One day I received an email saying: "I am working with VAEA in Loma Linda, CA. I am looking for a computer repair that some of their 3,700 employees can go to. We are currently expanding our network of local businesses in Loma Linda for them to use as a preferred source. If you are willing to offer special pricing or a discount to these employees, then we will feature your business in a variety of ways. You will be on a website that we create for the employees go to, in monthly emails we send out, and also on a mobile website so the employees have your location and contact information set in their phones.
I replied I was interested and the same day I received a call for an "interview", which turned out to be a sort of inquisitorial conversation just to end up getting me ready to pay "a fee" of 40 dls for their "service". I was much into the prospect of a good business to say "wait a minute! I was not supposed to be buying but selling services".
Nonetheless, after knowing that that amount would cover the two first months and that I could cancel any time before the end of that trial, I decided to give it a shot.
Later I was recalling the way I fell into the trap and I had to admit: man, they are good at selling! Instead of presenting themselves as sellers they pretend to be buyers and before you realize, they already got you.
The next day I received a confirmation message and tried to activate my account. The procedure never worked and I started to realize that the website is rather poor and awkwardly flawed. I tried to publish some "offers" but when I tried to see a preview, nothing came out!
After several attempts I decided not to waste more time and cancel. I tried to go to "my account" on the website but the link won't work. I call them up and they referred me to a person who wasn't in his office at the time. The day after finally I spoke with a person who said my account was cancelled and he would send me a confirmation email, which never hit my inbox until after two weeks I called them back.
The person who engaged me in this trap is named Katarina Montgomery. Attempts to contact her on the phone to address the issues never were responded.
I wondered whether I could call my bank and dispute the payment I made with my credit card. It seemed feasible since I got nothing at all from their "services". I called the bank (chase) and they said they could not do anything 'cause for the bank that was not a fraud.
Too late I found references of the company on this page: http://justsmallbusiness. Tumblr.com/post/11665188257/7-ways-to-communicate-ineffectively
Some other people has written about the same company's fraudulent practices.
I hope my experience can help others to be aware when they receive an email saying something like "I'm looking for a good... (your business)."
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