Was called by Amerinet telemarketers ca. January. Our receptionist was told we were "renewing" listing in the Amerinet business to business directory; she agreed. This was untrue; no prior listing existed. Shortly thereafter we received an invoice by mail for $349.95. We contacted Amerinet Inc. And requested that the listing be cancelled. They refused, telling us the directory had already been published with our ad in it (remarkably quick turn-around!) and that payment was due as per our phone agreement.
We explained to them that our receptionist had exceeded her authority in authorizing this purchase and that we would have never agreed to this. (We also stated that the person who was originally contacted was fired for theft shortly after the "agreement" was made.) We were told that that was no excuse and that we were still liable. No written contract exists.in June we were contacted again by Amerinet, demanding payment. When we told them we were not going to pay they offered us a "discount" of $149.95. We sent no money and did not hear back from them for 2 years.
In January Amerinet contacted us again, demanding $249.95 and that if we didn't pay we would be charged for interest on our debt, etc. We were also played a tape recording of our receptionist agreeing to purchase this ad. We were then sent a fax showing a random list of companys, including ours, on a "page" from their "directory."
The company gave us an address as a PO Box in Champlain NY, welll known as a mail drop for offshore con artists.
Some quick research revealed Amerinet's BBB rating to be unsatisfactory. We also have found that companies engaging in similar business practices have been successfully prosecuted by district attorneys in several states as well as the Federal Trade Commission. We contacted them again requesting a business license, names of individuals on the board of directors, and information regarding the circulation of his "directory"; they promptly refused, and then threatened to take us to court over the disputed invoice.
Needless to say we believe that sending them money would be a foolish thing to do. The "directory listing" they "published" was completely worthless to us. No one has even heard of the "Amerinet Directory.)
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