I admittedly am a sucker for kids trying to earn some money, so back in October when an African-American young lady came to the door selling this purple cleaning agent she called "Pump-It-Off" I let her show it to me. She told me about it and demonstrated on my vinyl siding and my concrete stoop (there is still a clean spot there by the door). I told her I'd take it. I was a bit surprised when she said it was $49.95 a bottle, but I figured it's for a worthy cause. Now, four months later, in February having stumbled across several complaints of this as a scam, I decided to check into it further.
She had asked for cash, but I didn't have that much, so I wrote a check. The invoice she wrote came to $57.45, and at the time I didn't question it, but looking back at it now, I see a discrepancy. On the invoice she charged me $5.00 "Processing and Handling Charge". That plus the $49.95 should have added to $54.95, not $57.45. That extra $2.50 would just cover the Virginia state sales tax, but a South Carolina company shouldn't be charging Virginia sales tax, should it? I was not too observant at the time, I was glad to see her on her way.
The next day, while I was at work, she called my home and told my wife she had "lost" my check, and asked for another one. My wife was wary and called me, but I told her to go ahead (foolish me!). The girl came and collected the second check.
I had meant to watch online to see if the check cleared, but I didn't see it right away, and soon forgot about it. I had forgotten that I had not written the check from my online bank checking account, but from my credit union checking account, which I seldom use. Today, after reading about the scamming complaints, I tracked down the two back-to-back check numbers, then got online to my credit union to find that, of course, BOTH checks had been cashed! Thus, I ended up paying $115 for one quart of purple soap! And they ended up scamming me for twice the cost of a quart of the stuff.
So I guess I'll be a bit more wary when the next kid comes to the door selling something. Even if it is legit, he or she will bear the brunt of the previous scammer's unscrupulous activity. I may try to call or contact Pumpper's Trust, but I have little hope of getting any satisfaction, especially after four months have passed (and I haven't even used any of the cleaner!).
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