(Please excuse duplication. This is from PUBLIB. Follow-up messages were posted from other libraries with similar unpleasant experiences. If you get a call from this lady, or this organization, please say "no". Thanks. -L.)
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 16:17:46 -0800 (PST) From: Don Litzer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: publib <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: possible reference scam: IBD/Natl BtoB Infobase At 9:10 A.M. on Monday, November 26, 2001, a woman named Pevi called from �National Business to Business Infobase� who, after a mea culpa for a backlog of orders for their CD-ROM database, proceeded to ask me to verify our library's address (as if she didn't have it?), so she could send us one of their CD-ROMs as per their "subscription" with us. I refused to give Pevi our address. I told her we have no "subscription" with them, that we would not authorize anything over the phone, and that I suspected their business to be connected with a business with which we have repeatedly attempted to disassociate ourselves in the past. Pevi said this was her firm's first contact with us (gee, so how could they have a "subscription" on file?), that their firm was headquartered in Pennsylvania�and that she understood our requirement that phone solicitation is not permitted--though she did not say how this would be addressed. I would appreciate the experience of others with this firm or the firm with which I suspect it is somehow connected, IBD or International Business Directories, headquartered in Miami, FL (www.mmibd.com). I have filed, on behalf of our library, consumer complaints to the Better Business Bureau and with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services over the practices of IBD, which include underwhelming reference products (namely an "AT & T Toll Free and Internet Directory" in print and CD-ROM formats) sold at inflated prices with minimal customer service through deceptive telemarketing practices. While the responses of the Miami BBB and the Florida consumer agency have been, not unexpectedly, tepid, I feel maintaining consumer vigilance is worthwhile, as we still have a professional duty to put others on notice of this company's behavior as consumers and as purveyors of information to the public. A readily identifiable characteristic of this firm, in my experience, has been (with sincere apologies in advance for any overgeneralization or mischaracterization about persons of South Asian or other foreign descent) people with heavy accents (with unusual names such as Vishal, Remy, Binky and Revi--perhaps Indian in origin?) that act as a distraction to a customer as the sales pitch is deployed. Employees of these firms have hung up on me when I've asked for supervisors, among other annoying customer service-related behaviors. Perhaps I will be proven wrong by listers who have had wonderful service experiences with International Business Directories or National Business to Business Infobase...but maybe not...and maybe sharing your experience will save a chunk of someone else's budget and professional integrity. If this firm is a persistent problem in the library community, perhaps someone with a connection to American Libraries could shed their bright light on them so they are prompted to perform to an acceptable level for its library customers. Thanks! Don Litzer Head of Adult Services McMillan Memorial Library 490 E. Grand Avenue Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494 (715) 423-1040 Laurie Mahaffey, Adult Services Consultant Central Texas Library System P. O. Box 2287 Austin TX 78768-2287 512-974-7517 (please note new exchange!) [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Include in body: unsubscribe ctls-l For information on CTLS-L please visit: http://www.ctls.net/document/ctls-l.htm
