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Did You Get Ripped Off Again?
Research and development are a part of my daily
mail order business life. It is extremely
beneficial to you and your business to be well informed of what
is going on around you. If you are a mail order business and you don't
have at least 7 or more mail order tabloids in your
mail box each week you need to get on more Big
Mail lists. You could even have a 1-inch ad typeset that
simply said: "Big Mails Wanted. All Offers Considered. Mail to:
(your name and address)" Advertise this
ad in mail order publications and be flooded
with mail from other dealers. Read, study, read, study and study some
more. Build your mail order education free.
As you begin reading and studying these
publications, you will read about people that
rip-off others. Rip-off schemes will be exposed through many of our
fine, mail order writers. You will be shown just how these rip-offs make
their money and how you can be on the lookout for others who come along
offering the same rip-off service.
You also will learn valuable lessons and hear
advice from other people who have been
ripped-off. You will learn that something that sounds too good to
be true, usually is. Now don't get me wrong. One time
a well-known, honest mail order dealer ran an
ad where he offered people FREE advertising to 1,000 if
they simply returned the ad they were reading. If I didn't know this
dealer personally, I would normally shy away from the
ad. I would probably think this was "too
good to be true" and there was likely a catch to it.
Since I didn't want to waste my time, I might pass
up this ad. However, the ad was TRUE to it's
word and worth the effort to respond. However, this is only one isolated
incident.
A good rule of thumb for protecting yourself, your
business and your money is to write a personal
letter of inquiry before ordering the product or service.
If you get a chain letter that claims to bring you $50,000 in 30 days,
write to some of the people on the chain letter. Ask them if they've
made their $50,000 yet! See how many people respond!
How about that full-page ad in Small Business
Opportunities that promises you the secret to
making $100 with 2 sheets of paper? It has to be legitimate, right? I
mean, it's in a national publication and it shows their picture
and the actual bank deposits! Can it be true? NO! The person in the
picture may not be that person at all. How will you
ever know? Are you going to drive to their
house to check them out? How do you know these are really true
bank deposits? Anyone can alter forms to make figures appear to be more
than they are. The only reason this person advertised
in this national publication was because they had the money to place the
ad. Somewhere in Small Business Opportunities
it will state they are not responsible for any claims made
by the advertisers. Just because the ad appears in this publication
does not mean the publisher endorses this business!
Spend the time to analyze the mail order products
and services you are considering purchasing.
Want to locate a good mail order printer? Send them a
small order OR write them a letter. Enclose a
self-addressed-stamped-envelope (SASE) for their reply and simply ask
them to send you one (1) page they have
printed so you can determine their quality. If they don't respond
when you have taken the time to enclose an SASE, they
won't provide good customer service.
I've read horror stories of people who tell about
their rip-off experiences.
Some people even admit to having been ripped-off
several times. One lady claimed to be
ripped-off by the same company 5 different times! Sorry, but that
was HER fault! While there are many legitimate reasons why someone gets
ripped-off, the majority of them can be avoided by
using common business sense.
During the last several months, a lot of dealers
have complained about the new kind of rip-off
artist. This person runs an advertisement in a publication
offering a certain item. They ask the customer to send $1 or stamps
for more information. When the customer responds, what they receive
has absolutely nothing to do with the product
depicted in the original ad.
If you get angry and write a letter back to them
of your complaint, normally the advertiser
will not respond. This costs you time and postage! It's a lose-lose
situation for both parties. Rather than the advertiser taking the
time to build a business relationship with an
interested customer, he or she turns them
away. If the advertiser had taken the time to respond to the mail
they would reap a lot more financially! It's insane,
but some people actually operate this way.
The best way of combating these types of rip-off
artists is to expose them through mail order.
Write a letter to a publisher and tell them to warn others
of this company. Keep a list of people who rip you off (in one form
or another) with a detailed record of the date and
reason for your complaint.
After you have accumulated a few of them, type
them up neatly on a sheet of paper and sell
copies for $1 or include free in your mailings as a "free gift."
It's always best to try and re-coup some of your money while still
warning others of these rip-off artists.
It's up to you to combat these shady businesses.
If everyone does their part, mail order will
become better and better. Although mail order is still dominated
by honest, sound and reliable dealers; there are still people getting
ripped-off financially on a daily basis. Please join us in stomping
out these bad eggs so we all can enjoy much better
profits and increased sales. |
