this is worse than a scam, it is a legitmized way for D&B to extort small businesses

see proof here - https://www.change.org/petitions/small-busine ... =share_petition

I do agree that we should investigate before commenting on something we're not too sure about, but your rambling paragraph is one of the most poorly written pieces I have had the displeasure to read.  You should have had someone proof read or help you with your writing before representing your company like that.

My business has been contacted by D&B on countless occasions, and in my first year of business I did pay them. I can attest that there is very little value in the product they offer, from the perspective of a small business. I can also attest that they are in most cases irrelevant, and unnecessary to build business credit.

If one of your business objectives is to build business credit for credit's sake, or to have the appearance of a credit-worthy partner without earning it, then perhaps you should follow the advice of the D&B employees here, and purchase their product, and follow up by vigorously defending the never-ending stream of misrepresentations and anonymous and dubious false marks against your company.

However, if the products and services you provide are truly valuable in your marketplace, you'll find that your D&B rating is irrelevant, and effort is better spent cultivating your business relationships, increasing your value to your customers, and honoring all of your contractual obligations.

These are things you undoubtedly already know, and believe firmly, otherwise you wouldn't be outraged enough to spend time to see if others are outraged as well.

As can be clearly seen by the consistency and quantity of postings here of those who feel that D&B uses predatory and unscrupulous marketing practices to support their organization, it cannot be downplayed by anonymous "D&B Employees" as an isolated practice. The obvious conclusion is that this is their standard practice for their business unit that attempts to build revenue from small business.

Small businesses do not typically purchase the credit reports for their (typically larger) customers. My company has never bothered with these reports, and has an on-time A/R of over 99.5% over 12 years. There are many inhibitors to getting paid, and the credit worthiness of your larger customers are likely to be the most minor of these reasons. Therefore, at the dollar amount of the typical small business invoice, there isn't enough credit risk to justify an expensive risk management strategy. Its smarter to "self insure", and prepare for a certain amount of loss due to bad debt. So small business do not typically buy D&B products.

Because D&B cannot typically get revenue from small businesses in their traditional manner - SELLING credit data, they decided to generate small business revenue in the process of OBTAINING the data. This business unit has been a "drag on the organization" according to their CEO, so they licensed that part of the business to a completely new venture with completely new people, using a derivation of the brand, "Dun and Bradstreet Credibility" corporation.

The goal of this new company is to go beyond just traditional credit, and offer more of a comprehensive suite of reputation management products -- using the same old tactics as the "tip" of their marketing spear.

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2011/sb20110113_331630.htm

So, posts like the above comments here are working. D&B sees the light, and they are out of this business.

I'm personally curious to see if the new "Credibility" unit can restore the credibility of D&B among small business owners. I would like to see that fail.

So please keep posting your true and accurate experiences with telemarketers who call you, and unsolicited emails you receive.

I would also advise cross-linking other D&B scam blogs and commentaries...so that these types of pages rank higher in Google, and future would-be suckers don't have to spend as much time learning the truth about D&B.

http://scam.com/showthread.php?p=909429

Business credit may be important to your business. It has not proven to be terribly important for mine, because the depth of relationships I have with customers and vendors have always made a path for putting together and closing my "deals".

Realize that the value of D&B has usually been more important to your VENDORS than it will be to you, as a small or startup business. Your VENDORS are VENDORS. YOU have the money. THEY want your business. They will work with you to find an avenue or strategy to build credit with THEM. It helps THEM do more business. They will NOT walk away from business with you arbitrarily based solely on a lack of information, or false information from D&B.

Common sense will win the day. You can negotiate initial purchases via a credit card. You can then negotiate to do more business based upon terms, and even pick your vendors at least partially based upon their willingness to extend you credit terms. Then pay reliably, honor your contract terms, and build your credit.

Don't be afraid to walk away from a vendor that will not do this for you. This is how the free market works.

If you sell a valuable product or service, and build relationships and a good reputation for caring for your customers, you'll find that its quite easy to obtain their help in financing "big deals". Until I had the bank account and credit to internally finance 100% of my deals, I frequently negotiated with customers to pay up-front.

It all has to do with VALUE. You know this. Don't let a company who clearly doesn't understand VALUE persuade you otherwise.

Ok, I use to work for this company.  It is not a scam but it is not true.  they want you to monitor your report but you dont have to pay to update your d&b what you are paying for is to monitor and add payment references pull your free report once a year to keep tabs then update through customer service

That same number called me at the house this morning.  800-869-7155 # 4416, name was George, hard to tell because of heavy accent.  I informed him that it was a residential number they were calling and he said it didn't matter as they could help me improve my credit score with Equifax and the others.  I hung up on him as he was getting rude.

Ok 1st Amanda.. or should I say KELSEY. Youre a liar PERIOD.. hence why even a piece of crap company like OLC FIRED you!!!!!

soooooo i work here and just to let you guys know this is not a scam so just look into it because the companies that look you up are real.... trust me and if you thank we are a scam then look into the credit agent you are working with thank you very much.... and if you dont beleive me call up and get the owners name and number and they will make sure you get the right number.....

Karyn May 30, 2008
Got a call from someone that said he was with Dun & Bradstreet and asked to speak to {owner's name} about recent credit report request. Since the owner wasn't available, he left his name and number: Erica Polan ext 2198
called the phone number back just ring

got the same calls.  it's a lie. ask them for a contact number, dunn&bradstreet's owner's name, the address of headquarters, a fax number and so on.  they'll hang up on you faster than you can imagine!!

The companies name is OLC Global or Online Communication.  They are not actually D&B.

we received a call from 800-869-7155, person say their name was Jesse at ext. 3976, when we called back, no Jesse at that extension.  Ashley answered the phone and claimed that they are resellers of DB.com   which is not case according to the real DB.   I should add that they called our residence and thought it was business, the real DB would not be that dumb.

Receive this type of call this morning from 800-869-7155 # 2177 from Betsy.  She claimed we had multiple requests on our report and was to inform us of a special program that we can sign up for.  If i give her our corporate credit card number, we could get a 10% off special.  Sounds like a scam to me also.  Thanks for the heads up on this website

and how long have you worked for them?

I  got a  call  from  Dun and  BradBADDStreet and  they  want money that simple..  they  can block your business,

they  went to the  court house got  records  call me  back  told  me  all my business--  I  have  two offices  on the  same  street-- so  on the  application -- I listed  4500sgt ft--  they  flaged  your act  so  creditors  will  give  you no -  credit  or  good  credit  according to thier rating--  I think  the  creditor are t he  one  here  losing  money-- they  should  ask for  inf  themselves with Financial  statement.

I think they  do  poor  business and  threat people-- to pay  $800  and  then  they post good  info on you.  I think the calls  are  form  there --  everyone need  money now-- Ihope  experian  or  equifax  take  over  this  --because  -- they ar  very  unfair  and  greedy.  May

I am a Manager for OLC. OLC is an outsourcer for D&B. As many of you are aware, large companies outsource inbound and outbound calls. (At least we are IN the UNITED STATES!) OLC is contracted through the Small Business Solutions division of Dun & Bradstreet. D&B has many outsourcers across the globe that call on businesses regarding activity (inquiries & alerts) that have taken place on a business' credit report. It is in a business' best interest to maintain and monitor their business credit report just as it is in each person's best interest to KNOW what is going on in their personal credit.  Wouldn't you agree?

Don't bother to talk to these guys.  They are a telemarketer that wants to charge you $499.00 to get you a credit report that you can get for free by contacting the credit bureaus.

This was the first time I ever called and 800 number and got a busy signal.  I was planning to quiz them about my business to get a feel of their legitimacy.  When it was busy, I checked here and confirmed.

This is a number that keeps calling but when you try to call back it's a recording. This is a total scam. I've had several calls from this line.

We got a call on our business line, today.  The caller ID said, "000" and when I answered it I was greeted with a man asker for the owner of one of our businesses.  I screen calls, so I just took a message.  This was the number that he gave me along with his extention: Ext #4445  He told me he was calling in regards to some recent activity on our credit report.

Okay, if you want to call the 800 number that is provided, call during THESE hours, Central Standard Time.  8 am to 10 am.  10:15 am to noon.  1 pm to 3 pm.  3:15 pm to 4:45 pm.  Your call WILL be answered by a human being.  It's not a scam.  We are outsourced by DnB to do a job.  Don't hate us for being employed.  Wouldn't you business owners rather us be collecting income from a legitimate company, rather than collecting unemployment that you pay in to?  Come on.  Give us a break.  I don't come knock the burgers off your grill while you're flipping them do I?  Lay off!

Just because a real person calls or answers doesn't automatically mean it's not a scam. You get paid because you make the company money. The company makes money because you get peoples' credit card numbers over the phone and have them sign a contract that they don't fully understand. You don't receive complaints because you're wearing a mask called DnB, so most people don't even know who you are.

If you were outsourced by DnB, then you wouldn't have inaccurate information. You call people and tell them their credit reports have inquiries, but do you even know the 3 bureaus that credit reports are pulled from? Do you even know what an inquiry is? It's not a bad thing, everyone has them. It means they've asked recently for financing. Another company in turn sells you that information, that such and such business wants money, and you call them with this scam.

Try this. Call someone back who you've sold your wonderful company's product to a month later and ask them if they're satisfied. They'll want to meet you in person to give you their thanks... And just in case you're that dense, I'm saying they'll want to hurt you. Can't be too sure you'll read between the lines on that one.

Do you honestly think anyone would want to purchase anything from someone who talks to them like this????   YOU people ARE nuts to think that people of normal intelligence would give you 1 red cent for anything.  LOL

Amen Ann, well said.  I have been getting a lot of calls from them lately, same sales pitch.  We have been in business 60 years, never any credit issues, we can get millions in credit.  None of our creditors use or trust D&B.    When I continually told the little puke that called me to day that we were not interested and to stop calling, he simply would not stop.  He acted as if he was calling from a governement agency, "miss you do not understand I am  calling fromD&B, I am not a sales person, I have to talk with the owner",

Amen Ann, well said.  I have been getting a lot of calls from them lately, same sales pitch.  We have been in business 60 years, never any credit issues, we can get millions in credit.  None of our creditors use or trust D&B.    When I continually told the little puke that called me to day that we were not interested and to stop calling, he simply would not stop.  He acted as if he was calling from a governement agency, "miss you do not understand I am  calling fromD&B, I am not a sales person, I have to talk with the owner",

I'm old enough to remember that D&B once provided a useful service for businesses (like in the mid twentieth century). They're not too relevant now and seem to have sunken to quasi-extortion boiler-room sales operations to intimidate small business owners into parting with $700. If you don't buy their service they tell you that they will have no choice but to lower your "rating".

If you're a crook who doesn't pay his bills, this would be a useful service as you could pay $700 and get proof for your victims that you're really an upstanding business person. But if you really are an upstanding business person, there's nothing in it for you.

If you decide to give your credit card information, it is your responsibility to understand the contract you are "signing".
All the information on your business credit report depends on you. If you decide to let your information stagnate over the time span of 3-5 years (depending on how much business you do), that's your fault. If you move addresses, the company changes hands, or your company changes names it is you responsibility, as a business owner, to update this information.
Do you mean the personal credit bureaus named Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion? PERSONAL credit is NOT business credit.
People who don't take an active role during that year that they paid for will surely be disappointed with the service. If you bought a Lamborghini to have for a year, looked at it once, forgot about it, and then it was taken back when the year was up you would surely be a dissatisfied customer. Unfortunately for you, you would be the only person to blame. If you decided to read the instruction manual, use all of the Lambo's features, and take it out on the road at top speed you would be thoroughly satisfied by the end of the year. You would probably come back at the next available opportunity.
I'm sure it makes you irritated that there are people below your paygrade telling you that you haven't kept your business' credit report up-to-date. I'm sure that you need a place to vent because someone ruined your idea of what your business was by telling you that your accountant hasn't been completely straight forward with you about the bills that somehow got lost in the shuffle. That is your problem, not the credit analyst's.

If i have to curse at you or slap you to make you understand why your report is necessary then i will because you obviously dont understand how things work. How do you think people decide to do business with you? Ask you if you pay your bills on time? ask you if youve ever taken on a 100k line of credit before? laughable at best and its these business practices that screw people over. good luck with that.

im so glad you know how to spell and construct sentences. what a wonderful business owner you are lol.

Like all the people, we received a call re credit reports from an individual saying they are from D&B.  This is company selling credit reporting service, apparently for D&B.  I would not purchase from this company but go directly to D&B.  Is it a scam?  I would say yes because the person calling did not work for D&B.

Several other posts have said this, yet you still maintain that it is a scam because we are not D&B.  We are outsourced by D&B.  Do you call and get support for your cell phone ever?  If you do, how could you?!?!  You're most likely calling a call center, filled with people who do not work directly for the company that is providing you with your cell phone service.  If you think the job we do is a scam, then you better stop calling any number you see on TV or any number that is provided to you by any business through which you have a service because there is no difference at all.  All of you out there who continue to say this is a scam, I invite you to provide me with your name and telephone number and I would be more than happy to call you from my place of business and have a conversation about scams, ethics and how crappy your credit report looks.  Just kidding.  Seriously though, I'd be more than happy to speak with you on the phone or in person, not to sell you something, but to at least show you that what I am doing is not a scam and even possibly convince you to stop flaming the company I work for.  If you're not willing to do that, how about you provide me with your business name and website, since you already know mine as stated in previous posts.  OLC Global.  So, I dare any and all of you people out there who are flaming my company to put the name of your company out there.  I doubt anyone really has the balls.  Prove me wrong...