Complaint Review: DND Financial World - DND World - Cybertel Security

Back in August 2002, I received a call from a representative (calling himself Ted Allen) of a company calling themselves "DND Financial World" who said that he was calling because I had applied for a credit card through my bank - which he named - a number of months prior. He claimed that his company could guarantee me a credit card with a $5000 credit line and 6.9% financing for 5 years, regardless of my credit (which isn't looking too good right now), and that I would receive the new card within two weeks. He said that it would be similar to getting a credit card through my own bank in that it would be my bank backing my credit line. He explained that if I defaulted it would be my bank hounding me, not his company. And it absolutely did not matter how bad my credit was, I was guaranteed to receive a VISA within 7-10 days after returning the application form the company was going to send to me. All of this for the low price of $269. Long story short, I fell for it. I paid the $269, they assigned me an account number, I filled out the application they sent and then received letters from Fleet & CitiBank saying that I was NOT approved. In October, when I called DND back at the original number they provided (888-788-0888 - The company at this number now says they have never even heard of DND), I was told that the company had moved and their new phone number was 866-799-9975 (this was consistent with the paperwork I received from DND). I called that number and spoke with a guy (whose name I didn't get) who said that I should order a copy of my credit report and then call them back. He said they could certainly remove any invalid collection accounts, but that I should try to fix my credit report as much as possible on my own, and that they would re-submit my applications once I had gotten some of it removed. That is the point at which my husband said, "Well, might as well consider that as money lost." Not willing to give up (and knowing I needed to do it anyway), I did order my credit report and did manage to get it cleaned up a bit. I left a message on the company voicemail on both Nov. 5 & 6, but never heard back from them. In mid-December, I decided to try calling again and this time spoke with a representative who said his name was Robert and that he would re-submit my applications. In January 2003, I still had not received any credit cards and I decided to request a refund since they never delivered on their guarantee. A man named Adam (at extension 235, or so he said) verified my mailing address and said that they would send me a money order. So, I waited... I never received it so called back again in February and spoke with a woman who said that her boss was out of town and that she would be speaking with him about refunds when he got back on Tuesday. I had actually given up at this point, but then I received a call in April from a guy who said he was representing the company (missed the name again since I was so happy to finally be getting my $269 back) who said that they were going to send my refund, they just needed to re-activate my account through their automated system. He gave me a verification number, told me the company would be depositing the refund into my bank account within 8-10 days of when I returned the forms they were going to send me, and explained that the recording (supposedly re-activating my account) would say they were going to withdraw $299 from my account, but that they really weren't, they were just re-activating my account. I honestly do not remember whether he asked me to verify both my routing number and account, or if he asked for my account after I had verified the routing. Regardless, after the recording had completed (and after I had said "Yes" to all the questions asked during the recording), I asked him to verify again that no money would be taken from my account. He said that it wouldn't, but on April 22, my bank paid out $299 by wire. The name in the Pay To The Order Of: section was Cybertel Security. Ugh! I feel really stupid now. The moral of the story? NEVER BELIEVE ANYONE WHEN THEY SAY THEY ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE MONEY OUT OF YOUR ACCOUNT WHEN THE RECORDING SAYS THEY ARE! Refuse to do it. If they want your business, they will find a way around the system. Even if you have called them back and spoken with different people over a number of months... I know, I spoke with at least four distinctly different people over an eight month period (either that, or the speaker was very good at disguising his voice). If anyone else has been involved in the same scam with DND World, please email me at dliver@yahoo.com. I'd like to compare information and see if we can track this down. I know there is almost no chance of recovering my $568, but would like to ensure that others are aware of this scam. It is very similar to the pending lawsuit involving Ricardo Martinez and three others who used the company names: American Credit Solutions, Hartford Auto Club, and Capital Choice Consumer Credit. For all I know, DND World might simply be another company name this guy used. Jenifer Denver, Colorado
U.S.A.