Complaint Review: Claude Johnson LLC

I visited a website called Guitar Control on October 18th 2013 to order a guitar tutorial DVD set. Initial credit card payment was $1.00. The site told me that I would pay $198 for the DVD set over a 6 month period at $33 per month. I ordered the DVD's and they arrived in the mail a couple of weeks later.

Until March 26th 2014 I hadn't been keeping a close eye on my credit card transactions. I never really needed to as this was a card I rarely use. But to my dismay when I checked up on it I saw that Guitar Control has been not only charging the authorized amount of $33.00 per month for the DVD's, they have also been making monthly unauthorized charges to my credit card of $19.95 per month along with the authorized $33.00.

Upon contacting them using their "customer message" box on their website, I was sent a "corporate" style email informing me of the "services" that I had signed up for in addition to the purchase of their DVD's. They refer to this hitherto unknown (to myself) "service" as "Guitar God Club" which I definitely did not enroll in on their website and certainly had no prior knowledge nor consent that they had in fact "enrolled" me in it.

To date since November, this company has made 7 unauthorized transactions to my credit card, causing it to go over the limit by $54, which is how I was to discover what was going on (I always keep track of my credit card payments) so this was the 'red flag' that alerted me that something was wrong. The grand total of unauthorized transactions ($19.95 - 7 times) comes to $139.65.

I replied to their email asking them to contact me ASAP and to reimburse me the figure of $139.65 and was met with an emailed response (from someone called Marisal)  that basically informed me that they had cancelled my "membership" (all I did was order DVD's - I did not enroll in any "membership" for their "Guitar God Club") they also stated that I will not receive any more charges to my credit card and that "while we don't normally offer refunds for the guitar god club, I am authorized to give you a courtesy refund for the latest charge of $19.95) and that "we appreciate your business and hope to keep you a satisfied customer for life"...?!

I tried calling them with the number they provided on their site (which happens to be an automated system) and was told to press: 1) "to place an order" 2) "for customer service" or 3) "to speak to a business manager". I entered 2 for customer service and was met with another automated voice telling me to "leave a message with your concerns and we will get back to you within 2 business days". This was in the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday (today) during business hours. I then called again and selected 3 to speak to a business manager after which point there was a "click" and the line went dead. I tried both avenues by phone twice to no avail.

Forced to go back to the only method of communication possible, I emailed them again telling them that I was left with no other course of action but to report the unauthorized transactions to my credit card company (as they are apparently not available by phone during business hours). Emailing them was only making it more clearly apparent that this company are employing a predetermined response to me that did not address the unauthorized transactions to my credit card, and that I was being stonewalled by a "corporate" blind eye, and that they had no intention of giving me an appropriate response to their actions, and that I'm not going to get all of the unlawfully debited money back.

Avoid this company at all costs. Don't order tutorial DVD's from them. Don't sign up for ANY of their services. Their website is designed to run rings around you, charging you for unwanted "services" on the sly such as their "Guitar God Club" for which they will debit you monthly at a cost of $19.95- until - as in my case, you notice) they will then tell you once you start trying to get them to refund you your money - that they emailed you a reciept telling you that you "enrolled" in their "membership" to "guitar god club" - and when you try to get your money back, they will hide behind a corporate facade of indifference, stonewalling you while telling you all the while that "we appreciate your business and hope to keep you a satisfied customer for life".

This company (Claude Johnson LLC a.k.a guitarcontrol.com) has set up their website in order to scam individuals and they should be fully investigated by the law.