Victoria L. Hardy, VLH Enterprises, VLH, Inc, Total Merchant Services, Vicky/Vicki Hardy Arlington - Smokey Point Chamber of Commerce, Women of Wisdom Foundation, VLH Services, INC., Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber HSBC Bank USA Arlington Washington

I was a salesperson working at a small firm, and also had a connection to a local women’s spiritual group named Women of Wisdom (WoW). One day a woman named Victoria Hardy contacted me through a contact at WoW and said she was interested in placing a large order with me. I worked completely on commission and made approximately $24K annually, which isn’t a lot in Seattle.  At Hardy's request, I scheduled an afternoon to drive to a coffee shop—about 50 miles away—to meet with her. An experienced coworker, who was also working on commission, generously came with me to help.

My coworker and I were surprised after we sat down with Hardy, who immediately said she wanted me to convince my employer to buy her “technology and financial services” that she peddled through her business named VLH, Inc.  I told her that I’d arrange a meeting for her with my boss, and she and I continued to speak at length over the telephone and email about the purchase she was planning to make from me. A few weeks later, she met with my boss and me, and presented a highly dubious sales pitch. Both my boss and I took notes. Immediately after the meeting, when she apparently believed that she’d made her sale, Hardy told me that she wasn’t interested in buying from me anymore. My boss, however, subsequently confirmed that a number of her claims about her services were technologically unsound; for example, she said that the dial-up internet service she was selling was faster than DSL. When my boss followed up with her and asked her about these issues, Hardy replied that she’d never made those claims. After my boss declined to buy from her and stopped returning her calls, Hardy began calling me again, and said she hadn't met with my boss. She apparently didn’t remember that I had been at her sales pitch. She wasted everyone’s time.