JC Whitney - Possible SCAM alert!

[PILOON]

My present computer supposedly had an free antivirus program in the package.
Yeah, 30 day trial that, at that was difficult to activate.
Activation had all sorts of options (I opted for least) for 1 year.
Down the road I found close to $100. debit on my CC that I traced to the anti virus people.

The claim was that they assumed I needed uninterrupted maximum protection!
Naturally they charged the 'Platinum package' !

Got that cancelled and went to AVG free protection.

Might add that about 50% of the installed programs (sounds real good ?) were only trials or partial pgms that all needed updating to be of real use.

 

[DocHeb]

I will echo the mention above regarding virtual card numbers. My CitiCard MasterCard has an applet that installs on my computer and will let me generate a charge card number (complete with 3 digit authorization code from the "back" of the virtual card) that can be used for a certain dollar amount, or a certain period of time. After that time or $ - no more!

 

[dave1949]

NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is opening an investigation into these piggyback marketing companies, WebLoyalty and two others.

You can see the list of retailers in the news articles, about 33 of them as of now.
Dave.

 

[keegs]

I didn't read this entire thread but I'll add that I fell into a similar scam ordering special dietary food from petfooddirect.com.

TLG GREATFUN was charging monthly "membership" fees to my charge card.

There's a bunch of info on them if you google it. I filed an online fraud report with the FBI. Never heard anything from them though.

I was able to stop the billing and recover all the charges from TLG Greatfun within a week of calling them. And once I did, I blocked my card and had the credit union issue us new ones. We use the cards for most purchases so the transaction went unnoticed for serveral months.

I'm not at all sure of this but from a cursory look at it, apparently it's legal for vendors like petfooddirect to sell customer billing info to another business.

I'll never buy anything from them again.

 

[forgeblast]

you have to watch at amazon.com also. to get their free super shipping you have to sign up for a membership....that membership cost so much per month, in very fine print.

 

[schmism]

you have to watch at amazon.com also. to get their free super shipping you have to sign up for a membership....that membership cost so much per month, in very fine print.

to get the free SUPER DUPER shipping yes, but just FREE SHIPPING all you need is for your order to be over a certain amount and you have to pick the button that says free shipping. over xmass i probibly put in 3 or 4 orders of amazon stuff and didnt pay any shipping for anything.


as for how this "scam" is possibly being performed see this story posted today.

Slashdot Games Story | GameStop, Other Retailers Subpoenaed Over Credit Card Information Sharing

 

[James Loehr]

My present computer supposedly had an free antivirus program in the package.
Yeah, 30 day trial that, at that was difficult to activate.
Activation had all sorts of options (I opted for least) for 1 year.
Down the road I found close to $100. debit on my CC that I traced to the anti virus people.

The claim was that they assumed I needed uninterrupted maximum protection!
Naturally they charged the 'Platinum package' !

Got that cancelled and went to AVG free protection.

Might add that about 50% of the installed programs (sounds real good ?) were only trials or partial pgms that all needed updating to be of real use.

I got a laptop from bestbuy BM store in july of last year. The sale included a 6 month anti-virus disc. Last month there was a 41.99 charge on my credit card from Best Buy. When I confronted them they said it was an automatic renewal for the antivirus. Without any notice using my account they made this charge. after much protest from me they did refund the charge and cancal the automatic renewal. This is IMO a bad use of my account. I will stay away from them in the future. They have bad pricing and service most of time anyway.

 

[jinman]

to get the free SUPER DUPER shipping yes, but just FREE SHIPPING all you need is for your order to be over a certain amount and you have to pick the button that says free shipping. over xmass i probibly put in 3 or 4 orders of amazon stuff and didnt pay any shipping for anything.

Steve, Amazon's free shipping on many items for orders over $25 is as good a deal as I can find. Last Wed evening at just after 6 PM, I ordered a Sherwood stereo receiver/amplifier to put on my HDTV system. Amazon offered me next-day shipping, but I declined and chose their free standard shipping for delivery in 7-9 days. Yesterday afternoon around 1:30 PM, a UPS truck rolled up to my door with my amplifier. Unbelievable! The last two things I've ordered from them have been delivered as fast as possible. I LOVE Amazon's free shipping.

BTW: The amp is hooked up and ready for my Blu-Ray player and the Super Bowl tomorrow. Woohoo!

 

[Western]

Steve, Amazon's free shipping on many items for orders over $25 is as good a deal as I can find. Last Wed evening at just after 6 PM, I ordered a Sherwood stereo receiver/amplifier to put on my HDTV system. Amazon offered me next-day shipping, but I declined and chose their free standard shipping for delivery in 7-9 days. Yesterday afternoon around 1:30 PM, a UPS truck rolled up to my door with my amplifier. Unbelievable! The last two things I've ordered from them have been delivered as fast as possible. I LOVE Amazon's free shipping.

BTW: The amp is hooked up and ready for my Blu-Ray player and the Super Bowl tomorrow. Woohoo!

Jim, they have a distribution center in Irving now. My son worked there over the holidays while out of college as a "temp". He said it was quite big and carried most of the order stuff, unless it comes from a mirror vendor. Kind of a smart idea by Amazon too, no reason to inventory everything they sell.

 

[anojones]

For about $80 a year you get free two day shipping on Amazon purchases (not from their 3rd party vendors). It works out well if you order a lot of stuff from them- such as daily use stuff- toilet paper, diapers, baby food etc. Or if you just buy a lot of stuff every year.

 

[dfeck]

Update: I checked my Visa account and sure enough they credited my account 100% of what they took.

 

[EddieWalker]

Good thread. I didn't realize this was so common. I made an online purchase a few years ago and noticed a fee for an 800 number that I didn't request. I contacted them and was told that I had signed up for it when I bought something. I forget who it was that I had shoped with, but knew at the time. Anyway, they agreed to cancel it, but not return any money. I called my Capital One to get it removed and they said that we needed to do a three way call with them. With Capital One on the phone, they denied knowing who I was or that I had an account with them. Different person on the phone, and a totally different response. When they refused to admit that I had the account with them, the lady at Capital One got rid of them and told me that she was canceling my card, giving me the money back and issing me a new card with a new number. She said it was now a fraud issue with that company because it was obvious that I had been charged by them and when they denied it, they where commiting fraud. I got a follow up call from Capital One to make sure my account was good, and to ask me to fill out some forms that they were sending me. I did that and haven't heard anything since.

Now I decline any free offers, any descounts and any club memberships. It's just not worth the surpise that you get to try and save a buck.

As for JC Whitney, I used to buy from them before the internet came along, but every time I look at their prices, I find that there are cheaper places to get stuff. Amazon and Northern Tool are two examples. I also go to Ebay once I know what I want and see if I can find it cheaper there. Sometimes I can, but sometimes Amazon is the cheapest when you factor in shipping.

Eddie

 

[mopacman]

I just hit by complet savings from pizza Hut. They stop my account with them but I dont expect to get my money back. Another place to watch is your phone bill. Att collects money for these scam artest. They add things to your phone bill. When I get one scam stoped they add another scam. This last one for $15.00 a month I could buy things on line and charge it to my phone bill. Larry

 

[Bedlam]

Also as stated back awile on the classmates site this has been done. (and continues)They do cancel but refuse to refund some of the money so they do gain. But the initial company looses one customer. It shows they don't care about the customer. but feel one they can loose as they have several other on the hook.
Doesn't make sense for us but the brains behind them are thrilled.

 

[dmccarty]

Yep watch that phone bill too. Every few months lately I see an extra $10 charge for something not phone related. Don't know what it is. It just magically shows up. We call up and the charge is removed. It has been happening frequently enough so it is not accidental.

Later,
Dan

 

[Ken]

15 years ago we answered a add from Purina dog food. which included our name and address. Only used the dogs name. in about 3 weeks received a Visa card with the dogs name on it. about a month later received a phone call from Visa checking why we hadn't activated the card. Answered her that "Buford" the dogs name on the card had run away with the lady next door and haven't seen either since. We received a letter from Visa the card had been cancelled. Sure ruined his credit.
Companys that sell junk tools and stuff know less than 10 out of a hundred will request a refund What ever the cost must be a good profit.
Gift cards are run the same way. We received a gift card for Kroger Stores. waited couple of months until were in area that Kroger had a store. and the amount had been reduced considerable due to delay in using and service charge. The amount of gift receipt sent with card didn't help.
ken

 

[Baranx4]

Suspect charges on credit cards and online purchases are always such a hassle. About 3 years ago I had an issue with an item I purchased on ebay and paid through paypal using my credit card. My credit card company said we had to give the seller 45 or 60 days to accept the return, since they initially refused it when I sent it back.

I had done this after first filing a claim with paypal and they in my opinion intentionally rushed it through in less than 3 days. Paypal states that decisions can take up to 30 days. I filed the claim on a Thursday evening and they decided on it on Saturday morning in the sellers favor. I filed an appeal through paypal including documentation and photos showing the seller misrepresented the item and themselves, since they listed themselves as a factory authorized dealer for the item and they didn't change their decision.

After waiting the appropriate timeframe I processed the claim through the credit card company and received a full refund. Odd part was I was never contacted by the seller to return the item again, since I stated I would if they paid for shipping and packaging when I filed my claim.

I really like the idea of what wisely using a credit card protects you from. A few years ago a friend had purchased classic bias tires for a car he was restoring. He was contacted by the company that the tires were on backorder and due to the odd size, Austin Healey tires, would take a few weeks to get. He cancelled his order and ordered from another company who had them in stock. Sure enough he gets tires delivered to him within the week from the first company who now has no idea what he's talking about in regards to them being out of stock. After he mentioned that they had spoken to him on his cell phone and he would provide a record of the call. They would take them back minus 20% if he paid for return shipping. After contacting his credit card company the first company took the tires back and paid all shipping.