April 2003

(if you drop in here straight, you need to read the previous parts first to get the whole picture. Start reading with Poetry scam(s), Part I.)

New developments in the poetry scam with Noble House Publishers...
I was so sure that the information that Noble House Publishers put in their e-mail was coming from poetry.com, so I tried to reach ILP on the phone.
Not only did I want to know how the hell NHP could've got to my information, but also because I wanted to get my poetry off the site of poetry.com. And since you can't do it from the site itself (smartasses there!), you have to get someone to do it for you!
I had already called them several times and was put on hold for ages each time. Tonight I tried again, determined to erase all my connections with ILP.
When you call, you get this man on the phone thanking you for calling them and if you have a three-digit-number for a straight line you can press it now or then dial two to be diverted to the customer's service. At first I took the two and waited for another ten minutes. Then I got the idea that I could just try at random a three-digit-number and see where I would end up.
So I dialed again, and pressed 3-6-8 after the guy told me to. That number was invalid. I dialed again and pressed 2-5-8. That was also invalid. I dialed again and pressed 1-4-9. I got an answering machine, telling me that the person was not at her desk, but I could leave a message after the beep.
Progress!!
I left my phonenumber and told them to call me back.
Then I thought: "Hey, what the heck! I'll just keep on trying until I get someone on the phone."
I called again and pressed 1-0-1. The answering machine. Called again and pressed 1-0-2. Again the answering machine.
Yes, this has been an Expensive evening, Expensive with a capital E. I wonder if I can claim my money from ILP *grins*
At 1-0-5 I actually got a guy on the phone. I stated my name and asked him if he knew anything about Noble House Publishers. He told me he didn-t know anyone by that name and asked me if he could put me through to customer's service.
I told him only if I didn't have to wait for 30 minutes like the last 20 times I tried. Then he advised me to call again at the end of the week, since they had been out of personnel due to illnesses. He told me friendly goodbye and hung up.
I wasn't so easily caught and started the process again. Got the answering machine at 1-0-6 to 1-1-4 and at 1-1-5 I got another guy on the phone. This was actually a really nice and helpful person and I asked him the same question.
"Are you familiar with Noble House Publishers?"
That he was!
Well, good!
I asked him what their relation was to NHP and he told me that they had some kind of co-operation to give poets the chance to publish also in different countries and in a different form. Here he probably refered to instead of with 6-14 poems on a page you get a whole page for your own poem.
I asked him if this meant that they shared their privacy policy with NHP, to which he said without any hesitation: "Yes, definitely."
So this clears up beyond any doubt whether NHP is a scam or not (and it clears up where the Noble House Publishers got their 12 years of experience and over 1,800 poets in the publishing business).
And then I told the guy that I had one more request still, which was to erase my information from the ILP database, including all the poetry that I had submitted to the site.
The guy was really kind and helpful, didn't even ask why I would want to be removed from their site. He just took my name, searched it from the database and told me that I wouldn't receive any e-mails anymore from them and that my account would be removed from the site within 24 hours.
That ofcourse I am going to check still, but it sounds good.
It almost looks like it went tooooo smooth.

So here's an advice to all you people out there: if you want to get in touch with ILP and don't feel like being put on hold, just randomly pick a three-digit-number after you called the ILP phone number and tell them! And don't let them shove you to customer's service!

And you are very welcome to comment on this!

TO BE CONTINUED! (I still have my Pietje Puk account running with the poem "Poor Victims" running for the semi-finals of the poetry contest).
Continue with Poetry scam(s), Part V.