The wise Maine consumer always remembers that old adage: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” This certainly seems to be the case with the smooth-talking John W. Scherer, the confident and self-described “Video Professor” hawking his computer educational CD-ROMs on American television sets nonstop, 24 hours a day. He is the guru who can solve our computer concerns “free” with only a $6.95 shipping and handling charge. Sounds wonderful, but perhaps the consumer and Northeast CONTACT should examine this offer more closely.

When you go to your computer and Google Video Professor scams there will be hundreds of listings from very unhappy customers of this business. One site, infomercialscams.com has 28 separate complaints about this business. In brief, when you do call Video Professor, the first business of the company is to obtain your credit card information. Next you are directly solicited to subscribe to a number of magazine publications. Customers who protest are told this pitch is “mandatory.” When customers hang up midsolicitation, some are reporting their credit cards are billed anyway. There are many complaints about unordered tapes and CD-ROMs being received approximately monthly. The fine print in the material states you are “automatically” enrolled in a monthly lesson program. The cost for these monthly items is roughly $70-$80 per month plus shipping. These monthly programs can be a severe hardship to the disabled and elderly who may not have the resources to fight back effectively when their credit cards are routinely raided by unauthorized charges.

Amazon.com, the established and respected Internet vendor, lists the Video Professor starter kit CD-ROMS on its Web site. There are three customers who have written reviews of this product. All three report nothing positive to say about this product and the reviews include words such as “scam, awful, avoid, and shocked.” Many complaints here are related to unauthorized billing on customer credit cards.

Another complaint is that the 10 days customers have to examine items free of charge begins on the date it is mailed, not the date it is received. Some customers, therefore, have three or fewer days to decide whether or not they wish to keep the product. With your credit card information already on file, you are at the mercy of their billing department. Complaints to the customers’ credit card companies to stop these unauthorized charges meet with mixed results. Many credit card companies state they can only help after the materials are returned to the company and they can only offer assistance on charges actually made rather than those that are anticipated.

Adding insult to injury, the quality of the information sold by this company is reported to be poor and not particularly helpful. Northeast CONTACT recommends that Video Professor customers not satisfied with the products, services or billing practices contact the Federal Trade Commission, the Maine Attorney General’s Office or Northeast CONTACT through their Web sites. Potential Video Professor customers would do well to remember the old Latin expression “caveat emptor” (let the buyer beware).

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast CONTACT for Better Business, Inc., Maine’s membership-funded, nonprofit organization. An individual annual membership is $25; business memberships start at $125. For consumer help and information write: Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.