Encore Marketing International, EMI Unauthorized $14.95/ month charge on my credit card! Lanham Maryland
My wife and I were going over our credit card bill and found a charge of $14.95 being applied EVERY MONTH by this "Encore Marketing International" in Lanham MD. I have disputed the charge to the credit card company but the number provided by Encore Marketing only gets a voicemail recording. We do not ever remember authorizing this charge and at this point urge anyone who has not done so to scan their credit card statement for anything from Encore Marketing, and tell the credit card company to remove the charge immediately. Who knows how much money we have lost? It's outrageous and we can't afford to not have this money.
Chris
Oak Park, Illinois
U.S.A.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Laurie
Haslet,Texas,
U.S.A.
ITS CALLED CRAMMING
#6Consumer Comment
Tue, September 02, 2008
And its illegal.
It could be your credit card company or as another poster indicated something you got stuck with after placing an internet order.
The problem is no one wants to spend good money on these "membership" programs so they use sneaky under-handed tactics to enroll you.
Even when you opt out - someone adds you to the list and uses the same payment information already provided for your purchase or your credit card companies retail services dept.
They are supposed to send you an information packet to review while you can still cancel, but those never come when you never authorized it to begin with.
If it is your credit card company - they have their OWN marketing depts that do this type of thing and they already have your account info.
Find out how and why you got signed up before you file the FTC Complaint.
the 3 instances for me - where credit card related
Laurie
Haslet,Texas,
U.S.A.
ITS CALLED CRAMMING
#6Consumer Comment
Tue, September 02, 2008
And its illegal.
It could be your credit card company or as another poster indicated something you got stuck with after placing an internet order.
The problem is no one wants to spend good money on these "membership" programs so they use sneaky under-handed tactics to enroll you.
Even when you opt out - someone adds you to the list and uses the same payment information already provided for your purchase or your credit card companies retail services dept.
They are supposed to send you an information packet to review while you can still cancel, but those never come when you never authorized it to begin with.
If it is your credit card company - they have their OWN marketing depts that do this type of thing and they already have your account info.
Find out how and why you got signed up before you file the FTC Complaint.
the 3 instances for me - where credit card related
Laurie
Haslet,Texas,
U.S.A.
ITS CALLED CRAMMING
#6Consumer Comment
Tue, September 02, 2008
And its illegal.
It could be your credit card company or as another poster indicated something you got stuck with after placing an internet order.
The problem is no one wants to spend good money on these "membership" programs so they use sneaky under-handed tactics to enroll you.
Even when you opt out - someone adds you to the list and uses the same payment information already provided for your purchase or your credit card companies retail services dept.
They are supposed to send you an information packet to review while you can still cancel, but those never come when you never authorized it to begin with.
If it is your credit card company - they have their OWN marketing depts that do this type of thing and they already have your account info.
Find out how and why you got signed up before you file the FTC Complaint.
the 3 instances for me - where credit card related
Laurie
Haslet,Texas,
U.S.A.
ITS CALLED CRAMMING
#6Consumer Comment
Tue, September 02, 2008
And its illegal.
It could be your credit card company or as another poster indicated something you got stuck with after placing an internet order.
The problem is no one wants to spend good money on these "membership" programs so they use sneaky under-handed tactics to enroll you.
Even when you opt out - someone adds you to the list and uses the same payment information already provided for your purchase or your credit card companies retail services dept.
They are supposed to send you an information packet to review while you can still cancel, but those never come when you never authorized it to begin with.
If it is your credit card company - they have their OWN marketing depts that do this type of thing and they already have your account info.
Find out how and why you got signed up before you file the FTC Complaint.
the 3 instances for me - where credit card related
Greg
Maryville,Illinois,
U.S.A.
Call the FTC and your state consumer protection agency
#6Consumer Comment
Tue, September 02, 2008
I am also an IL resident and have traced this back to Pro Flowers.com order. There is a box on there web site that if you don't remove the check mark while you are ordering the flowers you are enrolled in this trial marketing offer for 1.95 the first month. After that, you are billed 14.95 a month. Pro Flowers spams you to death, but they claim they sent me an e-mail explaining my membership and that if you don't opt out you are enrolled!! This is deceptive marketing at its best using the latest weapton (internet). What disgust me most is that a reputable company like Pro Flowers is involved!! When I went to file a Better Business Bureau complaint against Encore Marketing it came up against Pro Flowers.com My suspicion is they own this company and created it as a way to sell more products and deceive many consumers in the process. The sad thing is I've used Pro Flowers before and recall this happening to me about a year ago, but we caught it the first month. This time we paid 7 months.
Does anyone know a lawyer willing to file a class action lawsuit against Encore Marketing or Pro Flowers? That is the only real way to stop them.
I have filed a complaint with the FTC as was suggested by another poster and they also advised me to contact the IL State Consumer Protection Agency at 1-800-243-0607. You can file a complaint with the FTC at http://www.ftc.gov