The worst ripoff I have ever been victimized by was started by an e-mail that I answered in May or June."Get paid to shop". Decided to look into it. Was offered a $5.00,30 day trial membership and received an avalanche of e-mails everyday after being foolish enough to take the bait.
Checking into applying to accept these assignments was always quite time consuming and complex. Usually the business which was practically always an eating establishment or hair salon was many miles away from the area that I live in. Yet they seem believable because they don't ever claim that you will be paid hardly any money. Generally free meals for one or two people. Usually they want you to take a digital camera with you for the visit and sometimes even request that you ask your server if you can take a photo of him or her. The emphasis when you answer their e-mails is to "upgrade" your membership to a silver or gold level.
This implies that by doing so you will be eligible for more lucrative and exciting "assignments". I ignored and clicked out of these pop-up boxes and after awhile only rarely checked their e-mails.
Thirty days went by, I was busy, no longer considering that they would send me any info that I would in any way be interested in using. Needless to say, I never requested to subscribe to any extension of a membership with this company. No money was deducted from my account by them. I read their website to see if there was any phone number to call them and cancel. There wasn't any and naively I didn't delve further.
So naturally, about 90 days after I had given them my debit card number (and of course, only had about 20 bucks in my account) all of my little 6 dollar checks to buy groceries, etc. Bounce.
I call the bank (now J.P. Morgan Chase) and am told that $59.95 was withdrawn from my account. After a few days, I call back and am told Shadowshopper took my money. No address or phone number. I e-mail these filthy sleazeballs. I dispute the charge with the bank, trying to stay calm but realizing that what I'm saying while completely true is making me sound like an idiotic mental case.
I have to pay all of these returned check fees which keep snowballing higher and higher the longer it takes me to pay them. The bank credits me back the 59.95. About 60 or 90 days later they pull the rug out from under me again and checks again bounce. Shadowshopper was determined to be in the right. I was then given an e-mail address to correspond with them by the bank. I e-mailed something to them. I received a response from them that implied that I was getting what I deserved because I was an ignorant moron and didn't have the sense that would fit on the point of a pin because I was supposed to have clicked onto another page of their website and then to an additonal page after that and then if I did not want to be automatically charged at any time after the initial 30 day $5.00 trial membership, I was supposed to have clicked an "X" into a small circle next to a statement "no, I do not want to renew". I can't understand how this could be legal and I wish that I could sue them and/or put the word out on the show (Clark Howard or any other).
It still makes me sick thinking about this. This incident cost me at least $500.00. Of course the bank took their side because they are the ones that benefitted the most from it. Since this happened I have heard several advertisements for this or a similar company. I've received mail trying to get me involved in this again. Also e-mails. It upsets me that they've gotten away with this and is troubling because I've never heard any warnings out there about them.
Marcia
Dayton, Ohio
U.S.A.
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