On December 4 at approximately 4pm, I received a phone call from the Community Reading Club of Fort Lauderdale. They told me that they were calling because some of their other customers were "being harrassed" by phony magazine companies and they wanted to verify my information so they could prevent this.
They had all sorts of personal information about me: my name, my address, my home phone number, my work number, my debit card number and my social security number. They were very confusing to talk to and soon I found myself answering very strange questions (ie, how much do I make in a year, etc.) I soon became suspicious and hung up.
They called back in a few minutes and this time, they talked to my wife. They told her that I had made an account with them a few months ago. This was the first either of us had ever heard from them! They went on to say that they were going to take $49.95 out of my account every month for the next 26 months, as per a "verbal agreement" I had supposedly made over the phone. They said they had my voice on tape confirming this agreement. I told them to cancel whatever subscription they thought I had. They told me that I had missed the deadline of 72 hours and that the "contract" cannot be cancelled.
Furthermore, they told me that they had not taken out any payments and would not.instead, they informed me that they would send me a copy of the agreement (how do you send a copy of a "verbal agreement" on paper?) and turn me in to a debt collector.
Since they had my debit card number (don't know how they got it—I never give that information out!) I decided to cancel my debit card and apply for another. I called the bank immediately. The bank told me that CRC of Fort Lauderdale had taken out $49.95 at 3:55pm that day! That was 5 minutes before they called.
The whole phone call with CRC of Fort Lauderdale was highly unprofessional; the individual I talked to did not even give his name, the company's address, or a phone number where they could be reached. I was able to get a phone number from the bank (it was listed on the "transaction"). The only information I could glean online was this company's supposed website, also very unprofessionally rendered, with virtually no information at all.
I wasn't even sure that this was actually a valid company so I checked online. That's how I found this website. I hope that this can be of some help to me and to others. Of course, even if I had known about CRC of Fort Lauderdale, it would not have mattered. They already had my financial information and had used it before I even knew of them.
0 comments