I kept getting an unknown call from southern Florida (I recognized the area code as my uncle lives in Tampa) for about 2 weeks. I usually missed the call, but Friday I finally answered it. It wasn't my uncle's girlfriend (as I had assumed) but instead was a fast talking guy (named Tyler) who said that I was the grand prize winner of a wonderful cruise.
Now, I had never won anything in my life, so of course I was excited about this. They transferred me over to collect my credit card info (I should have known better at this point), but only told me that I had to pay $83 for 3 months to equal $249 to pay for me and a guest on this trip. Well, I bought into it.
After they charged my card the "$83" they transferred me again to verify everything. As the woman (I don't remember her name) was explaining more details to me, she slipped in there that TODAY (Friday) my card been charged $249 and that next month, $83 would also be deducted. I stopped her right there and was like "WHAT? I was only told I'd have to pay $83 TODAY!" She said "No, you have to pay $249 today, and then $83 for the next 3 months to equal a total of $498."
Well, of course I didn't have that much money right away and so I told her to just cancel it. She got a little huffy with me and transferred me back to the guy who had collected my information. I told him that I didn't want the trip. He said he had already ran my card through and the $249 was already taken out. I told him to just refund it. He got pretty angry with me and asked why I didn't understand in the first place, and I got angry back and told him that he had lied to me in the first place and that if my money wasn't back in my account by next week that I would file a report. He got even huffier and finally said "Fine, but it will take about a week for it to show back up. Next time, make sure you listen to all the details." And then he hung up on me.
So I went to my bank and explained the deal to them, and they said that if it wasn't back in a week, they'd look into it. I also called that number they gave me, 1-800-203-9783 and demanded my money be given back. The first time, I was hung up on. The second time, the woman said that it would be refunded. So hopefully, within the next few days, I will get my money back.
I'm just glad I realized something was wrong before the whole thing was finished.
0 comments