Unauthorized Charges
Complaint
Jessica Plant
Country: United States
Beginning in June of this year I started getting $24.95 charges taken out of my account monthly. I cancelled this "account" on the 30th of July and received one last charge of $24.95 on the 4th of August. No doubt one last attempt to sqeeze money out of me. I called the 669-6975 number provided on my statement and was told everything from "It was meant to be a refund, not a withdrawal" to "we're trying to stop the charge, but you're bank wont let us". Finally after filing a claim with my bank and getting that payment stopped, I called the number provided by chiefslawyer and was told to expect a refund for the other two charges.
I'm happy to get my money back, but the question remains: How is this company getting my information to charge me? Is Value Plus an attached membership of some other account I established online or is my banking information getting hacked? Has anyone come up with any answers to these questions?
I'm happy to get my money back, but the question remains: How is this company getting my information to charge me? Is Value Plus an attached membership of some other account I established online or is my banking information getting hacked? Has anyone come up with any answers to these questions?
Comments
If you never agreed to the charges, all of them are fraudulent.
Immediately contact your bank to report and dispute fraudulent charges, so that you can establish that you have disputed within the FRB Reg. E dispute window, which runs 60 days from the statement date of the statement showing a charge. Your bank can reverse disputed charges, but only if you dispute them promptly.
You must also close your account due to fraud, or you will get socked with additinoal fraudulent charges until they no longer have a valid accoutn number. Your bank should have told you all this when you first notified them.
Follow up with a WRITTEN fraud dispute, mailed certified, sent to your bank's dispute address from your statement, to document your dispute. File a police complaint for the theft, and send your bank a notarized fraud affidavit and a copy of the police report.
"I called the 669-6975 number provided on my statement and was told everything from "It was meant to be a refund, not a withdrawal" to "we're trying to stop the charge, but you're bank wont let us". "
They have lots of excuses because they get lots of calls like yours. Probably most of their "customer service" is in dealing with demands for refunds. Testemony at Senate Commerce Committee hearings on these scams found that over 90% of their calls were dealing with cancellation and refund demands.
"I'm happy to get my money back"
Doesn't sound like you have actually got any money back yet.
If you have problems getting your money back, contact your state Attorney General for assistance, and include in your complaint that they promised a full refund but are stalling.
They typically get consumer account information from other merchants you might have used, often through deceptive "discount" pop-ups, or deceptive "free trial" offers in phone order scripts. If you demanded that they tell you who passed your account information, they would probably tell you something like "you agreed to it but must have forgotten", or "we get your agreement and information from various companies but we don't know which one in this case". All just deceptive talk-offs to hide their "marketing partners".
The New York Attorney General is investigating these scam companies and their marketing partners for consumer fraud.
These crooks need to state that "it will be recurring" up front..... May be tough to get them to pay $75 for the three months my bank won't cover. BOA coves only the first 60 days of suspected fraud charges.... Will continue to fight, but may be more costly.
How can i cancel that?
When I asked how they got my information, they said an internet purchase. When asked which purchase, they were unable to tell me.
Then, looking back on my bank statement from the month prior, I noticed a $1.95 charge from the same MN 800# co. I called them again and insisted that my money, as little as it was, be refunded.
On 16 April my account was credited $1.95. On 16, 17 & 18 April, my credit card was abused with over 20 internet purchases, in the US and in Europe, for a total of $641.00.
BEWARE ! ! ! !
I also have been charged $24.95 a month. Sadly, this went on for 7 months before I noticed it.
My bank has disputed the last two payments and I'm told that if I go to my local branch, I may be able to get back the rest. We'll see.
I don't believe I reentered my credit card information on that "pop up" site. So, it's scary that they were able to get that information based on information from the LEGIT site.
When you purchase software online from SWREG.org you may see an ads telling that you can get $15 cash back on the purchase. DO NOT click the ads or you'll probably be charged with $1.95 the first month and $24.95 monthly afterwards as DRI*VALUE PLUS service.
If you have already been charged please call your credit card bank to dispute as soon as possible.