Monday, February 01, 2010

Almost suckered!

Please agree with me when I saw we all have our moments of studipity. Well, the phone rang a while ago and the caller ID read a (321) number and Not Available. That means telemarketer in my mind but since they had called a couple of times before when I didn't answer, I did answer this time planning to say, "No thanks" and end the calls. Well, a very friendly guy is on the phone telling me he's with Miller Plant Inc. and asks if I have a septic tank. I say yes and he proceeds to tell me about their great product which not only breaks down the waste better than the store products but also keeps the runoff pipes free from buildup. I know nothing about septic tanks other than the smell of one being pumped when I was 7 or 8. He says the Dept. of Agriculture uses this product and it's the best thing available. Blah blah blah. Well, yes, I should have said what I planned to, "No thanks" but then he snagged me with the honesty card. "We are refreshingly old-fashioned and actually work on the honor system. We'll send you the product free of charge and you can return it in 30 days if not satisfied. Only 2% of our products are ever returned!" I was suckered (for the moment) and said ok.

After hanging up the phone, I typed in Miller Plant Inc. on the web. SCAM!!! I found a website which identified who actually calls from unknown numbers and MANY people have received calls from "Miller Plant" offering supposed septic tank products. I saw a link to a Ripoff Report article with this as it's title, "Miller-Plante & Jerry Plante ripoff employs convicted felons and drug addicts to sell bogus septic helper". Great, I might be helping to put money in a druggie's pocket.

Thankfully, the man on the phone said someone from the shipping department would call back to verify the order. The phone did ring again about 10 minutes ago. Lo and behold, the caller ID read "Miller Plant"! A woman started in with her "speech" about verifying my address and I kindly said "I've decided not to order the product." She surprisingly asked why and I said we will continue to use the store brand. She said something about the quality level and I said, "Actually I don't think you are an actual company." She gasped and said, "We've been in business since 1982, of course we are a real company." I then said, "There is no website online and other accounts of it not being a real company." She said, "You can go to millerplant.net and maybe order online." I said, "Ok" and hung up.

Guess what? When you type in "millerplant.net", you find, Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage!!

Yes, I am embarrassed by my over trusting nature, but I am appalled by people who try to swindle others. The Ripoff Report article was from 2004, that's SIX YEARS these losers have been running this Miller Plant thing. It's one thing to be a thief and just break into someone's car. Argh, but another to sweet talk people out of their money. I'll quit now because I'm beginning to feel like an ad warning the elderly against sweepstakes scams. I wasn't even getting tricked into the possibility of millions, but simply a clean septic tank. That's sad! I pray they don't send anything.

2 comments:

*Jess* said...

I almost let the "cleaning company" people into my home one Saturday... then found out they were casing homes to break into later!!

Casey Wallace said...

I used to be so trusting... now I never answer the phone (unless I recognize the name) and when the doorbell rings I answer it with my taser gun behind my back! No joke. The Girl Scouts are probably passing all kinds of rumors about crazy Mrs. Wallace. :)

Glad you followed up before it was too late! That would infuriate me too!