Specialty Merchandise Corporation is a scam!

This was submitted to another website but I was given permission to re-post this on my site. This comes from a member called dfollin in regards to what Specialty Merchandise Corporation (SMC) is doing:

This company has been around for years,therefore I thought that I could trust them.Also the fact I had joined them before,but due to some personal problems I had to quit the program.In October I called them and joined into their money making program.

At that time the clerk said that on November 16th I could save money on the annual membership fee by paying for the whole year then,it would be $250.I explained to her that I was on social security and did not have that money to invest and that I would have to stick to the monthly plan of $39.95 per month. She then told me that I would receive my membership kit in plenty of time to earn that much money or even more,but if that were not the case I could call and cancel as late as the day before on November 15th.

I had dealt with them before,therefore I figure that there was going to be no problem and I agreed.I did not receive my kit till the first week of November.I opened the kit to find that before I could get started earning money I had to speak to my business coach there. I called to talk to him and it turns out that you have to make an appointment with him to call you back. He was not available to speak with me till the next evening.

I waited for him to call, made sure I was home, nobody else was and that the phone line was clear.I also made sure that the TV and stereo were off so that there were no distracting noises.I also postponed the dinner time to later. He never called! The next day I called back and they said that he called me at a phone number they had given me,which was not the phone number I had signed up under or had given the appointment clerk the days before. It was my old phone number that we had changed from 3 months previous.How they got it I don't know.

Finally the next evening he called me on my correct phone number.He then suggested that I hold off on starting to make money because I did not have money to invest in additional catalogues and other advertising materials.I called on the 13th of November and told them that I could not pay the $250 and would continue with the $39.95 per month plan and I asked which day of the month were they going to take that money from my account. They said that it was the day before my social security check came and they could not change it. But,they did say that they could stop it and on the next day when my funds did come in I could send them a check or money order and not to forget to do it because my account would close if I did.

Then on the 18th of November I was informed by my credit union (where I have my account) that SMC attempted to remove $250 from my account and because it was not there that I got an insufficient funds fee. They were kind enough to refund me that fee and informed me that they would not be able to do it again that I should call SMC. I did call them and was informed that I had never cancelled it and that they do not know what I am talking about that my membership account is paid in full for one year. The next day I get a letter in the mail from Sernegy Collections Bureau stating that I owe them $250 plus a $35 bounce check fee.

I did not know who these people were and what they were talking about. I called them and they said that they are affiliated with SMC and that when I had agreed to pay the $250 SMC called them and they agreed to pay them and take the money from my account themselves. I told them that I had cancelled that transaction and I had never approved for them to go into my account anyway. They told me that I had to cancel my account and return to them the membership kit. As well I needed to tell SMC to give them back the $250 and I also had to send the $35 for the bounce fee.I called SMC and was told that because the account is paid in full I cannot cancel it and that the 30 days are up for me to be entitled to a refund anyway. Heck,I did not even receive the kit till almost 30 days was up anyway! I spoke to my business coach again and he said that he does not see where I had approved that transaction and where I had called on the 13th to cancel, but I needed to speak to the membership office to get it cleared.

I spoke with them and they said that it would take up to 5 days to pull my file and recordings to process it.That was late November,I still have not heard from them.I have tried to call them and keep getting a recording saying their refund policy.The day after I talked to Sernegy they attempted to remove the money from my account again,even after I told them that the money was not there.They attempted again a few days later. So,when my social security money was direct deposited in I lost over $84 and I had to close that account and reopen a new one.Sernegy called me yesterday and while I was explaining to the man that I was waiting for them to process it and that the 5 days was long up he hung up on me. Now they are saying that I owe them $310. My advise is don't go with them for a money making opportunity. I have lost $84 plus the other $60 the Sernegy is saying that I owe them.I told them that I would send them the $39.95 each month and they said that it would not be accepted.

End

Okay, of course I gave some advice to dfollin like contacting the Better Business Bureau. I happen to look up Specialty Merchandise Corporation, also known as SMC. Their business rating for the BBB is oddly enough a "B". They've had almost a 1,000 complaints against them regarding their membership and business practices. I am sure it would be more if more people actually reported this company. I remember seeing an advertisement for this company a few years ago. I was intrigued and decided to get more information on it. Of course they wanted me to pay for any information. That sent up a red flag so I stopped all inquiries. So I decided to see if there were any complaints about SMC. I found this site http://www.infomercialscams.com/scams/smc

I believe SMC maybe a bigger scammer than money maker.