I'm a lowly employee and I think I got my business scammed! Is a verbal contract in this case binding?

I got a call at work a few weeks ago. It was a hugely busy time of the month. This guy whose accent I can barely understand starts talking to me about yellow pages, asking me to confirm our address and phone number. I'm used to this call, so I just say yes and yes and get ready to hang up. Then he tells me he's transferring me to shipping. Then I'm asked if I'm authorized to make the purchase. I say I don't think so, that they should call back when my boss is in. They start hassling me, I say I'm really busy and that I can't do this right now. They call back again a few days later. Again, I say I don't think I can. They say that my boss is already a client of theirs and that all I'm doing is saying an invoice can be sent and that nothing will be charged. I say fine, whatever, and then they put me on record (this is obviously where the trouble starts) and ask me if I'm authorized to ask for an invoice or something.





Okay, I guess I'll have to continue this in an answer post... :DI'm a lowly employee and I think I got my business scammed! Is a verbal contract in this case binding?
It is a scam, it's been around for years, and don't worry. The way the scam works is that they confirm info and get a name, then send a bill. All your company has to do is send the bill back saying that your company doesn't pay invoices without a valid purchase order number, then keep a copy of the bill and send it to the BBB.I'm a lowly employee and I think I got my business scammed! Is a verbal contract in this case binding?
Okay, this is the OP, apparently I'm so long winded I ran out of space....





So, I'm asked if I'm authorized, and since I was told nothing was being charged or purchased, I just said yes.





So today, I open up a piece of mail addressed to me from this place. This is the first thing that really alerts me to something not being right. Someone, I'm not sure if it's me or the company, is being charged for nearly $500. I call, ask some questions, tell them I was told I was told nothing was being purchased, and they give me the whole ';Recorded your conversation, legal binding'; spiel.





So, I know that, legally, verbal contracts are binding and all, but in this case, it wouldn't stand up in court, right? My boss is out of town for the weekend, so when she comes back on Monday I want to give her some assurance that I know what I'm talking about when I confess that I frakked up, and assure her that I know what's up and that we aren't completely screwed. I think knowing something and being able to say something assuring about it is the only thing that's going to keep me from bursting into tears when I tell her what happened.
Do as already mentioned about returning the invoice saying a valid PO is needed.





In the future, you should be more skeptical of any calls received at work. Don't answer their questions. Luckily, where I work, my boss set up an extension for a fake employee. Any time we get a telemarketer asking for whoever is in charge of (whatever it is they're trying to sell), we just tell them it is Mortimer and transfer the call to the extension. When we're bored, we listen to the messages they leave. It's entertaining. The fake employee actually gets mail once in a while and maybe once a year, someone will come to the office looking for him.