This Nick Marks is a scum business man but I'm going to win this little battle because I know how to play the game and I'm taking good notes.
He promises a "free" DVD about how to make money on the internet. He charges $7.95 postage and handling. During a registration web page they tried to force me to authorize a monthly charge of $47.90. I did not authorize it, I exited my web browser rather than authorize that but the charges started coming anyway. He's been debiting my credit card $47.90 for three months now. Luckily, Visa is on to him.
Going back a bit... ClickBank offered an affiliate program for web developers on a company that turned out to be Marks Enterprise. This company agrees to pay $10 to an affiliate web site if a customer clicked from the affiliate's web site and asked for a free DVD. I put the link on one of my web sites and I used the link myself so I would know what I was recommending to my customers. (In case you're wondering, they stiffed the $10 affiliate fee).
The link is a bunch of hype but you can order a free DVD. I agreed to order it. The web site requires $7.95 postage and handling. That's kind of the internet definition of free. I authorized it.
The web site then continues to enroll a person in this program. It asks you to choose a web site domain name. I already own domains so I just entered random letters. It then asks you to authorize a $47.90 monthly charge. That's as far as I was going to go so I took down the browser rather than authorize that charge. Of course they already had my credit card information for the postage and handling.
I got a bunch if e-mails from Nick Marks, but I didn't get my dvd. He said that the company was doing such brisk business that they were running behind and gave me some pdf files to look at.
On March 31 I was notified by Nick Marks that he had charged my Visa $47.90. The e-mail was a form mail from Nick Marks with the address [email protected]. It said that I authorized the charge, but it was a lie. The e-mail said that I could contact customer service with any questions at [email protected]. When I did, the message bounced because the orders@marksenterprise mailbox was full.
I was upset. I kept trying for a couple of days to get e-mail to them but the mailbox remained full. I looked at the web site, marksenterprise.com, but it does not include any telephone numbers. About April 2 I looked back at the notification e-mail and it included a telephone number: 1-866-928-6085. I called that number. There was voice mail. I indicated that I wanted to order something and it got me to a person.
I told the lady that I did not authorize the $47.90 charge, I hadn't received my DVD anyway, and all I wanted was my money back. She tried to convince me but I insisted that she refund the $47.90 or I would issue a chargeback request to Visa. She agreed. She told me that it would take four or five days for the charges to reverse. That was fine. It didn't happen.
On April 14 I contacted my credit union that issued the Visa Check card. They said that since they had agreed to a refund that I needed to wait for 30 days for them to come through with it. They gave me a visa check dispute form to fill out and turn in later.
On April 24 I called the company again at 1-866-928-6085. I told them that I was about to dispute the charge if they didn't refund my money. They told me that my case had been referred to some big shot and I would get a call to my cell phone. I didn't get any phone calls from them.
A few days later I received an anonymous package in the mail with no return address. I knew it was from them because they were the first folks I'd used my business name on. It had no return address, but it contained more than just a DVD. I didn't open it. I'd already decided I wasn't going to do any business with these scum.
On April 30 I filed a dispute resolution. I included a usacomplaints.com on them.
On May 1 Visa refunded my $47.90 temporarily as they checked into the dispute.
On May 2 Marks Enterprise debited my visa check card another $47.90 for the second month of unauthorized charges. The Credit Union advised me to cancel my Visa Check card and get another one, so I did. On May 14, Visa automatically refunded the $47.90 from May 2 even though I hadn't filed a separate dispute.
On May 16 I called Marks Enterprise to ask them for a return address where I could send this unmarked package that they sent with no return address. They told me that they have a no-return policy. They wouldn't budge. They offered me a refund, but I'd alreay played that game. I told them I would put their no-refund policy on my fraud report.
On May 19 I formally filed a dispute against the $47.90 from May 2 even though Visa had caught the charge and issed a temporary refund as they investigate it.
A few days later I received a second unmarked package from Marks Enterprise — no return adress. I still have the first one and I'm not going to open either one.
On May 30 - the day I'm filing this - I got notificaiton from Marks Enterprise that they tried to debit my credit card $47.90 (for a third time) but the charge was refused. That's because I cancelled the card specifically so that they can't charge me again.
I don't know about the quality of their product's. I'm not looking at their products. They are dishonest and I won't do business with people like that. Thanks to usacomplaints.com for giving me information to fight these guys. Thanks to Visa Check card for investigating it.
Keep your chins up when you deal with scum like this. People like this give my profession as web developer a bad name.
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