Here are some great resources for checking a company out before you decide to deal with them.

•The Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/
•Web Assured ("Watch List" to see complaints on companies) http://www.webassured.com/
•The Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Response Center http://www.ftc.gov/
•Scambusters - newsletter you can join too http://www.scambusters.com/
•The National Fraud Information Center http://www.fraud.org/

To investigate a business:
#1 do a search at http://www.bbb.org
#2 get their internet reg. info
http://www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois
#3 go to Google http://www.google.com
and search using their business name
and the word scam or rip off with it
and see what comes up
#4 go to www.ripoffreport.com