Gevalia
Puts Hold On Account, Then Makes Second Charge Caused Bounced Check fraudulent charge card holds

On 05/06 my wife placed an order with Gevalia. The company placed an authorized charge on our charge card which is a check card linked directly to our checking account. Rather than processing this initial charge, they placed a second charge for the same amount on the charge card on 05/13 and never released the initial authorized charge made on 05/06.

This not only denied me access to the amount of my own money that was tied up in their first authorization charge, but also resulted in a check that would have bounced had the bank not transferred money from savings at a substantial fee to cover the amount of the check that Gevalia caused to bounce!

The bounced check was for my electric bill, and could have resulted in not only a loss of electric service and additional fees and charges to restore that service, but also criminal charges for passing a worthless check.

The first call to their customer 'service' line on 05/22 only resulted in being told that unless we faxed proof of their wrong-doing they could do nothing about it. They were also unwilling to escalate the call to a supervisor. The first request for escalation resulted in the call being referred to another customer service representative, not someone with authority to actually do something. We were told they could not look into their own transaction records to verify what our bank told us happened.

The second call also on 05/22 resulted in a promise of a full refund.

Even if the full refund is granted, I will NEVER do business with this company again and advise everyone else to likewise avoid them.

A complaint call was also placed to their parent company, Kraft Foods, on 05/22. We were told their complaint department would be closed until Tuesday, 05/26.

Company: Gevalia
Country: USA
Site: www.gevalia.com

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