Withdrawing money from my account for posters I didn't order.
Complaint
Dianne Bowling
Country: United States
Twice in November Posterpass.com withdrew $79 each time from my account. My daughter had ordered a poster from them over a year ago, but cancelled with them when they sent posters she didn't order. We called them and they said they would put the money back into our account that day. So far, we have not received our money back and we can't get them to answer our phone calls. I don't recommend this company to anyone. This is not a reliable company.
Comments
Do NOT attempt to get reversals of fraudulent charges from the merchant. A number of complaints indicate Peel claims refunds take "2 billing cycles" which would delay the consumer from filing a fraud dispute through their bank until it is too late to use the FCBA or FRB Reg. E dispute process, allowing the company to "forget" to send the refund while leaving the consumer with no effective recourse.
Do NOT leave any account open for which Peel has account information. If consumers had originally closed accounts after "cancelling" their relationship with Peel, they would not now be seeing fraudulent charges.
Since this fits existing patterns of false advertising and fraudulent charging reportedly engaged in by this company, file complaints with FTC, your state Attorney General, the Illinois Attorney General.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/OOir ... _5gAZSgjMQ0HrmA
http://www.ic3.gov
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).
Searching on "Evanston" to collect oomplaints against all Peel, Inc. names, then removing non-Peel items from counts.
December 1 to 13 alone
15 +15-1 +15-1 +15 = 58
(about 133 / month, or 16 time October rate)
November, whole month
15-1 +4 = 18
October, whole month
8
Search 39 U.S.C. § 3009 : US Code - Section 3009: Mailing of unordered merchandise
* Search by Keyword or Citation
(a) Except for (1) free samples clearly and conspicuously marked
as such, and (2) merchandise mailed by a charitable organization
soliciting contributions, the mailing of unordered merchandise or
of communications prohibited by subsection (c) of this section
constitutes an unfair method of competition and an unfair trade
practice in violation of section 45(a)(1) of title 15.
(b) Any merchandise mailed in violation of subsection (a) of this
section, or within the exceptions contained therein, may be treated
as a gift by the recipient, who shall have the right to retain,
use, discard, or dispose of it in any manner he sees fit without
any obligation whatsoever to the sender. All such merchandise shall
have attached to it a clear and conspicuous statement informing the
recipient that he may treat the merchandise as a gift to him and
has the right to retain, use, discard, or dispose of it in any
manner he sees fit without any obligation whatsoever to the sender.
(c) No mailer of any merchandise mailed in violation of
subsection (a) of this section, or within the exceptions contained
therein, shall mail to any recipient of such merchandise a bill for
such merchandise or any dunning communications.
(d) For the purposes of this section, "unordered merchandise"
means merchandise mailed without the prior expressed request or
consent of the recipient.
http://local.yahoo.com/info-33943943-seattle-coffee-direct-evanston
"...
laurenm - 12/29/09
Det Wilson - Thanks for your information. I will certainly follow through. I just got a live voice at the company and she (whispering) advised me to contact a lawyer and my financial institution and that the company is closing soon. This woman admitted that she is aware that people are being ripped off - when I asked why she worked for them - she stated she has only been there a few weeks and she needs an income. Wow. Why can't the police go in and shut them down and arrest people?
..."
897 pending complaints.
BBB fails to report that recent consumer complaints indicate charges are being resumed months after cancellation.
http://chicago.bbb.org/article/better-busines ... -received-14174
"...
Better Business Bureau Helps Consumers of Peel Inc. More than 1,360 Complaints Received
12/16/2009
Chicago, IL-December 16, 2009 – Peel Inc., an internet distribution company selling a variety of products ranging from coffee to posters, under multiple names and Web site addresses, has received more than 1,360 Better Business Bureau complaints in the past year from 49 states; currently, the company has 897 pending complaints with the Better Business Bureau. These complaints have earned the company an F rating from the BBB.
Consumer complaints to the Better Business Bureau allege undisclosed or unauthorized charges, lack of clearly disclosed shipping and/or membership fees, and deceptive advertising. Consumers further allege receiving multiple orders of merchandise that have not been ordered and/or authorized, and subsequent difficulties obtaining refunds.
“Peel Inc. has an extensive track record of leaving unhappy customers behind,” said Steve J. Bernas, president & CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and Northern Illinois. “Consumers absolutely need to take the time to read the policies and terms of a company, and then research the business with an unbiased organization before making any purchase. At www.bbb.org consumers can check BBB Reliability Reports for free.”
Hillary Schroeder, a consumer from Chicago said, “I placed my order online with Seattle Coffee Direct through a Web site. I did not look them up with the Better Business Bureau first. I learned my lesson. When I did look them up I was shocked to see how many complaints they had. I ordered five pounds of coffee for $5.00 and was charged $38.00 for two pounds of coffee. When I called to complain they told me that just by signing, I automatically signed up for another $38.00 shipment of coffee every three business days. I did not sign up for this! I cancelled and asked for a refund. They told me to return the product and I did by certified mail…I finally got the refund after I filed with the Better Business Bureau.”
Many complainants also allege purchasing posters from posterpass.com at a particular price, then being charged a much higher price along with allegedly unknown fees for the transaction.
Bernas notes that while the company is resolving their complaints, there is an ongoing pattern of complaints concerning their business practices.
The BBB offers the following advice to shoppers on how to help prevent billing issues and other unexpected surprises when shopping online and in a store:..."
What follows is generic advise that would have been of no value in protecting consumers from this company.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/seattlecoffeedirect.html
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/shopdani_com.html
http://www.bankinfosecurity.com/articles.php?art_id=1469&pg=2
"...
May 18, 2009 - Linda McGlasson, Managing Editor
(Page 2 of 3)
ACH kiting is similar to check kiting and is an unusual kind of fraud. "But when it happens, it can happen big," says Thomas. He lays out the scenario: A bogus charity sends out charges for $100,000.The bills are sitting in companies' inboxes, and the bogus charity now has what appears to be $100,000 worth of credit in their account at the bank. Then they take that money and they're gone. Then the companies who see their accounts debited for that amount come back and question it, and the bank finds out the scam has happened, and they're left with lots of angry commercial account holders and $100,000 in fraud losses.
In ACH kiting, it happens that the first day the scam charity sends out 100,000, then the second day it sends out $150,000 and the third day it sends out $200,000 and so on, so when the first day and second day charges begin to be returned it appears the scam charity has a net position of a big credit. The bank doesn't realize its exposure, because the credits keep coming in at a faster rate than the returns do. So what happens then as scam charity keeps building up its balance to a point that it gets really, really high. "In the first scam the fake charity may only get $100,000, in this scenario it could get millions, because it can keep running the fraud. So when it does cut and run, the institution is faced with a tremendous hit," Thomas notes.
..."
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/jan/28/ ... -internet-scam/
"January 28, 2010 in Business, Idaho
Idaho teacher victim of Internet scam
Bert Caldwell The Spokesman-Review
A first-grade teacher in Hayden Lake is among hundreds of consumers scammed by an Illinois company that continues tapping their checking accounts long after they have paid for products ordered over the Internet.
Sarah King, who teaches at Hayden Meadows Elementary School, said she found a set of four posters she liked on Facebook last fall and placed her order with PosterPass.com. The price was $14.95, which was an introductory offer for a $32.95 per-month subscription service that would deliver a new poster each month if she did not cancel within 30 days.
She paid with a debit card, received the posters five days later, and immediately canceled, King said.
But a bank statement she received a few weeks later showed a series of $79 charges every other day from PosterPass.com, as well as other companies, she said.
King said she called PosterPass.com to affirm the cancellation and request a refund. She was told the problem would be taken care of.
“Sure enough, two days later there are more charges,” King said.
When two more calls proved futile, she went to the Better Business Bureau, where she discovered PosterPass.com was just one of 20 companies using Illinois-based Peel Inc. to process their transactions. Some companies are independent, some are Peel affiliates.
It was Peel that was debiting her account, she said.
In December, the BBB for Chicago and Northern Illinois hung an “F” rating on Peel based on almost 3,000 complaints filed in the previous three years. Almost one-fourth, most regarding billing or refund issues, remained unresolved, said Steve Bernas, president of the Chicago organization.
He said Peel has stopped taking orders. But the company is severely understaffed, and more complaints are going unresolved, he said.
King said she had to close her debit card account when she filed a fraudulent charges report with Visa, which covered two of the charges. Peel returned another two after she contacted the BBB, she said, but she will have to eat about $300 of the $500 Peel and its affiliates took from her account.
“Filing a report with the BBB was the only thing that actually grabbed the attention of the company,” King said.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has started an investigation of Peel, spokeswoman Natalie Bauer said today.
..."
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2010_02/20100217b.html
"February 17, 2010
MADIGAN SUES EVANSTON ONLINE MARKETER FOR CREDIT CARD CRAMMING
Attorney General Alleges Firm Fraudulently Charged Consumers Seeking
“Free Trial” Offers
Chicago — Attorney General Lisa Madigan today filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against an online marketing firm based in Evanston, Ill., for “cramming” consumers’ credit cards with unauthorized charges for supposedly “free trial” offers for a range of products, including coffee, posters and jewelry.
“We’ve received an extraordinary number of complaints from consumers who believed they were signing up for free items but wound up with unauthorized charges from this company,” Madigan said. “Because of cases like this, it’s important that consumers carefully review their monthly credit card statements to ensure they’re not being unexpectedly billed.”
Madigan’s complaint alleges that defendants Peel, Inc., and its President Brian Dale sell products online at dozens of Web sites, including seattlecoffeedirect.com, metroroasters.com, posterpass.com and shopdani.com. The company markets its products using “free trial” offers and requires consumers to provide their billing information purportedly to cover shipping and handling fees for the supposedly free merchandise. However, within days of signing up for a free trial, consumers begin receiving unauthorized charges ranging from $19.99 to $49.99 on their credit cards.
Further, Madigan’s complaint alleges that if consumers are able to reach Peel’s customer service, the company allegedly promises to stop charging consumers but fails to do so. Consumers continue to receive unauthorized charges on their credit cards. Madigan’s Consumer Fraud Bureau and the Better Business Bureau have received more than 2,300 complaints against Peel and its affiliated Web sites.
Madigan’s suit alleges the defendants violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act by placing unauthorized charges on consumers' credit card bills. The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring the defendants from doing business in Illinois, restitution for consumers, civil penalties of $50,000 for violating the Consumer Fraud Act, and an additional $50,000 for each violation committed with the intent to defraud.
Assistant Attorney General Adam Sokol is handling the case for Madigan’s Consumer Fraud Bureau.
To file a complaint with Madigan’s office, consumers can download a consumer complaint form from the Attorney General’s Web site at www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov or call the Attorney General’s Consumer Fraud Hotline at:
Chicago Consumer Fraud Hotline: 1-800-386-5438
Springfield Consumer Fraud Hotline: 1-800-243-0618
Carbondale Consumer Fraud Hotline: 1-800-243-0607
Spanish Language Hotline: 1-866-310-8398
..."
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21919268-
"...
Their tactic to address any spikes in the charge back ratio is to flood the account with new fresh fraud charges. Doing so will dilute the current ratio and diffuse the spike and any attention from the merchant account provider. New charges caaan take up to 40 days until a victim sees their statement and complains. However, in the interim, this tactic is very effective in reducing any pending impact from current complaints.
..."
Defendanta are permanently enjoined from unfair or deceptive acts.
They will not seek payment, directly or indirectly, from consumers.
They must preserve all records for 2 years.
$15,261.90 restitution to be paid to Illinois consumers.
$26,000.00 to be paid to an Illinois consumer enforcement fund.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/46821460/Peel-Inc-Settlement
The number of BBB complaints alone was in the thousands, with fraudulent charges around a hundred per consumer, that would put consumer fraud losses at least in the hundreds of thousands.
If you lost money, this would be the time to find a class action attorney, assuming the guy has any assets left.