They contacted me and advised me not to pay them. I spoke with a Lawyer and he advised me a verbal agreement even if recorded is not a legal binding contract (at least in Canada) and therfore there is no obligation to pay. Per the FTC website some of these companies still invoice you (again) even after they promise to go away if you pay. My suggestion is you have to be firm, report to the FTC/Competition bureau and don’t ever pay! Terry (Canada) Posted by: Terry on February 19, 2009 at 3:05 AM New one phoning me now. Was All Purpose Business Solutions, now they’re calling themselves Nexus Solutions. Posted by: Nicole on March 11, 2009 at 12:15 PM Got hit by Media Distribution Network - 260 Labrosse,Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada H9R5L5. Trying to invoice for Canadian National Commercial Reference Manual. Around $600. Very persistent, sent a copy of the manual - all junk, outdated contacts, even our own company info was incorrect and outdated. Must have digitized an old phone book. Don’t pay! Posted by: Christine on May 4, 2009 at 12:50 PM There is another company (which I believe is connected with Teledima) calling themselves Mentor Media. They use the same method as Teledima used, where they call and record your voice and then play it back saying that they have you on tape as placing the order. Be careful! Posted by: Susan on May 4, 2009 at 1:56 PM I have had two encounters with this. I did not pay for the listing the first time, I had a lawyer handle it. Today, they started again under another business name. I called them today - threatened them with legal action - at which time he put me on hold to speak with his supervisor to see if we could work it out. He came back on the line and said they would cancel my invoice. I cannot locate any info on this company. They changed the name since the last attempt a few years ago, or it is a different group.The current info is: customer service reps name was Wilson Posted by: Line Contractor on June 1, 2009 at 1:08 PM I too have had All Purpose Business Communications Inc. calling, with the same above address. They have no website listing and a P.O number which makes me suspicious. I told them not to call again. Posted by: Hannah on September 23, 2009 at 2:54 PM |
|
|
|
|
Disclaimer
The information compiled on this site is
Copyright 1999-2008 by Attard Communications, Inc. and by the individual authors. |
Business Directory Scam
We’ve had several such companies target our small church in the last year. The latest arrive today from a company called Access America Inc, with an address of Rolling Meadows, IL. We have never placed such and order and they billed us for $499.95. They give a website address of www.northamerican411.com.
Unfortunately for them, they claim to have a verbal order by someone in our office not in charge of advertising, and we do our ordering on paper.
Be wary of anyone asking you to confirm your contat info over the phone.
Posted by: brandi on September 22, 2005 at 3:01 PM