It's baaaack

It was back in my spam folder on Friday afternoon, even after blocking the email from delivery. This time, the 2010 edition of the Global Directory of Who's Who is at stake. I suppose my invitation to the 2009 directory, though ignored, was worth repeating.

You were recently chosen as a potential candidate to represent your professional community in the 2010 Edition of Global Who's Who.

We are please to inform you that your candidacy was formally approved January 4th, 2010. Congratulations.

The Publishing Committee selected you as a potential candidate based not only upon your current standing, but focusing as well on criteria from executive and professional directories, associations, and trade journals. Given your background, the Director believes your profile makes a fitting addition to our publication.

There is no fee nor obligation to be listed. As we are working off of secondary sources, we must receive verification from you that your profile is accurate. After receiving verification, we will validate your registry listing within seven business days.

Once finalized, your listing will share prominent registry space with thousands of fellow accomplished individuals across the globe, each representing accomplishment within their own geographical area.

To verify your profile and accept the candidacy, please visit here. Our registration deadline for this year's candidates is January 31st, 2010. To ensure you are included, we must receive your verification on or before this date. On behalf of our Committee I salute your achievement and welcome you to our association.

Sincerely,
John Franklin
Vice President, Research Division

The Global Directory of Who's Who
4250 Veterans Highway, Suite 2050
Holbrook, NY 11741, USA
Phone: (631)588-8600

Once again it notes in a blase manner there is no cost associated with being listed and neglects to mention the exorbitant charges and hard sales for the book and online access. It's worth posting new and old(*) links to this particular offer.

• Complaints Board – Global Directory of Who’s Who
• Ripoff Report: The Global Directory of Who’s Who (2008)*
• Ripoff Report: The Global Directory of Who’s Who (2009)
• The Unsponsored Link: Beware the Global Directory of Who’s Who*
• Writer Beware Blogs: Victoria Strauss Beware Who’s Who *
• Better Buisness Bureau Report*
  

This time, it's global

"It is my pleasure to inform you that on August 30th, 2009 your information was reviewed and accepted for inclusion in the 2009/2010 edition of our registry.

The Global Directory of Who's Who each year, recognizes and selects key executives, professionals and organizations in all disciplines and industries for outstanding business and professional achievements. This recognition is shared by those who have reached a distinguished level of success in their chosen profession.

Please take a moment to complete the invitation by clicking on the link below. We ask that you complete it carefully, as it will be reviewed by our editorial department.

** Please complete the online link by September 30th.

The Global Directory of Who's Who is pleased to inform you that there are no fees or dues to be included in the publication. On behalf of the publishing department and our esteemed staff, we wish you continued success."

I "released" the above email from my spam/quarantine folder out of sheer curiosity late last week. Undoubtedly my previous experience with Cambridge Who's Who predisposed me to read it with a definitively jaundiced eye, but a few things caught my interest; if my information has already been "reviewed and accepted for inclusion," why do I need to bother with the link; if I will already be included, why is the information going to be "reviewed by our (their) editorial department;" and how interesting that they are "pleased to inform" me that "there are not fees or dues to be included in the publication."

A catalog search revealed my library does not have the title, it is not part of any academic library in the state, and World Cat does not have a record of any library having the title as part of their collection. I moved my research to the web and, not surprisingly, found dissatisfied customers.

• Ripoff Report: The Global Directory of Who's Who Questionable Sales and Billing Practice
• Ripoff Report: Response to Allegations of Dishonest Practice
• The UnSponsored Link: Beware the Global Directory of Who's Who
• Complaints Board: Global Directory of Who's Who Complaints - Entire Company is a Scam
• BetterBusinessBureau: Global Directory of Who's Who -- Unsatisfactory Record

Curiosity satisfied, I deleted the email. It will be interesting to see if there is a follow-up; too bad it will not get beyond my spam folder.

Meeting aside

One of the discussion points on today's faculty library meeting agenda is "Who's Who" and notification that a request for a trial was submitted on February 12th. My guess is Marquis Who's Who and I will be interested in hearing the discussion; especially since I received an email reminder to fill out my biographical data information by February 18th.

Lunch with who? Not Cindy Lou

Earlier this month I received another Who's Who email notification; this time from Marquis Who's Who (not Cambridge). Since it arrived over the holiday break and was part of the huge message list marked "to be read," I glanced and ignored it. Still not sure how it survived the mass email deletion, I took another look at it today and did a bit of "research" on the product. Here is the email notice:

It is my pleasure to inform you that you are being considered for inclusion in the upcoming 2008-2009 Edition of Who's Who of American Women®. This special edition, scheduled for publication in September 2008, marks our 50th year of publishing this historic reference volume.

Since the publication of the first edition in 1958, Who's Who of American Women has remained the premier biographical publication chronicling the lives of the country's most innovative and accomplished women. Who's Who of American Women is found in the collections of many of the country's leading public, academic and corporate libraries, where it is a universal reference tool for business people, historians, educators, students and researchers of all kinds.

To be considered for inclusion in this prestigious publication, you need only provide the requested information by completing our secure and easy-to-use online Biographical Data Form by January 31, 2008. Through this link you will also find more information about the edition of Who's Who of American Women currently in print.

The information you provide will be evaluated according to the selection standards Marquis Who's Who has developed over 110 years as the world's premier biographical publisher. If you are selected for inclusion in the new, commemorative edition, we will contact you prior to the book's publication in September.

I congratulate you on the achievements that have brought your name to the attention of our editorial committee. We look forward to hearing from you.

An interesting post script revealed:

P.S. Inclusion of your biography in Who's Who of American Women, of course, carries neither cost nor obligation to you of any kind. Our goal with each new edition is to have full representation of noteworthy and accomplished women across all fields and industries including business, education, medicine and healthcare, science and engineering, and more.

And, there was a link in this email regarding their privacy policy.

I started with my library catalog and found we have various dated editions covering two topics related to this particular Who's Who (again, Marquis) in the reference collection; sixteen volumes, dated from 1958 to 1990, Who's who of American women; a biographical dictionary of notable living American women; and two volumes, first and third, of Who's Who in Government. Moving on to the state-wide academic library consortium catalog there are twenty-four libraries with copies of Who's Who of American Women, but none of them offer editions newer than 2000. I took a cursory look at WorldCat, but lack the patience to search deeper.

The jury seems to be out regarding any "scam" potential. I found a bit more after venturing out of the stacks:

• Very Odd email: Quantized Thoughts (blog)
• Who's Who scam: Wikipedia
• Who's Who of American Women: Absolute Writer Water Cooler (forum)
• Gee Wiz, I'm a Candidate for Who's Who: Without a purpose (blog)

And, on the plus side:

• Welcome to Marquis Who's Who Online
• Marquis Who's Who in America
• Marquis Who's Who: Wikipedia

One article, I do not recall where, surmized that Marquis Who's Who sent a lot of invitations out to librarians to entice them to buy the volume for their collections; interesting marketing tactic. Be that as it may, I now have one week remaining on my invitation.

Who's who, redo

The eternal statistics addict in me has noticed a trend over the last several days regarding 'hypothetical' blog traffic. There has been an increase in hits over the last four days, most of which can be traced to a single post in December: Who's Who? Who am I, What? The topic? None other than Cambridge Who's Who Among Executive and Professional Women in Education.

Guess a new round of nomination letters were sent out in January and people are doing Internet research on the topic. Some of the search terms used were: "who's who among executive and professional women," "scam cambridge who's who," "cambridge who's who," and "cambridge scam." It would be interesting to hear what decision other's have made regarding their acceptance into this directory.

Tags: Cambridge Who's Who

Who's Who? Who am I? What?

I received a letter from Cambridge Who's Who in late October informing me I was "being considered for inclusion into the 2006/2007 Cambridge Who's Who Among Executive and Professional Women in Education 'honors Edition' of the Registry." The letter further explained:

The 2006/2007 edition of the Registry will include biographies of our country's most accomplished women. Recognition of this kind is an honor shared by thousands of executive and professional women throughout America each year.

Inclusion is considered by many as the single highest mark of achievement. Upon final confirmation, you will be listed among thousands of accomplished women in the Cambridge Who's Who Registry.

For accuracy and publication deadlines please return to us your application form within five business days from the receipt of this letter. There is no cost to be included. (Letter, October 25, 2006)

It sat on my desk for several days and on a whim, I sent it back and did not think anything more about it. Until today. This afternoon I got a phone call from Cambridge Who's Who and after a short question and answer period I was congratulated and told my biography was accepted.

Great, but it was at that point the sales pitch commenced.

The price for being included in this edition ranged from $189 - $700 depending on the level of sponsorship (for want of a better word) I was prepared to purchase. I had no desire to make this decision spur of the moment and the longer I "waffled," the harder the sales push. She moved from the highest price to the lowest telling me that she did not want me to miss out on this opportunity. As the conversation contionued, at one point I was asked, "Don't you know who we are?" That was when my patience expired. I replied, "Yes, but I have no intention of making a purchase of this magnitude over the phone without any consideration." She relented and gave me until 5:30 pm this afternoon to decide.

Naturally, I began my research on this company after lunch. I started with my boss, who had never heard of them, and finished with a quick Google search. Findings ranged from a few happy consumers to seriously snarky reports of outright scam. I also found several mentions of this letter in other blogs from other librarians and professionals.

Negative research results:

• Scam.com
• Better Business Bureau
• Rip Off Report

Positive customer results:

• Susquehanna Central Valley School District
• C.D. Hylton High School

Blogging about the directory:

• The Annoyed Librarian
• Creative Arts

An interesting discovery:

• Yahoo hot jobs: Account Executive Position
  Job opening at Cambridge Who's Who

I was less than thrilled with the sales pitch, mostly because the representative was pushy and rude. (It is now 5:30 pm and I have missed her deadline.) The crux of the matter for me? If, as per the letter, it costs nothing to be included, why do I pay for a subscription and/or membership to join? My overall opinion is a negative one at this point. I do not know if I will get a second phone call tomorrow. But I will be sure to ask why there is such a push for subscription benefits when it clearly states there is not cost for inclusion.

Update: 12/12/06

Last Friday afternoon I received a second call from Rebecca at Cambridge Who's Who. I freely admit I did not expect to hear from the company after missing my deadline earlier in the week. However, when she started the entire sales pitch a second time, including wanting to ask me additional questions to further assess my qualifications for inclusion, I politely interrupted and told her we had this conversation last week. I also reminded her I had answered all of the secondary questions and that she already welcomed me to the "family" (so to speak).

I questioned why I was being asked to make a purchase when the invitation letter specifically noted "There is no cost to be included." The clearest part of her circular answer detailed benefits only offered subscribing customers. I declined the opportunity to make a purchase and admit to some curiosity regarding my inclusion in the upcoming edition of their registry. It is obvious I should have researched before sending in the application, but I was flattered, somewhat naive, and did not see the harm. Quite honestly, no harm no foul for the entire process because I have learned something.

Tags: Cambridge Who's Who, Cambridge Who's Who Among Executive and Professional Women in Education, Cambridge Registry, Academic Librarians