My 80 year old mother was lured in by these reprobates. They modified their business name to include the town which is an affluent suburban area outside of Austin (Westlake Hills). My mother reports going to their opulent office on Loop One (7000 N. Mopac Expressway, Austin, Texas) where she was scammed out of $3395.
There was no name on the building, only the numbers " 7000 ". There was nothing to identify the business, their names were not listed in the lobby. Mom was told to come straight up the stairs. There, the girl at the desk said she was not with the company.
Mom said it's all marble and gorgeous— they bring you in and let you sit there soaking in the richness of the upscale office.
Mom said the back entrance has swan statues and lily pads.in other words, they spared no expense to set the stage and bait their marks. Eventually "Merribeth Stickle" came out and took Mom into her office. Mom said Merribeth had one little room in the back. A tiny office with room for only one desk, near the end of the hallway.
After Mom filled out papers, Merribeth "scored them" and said she would match mom with someone who liked the same things she did. She conned Mom into giving her all of her financial information, stressing they do "background checks" and need to know if applicants qualify to meet the people.
Mom said Merribeth expounded at length on the reasons Together was "better than other dating services— because they're "hands on" and you won't get a recording when you call."
She told Mom she would definitely meet someone— said they even had one member who was 100 years old. This statement indicates "Merribeth Stickle" is a liar— OR—TOGETHER has a pattern and history of defrauding the elderly. Who is going to take thousands of dollars from a 100 year old man and promise him a date? That's right— a SCAM ARTIST or CON.
After Merribeth (Mary Beth?) got through explaining how they select the matches... She asked for Mom's credit card. Mom took it out and handed it to her while they were talking.
Mom said at that point they were talking about the money part— Mom told her she couln't really afford to pay the whole $3395 up front because she had bills and expenses, Merribeth turned back to her computer screen, Mom said she thought she was putting in more date information. Then Mom told her she might be able to pay $1000 down. Then Merribeth handed Mom's credit card back and said, "Oh I've already run the three thousand through."
Mom said, " I didn't agree to pay all $3000 at once!"
Then Merribeth acted like she forgot that Mom didn't want to pay it all and said she didn't know how to cancel it.
By the time Mom got home she was completely upset by what had happened. She tried to call to cancel the whole deal— but all she got was a recording.
After two days Mom was finally able to get a human being on the phone. They gave her different numbers, one in San Antonio. The people on the other end refused over and over to refund the money.
I have spoken to them myself—explaining that my mother is 80 years old and sometimes gets confused— but most importantly let them know that their employee or whatever she was TOOK MORE MONEY than she was authorized to take. Bottom line is—THEY DON'T CARE.
The reason they don't care is because THIS IS WHAT THEY DO! It isn't about finding matches for lonely people— it's about the superficial charm, the hard sell and the final fraud when they get your money and refuse to give you credit& even when they know they took more than they were authorized to take.
It's called theft and it's a crime.
THIS IS A SCAM! We have filed a report with Austin P.D. And we will follow through. Hopefully we can see to it these criminals and crooks get what they have coming. Jail time.
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