I signed up for the EasySaver program over my cell phone Jan. 2009 when my son was two months old. I forget from which source they originally got my phone# from. It seemed like a good idea at first with all these promises of savings at stores. But I never got around to using these club membership benefits (if at all real, anyway) as to the recession directly affecting our family (job layoff). However, I already paid several months of the $19.80 monthly membership fee and you have to be a paying member for a year to receive the $100 U.S. Patriot Savings Bond. Like another unfortunate customer wrote, with all that $ to this company, we would have been better off purchasing two savings bonds ourselves! As for the $25 Babies 'R Us gift card, they have strict rules as to both obtaining and using by a quick expiration date. I missed out due to being sick. You have to mail in a form by a certain date to get the gift card. I was off by a few days in April. They make you pay for a year for the savings bond, they should give you a year to use the gift card (actually no expirations should be on gift cards as long as the store exists!)
Even more serious is this issue concerning the savings bond as to which EasySaver is giving me the run-around. I've sent certified mail twice regarding this matter. Today I receive in the mail what I think is a savings bond but looks like a fake check. What got my attention first was that it was for $50 instead of $100. So I call the customer service# for EasySaver and get transferred. He said to FAX what I received and he will show to his superiors, one of whom signed what appears to be my copy for IRS tax purposes. Here is what the "savings bond" aka fake check looks like (as well as I can type here):
Regent Group, Inc. Dba Encore Marketing International
Vendor: Fidelity Check No. 020XXX (I left out last 3)
Voucher No. 0819XX Invoice Date 02/09/10 Invoice Amount 50.00 Amount Paid 50.00
Discount Taken. 00 Check Total Net Check Amount 50.00
That's it! Not my name or "U.S. Patriot Savings Bond" anywhere to be seen but a faded what appears to be "Fiel..." under the voucher # as if printer ink ran out. There is no seal on this check and is blank on the back. This "check" perforated not by me. If I presented to the bank I'm sure they would say it's fake and a scam.
So whoever stuffed the envelope "forgot" to include the savings bond and I am going to report this to the Better Business Bureau and to the govt. Agency dealing with Fraud and possible identity theft;
because this company which appeared real has my son and mine's SS#!! They say required for the U.S. Savings Bond. Now I wonder if savings bonds can even be issued by companies such as Easy Saver or only something you can purchase yourself at the bank!
All I have to say is CAVEAT EMPTOR (Buyer Beware!) Had I researched Easy Saver through RIPOFF Reports I would not have signed up as I see at least 285 complaints! The best I can hope for is a refund of Jan. & Feb. $19.80 monthly charge. I would actually like all of last year's charges refunded as well. If Easy Saver doesn't comply, maybe my bank will if I show them this "savings bond" and they see it's nothing more than a fake check.
Of course, fine print always = deception and loopholes "pre-empting" companies such as this Club Membership from "liability." I think that line is B.S. If the company is fraudulent to begin with. And there should be a Class Action Lawsuit to re-coup these monthly fees for all affected members.
Among Easy Saver's fine print I condense here in larger print for you:
"LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:... Cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions including typographical errors... The cancellation of your Club membership and refund of your paid membership fee for the current term (and I stress current) is understood to be the sole recourse"... And if not resolved then only through arbitration with the State of Maryland.
Oh, and I just read that for each year you are a member, you are eligible for this so-called savings bond as long as you are a paying member and sumbit the required application form in time. When I asked one customer service rep on the phone, she did not even know that was a part of their program and another said it's only for the first year.
And get this according to more fine print: they (EasySaver) "... Reserves the right to change, modify, or discontinue this (savings bond) benefit with or without notice." — "how convenient" — for them, to the tune of thousands of dollars a month — that a bank might not even refund if not according to the bank's time frame.
Customer Service? Hello??!!
If I don't get my valid savings bond, then Refund all of my $277.20 ASAP and lose my SS#'s or else many customers like myself will seek prosecution and elimination of your company. We are talking about fake / non-existant U. S Treasury government savings bonds and compromised Social Security numbers (possible identity theft) here!
EasySaver is a RIPOFF in their numerous requirements for what appears to be non-existant benefits and is most likely a front to obtain your SS#s. I've learned my lesson here: don't give your SS# to anyone not required by law. EasySaver makes themselves out to be a legit company with reference to U.S. Government savings bonds, on paper maybe, but dig deeper and the result will be complaints like these that expose them for the Fraud that they are. If enough people know, EasySaver will be put out of business, and the owner and employees will just be out to hatch other schemes / scams.
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