Great fun? How about absurd discontent. Unauthorized chargers of an unwanted, seemingly invisible service! I noticed a charge for $14.99 on my check card from TLG GREAT FUN. It was posted 20 August 2007, (pending transaction), which was suspect because I hadn't used my card in about a week. I immediately called their company. No surprise when a male automated voice picked up the phone. I waited for a minute or two, and then this young man answered. To my total awe, he seemed mentally challenged. I wish I were inciting fiction to add appeal to this story, but in fact the man who claimed to be "Johnny," (I won't bother trying to pronounce his last name-it seemed too ridiculous to merit truth) was very boisterous and sloppy in the function of speech. This was after I stumbled across the complaint website mind you, so I had "scam" probing my conscious. This conversation amounted to nothing more than "Johnny" loudly telling me, a dozen times at least, "... sir you're breaking up..."-"... I can't hear you..." In a moment of frustration I asked to speak to a supervisor; I told Johnny I needed someone who spoke English. He accurately pointed out that he could in fact speak the language. At any rate "Johnny" transferred me, and after a short interlude of elevator music, Angela Jeffrey, apparently "one of the" shift supervisors, got on the phone.
After asserting there was no way an unauthorized charge could have taken place- Ms. Jeffrey claimed that "customers of sites" such as "www.deepdiscount.com, www.cheaptickets.com, and www.office.com," and ostensibly the like, opted or authorized a membership to TLG GREAT FUN. This was after I conveyed the collective grievances of many (What is this charge and why?) I also pointed out that my purchases through deepdiscount.com were made over a month ago (July 3rd.) When I asked for the reasoning behind the delayed charge, she didn't convince me anything short of fraud had taken place when she said the membership starts only after a "30 day trial period." Well, this seems to defy logic because the purchase charge from the sponsor site(deepdiscount), and supposed enrollment of membership in TLG GREAT FUN occurred 3 July. To point out that, that is in fact over thirty days is to seethe with unwarranted frustration.
Ms. Jeffrey gave me a verification number and assured the credit of $14.99 will be processed within 10-15 business days. In this vacuous age of network, it would behoove all persons who purchase from online merchants to make certain of the small print, privacy clauses, and indeed tiny checked boxes from non-apparent affiliates.
Making a legitimate complaint, i.e. BBB, might help pressurize change. I myself will take that action 15 business days from now, unless of course I am credited the $14.99 prior to that. The ethical practices of online merchants, their subsidiaries, third party affiliates, cannot at present be monitored with any real success. As always, it takes the people affected by malevolence to force a change upon the unjust actions of individuals and commercial and governmental entities- not simply for those harmed, but also for those who have been and have yet to be harmed. To do nothing is to be complicit. |
370 days ago by Robin Wyvill [