This call was from Lighting and Maintenance Solutions located at 3704 Bank St, Baltimore, MD 21224.
One of our employees received a phone call from an individual at this company who offered to send some free product. He got the individuals name and sent product with an invoice that said "Terms: Net 30". The invoice also indicated that the person who he spoke to had ordered the product. I called the number on the invoice and got an answering service. I tried to find the company on the internet but they were not listed. I found another company listed at the same address by the name Werner International Enterprise with at least 14 complaints from this web site and more complaints from the Better Business Bureau accused of doing the same thing that this company had done to our employee. We returned the product and will not pay
They have a rating of F from the Better Business Bureau. Here is a summary from the BBB about their business practices:
BBB files indicate that this business has a pattern of complaints concerning customers claiming to be offered a free catalog or a free sample and then receiving product with a bill instead.
BBB contacted this business regarding the pattern of complaints and received the following response from the owner.
"Our products are ordered in different ways. By phone and by internet. At no time would anyone ever receive a free sample or be told they would receive a free sample. After every order is placed, no matter how, the customer receives a call from our quality control officer who confirms the order with them. The customer is asked for a specific product code, the shipping address is verified, the customer is asked if they are authorized to purchase on behalf of the company and a purchase order number is asked for each order. It is not possible to think that the person ordering has no idea that he/she ordered from us. What has happened in the six complaints that we have received is that the person ordering over stepped their bounds and ordered on behalf of their company. We went through great lengths to resolve these complaints quickly and to the satisfaction of the customer. To reiterate, we do not offer free samples and would never offer free samples.
- See more at: http://www.bbb.org/greater-maryland/business- ... 10#reasonrating
Here is BBB's text of a typical complaint:
unethical Business practice "F" rated business on bbb.org
A sales person would start doing cold calls to business. Find out the person's name who would be incharge of maintenance. Than they would offer to ship a catalog. After a few days you receive fluorescent light bulbs in a box. Than comes the invoice with more that $500.00 with returned date passed. The cost of items at lowes/ homedepot is worth $12.00. You call them and you get the same old response as you have on the 77 complaints on bbb.org. They would not take the product and want to make a deal with half the rate. The account manager ***** ****** is smart and would also tell you that you will get a call from collection agency. I told them that please send a signed proof that we ordered the product or show me a recording of the order taken on the phone. ***** claims we do recording for training only. We told them that the name of the person on the order does not have authority to order and is not in the procurement dept. Your salesperson was going to send a catalog. They could not provide any written signed or recorded proof of order. I also did ask them why did you send a product without any form of payment?? I told ***** the product is here and they can send a prepaid UPS tracking if they need the product returned. He denied the return and wanted to make a deal which we refused. We will not bear the expense of return as we did not order the product. I did call
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX federal trade commission (FTC) consumer response dept. They directed me to Maryland consumer protection and legal assistance. They advised to flie a complaint with ******* ** ******* Maryland attorney general and other organization like bbb.org and Maryland consumer rights coalition. I will also communicate my case with ****** hotels international which is my business partner along with American hotel and motel association. After going on bbb.org I was surprised to see the same kind of complaints regarding this business and i will try to get in touch with all the other business affected by the unethical practices - See more at: http://www.bbb.org/greater-maryland/business- ... aints#breakdown
There are 17 PAGES MORE at the BBB site if you want to read them.
This call was from Lighting and Maintenance Solutions located at 3704 Bank St, Baltimore, MD 21224.
One of our employees received a phone call from an individual at this company who offered to send some free product. He got the individuals name and sent product with an invoice that said "Terms: Net 30". The invoice also indicated that the person who he spoke to had ordered the product. I called the number on the invoice and got an answering service. I tried to find the company on the internet but they were not listed. I found another company listed at the same address by the name Werner International Enterprise with at least 14 complaints from this web site and more complaints from the Better Business Bureau accused of doing the same thing that this company had done to our employee. We returned the product and will not pay
They have a rating of F from the Better Business Bureau. Here is a summary from the BBB about their business practices:
BBB files indicate that this business has a pattern of complaints concerning customers claiming to be offered a free catalog or a free sample and then receiving product with a bill instead.
BBB contacted this business regarding the pattern of complaints and received the following response from the owner.
"Our products are ordered in different ways. By phone and by internet. At no time would anyone ever receive a free sample or be told they would receive a free sample. After every order is placed, no matter how, the customer receives a call from our quality control officer who confirms the order with them. The customer is asked for a specific product code, the shipping address is verified, the customer is asked if they are authorized to purchase on behalf of the company and a purchase order number is asked for each order. It is not possible to think that the person ordering has no idea that he/she ordered from us. What has happened in the six complaints that we have received is that the person ordering over stepped their bounds and ordered on behalf of their company. We went through great lengths to resolve these complaints quickly and to the satisfaction of the customer. To reiterate, we do not offer free samples and would never offer free samples.
- See more at: http://www.bbb.org/greater-maryland/business- ... 10#reasonrating
Here is BBB's text of a typical complaint:
unethical Business practice "F" rated business on bbb.org
A sales person would start doing cold calls to business. Find out the person's name who would be incharge of maintenance. Than they would offer to ship a catalog. After a few days you receive fluorescent light bulbs in a box. Than comes the invoice with more that $500.00 with returned date passed. The cost of items at lowes/ homedepot is worth $12.00. You call them and you get the same old response as you have on the 77 complaints on bbb.org. They would not take the product and want to make a deal with half the rate. The account manager ***** ****** is smart and would also tell you that you will get a call from collection agency. I told them that please send a signed proof that we ordered the product or show me a recording of the order taken on the phone. ***** claims we do recording for training only. We told them that the name of the person on the order does not have authority to order and is not in the procurement dept. Your salesperson was going to send a catalog. They could not provide any written signed or recorded proof of order. I also did ask them why did you send a product without any form of payment?? I told ***** the product is here and they can send a prepaid UPS tracking if they need the product returned. He denied the return and wanted to make a deal which we refused. We will not bear the expense of return as we did not order the product. I did call
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX federal trade commission (FTC) consumer response dept. They directed me to Maryland consumer protection and legal assistance. They advised to flie a complaint with ******* ** ******* Maryland attorney general and other organization like bbb.org and Maryland consumer rights coalition. I will also communicate my case with ****** hotels international which is my business partner along with American hotel and motel association. After going on bbb.org I was surprised to see the same kind of complaints regarding this business and i will try to get in touch with all the other business affected by the unethical practices - See more at: http://www.bbb.org/greater-maryland/business- ... aints#breakdown
There are 17 PAGES MORE at the BBB site if you want to read them.