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I'm ashamed to admit it. But I was scammed by a man selling steak from the back of a truck. I was heading out to the grocery store, and a guy outside my building was standing by a freezer truck emblazoned with the words "Direct USA Foods." He told me he was in the neighborhood from way across town to make a delivery, but the recipients hadn't shown up. He asked me to help him out. He had to sell the meat before going home, and he would give me a deal.

I was immediately skeptical but for some reason, I didn't walk away. Con artists play on your greed, and perhaps I was smelling a deal. He offered six huge boxes full of steaks for $150. He showed me a shiny brochure proving they normally go for more than $300. Now, I'm no rube, and I started grilling him. "How do I know the steak is OK? What if there is a problem?"

He wrote his cell number on the brochure and told me he would take them back if there was any issue. I probably would not have fallen for the scam, but a neighbor of mine, Mikey, came out and said, "Oh, yeah. I think I have had these steaks before. They were pretty good." 

"I can't buy meat from the back of a truck," I said. But Mikey told me, "This is L.A. A lot of good food comes from the back of a truck."

Now, you have to realize that I'm normally a Whole Foods shopper who frequents farmers markets and buys her meat organic. I'm also a yogi who is guilty (sort of) about her meat consumption. So I don't know what I was thinking. Temporary insanity, I suppose, but I bought the damned meat. As soon as I got upstairs, my husband looked at me and said, "What did you do? Are you crazy?"

He Googled the name of the company, and the first thing that came up was Ripoffreport.com. Then he found a news story from Chicago called, "Frozen Rotten." Apparently, the company has sold a lot of people bad meat in places where it's not licensed to sell food at all. My heart sunk. I am such a fool, I thought. Maybe this is the universe's way of telling me to go vegan. I whipped out the brochure and dialed the cell number the salesman gave. Some woman answered. It was a wrong number. I called the company number printed on the brochure. No answer.

By now, I was pissed. I read the fine print on the brochure, and it said you could only get your money back if you dropped off the packaged meat at one of their official locations in the same condition you bought it within three days. But no such location was listed on the brochure. You also had to send a letter to the company headquarters in Florida within three days requesting a refund. There was no way to get them a letter, get their approval and return it to some undisclosed location within three days when I couldn't even reach anyone on the phone to find out where to go.

I had obviously been had. Instead of sulking, I figured I had about 20 minutes before this guy cashed my check. I immediately got online and stopped payment. Luckily, the loss was merely a $20 fee rather than the $150. (I'd much rather the bank get my money than these con artists.) I kept the boxes of meat in my freezer for three weeks waiting to see if they would call about the aborted check. Finally, I tossed the meat.

A week later, one month after the original sale--they must have radar sensing when you have trashed the product--I got a harassing call from a woman at headquarters demanding payment. Fat chance. Without flinching, I lit into her about their deceptive practices. She said she wasn't responsible for her independent sales contractor lying to me. "What he does is his business," she said.

After 20 minutes of heated discussion, I hung up and called the LA Health Department and learned it was, in fact, an illegal sale. The company is not licensed to sell food in LA. In response to my complaint, the Health Department attempted to call the company in for a hearing, but the letter was returned to sender. I also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and learned they have an unsatisfactory rating with 47 complaints against them. They never responded to the BBB, either. Finally, I filed a complaint with a regulatory agency in the company's home state.

I haven't heard back from the company since then. But apparently Direct USA Foods still operates in multiple states across the U.S. So whatever you do, don't buy their meat. This company stinks.