(1)----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 10:51:02 -0500
From: Antje Mays (Winthrop Univ.) <maysa_at_exchange.winthrop.edu>
Subject: RE: Business directory scam
Hello All,
Scammy directory/listing phone calls are typically unsolicited. If you
get such a call, my best advice is to comb what is being said for the
equivalent of "fine print." Is it a company you've ever heard of before?
Listen carefully to what the sales-person is saying. Always ask what it
is you are being asked to do. To update your organization's listing?
To preview a publication? (if so, under what return conditions?) To make
a verbal commitment to purchase the publication in which your listing is
to updated? If you have a strange feeling about the conversation, keep
a written synopsis of it on file.
If you feel taken, tell the vendor you are considering reporting their
deceptive practices to the Better Business Bureau in their business's home
state. Libraries are under no obligation to purchase unsolicited
offerings.
Generally, the legitimate directories with the above-board intention of
updating your listing tend to mail a form for you to fill out. Their form
explicitly states that its purpose is updating your listing. It does not
"hide" a sales contract in the form and leaves the chance to purchase the
directory up to the organization with plainly written instructions.
Good luck!
Antje
======================================================
Antje Mays
Head, Monograph & A-V Acquisitions
Dacus Library
Winthrop University
Rock Hill, South Carolina 29733
phone: (803) 323-2274
fax: (803) 323-2215
e-mail: maysa_at_winthrop.edu
======================================================
(2)--------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 11:33:22 -0500
From: Andrea Dietze (Orange Co. PL) <ARDietze_at_ocpl.org>
Subject: RE: Business directory scam
It also doesn't hurt to alert non-acquisitions staff. Several of our
branches have been contacted "to update their listings" and receive a
business directory. Luckily, one of the branch librarians had been
taken in by this a couple of years ago and has since been very vocal
about the problem. I've been the acquisitions librarian less than one
year and already I've been contacted three times about this scam.
Andrea Dietze
Orange County (CA) Public Library
(3)-------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 15:00:07 -0500
From: Maria Astifidis <MAstifidis_at_bethisraelny.org>
Subject: ACQNET: Beware - Business directories -Reply
My institution has had a similar incident with a company called
Datatel. They claim that a collection agency named Dunn & Bradstreet
will be put on the case and lower our credit rating--I don't think a
measly $295 payment will close down our doors.
Received on Sat Mar 31 2001 - 14:11:38 EST