Buyer Beware Avoiding SCAMS & Disappointment

Helpful Tips When Purchasing a Pen Pal Ad

Congratulations- You’ve decided to go “on-line” to find a new friend or love interest. Through the assistance of web sites, tens of thousands of incarcerated people are turning to the Internet in record numbers to find friendship, romance and even legal aid. Each and every day, the staff members at Friends Beyond The Wall receive letters from our incarcerated customers and the web site visitors who write to them, thanking our company for helping to make these wonderful connections happen. Our staff all have ‘personal’ connections to incarcerated people (family and friends), so those letters are the highlight of our day!

Should You Jump On the Bandwagon?

Pen pal web sites designed exclusively for prisoners are now practically a craze. In fact, there are now over 50 BILLION web pages of all types on the Internet, and this number is increasing daily, so is your Internet ad like a needle in a haystack? How will you be found? Although some of the prisoner pen pal sites are legitimate businesses dedicated to serving their customers, most have sprung up virtually overnight in an attempt to cash in and take advantage of a group of people who list ‘loneliness’ as one of the basic facts of their existence. It takes very little know-how and skill to start a “basic” web site, but it takes tremendous knowledge, skill, dedication and talent to create a professional web site that visitors will want to go back to time and again, one that encourages repeat visitors with the single goal of obtaining responses for their customers. Customer service is KEY and is the single MISSING ingredient from 90% or more of the prisoner pen pal web sites in existence today. If and when you need assistance, you want to know that someone is actually there to respond to your concerns!

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The fact is, many of these “companies” joining the craze are not companies at all. They are private individuals who have jumped on board the “inmate express.” They know nothing of web site design or promotion, how the prison system works or even most important, the actual needs of incarcerated people. They have no personal connection whatsoever to prisoners, other than to try and make money from them. They steal ads from other web sites and post them on their own sites to make it “appear” that prisoners are actually using their service, so even you taking the added precaution of having family members and friends check them out may not always determine if the company is legitimate or not.
Watch Out!

Web sites offering you unbelievable deals, money back, monetary payment to your inmate account for referrals to associates (considered solicitation), guaranteed responses or extremely low prices, will almost certainly end with disappointment.

Also remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and if you refer others to a company for a money-induced profit, or a personal motive other than because of your individual success, and that company does not deliver, the individuals you referred will be upset with you when they do not obtain results. Referrals are the lifeblood of any prisoner pen pal company, but be comfortable you’re dealing with a reputable company before you actively encourage others to join.

So Who Can You Trust?

There are many scams being run on prisoners today. We’ve heard from countless members how difficult it is to put their faith in pen pal web sites. In terms of marketing, many unscrupulous individuals, presenting themselves as legitimate prisoner pen pal companies, see dollar signs when they see two million incarcerated souls, and boast of high traffic and guaranteed responses, with no evidence to support their claims. Most of the time, the claims in their brochures of ‘thousands of visitors a day’ or ‘hundreds and thousands of happy members’ are simply not true.

How can you verify this information yourself, especially if you have no access to the Internet, and no family member or friend on the outside to do the legwork for you? You need a trusted resource such as the National Inmate Resource Directory or DiSSE (Directory of Inmate Shopping Services & E-Commerce). Purchasing their directories will take the guesswork out of which companies you can safely choose to represent your interests.

Word-of-mouth from someone who has been successful with a company is also a good indicator. However, it should be noted that someone who has NOT had a positive experience with a company, may not always be the person to listen to, or a good indicator as to the legitimacy or quality of the company, as there is no telling what type of ad that person wrote, what type of photo they submitted for publication or whether they even followed the company’s instructions for best results!

How can you tell a good prisoner pen pal company from a bad one? The fact is that the majority of prison pen pal web sites in business today will result in no mail and complete frustration on your end, and many will be out of business tomorrow. Does ‘The Pampered Prisoner’ ring a bell? A basically decent web site that unexpectedly went out of business, leaving all customers who paid for ads high and dry. Many new ventures are out of business within the first year. Seeking a company with a stable and long history can go a long way to ensure this does not happen to you!

Be Informed …Ask Questions

What precautions can you take to be sure you select the best pen pal site? It is important to ask questions and do research prior to placing your ad. The following provides you with some questions to ask and a good place to start!

• How long has the pen pal company been in business?
(prisoner pen pal companies come and go all the time… longevity and stability is KEY!)

• What “specific connection” does the company have with incarcerated people (or did they just see this as an opportunity to make money?) The Prison Industrial Complex is becoming more and more known on the outside and unscrupulous people are attempting to cash in on the plight of prisoners.

• How and why was their business initially started? The answer to this question should provide some insight as to the type of people you will be working with.

• Is their company registered as an actual “company” in the state or province in which they operate (i.e., corporation, LLC, etc.)?

• How has the company resolved any past complaints made against them with the Better Business Bureau or other reporting agencies? Are there any unresolved complaints against this company? The majority of companies, even good companies, will receive complaints at some point, but it is the UNRESOLVED complaints that tell a consumer that the company is not working to take care of its customers.

• Where does the company rank on the major search engines? (trust only those that you can verify are in the top 10…the top 1-5 is even better).

• Do you receive a FREE hit counter in your ad which tells you how many web site visitors have actually seen the ad you have published? A hit counter (‘invisible counter’ preferred) to track the number of visitors to your ad is vital information for you, so you know if people are actually seeing your ad.

• Does the company offer a Customer Assurance Guarantee? Friends Beyond The Wall offers a Customer Assurance Guarantee for all ads (duration of 1 year or longer). If customers follow all ad suggestions and still have not received a response after six months of publication, FBTW stands behind their customers in placing them in high traffic areas for additional exposure, PLUS providing six (6) months FREE ad time!

• In how many different areas of their web site will your ad be listed? (most companies have alpha and state listings, but if that is ALL they offer, beware. Alpha and state listings are simply long boring lists of text links, perhaps hundreds of names long, and unless you are near the top of these lists, your chances of being seen are questionable).

• Is company contact information (both general mailing address and e-mail address) listed on all pages of their web site? Web sites that do not have e-mail links or easily accessible contact information are ones to avoid, as this generally means they do not wish to answer questions, and are making a point not to be available.

• Finally… Write to the company you are considering (enclose an SASE for response), and if possible, also have a ‘dependable’ family member or friend send an e-mail to them to see if, and how quickly, a response is received. If you do receive a response, how thorough was the information provided for you? Excellent customer service is essential, in the event you have an issue or concern once you become a customer, and is more important than price when making your decision. This is the time to find out!

Be On Point …

Sometimes prisoner pen pal customers are misinformed as to what they are actually paying for when purchasing a pen pal ad. Some incarcerated people believe they pay the prisoner pen pal company for ‘responses.’ Although receiving responses is the entire point of placing your ad in the first place, and the company’s staff members should do all they can to help you toward this end, it is a myth to believe that the company itself has the power to force people on the outside to respond to the ad you wrote. This way of thinking will most likely have you disappointed in the end. If they tell you they are GUARANTEEING responses, that should be your first RED FLAG and reason for caution.

A Pen Pal Company’s Responsibility to You:

In a nutshell… If you are dealing with a reputable pen pal company, they are responsible to provide you with the following:

1) FREE helpful tips and suggestions up front, BEFORE you pay for your ad, to help you write and submit the best ad possible;

2) Creating and publishing your web site page ad on the Internet in a timely and professional manner;
3) Promoting your personal web page ad and directing web site visitors to it (to track visits to your ad and to ensure your is actually being seen by the outside pubic, a Hit Counter is essential!)

4) Providing you with additional assistance if the ad you wrote is not producing the results you are hoping for. Most companies will take your money up front and create an ad, but if the ad you wrote is not working for you, most will not take the time to provide you with additional assistance to change your results. This is where the ‘Customer Service’ we referred to earlier is so important.

Notice that the responsibilities of a prisoner pen pal company listed above DID NOT include ‘receiving responses,’ the very thing you are seeking! Responses to ads are as simple as this: either the photo in your ad and what you write will appeal to the reader and they will respond to you, or the reader will move on to the next ad. Actual responses to ads (just like an ad placed in a newspaper or magazine), are based SOLELY on the ad text and photo itself, so as long as the company you are dealing with is reputable and will get viewers out to view your ad, it is up to you to follow the Ad Tips & Suggestions provided in the order form to put yourself in the best possible position for RESULTS! The fact is … even the best prisoner pen pal company cannot generate responses for you if the photo and ad text you submit to them for publication is not something that appeals to the general outside public!

The Bottom Line … Friends Beyond the Wall has been in business for 10 years. We care about our customers and our only goal is to connect our customers with new friends or that special someone. We know from experience what works and we stand behind our words with the Customer Assurance Guarantee (see bullet #8 on left and order form for details). We’ve seen many companies come and go over the years, and we’ve seen many incarcerated people hurt by the actions of unscrupulous companies and individuals. This article was written so that this does not happen to you! There are legitimate prisoner pen pal web sites on the Internet and we hope the tips provided herein will help you distinguish between them.

Write for FREE Information!
Friends Beyond The Wall, Inc.
Attention: NL-NIRD
2600 South Road, Suite 44-244
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Email: Info@FriendsBeyondTheWall.com
Web Site: www.FriendsBeyondTheWall.com

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