We received an invoice for a service that we did not request. Someone called us and confirmed our mailing address and then we received this bill. The person's accent is extremely hard to understand. The employee who took the call thought this was for confirming an ad. He asked numerous times if this was an existing account. And someone said yes we were an existing account. The person keep stopping the recording. The person keep saying they were confirming information, and that this was an existing account that was being renewed.
The order was supposedly placed 11-19 and we first received a bill on December 11th. We called the phone number on the bill on December 11th and the answering machine said they were out of the office and would not return until December 1st. Very strange. When we were able to make contact we spoke to a woman named "Amber", who refused to give her last name. Amber was quite rude, evasive, and frankly dishonest. She claimed that customer service were the only people we could talk to. She would not transfer us to any management people.
When I asked why we would get a call saying we had been previously listed and told we had paid, she was very quick to say it was probably a "complimentary listing". She was so fast in giving this response, that it seemed expected. Is this how you trick people? Do you give a complimentary listing, without their knowledge, then call them and try to get a "renewal"?
My conversation with "Amber" was quite amusing in a sense that she was rude and dishonest. First she claimed that the computers didn't hold enough information to look back at our past listing to confirm whether it was a paid listing, or in fact one of these "complimentary listings". This is absurd, as was pointed out to "Amber". Your computers don't have enough memory to save TEXT FILES? Perhaps someone should inform "Amber" how little space text files take up, so she won't make a fool of herself by using this lie in the future.
The truth is, your computers hold the exact history of each company you deal with, she just didn't want to make our case for us. "Ambers" second blatantly obvious lie was that this listing had "already gone to print", so couldn't be stopped. When asked what was the listing printed in, she replied " ON CD ROM". Now that's pretty different from actually "printing". It's very easy to remove a text file from a computer listing. It's not like stopping the presses on the morning newspaper. I asked "Amber" if there was a website, and she said "NO". That is really a bad sign. I asked if they had a corporate office, she gave me a PO Box. Another bad sign. I asked for a name of a Company President, Vice President, CEO or similar, but again nothing.
I dropped the matter until I received another bill about a month later with a threat of collections. I called the company and had a conversation with two people:
Contact Market Data, Conversation with Chad Cowey - customer service on 3-2-04 at about 11 am est. Regarding invoice that we are disputing to see if this is a valid company.
Order supposed to be taken by Jeff Burgess He is not authorized to make a purchase? He said has a tape recording. Why were we told that we were renewing our order when we have never done business with contact management before? He said this was not true. Where is proof that we have done business before with Contact Management when they told Jeff that this is a renewal? Could not answer this question. Is there a signed contract? No signed contract. What is the product we ordered? A CD rom. When was the order placed? Nov. 10th. Why is there a shipping charge of $20. There is a shipping charge of $20. After we send in payment we will receive the product. Who receives this product? He said companies. How many people receive this product? He said did not know. I asked how many cd's are shipped each day. He did not know. How do you decide who receives these cd's. He did not know. What is the physical address - not po box? He would not give out this information. Who is the owner? He said a board of directiors. Would not give out names. How long in business? Not sure how long in business. What is their website? They have no website. What are the names of three satisfied customers? He would not give this info and became very rude on the phone and told me to just pay this invoice.
Contact Market Data, Conversation with Amber on 3-2-04 at about 10 am est. Regarding invoice that we are disputing to see if this is a valid company. Order supposed to be taken by Jeff Burgess. He is not authorized to make a purchase? She did not respond. Why were we told that we were renewing our order when we have never done business with contact management before? Could not answer this question. Where is proof that we have done business before with Contact Management when they told Jeff that this is a renewal? Could not answer this question. Is there a signed contract? No signed contract. What is the product we ordered? A CD rom. When was the order placed?
Nov. 10th. Why is there a shipping charge of $20
There is a shipping charge of $20. After we send in payment we will receive the product. When invoice was shipped out? She said it was shipped out on Nov. 19. I asked why we received it on Dec. 11th. She did not know.
Who receives this product? She said companies. How many people receive this product: She said about 500,000 are shippped out each year. What is the physical address - not po box? She would not give out this information
Who is the owner? She said a board of directiors. Would not give out names. How long in business? She has worked there 2 years. Not sure how long in business. What is their website? They have no website. What are the names of three satisfied customers? Would not give this info.
My conclusion:
This is a scam and we will not be sending them in money. Do not do business with companies that do not know the product they are selling (Two representatives from Contact Market Data did not know who this cd was sent to how many are sent out, if any, or anything else, they do not give out physical address, do not have website to promote their business, do not have any referrals, and do not have information on the product they are selling. I do not think they send any of these cd's out.
This is a scam. Do not pay this.
Charles
San Francisco, California
U.S.A.
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