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United States
Postal Inspection Service
Advertising Specialty Products Schemes |
Advertising speciality products have helped many companies gain recognition for their
names and products. However, illegal "boiler room" operations also use ad
specialties to ensnare owners and employees of small companies in a fraud scheme.
The scheme begins with a call from a telephone salesperson notifying you that you've
won a big prize in a sweepstakes promotion. But there's one small catch. You win only if
you purchase a certain amount of advertising specialty products. The required purchase of
pens, key tags, baseball caps, ice scrapers, or other small items with your company name,
address, phone number, slogan, and logo sometimes amounts to several hundred dollars. If
you order, you may receive inferior merchandise or nothing at all. You can protect yourself
and your company by observing the following good business practices:
- Your best protection is to terminate the conversation if you recognize it to be a
high-pressure sales pitch.
- If you decide you might be interested, insist that the seller provide you samples
of the advertising specialty products before you make any commitment to purchase.
- To ensure that the products you are considering buying from the telemarketer are
fairly and competitively priced, obtain a price quotation for similar items from a local
vendor before making a purchase.
- If you are satisfied with the quality and price of the telemarketer's sample--and
are convinced that the items in your order will be of similar quality--buy only the
quantity of items you need.
- Do not buy advertising specialty products just to get a prize that is offered as a
reward for your purchase. (Frequently, an illegal boiler room operation will not even send
you the promised prize.)
- Refuse to accept a C.O.D. shipment of advertising specialty products. Instead, asked
to be billed along with the shipment; that way, you can refuse to pay the bill if you are
dissatisfied with the products.
If you have been bilked in an advertising specialty products scheme, or if you know about a
scheme that should be investigated, inform your local postmaster or the nearest Postal
Inspector.
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