Today a young girl named Danielle knocked on my door and explained to me the points system and all. She said she wanted to go to Rome with her boyfriend, and also to college and this would help her.
So I signed up for two magazines: Harper's Bazaar and Game Informer which was $100 even because of the $15 processing fee, which she did tell me about. I went upstairs to get my credit card and nothing seemed to be missing (in hindsight and after reading reports).
After she left I felt good having donated to someone else's success. I really related to her-she said that she was the youngest member (17) and she graduated when she was 16. I knew how that felt because I graduated when I was 16 and at the job I currently hold, I was the youngest member there at 17.
She seemed like a more honest member so I do feel sorry for her. Now I'm not sure if she knows what's going on or not but she didn't take anything from my house (other than scamming me for the mags but she may not know about that either).
I really have to thank my dad-I took a nap and accidentally left my receipts on the table (I paid with a credit card). He told me it was my money but I should be careful of scams, and that sometimes even though we do things with the best of intentions, people still want to deceive and fool us out of money. So I took these words to heart and thought it wouldn't hurt to look up the company.
I checked the receipts for the company's name and Googled it. The first thing that came up was their website, and every entry after that was various articles talking about the scam. I read over the receipts before this and thought it was strange indeed that they said you had three days to cancel. Danielle told me that it would take two weeks to clear checks and debit cards, and for credit cards it would not appear until next month's statement.
I didn't have time to look it all over, so I did more extensive research after I got to work. I found this site and many others saying that it is indeed a scam. Since I'm still within my days, I'll be cancelling this tomorrow morning-short of taking it to Texas myself, I'll make sure the receipt gets there in time.
I'm really not angry or hurt. I feel really bad though because she seemed like such a sweet girl. After reading the reports from people who worked for this company, I wish I had offered her something to eat or drink or maybe $5 for a meal. I guess I still have a lot to learn about the real world.
However I will be alerting everyone in the community about these kids;-from what I understand they're here all week so I'll put out a message across the county, send e-mails, etc. To alert people of the scam yes, but also to tell them not to be upset with these kids and also to ask them if they'd like something to drink or eat or maybe make a phone call.
This has been a lesson learned-I'll never by anything else from door-to-door salesmen, just to err on the side of caution. If you do decide to, be smart and never leave them alone; also ask to see their permit (they need a permit provided by state or city to sell in the area). Thanks to all for reading.
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