Online scams and mail fraud.
If you have ever logged on to the inter-net, and I’m sure you have, than you have seen the countless adds regarding “Free Stuff”. I’m not one to follow up on these scams but, thousands of people everyday are suckered, schmoozed, mis-informed and finally, duped into giving their address to these scam-artists. My mother was offered free samples of make-up, from a major manufacturer. This company then, sent her a gift set. This, supposedly “Free Gift” as they called it ended up costing her $98.00, automatically withdrawn from her checking account.
When she called Fabeline to complain they, apologized and said they would re-reimburse her account as soon as they received the package back from her. She sent the package back to them priority-mail so, they would receive it back in 2-3 business days. Needless to say, Fabeline, a month later, claimed, they had, still, not received the package. Mom called her bank, which informed her Fabeline had attached an automatic monthly withdrawal of $98.00, from now until the end of time.
She registered a complaint with her bank who, forewarded the complaint to the VISA fraud department which, gave Fabeline 30 days to correct their “mistake”. Twenty-nine days later the account was finally reimbursed. Personally, I am appalled that they could do this, and for 60 days, get away with such a flagrant misrepresentation of the term “Free Gift”. Many other people receive packages in the mail that they didn’t order then, have to pay, out of their own pocket, the shipping to send back unordered merchandise or, suffer the entire bill.
Many of these companies will refuse to take back these packages if they are opened. There is usually a way out of paying for unordered merchandise but, isn’t your time and effort spent, worth something. I would love to hear your views, and stories about this subject, thank you. The name Fabeline is not meant to reference the Maybeline company and this article does not pertain to Maybeline whom, I believe to be an up-standing company that, would not stoop to such endeavors. Again, I thank you. Click one to report a scam or fraud.
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May 20th, 2009 at 9:32 am
THANKS FOR BRINGING THIS UP, AND EXPOSING IT FOR WHAT IT IS! These companies are so ruthless and evil. They call it a “BUSINESS.,’ But when they operate by DECEPTION AND LIES, they are simply greedy, manipulating, dishonest people who can’t see how they are destroying the lives of people who put their trust in them. These people are outright “CRIMINALS” who get away with their evil deeds. I am afraid to believe ANY AD that claims to be FREE.; I was even afraid to try Triond. Everything you look up from, trying to find a court date, rental apartments, free legal advice, and the list goes on. They ask you to fill out all these forms simply to get your information, then they drop the ax, and tell you that there is a fee for an ANSWER. I had to laugh at how these FREE dating services work. Even the “CHRISTIAN” ones. They ask you a million questions to try and find a match. That is FREE, then you wait for someone to respond. When someone responds, they hold the response and tell you that in order to read the response you have to pay a fee.What a RIP OFF;. I hate looking anything up on the computer anymore. I do the E-mail thing, and stay on Triond because I enjoy reading and writing – FOR FREE!