Local light bulb business accused of bad practices

LENWOOD • As someone who works in the purchasing department of a Brisbane, Calif. printing business, David Yee knows what a light bulb is worth.

So when a company calling itself Warehouse Associates, at 24716 West Main Street, just past Lenwood Road, sent him a case of about 30 bulbs he never ordered and his company doesn’t use, Yee became suspicious. Then he saw package’s invoice:

“The cost of the bulbs was $199 for the case, which would equate to $6.63 per bulb,” he said. “We buy them at $1 a light bulb.”

Yee, who has worked at Fong Brothers Printing Inc. for 15 years, called the company first. According to Yee, company representatives said he agreed to the purchase during a phone call in Aug. 10, 2009, but promised to send a call tag so he could return the bulbs. Yee denied making the order, saying he was on vacation in Hawaii on Aug. 10.

“They said, ‘Yes, you ordered them,’” he said. “‘One of our reps called you and you accepted a gift card.’”

Yee searched the name on the Better Business Bureau’s Web site and discovered that Warehouse Associates operates under a company called Industrial and Commercial Products, which has been in business since 1972.

When a call tag hadn’t arrived after two weeks, he threatened to report them. The company sent a call tag, but by then Yee reported Industrial and Commercial Products to the Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission and California’s Attorney General’s office.

According to the Better Business Bureau, employees with Industrial and Commercial Products tell business owners of a promotion to try their products. Sometimes the company offers a free television as an incentive. The bureau has received complaints from customers that they receive the lights along with an invoice charging them up to four times what they pay to other suppliers. The Better Business Bureau gave Industrial and Commercial Products a rating of F.

Gary Almond, a spokesman at the bureau’s Colton branch, said the agency heard of them in 1987. Since 1995, the bureau received 95 complaints about Industrial and Commercial Products, he said. Some of the complaints are from business owners based in California, but others come from as far away as Hampton, Va.

“We’ve got people all across the U.S. (complaining),” he said, adding that the company often prices the bulbs as high as $308 for a case. “They’ve been doing this for awhile.”

The Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce receives a complaint about Industrial and Commercial Products about every six months, Executive Director Jeri Justus said. When Justus tries to follow up on a complaint, she receives no response. The latest complaint arrived from Utah in October.

The company isn’t a Chamber member, so there’s no way for the board of directors to censure them, Justus said. If a member treats his or her customers unethically, the Chamber could expel them, she said.

When the Desert Dispatch attempted to follow-up with Industrial and Commercial Products, it was directed to fax its questions to the manager or return on Monday. Employees refused to reveal the manager’s name.

“People complain all the time,” said Carrie, an employee who declined to give her last name. “That’s the way it is.”
According to Carrie, the company is part of a larger chain; however, she refused to give further information.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4123 or jcejnar@desertdispatch.com