We had a verbal telephone conversation with a company by the name of Pardons Canada about assisting us with getting a pardon. The agent on the telephone explained to us that we would only have to pay $755 and that we would not have to worry about anything else and we would receive a Canadian pardon and a U.S. waiver. He said he would take out a $300 deposit on the total off of my credit card toward the total. We called him back with more questions before we concented. We asked him if the total covered everything. He said yes and that all we needed to do was pay the $755 and we would not need to worry about anything else. We asked when the total had to be paid in full. The agent replied with we could pay the remaining balance at our leisure and that until it was paid we just wouldnt receive our pardon. We asked if the file was held in limbo because the file was not fully paid and he said no, that they would continue to work on the pardon and that they just wouldnt issue it to us until we paid our bill. The agent did not inform me at the time of the phone call or at any other occasion that my credit card would be charged any more than the $300 nor did I concent any more that the $300. He also did not inform us of the mandatory $631 on top of the $755 that we would have to pay to the government no matter what. I had no idea that this charge existed. Later I found out that they took two more payments off of my credit card without myself being aware and without my concent of $250 in June, and another $275 in Aug. This is a total of $825 dollars that I didnt agree to within that time frame or that it could be charged to my card. There is an additional $70 dollars that was withdrawn and I dont even know what it is for nor were we told about another charge above the $755.
I have not received any information as to the progress or any information about what the charges are for. I have not received any updates or any communication from the company. I noticed my credit card balance kept increasing and found that they were taking payments off of it without me knowing. I immediately called Capitol One and started a dispute for the charges that I did not authorize. I also started a third dispute for the initial charge of $300 because of services not rendered. The credit card company told me that it was outside of the 90 day time frame for a dispute and they couldnt help me with it. They informed me to write to Pardons Canada and request a cancellation and refund in full for services not rendered and due to unauthorized transactions. Only after this did I go back and start to look further at the receipt that they sent and saw on the back of the page they they would be taking payments over a 4 month period. I was completely shocked. I did not agree to that. their website does not explain about the mandatory charge for the actual pardon. The website explains that the fee for a premium file covers the pardon and you are worry free. They also say that the premium file gets the client extra attention, correspondence, updates, communication. Basically you are upgrading for better service.
I received no service at all thus far. I also found out that it is a simple process that I can do myself for only the mandatory fee of $631 and the fingerprinting that we already paid out of our own pockets for and sent to them. I have no idea what my money has been spent on. Pardons Canada responded to my request saying that I couldnt have a refund of the first two withdrawls because it covered them collecting paperwork. There are no examples of what work has been done or what paperwork has been gathered. In my letter I clearly stated that I did not authorize the additional charges to my card. I wanted the file cancelled and my money returned to me. I have received nothing for the $825 that they have charged to me. During the initial conversation they also informed us that the pardon would only take 10-12 months to process. We were especially concerned because we planned to have a destination wedding in the begining of the new year and he again reasurred us that we had nothing to worry about, we could still make our plans because the pardon would be in on time. The small print on the back of the receipt says that only once the file is paid in full does the actual process begin to file for the pardon. After the file is paid in full then it will take 12-24 months to receive the pardon, not that the paperwork is processed right away and within 10-12 months from the agreement. I would absolutely done this process myself had I known that this would happen to us. Instead of a simple process costing $631 for filing the pardon myself, we now have Pardons Canada trying to charge us over $1300 for the same thing except without telling us before the agreement is paid and the credit card number was given. I cannot afford to have my credit card maxed out by this company when I didnt not concent them to do that. I dont want to have something for free. I want to cancel the service and get my money back. I will do it myself and save money I could use for groceries.
I need help please. They refuse to take my calls and apparently there internet server is based in the states not in Toronto like they claim. They have already taken $825, and they plan to take $1425. This is not what I agreed to.