questionable practice?

@BunGirl (2638)
United States
February 7, 2007 2:10pm CST
Since I'm active on a work-at-home forum, I read lots of ads for direct sales companies. Most of them seem pretty honest and up front, but there are some the really irk me. Some of the reps for some companies refuse to give out any real info about their "opportunity" until you give them your phone number and personal details! I don't understand that at all. How off-putting! If you're not willing to be upfront about what you do, why on earth would I trust you??? I even had one today who finally gave me her website address, and while it lists all kinds of stuff about how great the company is, it doesn't bother to mention what company it is or even what she does. I just don't get it... If this is indeed a legitimate company, why do they feel they need to hide what they do?
6 people like this
7 responses
LindaLou
@LindaLou (483)
• Canada
7 Feb 07
I completely agree. They sound fishy to me. I would never trust these companies that aren't forthright about their business. It's unacceptable.
4 people like this
kgwat70
@kgwat70 (13388)
• United States
7 Feb 07
If someone is not upfront with me about their particular company or website, I would have a hard time trusting them as well. If I am not sure about a company and whether it is legitimate or not, I refer to the Better Business Bureau to see if there have been any problems reported or if they are aware of that company. A legitimate company would be honest and tell you about their company and the services they provide. It would seem very shady to me and would stay away from them.
3 people like this
BunGirl
@BunGirl (2638)
• United States
8 Feb 07
Yes, but it's hard to check the bbb for a company who won't even give you their name! I find that the sites of the individual consultants are almost never listed there.
2 people like this
kgwat70
@kgwat70 (13388)
• United States
11 Feb 07
If the person does not give the company name, that is very bad sign right there and would stay away from them. :-) Thank you for the best response.
2 people like this
brokentia
@brokentia (10389)
• United States
8 Feb 07
Good question!!! Have you ever heard of the rejection hot line? You can go to this website and get phone numbers for your local area. Yes, most of the time it is for the purpose of handing it out to someone that you really don't want calling you. But it could be used as a valid number for those companies that you do not want calling you until you find out what the real deal is. Here is the website if you want to look. :) http://www.rejectionhotline.com/
2 people like this
BunGirl
@BunGirl (2638)
• United States
8 Feb 07
Hmm... I had never heard of that -- thanks for the tip! I think I'll continue to steer clear of these guys, but that hotline might be pretty useful for other things...
1 person likes this
kbkbooks
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
8 Feb 07
The shadier practice is when they make you UPGRADE with money before you can actually make any money.
2 people like this
BunGirl
@BunGirl (2638)
• United States
8 Feb 07
LOL -- I've never gotten that far with any of them... I can't imagine why people join these companies!
2 people like this
lucy02
@lucy02 (5015)
• United States
8 Feb 07
I run into those all of the time. They almost always are scams. I see them in our newspaper everyday. Usually they want bank acct. numbers or something like that and when I won't give it to them they get mad.
2 people like this
AskAlly
@AskAlly (3625)
• Canada
8 Feb 07
That turns me off right away. I also don't bother with the ones that make yoy pay $29.99 before you get any information at all. And if it is all so easy why don't any of us know anyone that has made these huge sums of money?
2 people like this
suedarr
@suedarr (2382)
• Canada
8 Feb 07
I agree. I would be very wary of any company that demands a lot of personal information while not being forthcoming themselves. It seems there are a lot of cons and scams out there promising leads to work at home, easy money etc.
2 people like this