I received a phone call from JCOM Skymedia asking to speak to a manager or the person who makes financial decisions for my company. I answered the phone, and I make financial decisions for the company, so I took the phone call. The gentleman asked me if I would like to renew our white pages listing. I said yes, as we renew our white pages listing every year. He then responded that a Quality Control person would be contacting me to verify our information for the listing. I thought nothing of this, as companies often have another representative call to confirm address information.
When the "Quality Control" person called, they confirmed our name, address, and phone number, then stated that we should receive a copy of the listing within 30 days. I confirmed everything, as I normally do for our white pages ad. Directly before hanging up she quoted a price of 449, and then promptly disconnected. Once again, I didn't think much of it because our white pages ad is roughly the same cost.
Fast forward to one month later when I receive an invoice for an "American Business Reources" guide, including company listing, at a price of $449.95! Plus and additional $19.95 for shipping and handling. I promptly called the company, and stated that I did not agree to buy this product. The woman produced a tape of the second call, and said that I had agreed to purchase this listing, and that she would not authorize the return. I explained to her that the first woman I spoke to stated that this was for our white pages ad, and never once stated that it was for anything else. The lady then snarkily said that I spoke with a man the first time, not a woman, implying that I have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. She also stated that they had a taped recording of me agreeing to buy this product, and I would be expected to pay for it. I informed her (and not very kindly, I might add) that I agreed to no such thing, they were intentionally misleading in their representation of the product, and I would not be paying this invoice because they are blatantly ripping people off. She responded that she would be contacting the owners of the business to inform them of the situation, and that she would also inform them of the language I used with her (remember how I said I wasn't very kind?). I told her to go right ahead, that the language wouldn't improve when she contacted the owners because this is a scam. She then told me to have a nice day, and terminated the phone call.
After we hung up, I promptly called the Better Business Bureau and lodged a formal complaint. The woman I spoke with at the BBB informed me that 25 complaints have been filed against this particular company with the exact same complaints. My co-worker then called the Federal Trade Commission and lodged a formal complaint with them. We also filed a formal complaint with our state's consumer protection organization. I want to make sure that this happens to no one else, and I would like to see this company put out of business.
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