On Monday June 16th I was approached, coming out of my vehicle in my place of business, by a tall slender salesman with an east-coast accent. He said his name was Tom Hook and he would like to talk to me about by existing signs. I told him to come back tomorrow around 11a.m. because I was extremely busy.
The next day right at 11 he was there in a red/burgundy van with a Wisconsin license plate. He began his sales presentation. I was quite busy at the time but he was persistent and kept going. On his own computer he came up with a, what seemed to be a professional, design/logo for my sign. At that time I asked what the pricing of this sign would be. He took time into calculating the estimated costs. Because he said I was chosen for the "Special Showcase", Signtronix would be subsidizing most of the expenses on the sign, which in his confidential quote was referred to as "Main Street America Program". He said within the company, Signtronix, it is referred to as the "Showcase Special". At that time Tom asked me to secure the price with a check for $430 today and today only. I said I would have to think about it over dinner with my father and if I could have a copy of the price sheet. Tom said this was a confidential quote and to not show this to anyone but my father. I told him that I was very much interested and I would contact him late this afternoon. I asked him on his way out, what motel he was staying at. He told me Motel 6. I know that there is only ONE Motel 6 in my town, and after meeting with my father we both thought this seemed very fishy.
We tried contacting Tom Hook with the phone number he left with me. The number was disconnected. I then called the Motel 6 and asked if a Tom Hook was staying there. They told me there was no record of a Tom Hook staying there. At that point I searched the internet and found extensive rip off reports within this company. After listening to Tom’s sales pitch and proposal I thought that this was a questionable business decision because of the fact that the quote said “Main Street America Program 2006†was outdated and had NO business address or phone number on the paper. He also said Signtronix had a local office in the Spokane, WA area, which I later could not find any existence in their new directory. Something was not right so I contacted the Signtronix head office in Torrence, CA. This was after closing hours so I left them messages and I hope to hear back from them first thing in the morning. At this point I am very skeptical and have many unanswered questions. If anyone has had similar problems please feel free to respond to this.
Pat
Coeur d Alene, Idaho
U.S.A.