Paula, I'll actually cut you a bit of slack since you are new to the forum and its ebb and flow. Yet I do have to still mention that although you stated your reasons as to why you feel a certain way towards EPMS, your reasoning to post a thread entitled "EPMS ripoff, beware" just doesn't make any sense in justifying those reasons. Here is why:
1. You mention that you didn't want to be noted as an obvious shopper with the shirt & camera, so you box it up and return it to EPMS. Did you contact Robert A. for any possible instruction as to not make it obvious? Was this the primary issue, or was it just in the design of the shirt itself? As much as I would love to wear a Versace shirt, its just not in any MSC's best interests to send to a shopper when you can keep costs down in getting the Walmart special that would be under $20.
2. You mentioned that you have a problem with the ethics of taping someone without their knowledge. This brings up the most obvious questions of WHY ASK FOR THE VIDEO EQUIPMENT IN THE FIRST PLACE????? If your friend the attorney is any friend that will give you insight on law & ethics without charge, he/she will inform you that there are one and two-party consent laws in the United States, with each state having their own definition on how you can record someone with covert equipment. This knowledge has been stated in many threads within this forum, yet you can also reference this by using the subject matter of "One and Two-Party Consent Laws in the United States."
3. The title post. As aforementioned, I really don't see what EPMS did to deserve to be called a rip-off. Did you not read the guidelines about the equipment rental? I am pretty certain that it did mention the fact of having your IC agreement terminated due to non-completion, non-return of the equipment, etc. The guidelines also stated to stay in touch with your scheduler, via phone calls or emails.
Believe it or not, I do empathize with your situation, yet I also think that going as far as to call a company a rip-off when the reasons in calling it so aren't necessarily justified is going a bit too far. While you may think that I'm being judgmental (I'm really not), I am being curious as to your reasoning, since its difficult to make any correlation as to if EPMS was truly in the wrong for terminating your profile due to your stated reasons. I'm sorry, but I just can't make the distinction with your reasoning.