After watching Kevin Trudeau's "infomercial, " I mistakenly ordered the "free" natural cures book and the "half-price" weight loss book after being told I would be charged $9.95 each shipping and handling for all three books, plus $14.95 for the half-price book. I declined all offers on the phone for "free" gasoline, trips, etc. As I told them I didn't want to receive endless telemarketer calls. (I have since been inundated with such calls daily.)
After hanging up from placing the order, I had second thoughts, and quickly did a web search on Kevin Trudeau and ITV Direct. As I saw numerous consumer complaints and a current lawsuit against him and his business partners by the Federal Trade Commission, I immediately called back to cancel the order. The person who answered told me I couldn't cancel the order, but I could call customer service. When I asked for that number, I was told their computers were having trouble and they couldn't find the number. I said I'd wait on hold until they could get the number.
After a few minutes, she gave me their customer service number and the website address. When I called customer service (this was on a Saturday morning while the infomercial was on air), I got an answering machine saying the office was closed, and to call back Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm. As I knew time was of the essence to cancel this order before it got processed, I immediately sent an email to ITVdirect.com notifying them to cancel the order. They did not respond until the following Monday, only to tell me that "orders cannot be canceled."
Prior to receiving the email from ITVdirect, I had phoned my Target Visa office to notify them of my dispute of the charges. They told me they could dispute them once they were posted, and that they would flag my account. When the charges were posted on the Tuesday following the Saturday order and attempted cancellation, I followed up with Target Visa Credit Adjustment, who made a 3way conference call to ITVdirect who told us the order could not be cancelled after processing. I told them I found it difficult to believe they could not cancel an order made less than 30 minutes prior, and I doubted it had been processed in that short a period of time. The Target Visa representative went along with the ITVdirect, and told me my only option was to return the half-price book to obtain a refund for only the $14.95.
I learned from the US Postal Service that you can refuse delivery of a declined offer of merchandise so long as you do not open it or mark on the package. I have since received the books, and put a piece of masking tape on the package indicating "Return To Sender: Declined Offer of Merchandise" and now it is en-route back to ITV. I still have the balance on my Target Visa, which I have closed due to fear of additional unwarranted charges. Please don't get yourself in this consumer nightmare!
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