I actually was linked to this site while applying for unemployment. The site stated that they would send me a CD that will help me to apply for Private and Federal Grants for the low price of 2.95.
Obviously, being recently laid off, I didn't have much money to spend - but I figured that three buck wasn't a bad investment, especially if I could actually cash in on a grant that could assist my daughter and I (I am a single parent as well).
The $2.95 charge showed up on my account quickly and was listed as "WWW FEDGRANTUSA.com" - which was fine, that is what I ordered.
Well, exactly 8 days later, I receive a charge of $39.95 listed as "FINDER8004666459". The charge was made a little after midnight. I called my bank and asked them if they could tell me what the charge was for - and they stated that they could only tell me the time it took place and that it was an online order. I stated that I didn't make any such order, but they wouldn't be able to help me until their system updated that night and they received more information.
So I decided to do a little digging around on my own. First I typed in the entire charge into Google, no luck. Then I typed in just the number - which connected me to a page based in China with a list of 1-800 numbers - once again, no help. I finally typed in "Finder charge on my statement" into Google and ran across multiple complaints about the site I am now reporting. One of the complaints was here on usacomplaints.com and it provided a number to call. I called the number, on a hunch, and told them my problem and name. They typed in my name, had me verify my address and proceeded to tell me that the $39.95 charge was there because I hadn't cancelled my "free 7 day trial membership" to their website in time, and that it was a monthly charge.
At this point, I began to get irate. I'm already in dire straights and 40 dollars would do some serious damage to my financial stability / ability to pay real bills. So I told the CSR that I had never authorized any such charge. He proceeded to tell me that it was disclosed right before I clicked the "OK" button to order the $2.95 CD. I told him I never saw any such statement and that if it was there, it was microscopic or purposefully placed in such a way as to not catch the eye unless you ran over the entire page with a magnifying glass. I told him that I would NOT pay the charge and that I would dispute the charge with my bank and call the authorities if I had to, but I would not pay for something I didn't agree to or authorize. He rambled on a few more times about how it was disclosed to me properly, but after I cut him off and became increasingly agitated, he finally gave in and agreed to refund the $39.95.
After about 5 minutes of typing, he finally gave me a cancellation / confirmation number. He then proceeded to tell me how there were still two other charges that would be appearing on my account unless I cancelled them. One was $7.95, which would pay for a tutorial on how to make money with Google.com. The other was for a program called "Network Agenda", which is basically just an online planner. I'm not sure how much that cost because I cut him off before he could continue his rebuttal / sales pitch. I told him that I appreciated the offer, but that I would like to cancel any and all pending charges and / or memberships. So he cancelled the Google.com tutorial, gave me another cancellation / confirmation # and then told me that I had to call 1-800-418-9329 to cancel the Network Agenda subscription. I told him thank you and good day. I called Network Agenda and it was relatively painless to cancel - although no confirmation numbers were available.
To summarize, this is the most expensive 2.95 I've ever spent and it wasted a lot of time and caused quite a lot of grief and aggravation. I haven't seen the refund show up on my account yet, but I am typing this after I got off of the phone with these people - so we shall see.
Consumers beware!!
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