Is This a Scam

A lot of us would like to work from home. No going out to start the car to warm it up and scrape the ice and snow off of it. No traffic jams. No sticker-shock when you pull into the gas station. It would be nice.

I sent for free information about a company called SMC. The envelope arrived today.

The color brochure. Open it up and what do you see? A picture of a family, mom, dad and the three kids. Under the picture it says “We have logged as much as $250,000 in annual sales!”*. Turn the page and there's a picture of a woman with the caption “I've never done anything like this before, but I didn't have to worry about it because all the tools were given to me by SMC.”* A picture of another woman below the first one has the caption “I just take my catalogs into work and set them down and the people go crazy over them. They love my items and my prices!”* The fine print that the asterisk (*) refers to is “*The success of these SMC members is exceptional, and is not intended as a guarantee, warranty, or prediction of your success.”.

On the page with the picture of the nice family it says, in red letters “Get your own website free!+”. At the bottom of this page it says “Start making money online! Sign up today and get your free+ Big Value website!”. Free is not only capitalized it's in red print. The fine print for the Big Value free website says “Monthly hosting fees apply.”. If you have to pay for it how can it be free?

They have two pages of color pictures of a few of their products telling you how much money you can make on each. Two person hammock you make $46.65. Civil War Chess Set you make $46.65. Hanging Pot Holder you make $40.00.

The back cover of the brochure has their guarantee. “We're so sure you can make money with SMC products and programs, we guarantee your satisfaction:'. Their guarantee “If, for any reason, you are not fully satisfied with the SMC program, call toll-free 1-877-523-9088 for instructions on hot to return and insure your Membership Kit. Return your Membership Kit within 30 days of joining SMC and you'll receive a full refund of any membership monies you have paid(excluding shipping and handling), and you will owe us nothing.” Red flag number 1. 30 days of joining, NOT 30 days after receiving your kit. Red flag number 2. You will owe us nothing. There's nothing in the brochure about having to pay for a membership. There's nothing in the brochure about how much your free website is going to cost you. This information is on the enrollment form.

Now for the enrollment form. They have two memberships available, the gold and the silver. For the gold membership you have to send them $414.95 ($399.95 plus $15 s/h). With the following description -Save over $64.00 on your membership! -Free website* -Free merchandise+. With the silver membership it will cost you $39.95 ($24.95 + $15 s/h) first payment; eleven additional payments of $39.95, charged the same day of each month thereafter, total $479.40. With the silver membership you get -Easy monthly payments! -Free website*. Half way down the page is where they ask you for your credit card and banking information. Down at the bottom of the page, just above the fine print is where they ask for your signature and for it to be dated. Below the signature it says “By joining I agree to abide by the SMC Standard Membership Rules posted at Join SMC, a copy of which is included in my Membership Kit. My membership includes updated catalogues, pricelists and more, mailed twice a year, for an annual fee of $44.95 charged automatically to my account on the 19th day of your anniversary month or the next business day thereafter. Please note: You must be 18 years of age or older to join.” If your membership starts the date you sign this form, as it implies, you don't have 30 days to check out their programs because it has to be mailed to them, processed by them, then mailed back to you. You probably end up with about 2 weeks to 15 days to decide if it's for you.

Right below that is where they finally tell you how much your free website is going to cost you. “A monthly hosting fee of $29.95 will be automatically charged to my account on the second business day of each month, unless I cancel by calling eMerchantClub LLC at 1-877-384-4691.”.