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J BATES
December 5, 2009
fraudulent charges on Visa Debit card
In July I signed up to pay $2 for a trial offer of Tea Francais tea. The next day I noticed a charge of $39.97 on my bank statement for my Visa debit card. I immediately called Tea Francais and demanded the order be cancelled and my money refunded. The lady said I failed to read the fine print of the ad which stated that signing up for the $2 trial offer immediately bound me to sign up for monthly shipments at $39.97. I told her I read the ad carefully and the so called fine print was either too fine to read or not there in the first place. I again demanded the pending charge of $39.97 be removed from my bank statement. In about four days the charge was deleted and only the $2 was charged to my account. That was five months ago. I even received via email a statement from the company that my account had been cancelled and the pending order for $39.97 was cancelled. Needless to say, I deleted the email in September, because I thought the matter was closed and no more shipments came and no more charges were made to my debit card. I did receive the promised trial offer shipment in July. Then last week, the Seattle Coffee Company charged my bank account for $79 OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE!. I immediately went to my bank and filed a form for fraudulent charge against the company and the bank is investigating. My bank temporarily refunded the $79 but sent me a letter that after 90 days if the charge was deemed to be legitimate that I will have to pay the bank back. I also have cancelled the Visa Debit card used illegally by Seattle Coffee and my bank issued a new card to me. Three days ago I received a package of Tea Francais tea and went to the Post Office and returned the package to the company. Believe me, I have learned my lesson! Even though I have not had any problems in the past, ordering off the Internet, I am truly wary of doing so in the future! It is worth the time to check out the reputation of a company on the BBB before ordering, even if it is only a trial offer by any company.
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