Apparently when I posted the first time, it didn’t go through.
My grandpa wrote a book, had it published himself and wants to try to sell it over the internet. I told him I’d try to put it up a web site for him, but I’m not exactly internet savvy. Grandma saw an ad for the Internet Toolbox on television, starring the sidekick from * Home Imporvement, thought it would help and ordered it for me. *
I opened the box today to start building the site, and I was a little confused. The manual was all vague marketing tips-- nothing about building the site. There’s also an Earthlink disk in there, and it struck me that they might require you to use their browser, and I’d better find out before I screw things up.
So I call them up. They had called a couple of days before, saying that they could help get me set up as soon as I was ready, and they could walk me through what I didn’t understand. They said they’d have me up and running in less than an hour.
I was transferred to a guy named Jason. He was a very verbose man. I told him I was ready to start building my site. He told me that he couldn’t help me with that-- his job is to see me set up with a “mentor” that would help me along. That sounded fine to me. Then he started talking, and man did he talk. I listened to him talk much and say little for about five minutes. He went on and on about how they were going to market the book agressively and make us a huge success, and oh, the traps and pitfalls of trying to market on your own. He also hinted that I could be in the next infomercial.
“I’m not really interested in marketing,” I said. “and I don’t want to be in an infomercial. I just want someone to help me build this site.”
“Oh, but you have to advertise agressively,” he replied. “Don’t you want to make lots of money?”
“Well, I’m not making a dime off of it, anyway,” I told him. “I’m just doing this as a favor for my grandpa.”
“Oh, but you still want to make money, of course!” He went on, and said that they needed to make a profile of me to match me with the right mentor to get me started on the road to riches. He then proceeded to ask me detailed questions about my financial situation; my debt, what I make, what my husband makes, what credit cards we have and their credit limits, and what we pay a month on our mortgage. I hadn’t given him my name or any identifying details, so I decided to play along a little to see where all of this was leading.
It was leading up to a request to leverage my credit against their “investment.” Don’t ask me how or why, because I was so appalled at the idea that I cut him off right there, saying clearly that I had no intention of doing so. He protested, gave me dire warnings of what happens to people who strike out on their own in the dark world of the internet. Seeing he was getting nowhere with me he asked if he could speak to my husband. I said that my husband would be even less willing than I to leverage our credit. “Of course he would,” said Jason, “if he didn’t know what an opprotunity that’s being offered.”
“Look, all I want to do is set up an internet web site,” I said, and stressed again that I was doing it as a * favor * for my grandpa and wasn’t looking to invest my future into my grandpa’s pet project. Jason then asked that I have my grandfather call him.
Yeah, right. What a fucking scam. I can’t believe it! I wonder how many people have fallen for this?
