Complaint Review: Smart Savings Center

Ordered a DVD off Amazon.com & got a good deal from Hotmovies.com--I did not know anything about signing up for smartsavings.com. I also did not realize that a Membership fee of $14.95 was being charged to my Visa for something I did not know about, did not authorize and was not using. I thought this charge was something my husband ordered, so being very busy, did not pay attention to this for months.

Last night I got a call from my Visa asking about a "suspicious $29.95 charge made to smartsavings.com at 3:00am EST"--naturally I knew nothing about this. Suspecting Fraud, I had my Visa account canceled. Visa told me the company and location. I Googled it and got contact information and reports of the same charges others had experienced. Called Smart Savings: I told a kind saleslady that I did not know about smartsavings.com and was certainly not a member and did NOT authorize $29.95 or any other amount to my Visa.

They looked up my e-mail and said that I did buy a DVD from Hotmovies.com and the membership was included with that along with monthly charges for "benefits/savings." Smart Savings said they sent an e-mail stating that benefit charges would double JAN 09. I had gotten an e-mail offering two free DVD's each month, but had never taken advantage of this and deleted everything & had never seen anything about monthly charges.

As it had been less than 24 hours since the $29.95 charge, smartsavings canceled that charge and my membership and did send an e-mail of confirmation. I was so disgusted that my visa had been charged $14.95 for months and now, without my knowledge or consent, was being charged $29.95--which Visa will not pay. This is my first time being "Ripped Off"--I can't believe a person with my education did not catch this sooner--thank you Visa! The price of an education...

Anon
Portland, Oregon
U.S.A.