We give out fake names to telemarketers so that when they call we just put them into a generic voicemail. I love it when they say they just spoke with the person that doesn't really exist. Then they want to have them paged, so we put on an indefinite hold and later tell them "I'm sorry. He's not picking up. He must be out changing light bulbs in the shop".

I told my receptionist just to hang up on this guy.  I listened to his voice mail he left on my phone.  Made it sound like we're best buds.  I wouldn't give them 2 seconds of my time.  Hey Jeff, Bill or Joe, try getting a real job buddy !  

These people are a SCAM! I get calls like these all the time. Usually they call and get reception and ask who handles maintenance. Then they call your extension and act as if they know you and you have ordered from them before. It's always they are sending me some lights along with a free gift. Before you can tell them no they send the stuff anyway. I just don't accept it when it arrives.

I believe they mass call companies and hope to find cracks and disconnects in departments so accounting can be billed and maintenance is stuck with this crap before it is caught.

Hi,

You are dealing with scam artists and crooks. Even the owners are big time crooks themselves. The only thing you can do is just keep the bulbs and don't pay for anything. Eventually, this will hurt them as they can't sue you for the merchandise as since they are a scam the authorities will pick up on this. As for the A+ rating? That is a smoke screen which hides their EVIL and SINISTER acts.

Also, if you receive calls from their other sister companies: United, Lion, Champion, Liberty, etc.. don't answer the calls. If we can get enough complaints we can shut these crooks down PERMANENTLY and IMMEDIATELY.

This company called our Maintenance Manager and told him that he would like to send us samples.  Our employee explicitly told the rep at Central Industries that we will accept free samples but we were not to be invoiced for them.  They called us for goodness sake.. we didn't even need them.  

The samples came, and shortly after we received an invoice for $599.98.  Today I called the company to dispute the invoice and get shipping labels to return the goods.  First I spoke with Amy.  She was nice at first but I could tell she was giving me the run around.  She told me that she could not do anything to help me and there was no one else there that could.  She put me on hold for long periods at a time and became very rude when I called them out on their scam.  She was yelling at me.  I wont lie and say I wasn't yelling back but I am the one that had the right to be angry.

Finally Amy transferred me to Ken.  I am sure she gave him the low down because he answered the phone extremely aggressively and rude.

When it came to him sending me emails for the return shipping labels, he was very polite.  I guess it was because i would have record in writing.  Horrible horrible man.

Posting reads like SPAM. 99% say it's a scam/junk, but 1 shill says it's good. Do the math.

We recently finished an re-lamp project for the older section of our building and used Central Industries.  The lights arrived on time and the quality and output are incredible.  They certainly weren't the cheapest or least expensive, but I believe the service guarantee they offer justifies the cost.  Unfortunately, some of the lights were damaged in transit, but Central Industries immediately sent replacements.  

We will continue to monitor their lights performance and follow up later.

As far  as A+ rating? They lie... and try to cover up their sinister business plan by saying its legitimate. Its time for the BBB to really get involved in this..

Time to shut the scammers down!

Paula,

Here is there phone number.. RAISE HELL with them.. Personally, I'd like to see Central, United, Midway, Lion, Liberty, and all the rest of these f****rs shut down permanently..

Here is the number for Central Industries:

Central Industries Inc
DirectionsBe the first to review

Address: 11433 Cronridge Dr, Owings Mills, MD 21117
Phone:(410) 922-3633

Same scam.  Somehow got the name of the maintenence mgr, Central called him up saying "Your lighs are ready to ship", he thought someone else had placed the order & said okay, but no one had.  We did not pay the bill for months, but since we were using the tubes, finally did pay, but obviously did not reorder.  But the day after payment posted, here comes two more unordered boxes & 2 weeks after that unordered cleaning fluid from General Distribution, same address. I tried to call to return, it's a voice mail hell, you can't talk to a person.  We are not paying them and I contacted my state's attorney general's office about them, too.  Oddly enough, they had an A+ BBB rating. How can THAT be?

You know you are dealing with CROOKS?? I happen to know the owners of Central Industries and they are not a legit company.. in fact they violate all rules of employment law and also threaten their sales people to get rough with maintenance people should they not accept the gift card and bulbs..

Trust me... they are crooks and so are the other companies they affiliate with: United, Liberty, Lion, Midway distributing..

This company is a scam and the owners are big time crooks... I know.. I used to work for those f****rs and during an unemployment hearing I got the owner good.. he was very unprofessional and testy with the hearing examiner.. My goal is to spread the word that not only Central Industries is a big time scam, but so are its other breathern... including: United Distributing, Midway Distributing, Lion Distributing/Royal Chemical(all one company), and Liberty Distributing.

Just got a phone call from these jokers, Salesman name is Mark Dawson (at least that is what he told me).
Told me he was gona send me some bulbs out with a gift card.
Good luck there Mark, ... I also do shipping and recieving here where I work.
So , I will just refuse the package.
Tracking results will show refusal, So they in turn can't bill me....lol
Keep...um coming, I can refuse every package they send.
Guess they got more money than since.

I agree, their products have outlasted all other lights I have purchased in the past and are much brighter. I buy all of my lighting products from them and their service and delivery times have been excellent.

I have been dealing with Central for many years and I think the quality of their lighting products and warranty are outstanding. I used to buy lamps at the local electric store and the products did not last long. Now I am not replacing bulbs very often and the light output is much brighter. I have always found thcustomer vice to be excellent. Some people just love to complain.

Got a call from "Jay" (yeah right) fishing for name of maintenance supervisor, he said " I just got off the phone with him and I forget his name...., ah.....um.....(stalling) " waiting on me to give him a name...I told him if I could get his name and number I'd pass it to proper person...Finally, he said he was with Central Electric (800) 937-0001. I tried to get a number by *69 (we don't have caller Id) and It couldn't give me one.  All Red flags for a SCAMMER!

This morning I got a text to my cell phone:

"THE CREDIT UNION CENTER ALERT: Your card has been DEACTIVATED. Please contact us at 626-377-9373"

Central Industries is a total scam. They will continue to bill you for so called "orders" and yet if you ask for any information about shipping, po#'s, etc. they just don't have it available.

Ken Anderson
Scam artist
800 304 8484 x102

Joe,
It is more likely that the person that called you was a former lighting sales person for Lime Energy.  When he left the company, he probably took all the information from previous audits that he could get his hands on, so he had room-by-room counts for your building without doing any work.  As shady as Lime might be, I doubt that they are selling this information.  But it is probably wise to stay away from this person.  If this person no longer works for Lime Energy, it is probably because he couldn't meet the low standards that they set for their lighting sales team.  So gimmicks and scams are all he knows how to do.  I am curious about why you call them "a now known shady company".

I have been buying lights from this company. The quality of the light is outstanding. Much better quality that what you can get at Home Depot or the local electrical store. The warranty and their customer service has been excellent. I am very satisfied with Central Industries.

I got a call from this number: 800-937-0001
Central Industries, Inc.
Business Center at Owings Mills
11433 Cronridge Drive, Suite F
Owings Mills, MD 21117

The guy talked to me like I was his best customer, knew all about my building and where I had florescent lights and where I had 8? vs. 4? light fixtures even where I was using incandescent light bulbs & Compact Florescent bulbs. Now I have never bought anything from him. He went on to say he was sending out a catalog and wanted to know if I wanted him to include gift cards from Cabelas's or Best Buy, cause he takes care of his guys. At the end he told me to look for a box of 4x florescent lights he sent me. I said I will look for them. This is most definitely a scam.

But how would he know what kind of lights I used in my building? I have always taken care of the lights internally for the past 20 years.  I recently had a free green enhancement audit on all of my lighting fixtures to see if they met current standards.  The audit was performed by a now known shady company with the name of Lime Energy, www.lime-energy.com,  They would be the only ones with any information about my specific light bulb specifications. I think they are working together and this Lime Energy is selling its Audit information to Central Industries who makes sales calls on the people. That's why they do it for free or it could be a coincidence.

same happened to me. talked to the guy and at the end of the call he said he sent me a box of lights and hung up. WTH! all i wanted was a brosure.

Tried to force me to oder light bulbs

Central Industries