SMC HORROR STORIES

SMC HORROR STORIES Make Money At Home With SMC

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You`ve seen the ads here on most of the mobile sites lately & you`ve probably seen the infomercials on television.
SMC Specialty Mechandise Corporation.
The official spokesperson on the Specialty Merchandise Corporation`s infomercial is the famous actor Tom Bosley & he tells us "Make money at home with SMC".

They spend this 30 minute commercial showing you how you can make up to 300% profit reselling their products with your home based business & they show you testimonies from a few SMC members claiming to be making huge sums of money. In fact, a couple of their members even go so far as to claim that they are making $250.000 a year as they just sit at home watching the money roll in as they live a life of luxury. SMC tells how they provide you with a kit that will show you all the secrets to becoming wealthy & how they give you your own business coach for the first 30 days to walk you through & coach you towards your goal of success.

Sounds great, doesn`t it? Your probably asking "where do I get started?" "sign me up". Wait... read this carefully before you consider making this move.
The following information was collected over the past 3 years & includes true life stories of a handful of either present or former SMC members. Their names have been changed for this article to protect their identity.

Don Smith decided to give it a try & signed on with SMC in 2004 after seeing an SMC infomercial. He saw in the infomercial how SMC members were raking in the dough by selling the products at flea markets. The testimonies of SMC members claiming to make $1500.00 in just one weekend was just too tempting. Don Signed up with SMC for just $25 like they advertise in the commercials. What he didn`t know was that the $25 was just a down payment of the total yearly membership fee. The total membership fee for the first year?...Over $400.00, then around $50 a year after that. So Don then invested over $300 of his savings to purchase enough wholesale SMC products so he could spend his weekends at the local flea market & begin his newfound life of prosperity.

 But he lived In California which requires that he get a Reseller`s Permit, & since he is going into a bonafide business, he will be required to pay sales tax to the state every 90 days. He got his permit & went to the flea market. He only sold one item the whole two days & he had to come way down on his price to make the sale. He had to lower his price so low, that he only made a profit of $2. He had to pay $8 per day to rent the table at the flea market. Two days at $8 per day is $16, minus the two dollar profit he made from the only sale that weekend means Don was in the red for $14. That doesnt even include the sales tax that he would be required to pay to the state of California in 90 days. Don`s total loss for that weekend... approximately $17. He lost $17, not made $17.

Don continued the flea market routine the following weekend. He paid $16 for table renting fees for those two days & made no sales at all. He sat there at his table two days in a row without making a sale. The few potential customers that were interested in some of the items Don was selling didn`t want to pay more than a few bucks for these items, so they didn`t become customers. This is common about most flea markets. People that go to these events don`t want to spend more than a few bucks for most items.

The 3rd weekend Don decided that the flea market thing wasn`t working, so he marked all of his items down to his wholesale price that he paid for them hoping to get rid of these items & try a new approach. Guess what?... That entire weekend he did not sell one item, not even at cost! What happened to the merchandise that Don couldn`t sell? It sat in his garage collecting dust until it was hauled to the dump about a year later. Don then tried distributing catalogs to all his friends & told them "nevermind the prices in the catalog, I`ll come down on those prices". Of all the catalogs distributed, he made one sale & it certainly wasn`t at 300% profit like SMC so gladly brags about. Don then tried to sell items to local businesses at a marked down price. He distrubuted catalogs to several retail businesses & gave them his card, but the response he got from local businesses was dismal.

Then Don decided maybe internet marketing might be the way to go, so he called his SMC business coach. The coach told him he would need a merchant account in order to accept Visa & Mastercard credit cards. The cheapest estimate he got for this account was $200 start up fee plus 3% of all sales.

The business coach then tried to sell him a merchant account & web site package at a cost of around $1000.00. When Don informed this coach that he was living on a limited income & didn`t have that kind of money, the coach was no longer interested in "coaching" him & told him that there was nothing more she could do for him. Oddly enough, this business coach was calling Don 3 times a week & leaving messages on his voicemail asking Don to get in touch with her so he could start making money. After the coach learned that Don wasn`t going to buy a web site from SMC, the calls stopped.
Is she a business coach or a salesman???

At that stage Don decided to abandon his dream of making money at home with SMC & he stopped paying his membership dues. He decided that he took a loss, but learned a lesson. Then 3 months later he was audited by the state of California for sales tax. He tried to explain that of the one or two sales that he made, he lost literally hundreds of dollars & had to close down. He eventually paid off the few dollars in sales tax, but not before he was put through a gauntlet of red tape & hassle. Counting membership fees, cost of catalogs, table rent, business card expenses, etc. Don had invested over $500 & he lost it all.

Then there`s Robert Cullman. He signed on with SMC in 2007 because in the SMC infomercials, they promoted how you can rake in tons of money just by simply opening a web site. Robert`s business coach tried to sell him a web site package for over $1000.00. When he complained about the price, the coach told him they have a special going on right now where she can set him up with a web site for only $400, but he needed to act now because the special ended that night at midnight. Robert said he didn`t have that much money at the moment, so (just like Don) the business coach was no longer interested in coaching him.

Robert then opened up his own web site through another provider & got a PayPal merchant account all for less than $20. He then advertised his site through Google, Yahoo, & MSN at a cost of a few hundred dollars. The advertising brought over 800 visitors to Robert`s web site with not one sale. 800 people visited his site & not one customer!Robert called his SMC business coach & told her of these disappointing facts. He asked the coach "If I cant make one sale out of 800 visitors, then what`s the SMC secret as to why you claim to have such a great success rate? What am I doing wrong?"
The coach told him that The secret of the success is to give your potential customers gift certificates (that he must purchase from SMC) to attract them to the site.

Once they come to the site & see all the great items, they will then buy more. When Robert enquired about the SMC web site again, the price seemed to have mysteriously gone up to over $1200.00. Again Robert told this "coach" that he didn`t have that kind of money. The coach told him it`s a shame, but , there`s nothing more she could do for him. Just like in Don`s case earlier, The business coach was calling Robert 3 & 4 times a week, but after Robert told her he didn`t have that kind of money, the calls stopped.

 Then one day Robert got an unidentified charge on his debit card, for $39.95. After contacting his bank, he learned that this UNAUTHORIZED charge on his card was from eMerchant Club. eMerchant Club is the web site host that SMC uses to sell their $1200.00 web sites to their members. Robert called SMC & asked why this charge was on his card & told them that this was unauthorized. SMC told Robert that he signed up for the eMerchant account & would be billed $39.95 a month until the debt of $1200.00 was paid in full. Robert had to literally argue with this SMC
representative for several minutes before he could finally get her to close the eMerchant account. When he asked when this money will be refunded, she replied "within 30 days".

Robert explained that the money that they illegally took from his account was supposed to pay his phone bill that month & he wanted that money returned immediately, especially since it was an unauthorized transaction. The SMC rep said she couldn`t guarantee that. Robert did get that money back about 14 days later, but his phone was disconnected for non payment & he had to pay a deposit to get it turned back on all because of SMC & eMerchant club charging him for services he didn`t ask for in the first place.

Robert (just like Don) decided that this was not what the infomercials were advertising & stopped paying his membership dues. He knew that he had lost several hundreds of dollars in this venture, but was relieved that it was finally over...... Or so he thought....

Robert then began receiving past due notices from SMC in the mail & began getting phone calls from SMC`s collections department demanding that he pay his $400 membership fee or it would be turned over to a collection agency. Robert told SMC that he was no longer interested in SMC & wanted to cancel his membership. SMC is telling Robert that he is obligated to pay that fee because they had a contract. Robert told them he didn`t ever recall signing any contract. SMC told him it was a verbal contract. To this very day Robert is still trying to get SMC off his back & leave him alone. 

Recent research shows that SMC is beginning to feel a pinch & that membership sales are down because they have saturated the market with their products & they`ve got too many members all trying to sell the same thing. The majority of the 3000 items in the SMC catalog are just knick knacks & some home & yard decor made in China by a generic company. They don`t offer anything that is cutting edge with the competition. No televisions, stereos, VCR`s, DVD players, etc. If you plan on selling SMC products you better know a lot of friends that are into home & yard decor, or your not going to do much selling. Many present day SMC members have been selling the products on eBay at cost & only making a few bucks on shipping because they cannot sell the products elsewhere.

SMC was founded in the 1950`s & has had a good reputation for much of that time, but their recent actions & deceptive tactics are going to take it`s toll unless they change their present path. It`s clearly obvious that SMC is feeling a pinch, because late night tv is saturated with SMC infomercials every night. Ten years ago you would only see their infomercials once or twice a week.

Beginning in December 2007 SMC did something they`ve never done before, they began advertising on all of our wap sites too. Those ads at the top of your screen..."Make money at home with SMC"... I`m sure you`ve seen them? Another sign that SMC is trying to un-pinch themselves . It must be pretty bad if SMC is refusing to let people cancel their membership & threatening legal action based on a "verbal Contract". Just exactly how is it possible to uphold a verbal contract in a court of law? There`s no documented evidence. I would advise anyone that may be faced with what Robert Cullman is dealing with to fight it all the way to court.

SMC tells you that you have a 30 day money back guarantee, but it`s going to take you at least 2 to 3 months to get any results that will decide your fate with them. By the time you realize that this isn`t for you, it`s too late. The 30 days expired long ago. And whats the deal with the web site package changing prices? First it`s $1000.00, but it drops to $400 if your not interested, but then all of a sudden it`s $1200.00. Hmmm. These "business coaches" are nothing more than sales people trying to get you to spend more money. The infomercial has mislead many people to think that the web site, catalogs, & other tools are included in your membership fee, they`re not. That all costs extra. Much extra.

There are many more SMC horror stories out there, just type `SMC Sucks` into your Google search & see for yourself. I`m sure there are some members that are doing ok with SMC, but I haven`t met any. Well, exept for that guy on the infomercial that makes $250.000 a year. Unfortunately SMC paints a pretty picture in their infomercials, but many people are seeing the big picture once they`ve been lured in by that infomercial. It`s not as easy as SMC would have you believe.

UPDATE

03/21/2008

Robert is still getting calls from collection agencies that refuse to identify themselves, trying to collect this alleged debt. Robert has informed these agencies that this is not a legitimate debt & he owes SMC Corporation nothing. Robert called SMC in an attempt to stop these calls, but the representative he spoke too kept trying to over talk him. Robert attempted to advise this rep that there is no such thing as a "verbal contract" & that they are inadmissable in a court of law, but the SMC rep kept interupting him & would not allow him to finish a sentence.

Robert then called back & asked to speak with Kerry Cox, who is the president of the company, but was informed that Kerry Cox does not accept phone calls & is not available to discuss disputes with SMC members. SMC paints a pretty picture in all these commercials promising that you will make money, but when you finally realize that you`re not making any money & want out, they won`t let you out. Even worse,  they want you to pay them money that they illigitately alledge that you owe them.

We have just been contacted today by Ronald, another former SMC Member that is experiencing the same problem that Robert is having. Ronald told us his story & it`s identical to Robert`s story. It`s bad enough that Ronald lost money in this scam, but now SMC wants him to pay them money?

Is this the type of company that you want to business with? It`s becoming quite evident that SMC Corporation is nothing more that a scam operation. Their business is suffering from major losses & they want to try & recover some of that loss by bilking their members for as much money as possible to save their company. What they fail to understand is that the present tactics they are employing are only going to hurt their reputation & will eventually drive SMC to it`s grave.

I wonder if Tom Bosley knows all this?

Below are true accounts by many people that have seen what SMC is REALLY about. If you would like to contribute to this article, please email us at

info@nightmareonchatstreet.com 

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