5618190877

I received a phone call from this company saying they represented the "Best of South Florida" show and would be featuring Florida businesses in conjunction with the Kevin & Virginia morning show on WFLX.  I couldn't find anything on the WFLX or Kevin & Virginia radio station web site.  Nor did I receive any information when I called the radio station 95.5  So after googling the number, I found the following:

Scam Artists posing as journalists: Crown Entertainment/Discover Entertainment

Pardon the brief digression from my usual material, but I felt compelled to post this information so that my colleagues, friends and others may benefit from our experiences with these kinds of unethical selling practices and not waste valuable time, effort and energy.  I submitted this complaint to the Better Business Bureau after we were lied to by video production company selling advertising space, but portraying themselves as an editorial 'news-entertainment' program:

On 12/15/2008 our offices were contacted by Jason Kusell 561-819-0877 by phone, who identified himself as working for a tv show entitled "Best of South Florida" to my staff, posing as a journalist looking for an interivew.  He requested time for a phone interview with Dr. Bauman under the premise that our medical practice had been one of several businesses 'selected' to potentially be featured on the local "Best of South Florida" television show.

Having been featured on news programs, we are often contacted by journalsists seeking interviews. However, after making the initial appointment, a staff member called Jason back to confirm that this was NOT a solicitation and that NO FEES were requred to be involved with the program.  Jason assured my staff member that there would absolutely be NO FEE to be involved.

At the time of the "interview" which lasted approximately 20 minutes and included a variety of legitimate questions regarding our practice, Jason then informed us that there would be an 'affiliate fee' in order to participate and be featured.   Obvioulsy, these kinds of sales tactics are deceptive, devious, and, frankly, a waste of our time as a small business.  I am appalled that Jason would flat out lie on behalf of "Best of...", (or www.bestof-tv.com) which after further research, is actually Crown Entertainment (www.crown-tv.com) AKA/DBA Discover Entertainment Group located on 4723 W Atlantic Ave #A20, Delray Beach, FL 33445 561-819-0877, and use misleading tactics to sell advertising space on the "television show."   On behalf of other small businesses that may fall prey to these unethical, time-wasting salespeople and scam artists, like Jason Kusell and the company he works for, we submit this complaint to the Better Business Bureau on 12/17/2008.    

Posted by Dr. Alan J. Bauman on December 17, 2008 at 01:40 PM

Thanks for the heads up. I got the same type of call from "brent stein" at the same number.  I was suspect so am here checking them out.  Glad to know my intuition was correct.  He said they were targeting mental health and drug rehab agencies to promote.

Same here. I've had these calls in the past, so I too looked up the number and wow what do you know, it's a scam. They lead you on waste your time and then oh, by the way there's a $20,000 fee to produce the segment.

I received a call from "Sal Mondello" who claimed to be a producer for a show called "Worlds Greatest". They wanted to do a show on oyster farming and while there were no fees for the taping or production they had a $9000 syndication fee....   Well I have done lots of press and video segments and had never heard of such a thing and had never heard of the show. Sal got upity when I suggested that this was absurd and that I had never heard of his show. Googling the number led me here..
Bust the SCAMMERS!

I got a call a couple days ago from someone named Ashley.  She said that they had a $9000 affiliation fee for being part of the "world's greatest" show.  I talked to a friend who works with production companies and said that he has NEVER heard of the production company charging people to be part of their show.  Frustrating because I spent 20 minutes on the phone before she mentioned the $9000 fee.

I got the call from Robert Bacarri, but it was from another extension 561-819-0869.  I was just trying to find out where he was calling from and Googled the number and found this site.  I knew it sounded too good to be true - "The World's Greatest Membrane Switch Company" - yeah right!  My suspicion deepened when I could not find a web site for either the production company (Discover Entertainment) or the TV Show (The World's Greatest).  Thanks for sharing your experience and saving us from a lot of wasted time and effort.

Robert Bacarri has called our business several times, I asked the first time do not call!!  He's persisted.  Today I am contacting the State of Florida and the cities District Attorney and filing a formal legal complaint.  Why are these "piranhas" still in business?  They've pissed off the wrong business owner, their going down!

I just received a message to call back a Melissa from "world's greatest" the message was that we had the world's greatest wrapping paper and she wanted to film us.  Her call back number was 561-819-0869.  Being a skeptic I went to Google.  These same guys (using a different name) from Florida called me this spring and wasted 1/2 hour of my time massaging my ego before dropping the $6000 bomb.  No thank you.  Hang up on them.  Tell them to get a real job.  Don't waste your time.

My name is Kyle Freeman. I am the production manager for the company that produces the long-running national television series, "World's Greatest!...", as well as the local (West Palm Beach) series "Best of South Florida" (Crown Point Productions). I would like to clear up a few things about this thread, because it's clear that none of the people who have contributed to it thus far have ever done business with us, been on our show, or even seen our show, yet somehow feel that because someone wanted to conduct a phone interview with them to see if they were qualified, they have been wronged.

The originator of this thread, Dr. Alan J. Bauman, originally made this post on his blog last year. We were made aware of it and immediately had our legal counsel contact Dr. Bauman and informed him that he could either take the post off of his blog or be prepared to meet us in court, as his claims were patently false and damaging to the reputation of our business and our show. Dr. Bauman immediately complied, since he clearly knew that he was wrong and was scared to back his claims up in court. It now appears that he had an associate post the same thread on this blog in the hopes that he could continue to damage our business and reputation. As a company, it is our duty and obligation to fight this sort of slander legally, and you may rest assured that we will do so.

In the mean time, I think it is important to note a few things:

-Our national show ("World's Greatest!...") has been airing on ION for close to 4 years. In that time, we have featured literally HUNDREDS of companies, including Anheuser Busch, Owens Corning, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Land's End, Autotrader.com, Cape Cod Potato Chips, Hyatt, Lenox China, McIntosh Labs, Olhausen Billiards, Spalding, Plantronics, etc.

-You can catch our show once per month (airing a minimum of 3 times) nationally on the ION network, which is carried by 85% of the country. Each month we feature 6-7 of the world's greatest companies in a variety of industries (no two companies in the same industry per episode).

-In order to select a line-up for a show like "World's Greatest!...", we have to do a lot of research. One of the last phases in that research process is a phone interview with prospective companies in which we evaluate their company history, reputation, size, logisitics, etc. If you hear from one of our associate producers, you should consider it a testament to your web presence, business acumen, or overall reputation.

-A phone call from us DOES NOT constitute an offer to be on our show. On average, we conduct approximately 30 phone interviews PER CATEGORY (with a minimum of 6 categories featured per episode). As we narrow our list from (on average) 30 companies to a manageable number (i.e. 3 or 4) to choose from, we find that some comapnies do not have compelling visuals, some companies have schedules that will not allow us access to film in time to make the episode, some companies have on-camera spokespersons that are unacceptable (to be kind), some companies have pending litigation that makes us uncomfortable naming them "World's Greatest!...", etc.

-We charge an affiliation fee for the companies that we select to be on our show. Because each segment on our show is "industry exclusive" (i.e. that company is the ONLY company in its industry to be featured on that episode), and because the line-ups and production for our show are set months in advance prior to airing, it offers us very little flexibility when it comes to "changing horses in midstream". If we put two months of scripting, story-boarding, logistics work, travel and lodging for our camera crews, etc. into a segment only to find out that the company we showed up to film is too busy to accomodate us that day, we are put in a very bad position (as are all of the other companies who are being featured on that episode, since it will experience production delays). Therefore, we make sure the the selected company has "skin in the game" in the form of a small financial committment, as that has always proven to be the best motivator for getting quality work done on schedule. As always, we pay for the production and air time of all of our shows and only ask our featured companies to offer us a "firm handshake" in the form of a very small affiliation fee by industry standards. This also serves to weed out "small fries" and "mom and pop" companies that are not on secure financial footing. To offset this, we offer our featured companies the rights to all footage we shoot at their location, the rights to the final segment that we air for promotional purposes, and the right to market themselves as the "World's Greatest!..." in their industry, all of which far exceeds any affiliation fee from a value perspective.

-I note that not one single person who has participated on this blog so far has ever been selected for our show. In essence, it appears to be a few people who don't like our interview process. That doesn't surprise me (people who don't get picked for a show often feel the need to justify themselves by "trashing" the show). If they had, perhaps they would be among the hundreds of happy companies who HAVE been featured and had a great experience in working with Crown Point Productions. I invite you to visit our website at www.worldsgreatesttv.com for a partial list of those companies, examples of previous episodes, testimonials from past featured companies, etc. In other words, take the word of people who have ACTUALLY done business with us, rather than some anonymous blog posters who are clearly ignorant of the way that television actually works.

We also invite you to view our show. Check our website (or tvguide.com) and become a regular viewer.

********** Next episode of "World's Greatest!..." (on ION):

10-19 @ 7:30am EST/PST
10-20 @ 11:00am EST/PST
10-21 @ 6:00am EST/PST


**For information on your local listings, go to www.tvguide.com , click the "What's On TV" button, use the drop down menus to insert the appropriate date/time, and scroll down to ION.

A few weeks ago, we received a call from "Brent Stein" at 561-819-0877 and another guy "Josh" from "crown-tv" telling us we had been selected to appear on talk show to discuss the fitness and diet software our company develops.  For over an hour they told us how incredible our software is.  After wasting our time and repeatedly telling us this was "free" they asked for a $40,000 payment to "guaranteee sure we show up" for the show.  When one of my employees told them we were reporting this to Florida Attorney General, the guy lost control and threatened us.

Discover Entertainment Group, (Crown-tv and Crown Point Productions) is a scam.  I wanted to follow-up on my last post to say we received (and recorded) several calls from "Brent Stein" at 561-819-0877 telling us we had been selected to appear on a talk show.  After researching it, we found out the talk show was real, but they have no affiliation with these guys. Brent Stein asked us for $40,000.  We actually recorded the incoming calls and have him on tape.  Even if the recording is not admissible in court, we hope it will help stop this con-artist.

As an FYI, Brent Stein has not worked at Crown Point Productions since March of 2009.

We have no "talk show".

We never have.

We have never asked for, nor have we received, $40,000 from ANYONE, for ANYTHING.

If Brent Stein has contacted your for anything since March of 2009, it would have nothing to do with Crown Point Productions.

You can call me at any time to discuss (561-819-0877). I certainly wish you would, rather than making up anonymous lies about our company.

Or, you can turn on your television and watch our show (which is not a "talk show" and we have never charged ANYONE $40,000 to be on it):

********** Next episode of "World's Greatest!..." (on ION):

10-19 @ 7:30am EST/PST
10-20 @ 11:00am EST/PST
10-21 @ 6:00am EST/PST

**For information on your local listings, go to www.tvguide.com , click the "What's On TV" button, use the drop down menus to insert the appropriate date/time, and scroll down to ION.

Kyle Freeman
P: 561-819-0877

i was contacted by joe at crown point last week and googled and found this site. I set my dvr and recorded the shows in mr. freemans post. the shows aired when he said they would so i called him and asked for a reference from my industry. he gave me a company to talk to and i ended up knowing the guy i talked to. he is a customer of mine. he had good things to say about crown point. we dont have the budget for tv this year and i dont know enough about it to say if this is a good deal or not but based on my homework the show appears to be real.

I too got a call from "Melissa" with "Discover Entertainment Group" and I immediately caught on when she didn't sound professional, didn't provide info about her company, and when she gave me a wrong call back number. I started recording the conversation and I've turned it over for investigation.

What a surprise. Another lie posted anonymously.

Since you have no credibility, I will once again offer anyone reading this the chance to turn on their television and watch our show and judge for themselves.

********** Next episode of "World's Greatest!..." (on ION):

11-9 @ 7:00am EST/PST
11-10 @ 11:00am EST/PST
11-11 @ 6:30am EST/PST

**For information on your local listings, go to www.tvguide.com , click the "What's On TV" button, use the drop down menus to insert the appropriate date/time, and scroll down to ION.

And, as always you are more than welcome to call us with any questions or comments.

Kyle Freeman
P: 561-819-0877

We received a call from 561-819-0889 today - claiming to be with Discovery Entertainment & the ION TV Network.  

Jerry Duckowitz
Associate Producer
P: 561-819-0869
F: 561-819-0879
www.worldsgreatesttv.com
www.herdomaintv.com
www.bestof-tv.com
www.crown-tv.com

Jerry also emailed a full contract and explained that if we were "chosen"  they require a $9,000 "Affiliation Fee" from us.

Cindy Thompson