When In The News says just call our customer service department and ask for a return shipping label, they are lying. We called them to return a plaque they claim was ordered by an employee who did not have authorization to make that kind of purchase. When we asked for a return authorization they said they do not do returns and we would have to pay for the plaque, but they offered to reduce the price to $89.00. They then sent our account to collection for the balance. They only reason they have reached 1mm plaques is by lying and cheating consumers.

This company is a rip off wanna be legitamite thieves.! I received my plaque with intentions to buy it if I was satisfied with their product I've called 6 times I have not received one call back I've called the extension you have posted I even went from 3000 to 3019 and every extension is a voice message if you don't believe me try calling and I can bet my life no one will answer your call. What type of a legitate business doesn't pick up the phone. My main concern on my plaque is that's name was spelled incorrectly but my invoice was spelled correctly wowwww. Don't fall for their sales pitch that you can return it if your not satisfied and if you even think about them making you a plaque they won't spell your name right you've been warned. I'm reporting them along with the picture of their plaque that was misspelled fortunately I recorded their conversation and my lawyer was present and dialed from his office and could not get thru. You've been warned about these scam artist.

I also received a phone call after an article was in our local newspaper about my team. After seeing these stories and seeing the prices, I will be making my own color photocopy of the article and putting it in a nice black glass picture frame from walmart for 1.96. Thanks.

I've never had a bad experience with this company of course I choose to "LISTEN" to what the representative was offering before i agreed to anything.

I just got off the phone with a potential customer as a sales rep at In The News.  She said to check out my web postings because they are all negative and asked they never be contacted again.

I, along with Ryan, have been here for over 7 years and this company has a great product, Made in the USA by workers right here in Tampa.  We have been in business since 1987 and have thousands of happy customers all over the US and Canada.

Feel free to contact any of us here at In The News.  We will gladly offer you our service to showcase your article in a professional, executive plaque.

you're an idiot if you think you can get a custom wall plaque with your article on it from your local trophy shop for $35. you are getting the article just laminated, you know, like your drivers license. try hanging that up in your store and you'll be the laughing stock of the neighborhood. idiot

Hello,  

I am the community manager @ In The News Inc.  Our company started in 1987 is a privately owned buisness that employs roughly 90 people.  We offer a unique product that is 100% made in Ameria.  

Recently we where featured on Diane Sawyers Made In America program http://abcnews.go.com/WN/page?id=13917383 (go to Florida under Tampa to find In The News)

For 25 years we have offered a service to almost 1MM customers.  We will ship our 1MMth plaque sometime this year!!  We stand behind our product and our gurantee 100%.  I am glad someone put our gurantee on one of their posts as it goes out to every customer who agrees to look @ our product.  Although it is not verbatum and has been altered by the customer (which we hope it will be removed shortly)

We will not make anyone pay for somethig they do not like Period.  All we ask is you call our customer service department 800-548-3993 and ask for a return shipping label.  At that time we will make a determination as the best practice to get your item canceled.  

All our phone calls are recorded for quality assurance.  If we find there was fault we terminate the sales rep and gift the plaque to you.

We do offer redo's on all products shipped that have errors or mistakes.  We cannot help you if you do not call us.

If you have been contacted by In The News it is a legitimate company, the largest custom plaque manufacturer in the United States.  If you have a specific problem please contact me and we can resolve it quickly 800-548-3993 ext 3002 Brian Brady bbrady@inthenewsonline.com

Thanks

These guys are very smooth on the telephone.  I thought they were calling my business to do business, not sell me something.  This is the new generation copier/toner scam.  just say NO and buy local as suggested above.  I spent several hours cleaning up the mess from a 7 minute cold-call/sales pitch.   Also note that there are several people that may/may not be from different companies.

They all have the same sales pitch.  They want to to accept delivery to -inspect the finisshed product-, so they can bill you un-endingly.

Here is an online note to In The News customer Service.  You said real complaints are all resolved and the bad online comments are all made up. I'm the guy from St Louis that just got off the phone with you AGAIN. I'll be mailing the complaint form I requested from the Atty General in Florida. I'm real and readers can beleive it or not.   I also don't care what your staff posts about me here, after I'm gone.

I got a number of calls from these people and 3-4 others too.
I wouldn't let them rush me into a decision, so I could investigate.  We are a small business and wanted to display the local newspaper article in our store.

The phone started ringing right away.  One of these people who wanted me to --take his offer- was looking at it online, I guess.  He was in Tampa Florida.  One call was from China or something. I couldn't understand him.  So many calls made my curious about a potential scam.

After talking to local frame shops, I found the same laminated service at a local trophy shop for about $35.  The phone callers all wanted $150 to $199
What a rip off.   Buyer beware is really a rule I guess.
update--- they called me back -again to argue that they were better and -not like those other guys---   proves my point and I told him I would post this note everywhere.  Don't do business with these scammers.  Call your local frame shop and trophy shops to get cheaper and better.

We had In The News call our office today; they have unique product ideas to commemorate media mentions.  Compared to other companies discussed on this website they are pretty harmless especially since they do understand when told "no, thank you"! :)

Mr. St Louis

I am the customer service manager at In The News.  My office is close enough to our employees to hear almost every call that comes in.  If you had a negative experience or feel you where mislead you can call me personally and we can resolve the issue.  My name is Brian Brady ext 3019.  You may not be happy with the final outcome of the situation but you did talk to someone from our company and where given alternatives for the plaque.  If you have a complaint about an employee or an experience that you are not happy with again contact me anytime.  Thanks

I am just a citizen who had my daughter in the paper.  After reading all this stuff i never gave them my address or spoke to them directly. they called my daughter's teacher.  I am so upset that they might send the item to her school directly with my name.  I do not work they and am not affiliated other than my daughter is a student.  I am sick to my stomach that they may get stuck with something that was never ordered and just shipped to the school without any authorization.  How do i stop this?  I am bankrupt and living with my parents because we have NO MONEY!  she is on a scholarship for aptitiude at this school.  These people could get us kicked out and ruin my daughter's life!  HOW DO I STOP THEM from just sending it to her school?

I am SO mad at these people.  This is a TOTAL dis-honest rip-off and high mark-up plaque, that you can get locally a lot cheaper.  

I just found out that they play by different rules, if you want to cancel your order.  Last year, I was called, when my car was in a magazine.  I was rev’d up excited and didn’t really listen to what the guy on the phone said.  It said in some note they sent that I had to send the magazine plaque back to them, if I didn’t want to buy it.   I thought that was simple enough.  I didn’t know it was a HUGE BOX that would cost me $16 bucks to return.
 
Over the weekend my friend got one of these plaques too, when his Mustang was featured on the cover. The problem is he was told to just cut off and deface a piece and mail it back in a 42 cent envelope.  

He showed me the wall plaque after it was cut and we went to the trophy store with it.  These things are just plain lamination over any old wooden board.  It isn’t even a nice plaque, because they hide the plywood by adding a silver sticky tape to the border.

If you are in a car club, or know someone, warn them. We told all the guys here.  The local trophy guy in any town can make the same thing for $45 bucks, not the 250 dollars they charge.  If they call you and talk you into seeing the sample they sent, mail it back to them with the stamp.
I’m spreading the word, and posting this EVERYWHERE I can find to put it, until I get MY $16 bucks back.

My experience with “In the news”,
Yes, the calls to make the sale were constant.  As a courtesy I did return the messages.  Yes, the salesman was persistent however when I told them I had no money and he insisted that he sends it for my review and agreed to take return at their expense with my comments, they did just that.  Product came to the office, overall looks nice, could not tell you if you can get it for ½ the price elsewhere as other posts suggest.  All I can say is we had the call, I followed up in e-mail, they sent product, agreed to return just as discussed.  With that, frankly, if I have money for things like this in the future, I would certainly call them for the work.  For now, it is a choice of heat and lights or food until this market swings the other way.  Overall I would say it went as discussed, and product was as presented.  For whatever that is worth.  I would say that I did what I said and they did what they said so it all went as figured.  If someone does agree to this and then ignores the paperwork and such, then you could have some issues.  Bottom line is, when anyone calls if you are not sure about it, just say no or make it very clear you do not have the money for the product.  I have in the past when I had money to spend, in a much better economy;  been cold called on a product.  I normally say no anyhow, then I research the product.  If it was so great, then I can always go back and get it and I try to use the name of the person who called me originally.  Much like this, my answer was no, they wanted me to see what they can do. This method worked, for much less than an ad in a magazine that they hope I “might see”, they showed me what they can do and have me as a potential future customer, and recommendation. Dont think everyone calling is a scammer, many are and who knows, this company maybe has had them but in the end, it is the company policy that prevails or the state law God forbid you needed to get to that point, so dont read a few bad posts and think it is all as bad as it seems.  Sales is a tough racket, and along the way sometimes things dont go as great for either party as we might like.

Hey Mike ~
Sorry to hear that you had trouble with your order.  It says in your post that you received the Letter of Guatantee, which you referred to as "some note" stating that if for any reason you are not 100% pleased with our work ,your only responsibility is to return the piece to us.  Not many companies out there that will custom make a piece for you and send it over for your approval before you pay for it.  Yet somehow you have made it sound like a bad thing.  ??  

We have been in business for over 20 years and I have personally been with In The News for over 12.  Our work is second to not and, contrary to your post, cannot be duplicated at a "trophy shop for $45".  I work with most of the major performance shops, car clubs, and owners all over the country - and we do so because we produce a beautiful product at a fair price.  You can even see my work at many of the major shows each year : HIN, SEMA, CES, NSR Nats, etc.  I have even seen my work displayed at the Barret Jackson Auction - if anyone knows quality, those guys do.  

Please hang onto my name and feel free to contact me directly if you have any problems or questions.  We have been doing this for a long time and will be here for many years to come.  I appreciate your feedback and will use it to make our company even better and improve our customer service.

Ryan

The person who called from In The News said he had seen an article about the work our company had done, enjoyed reading about it and wanted to follow up with the owner for an article he was doing on something similar. (Implying that he was a news writer, not a salesperson). It had been a huge project that took us a year so I fell for it.  What a liar.
I passed along his number to the owner and he called back only to find out it was someone selling plaques.  No thanks. What a time wasting jerk.  Guess we are lucky we didnt get an unwanted plaque in the mail

My experience with ?In the news?,
Yes, the calls to make the sale were constant.  As a courtesy I did return the messages.  Yes, the salesman was persistent however when I told them I had no money and he insisted that he sends it for my review and agreed to take return at their expense with my comments, they did just that.  Product came to the office, overall looks nice, could not tell you if you can get it for ½ the price elsewhere as other posts suggest.  All I can say is we had the call, I followed up in e-mail, they sent product, agreed to return just as discussed.  With that, frankly, if I have money for things like this in the future, I would certainly call them for the work.  For now, it is a choice of heat and lights or food until this market swings the other way.  Overall I would say it went as discussed, and product was as presented.  For whatever that is worth.  I would say that I did what I said and they did what they said so it all went as figured.  If someone does agree to this and then ignores the paperwork and such, then you could have some issues.  Bottom line is, when anyone calls if you are not sure about it, just say no or make it very clear you do not have the money for the product.  I have in the past when I had money to spend, in a much better economy;  been cold called on a product.  I normally say no anyhow, then I research the product.  If it was so great, then I can always go back and get it and I try to use the name of the person who called me originally.  Much like this, my answer was no, they wanted me to see what they can do. This method worked, for much less than an ad in a magazine that they hope I ?might see?, they showed me what they can do and have me as a potential future customer, and recommendation. Dont think everyone calling is a scammer, many are and who knows, this company maybe has had them but in the end, it is the company policy that prevails or the state law God forbid you needed to get to that point, so dont read a few bad posts and think it is all as bad as it seems.  Sales is a tough racket, and along the way sometimes things dont go as great for either party as we might like.

People please be aware of these people I had never heard of them before. i was in the news paper back in Nov of 2010 all of a sudden a few days later i get a call from Kurt l. Koloszar, Jr (account executive) from in the news. He tried to sell me one of those ugly cheap plaques. I told him no i did not want a plaque. I told him to email me info about his company and pics of some of his plaques. Then he wanted my address. I provided my address so i could receive info in the mail about their company. Then he wanted to know how i would like for my plaque to look if i ever decided to buy one. i still said i didnt want one but if i did i wanted it to look so and so.  Om f**king Gosh! the next thing you know i receive an email stating.

Wed 12/8/2010 In The News - Confirmation Letter

Letter of Gurantee

Thank you for choosing In the News, Inc.

to create your distinctive, hancrafted plaque
Since 1897, In the News, Inc. has provided custom plaque and engraving services for national corporations, business professionals, sports organizations and many others across the nation.

Our entire product line is custom-crafted by designers using the latest technology and techniques to ensure precison and fine quality.

Your satisfaction is guaranteed, As a first time customer you will not be invoiced until you have received and examined the finished product. If you are not 100% Satisfied, you are required to Contact Our Customer Service Department within 10 Days of receipt.

Please Call toll free (800-548-3993 to request a Return Shipping label.

Again, thank you for choosing In the News Inc.
Your merchandise will arrive within a few weeks. If you would like to oder
additional products, please call us any time.

Thank You,
The Staff of In The News INc.                                                        This is not an Invoice

*In the News, Inc. plaques are not sponsored by
nor endorsed by the publishers of the articles
that are mounted on the plaques. In the News,
Inc. is not affiliated with any newspaper
or magazine publication


Then on the rest of the form they try to sell you a t-shirt, mouse pads etc.

and request for credit card payment..


I sent and email back a.s.a.p
RE: In The News - Confirmation Letter - 9******
Fri 12/10/2010
We did not confirm any orders.

Next thing you know i receive an email back sounding very forceful that they spoke to me and i confirmed it. Omg they did not here one time state i confirm a order with them.

The next thing i no is i come home from work and there is a big white box left on my porch. They did not request for nothing to be signed or anything. I took the box in the house and called Kurt immediately for a return authorization. Kurt just basically tried to blow me off because i told him how crappy that plaque look and that i wasnt paying for it and i wanted to return it. Kurt connected me to The return Authorization. Do you know i simply stated i wanted a return authorization and the chic told me that oh we cant do anything with the wood and you can keep it because we cant reuse it. So wtf am i suppose to do with that crappy mess. Use it to wipe my a**. She did not give me a return authorization. i told her that was the worst looking plaque i have ever seen. The only thing that look good on the thing is the name plate the rest of it is total garbage.  Since she didnt give me an authorization slip i offered to pay to ship that plaque back if they couldnt afford it. She still insisted that there was nothing they could do with the plaque and blah blah. Next thing i know a bill come. I call them again and tell them i dont want it. They still would not give me a return authorization. I still insisted that i would pay to send it back once again they say oh we cant recycle the wood. I tell them i dont want it and i am not paying for garbage. They tell me oh you dont owe any thing.   Well again on Dec 27, i receive a bill statement this time i filed a complaint and sent the rest to my lawyer.  To make a long story short dont give them any information. They will blow your phone up calling back to back and that is no lie.  Make sure you have your company phone recording on for when they state this call may be recorded for blah, blah. that means you can record the conversation too.

This company should not be allowed to do business in America. They do not care if you are military serving this country or not. They are cons and tricksters... They are located in florida the web address
is www. inthenewsonline.com.. STAY AWAY FROM THEM...

Dear Ryan,

You are the same scumbag salesperson that lied to us when we never even ordered from you. Do not listen to this guy he is full of it.

These guys kept sending me invoices and I called several times stating we did not want there plaque. The plaque arrived and they were notified we did not order it. For a month they called making threats that we ordered it yet they could not show any order and claimed it was verbal. Then they threatened me with legal action. They stated I needed to pay to send the plaque back at my expense or pay for the plaque. This company tied it again 2 months after the incident when we were in another magazine...exact same scenario but we sent certified letters to avoid the same outcome.

It took 6 months to get their collection agency to stop harrassing us.

I received word that a member of my business league got his article in the paper, FREE.  Several of us had complained, but he refused to pay, so they said "just keep it".

If you are contacted by any of these people, contact the publisher of the newspaper first.  There are many local options that are often cheaper and better.  The story about permentantly preserving your article is BS too.

Do bsiness in your local town, no with any of these telemarketer fools.

If you where given a discount why have you not paid?  What are you waiting for sounds like a great opportunity.  If a company reduced a price on the product I would happily pay.  I am the customer service manager 800-548-3993 ext 3019 Brian Brady call and discuss this reduced price discount you received but for some reason have not sent in payment.  No one in our department would "beg" as you say to not post anything that was not the truth.  Give us a call take a tour of our 24,000 ft facility. The door is open.

Our company with over 800,000 customers and business related activites for the last 24yrs has to my knowledge no outstanding claims or compliants.  We pride ourselves on answering every customer who has a question and or comment about the type of business we are or any type of questions or concerns anyone has.  800-548-3993 ext 3019 Brian Brady customer service manager.  We employ over 90 people here in the Tampa area and provide a great service for people all across the country.  We do not mislead or hide from any business or customer.  We respond to every post we can find and with close to a million customers we can only find 10-20 inquiries.  If you do the math the percentages are unbelivable to our favor so anyone having an issue with In The News you can contact me directly or come visit our 24,000 ft facility and take a tour we would love to have you.  Have a great day we look forward to hearing from you if you get In The News.

No we are not associated with That's Great News. Your calls were coming from the Philippines. It ruins it for the entire industry.
I'm sorry for your experience

Thanks for the info.  I'm glad I checked the number online

I am on the national DO NOT CALL list.  What part of that do you not understand?.

There are about 10 of these guys just telemarket anyone who has their name in the paper.  

Stay away.  Buy local

Just quit posting info. These people clearly do not care about us.  Call the Florida Attorney General in Tallahasee Florida.  They told me they "have a file".

I find it interesting these telemarket operators always seem to have no complaints with the local BBB, but when you talk to someone at the state level, they know who you are talking about immediately.

Received a message from these people, me know they wanted to congratulate me regarding my article.  I am so thankful, that everyone of you posted your comments warning about this company and their scam.  I am a small business owner and cannot afford to accrue any additional unwanted charges.  Also, the caller id, actually had 813.882.8886 but said to call the 800.548.3993 number back.

Thanks again for all the great posts!

Wow... I wish I had read this FIRST.  Exactly as reported here.  Sent me something after we talked.  a random phone call out of the blue at my home. Sounded interesting, but I thought I was "thinking about it".  This huge box just arrived in my front door about 5 days later.  Called to ask what is going on and they are sweet, until I tell them NO.  Out comes the 50% off  deals and BS and a requirement to pay big$ to ship it back.

I am making a call to the Florida Attorney general in the morning, since someone else was nice enough to provide it. I think the UPS complaint dept needs a call too. They are enabling this boiler-room.
If you are checking this before you buy, just say NO.  My wife says the same thing is available in the craft stores local.