My initial contact was like all others: young honor student girl selling books to make money for a trip to an academic contest. She said she lived up the street and her father put her up to this. She only needed two more sales and she was done. Now my town only has about 150 houses, but I've only lived here two years. I'd never seen her before in my life. I felt sorry for her and asked to see what she was selling.By the look on my face when I looked over her ridiculous price sheet, she knew I wasn't buying. She told me I could make a donation and an underprivileged child could choose a book. Who wants to deny an underprivileged child a chance to read, so I wrote a check for $40.
So I'm a pretty sharp person and this all seemed legit so far... Until she handed me the receipt. It was one of those carbon slips that the magazine scammers use. I immediately got suspicious and started asking questions. I asked her how long she lived in town. She said she lived in Galeville for a few years. She mispronounced the name of our town badly. Hmm, maybe I misheard. I asked her how she liked living in Galeville, mispronouncing it the same way to see if she reacted. She said she liked it, but missed her 80 acre farm. The 4 acres she lived on now were too small. I asked her if she lived on the water. She said yes. Now I knew she was lying as 4 acres on the water here costs well over $5 million. I let her go.
When she left, I look on the receipt and it says that my "donation" is not tax deductible. Now I'm pissed. I do a little research and find the following list of company aliases and phone numbers (which you should keep calling until you get a live person):
Phone: 770-831-7733
phone: 770-831-7722
phone: 770-831-7002 (Ultimate Power Sales)
phone: 770-831-7050 (Ultimate Empire Sales)
phone: 770-831-7030 (Xtreme Marketing Inc.)
fax: 770-831-7040
I start calling and most lead to full mailboxes. Finally someone answers without identifying the company (pretty shady). I ask if I've reached Xtreme marketing. She says no. I tell her that I know her company is affiliated and I'm trying to reach customer service. Suddenly she comes clean and says that they are very busy and that I should fax in a cancellation. She was very nice about it. She tells me that she brought in a cancellation from her neighbor just that day. I found that hilarious. "Oh, my ripoff company got you? Let me take this in to work tomorrow and I'll get it straightened out! Let's have coffee." (sorry, dear, if I got you fired, but it's probably for the best).
I fax in a cancellation per her request and get no confirmation. Because of a huge mortgage, I have free stop payment on my checking account. To be safe, I took advantage of it.
Well, I got the check back. The back was stamped for deposit and the front was voided by my bank! My only consolation is that they must have been charged a fine by their bank. Good.
These people need to be stopped! I know for a fact that the road crews do not send in the checks but once a week. It is not too late to issue a stop payment. If you paid them by check, call your bank now! Do it even if the fee is more than the check. These people do not deserve your money!
Here's another issue. The crew managers routinely harass and physically abuse these kids. They also cannot leave if their sales do not exceed the cost of their training, lodging and travel. Yes, they can actually lose money by doing this so called job. Many of them think their only way out is to satisfy the crew manager by selling. I read that what you should do is offer them a phone to call their parents and offer them safe harbor until they arrive. I plan on doing this the next time they come to my door.
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