Hometown Financial Services, DBA CCS Card Search, DBA Card Processing Center
Hometown Financial Services, AKA CCS Card Search, AKA Card Processing Center ripoff fraudulent dishonest unresponsive credit card scammers

This company uses mass-postcard mailers with "100% APPROVED FOR CHEXCARD, ACCEPTED AT ALL MASTERCARD LOCATIONS" as the tagline. Postcard ad claims, "Simply call the toll-free number to activate your ChexCard TODAY!" All you need is to be 18 and have a valid checking or savings account. Their return address information is as follows:

Card Processing Center
PO Box 178197
San Diego, CA 92177

A call to 1-800-862-1720 puts you through to a call center operator who refers to the company as "CCS Card Search" and explains all that you'll be getting a ChexCard MasterCard with a limit between $2000 and $4000 loaded on it!

In addition to this wonderful card, you'll also receive an extensive and resourceful credit repair package, up to 3 ADDITIONAL credit cards with undetermined credit limits! All for an upfront charge of $199 that can be debited directly from your bank account!

They then record a part of the conversation where you acknowledge what all you've had explained to you and that you will receive the products within 10 business days from the day they withdraw your payment from your checking account. When the $199 is debited from your checking account, the EFT information identifies the company as HOMETOWN FINANCIAL SERVICES.

They have their transactions processed through a third-party company called AFG (Automated Financials Group).

There seems to be just a couple of problems. First, you don't actually receive the products within 10 business days.in fact, you don't receive ANYTHING AT ALL! I placed my order in JUNE and have received NOTHING.

What's more, my attempts to seek any information regarding the status of my order through the customer service number the company provides (1-800-862-1678) have been futile, as most times I was diverted to a voicemail system where the only choice is to leave messages, which were never returned.

The few times I actually did reach a rep directly, I was given a dismal level of assistance and empty promises that someone higher up the chain of authority would research my situation and call me back. To date, I have yet to receive the first phone call from anyone representing Hometown Financial.

I've been round and round with my bank who refuses to grant me a provisional credit on the $199 because, as they claim, I authorized the debit and they're afraid that Hometown Financial will never send the refund through to them and they'll be out of pocket for the money. The VP of my Credit Union even said she's granted provisional credits for smaller amounts for other people, so essentially she COULD do it, she just wouldn't do it for ME.

I can't seem to get them to realize that to grant me the refund, it goes to Hometown Financial's BANK, who will debit their account and send the money to my bank without Hometown Financial even being part of the equation.in short, I have a crappy, uncooperative bank that I'll soon be premanently removing my money from... So I've been doing all the legwork myself.

I managed to get the name and number of the owner of the company, and spoke with him at length about my situation and expressed my desire for a full refund. I also happened to find out that the call center operators are misrepresenting the product to customers over the phone by telling them they'll have between $2000 and $4000 loaded on the ChexCard MasterCards they get, when according to the owner of the company the cards are delivered with empty values on them. Gee, go figure.

Even better, he claimed they've been having problems with their fulfillment house this summer and have lost a lot of orders. I let him know that as lame an excuse as that is, it doesn't exempt them from the fact that I left countless messages with voicemails and live people at the customer service number and nobody had the decency to dig up a tracking number, inform me of the problems in shipping, or even follow up with me with a phone call.

After telling him all this, the owner still had the audacity to try and sell me on the friggin' product and imply that the "contract" I made with them didn't really allow for any refunds on returned products!!! I reminded him that I have yet to RECEIVE anything, and that when I did I would promptly return it, unopened, in anticipation of the refund his company would be processing for me if he wanted to avoid any legal proceedings. He claimed he needed to have a meeting with some of his people and get back to me this past Monday with the plan on how and when I would get my refund.

When I didn't hear from him on Monday, I called and left messages that have yet to be returned. When I transfer to his admin assistant, she always claims he's either unavailable or in a meeting and won't even take a written message for me.

With the 60-day statute of limitations rapidly approaching, yesterday I sent written notice of a 10-day refund demand via certified mail, informing him that by law, a written notice of a refund demand within the 60 days will supercede the expiration of the statute, summarized the entire ordeal, and told him if my refund is not processed within 10 days from the date of the letter I would utilize the full scope of legal resource available to me in order to pursue them.

I CC'ed my attorney and the president of AFG, the third-party company who processes their customer transactions, whom I've been in contact with a couple of times and says this company is already on thin ice as it is. So maybe, JUST MAYBE, I'll get my money back in the next few days.

I've also sent a report to the California State Attorney General's office on them, requesting that they at least look into how they're doing business and ripping their customers off. A quick trip to the California Business Portal revealed this information:

HOMETOWN FINANCIAL SERVICES, LLC
Number: 200211610058
Date Filed: 4/25
Status: active
Jurisdiction: NEVADA
Principal Address: 8969 KENAMAR DR STE 113, SAN DIEGO, CA 92121
Agent for Service of Process:
ERIC MURPHY
PO BOX 178174
SAN DIEGO, CA 92177-8174

As you can see, they've only been in business since April... They don't even have an account established with the Better Business Bureau yet. They aren't listed in the Yellow Pages anywhere in the state of California. No website to be found.

Their receptionist has evidently been instructed not to give out the company's physical address over the phone, and would only give the p.O. Box address.

Gee, you'd think if they were a reputable business, they'd be more interested in advertising themselves than trying so hard to hide themselves from general public record!

What do you suppose they have to hide? I made sure I sent a copy of my certified demand letter to both addresses, so one way or the other, they'll get it!

If anyone reading this has gotten one of their postcards, do yourself a favor... THROW IT AWAY! It's just one more confirmation of the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, chances are, it is!!!

Dan
Atlanta, Georgia

Company: Hometown Financial Services, DBA CCS Card Search, DBA Card Processing Center
Country: USA
State: California
City: San Diego
Address: 8969 Kenamar Drive, San Diego, CA, 92121
Phone: 8583483480

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