On December 28, I recieved a call from an individual who stated that they represented a company called US National Grant Services. This individual told me that my home phone number had been found to be one whose owner was eligible to recieve a government grant for at least $8,000.00. I was told that a processing fee in the amount of $249.00 would be necessary to process this grant. I told this individual that I did not have $249.00. He told me that it was okay, because the money would not be deducted until after the $8,000.00 had already been deposited into my personal checking account. I was asked for my checking account number, and the routing number of my bank, having been told that the $8,000.00 would be deposited to my account on January 3.
I never recieved that deposit, however, I recieved packages for services that I had not signed up for, that I had to then call and cancel before I was billed for them. During the phone calls to cancel these services, I asked them to check and tell me if I was signed up for this "grant" service. They said they found no record of this.
Later, on January 12, my husband recieved a call from this same company. He also asked them many questions, and gave them the bank account number and routing number. He was told that the $8,000.00 would be deposited to our account on January 18. On January 21, a debit hit our checking account in the amount of $299.38. The check number on this debit was listed as # 555879. (Even though the checks we use on this account are only 4 digit check numbers). I had called the bank, before this debit had ever actually gone through, and told them that if a charge in the amount of $299 (this was the amount of the fee that my husband was informed about during his call with them) were to try to clear, that it was an unauthorized charge, and that it should not go through. They assured me that they would note the account as to this. But the amount was not $299.00, it was $299.38. Therefore they did not stop it. I called the bank, they said that the charge had already cleared, and there was nothing that could be done.
Today, February 10, I recieved another call from an individual representing US National Grant Services. I informed this person that we had already paid the service fee, and that we had recieved no grant money, and that we had not even recieved an application package. He said that yes, that was ok, that they were going to deposit the $5,000.00 into our account on February 14, and put me on an automated line, to verify this. When the automated line asked me to verify the service charge to be deducted from our account, I answered NO. The representative picked the phone back up immediately, and asked if there was a problem. I said yes, there was a problem, and that I was not going to authorize ANOTHER charge, because I had already paid the service fee, and had recieved nothing. He immediately put me on the phone with his "supervisor on the floor", who said his name was KEITH LAWSON. I explained the situation to him, and all he wanted to say to me was that I didn't understand, and that I was not listening to him. He told me that he would refund the $299.38 by depositing $5,000.00 in the account, and then had the gall to tell me that this would cost a service fee of $249.00!! I told him I wanted nothing more to do with his company, and that I did NOT want this so-called grant, whether it was $8,000.00 or $5,000.00, it did not matter, all I wanted was the service fee that we had paid refunded to us.
He argued with me a little more, and I argued back. He told me that he was going to FINE me $5,000.00 for harassing a government agent!!! I told him, that no, he would not, that he had no right to do this, and that by the way, I was not harassing him, I was refusing his services and requesting a refund, for services NOT rendered after payment, and that I seriously doubted that he WAS a government agent, and that I wanted nothing more to do with him, his company, or any grants they might find that I or my husband are elgible for, and that all I wanted was a refund! (I was VERY adamant!) He said, (and I quote!) "Fine, then you can go F* yourself!"
I hung up, and immediately called my husband at work, and told him of the entire conversation. He told me to get online and report them to the better business bureau immediately. However, the BBB had no record of this company, and I did not know where this company was based, therefore, I cannot file a report with them. No phone number other than an 800 number that calls an automated system which gives you NO information at all.
So, I looked up US National Grant Services on the web, and I ran across a link to this site, and read another person's report of this company, and it sounded a LOT like our story! I decided to file this report on your site, so that hopefully more people will believe that this actually happens, and will not get ripped off like we did.
I will, however take the advice that I found on this site, in dealing with my bank. It has not been sixty days yet since the transaction occurred, and I was not informed that I could dispute this charge. We were going to consider the money gone, and call it a lesson learned.
But, I am going to dispute the charge with my bank, and I am also going directly to the bank tomorrow, and changing our checking account number. We will have to order new checks and everything, but I hope that this will prevent any further charges from this FRAUDULENT company!
Thank you for posting these reports, they will help, I truly believe this.
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