Victim Location 92311
Type of a scam Fake Invoice/Supplier Bill
This business keeps sending me attached Invoice that very likely fraudulent in nature. I call them and they refuse to send me the name of who ordered the product, or proof of delivery. I’m the Purchasing Administrator at the Toro Company, and I have only two options of how to place purchasing orders. One method is via an internal system generated PO with a computerized generated PO with beginning numeric digits of 21xxxx. The other method is a Company Credit Card. And, looking at the Invoice from this particular business both of the purchase methods lack the mentioned purchasing methods for the Toro Company. I have made several attempts to call them and my calls are ignored yet the Invoice keeps being sent to my attention as "delinquent past due payment" status.
Victim Location 27409
Type of a scam Other
A gentleman called me from the "maintenance department" to thank me for past business. I tried to ask what company he was with, and he was never clear and kept changing the subject. He wanted to give me a gift card as a thank you and initially asked for my home address. I declined to give him any more information and stated he can send any correspondence to the company I work at. A month or 2 later I received a box of light bulbs, but had no idea where they came from. Very vague packaging. A month after the package, I received an invoice for $657 for light bulbs I never ordered. It then hit me, it was the gentleman from the "maintenance department" wanting to send me a "gift card." I gave them no info over the phone, or confirmed an order. The gentleman already had my name and company address. Again, I confirmed no orders with this company. I also did not agree to a gift card. I only directed the caller to send any correspondence to the office. 100% false order. I will not pay the $657, as I did not make an order.
Victim Location 84062
Type of a scam Other
Our story is pretty much the same as the 26 complaints filed previously!
I do all the light bulb orders for our company and have one specific company I use for all my purchases. When a case of light bulbs arrived that I didn’t order I set them aside wondering if one of the other office managers had possibly ordered them, no one did. Soon I received a $657 invoice in the mail from Lighting Products Company. The invoice was written out to a different company but had our mailing address. I called them to let them know they had sent it to the wrong place. The girl I spoke with named Robin told me that the bill was for us, they just accidentally put the wrong company name on the invoice?? When I told her we didn’t place this order she said they had called to speak with an employee who had ordered from them in the past. When I told her that employee hadn’t been with our company for over 7 years, she said the person they did speak with gave them my name. She told me that they had been transferred to me and I verified the shipment.
When I argued that I never spoke with them and certainly never asked them to send the bulbs she told me that I was lying and that they had my voice recorded saying that I did indeed agree to have them shipped. She kept mentioning some pin number that they gave me and said that meant I had given permission? I argued with her, First of all, I have ordered from a trusted company for the last 6 years, second they are charging double the price as the company I use, and Third these bulbs won’t even work for our office unless I have someone switch out our ballasts. Why would I place this order??
When I wouldn’t back down and admit that I agreed to the shipment, she hung up on me. A week or two later I got a new invoice, this time they included a letter saying that they would like to offer a 50% discount. I contacted them and told them that we still would not be paying the invoice even at the 50% discount since these are not even bulbs that we can use in our office. She told me we would have to ship them back. I asked for them to send a shipping label for the return. She said they wouldn’t do that since we had ordered them we would have to pay to ship them back.
I didn’t return them. They are still sitting in my office. I got a call from them today, her name was Monique and she was threatening to take us to collections. I told her if she could show me any proof that I had actually placed the order (I know they don’t have any) then I would pay to ship them back, otherwise they could send me a shipping label and then I will return them. We won’t pay the $60+ to ship back something we didn’t order. She told me they have me on a recording approving the shipment. I asked her to let me hear it. Then she told me they won’t let me hear it until we go to court. She tried to tell me our company was being dishonest with them! She said they already paid to ship it to us, and if we want to return our order we need to pay to return it! I told her I was sorry that she works for a dishonest company but they were welcome to take us to collections.
After looking them up on BBB, I’m pretty sure they will harass us for a while, but I don’t think they will ever take us to collections. The bulbs will still be here in the closet waiting for them to send me a shipping label for their return.
Victim Location 80222
Type of a scam Other
These people contacted me by phone and convinced me they were an established vendor with the business I just started a new position with. They said they wanted to send over a ‘refill’ of our ‘standard order’ of overhead light bulbs for the office. It would be sent at a promotional rate and include a gift card. I tacitly agreed. They called back a week later to confirm the ‘order’. I never saw a quote, was never told we were being charged. A package showed up with 24 florescent tubes (which are useless to us, as our lighting is all LED). No invoice, no packing slip. I called and requested an invoice. They sent one for almost $700, charging more than 4 times MSRP. I immediately told them we would not pay, no Purchase Order had been cut. They tried to strong arm me, I hung up. They then insisted that they would schedule a pickup with UPS, which was a lie. I contacted UPS and they are sorting it out. These people have 25+ BBB complaints filed against them. All Yelp and Google reviews are 1 star and report the same story as mine. They are scam artists and I don’t understand how or why they are still legally operating.
Victim Location 91331
Total money lost $712.40
Type of a scam Other
THE SCAMMER CALLED AND SAID THEY WERE GIVING WALMART GIFT CARDS TO PROMOTE THEIR BUSINESS AND WERE ALSO SENDING FREE LIGHT BULBS. I RECEIVED AN INVOICE TODAY FOR OVER $700 JUST FOR 30 REGULAR LIGHT BULBS THAT I CAN GET FOR $30 AT HOME DEPOT. THEY DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE AND I READ THE REVIEWS ONLINE OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN SCAMMED.
Victim Location 84101
Type of a scam Other
A representative of Lighting Products makes an unsolicited call to a company and talks to a receptionist or admin level person and tells them Lighting Products would like to send a case of light bulbs as a customer appreciation. They do not tell the company how much they will be charged for the light bulbs.
The light bulbs are actually shipped & received. A front desk receptionist signs for the box as he/she wouldn’t know to refuse the package.
An invoice shows up some time later for 2 – 1/2 case purchases of fluorescent light bulbs for somewhere in the $600 – $700 range. These are lightbulbs that are commercially available for approx. $3.00 each at local home improvement stores. A whole case should only cost less than $40.
Their MO is to call in, talk to someone they think they can fool, ship a $40 box of lightbulbs, charge $600 and hope it makes it through the Accounts Payable process without question.
They will make collection calls and demands for the money.