A woman from "select shopper" named Mary came into my new business claiming to run an advertising booklet much like clipper magazine. She promised me the front cover for my zip code and said she would have her designer do all the artwork for me. The price was $138 and it was supposed to go to 10,000 homes. Since this sounded like such a good idea I jumped on it and paid her the money in full. A few days later she stopped back in to tell me I could have another zip code mailed free. I choose my home zip code. After that she said she would stop by to show me the ad before it went out, but when I tried to reach her she said it already went out and she was too busy to stop by. I asked several people in my small town if they received the book, and none did. She said the mailing went out to 2,000 people in my town and 10,000 in the businesses zip code. When I looked at the census information, neither town had that many homes! That would mean everyone in the town got one. Her excuse for the books not going to the people I was speaking to was that not everyone received one - a LIE! I spoke with another local business that had dealt with her and they were dealing with the same issues. We were both promised the front page for the same zip code and the same mailing. She would leave me messages on the business phone before hours so we never actually spoke, and when I tried to return her messages she got increasingly nasty and bothered. First she was busy that week, then the next week, and so on. I told her I was going to the police if I didn't get my money back, and she was smart enough to come refund us. I believe she did this because now the police can't do anything about it. She claimed the mailing house she used was scamming her. But her story changed so many times, it is hard to know what the truth is. Upon further investigation, I found that this company doesn't actually exist and there is no material available on the company online. I wanted to spread the word out there that this woman is preying on small businesses in this area. Do your own investigating before agreeing to anything! We learned the lesson the hard way, and now we have no advertisement out in the community! Don't fall victim to the same thing we did!!
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