Federal Transaction Services samhelpdesk sam registrations federal transaction services Internet

This company may have stated that they are a third party in their email or on the phone but they do it in very subtle ways that are very easy to ignore. Their email address and website are made to look like an official federal government SAM site. Their emails make you believe your SAM is about to expire and contains fear mongering language. This creates a Psychological phenomenon that makes individuals jump to conclusions and ignore the fine print. The legal language that states they are a private business is also four lines into the fine print. They know that most people will ignore this and instead only pay attention to the fear based language. This is how a business can get you to agree to services that you do not need. If they were not trying to trick the consumer into purchasing their product, then they would be very upfront about being a private organization. The registration for SAM is also free and very quick. So, for them to charge you six hundred dollars to handle this process is absolutely a rip off. The emails make you believe they are official and you will lose your ability to get government contracts unless you pay them the money to renew your SAM within the next 24 hours. The consumer then panics and calls them and agrees to pay for their services because it mimics the official site, emails, and even phone service and makes you believe that you only have 24 hours left to renew or you lose your registration. Remember, an honest company is upfront about their product. If a company tries to trick you then they are not legitimate and do not have your best interest in mind.

ISSUE WAS RESOLVED / NOT A RIP OFF / POSTER MADE A MISTAKE

I'm embarassed to admit that I may have jumped the gun and judge this company far too early. They do indeed provide a legitamate service. I received an email from them months ago stating that my SAM registration was about to expire. I was I had a moment of panic as my business relies on this registration being active to keep receiving it's payments from our open government contracts. I get confused when it comes to all of this SAM stuff so when I called the number and found out there was someone who could complete my profile for me I was ecstatic. Later on I realized I had dealt with a third party private firm and became angry. I origanally felt as though they had cheated me by not disclosing that fact. 

NOW Here we are all these months later and I receive a phone call from the owner. He found out about my report via a friend seeing it on Google. He then began tirelessly matching customer records for everyone he did business with around the time I posted the report. He called each customer one by one and inquired about this report until finally he called me. I was still angry at this point and explained to him why I thought him business had cheated me. He was very patient and understanding and took about an hour out of his day to show me all of the places he had stated that he was NOT THE GOVERNMENT. The first email he sent me had included this statement, his website clearly states he is not part of SAM, his terms and service include mentions of this multiple times, and the service agreement his businesses sent me to eletronically sign also very clearly stated he was a private business. I didn't really read any of this thinking at the time it's just more of the government's endless paperwork. Last he played the recorded phone call of his customer service representative speaking to me during my registration renewal. The customer service rep did indeed tell me at a few seperate points that this was a private company.

EMBARASSING I feel terrible that I rushed to assume I had been conned and potentially hurt the reputation of a business who provides a valuable and honest service to clients such as myself. Navigating the government registration systems as well as the federal contracting databases can be daunting / overwhelming. Companies like these make it easier for businesses to make sure everything in setup correctly and on time. I'll be using this service to handle my registration needs going forward in the future.

REMOVE After speaking with the owner I wanted to log on and remove this, as it turns out that is not an option. I deeply regret permanently affecting someones business because of a simple misunderstanding, so I'm writing this in attempt to notify any of his future customers who may find my origanal report that my situation was resolved and in the end I think this business is pretty decent!