A couple of weeks ago I was checking my bank statement and I saw a pending charge for some company called ShopDani.com. I had never heard of them and since the charge was for $79 I looked them up. It is a site for some membership for handmade jewelry that gets shipped to you once a month. Ugly jewelry, no less.
I immediately called my bank and told them this was a fraudulent charge. It was after hours but fortunately I do most of my banking online and was able to speak directly to a representative. She cancelled my card and reversed all the charges, but I had to wait almost a week for a new card. Annoying and inconvenient, yes, but better than being ripped off for who knows how much money!
I tried to call the company several times but only got a voice mail. Since it was the Thanksgiving Day weekend I assumed they were out of the office and since the bank took care of it I put it out of my mind. End of story.
Imagine my surprise when I got home from work today and saw a large white envelope from someplace called Cafe Saporito with a big label thanking me for my order. I looked at the return address and I became suspicious when I saw that it was from a PO Box in Evanston IL—the same town that ShopDani.com was from.
I went online and tried to find this Cafe Saporito but found no reference to it. I opened the package and a 2 pound bag of coffee from Seattle Coffee Direct and a travel mug fell out. I remembered that I had ordered coffee from them quite some time ago—probably close to a year now—but had cancelled my order almost immediately because I decided it wasn't a good value. I talked with them on the phone and they cancelled my account but I was charged for two 1 pound bags because they had already been sent out.
I received the coffee in due time and used it and thought nothing more about it. I am curious now, however, about this current order. I cancelled the card and I cannot find any new charges relating to this particular order on my bank statement. I will be calling my bank—again—and letting them know about this. Hopefully I won't have to cancel another card!
Isn't there some way that these people can be stopped? I was going to call but realize that it will obviously be a waste of my time. This is infuriating and rather alarming. I do a lot of financial stuff online—now I may have to rethink that policy...
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