Global Contact, Inc.

383 Kings Highway North, Suite 210 Cherry Hill, NJ

Karen of Pasadena CA writes (8/1/01):
About the end of December 2000, I received in the mail a one page letter, with my company's name, address, etc. As a publisher, I receive many such requests for free listings in directories. Believing it was free, I signed it and sent it back.

Around February 2001, I received a bill for $139.00. It was my signed copy, and for the first time, I saw in very small print the Terms and Conditions. I called and spoke to a John De Paul on February 14, 2001 and then confirmed the phone call in a letter stating that I wanted our company name removed and did not want the service. I confirmed that in our conversation he refused to remove the company name until we paid the bill.

I indicated that I had taken action to report their company's unfair trade practicies to the California Attorney. General. I heard nothing more until July 27 when I received a notice from a collection agency stating that I owed the "debt." I then filed complaints with the National Fraud Center, the California Attorney General, and the U.S. Post Office, mail fraud division on July 27. I emailed Global Contact at globalc@ix.net.com and again asked them to remove our company name and again said I never intended to sign up for their service. I told them I was forwarding the threatening letter I got from the collection agency, Turnbrook Assocciates, to the California Attorney General and that I had filed complaints with the other agencies. I also told them that they would be liable for damage if they affected my credit.

I received back an email stating that "We will not forgive this debt. We will also contact the atty. gen. office to let them know of your "THEFT OF SERVICE." A later email accused me of "mental problems."

Dennett of La Honda, CA, writes (6/5/01):
I was surprised to see an invoice for a listing of my company in the "Directory of US Companies" arrive in the mail dated 12-5-00. This apparently resulted from my filling out a form from Global Contact. When I originally filled out this form, I was under the mistaken impression that I was correcting a typo in an existing listing -- one I had never requested or even wanted.

I didn't notice the fine print at the bottom telling me that I was signing up for a new listing for a fee. I called Global Contact to straighten out the confusion, and Mike Ruccolo explained that I had no recourse, my only choice was to pay for the listing that I didn't want. That day I wrote a letter to Global Contact explaining the confusion and requesting to be removed from the directory.

After another bill arrived I wrote a second letter explaining the error again and requested removal. Eventually a copy of the "Directory of US Companies" arrived in the mail and I noticed that my company was not listed so I presumed that the my listing had been canceled as I requested.

Today I received a third invoice and I called Mike to explain the mix-up. He pointed out that my listing had been printed and that I had no recourse except to pay the bill for the service I never wanted. Mike did admit that my listing was printed incorrectly -- not under the name of the business but under my personal name -- which wouldn't have been what I wanted even if I had wanted to be listed.

Mike became openly hostile. He refused to discuss the problem or even spell his name over the phone (I confirmed the spelling on the Internet). And he rudely hung up the phone in the middle of conversations several times, after threatening legal action to recover the $89 for the listing I never wanted in the first place.

Everybody's hostile in Cherry Hill. Pay no attention. We'd say Dennett should a., sent a certified, return-receipt-requested letter stating that he did not order, does not want and will not pay for the listing; and b., report the incident to the local office of the U.S. Postal Inspector.

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