A company out of Ohio has been calling businesses in Genesee County selling ads on a map, and Chamber of Commerce officials are concerned that business owners are being left with the impression that the sales effort benefits the chamber.
Lynn Freeman, president of the Genesee County Chamber, sent an e-mail to chamber members yesterday alerting them to the potential confusion.
"I spoke with the company and asked them to desist in tying their promotion to the chamber," Freeman wrote. "Their response was 'We can't control what our customers conclude.'"
The Batavian called the company, Universal Advertising Associates, which is based in Cincinnati, for comment and we have not received a call back.
There is an official map produced for the local chamber by a Rochester-based company, Mapworks, Inc. A portion of the proceeds from ads sold on this full-color map, benefits the chamber.
In the final quarter of 2009, The Batavian was the official sales representative for Mapworks on the chamber map project.
While release of the map is later than expected, it is in production now.
Freeman asks that any time a local business receives a solicitation from a third-party that purports to represent the chamber, business owners contact the chamber office to verify the affiliation.
