A nice-looking young man named "Matthew" came to our door saying he lived "up the street" and was raising funds to get his baseball team to a tournament in Hawaii and it was especially for team members who didn't have much money. My policy is never to give money to door-to-door salespeople of any kind but this kid was so appealing (and looked like my younger son years ago) that I listened to his pitch. I don't know everyone on the street so I believed he did live on it. Then I looked at his small catalog of publications and found 3 books (at $48 each) that would be good references for our grandkids. So I said OK and as I started to write a check to PPC he said his coach would be calling in 3 days to confirm the sale to us. Then he said if I bought one more book he would wash our car in a couple of weeks for nothing. That clinched it so I bought another book. I believed he would contact us about a car wash when he returned from Hawaii. When we did not hear from him or get the books within a month's time and there had been no call from a "coach, " I tried calling the PPC customer service number on the receipt "Matthew" had written out. The voicemail was filled and no call could be taken. I called neighbors to find out if they knew a "Matthew." No one did. I then checked the company on the Internet and found another complaint so similar to my experience that I decided to file a report myself. We did find the $150 check had been cashed so I am afraid we are just out of luck on that score. A sad lesson for me to remain true to my policy of not contributing to anyone at the door or buying anything sight unseen. I feel bad that a seemingly nice kid is contributing to such a fraud.
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