Misleading trial membership
Complaint
Denise Martin
Country: United States
I ordered 4 posters at $2 each. Within 5 days I received 4 additional shipments and was charged $39.80 each. The 'company' has a policy of not accepting returns. You can cancel anytime, but still are obligated to the initial outrageous charges. My credit card company tried to help me retrieve my payments, but was not successful. Beware.
Comments
They obtain consumer account information through their teaser offers, then pile on shipments and charges as fast as they can.
Here is their BBB report:
http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business-reviews/p ... ton-il-36000239
Notice the high number of complaints, and in particular, the categories they are occurring under: Advertising misrepresentations, bait and switch, unauthorized debit and credit card charges, failure to correct billing errors, invalid or false contract, unauthorized changes to contract, failure to honor promised refunds, sales presentation did not disclose complete pricing information, sales presentation used dishonest sales practices, and on, and on, and on...
They are getting numerous BBB complaints of deceptive business practices, yet they choose not to change. Most of their complaints are in the last year, which shows that their practices in prior years were similar, but they are ramping up their level of business, continuing the same practices.
"Customer Complaint History for Peel, Inc.
When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.
BBB processed a total of 1382 complaints about Peel, Inc. in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total of 1382 complaints closed in 36 months, 988 were closed in the last year.
These complaints concerned :
16 regarding Issue Not Defined
94 regarding Advertising Issues
6 - Advertised price not honored
1 - Advertised service not available
3 - Advertised terms not honored
28 - Advertisement did not disclose all conditions required to take advantage of an offer
2 - Advertisement misrepresented a product
8 - Advertisement misrepresented a service
12 - Bait & switch advertisement
3 - False or unsubstantiated claims in advertisement
31 - None of the Above - Advertising Complaint Issue
493 regarding Billing or Collection Issues
19 - Failure to correct billing errors
1 - Failure to provide itemized billing as requested
2 - Failure to substantiate charges
21 - Improper collection practices
112 - None of the Above - Credit, Billing or Collection Complaint Issue
100 - Unauthorized bank debits
238 - Unauthorized credit card charges
22 regarding Contract Issues
1 - Failure to honor a contract or agreement
6 - Invalid or false contract
9 - None of the Above - Contract Complaint Issue
6 - Unauthorized changes to the contract or agreement
19 regarding Customer Service Issues
3 - Failure to provide promised assistance or support for products or services
3 - Failure to respond to phone calls or written requests for assistance or support
13 - None of the Above - Customer Service Complaint Issue
14 regarding Delivery Issues
3 - Delivery of unordered products
6 - Non-delivery of products
5 - None of the Above - Delivery Complaint Issue
2 regarding Guarantee or Warranty Issues
2 - Failure to honor money-back guarantees
4 regarding Product Issues
1 - Defective, damaged, or incorrect product received
3 - None of the Above - Product Quality Complaint Issue
489 regarding Refund or Exchange Issues
268 - Failure to honor promised refunds, exchanges, or credit
72 - Failure to honor refund, exchange or credit policies
149 - None of the Above - Refund or Exchange Complaint Issue
220 regarding Sales Practice Issues
59 - None of the Above - Sales Complaint Issue
46 - Sales presentation did not disclose complete pricing information
24 - Sales presentation did not disclose key conditions of the offer
2 - Sales presentation misrepresented the product
10 - Sales presentation misrepresented the service
8 - Sales presentation not consistent with advertisement
7 - Sales presentation not consistent with the written agreement
64 - Sales presentation used dishonest sales practices
9 regarding Service Issues
5 - None of the Above - Service Complaint Issue
4 - Unauthorized service
These complaints were closed as:
1337 Resolved
658 - Company resolved the complaint issues. The consumer acknowledged acceptance to BBB.
679 - Company addressed the complaint issues. The consumer failed to acknowledge acceptance to BBB.
45 Administratively Closed
..."
They also run a similar scam as "SeattleCoffeeDirect", for which you can also find numerous complaints similar to yours.
Your credit card company didn't try hard enough. They can reverse fraudulent charges that you dispute within 60 days of the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charges, under FCBA. Also close and block that card number to prevent additional future fraudulent charges. It is not enough to try to block just this company's charges, since this type of scam may submit additional fraudulent charges under different hames.
Send a written dispute to your credit card company, disputing the unordered merchandise charges as fraudulent. Block that card number, and watch following statements to make sure fraudulent charges aren't rolled over to your new card number. This can happen for a couple months after changing card numbers due to fraud, particularly when the merchant has set up the charges as repeated automatic charges, as is likely with this sort of scam.
Also file mail fraud complaints with the US Postal Inspector, and file a fraud complaint with FTC, your state AG, and the Illinois Attorney General, since they are located in Illinois.
The BBB report indicates they appear to have caved in about half or more of disputes submitted to BBB. Complaints to AGs should reach a quick resolution.
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2010_02/20100217b.html
If you lost money due to unauthorized charges, file a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General, but still make sure you dispute any charges through your bank immediately, since if the company turns out to be insolvent, bank disputes within 60 days may still push the loss back on this company's payment processor and retrieve your money.