Cambridge Who's Who - Manchester Who's Who - Still Not for You
Who's Who Businesses Still Try to Rip You Off, After Promising Free Inclusion
The whole process starts by sending you a letter of acceptance, telling you you've gotten into their Who's Who database for free because you're so special. Then you have to send them a postcard back, or giving them a call to confirm your information. During the call, they tend to act very pleasant, and right after they have your short little biography, they go into details about price. According to an online letter purportedly officially from the Cambridge Who's Who company, a lifetime membership costs $1017.95 (which includes being put in the registry, and your own shiny copy of the printed book). Other sources quote the price to be $689 per year simply for inclusion, $550 for 5-years, or even over $1000 per year. Nearly all of these sources find out this price after being promised guaranteed free inclusion.
Speculating, the fees they really charge are based on what you tell them over the phone, although it may also vary based on which service they are offering. For example if they find out you are the world's leading (and richest) neurosurgeon, then it might not be unreasonable to ask you for a few thousand dollars a month. Beyond the fees, others have claimed terrible customer service. One man got the price down to around $100 for inclusion, with the promise of receiving a copy of the registry, which he never did. After asking for a refund, he was promised one in 24-48 hours, and had not received it three weeks later. A company insider informed me that they treat their customers and employees with little respect, and that once they have your credit card number then that's it. (Note: Fortunately, if you can prove they lied or deceived you, for example by having never received the book itself, you can contact your credit card issuer to dispute the charges. If you used an American Express card, the charges are often reversed within days.)
As a journalist, it is my responsibility to tell you there MAY also be benefits to their program, however unlikely. Some have claimed that being listed in either the Cambridge Who's Who registry, or in the Manchester Who's Who has had great networking benefits for them, connecting them to others who have the money to shell out for a listing. Others have warned that it might provoke solicitors to call you, because they know that everyone listed in the registry probably has enough money to spare for their sales pitch or their 'charity'.
Most of the letters or postcards sent by Cambridge will be signed by the Executive Vice President of Operations, or rather will have a poorly duplicated computer-generated signature of a woman claiming to be her. Many of the letters call that same person the editor-in-chief, while her official title is Executive Vice President of Operations according to the Cambridge website.
"When I started Cambridge Who's Who (formerly Manchester Who's Who) over 5 years ago, I decided to use Infinite Media as my exclusive list broker. At that time I was mailing 50K records a month. Infinite Media treated me like one of their Fortune 100 clients who mail many millions. I now mail over 15 million records a year and Infinite Media has been there every step of the way. I can easily say Infinite Media is a big reason for my company's success. I strongly recommend Infinite Media to any size company." Cambridge Who's Who, CEO
Although Infinite may be a legitimate marketing company, use of its services clarifies the invitation you may have received is not quite as exclusive as you have hoped. Again, I'll end with my personal advice - if you get one of these letters, recycle it.
Published by Ryan Kopf
Ryan is a technologist and geek who organizes anime conventions through the magic of technology and an awesome team of evil super-villains. He graduated with an AA in 2008, is studied for a BA in computer sc... View profile
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WOW THIS IS NEWS!!
I informed "Dana" after my interview that I did not feel comfortable giving my credit info to her as she called me from a blocked number on my cellphone..so she quickly gave me her "direct phone and direct extension" which is 516-535-1515 ext 1232...have fun with this info. Ill be handing this over to the US Attorney for his benefit as well.
Got my lovely letter today from CWW and first thing I did was took it into the post office and asked the clerk how many others in my little town of 1000 people had she stuffed into our PO boxes...she said she wasn't sure of the true amount, but that she had seen several in the last couple of days. She said first clue it's simply a mass mailing is the postage stamp. So, I came home and Googled them just to see because while I don't consider myself Executive or Professional I still have a 4.0 GPA in my 3rd semester and for my SMALL, rural, "village", that could be somewhat an upstanding achievement..Funniest thing was I really thought to myself, come on, I don't even HAVE a "job" much less professional! BEWARE!!!
funny, if we're all professionals, why are so many people giving them they're c/c numbers. That should be the first clue that this is a rip off!
Professional Women
i think it's ironic that there is an add for elite who's who on an article that is saying that elite/cambridge/manchester who's who are data gathering, credit card charging rip-offs! maybe you could insert an arrow on your article, pointing at the add with text that says "yep, i'm talking about these guys!"
Call AMEX and tell them you are disputing the charges. Those exact words. You might have to sound like a Parrot repeating yourself. "I unauthorized those charges and I am disputing them." No need to say anything more.
Yes. I got ripped off, and when I changed my mind just hours later, after re-reading that it was FREE to be included, I wrote to them and Cancelled. Changed My credit card..then AM EX actually transferred the charge when it came through 3 days later..to the new card...then a month later I got ANOTHER charge from another company in New York. Am Ex won't help me. No one will help me. They claim that have a NO CANCELLATION Policy! I have not recieved a thing except through Am Ex. How do I get out??? It is a Life Time NON Cancellation Policy, NO Refunds..and they keep charging you! HELP ME! HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP ME
Feel free to send me some of the savings :) Lol, just kidding.
continuation of my comment:
"So tell me, what made you choose me" and all you could hear was the silent...BdBdBd, that's all folks... playing in the background. I said don't bother I am not doing this. Ryan, dude, I want so say "THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME $900 this year"!
Oh, gees I could have almost kicked myself. When I got the letter, I was going through a bunch of life changes so I didn't do my normal research and typed in the normal responses to their questions online. That was weeks ago. I just got the phone call today and after the shortest bio in history and my simple answers. Because honestly, I started up my own business a year ago and have alot on my plate, but this just seemed way too easy....I got to give my credit card info...but THANK GOODNESS FOR WOMEN'S INTUITION...It led me to immediately do an internet search before I finalized the transaction. I told the rep I can't go through with this because I see alot of negative information on the internet about your organization. So, he did the usual shuffle and jive, but I wouldn't budge. So, he tried to put on his "supervisor" and I said "No, I'm not doing this". He kept on trying to downgrade the fee, even to the point of zero, but I wouldn't budge and then said "So tell me, what mad