Ryan Kluck at Exact Data Phone call resulted in my reluctantly giving my credit card data ,I know. Before giving it I said, "Don't I get something in writing" and Mr. Kluck re-assured me that we get everything in a (detailed) signed contract". I had a bad feeling about the strong arm sales and checked here and other sites to find that these people are questionable at best. So, I left two emails saying, "No thanks". Well shortly, Mr. Kluck or the customer representative, Jayme Berkowsky, billed my credit card for $1000. I never saw the alleged contract nor did I agree to be billed on my credit card. I never agreed to have my card billed and expressed my interest, in the context of giving up my credit card number, that I wanted to review the contract before agreeing to purchase. This business model has nothing to do with selling email marketing. Rather, it is designed to get a credit card number. They could just as easily sell free gold with this business model. Chicago Illinois
I discussed buying some email marketing services with Ryan Kluck of Exact Data (there is an alias floating around as well). Mr. Kluck mentioned a figure of X number of emails and Y level of service for about $1,000. I said that sounded OK (as in "so far"). He asked me for my credit card number and I balked saying, in effect, that "I need to see something in writing". He reassured me that I would "get a signed contract that spelled everything out" and his tone dismissed the credit card as an agreement to transact. I gave him my credit card number thinking it was a credit check. He referred me to an account manager, Jayme Berkowsky, who "would take care of me, get me the contract, and take it from here". Oh yea, and he said "Thank you for your business."
I got off of the phone and had this gut feeling and for good reason. I checked around on the internet and read some of the narratives about this outfit. Within an hour I had emailed both Kluck and and Berkowski saying "No thanks".
That evening around 2 am I awoke again to that same (I've been conned) gut feeling and called AMEX to cancel any approval that they might have made. Exact Data had already called to get approval and it could not be retracted said AMEX. I put a "contested" status on any actual billing that might ensue. Evidently, with Exact having approval, there was no stopping Ryan Kluck from just billing away for payment not agreed to and for services not delivered.
We will see how this goes down with AMEX but I really feel (not only stupic, but) scammed. These people could pull this off with enough frequency to sustain a business without ever delivering any service. I was having a bad day and vulnerable, I suppose. But.........ladies and gentlemen is this the new normal? Is Exact Data just another virus? Exact Trickster, Exact Scam.
These sharks have their routine down. Hopefully AMEX will take care of their customer in a fashion that is somewhat different than I was "taken care of" by Exact Data.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Customer Support
Chicago,Illinois,
USA
RE: Mr. Paul
#3UPDATE Employee
Tue, December 01, 2015
Dear Mr. Paul,
We appreciate your feedback and have taken the time to review your case.
Per our registrations with Visa & Mastercard, as well as our sponsoring institution, we are required to take underwriting and risk policies seriously. When your account exceeded the regulated standards for Chargebacks, our investigators reached out to review your account. At this time, the primary signor for the business could not confirm the required requests for your business and led our investigators to freeze your account for potential fraud. We continued to monitor other sources and continued to find information that restricted us from allowing this account to continue processing.
After review it is our position that your account will remain closed and funds will be available to you after the current waiting period.
It is never our intention to put you or any merchant in a negative position, and we understand that you are not pleased with our decision to close your account, and encourage you to contact us at any time at 866-718-7896 to discuss these matters.
The Payline Data Risk Team
Giselle
Any city,Chargeback?
#3Consumer Comment
Fri, April 18, 2014
Why can't you do a chargeback? You thought it was an information call and gave your CC # (stupidly) but thinking they wanted to check your credit limit. You have not signed anything, do not even have a contract to review. I have never had trouble doing a chargeback with AMEX and can't imagine why they would decline one, considering the questionable circumstances.