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  • Report:  #765686

Complaint Review: Cambridge Who's Who Publishing

Cambridge Who's Who Publishing Donald Trump Jr Director, Jennifer Jacobs Senior Resolution Administrator Telemarketing Scam, Deceptive Advertising, Trickery Uniondale, New York

  • Reported By:
    John M — Bohemia New York United States of America
  • Submitted:
    Tue, August 16, 2011
  • Updated:
    Mon, November 14, 2011

I signed up for a member listing in the Cambridge Who's Who Registry under the impression that I would get some good PR from it. I wasn't positive of the value and the price was a bit steep (around $700) but I thought I give it a try and see. Then about 3 months later the business model and tactics of Cambridge Registry becomes clear after a guy named Roger calls me on my cell phone and identifies himself as a representative of Cambridge and wants to "go over one quick thing". I will relate the content of the call as it was played back to me when I called Cambridge to complain about $897 in unauthorized charges to my credit card. As the conversation progresses (over 7- 8 minutes) I'm led to believe that Roger is confirming the accuracy of the information that the registry will have about me and my business. At about the 8-9 minute mark he mentions a cost of $897 (he talks very quickly) then asks to verify the last 4 of my credit card for security reasons. I say, " Say that again, I missed that", because I didn't hear what he said. He then repeats only the part about the security verification (leaving out any mention of the $897) and I assume that he wants to verify that I am really me since I know that they used my credit card to process my original membership so I confirm the last 4 of my credit card. Then he goes into a 2-3 minute rant about all the great stuff that Cambridge has to offer at which point I am paged to a meeting and I tell him I have to cut him short because I have to go. I say OK, bye and the call ends.

2 Weeks later I get my credit card bill and see this $897 charge from Cambridge so I call them and leave a message to call me back. A few hours later a girl named Jennifer Jacobs calls me and I explain that I have these charges on my credit card and don't know what they are for. She looks it up and then tells me in great detail that Roger called me and I bought some additional products from him.
I say no I did not. She plays the tape of the phone call to me and says in her opinion I gave authorization to use the card because I verified the card number. I tell her that was not the case and she holds here ground but offer to credit me $189 for something that wasn't done yet. I say that's not enough and I don't want anything they have to sell me. She says she can't do anything about it and will email me something to sign to get the $189 back. Later I get the email and it's a document that basically says if I take the $189 I agree that the transaction is to my complete satisfaction. Wooah! What a well crafted SCAM! Anyway, I sign the doc so I can at least get the $189 back and minimize my losses.
I can't believe that a high profile guy like Donald Trump Jr would lend his name to a company that depends on crafty telemarketers who use deception and diversion to trick people into authorizing payment for things of no real value.

If you get a call or email or direct mail from these snakes- throw it on the trash.
Don't be a victim like me.

3 Updates & Rebuttals


Tagurit

Plano,
Texas,
USA

Dealing with Who's Who under NY Law

#4Consumer Comment

Mon, November 14, 2011

Yep Justice33 - aka company shill.

Can't believe these Who's Who organizations are STILL around.  Vanity publishing at it's best.   Better value out of LinkedIn although I am disspointed that LinkedIn lets them advertise on their site.

Note to anyone who was taken for over $500.  If you don't SIGN anything they can't enforce it  Under NY law - which is where they reside - they must have a signed contract to enforce payment of fees for their membership.  Use this knowledge to your advantage.  Better yet avoid these guys all together.


Justice33

United States of America

Cambridge Who's Who helped me!

#4Consumer Comment

Mon, October 24, 2011

I am more than pleased with the assistance I received after purchasing a membership with Cambridge Who's Who Publishing in Uniondale, NY. 

In fact, I have been a member for 3 years now and besides my membership (which included a long, professional listing of both myself and my business) my business has increased.  I use this profile link and send it to my new clients and it does work.  I also use their on line member linked in to talk to other professional in my industry, nationally.

In addition, I have paid for and been listed in their new magazine and they have built me a website as well.  This is my way of advertising-cheaply!  Where can I advertise nationally?  Yellow pages stopped working for me years ago. 

I read a lot of the remarks here and it is false.  I believe that some of these derogatory remarks are from unprofessional business people, not wanting to pay for what they are getting. 

I hope this helps this company as I see this is an injustice...because I really got my money's worth!
Justice33


John M

Bohemia,
New York,
United States of America

Updated

#4Author of original report

Fri, October 14, 2011

October 14th, 2011: As of this writing, Cambridge phoned me and said that they decided to refund all of the money that they charged me for their "additional marketing package" and they will no longer have telemarketers contact me about other products. In addition, the person who contacted me made reference to the original article that I posted here and asked that I remove the names of a person I mentioned. Unfortunately that is not possible on Ripoff Report. I wonder if they would have offered a refund if I hadn't posted or if they knew that it isn't possible to edit the first posting?

I guess we'll never know the answer to that question. They refunded my credit card- case closed.

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