Have you been scammed by a company? Did you sign up with a company only to lose money, lose time and lose valuable jewelry or other possessions? Are you wondering what to do? Are you leary about claims that you see on the internet? Read this article and learn how to protect yourself and learn how to report and protect others also. At the bottom of my article, I post the weblinks of many BBB and many Attorney Generals and many Consumer Affairs Agencies throughout the United States of America. Please use these links if you were scammed or if you have done business with a dishonest company.
Things You’ll Need:
Instructions
Step1
The best and first way to stop false claims, false advertising, scammers and spammers is to let the world know the truth. The best way to let the world know the truth about these companies and individuals is to write an article here about it. Write another article at the site of ezinearticles.com and write more articles about the scams and false advertisers in your own blogs and journals.
Step2
Name the companies that you are writing about. Give their full names, and repeat their names in the articles. Pray that eHow.com allows the articles to be printed --if eHow is interested in honesty, they will permit it. To make sure that your article qualifies to be published you need to be sure to write the "THREE STEPS" to avoid scams, spammers and false advertising. Do not make the article a personal attack on the company but instead, write all the facts that happened, and then write the three steps that anyone else can take to avoid those scammers. For example, in this article that I write right here, my first step to avoid the scammers and false advertisers is to 1. Tell everyone you know about the company. Tell the whole world via articles and blog posts. Tell your friends, relatives and co-workers. Scammers can only continue to exist if their frauds are secret. By telling the world, you are breaking the secret code and you help to stop scammers.
Step 2. The way that you tell them is to consistently blog and write articles about the scams, naming the scammers, and specifically stating how you should blog or write about them. In this and other cases, blog and write clearly. Blog and write without anger or personal vendetta, but blog about exactly what happened. Write about what you expected to happen (their claim of what they were offering), in this case, Inbox Dollars claimed that I would be getting paid for just "reading emails". In this case, the claim is false as I have never been paid any money at all, but rather received only one email stating that I "earned" five dollars. There was no offer to send the five dollars to me, nor was there any instructions or ways that I could ever collect the five dollars. AND, even if there ever was, I would have to read thousands of emails and buy hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise, products or services before I ever see a penny of the money.
Step3
Step three is easy and it is hard. The way that you can stop these scammers is to read, and read thoroughly. Instead of just signing or clicking on everything that they send you, be sure to read their TOS --which is Terms of Service --before subscribing or joining anything or everything. Here is what you see when you read scammers TOS, usually you will see that they give themselves EVERYTHING and give their customers nothing or very close to nothing. Other things you will see in TOS is that you might have to pay shipping and handling for any free products. Now, this shipping and handling can come to lots of money, in some cases, it comes to more money than the actual product is worth. Then you will see that usually the companies are not responsible for lost products and if they are, they are responsible only up to a small limit. For example, one such company called "Gold Cyclers", offers to pay you good money for your gold and jewelry. They tell you to send it all to them and they will pay you. What does the fine print say? (AND most customers never read the fine print because the TOS is usually so long and rediculously packed with facts and terms that it would take an hour to really read through it and understand the terms and agreements). The fine print says if there is ever any problem, that all customers agree to let the California courts have the final say and jurisdiction. In other words, if you deal with Gold Cyclers on the net and you live in New Jersey or in Maryland, if there is any disagreement between you and them, you have to go to the California courts to settle it. The other fine print says that they are responsible for only up to one hundred dollars for what you ship to them, if the product is lost. MOST times, people who are going to be shipping gold and jewelry are usually shipping values worth well more than one hundred dollars. Suppose you ship them your heavy gold bracelet that is worth $3,000., and you sit there expecting to be paid at least something of its' weight. Will you be happy with this service? Suppose the bracelet is lost in the mail? Then the Post office is responsible, but if you claim that Gold Cyclers lost it or if they are responsible, Gold Cyclers has to pay you ONLY $100. and that is only after the matter is settled in a California court...if that is applicable. So, read all the TOS. Here is a way to save yourself money and time, another part of step three is this:
Step4
If you are applying to a company online or in person, and if you intend to do business with such a company, do not sign, do not apply UNLESS or UNTIL, you have read each and every word of the TOS -the Terms of Service. You would not hire a lawyer without reading his contract, so do not hire any company at all without reading their contract, their TOS, their terms of service. Remind yourself as you read through companies' high pitched, hard sell, "hard to believe" advertising that most times, yes, most times, the advertising is grossly exaggerated and there probably are lots of false claims included in that advertising. And if there are no false claims, there are probably lots of "exagerated" facts. And once a fact is exaggerated, it basically turns out to be a false claim if you think about it. Get paid for just reading emails? Not in this planet.
*****SEE the resources section to get the links for the FREE Consumer Handbook. This book gives extensive information about major companies in the United States. Last time we looked in there, they listed the Presidents names and CEO's of major companies. When you have a legitimate beef with a company, write right to the President of the company and see how quickly you get results. The Resource section contains web links to other Consumer Affairs and Better Business departments from various states in the USA, and also one link that is to the BBB for "ALL" of the United States. You can reprint this article for non-commercial purposes. Spread the word about scammers and spammers. Use my link in your blog to help stop scammers. Please report those companies that have scammed you or those that are using false advertising.
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