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07/18/2009: "Credit Card Scam Blues"
So a few weeks ago I found a strange charge on my card from www.gglprofit.com, or Google Profit, which apparently has nothing to do with Google. When I called them to dispute the charge they wanted all sorts of personal information of mine, so I said no thanks, though I may have given them my phone number, I don't recall (later they called me back and said, we're sorry, now we will help you with the charge; I let voicemail take it). I called my credit card company to dispute the charge and they refunded it with no problem. A few minutes later I noticed there was a pending transaction on the same card which I knew nothing about, from APL IPOD, or something like that.
So, then I called my credit card company again and they suggested I change the number of the account, basically mark it lost/stolen, which I did because I figured that would settle things. Sure, it was a pain to have to change the card number with my online billers, such as Netflix and Amazon, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about more unauthorized charges, right?
Well this morning I was looking at my credit account online and noticed a charge for $7.95 from www.fedgrantusa.com. When you go to their website it looks like a scam site. So I called my credit card company again, and again they told me I should call the company who made the charge first. So I did, and just like gglprofit they wanted personal information; but this I time when I said I wasn't going to give it to them they actually hung up on me.
When I called my CC company back this time I got someone intelligent and he told me that they charged me through my old account number, which they could still do because for some dumb reason recurring charges placed by a company that has previously billed you carry over to your new account number. He said many of these companies are all really the same company and have different branches. So, possibly because gglprofit charged me before this other company can now charge me with a recurring charge because they might belong to the same parent company.
So, the intelligent guy I spoke with said the only way to deal with this was to close my old account and have most of the limit transferred to a new account. He had to leave $500 on the old account and said once the fedgrantusa charge was refunded I could close that account and move the remaining limit to the new credit account. However he said it could take 60 days to dispute the charge and so who knows how long I might have to wait to finish this matter. And what if gglprofit or fedgrantusa try to bill me in the upcoming months from another sister company?
This is really a whole big mess and it seems my credit card company doesn't really care too much that I have to deal with it. When the intelligent guy transferred me to the disputes division (of course you always have to talk with at least 5 people when dealing with a billing issue before you can get a satisfactory result) they called www.fedgrantusa.com and told me I should try to work it out with them, but not give any personal information; so they transferred me to the scoundrels and of course the woman wanted my address and phone number and tried to weasel them out of me and wouldn't let me get any further.
So I eventually I hung up on her and called my credit card company back. This time the woman I spoke with said I had needed only to try to contact fedgrantusa once, and since they weren't satisfying my request the credit card company would dispute the charge for me, phew! But of course now I still have to wait for the charge to be canceled before I can cancel this card account.
And what I just learned is that my credit card company has not been dealing with this issue correctly! When I asked the woman who credited my account (not the same woman who said they would dispute the charge and then transferred me to the current woman) if it had blocked the company charging me she said no because she had issued me a credit but not disputed the charge! Are these people morons, do they work for a institution of idiots! The reason she didn't dispute it was because it was for a low amount and because I didn't have any previous account statements that could have demonstrated I had been improperly charged in the past. And why didn't I have these account statements? Because I changed the number on my account because of the other improper charges! This and the fact that the company has a different name than the last one who charged me (gglprofit), though I swear the questions their customer service people asked me were in an identical manner; actually I could have sworn it was the same woman I talked to in both times!
Maybe at least now I can cancel the old credit account? But will fedgrantusa or whoever then try to send me a bill for these charges? I would hope not, especially since I would hope that they don't have my address. But could this be some sort of identity theft?
And why can't they do something about these companies? I imagine weak credit policies because they don't want to reject a potential merchant's charges. The intelligent guy I spoke with also said that many of these companies are located over seas and so they can't really be prosecuted. If anyone has found any reliable and reasonable approach to dealing with these sort of companies or this sort of situation I would certainly be happy to hear of it.