As part of a sweepstakes / magazine subscription phone call scam (I found this out afterwards!) I was offered to be signed up to "United Benefits" a program which would entitle me to "exclusive benefits and discounts". The initial sign-ip fee is $4.95 to be enrolled in the program. The trial period is 30days and a $40 gas coupon is the free gift. Thereafter, if one does not cancel, $39.99 will be billed from your credit card each month.
Well I got the package in the mail with a brochure detaiking all the discounts and reward programs. I checked out the websites (which all require the membership and group number to log in) and checked out what was on offer. Things such as hotel and flights "at discounted prices" are actually not discounted at all! I compared flight and hotel prices to Expedia.com's prices and Expedia's prices were actually lower! Also, some weird websites like shoptobuy.com were part of the program, where you can check out a very limited range of retail products (like electronics) and see if you would be interested to purchase them. Shipping costs are really high so the "discounted product" is not really discounted, they just add all the costs back via shipping and handling charges! Also, shipping times are really long, like 6 to 10 weeks! Who knows if they even ship these products!
This "Benefit Program" seems like a real dud. Firstly, there is no actual discount, it's more like access to shop at websites which overcharge and take really long to deliver and have no track record so there is no way to know whether they actually do deliver! Secondly, why pay $39.99 per month? There is no benefit at all which costs $39.99??!! Total SCAM!
I cancelled the service immediately!
Beware!
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