Complaint Review: The Grant University - IBW Club - Draper Utah

On 9-11-08, this business offerred a free Grant CD as a special offer for the 9-11 tragedy. I checked the website and it claimed to be legitimate and was heavily advertized on 10 major news networks. I requested the free CD with the understanding that there would be a $1.98 charge for shipping and handling fees, and a 7 day free trial membership to the resource library online, which I agreed to.

I printed this out for my records, and it was 3 pages, with no terms and conditions. The only disclaimer I read ( out of all the website pages ( I printed out all 11 pages for my records) stated that the CD and trial membership was mine to keep, but after the free trial there could be monthly fees. I logged on to the website twice within the first 7 days, and found very little resources.

The website did not support any of the web seminars and I was unable to sucessfully sign up for any of the podcasts. Furthermore when I entered the virtual classrooms, they were all empty. So, this 'resource' did not amount to anything. The CD was supposed to arrive in 5-10 business days, but never arrived, so after waiting patiently for 6 weeks I e-mailed and requested that they check on it.

They informed me by e-mail that my membership expired on October 31st, said nothing about sending out the CD. I e-mailed them back stating that I was aware that my 7 day free trial membership had expired (should have as of 9/18) but that I had never received the CD. They also sent me a paragraph on terms and conditions that they claim I agreed to. I was shocked to read that they had been charging me $69.95 a month all the while, and had never sent me any notification that they were charging me, that I had a membership, that my membership had been cancelled, not anything.

So, I called them and spoke to a woman with an Asian/Indian accent who was very polite, but did not verify that the CD had been sent, or offer to send one. She said, so sorry but I agreed to the terms and conditions. So, I filed a disputed charge complaint with my bank which covers the ATM card I used for the $1.98. They replied to the bank and claimed again that I had agreed to terms and conditions that I had never seen before.

The bank stated that " Per Customer Service Representative, I did not cancel until October 21st, 2008", which is not only a lie but coincidentally happens to be the exact day that they billed my credit card for a second $69.95. So per their terms and agreement, my membership should have been good until November 21st.

I did not have any contact with them from the time I initially paid the $1.98 on 9/11/08 until my first e-mail to them 10/31/08 about the CD that I never received. And it was on 10/31/08 that they e-mailed me and stated that my membership had expired on 10/31/08, not cancelled, per the Service Rep's statement to my bank regarding the dispute.

So, my complaint is that I did not receive the CD I paid the shipping and handling for ( I asked them by e-mail twice and by phone once and they still will not send it, or provide me any verification that they had ever sent it). And, I did not authorize or agree to being charged 69.95 on 9/22 or 10/21. If I did, they would not have written me that my membership cancelled 10/31, or told the bank that I cancelled the membership 10/21.

I authorized my bank to place a stop payment order in for $25.00. Now, I have a new charge for $29.95 from the IWB Club - which apparantly is associated with The Grant University, I had to look the number up through the internet to figure this out, the number is 866 607 1071. Other people have also reported having unauthorized charges made by this company from thier bank accounts.

I don't know what to do at this point except put in another stop payment for this one as well. This is unreal. I hope this report helps someone else steer clear of this rip-off scam.

Donna

Gig Harbor, Washington

U.S.A.