It appears this scam has gotten more advanced since the last report. I received a call from someone while our office manager was out, who was apologizing for an order of toner which he said she had ordered and had been mistakenly delivered to the wrong address. He knew our office manager's name, and said she had been trying to reach him and that he was taking care of it right away. He said someone would call me back in a few minutes from his supply chain to confirm the order to make sure it was shipped right away. I said fine. The next person called to confirm the order, I wasn't even thinking of a scam because they didn't ask for payment, they appeared to be just fixing their mistake. So I said ok and that was the end of it. Or so I thought.
Turns out our office manager had never ordered the toner in the first place. And the toner they sent and then tried to bill us for was 4x the price of the toner we get. We work for a nonprofit and try to keep costs low in order to help as many children as we can in the developing world. So this was completely unacceptable.
So she tried to get in touch with them, they were extremely evasive but finally called her back. They conveniently played back the 2nd call they had made with me where I said ok, then tried to convince her to pay the bill but order other supplies through them that she could use and return the expensive toner. She asked them to email her a catalog of what she could order. They never did. Then they called a month later to ask her to pay the bill, she again said no, but that she would be happy to return the toner. Then they wanted a 20% restocking fee since x amount of time had already passed. Needless to say, it is still sitting in our office unused, and there is no way we are paying for it. A few months later, they called me again about this "unpaid bill." I told them exactly what I thought about them and that any communication they had with our organization would need to be in writing, and I have not heard from them again.
This company has numerous complaints on the Better Business Bureau's LA website: http://www.la. BBB.org/business-reviews/Office-Supplies&Sale-by-Deceptive-Telemarketing/Supply-Distribution-and-Information-Network-in-Los-Angeles-CA-88000194.
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