Grant Search Assistant ripoff Internet
I received a phone call from an individual stating that I was asking information about Grants. I talked to them and gave them my card number for a $3.95 s/h fee for this "free" information. At no time during the call was I told that I had 3 days to cancel and at NO TIME was I told that I would be charged an additional $29.95 for "services rendered".
Here I am a month later and I still do not have any information or "services" provided by this company. I called the customer service line and was greeted by a customer service rep who very patiently HUNG UP ON ME. I called back and proceeded to let the next customer service rep know that if they hung up on me that my lawyer would be next to contact them. I told the person my problem, which was that I had no contact from them to let me know they were charging my account and that I have not received anything from them and that I indeed canceled my request when they called me 3 times in a row asking me to sign up for this. The customer service rep told me that I had to fill out some paper work asking for a refund and if she could just fax it to me we could get this taken care of today. NO THANKS. I told her I wanted to speake to her superior and to get that person on the line right away. After 5 minutes I spoke with a "supervisor" who in fact had the same name as the first customer service rep that I spoke to, he said that they would very gladly give me my refund but it would take 5 to 10 business days for the transaction to go through. I also asked him take my name off of their calling list and delete my information from their database.
I suggest to everyone that reads this that they DO NOT give out their card number to these people. It is a scam and I fell for it!
However, if you (like me) fell for this ploy and gave your card number I would call the 800 number and let them know that you have a lawyer standing by to help you out should they be non-forthcoming. That seems to light a fire under them.
Rene
Reynoldsburg, Ohio
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Ryan
St. George,Utah,
U.S.A.
Resolution Offer
#3UPDATE Employee
Sat, June 24, 2006
I am very concerned with the experience Rene had with our company and would like to apologize and do whatever is necessary to make it right. Unfortunately, I cannot locate a Rene in Ohio in our database. Perhaps there was a different name used to make the purchase. Regardless, I hope that Rene reads this knows that I do not approve of the conduct Rene has expressed our employees displayed and would like to know if there is any more info that I can get to help me resolve this internally. Rene, please contact me directly by calling me on my cell phone at 435-773-1795 or via email at ryanr@iworks.com ASAP so that I can help you receive the resolution you are seeking.
Sincerely,
Ryan Riddle
General Manager
Alma
Menlo Park,California,
U.S.A.
Say NO for any "free" offer, that requires credit card, bank account numbers...
#3Consumer Suggestion
Fri, June 02, 2006
Let me widen your recommendation. ("I suggest to everyone that reads this that they DO NOT give out their card number to these people.")
My recommendation: do not give your credit card number, your bank account number to ANY company offering "free" merchandise, service, sample, shopping spree - you name it.
Not, if they claim they need only $1, if they claim they need only $3.99 for shipping, not if they claim they need you credit card number "for age verification". Your car/bank account will be hit with $$ or $$$ very soon. (For uncancelable memberships.)
If something is free, it does NOT require ANY fee from you.
As of grants: you can find free grant info if you do an online search for grants.gov.
Grants info is always free, and easy to get from your school, public library, city hall or DIRECTLY from the government agencies.