03/05 - My husband was scammed into purchasing a magazine subscription from a door-to-door salesperson named "Sunshine" who posed as a student selling for rewards points in order to win a trip. She alleged that the average subscription price was $25 annually. She went on to say that she was referred to our house by our neighbor and even went to the extent to name that neighbor's first and last name. She lied saying that this friend of ours had purchased 5 subscriptions, going on to list them to us in random order. Feeling that this was legit, my husband chose a magazine, Glamour (which by the way is only $12 per year if you purchase it through Glamour itself). She wrote up the receipt, while talking away about a whole bunch of nonsense and asking about my pregnancy (clearly noticing my obvious protruding belly). Her distractions were quite clever as she managed to increase the bill to a whopping $59 (due to so-called process and handling fees) and what not. My husband felt leery of this but continued on with the transaction and wrote out the check, regardless.
After Sunshine left, I called the friend that she had mentioned. Our friend stated that she did NOT purchase anything from this girl and that it was probably a scam. Fearing that we had just been a victim of identity theft (or something similar), and outraged at the deceitful actions of the sales person, we immediately sent in the cancellation form attached to the rear of our copy of the transaction; along with a nasty note complaining of our anger with the salesperson's actions. Mind you, this cancellation was dated for 03/05, the SAME day as our transaction. So we were well within the 3-day cancellation period.
By March 24th, we had not received our returned check. I went online to check our bank account and sure enough, our account had been debited $59 on 03/14, showing the copy of the check we had written.
So I called up the number on the receipt to complain and the woman on the line looked up my receipt number. I was told that they were aware of my cancellation, but checks are deposited immediately. Fine. What to do? She tells me to wait for the post card that they have sent that instructs us on how to get our refund. Well, we never received this alleged post card. So I went ahead and sent another nasty letter of complaint, along with the proof of transaction (printed receipt of the cashed check from my online bank acct). I also, on that very same day, filed a complaint with the BBB.
Our transaction dated 03/05. The date is now 04/02. I was told that the refund will be issued within 4-6 weeks of proof of transaction, so I will be on the lookout. We account with a US Federal bank that issues accounts SOLELY to government employees and active duty military personnel. We WILL get our money back. If this is truly a scam case and/or example of identity theft, prosecution will be sought to the fullest extent. There is absolutely no doubt about that. I will be back soon to further update on this case.
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