Anyone who reads this will be well aware of shadowshopper.com's auto-renewal scam. Unfortunately it will probably be too late for you, as it is for me. But there is hope I did get my card credited for the $99.99 but it took a whole days worth of phone calls and a trip to the bank and a notary to make it happen.
First of all if you put the membership on a credit card, call the card company (ie. Visa, mastercard, not your bank) right away and tell them that the charge was made without your permission. Keep telling them that over and over again until they listen. If the person you are talking to wont listen, ask for a supervisor. Make sure they credit your account for the full amount, and block shadowshopper.com from ever charging it again. If you call the credit card company as soon as the charge appears on your account, you shouldnt have any trouble getting it taken off. If you let it go past 60 days, then they may give you a harder time.
If you are a moron like me, and put this on a debit card, it takes a bit more work, but you can get you card credited for the membership renewal. First off, as soon as you see the charge on your card, go to the bank. Ask to speak to the bank manager and tell him what has happened. They will ask you to fill out some dispute forms and have them notarized. You are going to want to do that. At my bank, they got the money back from shadowshopper immedietly and credited my account. If you bank gives you a hard time about anything, inform the manager that you would like a Federal Regulation Form E. This regulation states that your financial institution must help you in the event of a bad charge to your account or fraud.
I also suggest that you do the following after the above steps...
File complaints with the FTC, Better Business Bureau in Carson City Nevada and Houston Texas, file complaints with the Attorney Generals offices in Nevada and Texas, contact www.peopleslawyer.net. If you still have a membership on shadowshopper.com, go to your profile and tell your story of how they took advantage of you. Look at all the businesses that they refer people to mystery shop for, and write the corporate headquarters letters explaining how you have been taken advantage of and how you know that good company like % would never support such mistreatment of consumers. Post your story on here and any other forum or blog or website that you can find. If you belong to any other mystery shopper sites make sure to get the word out to everyone there.
Finally, dont be ashamed or upset with yourself. You learned a hard lesson, but its not your fault. I am a college educated business owner and I fell into the trap too. But we can fight back!!!
Just for your information. Shadowshoppers.com is owned by:
Chris Valeri of Houston Texas 832-443-4760 and [email protected]
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