Since opening Country Paws Resort in Sequim 16 years ago, Shelley Denton said she’s not been exposed to scammers until one opportunity last December seemed like a good opportunity to put her business on the map.

Instead she was stuck with a bill worth more than $450 at her small dog grooming and boarding business, and introduced to a new scam to the area.

“It makes me sick,” Denton said.

“I don’t want anyone else to get scammed.”

Denton and her employee Noelle Geyer, a lead kennel technician, received a call in December 2016 from a private advertising company allegedly out of Texas calling itself Universal Adcom and Hometown Publications asking if they wanted a flier made with a walking map of the area on it for advertising purposes.

“I have done the walking map through the (Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce), that’s why I thought this was the same thing,” Denton said.

Geyer said she asked the representative on the phone if the company was through the Sequim Chamber and when the representative said yes, Denton agreed to have the map done for her business.

What Denton said she paid for was a walking map of the trails located throughout Sequim and Port Angeles but instead received a small map of the trails in Clallam County with a large logo of Country Paws Resort, which she did not give the advertising company permission to use.

“This is useless,” Geyer said of the map they received. “It’s got the major throughways and that’s it.”

Denton said around the same time she agreed to have the walking map done her husband died so she was “going through the motions of paying her bills.”

The map bill was $459.95.

“They also said they were going to distribute them but they sent them all to us,” Geyer said.

Denton said she forgot about paying the bill until she got the maps in the mail on April 21.

Retracing her purchase, she called the company and was told by a representative they are a private agency contrary to the previous call saying they worked through the Sequim Chamber.

Business staff attempted to return the maps but were told that time had passed.

Similar complaints

Geyer said she began researching the business and found numerous complaints about the company working under the guise of other Chambers of Commerce and other local entities and organizations.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) reports there are 147 customer complaints against Universal Adcom and its other business affiliations under the names D &L Map Service, Fanfare Sports, Premier Impressions, Scoreboard Productions and Hometown Productions, Premiere Map Company, Totes to Go, UAC Collections, RadioPromos, Mr. Event Guru and Event Guru.

The BBB reports 58 of those complaints are related to advertising/sales issues, 43 billing/collection issues, 38 problems with product/service, seven delivery issues and one guarantee/warranty issue.

“I read through some of them and they were all very similar to this one, and that’s when I thought, ‘OK we got scammed,’” Geyer said.

One of the most recent customer complaints the BBB reported shows a complaint made on March 29 of this year with a similar story to Country Paws.

The business — which was not named in the complaint — received a phone call from Universal Adcom regarding the inclusion of the local business in the community guide. The reps on the phone said they were hired by the Chamber of Commerce and offered to provide a business card sized ad on the magnet included in the community guide.

The complaint said the reps agreed to send the ad design to the business but instead sent a bill for a two-unit advertisement size. The business called the local Chamber of Commerce and confirmed it was not affiliated with the advertisement. The business said it could not reach the reps to dispute the bill it did not agree to.

The BBB states a common sales tactic the business uses is that the company misrepresents itself as affiliated with a school, Chamber of Commerce, police department, fire department, local newspaper or other civic organization to generate sales orders.

In response to BBB complaints that the company misrepresented its affiliations, the BBB writes, “the business denied any wrongdoing by the company.”

The BBB said the business supplied copies of “Distribution” and “Partnership” agreements signed by Chambers of Commerce, civic organizations and schools as evidence the company acted in compliance with the agreement and the organization was aware that the company was selling advertising.

The Daily Triplicate, a newspaper covering the area of Del Norte County, Calif., reported in 2008 of representatives from Hometown Productions and Premiere Map Company, a division of Universal Adcom, that came through town selling advertising space on a map of the area to local businesses.

The newspaper reported two of the businesses approached by company representatives were Suburban Propane and Kamp Klamath RV Park and Campground.

Kirk Neil, the manager of Suburban Propane at the time, said in the story he paid $500 for his ad but pulled the maps from his store because of the inaccuracies. The newspaper reported he tried to contact the company but they never returned his calls.

The newspaper also reported that Aaron Funk, the owner of Kamp Klamath, said the map he received wasn’t just inaccurate but he believed that it was fraud.

When asked about the experience in 2008, Funk said he couldn’t remember the name of the company that approached him but was approached several times from an advertisement company primarily through phone calls.

He said the map he received was filled with geographic errors and there were names of other local businesses that had not authorized the company to print their names on the map.

Funk said “it’s a familiar scam” when he heard of the Country Paws scam incident. He believes the company he was approached by has changed its name several times over the years.

Taking action

Denton said she has reported the incident to the BBB, the Washington State Attorney General and Texas State Attorney General. She’s received a letter from the Texas Attorney General stating it would review the information provided and would contact Country Paws if it needed additional information.

The Washington State Attorney General Office said the complaint Country Paws made is the only one the office has received about false affiliations with chambers of commerce.

The office said it does see a lot of complaints about misrepresenting an affiliation with another entity or organization.

“Consumer complaints are the main way that type of scam is brought to our attention. We offer an informal complaint resolution service for consumers who file complaints,” office representatives said.

If the office investigates a particular business practice and finds evidence of violations of law, the office could file a lawsuit.

“If I would have been really coherent, I would have questioned it before I sent the money,” Denton said.

Geyer and Denton said they spoke with Shelli Robb-Kahler, executive director of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce, about the scam and learned Sequim Chamber staff only send email confirmations about walking maps.

Robb-Kahler said Denton did the right thing by contacting the BBB and this is the first scamming incident of this kind in the Sequim area reported to her.

She said when the Sequim Chamber produces maps, it works through a company called Lawton Publications and notifies customers when a third party is involved.

For other local businesses, Robb-Kahler said it’s important to be cautious and “encourages members to do their homework and check into things before they buy.”

Denton said she would never do another transaction like this over the phone again.

“I’m a small business and I try and stay in the community to do my advertisement,” Denton said.

“I don’t want anyone else to get scammed.”

Upon the first call to Universal Adcom, the receptionist refused to give her name and said she was not able to contact a manager or superior because they were gone for the day.

Universal Adcom did not respond to additional phone calls and voice messages.

To report a scam locally, call the Sequim Police Department at 683-7227 or the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office if there’s a financial loss to 417-2459 or call 1-800-582-0655 if there is no financial loss and it’s a telephone scam.

To file a complaint through Attorney General Bon Ferguson’s office, visit www.atg.wa.gov/FILEACOMPLAINT.aspx.

Country Paws Resort Owner Shelley Denton, foreground, pets one of the dogs she is caring for at her dog grooming and boarding business in Sequim. Denton and employee Noelle Geyer, background, were scammed by a private advertising company claiming to be through the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce. Sequim Gazette photo by Erin Hawkins