Clayton Jenkins is used to getting phone calls from advertising and marketing companies. But the owner of T. Clayton Jenkins Construction Inc. knew something was up when he received continuous calls in October from a company named Hometown Productions.
A representative for the company, which is based out of Arlington, Texas, called Jenkins to sell advertising space. Jenkins said the representative told him that Hometown Productions was affiliated with the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce.
Jenkins was asked for his credit card information over the phone from the Hometown Productions representative, but he declined.
Instead, he notified chamber President Marion Smith about the phone call. Currently, Heron Publishing, based out of New Port Richey, is the only advertising company that is endorsed by the chamber.
“There’s just so much of this going on,” Jenkins said, noting that he is frequently asked for his credit card information over the phone. “We get solicitations all day long. We live in a day and time where we just shouldn’t do that anymore.”
After Jenkins notified the chamber, Smith sent out a notice to all chamber members about Hometown Productions. Following the alert, a few other local businesses called her and said they had received similar phone calls.
“We tell members when we have something going on,” Smith said.
This is not the first time that a company has called businesses and said that they were affiliated with the chamber. According to Smith, members tell the chamber about these calls every two to three years.
“We have probably, over the course of the last 14 years, seen two, three, four of these,” Smith said. “It’s not yearly, it’s random.”
David Taylor, the customer service manager for Hometown Productions, said that sales representatives follow a script and reach out to businesses that are both affiliated with the chamber and ones that are not. However, sales employees are not instructed to say that they are with the chamber, if no such partnership exists.
Smith, who also spoke with Taylor, was told the same information.
“We’ve never had an agreement with the chamber in that area,” Taylor said. “I’m not showing … that we actually have any distributors that are with the Plant City Chamber of Commerce.”
Taylor said that employees who mislead or lie about an affiliation with the chamber are handled by the facility director. All sales calls are recorded.
“If that’s the case, that’s not how they are expected to conduct themselves,” he said. “Unless we have a signed agreement, they are not supposed to say that. This does not happen often.”
Although Taylor said that such cases don’t often happen, web reviews of Hometown Productions dating back to 2008 say otherwise. Hometown Productions is under the larger branch of Universal AdCom, also based out of Arlington, Texas. Customer reviews read that representatives from Hometown Productions and other subsidiaries falsely reported being affiliated with a given city’s chamber of commerce, as well as local schools and city governments. Reviewers also wrote credit card information was requested over the phone and invoices were sent for unordered products.
The Better Business Bureau reported 184 complaints for Universal AdCom within the last three years. Universal AdCom is not BBB accredited.
Hometown Productions is one of at least 20 other names that the company has under its umbrella.
Smith encourages other chamber members to report any suspicious activity or phone calls to the chamber.
“If anybody ever has a question, please call the chamber,” she said. “Please call the chamber about anything. We want to help.”
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.
HOMETOWN PRODUCTIONS PSEUDONYMS
Universal AdCom, Premier Map Company, Multi Marketing Corp., D&L Map Service, Gildenblatt Enterprises, Academic Assets, Totes to Go, Premier Impressions, All American Sports, Weekend Fisherman, Custom Sports, American Medical Directories, Prime Time Advertising, Mirror Map Co., Graphic Impressions
HOMETOWN QUESTIONS
For companies that were contacted by Hometown Productions and have questions, contact customer service manager David Taylor. Toll Free: (800) 778-6195.
CHAMBER HELP
Questions? Call the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce: (813) 754-3707, or email Marion Smith at marion@plantcity.org.