8663260949

Good analysis Jay. It is a fraud run by lairs and thieves.

How about this from another board:

We were contacted by Melanie, who said she was from a company that matched buyers of used cars to sellers for $199.00. My husband specifically asked the question--"What if we sell the car through another means?" (We had advertised through the newspaper.) She said that we would get all our money back minus $29, and said nothing about a 90 day waiting policy before getting our money back. We sold the car 3 days after the posting and called the company immediately, who then told us about the 90 day policy and refused to give us a refund. In order to get a refund we have to get the request notarized. We disputed this with our credit card company and have reported them to the BBB. Please do not use this service!

Jay, thanks for your post.  You raise an interesting point about the posts found on this site, or any other for that matter.  When people write negative posts they are taken at face value.  When "positive" posts are found, the only question is, "Who really wrote them?"  I guess we're darned if they do and darned if they don't, so there's not much use in me asking for testimonials, nor pointing any out that I've seen or heard, because in most people's minds testimonials are phony creations of the companies that use them.  Fair enough, considering I'm guilty of shrugging off testimonials myself.
I am curious to know, however, what I've said/typed that is so unbelievable and what is prompting you to complain to the FTC?  Have you seen any inconsistencies?  And why does is strike you so interesting that I have my finger on the pulse of internet negativity?  Shall we sit idly by while uninformed conspiracy theorists trash our name and service with no prior experience of using us?  Is it not a good thing for us to engage in conversation with people who have questions or concerns?  I'm here to help and it IS a full-time job, but it's totally necessary and worthwhile to me to be available for questions and be the second side to every story, no matter how they end.

Hey Paul - one question.  If Brad calls my phone and I answer it, will he talk to me?

Grabbing people's phone numbers from places like Craigslist, Auto Trader, and Kijiji is against those websites Terms of Service.  Also, it is against Federal Law to call cell phone numbers soliciting your services.  It is YOUR (the companies) responsibility to check that these are not cell numbers before you call. I do not appreciate being called by this company after placing an ad on Craigslist, and will be reporting you to the FTC, the BBB, and possibly the Attorney General of your state. If I wanted to use your services, I would have contacted you first.  How you are acquiring your contacts is illegal, and immoral. Companies like yours give other companies a bad name. If you call my cell phone again, action will be taken.

I would HIGHLY recommend that ANYONE considering using this company do a lookup through the BBB about it before you give them ANY money.  130 complaints in the last 36 months.  Paul, what do you have to say about that?

Yes, and if any research is done, people will realize that you are not a reputable business. Here is an excerpt from the BBB.  Also, using a website like this to drum up business is also against their TOS.  I will be reporting you to them shortly. Answering questions is one thing, posting your phone numbers and trying to get customers is another.

"Through an agreement with Adventis, Inc. d/b/a The Big Lot, Longwood Industries offers automobile Internet-Web Advertising. Consumers report that after placing an ad in a newspaper to sell an automobile, they are contacted by Longwood Industries to place a similar ad on the internet for $195.

BBB processed a total of 130 complaint(s) about this business in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total 130 complaint(s) closed in the last 36 months, 57 were closed in the last 12 months.

These complaints concerned:

15   regarding Advertising Issues
1   regarding Advertised price not honored  
14   regarding Advertising Issues  

1   regarding Contract Disputes
1   regarding Contract Disputes  

6   regarding Customer Services Issues
6   regarding Customer Services Issues  

92   regarding Refund Or Exchange Issues
9   regarding Failure to honor promised refunds, exchanges, or credit  
12   regarding Failure to honor refund, exchange or credit policies  
71   regarding Refund Or Exchange Issues  

14   regarding Selling Practices
14   regarding Selling Practices  

2   regarding Service Issues
1   regarding Improper or inferior service  
1   regarding Service Issues  
"

Here is the link to the BBB website:

http://www.bbb.org/western-virginia/business- ... ord-va-9004961/

Guaranteed to sell in 90 days?  Why pay you when it will sell on Craigslist within 14 for free?

If your company was on the up and up with your contracts and customers, there would be no reason for BBB complaints in the first place.  Obviously there is something wrong with your system, contracts, and service to have that many BBB complaints, especially on such a wide range of subjects.  If it were just one area the BBB complaints were focused on, it wouldn't be so much of an issue.  But they range from start to finish, advertising, to refunds, to Customer service, the whole gamut.  Obviously you need to do some work there to improve your services, and your relations with your customers.

Your "outside the box" marketing tactics tend to be on the illegal side as well, combing places like Craigslist, Kijiji, and other sites that clearly state the posters of the ads are NOT to be contacted with other services. Also, soliciting cell phone numbers is a violation of FTC laws, and it is YOUR responsibility to check the numbers first.  Just because you get satisfied customers via this route DOES NOT make it right, nor justify the means.

Your refund terms in your contract should be spelled out clearly, and they are.  However, when customers call in to get a refund, suddenly there are other terms and requirements.  This is known as a "bait and switch" tactic, that is also false advertising, and clearly a shady business practice.  If you were on the up and up, there should not be any questions as to this policy from your customers.  Blaming your customers and telling them to ask more questions is very, very shady, and a poor way to conduct business. Your contract should be clear, and concise, and spelled out to your customers before they agree to anything.

Also, your website gives very, very little information about your company.  In fact, there is no documentation there about anything, only a phone number for people to call and get in touch with you.  No email address, no business address, no information whatsoever except a phone number.  That in itself should be indication to many people that you have something to hide.  How many reputable businesses have a website with that little information on it? Only those with something to hide. It would seem that you have a lot of work to do in a lot of areas to "clean up your act".  It would be wise to address these issues, instead of running around the internet trying to cover your butt, don't you think?  After all, if you WERE a reputable business, there would be no need to do what you do, Paul.

Again, how you cull these phone numbers and contacts is illegal, as is your practice of contacting cell phones, DNC or not.

So, your parent company Adventists, is 501c3, what about Longwood, The Big Lot, and Longwood industries?  Why do you have so many different company names?  How are you a charitable 501c3 compliant company?  You fail to explain any of this, only saying that you are, and that makes you exempt from the DNC. Selling cars for cash does not make a  501c3 company.  What does?  Remember, Paul, if your company weren't so shady with so many complaints against them that you wouldn't have a job.  You should talk to your management about spending more time changing the issues with your company than running around cleaning up a mess.

Uninformed conspiracy theorists?  So now you are insulting a potential customer base here. Look around the internet, Paul.  Find something good about your company.  I can do it for numerous other companies that I do business with, but not yours.  Why is that?  Please don't use the old rhetoric that happy people don't make posts, because this is a farce.  They do it all the time.  

It seems that all you are able to do is talk.  We provide proof from other websites, including the BBB, about your company, yet all you can say is trust me.  How can we trust you, when you cannot provide proof of happy customers, and everything about your company people find is a complaint? Things are very skewed for a reason, Paul, and that's because your company is untrustworthy on many levels.  Perhaps showing some fact, instead of talk and rhetoric, would do best in your favor. Oh wait, I already know what you're going to say.  "But when I post positive results, people question that as well because they think we are posting it ourselves!"  So, in that light, you just talk, and talk, and talk, with no fact being given, other than "Call us!  You'll like us!".  Why call a company that has bad reviews everywhere? You really should rethink your strategy here.

Covering your companies butt in this manner is the first sign of something shady, NOT improved customer experience. A reputable company would take the complaints and issues with the customer and work on their customer service and other issues to make sure THERE ARE NO FURTHER COMPLAINTS, something that your company has failed to do for at least 36 months according to the BBB, instead of running around trying to explain everything.

It's easy, Paul, to figure out how you get around the DNC.  

1.  You are a 501c3 company, which makes you exempt from the DNC, for the purposes OF CHARITABLE DONATIONS.

2.  You are soliciting for services, NOT donations.

3.  That means you are abusing your "charitable foundation" status, and your DNC exemption to solicit your services.  You are only allowed to call and solicit for donations, not for your companies services.  

Can you tell the difference between those two, Paul?  I sure can, and the folks here probably can as well, not to mention the folks at the FTC, the FCC, and the BBB.  

The bottom line is that we, the consumer, have the right to not be bothered by companies that solicit.  We are on the DNC for a very good reason.  WE do NOT have to call you and tell you that we do not want to be contacted.  Do you know, Paul, that since I registered with the DNC, even the donation solicitations have stopped?  Don't get me wrong, I still donate to several places every year.  But even the 501c3 companies that are allowed to solicit me, are respecting the DNC and don't call.  Yet you and your company go around the DNC restrictions.

I pay for every minute of my cell phone useage.  Therefor, the Federal government ruled that NO ONE has the right to solicit my cell phone.  Even charitable organizations.  Why does your company not follow even this most basic of rules?  Remember, Paul, if your company didn't make the mess, you wouldn't have to clean it up in the first place.

After reviewing the FCC website regarding telemarketers, it is very apparent that you are in gross violation of at least two of their mandates.

1.  You MUST identify yourselves via Caller ID when calling people's phones.

2.  For example, it is unlawful for any person to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with express prior consent) using any automatic telephone dialing system or any artificial or prerecorded voice message to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, mobile telephone service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call. This prohibition applies regardless of whether the number is listed on the national Do-Not-Call list.

The FTC has a few things to say about this as well, including the fact that I have the right to pursue legal action.   Interestingly enough, both the FCC and the FTC say I can do this.  Complaints have been filed with both Bureau's, and rightfully so.  I will be contacting them tomorrow to find out what other options are available to me.

So now that it's out in the open that you are breaking Federal laws, your BBB rating is in the toilet, and all consumers can find are negative reviews,  what do you have to say? I am most interested, especially when I find out that the laws are on my side.

Brett, twelve separate posts all made last night!  I am going to do my best to answer all of your questions and serious allegations, but this could take some time so bear with me, and if at all possible let me finish before adding more.
Most importantly here, you assert that companies are prohibited from contacting you on your cell phone.  We respectfully disagree with your insinuation that there is a blanket prohibition on contacting cell phones to offer goods and services.  In fact, federal law specifically permits certain solicitations to wireless numbers... Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 CG Docket No. 02-278, Report and Order, FCC 03-153, ¶ 166 (rel. July 3, 2003).
With that said, if you forward us all of your telephone numbers, we would be happy to add them to our internal Do-Not-Call list.

Brett, as you eventually read last night, this is addressed later in this thread.  For those interested in what I have to say about these "complaints" please read on.  Thank you.

Regarding your accusation that I was here trying to drum up business, I posted our phone number in that last reply for a specific reason, and it was clearly NOT to "drum up business" as you imply.  I was making a point about how to easily identify a scam -- one way being that if you call a number that they provide and no one is ever there and they then force you to communicate via email.  I simply provided our hours and phone number so people could call and see that this was not the case for our business.

Paul you must be the most pathetic freaking "business owner" EVER! Obviously the scam isn't working on the phone, so here you come on a COMPLAINT board whining and sniveling and trying (quite obviously with no success) to run the scam here, and trying to justify your illegal actions and unethical actions to a bunch of people who freaking KNOW BETTER. People, just wait, if these idiot scammers are this desperate they will simply run out of money and go away sooner rather than later, and "Paul" can go back to selling used cars in the ghetto if he doesn't wind up in jail first. The problem is, it's so easy to get cheap 8xx numbers and set up shop to run scams these days, no matter how incompetent you are -- we have here a PRIME EXAMPLE!

The more I read your posts, the more I think you are an employee of Craigslist.  You clearly write with a lot of motive. Anyway...

Surely you aren't saying that every vehicle listed on Craigslist sells within 14 days?  Simply put, we help people in more ways and we do it proactively.  We don't just post ads and hope for the best, but I'm not saying I wouldn't try that first if it's free.  If that doesn't work, I'd go with a company that has fish in a barrel.

Sorry that I missed this until crawling back through the pages.  My "spin" would be that the statement you are referring to addresses other commercial services or interests.  We take that to mean a commercial interest unrelated to why you posted your contact information in the first place.  You posted your information online in an attempt to sell your vehicle.  Our service is specifically tailored to help you achieve that goal and therefore related to the very reason you posted your information online.  We think we offer a very valuable service and want to reach as many people as possible that we think we can help.  
If you are not one of the people interested in our service, we would be happy to record any Do-Not-Call requests that you may have and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Numbering your thoughts/opinions does not make them true/facts.

What you state in numbers 1-3 is simply false.  Where are you getting this information?

The 501c3 is a special designation of non-profit organization, yet you are clearly lumping every non-profit as a 501c3, which they are not.  You have very strong feelings and opinions and write with a lot of emotion, but you have poor understanding of your rights vs. business' rights.

I understand where you are coming from, but we are not doing anything illegal.  I don't like that I have to request that non-profits don't call me anymore, but I do because that's how I nip it in the bud if I don't want to contribute to that specific charity (by donating OR using their services).  That's the way it goes, whether it annoys me or not.

And believe me, you need not remind me of the "mess." But much of it is being made by people with bad information trying uncover that which I guess they assume the FCC, FTC, BBB, IRS, etc., etc., etc., couldn't uncover themselves.  Don't you think they know what they're doing?  Don't you think we would have been shut down a long time ago if we really were doing things illegally or running a scam?

Give them some credit, will you?