Sometime before Christmas, I received an email about a diet patch. I filled out a form to receive more information and left my cell phone number as the contact number.
Yesterday, 1-3-03 Friday, I received a phone call, with caller ID as unavailable. The man on the phone stated that his name was MIKE from Lipoderm... Selling a weight loss patch. I wrote his name and company down, not paying any attention at first.
The product he wanted to sell me was for the weight loss patch called Lipoderm. You know the story from the other reports... A 90 day supply is $199.95. Money back Guarantee... Blah blah blah. OR you can opt for the $19.90 25 day trial, and send it back on the 25th day.
I was an idiot and gave my Mastercard number over the phone to him, but after talking with him for a few minutes later, I had a bad feeling about this... So I explained to him that I didn't want to do this at this time and told him that I would want to talk to my doctor/fitness trainer and research this product more-He sort of snickered (I thought this was strange)-I asked him for his number-which he gave me the 800 #. I asked him if there was a website... He said it was currently under construction. I asked him when I call should I ask for him, and he said yes. Not remembering his name or looking at my notes I was taking, I asked him what his name was, he paused and said, JOHN—Then we hung up. I then realized at first he said his name was Mike. So I started to panic.
I called my bank... They said that the transaction had already been ran through. (Must be why he snickered) I explained to my bank that this transaction should have not gone through. They told me that I could dispute it, and that they would investigate it. I was fine with that, but still not comfortable.
I decided that this was not good enough. I called the 800 number and had no luck getting through, but received the web address off the recording from the 800 number. The web address did NO GOOD. So I did a search on Treehouse Marketing and this was the VERY FIRST web site that came up—Then I really began to panic. OH NO WHAT DID I JUST GET MYSELF INTO HERE???
I kept calling and finally got through to a customer service rep named Sarah. I explained everything to her as I just did above. She put me on hold, and then came back. She said that she and her manager listened to the tape—they don't know why Mike said that his name was John at the end and that they would talk to him about that. (Yeah, right!) And then Sarah said that Mike talked to the Supervisor/Manager/Boss guy named Dwight, and that after my conversation with Mike, he went to Dwight and told him that I wanted to cancel, but Mike according to Sarah told Dwight that he told me that I could not cancel.
Ummm, Mike/John whatever his REAL name is NEVER EVER ONCE told me that I could not cancel. I told Sarah this and she said, well let me put you on hold, I am going to go back and listen to the tape with my manager again. The tape ran out right at the end of you and Mike talking. (Isn't that conveinent!)
Sarah came back on the line and said that she was going to cancel the order, and that she and her manager were going back to the shipping dept, and removing it from the computers and that I would receive a check in the amount of $19.90 from Treehouse. She assured me that this order was in fact going to be cancelled.
Since reading all of these claims of fraud and unauthorized transactions on this website. I called my bank back and explained the situation from start to finish all over again. My bank advised me to shut down my credit card, and report it as lost/stolen. This is to protect me in case they TRY to take out $199.95. My credit card is also sending me papers just in case Treehouse doesn't send me a refund check for $19.90 I can have my credit card reimburse me for the amount and they will investigate it as fraud.
I don't know if I have actually been ripped off yet or not. I know had I not cancelled I just might have been out of even more money. I am hoping that Treehouse actually does send me a check, but I am not holding my breath. I am glad that I found this website when I did and I am glad that I listened to my inner instinct. I am glad it's only $20 and not $200. This has definately taught me a lesson. I will NEVER again give out information over the internet or phone.
Amanda
Detroit, Michigan
U.S.A.
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