I noticed yet again this month that on my husband's primary credit card that a charge of $11.95 showed up under AP9* GalleriaUSA 800-411-8104. I remembered seeing it last month too. When I looked back at last month's statement it was for $9.95.
I asked my husband "What is Galleria"... He didn't know and so I called the 800 number on the credit card. After they did all their asking of questions, such as my name, address, phone number, things they should have already known, I stopped them and said, "Before we go any further..."What is Galleria, what do you do?"... This is when they told me that it's a discount pricing program that I supposedly signed up for via email and that it was affiliated somehow with Restaurants.com. I said, I did NOT sign up for any such thing and I wouldn't even have a clue as to what and where to use these discounts. (Besides... How does one get discounts when a discount card or any other means never came to me?
To make a long story short, I was angry on the phone and the first woman agreed to refund my last month's fees of $11.95. I said, "No, I want all fees refunded." I said, "In fact, how many have I paid?" She said I've been paying these since April. I questioned her, "2004"... Thinking she meant "2005" but no, we have been paying these since 2004. I paid 11 months at 9.95 and 2 at $11.95. I watch my credit card statements very carefully, but this is primarily my husband's card, that I use rarely and just briefly look it over before paying it. She told me she could refer me to the supervisor about the other month's fees. When I spoke with this man, he was very quick to offer a full refund when I said, "This is a scam, I have not signed up for anything, and unless you give me back all that I've paid in, I will be calling Visa and disputing the charges." He agreed to refund my $133.35 within a few days... I will be watching.
Now, this evening, checking on line to see what the GalleriaUSA site looks like, I have realized just how many victims there are out there. Tell your friends to watch out!!! Amazing... I'm not sure how they did it but we all know how easy it is to slip a $9.95 or $11.95 charge by unsuspecting people... Especially like us since we charge everything we buy in order to obtain cash back benefits. I know this is a scam because if it were legitimate, and if I had truly signed up, I can't imagine that they would be that willing to just 'forget the whole thing' and refund my money in full.
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