Unauthorized "membership" charge
Complaint
Ike Hatchimonji
Country: United States
September 25, 2010, my MC was charged $24.95 without my knowledge or authorization. I called SEM budget Savers and complained. I was told I would be credited. Let's see if they do.
Comments
You can dispute charges to your credit card under FCBA, the Fair Credit Billing Act, a federal law.
Send a written dispute to your bank's dispute address, disputing the charges as fraudulent, since you did not authorize them. In addition, contact your bank immediately to have your card blocked, as this is the only way to prevent additional fraudulent charges from a cramming scam.
Your bank can reverse charges if you dispute within 60 days of the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charges, under FCBA. Insist that your bank send you a fraud affidavit, and fill it out, sign it and send it back.
If you have any problems getting your bank to reverse the last 2 months of charges, or they refuse to even accept your dispute, file a complaint against your bank with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, at www.occ.gov
A letter from your Attorney General might get more charges refunded.
Also file a fraud complaint with the Attorney General in the state the crammer is located in.
They might be under some settlement agreement with regard to disputed charges.
Beyond that you could sue, but the SOL for suing is 1 year.
You can find a consumer attorney in your state at www.naca.net
http://www.ag.state.mn.us/ElectronicForms/ComplaintForm.pdf
Hope this helps you all get your $$$s back and put an end to this scamming of elderly, sick and out of work folks
Your bank can reverse the charges if you dispute promptly, within 60 days of the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charge, under FRB Reg. E or FCBA.
This just happened to me, in the end since I had no auto payments, I reported the checking account debit card lost. Now if there are any more then the four listed in my informative tirade below the charges will be declined f- um and there little Bull$hit business practices. In the end it appears that I got it all under control and could actually profit $40.00+$25.00-$8.00-$1.00-$1.00-$19.99=
The same thing happened to me I called and ordered the 30 day free trial of the product Progene, to see if actually would help my low testosterone levels that my last blood test revieled The only thing is that ya have to pay the ship & handling which was $9.95, and I'm certain that is more then enough to cover the cost of the product. Anyway as I ordered this calling the number in the addbthatnI saw on T.V. 1.866.766.4363 this number is here customer service number and can be used to enter into membership or cancel membership.
* I called and ordered the Progene and canceled the membership 3 days later. BUT the damage had already been done
BY THIS POINT I'VE BEEN ENROLED IN TO AT LEAST 2 Additional programs, because they ask will you spend $1.00 to join ---------<-----(insert program name here)
And then they tell ya that you can get a $20.00,$25.00 or a $40.00 American Express credit card to spend any way you want. What they don't tell you is that those cards will take 6-8weeks to process and your membership must be active to get the gift cards. That means that the 2 Programs 1) Great Fun the $1.00 trial membership charge for this one is good for a full 30 days. So mail out the two cards to get $40.00 in gift cards but you may have to keep the membership for 1 additional month to get the $40.00 the monthly membership fee for this one is going to be $19.99 unless you call and cancel your membership. Great Fun was pretty good their membership letter includes the phone number to call and your membership number. 1.877.488.9480. The gentleman named Shawn was extremely helpfull and he not only convinced me to leave the membership active until I get the $40.00 in gift cards and then cancel the membership it should only take the 30 initial membership days + possibly a 30 day extension @19.99 (still only $21.99 into the program and waiting on 40 in gift cards but cancel at the end of that second month unless the program is for you. Now still trying to figure out who the hell put me into some membership plan 2) ShoppersAdvantage this program was a little more difficult as imonlt recieved a letter welcoming me into the program but gave me no membership # or phone number, no email, no contact info at all, but Shawn from Great Fun was able to give me the phone number to cancel this one 1.800.526.4848. Talked to Roy here and it was pretty much the same deal as Great Fun. As soon as I was able to get my membership number from them I was able to mail the form for the $25.00 American Express gift card. The $1.00 for the trial period was for a full month 30 days and for this one the monthly membership renewal fee is going to be $8.00. So I'll do,the same thing see if I get the gift card in the first 30 and if so cancel membership otherwise extend 1 month for 8 bucks more and then cancel member ship when the gift card arrives. Now the part that really thru me was that I was asked and agreeded to 2 offers 3 counting the Progene but somehow I got enroll in a 4th program and apparently agreed to a $1.97 charge for a trial member ship into 3) Buget Savers but this one is different firstly I recieved absolutly no information about the program, no welcome packet, no nothing other then the charge of $1.97 on my checking account. Which I forgot about and paid no attention to until that $1.97 trial membership was over and since that trial membership was unknowingly only 14 days so suddenly this mysterious charge of $29.95 appears against my checking account and I have no idea who it is. So in a moment of panic wondering how many more programs I got enrolled and not being able to be certain that I could track them all down, I reported my card lost and had it closed so now I know there will be no more charges. Anyway getting back to the budget Savers Shawn actually gave me the phone number for the company he believed charged $29.95 monthly and turned out he was right so Buget Savers can be reached at 1.800.475.1942 I called this number and after a few short verification minutes I confirmed this to be the $29.95 charge and the extremely patient and helpfull Rhonda immediately offered to refund the full $29.95 and cancel me membership.
lession Learned: perhaps not as extreme as never ordering anything from a T.V. infomercial again but at the very least certainly saying no to everything else they may offer and at the end of the call get clarification and confirmation that that transaction is not entering me into any other programs and if so hang up! Bottom line is that they really bate ya in with the 25 and 40 dollar cards but you don't know the details until you recieve the welcome packet and they are not very public with there phone numbers.
Summary:
1) Great Fun - - - - - - - - - - - 1.877.488.9480
2) ShoppersAdvantage - - - - 1.800.526.4848
3) Buget Savers - - - - - - - - - -1.800.475.1942
4) Progene - - - - - - - - - - - - - -1.866.776.4363