Unauthorized charges scam from Great Fun and Shoppers Advantage
Complaint
Jason A
Country: United States
I received a phone call after purchasing tickets for an upcoming concert. The guy on the line said that they had an offer for me and that they would like to transfer me to a certain company in order to tell me the offer and the details. I agreed, they already knew my address and the last four digits on my credit card. I agreed to the charges, stupid, and accepted the $100 dollars in gas vouchers for 1 dollar subscription fee followed by a monthly subscription charge after the first month. I told them the remaining information of my card. They also offered, in addition to the $100 vouchers, a separate website Great Fun and Shoppers advantage. VISA credit card vouchers for an additional $1. Again I agreed. Afterwards, I immediately felt regret and called my credit card company to get my card cancelled and change my credit card number. I did some research and saw that these companies did not follow through on their offers of the visa credit card offers or the gas vouchers as I never received them.
However.... even after I had changed my credit card number, somehow Great fun and Shoppers advantage still managed to get my new credit card information. They charged my account as they had promised to do after one month with the standard membership fee. Which for me was $19.99 for great fun and $21.95 for shoppers advantage. I called my credit card company and filed a dispute for the charges. I sensed that this would take time. So I contacted Great Fun, they knew it was me calling because my cell number was attached to my account. They tried to convince me to take advantage of the website for the remaining time. I said NO. Then he told me that since the charge had gone through that I could not get a refund. I simply replied to them, I am not interested, I have a dispute with my credit card company filed and I am going to receive a refund either way. The guy immediately changed his response and told me he could authorize the refund. He told me my cancellation number, and I got my account number .... for the first time.
Next, on to shoppers advantage.... they blocked my cell number which was attached to my account so I called from my home phone number. I cannot be 100% sure that they actually blocked my cell, however, I did call 5 times from my cell and it hung up after the intro message. So I decided to try my home phone. which allowed me to contact a customer service agent... deduction. I went through the exact same song and dance with the second agent, getting the same sort of response followed by an acceptance of a refund and cancellation of my account.
I just did this roughly 30 min ago and both customer service agents said 3 - 7 business days on a refund. I am aware that I made a mistake in trusting this company I just hope it gets resolved soon. Based on the stories I have seen online, they probably had all my information anyway. Anyway, I hope this helps someone deal with these companies and or avoid these issues. Good luck!
However.... even after I had changed my credit card number, somehow Great fun and Shoppers advantage still managed to get my new credit card information. They charged my account as they had promised to do after one month with the standard membership fee. Which for me was $19.99 for great fun and $21.95 for shoppers advantage. I called my credit card company and filed a dispute for the charges. I sensed that this would take time. So I contacted Great Fun, they knew it was me calling because my cell number was attached to my account. They tried to convince me to take advantage of the website for the remaining time. I said NO. Then he told me that since the charge had gone through that I could not get a refund. I simply replied to them, I am not interested, I have a dispute with my credit card company filed and I am going to receive a refund either way. The guy immediately changed his response and told me he could authorize the refund. He told me my cancellation number, and I got my account number .... for the first time.
Next, on to shoppers advantage.... they blocked my cell number which was attached to my account so I called from my home phone number. I cannot be 100% sure that they actually blocked my cell, however, I did call 5 times from my cell and it hung up after the intro message. So I decided to try my home phone. which allowed me to contact a customer service agent... deduction. I went through the exact same song and dance with the second agent, getting the same sort of response followed by an acceptance of a refund and cancellation of my account.
I just did this roughly 30 min ago and both customer service agents said 3 - 7 business days on a refund. I am aware that I made a mistake in trusting this company I just hope it gets resolved soon. Based on the stories I have seen online, they probably had all my information anyway. Anyway, I hope this helps someone deal with these companies and or avoid these issues. Good luck!
Comments
Some sleazy merchant hands you off to these guys, complete with all of your account information, and all they have to do is record something that sounds like an authorization, and start taking your money.
Notice how they "doubled up". Once they con you, they might as well go for more, since when you catch on, that's all they are getting. Their problem is how to hang onto the money once they get it. They have to run out the 60 day dispute period, within which you can get the money back through a bank dispute, by delays or convincing you not to dispute until it's too late.
Your charge got transferred to your new card number even though your old card was blocked because cramming scams tag the charges as "recurring" so banks assume they were agreed to monthly charges and they roll them over to replacement card numbers as a "convenience" to avoid shutting down automatic charges. Dispute the new charge again through your bank and block it again. The roll over should only happen for a month or two, after which the old card number should no longer work for submitting charges. Regardless, watch your statements closely, since the whole "business" is built on slipping through charges that people don't notice.
They will continue to put barriers in the way of any attempt to cancel or get your money back, because that is the business they are in, taking money as long as they can. Notice how they defeated your attempts to contact them to cancel through your cell phone. ANYTHING that interferes with you getting your money back and runs out time on the 60 day dispute period works to their advantage, so they will throw one tactic after another at you toward that goal.
They told you you couldn't get a refund right up until you told them you had filed a dispute. Up to that point, they thought they could convince you to let them keep the money. Once they knew you had filed a dispute, the game changed, since they are better off giving you a refund than having your bank yank back the money and getting stuck with a chargeback fee. They might also just shine you on, try to wait you out and hope you don't notice the "refund" ever went through, trying to run out the 60 day FCBA CC dispute period.
In the future, NEVER respond to any solicitations made by phone. About the only thing that makes phone sales profitable is fraud, so most such calls are fraudulent. And avoid buying from the types of merchants likely to hand you off to fraudulent sharks. They typically advertise on TV, attempt to upsell you when you call to order, sell cheap overhyped stuff or overhyped "vitamins" or hair products, targetting lower class unsophisticated consumers, etc.