We received an email on our church's fax machine advertising these laptops that had been upgraded to Vista and on sale for $199. They even added the charming twist that the proceeds would benefit various programs associated with the handicapped.
Our youth and education department was in need of computers and/or laptops and since we'd also be contributing to a worthy cause as well as providing the necessary equipment to our children we placed an order for 3 laptops.
Like many others we too loaded the money pak card and placed the order. With such an offer coming through the church's fax machine we did not deem it necessary initially, to double check on the authenticity of the company or the offer. Shortly after we placed the order questions began to arise and even after several attempts at calling the 800 number on the form we got no where.
We then did our own research (although too late), we found that the entire program was a scam and as disturbing as it is, it was simply the dysfunction of someone ignorant enough to sit up one day and come up with an unofficial and unethical get-rich-quick scheme.
We called GreenDot who denied any affiliation, offered little or no assistance or remorse and who claims that there is nothing they can do help the victims in the midst of this scam to resolve these issues. The rep I'd spoken to even went as far as to tell me that, "as far as the money transfer, no wrong doing has taken place... There was a money pak purchase, a transfer and a withdrawal!" That simple huh?
Even after speaking with multiple supervisors there was still no sense justice or remorse. The best advice they had to offer was for us to simply..."call the police and file a report, " but on who... Them afterall they'd been the ones who handled the transfer! And it was clear that after talking to them, we were not the first of casualties.
Needless to say, it is unfortunate that hard earned money of many people all over has been lost and just as sad that some idiot had the audacity to sit back and reap all the benefits.
For the master mind behind XPcloseout.com, I pray that when you are caught you endure the agony you have cause so many of us and for GreenDot, you may or may not have any affiliation with this scam but the fact that your employees gave the impression that they "could care less" makes you just as bad. You want to be recognized as a reputable company, however, there's a vast amount of us that could have been potential GreenDot customers but have been tainted by this infectious rip-off that was creatively decorated with your name.
In closing I only wish to say that I hope for the sake of your contience or what's left of it... It was all worth it! Specifically in areas where children and their education was involved.
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