This is a warning to anyone who might be interested or intrigued by the television advertisement: EPower and Profits. The company is deceptive and resorts to misleading business tactics.
I'm a working professional at a prestigious financial firm and was curious to know more about eBay and how individuals sell products through their service. Quite honestly, I've never used eBay to buy or sell anything so EPower and Profits seemed like a logical first step in gaining a better understanding of the process.
I figured $30 was a small price to pay for education and decided to make the purchase. However, I'm familiar with how these telemarketing companies work and knew they were going to try and upsell me when I called. When they tried, I told them immediately that I didn't want any other products/services and to just send me the original $30 product.
The sales woman, who was obviously reading from a script and trying to do her best to make additional sales, finally said that since I declined the additional products/services, I would have to speak with her supervisor. I was passed over to another woman who identified herself as a supervisor, she too tried selling me the identical products that I just declined. I stopped her immediately as I did the other woman and told her that I did not want any additional products/services other than the $30 product. She said OK and that was the end of the call.
Seven days later I received the product as promised.
I regularly check my credit card statement - even more so after making a purchase like this - and noticed that the $29.95 I made in September '04 turned into $39.95 - the additional charge was the shipping and handling which I agreed to and is not in dispute.
However, checking my October statement, I noticed a $9.95 "Upsell" charge. I wasn't sure what this was so I called the number that was on my statement and it was EPower and Profits. At this point I decided to check the prior month (September '04) to determine if I was charge the same amount sure enough, I was. As I scrolled through my online October 04 statement, I noticed an additional "VIP" charge of $34.95 coming from the same company. So in September 04, I was charged $9.95 and October 04, $9.95 plus $34.95.
Since I was checking my statement on a weekend, I had to wait until their offices opened on Monday to give them a call and dispute the charges. On Monday, instead of calling them (they have 9-5 hours and I get into work at 6:00 AM), I put in a request from their website to have one of their customer service reps call me. To their credit, I was called two hours after I put in the request.
In talking with the woman, who also seemed very inexperienced, I reiterated my concerns and told her that I would like a refund on each unauthorized charge. She said that she would have to pull the recording of my initial sales call back in September '04 to determine if I actually did decline the additional services; according to her, this process would take two weeks. I asked if I should give them a call or if they would call me and she had to put me on hold (for the third time) to check on the answer. When she returned, she said that "... We will likely give you a call but you should also call us just in case." I'm not sure what "just in case" means but nevertheless, I will definitely be calling.
To make matters worse, I called my bank/credit card (Bank of America) to dispute the charges and they said that since I called "... After the charges were made and [I] had transacted business with the merchant..." they would be unable to assist me. However, they did say that should any additional charges be made, they would be able to help.
As of this writing, I am two days into the two week waiting period.
0 comments