Florist Elizabeth Deabler says she never signed up to advertise in even one online directory, much less 13. But that hasn't stopped the directories from repeatedly calling and asking the Pennsylvania florist to pay up. Deabler is fighting back, filing complaints and warning other florists about the possible scams.

It started in October 2007, when Deabler, owner of Edgely Flowers & Gift Baskets in Levitttown, Pa., received a phone call asking for a $500 payment that she owed for advertising in an online business directory.

"I told [the representative], she must have the wrong people because I never signed up for any online advertising," Deabler says. "Then [the representative] said she was going to call the sheriff. I told her go ahead, I know the sheriff."

Deabler became more suspicious when the company, Nationwide Marketing Bureau, kept calling back and told her she could reduce her bill if she paid over the phone with a credit card. After several more confusing phone calls, she decided she needed some help. After calling around to several other local businesses to ask for advice, she filed complaints with the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission and wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper.

In the response to the complaint, obtained by the Bucks County Courier Times, Jon Samson, site supervisor at Nationwide Marketing Bureau, blamed an employee for misrepresenting the company in her conversation with Deabler. He agreed with Deabler's contention that the florist had never authorized the listing.

Samson declined to comment on the case to the paper, but did say that if clients had an issue they should contact the company to resolve the issue.

After the Nationwide incident, Deabler received several more calls, from 12 other companies asking for money for similar online advertising directories. Deabler says she tells each one that she has contacted the attorney general and FTC, which usually stops the calls from coming.

"There was no way I was going to pay all these bills," Deabler says about what added up to be about $6,000. Deabler 's staff knows to hang up on anyone who mentions anything about online advertising and wants to verify a name and address. Something as simple as verifying an address or phone number to the companies, she warns, could be enough to sign the store up for a listing.

Deabler also encourages other florists who get similar calls to follow her lead and contact their state and federal officials and reach out to the local media, who might help alert other business owners to potential scams.

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 
 

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