I was looking for a home to rent in October and came across a beautiful home pictured on craigslist.com. This listing stated that the pictured home was for rent in the Inland Empire and was for rent for 1,600.00 a month. I called the number and asked to speak with Brandon, the woman stated her name, Emily and that she was his associate. She further went on to explain that this actually was not a home to rent but a home that was entering foreclosure and was part of a program offered by Home Access. She stated that Home Access would provide a listings of all the homes that were about to go to the bank within the Untited States. The fee was 199.00 and came with a money back gurantee, within 30 days. She also stated that the service was accessible online, within a few hours once the fee was processed. The service also helped the user to generate letters to the people direct that were in the process of loosing thier homes. With the confirmed moneyback gurantee I then gave Emily my Visa, bank debitcard number. The last 3 digits on the back of my card were difficult to read. I had to call her back, leaving messages on what appeared to be a residential answering machine, 3 or 4 times that day until she returned my call. This transaction took place on a Sunday morning. I was able to access the website, as she stated, and looked for listings within my area of 5 to 10 miles. I then went and drove to the locations. Three of the homes did not appear to be in foreclosure status, 2 had signs in the yard stating they were bank owned and 2 were gated estates. I returned home skeptical, reviewed the website again and tried to call Emily back at the previous numbers. She never returned my call. I went back out and looked at 5 other homes listed on the site. My gut feeling and the fact that things were not as stated led me to believe that I had in fact been taken. I tried numerous times on Monday and Tuesday to reach a supervisor at the phone number I first called. I left many messages. The refund process took 5 weeks and a threat of contacting the better business bureau and my attorney. I recieved a refund of 199.00 to the account that I used to purchase.
On April 19, while balancing my checking account, via the phone automated system, I realized that I had been debited 199.00 from Orange Future Los Angeles, on the previous day. I spoke with a customer service rep about this and while I was on hold for a supervisor I googled the name, and was taken to usacomplaints. Coms. I read over the listed reports and began to put the pieces together. I headed to the bank and closed the debit card and opened a new card. Unfortunately, this company had also debited another account, that was linked to this card. This transaction actually went through on April 21 and caused this small account to be overdrawn.
I have filed a claim with Bank of America's fraud department.
This company is a scam. They have tried to debit 2 of my accounts 6 months after the original transaction and refund. Stay far away!!!
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