Well, if you read the title and guessed that the church could learn to be ethical, you’re right. But, I want to tell this story anyway.

A few weeks ago I got a call at the Library where I work as the IT Manager from some company wanting to sell me their crap. I explained to the person on the phone, we’ll call him Louis, that I did not want to order anything, and indeed I could not because of our new building project. He asked when we expected the building to be completed, to which I replied a few months, thinking I had just bought myself a few months of “Louis” not calling me.

Apparently, I was wrong. What I had really bought was a $500 case of printer cleaning supplies. Of course, I had no idea that I had done such a thing until I got faxed an inovice from Louis’ company. (I really wish I still had it so that I could scan it in, but alas, it is no where to be found.) After getting the invoice, I fired off an email to the address listed on the fax, and called the 800 number. The number gave me a busy signal, and I never receieved a reply to my email. (In fact, I’m still waiting). 

Fast forward to this week and receive a package via UPS. You’d be surprised at how underwhelming 500 dollars worth of printer cleaning supplies can be. It all fit into a 12″ x 6″ cardboard box. Who knew? I was finally able to get their customer support on the phone and explain to them that I did not place an order. After a few minutes of discussion, the support rep assured me that their warehouse manager contacted every customer to make sure that they were shipping the right thing. This gentlemen apparently had a record of speaking with me. Now, I get a really low number of work-related phone calls. The rep finally accepted that I wasn’t going to be paying for the order, when he honestly said: “What if I were to hold the billing for a few months?” To which I replied: “Listen, it’s not about the money, it’s about honesty. You guys made up an order, didn’t respond to my emails or phone calls to cancel the order, which I didn’t place, and now you want me to give you money? Are you serious? I don’t understand how you’re in business. I’ll be shipping these cleaning supplies back to you, please don’t call me, or make up orders for me again. Have a great day.”

As a church, are we signing people up for things they didn’t ask for? At LifePoint, we’re getting ready to launch some new things that will let people know where we’re headed up front. No surprises.