I was stopped at a kiosk at the Tacoma Mall by a man from Israel. He wanted me to try his hand cleanser and lotion made from Dead Sea salt. He was very charming and and persistent. I said I couldn't afford his products and would have to come back. He didn't want me to go away without it, so for me, since he likes me so much he would give it to me as a gift. So when I walked over with him he said he didn't want his co-workers to know he was giving it to me for free and he asked for my credit card. I handed it to him and wasn't expecting him to swipe it-but when I looked at the receipt it had the amount of $76.51 put in but then right below it - it said "-$76.51" which made it "0" He had me sign it "just for show". I was trying to to when he asked me if I was worried about my face being broken out-I said yes and he said he had just the thing since he liked me so much-he had me come sit down at the chair this time-and massaged my shoulders and started asking questions like he was really interested in me and showed me products that would help to clear up my face. Again-I said I couldn't afford it-as I was disabled with M.S. And on a limited income. He again said because he really liked me he wanted to give it to me as a gift, I said I couldn't accept another one he's already been too nice and he said please-let me do this for you and acted like he was insulted by my not accepting his gift. So again he pretends to go to charge me except this time he is covering the receipts with his hand and I can only see the "0" amount at the bottom so I think it is similar to the first and I sign my name again. Falling for it twice! I said that I had to go meet someone for lunch-and it was just one more thing let me show you something for under your eyes-by this time I'm really running late to my lunch meeting and said I had to go-he wanted to give me another thing-I said no-you've already done too much. I couldn't accept anything else. After lunch and on my way home I started to have doubts and reservations on what had transpired and decided to check to see if my account had been charged even though the receipt said "0" on it. I looked up my account and sure enough the $76.51 and the $284.18 showed up on my account. I should have known better to think that anything was for free. So I called my bank to stop the charge because it overdrew my account approximately $316.00. My account was frozen because of the overdraft. I called to speak to someone at my bank only to find out that my receipt would actually have to say that the transaction had been canceled.
So I looked at my receipt and it said all sales are final so I wouldn't be able to bring back my product to be refunded. I called the number on the receipt which was a turned out to be a Bellevue Cellular phone number. I explained the situation to the manager-and he said well do you have the merchandise? Then what is the problem? Of course you are going to be charged. He wouldn't give me the number to the Tacoma Mall Kiosk Planet 3 and said he would try to call them and contact me back.
I've never heard back. I finally got the number from the Tacoma Mall Assistant Manager or Security and when I called the man from Israel that had helped me answered the phone and I told him that my account had been charged when he had given it to me for free. He said why would I give it to you for free? Didn't you give me your credit card? It was my word against his word. It was like a bait and switch.
And a very expensive lesson. It was almost as if they knew how to work the system. When I called the police - they said it wasn't really fraud since I have the merchandise. It is bad business practice but not considered illegal. It is my word against his-he said she said. I couldn't believe I had bamboozled. They were so nice and attentive when you were at their kiosk. I spent from 1 pm until 8 pm on the phone with my bank, the supposed owner of the kiosk, Tacoma Mall Manager, Assistant Manager, Security, Tacoma Police, etc. I am embarrassed that this happened to me and I fell for it-but I don't want it to happen to anyone else-especially with the holidays coming up. Don't let this happen to you. Learn from my costly mistake.
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