Complaint Review: National credit report

I am an active duty 15-year military servicemember stationed overseas. I attempted to order a credit report from nationalcreditreport.com via the internet. During the process, I was locked out of the system and given instructions to phone their office. No time limit was given to make this call. I determined this site to be unreliable and read nothing to indicate that there would be no charge for no services rendered. Several weeks later, I noticed the charge of $29.95 had been billed to my credit card.

I phoned the company on July 26, 2005 at about 0930 EST to ask for either the service I paid for or a refund. I was refused by a lady at the billing desk and I asked to speak to someone in authority. A man came on the phone and identified himself as Mr. Applebaum, president of the company. His immediate tone was hostile and defensive. He was so boisterous that I found myself, the customer, pleading with him to let me get a word in edgewise. He quite arrogantly stated that I had exceeded a 90-day time limit.

Not only did he not make any offer of resolution, but he angrily stated that I was "out of my mind" if I thought I was getting anything from him. He said he wouldn't let me speak because nothing I could say would make a difference to him. I tried to explain that nowhere on his website is any information describing a 90-day time limit, or any time limit whatsoever. This seemed to enrage him as he began to shout over me and threaten to hang up because, as he put it, he was wasting his time talking to me.

The phone call ended when I stated if he refused to have a mature and responsible conversation with me, a paying customer, concerning his policies, I would alert military authorities of his practices. He arrogantly scoffed, chuckled, and stated, "tell them I said hi.", and he slammed the phone down.

Mr. Applebaum's hostile and juvenile manner while dealing with a paying customer is highly indicative of questionable practices. I believe an investigation is warranted into the legality of denying a refund of an online transaction when no service was provided, and both parties agree that full payment was made for said service. There is no information on the website indicative of a 90-day time limit as of this writing. Also, his service did not lock me out until I had entered my credit card information and personal information; another indication of questionable practices.

Jim
FPO
Japan