Credit Card Charges
Complaint
Wayne Garvis
Country: United States
This compnay charged my Credit Card two months in a row without authorization. I didn't catch it the first time but I did the second time so I called there 1-800 number and got it stopped. How can they do this without your permission?
Comments
There are a number of companies engaged in "selling" these worthless "discount memberships", splitting the take with other merchants or telemarketers. Consumer fraud losses due to this "industry" are in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
Was the fraudulent offer through a telemarketing call?
Or was it through a call you made to order something from some merchant, or an on-line purchase, possibly through a pop-up?
If so, what merchant, product, phone numbers, website (URL)?
Dispute fraudulent charges through your bank, and close the account or block the card number due to fraud, to prevent additional fraudulent charges. Your bank can reverse the charges if you dispute promptly, generally within 60 days of the statement date of the statement showing the disputed charges, under FRB Reg. E or FCBA. Follow up with a written dispute or fraud affidavit to preserve your FRB Reg. E or FCBA dispute rights.
Be sure to have your bank block the card number or close the account, since such scams often attempt to cram charges under different names, or sometimes "cancel", then start charging again months later, trying to slip more charges through.
Numerous complaints against these scams report that attempts to cancel or get refunds through calling such scams usually result in deceptive attempts to string consumers along and delay fraud disputes past the 60 day dispute window allowed by FCBA or FRB Reg. E. Some investigations have found that over 90% of their "customer service" calls are dealing with "cancellations", trying to resell angry "customers", or delay refunds.
You should also report this to FTC and your state Attorney General. You might also call the offices of Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who conducted the hearings, just to let them know these scams are still in operation.