- Report: #757051
Complaint Review: Biltmore Who's Who - Hollywood Florida
Reported By:
Adam -
Ortonville, Michigan, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Biltmore Who's Who
4601 Sheridan Street - Suite 500 Hollywood, 33021 Florida, United States of America
Phone:
(954) 893-0114
Web:
www.biltmorewhoswho.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
Biltmore Who's Who FORCED a credit card charge to go through Hollywood, Florida
I always thought that I was smarter than the average bear. I found out this morning that I am VERY wrong.
I was contacted by a guy from the Biltmore Who's Who in Hollywood, FL. He pulled my phone number and e-mail address off my company's website. My company writes custom desktop, mobile, and web applications. I have many certificates, licenses, and credentials, so I was pleased that he was able to name almost all of them. I figured this guy had done his homework.
With my ego properly stoked, he went into the sales pitch. It was very smooth, and I didn't even notice the transition from talking about me, to talking about my credit card. I actually had to put the guy on hold so that I could call one of my other employees who had the company credit card out of town. I signed-up for the Platinum membership.
However, upon discussing this decision with someone else and doing internet research, I called Who's Who back THE SAME DAY and told them that I wanted to cancel. They were very rude and gave me a bunch of hassle, but in the end said that they were removing me from the registry, and that I would not be able to network with other professionals in my field ever again. I informed them that I had been doing just fine before they came along, and I think I'll continue to be okay.
I called my bank and informed them of the situation. They put a flag on the account to decline charges. It's a good thing they did. Who's Who tried TWICE to charge the card.
Then, this morning, I receive an automatically generated e-mail from my bank that said a charge of $818.95 was posted to my account by...you guesed it...Biltmore Who's Who in Hollywood, FL.
I called the bank, and they said that the merchant had used a technique called a "Force Transaction" that routes around the usual approval process, and "forces" the charge to go through.
So, I am now in the process of disputing a $818.95 claim against these people. I called the police department in Hollywood, FL (they were very helpful), and the officer proceeded to inform me that the address listed on the website was actually a branch of Bank of America (which is ironic because that's my bank!!), and that they had no record of this company.
The police report has been filed, the paperwork is underway for the credit card dispute, and my head is still spinning that a transaction can be FORCED to go through even though I told (1) the company not to make the charge and (2) my BANK not to clear the charge.
Live and learn, I guess...
I was contacted by a guy from the Biltmore Who's Who in Hollywood, FL. He pulled my phone number and e-mail address off my company's website. My company writes custom desktop, mobile, and web applications. I have many certificates, licenses, and credentials, so I was pleased that he was able to name almost all of them. I figured this guy had done his homework.
With my ego properly stoked, he went into the sales pitch. It was very smooth, and I didn't even notice the transition from talking about me, to talking about my credit card. I actually had to put the guy on hold so that I could call one of my other employees who had the company credit card out of town. I signed-up for the Platinum membership.
However, upon discussing this decision with someone else and doing internet research, I called Who's Who back THE SAME DAY and told them that I wanted to cancel. They were very rude and gave me a bunch of hassle, but in the end said that they were removing me from the registry, and that I would not be able to network with other professionals in my field ever again. I informed them that I had been doing just fine before they came along, and I think I'll continue to be okay.
I called my bank and informed them of the situation. They put a flag on the account to decline charges. It's a good thing they did. Who's Who tried TWICE to charge the card.
Then, this morning, I receive an automatically generated e-mail from my bank that said a charge of $818.95 was posted to my account by...you guesed it...Biltmore Who's Who in Hollywood, FL.
I called the bank, and they said that the merchant had used a technique called a "Force Transaction" that routes around the usual approval process, and "forces" the charge to go through.
So, I am now in the process of disputing a $818.95 claim against these people. I called the police department in Hollywood, FL (they were very helpful), and the officer proceeded to inform me that the address listed on the website was actually a branch of Bank of America (which is ironic because that's my bank!!), and that they had no record of this company.
The police report has been filed, the paperwork is underway for the credit card dispute, and my head is still spinning that a transaction can be FORCED to go through even though I told (1) the company not to make the charge and (2) my BANK not to clear the charge.
Live and learn, I guess...
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Tagurit
Plano,Texas,
USA
How to get your money back
#2Consumer Comment
Mon, November 14, 2011
I hope you contacted your credit card company again and had the charge reversed as an unauthorized charge.
Here is the tricky part. Most of these Who's Who scams are located in NY where NY law does away with the 3 day waiting period to change your mind, but here is the key for getting your money back. If you paid over $500 and did not SIGN A WRITTEN CONTRACT - via email or regular mail - then they are REQUIRED to return your money because by law any purchase for a service over $500 in NY requires a signed contract. If they don't have this there is no enforceable contract - regardless of what you agreed to over the phone - even if they recorded the phone conversation.
So - I am hoping you (1) didn't sign anything and (2) pursued this with your credit card company. If the credit card company refuses to help you threaten to go to their senior managment and report them for non compliance with the laws about reversing fraudulent charges on your card given how timely you were in reporting them.
Good luck!
