Say watt! LED astray by scammers

So, I got scammed.

They actually targeted The Houston Home Journal but I got caught up in the crossfire due to my position.

It was like this. Several weeks ago I received a call from a young-sounding, friendly, lady.

Her: “Do you order the lightbulbs for your organization.”

Me: “I do, but I typically just run down to Ace Hardware, Lowe’s or Home Depot to get them.”

Her: “That’s fine. We just want to send you our catalog of lighting so you can see our great selection and prices.”

Me: “That’s fine.”

She confirmed the address, all seemed okay.

About two weeks after that I was in Atlanta at the Georgia National Trust for Local News’s summit when I received a call. I ignored it went to voice mail. 

“Hey, this is John (can’t remember his last name). I really need to get in touch with you ASAP.”

I texted back at the office to one of my coworkers.

“Hey, would you give this guy a call and see what he wants?”

She did. A text followed: “He says he needs to talk to you.”

So, we were in the process of having an insert machine delivered to us from Colorado. (Normally like $60,000. We got it for $4,000 and it is expected to improve our efficiency significantly. Note: It’s on station and as of Wednesday of last week was up and running.) My mind said: “This must be about the move. I need to call him.” I did.

John: “I just wanted to confirm that so and so called you and offered to send you our latest catalog.” 

Me, to myself: “Crap. This is a blooming scam!”

Me: “Yes, she did.” I hurriedly got off the phone … “I’ve got to get back to class …” and thought that was the end of it.

Monday of last week I received a letter from them, Central Industries, Inc. “Dear customer, Thank you for allowing us to discuss our company’s cutting-edge products. We appreciate the trust you have placed in our company and value your decision to evaluate and hopefully purchase our product.” 

For the record. None of that conversation took place.

It got worse as the letter, after continuing on in their imaginary conversation, went on to say I had approved of the order – the catalog, yes, but order, heck to the no. Further, three paragraphs in it said they were going to send me a trial order of their bulbs (complete with their 20-year extended service guarantee), six bulbs, $119.98 apiece, $38.05 freight and handling, for a grand total of $757.93!

I went to the Better Business Bureau site to see what it had to say. Yep. There they were. Complaint after complaint after complaint. Same thing. Either they were victimized by opening the door by agreeing to receive a catalog or just the simple fact they talked to them was proof enough in Central Industries’ eyes to send the samples. (Per the complainants, they also don’t answer their phone or respond to emails and one who did open the box said the lightbulbs were small and looked like they were worth $7. Total!)

The tricky part about the BBB site was Central Industries responded to every complaint, and in every instance they tried to make it sound like, “Oh, we’re just wonderful people trying to make a living like everyone else.” Nobody was buying it – in their rebuttals to Central Industries’ responses – because obviously everybody knew they had been scammed.

Including me, because a few days after the letter came, the box came. Unfortunately, someone else signed for it, so there it was in all its lying, deceitful glory. I raced to the FedEx office but guess what? When they tried scanning it for return – multiple attempts – it kept coming back that it couldn’t be returned.

The heck you say! I wrapped it up in brown paper – it was tempting to make it holiday paper so it could be a holiday gift – put their address on it, sent it back. It better not ever show up on our doorsteps again because I’m committed to spending every bit of $757.93 of my own playing this back and forth game if that’s what they want to do.

Plus, and it’s beyond me why they haven’t already been investigated and shut down, I’m going to send a copy of this column to all of the 25 newspapers we print throughout the state.

They say they’re all about light, well, I’ll give them what they want and shed a little bit of it on them. Free of charge.