In July 2007, I orderd furniture from Gately's www.designdining.com website. I chose BillMeLater as my method of payment. I already had an acct w/them and had never had any problems. At the time the order was placed, I took advantage of the 3 months-deferred-payments plan. My furniture was supposed to arrive weeks after my order. The furniture didn't arrive when it was supposed to. I went to the furniture website and entered my order#. It said that the dining set was on backorder and that I could "click here" to PROCEED with waiting, or NOT click so that the order would self-cancel. I elected to self-cancel.

Fastforward to my first bill from BML. I shouldn't have received it, first of all. The order had been cancelled. I had not RECEIVED it! At this point, I try to call Gatelys & couldn't get a human on the phone (always a bad sign). So then I call BML, who tells me how to file a formal complaint. The next day, I sent a certified letter to BML, along with the complaint form PLUS a copy of THEIR (BML) terms of service. Per #7a at https://www.securecheckout.billmelater.com/paycapture-content/fetch?hash=PD4106KD&content=bmlweb/bmlwebtnc.html, I am covered and should NOT be held responsible for the bogus charges on my account. Of course, they could care less about their own terms of service (oh but they will!). In early January, I received a written response to my complaint stating that all charges would be reversed, and they were. I thought that was the end of it. Boy was I wrong.

I received no statements for Feb and Mar 2008 b/c there was no activity on the account. This month (April 2008), I received a statement. I thought, "Here we go again." Now here's the kicker. BML allowed Gatelys to charge my account for the charges BML REMOVED IN JANUARY! So now I'm right back where I started. So once again, I call customer service, who tells me that this is NOT a chargeback, and that Gatelys was the merchant that put the charge on the account. I was told, once again, to file a formal complaint.

Let me say this first. Less than one week after I ordered the furniture, Gatelys filed bankruptcy. However, their sites were still up and running and TAKING ORDERS from consumers for at LEAST 6 weeks AFTER filing bankruptcy. When I tried to login to their site in December (when I first complained to BML for the erroneous cill) it stated that it was "temporarily closed" for "updating". What a crock. They were also no longer listed on BML as a BML merchant. So how in the heck are they charging my acct now when they don't even have a merchant acct w/BML??????

Back to the story. On April 17, 2008, I filed my second formal complaint. Today, April 26, 2008, I received a response. BML has changed their tune now. They're saying that the charges are valid "“because the merchant states that you were beyond the timeframe to receive a refund.” Uh, no. That's a lie. There WAS no cancellation policy. There WAS no refund policy. No "refund" policy includes a merchant CHARGING YOU for merchandise you NEVER RECEIVED - CANCELLED OR NOT! I NEVER GOT THE DA*M FURNITURE! BML is in FULL and WILLFUL violation of their OWN LEGALLY BINDING TERMS OF SERVICE by continuing to bill me for this. They cannot provide any evidence of this said "cancellation" policy, no "refund" policy, etc., , and just b/c that fraud of a company Gatelys SAID there was does NOT make it true. And they also cannot provide me with a delivery receipt, much less one bearing my signature. Yet they say I'm responsible. We'll see what the Attorney Generals (in at least 2 different states) have to say, as well as a judge. I'm only 4 hours from Maryland, so I'm happy to go to court b/c they don't have a leg to stand on.

Their worthless Consumer Dispute dept in Timonium, MD is a joke. In the letter I sent to them, they COMPLETELY ignored my questions (which were in bold, underlined text) asking why I was responsible for items NOT received. I'm complaining to the CEO of the company now, and if that doesn't get me anywhere, I'll complain to the Attorney General in my state, in Maryland, and in Nebraska (the CEO is in NB). I will also be filing complaints with the BBB and FTC. I will also complain to TV news "troubleshooters", and last but not least, I am going to hire an attorney. I will fight this, and I will win per THEIR OWN TERMS OF SERVICE. I'll also request reimbursement of all legal fees, travel fees, etc. that I incur in fighting this flim-flam company.

This company does NOT offer "zero fraud" protection - in fact, it's FAR FROM IT. I want to say that I've never been ripped off before, and I'm very savvy about things like this. So, don't think it can't happen to you. It's best to avoid this company AT ALL COSTS. Their service isn't worth the headache you'll endure if you encounter a problem. They could care less if you are ripped off b/c I'll bet that most consumers just roll over and allow it to happen, but they have chosen the wrong one to rip off this time. Unfortunately for them, I'm not going sit by idly while they try to stick it to me. I plan on fighting it tooth and nail every step of the way, and I am going to pull out ALL of the stops as far as media and agencies that I can report this to.

My local CBS station, whose demographics cover over 2, 000, 000 people, LOVES it when people contact their troubleshooters and a big-name company is involved. The more well-known the company, the more this network loves it. So we'll if the old saying about "there's no such thing as bad publicity" is true, because they're about to get some. I'll give them copies of all of my paperwork, including the letter I'm sending to the CEO, and they Google BML and find all sorts of complaints and mention that too (they always do that with big name companies). Hopefully, I won't have to go to this extent, but I will if this isn't resolved VERY quickly.

I opened my Bill me Later account in Jan. 2007, paid for a vacation on the "no payments until 12/07" plan. I have paid steadily every month, and have used this option for online purchases. In December I received an email again hyping the "no shipping charges", through "Bill's Free Shipping". I went to the site, registered and linked to the participating merchants. One of which was Walmart. I placed my order for presents, clicked the Bill Me Later option to pay (as stated in the terms), and was charged $62.15 for shipping! I immediately emailed customer service at Walmart and filed a complaint, I also called Bill Me Later. Long story short. It is almost 2 months later, I have received 3 emails from Walmart Customer service outlining and showing the actual "Bill's Free Shipping" terms, and yes, indeed it is the responsibility of Bill Me Later to refund my shipping costs. I have spoken to date to 7 customer service reps. My claim for shipping was finally submitted last week. No word yet... almost 2 months to the day after the order was placed at Walmart. Then today, I received an undated letter from Bill Me Later, beginning with this month's billing cycle, my interest rate goes up 1.53% to 19.99%!!! This is outrageous interest. I spoke to another customer service rep. She looked into the shipping refund... still no outcome. But, more importantly, she told me that the INTEREST RATE IS NON NEGOTIABLE, THERE IS NO ONE TO SPEAK TO ABOUT THE INCREASE. In essence, tooo damn bad. This company sucks for customer service and for the rates charged. STAY AWAY!!! I have already sent letters to their customer service and I now have a customer service fax number:
(443) 921-1996... send supporting documentation...

On October 1, 2007 Bill Me Later charged me $1960.00 from US Air for a purchase I did not make. I pay all of my bills online so I did not notice the charge until January. I notified Bill Me Later right away. They said I needed to contact US Air and ask them to charge it back. I did but US Air cannot locate the payment with the information I had received from Bill Me Later, they think it is a Bill Me Later accounting error since there is no US Air confirmation number with the charge. Since I missed the 60 day deadline for reporting the error to Bill Me Later (I missed it by 8 days) they will not help me track the payment. Basically they have stolen $1960.00 from me. Now I am out $1960.00 in addition to the interest they have charged me and I received no goods or services for it. I made a complaint to the MD Attorney General and the BBB. Hopefully I can resolve this without a lawsuit.

I was looking for a gift/trip for my husband and I to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. I was looking online thru hotels.com and couldn't get the price to come up on this trip that seems like a great deal. It wouldn't give me the price until I pressed bill me later and then I realized it booked a trip I was trying to price out. I called the hotels.com and they canceled all the charges and then I contacted bill me later about why I was being charged a fee for nothing. A $25.00 fee for nothing and they are now adding $19.00 every month. The customer service department with hotels.com said they haven't heard good things about bill me later and I can testify that it's a scam to lure you in and get your vital info and suck you for every $19.00 they can. They should not sleep at night for what they are doing.

Filed against :
Bill Me Later
9690 Deerco Rd Ste 705
Timonium MD 21093-6936

Complaint Description:
(12/12/07) 11:00 AM EST I made a purchase back in July/August 2007 from a online store and paid it thourgh "Bill Me Later" - 6 month finance purchase offer. Being an IT person and working for a well known bank, I deal with all my payments and invoices online. Upon receiving the very first statement, I signed up with their online website, selected the option to get statements online (paperless), used my checking out to set up payments spread over 6 month period to utilize the 6 month no-interest finance option. I have been getting emails that my statment is ready and also my bank has been prompt with all payments. This month being the 6th (last month), I logged in to the system to check my payments to make sure I was safe to avoid finance charges for not paying the account balance in full. To my Surprise, "Bill Me Later" didnt not honour the 6 month finance purchase offer and have been billing me finance charges from SECOND month onwards. I was SHOCKED to notice finance charges especially when I had the 6-month finance offer and have paid all my payments on time. I called up the Customer Service right away, and Brenda the rep was laughing at me that I didnt check my statements and there is no way they will go and change their system to credit me the finance charges. She kept pointing the finger at me and really mocked at me when I said I want to speak to the supervisor. Have been on hold for 30 minutes and kept hearing to some music. Dont know if I was sent to permanent hold line. This is atrocious, that you will trust a company thats giving you the offer only to be cheated. As mentioned I work for a bank and How can a company like this not have the ability to make changes to payments? Their Message: WELCOME TO BILL ME LATER - THE BEST WAY TO BUY FAST, FEEL SECURE AND PAY LATER. - seems such a sham when they want to us to pay the finance charges because they cannot correct their system or charges WHICH shouldnt have happened at FIRST place. They should have done their SET UP RIGHT at the first instance. Is this how they make money by not honouring the promotion and blaming the customer for not checking the statement. It doesnt surprise me that there a loads of complaints against this company and its billing system.

I have BBBed them today (infact this is the copy of that complaint)

Your Desired Resolution:
1) I want an apology from the REP/Company for mocking and laughing at me for the complaint that I had. 2) I want a refund ASAP for all the finance charges incurred

This case will be reviewed by a complaint specialist at the Better Business Bureau, and then forwarded to the business for their response. It is our policy to allow the business 30 working days to respond to your complaint. You will be notified when the business has responded.

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