They promise the world, and then you pay and pay and pay for services you shouldn't have to, and eventually you get nothing.

I was contacted and offered $4000 to $6000 initial purchases of my products and free 30- and 120-second TV commercials placed for free on major broadcast and cable networks. The only information I could find online at first was a phony news story about the company almost losing their contract with JCPenney. The high-pressure pitch starts with the request to send sample products via next-day courier for a focus group meeting the next business day. And if you pay for the costs of the focus group, and your product is accepted, a wholesale discount on their products and C.O.D. shipments is all they ask for. I had to send the check before I could do more research, but fortunately, I stopped payment in time, when a colleague told me he had done a different search and found complaints. One other manufacturer had gone further than I, and had been asked to pay more and more fees. I also found a class action suit against the company that had been dismissed, because I suspect, as the Broward County sheriff's department told me, it is hard to prove this kind of fraud.

I reported the scam to the FTC, and I contacted a number of the companies who Shop on TV Network claimed to represent, and none of them said they had ever had any dealings with the Florida group. They send out an example of their commercials, which was a 2003 poor quality commercial featuring Maple Leaf Farms products. The communications director at Maple Leaf said their company had not authorized the commercial. Other manufacturers who had their products listed on the Florida group's consumer web site (http://www.shopontvstore.com) said that Shop on TV Network was not an authorized wholesaler of their products.

For reference, you may want to also check Shop America Network of Miramar, Florida.