Belisi Fashions, Belisi Clothier, Corporate Collections Services ripoff, unjustified charge, no way to resolve with company Jupiter Florida
Be very careful doing business with Belisi Fashions. I responded to an online offer by Belisi Fashions well over a year ago, I don't remember the exact date. 3 ties for $3.00. They billed the $3.00 to my credit card. After confirming the introductory offer, I was told on the website that I was signing up for a 3 ties-a-month program and the ties would cost $24.95 or more apiece. I immediately went back to the Belisi website and canceled my membership. I understood that by canceling my membership, I had to return the first shipment of ties. When the ties arrived, I mailed them back in the same box they came in. Well, no more shipments arrived. I thought it was all over. But it wasn't. About two months ago, I started getting automated phone calls asking me to call a number immediately. I ignored them for a month, though I got one about every other day. I thought they were trying to sell me something. Finally, after getting tired of the phone calls, I called the number back. It was a company called Corporate Collections Systems, CCS, from Terrace, Ohio. Its personnel told me I owed Belisi Fashions $30.00. What for? I asked. "Did you buy ties from them?" I was asked. "Yes, but I returned them," I said. The collection agency woman told me she would contact Belisi for me and would call back in about two weeks. Well, the next day the calls started again. I called the collection agency back and was told Belisi confirmed I owed them $30. But no one could tell me what the $30 was for. Neither Belisi nor the collection agency has ever provided me with a written statement documenting that I owe the money. The collection agency wouldn't give me contact information for Belisi. I found it through Rip-Off Report. Belisi won't let anyone onto its website except those who are members, so I couldn't contact them through their website. I called Belisi customer service and could get no one on the line. I left a message. No return call so far. What I don't get is what the $30.00 is for. If Belisi is claiming I didn't return the ties, they would have charged me the full price for the ties. But they didn't. Are they trying to get the initial payment of $3.00 from me, with the remaining $27.00 a collection fee? But why? I returned the ties. If Belisi Fashions is a classy silk tie operation, why do they make it so difficult to get in touch with them? If Belisi Fashions is a classy silk tie operation, why do they use a sleazy collection agency that uses fake phone numbers to show up on the ID system and calls two and three times in one day? If Belisi Fashions is a classy silk tie company, why don't they tell you upfront that by accepting their introductory offer you're signing up for two years of ties? If Belisi Fashions is a classy silk tie company, why didn't they send me an email or a printed statement of the charge they claimed I owed? I've noticed that other complaints about the company filed with Rip-off Report gets a reply from Belisi blaming the consumer. Apparently Belisi never makes a mistake. So I imagine I'll get a similar reponse them. What I'd rather have is a legitimate way to contact them and resolve this matter. And I'd like to know what the $30 charge is for. More than anything, I'd like Corporate Collections to quit calling me about a bogus charge.
James
Mobile, Alabama
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Director Of Customer Service
Jupiter,Florida,
U.S.A.
Order was apparently placed through an incentive reward website marketing offer
#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, August 02, 2006
When a customer places their order for the introductory shipment, they are required to "click and agree" to the terms of membership.
[] I have read and agree to the terms of membership.
This is an electronic contract also known as an E-contract. The contract clearly discloses the additional 4 purchase commitment required with the introductory offer. Once the consumer places their order, they are sent an email confirmation welcoming them to the club. This email additionally advises them of the additional purchases that are required with the introductory shipment.
Our company advertisements are placed on many websites on the internet. Sometimes, the websites that advertise our products offer their visitors free gifts and other rewards in exchange for signing up for various advertisements, including our company's Club Enrollment Offer.
As disclosed on our website:
When consumers are offered an incentive as described above, choose to sign up for our company's club enrollment offer, and then immediately call to cancel for the specific reasoning of only signing up for the free incentive, our company incurs advertising expense and processing expense in dealing with these transactions. These consumers cause material harm to our company. As such, when a consumer has signed up through an Incentive/Reward website and either immediately cancels their membership or refuses the introductory shipment without contacting us or opening the product, the consumer will be billed for a $30.00 cancellation fee.
This customer's account was apparently sent to collections for this incentive reward website fee, which means their order was directly placed through one of these incentive offers and reward points were credited to the customers' account at the incentive website. Additionally, in order for the fee to apply, the customer must have specifically stated this was the reasoning for placing their order and/or the introductory shipment must have been marked refused or return to sender. Meaning the customer did not pay for return shipping and/or did not open the product.