If your business is already open, you may already have experienced this. From the second you open your doors (or business) people will come out of the woodwork to get your hard earned money. Just say no to EVERYONE. Seriously. When someone calls you on the phone, and tells you they can get you more business then you ever dreamed of, or if your company is not using them you will be hedged out by competition, here is what you say, "Thanks for the advice; I will research your company and get back with you." Of course, they are going to try to keep you on the phone or get you to say "yes" in whatever way you can, but just say "NO." You must protect your investment, and giving in to just one of these people will widdle away your cash month by month, one $20-$30 charge at a time. Some of these programs are nearly impossible to get out of.
It took me 3 years to get out of my Citysearch jam. They claimed I was "lucky to be grandfathered in" to my $250 per month service. Well, I did not feel so lucky that all of my clicks were happening on the same day, and my budget was always used up by the fourth or fifth day of the month. It is hard to prove the this company is practicing click fraud; but I consistently monitored the activity and the clicks always only happened on a few days of the month; the other 27-25 days had 0 clicks. And conversions were rare. So, business owner beware. Just Google search Cityseach scam or Citysearch fraud and you will find tons of other business owners with similar complaints. Decide for yourself if you think that the now $350 per month minimum is worth it.
Another, scam I found out about after apparently 2 years of payments is called Merchant Discount Health Plan. I never saw the charges of $120 per month for the so-called "health plan," "legal plan" and "tech support plan" I was paying for because they took it DIRECTLY from my Discover merchant services before Discover ever paid my bank. So here is how Merchant Discount Health Plan gets you. They will call your business and it does not matter who the employee is with whom they speak, if that employee says "yes" to anything, they will begin charging. This one I can say with certainty is a total fraud and completely unethical. Again search online and you will find merchants outraged that the clerk or answering service even at their business "authorized" this charge. The scary thing is, these people have access to your bank account through their relationship with Discover Card. So small business owner beware, tell your employees to say "no" to all solicitations. Here is the scripted line I have given my employees, who handle many calls and are required to be courteous and professional at all times:
Solicitor: "Hi! Is this the manager?"
Employee: "No, I am not the manager. And I am not authorized to make decisions for this business, how may I direct your call?"
If the person on the other end pushes them for a yes or no answer, they are instructed to repeat, "I am not authorized to make decision for this business." That way we are covered, and when they play back their recorded message (Merchant Discount Health Plan always records their calls) you have this on your side that indeed no authorization was given.
These are just two of many scams and jams I have dealt with. Owning businesses is fun; but you have to watch for would be financial predators. They take your hard earned money in small amounts, here and there and think you will not notice. Don't lose the hard way -- you have been warned!
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