SMC Specialty Merchandise Corporation BAIT AND SWITCH Simi Valley California

I went through the same thing as you, pondering the SMC business off and on for years. Thank goodness I came upon ripoffreport.com and saw the vast number of complaints. I got the run-around from SMC, and then immediately cancelled my bank card. This was the only way of ensuring they would not debit my account for further charges not authorized by me. They ripped me off almost $70. I am filing a dispute with my bank in hopes they will credit me and renege the payment they made to SMC. They have a system of handling this, which is not my job to worry about how they actually deal with it, as I am not a banker; and I have plenty of other things to concern myself with. I paid $15 for shipping, the only start-up fees until they later deducted their monthly charges. The $325 your paid for the same "skimpy" website catalog, which was not feasible for making any profit, was what I'd paid only $15 for shipping for the information/CD packet they mailed to me. Upon my initial (and only) interview with my so-called "business coach," rather than the promised "training," he spent 15 minutes trying to "fast talk" me into purchasing those gift certificates. When I told him that I was not interested in that route, he told me for $400 I could get the big catalog posted online. I told him I was not up for spending hundreds of dollars; and I'd been led to believe that I would not be having to rake out money "to make money."

Call your bank/credit card dispute department and request the necessary dispute forms. Make copies of everything, including emails, receipts, and a copy of your ripoff report. Make a copy of this letter from me if you like' it's fine by me. You can also file a complaint with BBB online. The Better Business Bureau will contact them about your complaint. The "company" (don't know if I should call it an actual company, since one CSR didn't seem to even be familiar with who the CEO was and his location, and no apparent inhouse company phone directory) might try to accommodate you to ensure that they keep a zero rating of "unresolved" complaints on their public BBB Online report. The Federal Trade Commission is also another agency you can report your complaint to. Don't let people like that cheat you out of your hard earned money. Good luck.