I paid to advertise in THE TRIVIA PAGES publication for three different cities nearby, where I do not happen to have any business clients at all. The sales rep who sold me on this advertising scheme showed me a list of 7 restaurants in each of the three cities, where the Trivia Pages have been and would be displayed on every table. He also showed me a pile of forms that were filled out for other restaurants in the area, so he said that there would be dozens of restaurants where my ads would be seen in each of the three cities. The Trivia Pages is an 8 to 10 page laminated booklet with lots of Trivia questions and answers, along with the ads of those sponsoring it. Also, each company has some of the Trivia Pages printed with a feature article about your company on the front and back pages. Seemed like a great idea. They were supposed to be sent out four times per year to each restaurant, so there were always "fresh" trivia questions. The Trivia Pages were published and shipped out in October.By March I had not received one single inquiry based on those ads. So I started investigating, and going to the restaurants on my list. Could not find a single restaurant displaying the Trivia Pages, or making them available to customers. Started calling some of the other restaurants... Still nothing. No one ever even HEARD of the product! Contacted the Oregon BBB, which has multiple similar complaints. They contacted Northwest Publishing, who said they would send me the UPS shipment info, and said they would conduct a phone survey of the restaurants, to prove that the Trivia Pages are being used. After several more calls, I finally got the UPS shipment data... Only one shipment from October thru end of March, of 50 booklets to each restaurant on the original list of 7 per city. As for the phone survey, first they said they were making the calls, then they said they were going to ship out more booklets and THEN make the calls (I think they discovered exactly what I had discovered.). THEN the manager, LINDA, told me that my CONTRACT does not in any way REQUIRE that they actually ship and number of Trivia Page booklets to any number of restaurants, and does not in any way guarantee that ANYONE WILL EVER SEE THE AD. She said "Just read your contract" (The contract was the order form for the ad... And yes, it only says they will print the ads and publish them, not that they will actually see that the product is ever used.) Therefore, they feel they have fulfilled their contract. WHAT A LOAD!!! Beware, do not waste your money... This scam is going on all over the US, targeting small business owners.
0 comments