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Chapel Sales dishonest unresponsive ripoff Mt. Laurel New Jersey
"Shiquita" came to our house on June 25 and sold my wife 2 subscriptions - one to Catholic Digest and one to Baseball Digest - collecting a total of $60 cash. The order numbers were P198505 and P198497 respectively.
When my wife told me about this, I decided to look up the actual subscription prices of these magazines. While the Catholic Digest price for 24 issues was not that much below what Chapel has sold it to me for, the Baseball Digest price for 16 issues (2 years) was $19.95/year through the company and $36/year through Chapel. I would have to pay $72 (plus that $7 process and handling fee) for a 2-year subscription that would have cost me less than $40 if I had subscribed directly.
I sent in the cancellation for the Baseball Digest within the 3 day cooling off period - it remains to be seen if the money my wife had given as a deposit will ever be refunded. At the time, I was willing to continue with the Catholic Digest order, but my wife decided that she wanted that order cancelled too. I just mailed that today, even though we are past the 3-day cooling off period.
I am unable to contact them by phone during their normal business hours. I either get the answering machine or the phone seems to pick up on the other end (without any ringing) but no one is on the other end. On the last call, despite their warning not to leave a message, I did. I gave them the order numbers and told them that I had sent in cancellation notices for both and if I had not received anything within 30 days, I would report them to both the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission.
I did an Internet Search and came upon this web site and decided to look up Chapel Sales. I only wish my wife had called me before paying the $ for the subscriptions. I would have told her to firmly, yet kindly, shoo the sales person away.
I don't expect to see my money again, but I am going to pursue every avenue that I can to get it back. I certainly wish that some lawyer would start a class-action suit against Chapel Sales - they seem to have been doing this for several years and in several locations in NJ. Their use of young African-American females to sell the books is an obvious ploy to prey upon the sympathies of prospective customers.
John
Brookhaven, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
John
Brookhaven,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Received refund check today!
#6Author of original report
Fri, August 31, 2007
I received a refund check in the amount of $35 for the one order that I cancelled within the 3-day cooling off period.
The interesting thing was that even though the check was mailed on 8/29, the date on the check was 7/16. This was the day that they told me that they were processing the refund and that it would take 4-6 weeks before I got the refund.
So they cut the check and basically sit and wait to see if the customer remembers that they requested a refund (and when they did) and if/when the person remembers, then they mail the check.
Meanwhile, they hold your money for an additional 4-6 weeks.
Oh well, enough griping. I got the refund for the one order and still waiting to see if the other order results in a magazine (subscription reduced in length covered by the initial deposit).
John
Brookhaven,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Still waiting for refund of the one order.
#6Author of original report
Wed, August 29, 2007
It's been 6 weeks since the refund request was put into their system (they told me it would take 4 to 6 weeks for me to receive the refund).
I e-mailed Chapel Sales again to inform them that the 6 weeks had elapsed and no refund has been received. I'll post again when/if I hear back from them.
Still waiting for the startup of the other subscription (the one that they said it was too late to cancel, but they did offer me a shorter-term subscription paid for by the initial deposit - without requiring any more money on our part).
John
Brookhaven,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
update
#6Author of original report
Sun, July 15, 2007
Received the following e-mail at 8:30 this morning:
Order # P198505 has been sent to the refund dept for refund of the full $ 35.00.
Now to see if I actually get the money for this refund as well as the Catholic Digest for the other order.
John
Brookhaven,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Chapel Sales Mt. Laurel NJ offers a compromise
#6Author of original report
Thu, July 12, 2007
received this e-mail from Lakisha at Chapel Sales (this was on the Catholic Digest order - which was cancelled beyond the 3-day cooling off period)
Dear Customer,
At this time we cannot offer you a refund, it is beyond the three
day cancellation policy. It simply states that you the buyer may
cancel anytime prior to midnight of the third business day and
receive a full refund. What we can do is offer you something for
what you have paid, and you would not owe anymore. We do apologize
about the inconvenience.
Thank you,
Lakisha
and then she sent a follow-up e-mail:
Follow up e-mail
We do apologize for this inconvenience. We can send you one year of
Catholic Digest at no extra cost .
Thank you,
I replied:
Lakisha,
Understandable on the Catholic Digest (P198497), but on the Baseball Digest (P198505), I sent the cancellation notice on the 3rd day. I do expect to get a refund of the $35 paid for that order.
JR
And I have not heard back from her yet (it's only been a few hours).
Now..it remains to be seen whether I do get the one-year subscription to Catholic Digest and whether I get the $35 back that I paid towards the Baseball Digest subscription, but it does seem like they are trying to work with me.
JR
John
Brookhaven,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Chapel Sales responds to e-mail inquiry
#6Author of original report
Sun, July 08, 2007
I received an e-mail from Ken (ken at chapelsales dot com) saying that they would need the date of Sale and the name and/or Code # of the salesperson. I've provided that to them and let's see if they process my cancellation of the orders for which partial payment was made on 6/25.