inmyzip zwwisp.com -- What the hell? Scam? Legit?
Is it a Business Directory? A SEO service? Is it legit? A Scam?
Remember back in the '80s when companies would swap your long distance service to another company if you grunted wrong? They got tricky when calling and asked, "May I put you on hold?" Next month you find out you have signed up for long-distance phone service from "On Hold", a long distance company.
Well I just got a call from a company that sounded like it was for some directory listing for Mr. Spocko's business (I sell pointy rubber ears, Venus drugs that make you beautiful, Vulcan harps and of course fedoras, heaters and blowers.)
Be like Spocko! ----------- Me and Koik ------- The latest in blowers!
I've completed these listings from companies like Dun and Bradstreet or InfoUSA (In beautiful downtown Papillion, Nebraska!). This one just sounded suspicious. I started answering the questions and the nice young woman who attempted to pronounce my last name (unpronounceable to humans) started talking about how this website would help people find my company.
In her lovely Indian voice she gave me the URL, inmyzip.com. I tried it while on the phone with her, but it didn't resolve. I informed her of the problem and she gave me another URL, zwwisp.com. I went there and started reading. They appeared to do search engine optimization as well as a bunch of other stuff including website hosting, IVR, CRM and --wait for it -- LEGAL Services. So I'm expecting a strong letter from the mouthpieces at lawstar.com as soon as this post gets indexed by Google. (Note to self: Notify legal defense team at Star Fleet.)
Well I told them I wasn't interested after she started recording me and making me respond yes to questions like confirming my address and phone number. When she got to the part about the $49.95 charge after the first free month that will be "billed to my phone service" I balked. "Nope, I think this is a scam," and said goodbye.
I felt kinda bad because I knew that this poor kid thought she had a live one.
About 6 minutes later I got a call from her Verification Supervisor to explain the program better. I said I couldn't sign up for something until I could talk to a real customer. She gave me a URL, myzww.com which also failed to resolve.
"Well gee," I said "This doesn't bode well for a company that does web hosting and offers high speed internet access." She also directed me to zwwisp.com which had generic company names like R Barnes, Auto Body Shop Owner with no city or state.
"How can I call this person?" I questioned her. "There is no number. If you sign me up and I want to cancel I probably won't be able to because I can't get to your web site."
"But we will call you to see if you want to continue." she replied.
"What if I miss your call?" I asked. "How will I stop getting charged if we don't talk? Your websites don't work and I've been burned before. I just don't know if I can risk it."
Well since she couldn't get to the customer website on her end either (from her boiler room in Kuala Lumpur.) she finally gave up trying to send me something that would automatically bill me $49.95 if I failed to cancel with in 30 days.
According to the website they guarantee they will deliver the #1 Internet position for your business sector. How can they do that? Link farm? Blog spamming? Search hijacking like our friends at 180 solutions? Well it appears thatthey have reserved a butt load of domain names that end with "inmyzip" So supposedly for me it would be www.pointyrubberearsinmyzip.com or www.vulcangoodsinmyzip.com or www.fedorasinmyzip.com. Now that might work as long as I don't get competition from T'Pol or Tuvok. But what if they sign up? Plus, aren't they making the assumption that people will type your sector and then "in my zip"? Pretty dicey if you ask me. Well, keep and ear out for these people. If you found this via a google search welcome, tell me your experience maybe it will enlighten others.
Remember shop Spocko's Brain for the latest in blowers, heaters and lyre's (not liars!).
Did you get caught by nice people at zwwisp? Have trouble canceling inmyzip? I'm sure it is all perfectly legal since they are part of LawStar and a crack team of lawyers have reviewed all the rules so that they are technical safe, but if you think that being sneaky isn't really nice, maybe you could contact the nice people at the FCC. Tell 'em Spocko sent cha. And if you are da mouthpiece for zwwisp, this is all a joke, a parody, you know-- free speech and all. (At least for the next couple of months)
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/businesstfrd.html
The Communications Fraud Control Association, a non-profit organization, serves as a clearinghouse for consumer information and complaints regarding toll fraud. This association is located at:
1990 M Street, N.W., Suite 508Washington, D.C. 20036(telephone: (202) 296-3225)
UPDATE: Just found out that the number for the Communications Fraud Control Association has been disconnected. Maybe all fraud has been taken care of! HA! I Wish!
Here is the FCC number Federal Communications Commission
Common Carrier Bureau
445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20554
1-888-CALL-FCC (voice)
1-888-835-5322 (TTY)
www.fcc.gov/cgb
Good luck 3-17-2005
Spocko
Remember back in the '80s when companies would swap your long distance service to another company if you grunted wrong? They got tricky when calling and asked, "May I put you on hold?" Next month you find out you have signed up for long-distance phone service from "On Hold", a long distance company.
Well I just got a call from a company that sounded like it was for some directory listing for Mr. Spocko's business (I sell pointy rubber ears, Venus drugs that make you beautiful, Vulcan harps and of course fedoras, heaters and blowers.)
Be like Spocko! ----------- Me and Koik ------- The latest in blowers!
I've completed these listings from companies like Dun and Bradstreet or InfoUSA (In beautiful downtown Papillion, Nebraska!). This one just sounded suspicious. I started answering the questions and the nice young woman who attempted to pronounce my last name (unpronounceable to humans) started talking about how this website would help people find my company.
In her lovely Indian voice she gave me the URL, inmyzip.com. I tried it while on the phone with her, but it didn't resolve. I informed her of the problem and she gave me another URL, zwwisp.com. I went there and started reading. They appeared to do search engine optimization as well as a bunch of other stuff including website hosting, IVR, CRM and --wait for it -- LEGAL Services. So I'm expecting a strong letter from the mouthpieces at lawstar.com as soon as this post gets indexed by Google. (Note to self: Notify legal defense team at Star Fleet.)
Well I told them I wasn't interested after she started recording me and making me respond yes to questions like confirming my address and phone number. When she got to the part about the $49.95 charge after the first free month that will be "billed to my phone service" I balked. "Nope, I think this is a scam," and said goodbye.
I felt kinda bad because I knew that this poor kid thought she had a live one.
About 6 minutes later I got a call from her Verification Supervisor to explain the program better. I said I couldn't sign up for something until I could talk to a real customer. She gave me a URL, myzww.com which also failed to resolve.
"Well gee," I said "This doesn't bode well for a company that does web hosting and offers high speed internet access." She also directed me to zwwisp.com which had generic company names like R Barnes, Auto Body Shop Owner with no city or state.
"How can I call this person?" I questioned her. "There is no number. If you sign me up and I want to cancel I probably won't be able to because I can't get to your web site."
"But we will call you to see if you want to continue." she replied.
"What if I miss your call?" I asked. "How will I stop getting charged if we don't talk? Your websites don't work and I've been burned before. I just don't know if I can risk it."
Well since she couldn't get to the customer website on her end either (from her boiler room in Kuala Lumpur.) she finally gave up trying to send me something that would automatically bill me $49.95 if I failed to cancel with in 30 days.
According to the website they guarantee they will deliver the #1 Internet position for your business sector. How can they do that? Link farm? Blog spamming? Search hijacking like our friends at 180 solutions? Well it appears thatthey have reserved a butt load of domain names that end with "inmyzip" So supposedly for me it would be www.pointyrubberearsinmyzip.com or www.vulcangoodsinmyzip.com or www.fedorasinmyzip.com. Now that might work as long as I don't get competition from T'Pol or Tuvok. But what if they sign up? Plus, aren't they making the assumption that people will type your sector and then "in my zip"? Pretty dicey if you ask me. Well, keep and ear out for these people. If you found this via a google search welcome, tell me your experience maybe it will enlighten others.
Remember shop Spocko's Brain for the latest in blowers, heaters and lyre's (not liars!).
Did you get caught by nice people at zwwisp? Have trouble canceling inmyzip? I'm sure it is all perfectly legal since they are part of LawStar and a crack team of lawyers have reviewed all the rules so that they are technical safe, but if you think that being sneaky isn't really nice, maybe you could contact the nice people at the FCC. Tell 'em Spocko sent cha. And if you are da mouthpiece for zwwisp, this is all a joke, a parody, you know-- free speech and all. (At least for the next couple of months)
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/businesstfrd.html
The Communications Fraud Control Association, a non-profit organization, serves as a clearinghouse for consumer information and complaints regarding toll fraud. This association is located at:
1990 M Street, N.W., Suite 508Washington, D.C. 20036(telephone: (202) 296-3225)
UPDATE: Just found out that the number for the Communications Fraud Control Association has been disconnected. Maybe all fraud has been taken care of! HA! I Wish!
Here is the FCC number Federal Communications Commission
Common Carrier Bureau
445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20554
1-888-CALL-FCC (voice)
1-888-835-5322 (TTY)
www.fcc.gov/cgb
Good luck 3-17-2005
Spocko
48 Comments:
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
A real gangsta-ass Vulcan plays his cards right
A real gangsta-ass Vulcan never runs his fuckin mouth
Cuz real gangsta-ass Vulcans don’t start fights
And Vulcans always gotta high cap
Showin’ all his boys how he shot em
But real gangsta-ass Vulcans don’t flex ears
Cuz real gangsta-ass Vulcans know they got em
And everythings cool in the mind of a gangsta
Cuz gangsta-ass Vulcans think deep
Up three-sixty-five a year 24/7
Cuz real gangsta ass Vulcans don’t sleep
Well, I only know one thing that has pointed ears and uses a transporter -- transporter kitty.
.
ntodd;
You have some mad song skills.
Sent you a long email in reply to this, 'cause blogger is sucking today. Check it out.
jeffraham prestonian: THIS IS GREAT!!!! You rock! Excellent! Thanks. I will totally have to try this. I suck at Photoshop, but I can do all the other stuff. Thanks for the post on my site.
Spocko
Naw -- it's not so great. If I'd have spent another hour or so on it, maybe it would have been, but I was trying to toss something together quickly for a demo to show the guy who asked about it.
The trickiest Photoshop skill required is making a mask of the "beamee." In versions later than 6.0, there's a cool masking tool, but I forget what it's called... smart mask, maybe? Anyway, using 5.5, I just used the magnetic lasso, and then cleaned it up with the regular lasso, and the airbursh option of the eraser. Once you have one layer masked -- e.g., the "beamee" by themselves -- you just duplicate it, fill with white, and then make a buttload of copies of that white-filled mask. It gets really easy from there.
.
Jeffraham: You are too modest.
I'm stumbling along with Photoshop 4 or Photoshop Delux. Not pretty. I've always had problems with masks, magic wands and stuff. I always get over whelmed when I want to start using it again with all the possible features. But considering I love the beaming feature I'd like to try it.
I've read the instructions on your site.
Jeffraham: You are too modest.
I'm stumbling along with Photoshop 4 or Photoshop Delux. Not pretty. I've always had problems with masks, magic wands and stuff. I always get over whelmed when I want to start using it again with all the possible features. But considering I love the beaming feature I'd like to try it.
I've read the instructions on your site.
Jeffraham: You are too modest.
I'm stumbling along with Photoshop 4 or Photoshop Delux. Not pretty. I've always had problems with masks, magic wands and stuff. I always get over whelmed when I want to start using it again with all the possible features. But considering I love the beaming feature I'd like to try it.
I've read the instructions on your site.
Spocko -- well, thanks again, but an eye as studied as yours (I would assume) would see that the effect was too fast. That was a direct function of me hurriedly slapping it together, and not making as many layers for the effect as it would take to make it more authentic.
Photoshop 4... those were the days. :) It does have the "layers" feature, doesn't it? I was thinking maybe that was the first version where Layers became available. That's critical for doing this effect.
As for the masking/selection stuff, the lasso selector is your friend (the magic wand -- not so much, for something like this). It's best if you have an optical mouse, but a ball mouse will work okay, too (forget trackballs, touchpads, etc. -- far too difficult to track around a cat with those things). If you can get the rough outlines with the lasso, you can add to the selection area by using the "shift" key, and subtract from it using the "alt" key. And, you can clean up the edges with the eraser tool, using the airbrush option, using say 20-25% opacity, and a small brush size. And remember, ctrl-z is your friend, too! :)
.
Thanks! I was going to rent the movie Torque (which I've seen before) just so I could watch the titles. they are an example of an effect that I was impressed by, but might be REALLY hard to do with digital video. The title letters cast a shadow on the shot. The way that it worked is that it looked like a cloud shadow or plane shadow when if flys over uneven tarain. The movie had fun stunts and great titles, the rest of it was pretty lame. Although I did like Jamie Presley and Ice T who overacted his way though the film. If you liked fast and furious you might like torque. As a fan of good stunts you might like that too.
They called, I Googled, You answered.
Thanks for the heads-up on this scam.
TxBetts
TxBetts. I can't tell you how happy that makes me!
If you come back this way do me a favor and link to this post on your blog. That way when the folks behind this deal try and replace my blog post with some shill this link will have a little higher page rank and stay up in the top 10. (But since they are "professionals" in the SEO business I expect them to slam me out of the box within about 3 days.
Oh well. At least I helped one person!
TxBetts. I can't tell you how happy that makes me!
If you come back this way do me a favor and link to this post on your blog. That way when the folks behind this deal try and replace my blog post with some shill this link will have a little higher page rank and stay up in the top 10. (But since they are "professionals" in the SEO business I expect them to slam me out of the box within about 3 days.
Oh well. At least I helped one person!
Dear Sir,
I want to first apologize for any and all inconveniences that you have experienced with our company. It is my job to ensure the satisfaction of every member, potential member and former member of our company. I wanted to take the time to let you know that we DO NOT practice anything that is remotely unethical and we terminate any employee that attempts to do so. I understand that you had an unfortunate time with the sales rep that you spoke to but believe me, that is not the practice of the company. I have looked on your website to try and locate a contact number but I was unable to do so, so this is the only means that I have to express how sorry I am that you are not pleased with our company at the moment.
I also want to let you know that we do not outsource to Pakistan as you stated on your website, our call center is located in the Philippines and we do our best to make sure that each employee that is hired has the ability to serve our U.S. clients with 110% satisfaction guaranteed.
Our goal here is to ensure the success of small businesses by using SEO. We want to help businesses succeed by beating out the bigger chains. It's important to know that the underdog can come out on top as well, without having to spend a mini fortune. And that is what we do here, there is no scam or thievery going on, we are completely open with all of our tactics and methods and whenever there is an employee that is not following our company guidelines we terminate them on the spot, we have a zero tolerance level for these types of practices. That is why I would like to have a conversation with you so that
I can again apologize for the inconveniences and also to obtain some information so that I will be able to find the sales rep that spoke to you and terminate her immediately. I also wanted you to know that we are aware of our website being down and we are working around the clock to get everything up and running smoothly for our customers and we do credit our customers for the time that they are inconvenienced because of our technical problems.
I would very much like to speak with you at your convenience so we can discuss this matter in further detail. You will find my contact information below.
Thank you for your time.
debra@lawstar.com
323-525-3900
This people are total fraud
inmyzip.com is a paininmy*ss. They started calling our business last week and gave the girl 5 minutes to verify my information and really didn't understand what this was about. Then I picked up on the 30 day "free trial" which always means they are going to start billing me for something after the first 30 days. So I said no thanks and ended the call.
Since then, the frequency of calls has been increasing, once a day, couple of times a day. Today I think we were getting a call every hour or so. We kept getting rid of them until I figured out that just asking to be removed from their call list was not adequete. So I listened long enough to the script to get a tiny idea of what this service is (you have already gone into that). I tried to be logical and explain that all my misgivings aside, this isn't even the form of advertising and marketing that my business does or would consider - so please remove me from your call list.
OK, two calls later I immediately ask for a manager. The manager still continued to try to sell me but it appears to understand that I am irate at getting so many calls. So far so good...
If anyone wants to contact these guys, I was given a # of 888-775-9400.
Hey thanks for your input. Interesting. I kind of like being the repository of info about the doing of this company.
Sounds like a lack of list management. Which is funny given that they try and sell themselves as a tech company.
Thanks for posting, and good luck with the baby on the way!
OK. They are still calling us. This is turning into a bad episode of the twilight zone. I am not sure what to do, I threatened with calling the FTC on the latest call. We will see if they keep calling...
Hi Ryan and Emma: If you are still getting those calls I'd call their customer service rep who posted on my blog a few posts up.
Debra - Client Relations Manager - MSMB2B.COM
323-525-3900
Also please link to me and post what you found out and what she said.
Received another call on Monday. Called the customer relations # you posted. Seems like we put on a do not call list now.
Just had my first call from the "out-in-left-field" girl who didn't have a clue where people could find my company. After several embarrassing moments on her part, she said she would call me back. Then I read your site and called the 888-775-9400 number and asked to be put on a "do not call" list. We'll see what happens. Thanks to all for your info - it may have saved me many calls and lots of irritation.
Hi Kathi: Thanks for posting. Please let us know if it worked.
If you have a blog and want to post the info there could you link back here? Just trying to keep on top of what solutions work and what doesn't.
Thanks for posting!
Spocko
Thank you for this post. My business has had a couple of calls from two different folk, but both apparently from this business, but using different names (inmyzip, and msmb2b). It stinks. Thanks again for picking up the rock.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. If they keep calling you please let me know.Also if you have a blog please link back here so others can know about your experience.
Spocko
5/6/05 "They" have been calling us as well. We googled, and found you. They have been calling every hour or so....from Pakistan!!!
Now we have been having a blast giving them the total run around each time they call.
Interesting Anonymous on 5/6/05.
Wow. A call center that can't keep their call list current, working for a search engine optimization company that can't optimize their own company name. They also offered webhosting that couldn't keep their own website up.
I'm just saying...
I'm curious. Did they SAY they were calling from Pakistan?
Thanks for stopping by and posting your comments. Check out the rest of the blog. You are most welcome.
Spocko
just got a call from this same indian girl, who manages to drop her voice to barely a whisper when she mentions that it will be charged on my phone bill. could hear all the boiler room noise in the rear. she apologized more times than necessary, which is a beacon to me that its a scam. had to tell her repeatedly (!!!) that i wasn't interested, but she kept talking so i said bye & hung up. i did note the 888 phone number you listed above in case i start getting numerous calls.
A guy from the company called me. He wouldn't tell me why they couldn't send me a bill instead of charging me through my phone service.
When I asked him how he was going to improve my search engine ranking since it was already number one, he said the kit he was going to send me would explain it. I then asked if he had a copy with him. He said he didn't have it. I then asked him why he didn't if he was selling services, he should have a copy of the materials he was going to send me. He kept going into his schpiel.
Another thing funny he asked me was "well it must be hard being the president of your company." Obviously it was just a scripted line. When I accused his company of being a scam he repeatedly said, "sir, I'm being transparent with you, and as honest as I can possibly be" If the company is not a scam he wouldn't have had that scripted line.
He told me that his company had a webserver in my city. He didn't know what to say when I told him my city, was very small, and I was 100% sure there weren't any. He went right back into his talk about the 30 days, and sending me a package with more information.
I asked about his CRM service and why I would need it if I don't use one currently and if I did I could just use a free one from sourceforge.net like sugarcrm.com
The guy gave me the address of his company. Apparently it's
8500 Wilshire Boulevard,
Beverely Hills, 90211
It is a valid address. After having talked to him for a while I asked him what intersection their business is at since it appears at the intersection of wilshire boulevard and N La Cienega Blvd. At that point he started to say, "I'm sorry sir, but I've spent to much time on this call and I have a lot more businesses to verify" I told him to wait while I verify his company. He quickly ended the call even though I told him I wasn't done yet. Poor guy, I'm sure I totally ruined his call quota for the hour.
Apparently http://ebridgetechnologies.com/ is also part of their scam company.
Hey thanks for posting your experience.
It is really the callers I feel sorry for. One of them posted saying that they were glad I didn't let the supervisor know who I was since they might have canned the worker. Of course maybe they would have just TOLD me they fired the worker.
I have a lot more info about this company, the backers and their past history I'm saving up just in case they try and come after me. Don't you find it ironic that the first hit for their company name is from my blog? This from a search engine optimization company?
If you want to link to this post (to keep me number one on Google) please do so.
Best,
Spocko
Thanks for all of the information on this "inmyzip.com" fraud people. We got our first call on friday July 22nd. I looked up the web site and nothing was there...unable to locate. We get these kind of calls all the time...we never give out infomation over the phone...no matter who you say you are! So we already had an advantage. I told them no thank you...not interested especially since I can't find any information about your company. They hung up on me. About 5 minutes later they called back, same lady, asking for my husband. (We are a family owned samll business.) Anyway, I told them no thank you once again. I looked up the number that they are calling from 206-278-9554, a california call, is what caller id tells me. So, I called it back. Of coarse rings one time and gives me a fast busy.
On Friday I called the FCC number that you have listed. The FCC gave me the number for the FTC. I haven't called them yet, but will after the 7 calls in a row I got from this guy named Terry or Jerry today 07/25. I could not quite understand him....I speak english and he dosen't.
Long story short....too late...this guy pissed me off to the the point I am not only calling the FTC, I am also going to call the local police department to see what I can do about harrassment. On the 1st call I said NO THANK YOU! and hung up. The 2nd call I said NO THANK YOU AGAIN...Please take me off your call list. 3rd call I told him that I was calling the FTC and that I had already investigated his company and it is fraudulant, he hung up on me that time. But by this time he is getting a kick out of this so he called back...4th call...I asked for his manager, he hung up. 5th call, remember I have caller id so I see it's him, I asked for his manager right away when answering, he hung up again. 6th call I told him this is harrassment...I want to speak to your manager, he said let me speak to our manager, I said (please excuse the language) I am the F*cking owner of this GD business you stupid F*cker, now let me speak to your.......dial tone. He had the balls to call back, I picked up the phone and did not say a word for about 10 minutes...hey it's his dime.
Do you have any advise about what we have gone through and I am sure we will continue to go through? Thanks
Millbrook
I too have been receiving calls from 206-278-9554 - ON MY CELL PHONE!!! I do not even own a business so I have no idea why they would be trying to contact me. I found this site when I Googled the phone number (all the other sites that popped up were porn sites, if you can believe it).
Correct me if I'm wrong, but arn't telemarketers suposed to be prohibited from calling cell phones?
Not long after I received the call (I didn't answer it), another call came through that only showed 514 in my caller ID. That was strange. I'd never seen a 3 number phone number in my life.
The area codes seems to be out of Seattle, WA (see: http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/phonelocation.asp?number=2062789554&submit1=Process
There was one other website that wasn't porn that also had people complaining about calls from this number. (see: http://www.telemarketingfaq.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1979#post1979
I added my cell phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry (see: https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx
Apparently after 31 days, if they still call, you can file a complaint on their web site.
I went to inmyzip.com and got a web page that says Web Cart and Powered by WebArchitect. Copyright (C) 2004, 2005 Adrecom Inc.
WebArchitect's home page is: http://www.webarchitectgroup.com/
They give no address and phone info. on the web site - you have to fill out a form and send it and let them contact you. No address or phone number info. listed in YellowPages.com either.
If you Google "Adrecom Inc." you see a bunch of listings that say "Powered by WebArchitect. Copyright (C) 2004, 2005 Adrecom Inc."
Adrecom.com says "Welcome to the home of adrecom.com
To change this page, upload your website into the public_html directory" and nothing else. No info. on Yellowpages.com for this one either.
At www.webcart.net/whitepapers/lcn2001.pdf
you can find a .pdf document titled "On resource management in multi-service network" that says "Adrecom Research. POB 9305 Petah-Tiqwa 49193 Israel. lev@adrecom.com,
gerilya@adrecom.com." If you Google just Adrecom.
This web site http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2004/12/09/features/business/lapipe1210.txt
hosts an artical that bills Adrecom as a computer company - you guessed it, located in Israel. (I Googled Adrecom/Israel to get that one.)
So what is an Israelie based company doing with a Seattle, WA phone number?
Like the Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.
i too have been getting calls from 206-278-9554. have you been able to do anything about this, either with FTC, or a reporting agency? I'd like to help you if i can, so contact me if you'd like here and we'll go from there. . .
thanx-
Don’t become a victim HELP STOP THIS SCAM.
Apparently they are Lawstar another big scam.
www.oag.state.md.us/Securities/Actions/2004/LawstarBonteFO.pdf
Same address and same owners.
They also own www.ebridgetechnologies.com SCAM?
www.msmb2b.com SCAM?
www-isp.com SCAM?
www.inmyzip-isp.com SCAM?
www.elink-isp.com SCAM?
STOP THIS FRAUD by visiting your local FBI office and file a complaint,
http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm
Call you local phone company directly and let them know you have BEEN PHONE CRAMMED!!! Mention all entities above and ask for a charge block on you phone telephone number. And yes call your local police for harassment.
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
They have been calling our office today. Thank all my common sense that I told my husband to never say "yes" to ANY of these types of people.
They have so far now called four times just today. The last time, I just set the receiver down and let the person talk to themselves until they hung up.
I personally called the phone company one time to try and get a block for any charges other than the phone company and my long distance company. They said the FCC or whatever won't let them do that. When I asked why, they said the government requires they take charges like a credit card on phone bills so that those without credit can have a place to charge something. Okay, so just how ignorant is that.
It's my phone bill and I feel like I should have the right to place blocks on it if I want to just to protect myself from a scam. Heck, my bank does it, you'd think they could.
Hi Anonymous of 11:44 today.
I'm so sorry to hear that. Horray for your common sense (which I've been finding is not as common as it used to be!)
I agree with you regarding how you should be able to block your phone calls. You might want to check some of the other resources listed here about what to do.
Also, I'd appreciate it if would link to this post (http://s88172659.onlinehome.us/2005/03/inmyzip-zwwispcom-what-hell-scam-legit.html ) on your blog or post it some other place. It will ensure that this information about this company stays in the top of the search terms.
Thanks for stopping by and telling me your experience. I'm sure this blog will be used eventually by the authorities to stop these people.
LLAP,
Spocko
Anonymous of 11:56 I see your post got posted multiple times (5 by my count)I'm removing 4 of them because they are all the same post, and I don't want to trigger the blog spam filters at Google.
I appreciate your research. I did much of the same research when I first got these calls. I didn't post all the links because I figured if they threatened me I would use that info at my source of a pattern of abuse in a court of law (these people are behind Lawstar after all and I don't want to say anything that might be seen as libel.)
I would appreciate if you link to this post on this blog so that it can maintain it's prominence on Google search listings.
Again, I appreciate your work. If you want to contact me via email put the name of my blog and the new email account by Google together and send me a note (I'm sure you can figure that you, you are clearly computer savvy!)
LLAP,
Spocko
Hi,All,
I am a little embarassed to admit it, because I'm a very skeptical person, and the first to smell a scam but I got caught on this one. When I was first contacted by these people, it was to our small, family-based business. They would call 2-3 times a day, were very adamant that it was a free service and that they already had us listed in their directory and that all they wanted to do was to confirm that all of our information was correct. Like you, Spock, I said "give me the web address," and it was invalid. She proceded to give me two more addresses until she gave me the www.elink-isp.com" address and this worked. She said that all the information was on that site. (I have since been given 2 other addresses that take you to the same site; these have been listed previously in the comments). Kind of strange that when you spend more than 1 minute on this "home page" that none of the links that are supposed to give you more information go anywhere.
I had probably been contacted about 10 times before finally deciding to listen to what they had to say. Big mistake. They recited all of my business' information to me, and when I did look at their listings, they already had a ton of our competitors listed. I still just thought it was a local business listing and that what they were ultimately interested in was setting up a "free" website and if you liked it, you could keep the site up and they would host it for you, and you would be billed on your phone bill.
We are a small business with virtually no budget for advertising, and have been needing a company website so I decided to give the "30-day" free trial a go. Well, after about 2 weeks, I finally got a packet containing some very professional looking papers and portfolio. It gave me a login and password to the Elink-isp site, but all I could do was give a short description of the business and a company contact name and fax number. I could not view a website, and when I searched on their site for my business name, it wasn't there. Not listed under the zip code, or under the business name (go figure, from the self-proclaimed, state-of-the-art SEO!). So I called them (talked to a manger, Tasha, at (800) 222-5529, ext. 224). I got Tasha after being bounced about 4 times. She told me that they were still working on my website and that it would be done and up in the next couple of days, and I should check back. I told her I couldn't even find my company in the directory. She "looked it up" and said it was under "Business Systems." When I asked why? (We build custom wood products) she asked me what category I would like to be listed under. Well, I told her about 4 more appropriate categories, and she said that she would change it to be listed in a better category.
That was last Tuesday, and I've checked every day since: No listing and no website. In fact, there's no website for ANY of the businesses listed in the directory as far as I can tell. I still had this voice in my head telling me that I had been scammed which really pissed me off, and then last night I found your site and I knew I had been scammed.
I called immediately this morning to cancel, and when I called the number listed in my packet (800-222-5529), I got "E-Bridge Technology (or Technologies)", and was informed that this was a parent company for E-link-ISP. I told her I wanted to cancel, she said OK. She asked what company, and told me it was done. I had to ask for a confirmation number. Also I asked to be placed on their Do Not Call list, and she said that she could take care of that and I had been added. So far I haven't been charged, but I'm still on the lookout. I'm also wondering why there was no high-pressure person demanding to know why I wanted to cancel. I'm still a little nervous about the whole thing. I still can't believe I've been had!! I did call my local phone company, and the FCC, and our local investigative news channel, and they will be doing an expose on them. I hope my bad experience helps others out there.
Angela
Hi Angela R: Sorry you got caught, but glad you found me. Yeah Google!
If the TV station or the people from FCC need any other people to comment on this, I'll be happy to help.
And by the way setting up your own website is NOT that hard. A few recommendations. 1)Pick a name for your website that is your companyname or is the name that someone would search for on Google. So maybe you could register www.whomakescustomwoodcabnits.com
https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/registrar/search.asp?se=%2B&ci=164
It's about 8.95 a year. You can also get a privacy block on the registration process so that people don't use that info to send you spam.
Then goDaddy can host a simple page with photos and some text. They have some tools that aren't too hard to use.
What you want to create is a url that contains the search terms people use to find you.
Your simple page could be hosted by Godaddy or Summit Hosting (who I've used) and contain all the stuff you need for FAR less than the 49.94 that the people at inmyzip or elink would charge.
Drop me a line at my blogs name plus the at sign plus the google email service name. I'm happy to give you more guidence. I like to help people who come here and post. It makes me happy.
Best,
LLAP
Well, they really ticked me off today!
First they called towards the end of June. "Let me verify your information". I told them that I did not want to purchase anything. They said it wouldn't cost anything to just verify the information. I said OK, if you will not charge me anything now or in the future I will allow you to verify. When they got to the part about charging on my phone bill, I said "No". That didn't satisfy them. They would keep me on the phone for 5 minutes or more, with me responding verify all you want, but you will not charge me at all. But you just need to call and cancel before your 30 days are up. I will not call and you will not charge me.
After a week of daily calls, and more and more frustration on my part, I finally hit the "wall". I told them that I had talked to the company daily, I had "verified" my information with them daily for the past week, I do not want to hear from their company ever again, put me on the "Do Not Call List" and never contact me again.
So, the next day, they called. I was not so nice to that person. Although I said that I wasn't upset with him personally, but with his company, I asked him to check on the screen or whatever he had in front of him to see that I have talked to people I have asked to not be called again. After me badgering him for a few minutes he finally said "Oh, I see something here". I said good, that means you will not call anymore correct? and he said that he needed to verify the information before that. I told him that the information is correct since your company has verified it numerous times. He said that he can't go on until it is verified. So I said fine. When he got to the monthly charge part. I said you will not charge me, you will never call me again, and if I hear from your company then I will contact the FTC, the BBB, the Attorney Generals of both my state and the state where your corporate headquarters are.
That was June. July I didn't hear anything, August I didn't hear anything, nothing in September. I just got my September phone bill with a $49.99 charge on it to zzz-isp. So, they got a phone call from me stating which part of "do not ever charge my phone bill, do not ever call me again, do not ever contact my company again" constitutes a $49.99 charge on my phone bill.
The reply is "well let me tell you what our company can do for you..." I said "I have heard it before, and I still am not interested in your program. I demand my $49.99 back and you will not charge me again."
"Well, I will cancel your service so that you will not be billed again."
"And my $49.99?"
"Well, did you pay it?"
"Of course I had to pay it, I contacted my phone company and since they were required to pay you, I am required to pay them. So, where is my money?"
"As a one-time customer service gesture I will send a credit to your phone company"
Hopefully that will be the last contact that I have with them. Only time will tell
Dear Barbara E. My goodness! What an amazing story. I'm so sorry to hear that you too were harrassed by these people.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. When the good people at the FTC or whomever are creating their case against these people this will make a nice exhibit "A".
BTW, if you have a blog or website please link back to this post so that it stays up high on Google's rank for zzz-isp and inmyzip. Otherwise people will think that "My amazing success with inmyzip" is the whole story.
You are most welcome to stop by and tell us if you did or didn't get your refund.
And come visit Spocko's Brain anytime, you are most welcome here.
LLAP,
Spocko
Just FYI:
Adrecom's website s here:
http://www.adrecom.net/
The company really does software, CMS and e-commerce.
You can find it's location here:
http://www.adrecom.net/page-CONTACT.html
Just a heads up to those who are getting the crazy numbers on their caller id, and the calls from WA state....any business or individual with a cheap machine can appear to be calling from any number in the united states, even the FBI... never trust anyone just because the caller ID says (YOUR CITY) Police or Microsoft or something else official sounding. Also, has someone taken the time to look up Lawstars articles of incorporation? If so, get the name of the CEO and Zabasearch him, then we can call him at home 5 times a day.
Just had the same problem with this company. Although when I called to find out what the charge was on my phone bill, I was told I authorized it May of 05. That my trial period was up in April of this year. And that is why my company is being charged. All other comments have said a "30 day trial", what's with the year????
I called the 888-775-9400 and cancelled and told "Rebecca" to take me off there call list.
I have a boring job and the only joy I get is screwing with all these scammers.
Especially the fake toner people that call and say "Hi, I'm from the company that maintains your copier and I just need to verify the model number"
I tell them that it's a Lucas model THX1138 and that they can contact Mr. Skywalker out at our satellite office.
I once got one of them so mad that she called me a B!t@h, then hung up, called back and called me a f@g and hung up again.
In September of 2005, my wife and I decided to buy a building that was a business operating part time as a Tavern and Bar. I gutted out the place and turned it into a nice Restaurant and Tavern. We have been working diligently since in a small town trying to make a name for ourselves. The Restaurant business is a very hard business to profit from, but we have made it for two years now and will continue to fight to survive.
Approximately one month ago, cash flow became tight, so we started to analyze all of our bills very closely. We noticed on the last page of our phone bill that we had a charge of $49.99. I called our phone company to investigate, and they told me that they could not help me on a third party billing, which to this point I still don’t understand how my phone company can bill me for something I am not aware of. They explained that I must call the third party directly.
I called ZWW-ISP and asked what these charges were for and who authorized them three different times before I received a straight answer. I find out that in 2004 the previous owner of the premises authorized internet advertising. When asked why I have been charged for it, I was told it was my responsibility to find this charge and cancel it. Now, first of all, this advertising was not even for my business, it was a different business, with a different name. Secondly, why is it my responsibility to accept responsibility for something that I have never authorized?
The bottom line to me is that there is a serious flaw in the system. ZWW-ISP must be responsible for acquiring information when a proprietor’s name on a billing phone bill changes, and seek the proper authorization before continuing to bill on a “NEW” account, especially dur to the fact that it is a completely different business.
On my first call to ZWW-ISP, I was transferred to a supervisor named “RICH” and he told me that he would have to meet with his supervision and call me back on my cell phone. I never received that call. My second call consisted of someone asking me to go through all my phone bills, make copies, and fax them. I took a day off to go through all my records to find these and copy them.
On my third call, I asked for a fax number to fax them to, and I was told rudely that someone else told me to do that, not the individual I was currently speaking with. I asked for Rich and was put on hold. Rich would not talk to me but used the person that I was speaking to as a go between. This person asked, after talking to Rich, why I waited so long to call about this. I explained that when you start a new business, there are many issues to consume yourself in, staffing, menus, schedules, marketing, inventories, and I can go on and on. At some point in time, sooner or later, you must start to analyze the billings and this is when I found this issue. After being put on hold again, I was rudely told by her that they would settle with reimbursing me a little more than $300.00.
Proper business practices would be for the company to realize this mistake, and properly rectify it by paying back the charges which are in excess of $1300.00. If this advertising was prevalent over the last two years, I am sure that I would have received phone calls for the prior business, but I have not. I declined to settle for the offer and will continue to pursue taking action to receive a refund in the full amount of improper charges.
I have already called the PA Public Utility Commission and they have opened a case, I will next call Consumer Relations, The Better Business Bureau, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Attorney Generals Office. If these avenues do not work, I plan to advise my Attorney to move forward.
In September of 2005, my wife and I decided to buy a building that was a business operating part time as a Tavern and Bar. I gutted out the place and turned it into a nice Restaurant and Tavern. We have been working diligently since in a small town trying to make a name for ourselves. The Restaurant business is a very hard business to profit from, but we have made it for two years now and will continue to fight to survive.
Approximately one month ago, cash flow became tight, so we started to analyze all of our bills very closely. We noticed on the last page of our phone bill that we had a charge of $49.99. I called our phone company to investigate, and they told me that they could not help me on a third party billing, which to this point I still don’t understand how my phone company can bill me for something I am not aware of. They explained that I must call the third party directly.
I called ZWW-ISP and asked what these charges were for and who authorized them three different times before I received a straight answer. I find out that in 2004 the previous owner of the premises authorized internet advertising. When asked why I have been charged for it, I was told it was my responsibility to find this charge and cancel it. Now, first of all, this advertising was not even for my business, it was a different business, with a different name. Secondly, why is it my responsibility to accept responsibility for something that I have never authorized?
The bottom line to me is that there is a serious flaw in the system. ZWW-ISP must be responsible for acquiring information when a proprietor’s name on a billing phone bill changes, and seek the proper authorization before continuing to bill on a “NEW” account, especially dur to the fact that it is a completely different business.
On my first call to ZWW-ISP, I was transferred to a supervisor named “RICH” and he told me that he would have to meet with his supervision and call me back on my cell phone. I never received that call. My second call consisted of someone asking me to go through all my phone bills, make copies, and fax them. I took a day off to go through all my records to find these and copy them.
On my third call, I asked for a fax number to fax them to, and I was told rudely that someone else told me to do that, not the individual I was currently speaking with. I asked for Rich and was put on hold. Rich would not talk to me but used the person that I was speaking to as a go between. This person asked, after talking to Rich, why I waited so long to call about this. I explained that when you start a new business, there are many issues to consume yourself in, staffing, menus, schedules, marketing, inventories, and I can go on and on. At some point in time, sooner or later, you must start to analyze the billings and this is when I found this issue. After being put on hold again, I was rudely told by her that they would settle with reimbursing me a little more than $300.00.
Proper business practices would be for the company to realize this mistake, and properly rectify it by paying back the charges which are in excess of $1300.00. If this advertising was prevalent over the last two years, I am sure that I would have received phone calls for the prior business, but I have not. I declined to settle for the offer and will continue to pursue taking action to receive a refund in the full amount of improper charges.
I have already called the PA Public Utility Commission and they have opened a case, I will next call Consumer Relations, The Better Business Bureau, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Attorney Generals Office. If these avenues do not work, I plan to advise my Attorney to move forward.
ZWW ISP
Phone: 888-775-9400
Fax: (323) 525-3939
16133 Ventura Blvd. Suite 855
Encino, California, 91436
In July 2007, I was contacted by ZWW-ISP for a 30 Day Trial. At the end of the conversation, I was told it would be $49.95 a month. I said I didn’t want the service or the trial and had to argue with them about not partaking in any of their services. They called twice. Each time I said I didn’t want the service or trial and to take me off their calling list.
It just now came to my attention that I have been being billed the $49.95 a month thru my phone bill since July 2007.
I phoned to cancel and ask for a refund. I was told I would get a 2 month refund, but that would be it. They were supposed to e-mail me the phone recording. That wasn’t done. I have requested it 3 times now and it still hasn’t happened.
I do not want this service and I want my money back in full.
I did not agree to accept the service or offer.
ZWW-ISP are scam artists - Google them; a lot of people have had similar experiences.
And in response to Debra @ lawstar.com posting:
They billed through AT&T without an agreement from me.
I did not receive a welcome packet.
When I spoke to the account manager both times, I said I did not want the offer or the service.
No progress report was sent.
No reminder was sent.
By the way, they do have my correct e-mail address.
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