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They billed us $804 for a $100 toner cartridge that we never ordered and never even received! I spoke to "Alice" who cliamed that we did fax them the order, and that she would fax me the proof. She never did.
Alice's mother would be ashamed if she knew what her daughter did for a living.
I guess over at IDCSERVCO they must monitor the various scam-related websites, because Alice responded thusly:
"### You Stan! Everything you said was untrue, you need to leave my mother out of this. You just need to read order confirmations before you sign and send them back to sales companies."
It sounds like Alice claims that we fell for their scam and unwittingly signed their "order confirmation." If that were the case then you'd think that Alice would have faxed me the proof as she said she would, so they could collect their ill-gotten gain.
In any case, would Alice say that everyone who has made a complaint here is wrong? Would she say that IDCSERVCO is an honest and ethical company? Does Alice has an explanation for the 592 BBB complaints and their "F" rating?
In fact, here the summary from the BBB website:
"Complaints contain a pattern of allegations that sales representatives misrepresented that they were the complainant's regular office supply company or that they were calling on behalf of a printer cartridge manufacturer. Many other complainants state that they receive unordered toner, deliveries of unauthorized merchandise, and/or multiple orders of merchandise as partial shipments. Some customers complain that the company charged excessive shipping and handling charges and that the toner was far more expensive that their regular supplier."
Alice - would you like to defend yourself, and the company you work for? Or do you just want to swear somemore?
Hey - they even tried to scam the Chamber of Commerce in Billings, Montana! Here's a post on the Montana BBB website:
"WEST COAST DISTRIBUTION and IDCSERVCO: Deceptive Toner Phoners Target MT Businesses
Thanks to the Billings Chamber of Commerce, who brought this current deceptive scheme of toner phoning to our attention so we can warn Montana businesses about such negative companies attempting to get you to agree to products you may not want. Here is the scenario:
The Billings Chamber received a morning call from a rep named "Mark" informing them he had given them the wrong "price quote" on copier toner they had "supposedly ordered, " and that he was faxing them a corrected order confirmation for them to sign. All they had to do was fax it back and all would be fine.
The problem is--nobody from the Billings Chamber office ever ordered these supplies because the service contract they have with their official vendor includes toner!
They have a new staffer on board who didn't know about this arrangement, and if it hadn't been halted at mid-stream, this chamber would have been taken by this deceptive pitch, for the new staffer was ready to sign and return the form.
What bothered that chamber was the fact that the telemarketer knew the make and model of their copier.
At the top of the form they wanted faxed back is the following company information:
West Coast Distribution
419 Main Street, Suite122
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Phone: [protected]
And at the bottom of the form, it states: "Your order will be shipped and billed by our service company:
Interstate Distribution Center aka IDCSERVCO
3962 Landmark Street
Culver City, CA 90232
Contact: Gilbert Michaels
Phone: [protected]
Both companies have an "F" Rating with their BBBs. The first company's business is providing the sale of office supplies by phone. All complaints on file with its BBB remain unanswered.
The second company's business is to ship and invoice office and copier supplies, which are solicited by independent telemarketing companies. I D C provides customer service for processed transactions. This company has over 400 complaints with its BBB!
Complaints contain a pattern of allegations that sales representatives misrepresented that they were the complainant's regular office supply company or that they were calling on behalf of a printer cartridge manufacturer. Many other complainants state that they receive unordered toner, deliveries of unauthorized merchandise, and/or multiple orders of merchandise as partial shipments. Some customers complain that the company charged excessive shipping and handling charges and that the toner was far more expensive that their regular supplier.
The company generally responds to the allegations by stating they do not solicit orders or do telemarketing, but that they are a shipping and billing service organization. The company responds by providing credits, sending complaints to the specific telemarketing organizations, placing complainants on do-not-call lists, and, in some cases, stating that the telemarketer resolved the complaint."
Alice, would you like me to keep going?
They've also contacted me for a similar thing in which I believed them to be our usual order contact at Discountofficeitems.com or WB Mason and tried to sell us a single Canon toner for $698.00 which is three times the usual price.
I became aware of this when he tried to get me to sign the fax and it displayed strange information.
Beware! One of the men who work for this pirate company is named Peter Reeves.
This company is [censor] of the earth. They called our Receptionist and told them they were with our "REAL" Toner/Copier company and asked if we needed to order more toner. They then sent Bills from "IDCSERVCO" in the amount of $4, 000.00 for 6 toner cartridges. When I called them at [protected], they told me I needed to call "Warehouse Service" at [protected]. When I called, they wouldn't talk to me. The Government needs to step up and "PUNISH" these piece of [censor] SCAM companies. Also, they can't provide any signed contract or paperwork indicating that our Company Ordered their [censor] product!
I was just almost scammed by Supply Central Distributions/IDC Servco as well. They called my office telling me that it was time for my new toner for the quarter to be sent out. However, we've never had that service before. I just recently took over this office, so I thought that maybe it could be possible. I talked to some of the other people who work here and they had never heard of them. The one think that really got my attention though was the price! Are you kidding me? They were trying to charge me $440 for one ink toner. I knew something was up when they told me that. There is no way 1 toner costs that much. They also told me that i would be locked in with that price for the rest of the year if i faxed them back the order confermation as opposed to the new higher price of their toner. What a joke! Who do these people think they are and how do they sleep at night? Everyone who works for this company should be ashamed...
We had just received a call from "Brad" with Supply Central Distribution" This company is on 1304 North Highland Ave #115 Los Angeles CA [protected]
This man called our office and said to one of my employees that the price in toner is going up and we can get a discount if we order the toner in advance. My employee did sign and authorize 1 toner cart. In the meanwhile 3 bills later (each at $897.75) this man calls back (which is where I then got involved) Tells me that there is a contract that we signed for a case. He stated that the price of toner per cartridge is roughly $1500 and if we cancel the case he will then charge us for the toner we have received full price. He stated we have 6 cartridges, therefore it will be a $4800 charge so it would be cheaper just to pay for the rest of the shipment. When I informed him we are a small company we not only do not need all this toner we can not afford it. He constantly put me on hold as if he was getting authorization, he would then come back with "a deal" waiving shipping, then waiving the cost of the last toner. I informed him that we could not afford this and who authorized this he told me my partner did. I asked for proof and he informed me it was verbal. I told him I wanted to cancel the order and return all product he said we can't do that. When I had informed him again we did not need them and I want to speak to a supervisor. He said no that he is the manager. I asked him if he was the owner of the company he did not answer the question. I continuted to ask the question if he was the owner and if he was not then there is someone above him I can speak to. He then started to get very loud and asked whom I was. At this point that was irrelavant. I asked what company he was calling from he informed me that he was with IDC Servco. He asked me my name again and in a demanding voice told me someone will get back with me. (obviously nothing from them).
In the meanwhile I had called IDC and they put me through to a women in Accounting. Which was very helpful. She did tell me that IDC was a shipping and billing company and that she would remove our company from all lists for future billing and shipments. In the meanwhile she did have a copy of the signed form which she did fax over. This signed form was authorizing 1 toner not 10 or a case. She informed me once they have this signed form from the sales rep they can use that one form for future verbal orders. So basically this guy can order toners for our office and have them sent and billed whenever he wants. I had reported the Supply Central Dist. company to the BBB and they informed me there are many reports filed against the same company for the same reasons. UNREAL! What really upsets me is that we paid out $2691 already and we would really like that back. Not holding my breath!
Justin posted
"Gilbert Michaels is a long-time board member with the Humane Society of the United States and runs a private foundation, Compassion for Animals Foundation, at the Culver City address."
I didn’t know that about the president of IDC Servco but from what I see on line this is indeed the case. Is anyone else the least bit concerned that the same person that runs IDC Servco, a known and documented ‘Toner Pirate” company, is also in charge of a TAX EXEMPT non profit organization? If the info I got on line is correct they have had assets over three million dollars for the non profit company.
IDC Servco ahh yes I’ve had my run-ins with this company. In my dealings with them, they clamed to simply be a middle man, shipping out toner orders for telemarketers.
I encountered them over a year ago, and my experience with them is essentially the same as everyone else’s, toner received that wasn’t ordered, arguments over the phone, eventually they sent a call tag to get the product back. All is well you would think.
But earlier this month (Jan 09) I got transferred a call from one of the customer support people in my office. It was someone who identified herself as being from IDSERVCO and wanted to talk to me about my toner order. I was shocked that these people had the nerve to try this scam again.
After a very heated discussion about the business practices of IDCSERVCO, which ended with the representative asking “So you don’t want the toner shipment?” and my Reply “WANT IT? WE NEVER ORDERED IT!”
I though well after my “discussion” with their rep they would remove our company name from their “SCAM” list. But the amount of bravado it takes to be a scamming telemarketing company is obviously greater than their common sense. Because this morning 1/27/09 I got a call from someone who said “Oh hi I’m from the copy center and I’m calling about your toner shipment for your Xerox model xxxxx”
My first question was “What company are you calling from and who do you represent?” The phone went silent and I asked the question again. The only response was a dial tone as the person hung up. While I cant pin the latest call on IDCSERVCO the caller earlier this month identified himself as one of their employees.
So what about the claim that IDCSERVCO is only a middleman and not responsible for the scams? Well even if I believe that, which I don’t, then after nearly 800 complaints to the BBB about IDCSERVCO you see they are knowingly and actively working with the “Telemarketer scammers”
Then there is the history of IDC SERVCO.
IDC Servco is part of Mytel INT. Inc located at 3962 Landmark St. in Culver City, CA. and the last president I can find listed for the company is Gilbert N Michaels. IDC Servco and Mytel INT Inc had a federal Complaint filed against them on Sept 30 1988 alleging some pretty shady business practices like misrepresenting themselves as authorized Toshiba suppliers. In 2007, in response IDC Seervco’s continued misrepresentation as being authorized Toshiba suppliers a permanent injunction was granted against them.
So despite hat IDC Sevco may say about being only the middle man in these things they have had federal complaints filed against them due to they business practices. Nothing I have ever seen living under a rock is nearly as slimy or low as IDC Servco.
Oh and they do actively scan for anyone posting about them on the internet, I’m guessing they employ someone full time for that job.
They tried to scam the New Mexico Higher Education Department by phoning and claiming they were our office supply vendor and that they could sell us a few toner cartridges at a deep discount. We rejected the phone call but they delivered one cartridge yesterday with an invoice for $587.19. They claimed to have a written order for the cartridge which is impossible because we place our orders through a central database. They threatened us with a restocking fee, but when we threatened to turn in a complaint to the attorney general, they offered to come immediately and pick up the cartridge.
Gilbert Michaels is a long-time board member with the Humane Society of the United States and runs a private foundation, Compassion for Animals Foundation, at the Culver City address.
### You Stan! Everything you said was untrue, you need to leave my mother out of this. You just need to read order confirmations before you sign and send them back to sales companies.