billed for nonrequested membership
Complaint
UofMfan53
Country: United States
This scam sent us a bill for $36. We've never even heard about this company and we hate to cook! I sent a scathing letter back with the bill stating that if they ever contacted us again that I will file a complaint with the Attorney General, the FBI, and the Better Business Bureau. I also said that I will file a law suit.
I have filed other complaints with the Attorney General. Call your Attorney General and ask for a complaint form. If this company took money from you bank account without your authorization file a complaint with your bank. You are not obliged to return any non-requested magazines.
The advice I got from the Attorney General was to not talk to any scam company. They record the conversations then alter them to suit their purposes. Ignore all phone calls, all bills, all magazines. Sooner or later they will give up.
I have filed other complaints with the Attorney General. Call your Attorney General and ask for a complaint form. If this company took money from you bank account without your authorization file a complaint with your bank. You are not obliged to return any non-requested magazines.
The advice I got from the Attorney General was to not talk to any scam company. They record the conversations then alter them to suit their purposes. Ignore all phone calls, all bills, all magazines. Sooner or later they will give up.
Comments
http://www.bbb.org/NYC/business-reviews/cooki ... ford-ny-127479/
The file was only opened about a year ago, and they already have 4 complaints they never responded to, out of 5.
Legitimate consumer businesses generally respond to BBB complaints.
BBB category of "advertising issues" would include deceptive marketing, and "billing/collection issues" would include fraudulent billing.
File attempted fraud complaints with FTC, your state Attorney General, and the New York Attorney General.
There has been a pattern of consumer fraud associated with a number of book or music club "membership" marketers, from fraudulent telemarketers of magazine subscriptions, to the old Columbia House "negative option" membership scam which also had reports of crammed fraudulent "sales" unwanted by their customers, as well as making up "memberships" claiming other victims "signed up".
These later showed up as fraudulent "termination fee account balances" in the hands of several shady collection agencies, several of whom also got nailed by state AGs for similar fraudulent collection of bogus Hollywood Video "debt".
Several of the magazine subscription scams are known for pulling a "bait-and-switch" scheme after obtaining consumer account information, cramming an inflated "subscription bill" in place of what sounded like competitive terms. Some of them deliberately screw up their "service", either not sending any magazines, or sending random unwanted magazines while demanding hundreds of dollars for an overpriced "multiyear subscription", basically fishing for a "cancellation fee" of around $400 to just go away. Of course, if you pay sharks like this, they keep coming back for more.
It is a violation of postal regulations (mail fraud) to demand payment for unordered merchandise, or to send a fraudulent invoice through the US Mail.
Also file a mail fraud complaint with the US Postal Inspector.
They are running an "order cramming" shakedown racket, hiding behind appearing "incompetent", then passing the "delinquent account" to a "collection agency" partner to squeeze the "customer".
Mail fraud obscured through "plausible deniability". Probably threaten you to see what they can get, as long as they get money from you, but claim it's all a "mistake" if you contact the authorities.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/bait-and-switch/national-home-garden/national-home-gardening-club-c-1f52f.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/clubs-organizations/cooking-club-of-amer/cooking-club-of-america-this-1062d.htm
http://www.ripoffreport.com/miscellaneous-companies/cooking-club-of-amer/cooking-club-of-america-bogus-4p53p.htm
Another report of a fraudulent invoice.
http://www.ripoffreport.com/collection-agencies/rmcb-collection-agen/rmcb-collection-agency-rmcb-se-9b352.htm
If you got membership crammed, without even signing up for this treatment, your name is probably being sold on some sucker list, based on some cheap product you might have bought from another sleazy merchant. Common in Buffalo scams.