Dun & Bradstreet

[integrity]

OK, I think they have me hooked on an endless subscription, and everything costs money and more money. What am I doing on this ride? What do I need DNB for anyways, and what can they do for me? I think I got a DUNS number under the ruse that I would be doing some government contracts, and now they want to clean up my business credit profile. Any body else really into this roller coaster, and what have you learned from it?

Quizedly,
Dave

[signman]

Your Dun & Bradstreet 'listing' is FREE....you do not pay for it. All the D&B listings does is give other companies (that PAY for the info) an idea of what your credit rating is, years in business, etc.
So DO NOT PAY FOR ANYTHING...you don't have to!
The other 'services' D&B offers if you don't want them-don't pay for them!
I"ve been D&B listed for almost 35 years...and have never paid them a dime.
You know all the ads on tv about 'your credit score' and how you can check it to see what your number is? D&B is the same thing for businesses.
It's the company's (your suppliers) that pay to get the list.
So stop paying for it and refuse to sign up for anything else!
Once a year someone from D&B will call you to UPDATE your information...again, this is free!
But do not give out PERSONAL information-social security, your tax ID number-etc. because that means the call is a scam. If the real D&B calls-they HAVE the information and just need to make sure you are still in business, did you buy the building or lease, etc.

[Wishes]

Just a note about the same type of issue. Dun & Bradstreet is a real group and signman is right that you don't have to pay for it. You might get a call from a group that claims they can get you business with government groups. Federal, state, city, etc. They publish a list that they supposely send to purchasing agents. They will give you addresses of these people in your areas and charge you a fee to be on the list. They are building a cd and you can find you company on their webist. They tell you they are doing this becasue of a law passed by Congress to help women, minorities, ex service people, economically disadvantages groups. Congress did pass this law that requires federal departments to do a percentage of business with these groups. Problem it is against the law for purchasing agents to use their directory. The group is called The Government Set-Aside Directory. If you call that name up you will get several sites but don't buy into them. We did for $500. Wrote to all the agencies and with the cost of postages about $200 more. Pleases don't waste your money. I called a few purchasing agents and they didn't know anything about a directory.
Margaret