Complaint Review: GSI Grant Services

I was contacted about by GSI on 10/14/05. Like most of my constituents I bought into the free grant money idea and decided to try it out for a spin. The Jamaican sounding lady said that I could review the material/application I would be receiving before paying the $298.00 application fee. So I gave a check by phone postdated for 3 weeks, and planned to cancel the check in the event that I did not get the application as promised within 2 weeks.

2 weeks goes by and I put a stop payment on the check (and for any checks around $298-300) with my financial institution when i didn't recieve any material as promised and a phone call to their customer service, put me on a "all lines are busy" hold for an hour. On 11/2/05, 298.00 was deducted using a check number that was obviously generated by GSI and I'm furious that my financial institution does not stop the payment and refuses to refund the money. Instead, they send me a letter stating that there is a civil action being taken against this company and I should pursue my avenue that way for reimbursement. Now that I've read some of the editor comments, I will go back and ask to file a Federal Regulation E form to get their ineptitude disputed.

John
Santa Ana, California
U.S.A.