Ok I'm gonna have a rant!!!!!!!

[ecojeanne]

Wtf is the story with unethical advertising companies?????????? I am so sick of it. I’ve been duped. I feel like such a fool. A person (quite charming) rings me up and tell me he’s ringing from a highly regarded hotel (insinuating he works directly for them) saying he would like to offer a chance for me to advertise in the hotel. I’m impressed that such a nice hotel would be interested in letting me advertise to their customers

Here’s the crooks- I sit down with him in the hotel and he shows me an example of the brochure/leaflet supposedly left in all the hotel rooms (insinuated but not specified). He hands me a letter apparently signed by the manager of the hotel saying they appreciate me coming to have a chat with the name of the person who called me. So its all looking quite promising. I call my dad, coz I’m unsure and it’s a lot of money for me to commit to.

Dad comes down and is impressed and says it sounds legit. I trust him, I sign an agreement and voila they have my cc details and have started to randomly charge me. I discover they are an outside advertising company located in a different country. They said that they didn’t mean to take so much and to do a chargeback with my cc coz they won’t do refunds. For fcks sake, I asked my cc company about it and they said that if I have signed an agreement that I won’t win the chargeback of each large payment that they have taken. Wtf have I done?! That’s money fcking lost.

I feel so fcking stupid!!!!!! I’m new to all these things and I’m feeling like shit now. I’m a start-up and I can’t afford to make mistakes like this. I’m crying at how stupid I’ve been.

[UKboy]

Are you that gulible......

[ecojeanne]

well not to this shit anymore, this rant was brought on by another company calling me a few mins ago to try to do the same thing and has provoked my anger and upset

[Gribble]

That sucks. Hopefully the money lost isn't going to hinder you too much. Chalk it up as a lesson learned. You can't trust anyone. Always assume the worst and occasionally you'll be pleasantly surprised when someone actually is legit and honest.

[Asparagoose]

I'm sorry to hear that eco.

When I was working for amex, I was blown away at how much revenue their "special offers" generated. If people would both take the time to "read" and "understand" what they are agreeing to, these things would never exist. But for as long as there are careless and lazy people, there will always be room for deception.

[Lipp]

I got tricked into severely over-paying for two paintings back in Beijing, but I was amused that what they pulled off was really elaborate, so I didnt feel bad about falling for it while Im otherwise used to such things.

But yeah, when plenty of money is involved it just plain sucks.

[ecojeanne]

Yeh it really does suck. I sat down with dad tonight and we had a chat about it. I felt humiliated coz I know it was a stupid mistake. My dad is a very successful businessman and made his fortune a couple of times over and has been semi retired since his early 40’s so I always majorly value his business opinions. He came from the nothing and we had nothing growing up, so he knows a lot about making businesses a success. He doesn’t see this as a big deal the way I do coz it’s small fry to him. But for me, it’s huge to me; He has ideas which apparently will resolve this situation, he has taken it on as a new project I think, he likes a good legal fight here and there. He was sympathetic and told me he has been tricked in the past too and laughed about it. But it still makes me feel stupid and pathetic. I’m trying to be a smart businesswoman with my own plans for my future success. Things were getting better and better (with a few tiny setbacks here and there) up until this point and this feels like a huge setback. I certainly won’t make the same mistake twice. And yes gribble I’m going to be way more suspicious of handing out my money for something that seems like a great idea. I was smooth talked and I won’t be blinded again.

Financially I’m just about ok, but I definitely can’t afford for this to happen again otherwise I’d be screwed. This has been a tough moment for me.

[Dasein]

Eco..so I get this straight..do they have legitimate affiliation with the hotel or is this part made up?

[ecojeanne]

Eco..so I get this straight..do they have legitimate affiliation with the hotel or is this part made up?

it was deception from the beginning, they purposely gave the impression they were from the hotel itself. they say now that they are contracted by the hotel, which i have yet to investigate further. they took more money than agreed and in very short intervals, they won't refund and insist that i get my cc company to chargeback- which my cc company said will not happen coz i signed an agreement- of which i had re-read and it is very vague on purpose. the brochure is probably real but the amount they have charged is incorrect and the meeting was completely decietful from the start. the brochure/leaflets were supposed to be located in hotel rooms (not true). this is something i have since discovered is a clever scam that it seems i can do nothing about.

[Dasein]

Eco I would look into reporting these people. Is there and organisation in Ireland that looks into dodgy business practices? I realise they are from another country but it may be well worth your while to investigate this.

[ecojeanne]

yes thanks daesin, i intend to investigate further. dad seems optimistic for some reason, i dunno, i think coz it's not an amount that he would care about. small fry like i said. thankfully he is interested in helping with going after them legally - i hope its possible

[Junket]

Wow.

That sucks.

[Mish]

I'm sorry to hear that eco.

One useful tactic against the overcharge and unknown is to have a bank account with "overdraw denied" and put the exact sum of money required (maybe with $10 on top). Top up the account as needed and overcharge will never happen again.

I'm very very cuatious with giving out cc details.

[DoesntMatter]

That sucks quite a bit

[Lipp]

You've been in touch with the hotel administration, right? If they're the ones who hired the group for the contract they oughta have some input or responsibility.