I received an email about being in the Cambridge Who's Who directory. So, like an unsuspecting fool, I called them and after going through the whole sales pitch with me, this girl M tells me that they need my cc info in order to prove who I am. I know it's sounds stupid, but I really wasn't looking at this from a scam point of view at the time. Actually, I had no idea that it was. So later she quotes me a price of $400 something for 3 yrs membership. I told her that I couldn't do that right now and she could call me back in a couple weeks.
Today I get a voice mail from M telling me that my card has been charged a total of $518.95 and my authorization code is blah, blah, blah. So naturally, I go and check to make sure I heard her right and sure enough the charge is pending.
I called her back and of course, she was at lunch so I had them transfer me to someone else. I was told I would get a call back in a little while. Then I get a call back from M, who had charged my card. I tell her that I never gave her permission to charge me and that all she was supposed to do was call me back today to see if I wanted to do this at all.
She argued with me and said that I told her to wait a couple weeks before charging me. We went back and forth for a bit and then she tells me that she has to send this to someone else to have it credited to me, because she can't do it.in the meantime, my wife decides to get on the internet and google Cambridge and that's when we realized we had been scammed from the get-go.
I again call the other girl C, who is supposed to give me the credit and I finally get her on the phone. She tells me that in order for her to refund me the money she will have to do an investigation. This, she tells me, could take 7 to 10 days. I said that was unacceptable and that I did not want to be in their directory.
She said that I have to understand that this takes time to do and blah, blah, blah. I told her that I will just call and have the charge stopped because it's a fraudulent charge and she didn't want me to do that. I told her that if she couldn't do this asap, then I had no choice but to do it. Then she tells me that she will just dispute that it's fraudulent. We get off the phone.
Now I've called about the charge and I have to wait until it actually goes through before I can dispute it. C calls me back and tells me that she did her investigation and says that I DID give M authorizaton to charge my card on this day. I said, "No, I did not." We argue back and forth and I tell her that regardless of what I told M earlier this month, I do not want their product NOW.
I told her that after reading all the negative reports on their company, I don't want anything to do with them. She tells me that there are negative things about me and my company. So I told her, "If that's the case, then why do you want me in your book?" Then she tells me that the charge was for a copy of the directory, not to be in it.
I said, "Are you kidding? $500 for a COPY of a book I don't even want?" At that point she all of a sudden she changes her tune and says, "On second thought, I think M made a poor decision in who to include in our directory and I am now giving you a full refund."
After reading all the numerous things on the web about them and what they've done to others, I'm really worried now that I am not going to see that refund. I really wish I had some sort of recourse against this. Somebody has got to stop these people from continuing to do this.
It reminds me of all those distance learning schools that were popping up all over the place and giving people fake diplomas, if any at all, after they got them to pay crazy amounts of money for what they thought was a real education. But I'm not lying down about this. I am going to start with filing a compaint to the BBB in NY and then I am writing and calling several media outlets and basically anyone who will listen. I give credit where it's do, but I also complain where it's due!
If this has happened to you as well, you must do all that you can to complain like I and others have. Nothing will get done if we remain silent. Stand up for yourself and fight for what's right! I don't care if it sounds cliche. I am tired of people taking advantage of others who work hard for their money, especially now when it's hard to come by!!
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