I got a phone call today from someone outside my area code. I hate to but I typically let those calls go to voicemail because a lot of the time it's someone trying to sell me something. The caller didn't leave a message so I Google'd the number and found it was a Tennessee phone number. The caller called 3 or 4 more times, no message left. I finally answered the call thinking it might be a client who was in town and who happened to be from western Tennessee.
It wasn't who I thought it was.The caller was a guy that said he would put mine and my wife's business on a CDROM he was making and going to pass out at a local restaurant for free. The advertisement would only cost $35 / business ($70 total). He was going to make 2,000 of these CDROMs. The CD would contain music and advertisements between the sonds.
I asked the gentleman who else was advertising on the CD. He mentioned several local churches and an insurance company. So I tell him let me talk to my wife first because I wanted to know if she had already talked to him. Sometimes these people will act like children who will go to another parent to get the answer they want.
So I ask my wife, she's not familar with him or what he's doing. I ask others in my office and they've never heard of that restaurant doing this. I call the insurance company and can't get in touch with anyone who should be familar with the offer if it was true. I called someone I advertise with pretty regularly and she knows the restaurant owner as she eats there often. When she talks to the owner he's not a happy camper. He tells her that the guy does make CDROMs with music and advertisements on it but he's not working for the restaurant owner. The owner says he's going to call him up and yell at him.
I still have to talk to the insurance company to see if he's familar with this. I wonder how many people he's called. Besides something smelling fishy about this whole thing his he was putting popular songs on a CDROM and passing them out. I don't expect he was going to pay a royalty to the owners of that music which could get him into really big trouble.
Bill - I'd venture to say scam. I think you summed it up in your last sentence, and I don't think you want to be in the trick bag too.
Stan Barsch
I don't know if it's a scam or not, probably just a guy out on the hustle trying to make a buck. Personally, I would pass because what are the chances that a mix tape is going to end up drawing somebody to you....Maybe, but probably not.
Bob Mitchell
ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.
Answering the phone is the way you receive your next referral phone call. And by missing that one call, can cost you thousands.
This call you did not need. But don't judge the call by it's number.
I try to answer all calls. But, occassionally it's an 800 number or some other business number -- and I let those go to voicemail. The other tip off is blocked numbers -- unfortunately I haven't found a way to force callers to unblock their numbers with my cell phone.
Bill: Whatever it is that this guy was trying to do, it appears that whatever the price he was trying to charge... it wasn't worth it.
Good for you Bill. So many times people don't and then find themselves in hot water later!
For those that received the reply to this blog entry from "Ximen", he is a phisher from another country trying to get someone to help him correct his English. This way when he sends out his scam emails he will not appear as a foreigner who can't speak fluent English.