The holidays are a time of joy for many people. They are also, unfortunately, the perfect time for predators, identity thieves, and scam artists to pick off as many frantic shoppers as they can get.
Here's one shopping scam I stumbled across myself.
I was in a hurry, of course, to get my purchases done in time for the holiday, so I sidestepped one of my very top rules--ALWAYS LOOK FOR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS ONLINE FIRST--before making an online purchase.
In my rush, and to my regret, I overlooked that longtime rule. I called and placed an order for a small appliance known as a RediSetGo cooking device. This was intended to be a gift for an out of town family member who had an interest in a small cooking appliance she saw in a recent infomercial.
When I called to place what I thought would be a quick order, that could be easily shipped to another state, I found myself trapped in a lengthy recording that included an array of offers for additional items that the automated voice relayed could be simply added to my order -and of course my credit card.
It didn't matter that each time the recorded voice asked "Would you like this product added to your order" I declined with a resounding NO, the recording would excitedly respond with a "Great, we will add that to your order..." and move on to tell me about the next item on their long list.
At one point they slid in a customer service number to call if I wanted to cancel the add-on of a recipe of the month club. That number flew by quickly--but not before I jotted it down, hoping that I wouldn't need it. I assumed that prior to the end of the call I would be asked to confirm the amount of the order and I could then simply cancel all they were tacking on to the order--and cancel the product order too! But that chance never came.
At the end of the automated call, they not only didn't give me the chance to opt out of the order, they did not give me the total cost of the order, nor did they allow me to confirm the price or the place I would want it shipped to. Nothing! All I heard at the end of their lengthy list of product offerings was, "Thank you. Your order has been confirmed."
But how much of an order, and what did they charge? Now I knew I had a mess to clean up.
I had an order coming to me that wasn't what I had intended to purchase--and who knew at what cost? I just wanted to quickly correct the problem and move on. I immediately called that customer service number --the one that was hidden in their long sales pitch.
I reached Carl, who confirmed that I was speaking to him in India. He said that they couldn't cancel the order until it entered their system, 24-48 hours from when I placed it.His advice was to wait and call back then.
I didn't wait. I immediately emailed the customer service department to cancel my order and followed up that email with a second email the next morning and a phone call as well. This was all well within the 24 hours of placing the order. When I called customer service, this time I was told it was now TOO LATE to cancel as the shipment was already on it's way. And then the fun began.
Emails--all with the same wording--like a form letter machine would spit out. All from various name people all continuing to tell me I would be responsible for shipping the item back to them. I responded that I would reject the item as undeliverable and if it was left at my door I would not take on the expense or burden of returning it. I told them that I believed this was unfair as all attempts to cancel this order were futile and their ongoing attempts to refuse consumers the right to cancel orders and deny additional products and charges to their card was in my view a deceptive practice.
Each complaint brought another form letter. I have documented now more than a dozen emails from the so-called customer service department. Each letter tells me, in essence, tough luck, it is too late to cancel, the order is in the warehouse being shipped, etc. and though I did get a letter agreeing to refund my card, I was also told it would be charged again if I didn't send the product back within 30 days.
This appears to be a pretty clearly way for a company to take advantage of consumers. Tacking on products people never really ordered or wanted and making it impossible for them to cancel seems like a scam aimed at padding their pockets and ripping of unsuspecting consumers. All companies like Redisetgo has to do is count on the futility of returning anything to discourage the average consumer. The consumer ends up with the product--and the bill--because the return process is so difficult and time consuming that he or she gives up. I am obviously not one of those consumers!
I went online to do what I should have done in the first place. I searched for complaints against this company and lo and behold, without much digging at all, I came across complaint after complaint that sounded identical to my experience with this company. I could have easily replaced my name for the other victims, all relaying the same complaints and some worse, charges to their cards in excess of $300.00! Unable to cancel, unable to stop credit cards from incurring hefty charges--the list was endless.
To illustrate my point, here are a sampling of links taken from the many online complaints.
ComplaintsBoard.com
and
RipOffReport.com
and
Gaiam Americas Complaint
And here's a site that shows the RediSetGo infomercial and if you scroll down to the comment section, you will find many more complaints of the same nature, all that only serve to prove these deceptive sales practices have been a long time problem.
Here are a few complaint excerpts;
I think you get the point...and I hope that someone who has the power to stop this behavior does too.
I will never again overlook my #1 rule -and neither should you. Do your homework before purchasing from a company you don't know -no matter how legitimate they may appear. Don't let the holiday rush get you into hot water!
I have filed a formal complaint with the Florida State Attorney General's office and will follow through with other appropriate agencies as time allows. If you have complaints similar to these noted, feel fee to email me or leave a comment.
Let my rush to place an order -slow you down. Do your homework before picking up that phone or placing an order with a company you don't know.
READ UPDATE 2011--Another consumer story: Redi-Set-Get Scammed!![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=0d01c9d3-8b5d-451b-9414-ddf5f3a603eb)
Here's one shopping scam I stumbled across myself.
I was in a hurry, of course, to get my purchases done in time for the holiday, so I sidestepped one of my very top rules--ALWAYS LOOK FOR CONSUMER COMPLAINTS ONLINE FIRST--before making an online purchase.
In my rush, and to my regret, I overlooked that longtime rule. I called and placed an order for a small appliance known as a RediSetGo cooking device. This was intended to be a gift for an out of town family member who had an interest in a small cooking appliance she saw in a recent infomercial.
When I called to place what I thought would be a quick order, that could be easily shipped to another state, I found myself trapped in a lengthy recording that included an array of offers for additional items that the automated voice relayed could be simply added to my order -and of course my credit card.
It didn't matter that each time the recorded voice asked "Would you like this product added to your order" I declined with a resounding NO, the recording would excitedly respond with a "Great, we will add that to your order..." and move on to tell me about the next item on their long list.
At one point they slid in a customer service number to call if I wanted to cancel the add-on of a recipe of the month club. That number flew by quickly--but not before I jotted it down, hoping that I wouldn't need it. I assumed that prior to the end of the call I would be asked to confirm the amount of the order and I could then simply cancel all they were tacking on to the order--and cancel the product order too! But that chance never came.
At the end of the automated call, they not only didn't give me the chance to opt out of the order, they did not give me the total cost of the order, nor did they allow me to confirm the price or the place I would want it shipped to. Nothing! All I heard at the end of their lengthy list of product offerings was, "Thank you. Your order has been confirmed."
But how much of an order, and what did they charge? Now I knew I had a mess to clean up.
I had an order coming to me that wasn't what I had intended to purchase--and who knew at what cost? I just wanted to quickly correct the problem and move on. I immediately called that customer service number --the one that was hidden in their long sales pitch.
I reached Carl, who confirmed that I was speaking to him in India. He said that they couldn't cancel the order until it entered their system, 24-48 hours from when I placed it.His advice was to wait and call back then.
I didn't wait. I immediately emailed the customer service department to cancel my order and followed up that email with a second email the next morning and a phone call as well. This was all well within the 24 hours of placing the order. When I called customer service, this time I was told it was now TOO LATE to cancel as the shipment was already on it's way. And then the fun began.
Emails--all with the same wording--like a form letter machine would spit out. All from various name people all continuing to tell me I would be responsible for shipping the item back to them. I responded that I would reject the item as undeliverable and if it was left at my door I would not take on the expense or burden of returning it. I told them that I believed this was unfair as all attempts to cancel this order were futile and their ongoing attempts to refuse consumers the right to cancel orders and deny additional products and charges to their card was in my view a deceptive practice.
Each complaint brought another form letter. I have documented now more than a dozen emails from the so-called customer service department. Each letter tells me, in essence, tough luck, it is too late to cancel, the order is in the warehouse being shipped, etc. and though I did get a letter agreeing to refund my card, I was also told it would be charged again if I didn't send the product back within 30 days.
This appears to be a pretty clearly way for a company to take advantage of consumers. Tacking on products people never really ordered or wanted and making it impossible for them to cancel seems like a scam aimed at padding their pockets and ripping of unsuspecting consumers. All companies like Redisetgo has to do is count on the futility of returning anything to discourage the average consumer. The consumer ends up with the product--and the bill--because the return process is so difficult and time consuming that he or she gives up. I am obviously not one of those consumers!
I went online to do what I should have done in the first place. I searched for complaints against this company and lo and behold, without much digging at all, I came across complaint after complaint that sounded identical to my experience with this company. I could have easily replaced my name for the other victims, all relaying the same complaints and some worse, charges to their cards in excess of $300.00! Unable to cancel, unable to stop credit cards from incurring hefty charges--the list was endless.
To illustrate my point, here are a sampling of links taken from the many online complaints.
ComplaintsBoard.com
and
RipOffReport.com
and
Gaiam Americas Complaint
And here's a site that shows the RediSetGo infomercial and if you scroll down to the comment section, you will find many more complaints of the same nature, all that only serve to prove these deceptive sales practices have been a long time problem.
Here are a few complaint excerpts;
Customer 1
This current system is wrong in so many ways. I think they will not be getting my money even though I may want and like this product... I dislike being milked for $350 even more.
Customer 2
The redi set go, it is nothing short of a scam. they said $39.90 for all and guess what it was, $71.90 little different?? Sent back all of it and still they charged my account had to cancel my credit card so it will stop, and answer a e-mail wow. I'll wait until it comes to the stores.
Jacquelyn says;
WATCH OUT FOR THE WEBSITE THEY REALLY TRY TO TRICK YOU. THE XPRESS REDI SET GO NOT ONLY HAS A HIGH SHIPPING AND HANDLING PRICE OF $16 WHICH MEANS IT IS NOT JUST $39.90 BUT THE SITE TRIES TO TRICK YOU. AFTER YOU ORDER YOU HAVE TO CLICK ON ALL THESE NO THANKS TO GET TO A CONFIRMATION AND WITH MY MOUSE PAD I ACCIDENTALLY ACCEPTED ONE SO MY TOTAL IS NOW $71.75. BUT WHEN I CONTACTED CUSTOMER SERVICE THEY SAID THE BEST THEY CAN DO IS DISCOUNT ME $3.95 OR I CAN RETURN IT FOR $4.00 SHIPPING AND GET $9.95 BACK (I STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THE EXTRA SHIPPING AND HANDLING). THERE IS NO CONFIRMATION IF YOU WANT THE EXTRA'S THEY JUST ADD THEM ON WHETHER IT WAS ON ACCIDENT OR NOT. I EVEN SENT THE EMAIL TO CUSTOMER SERVICE RIGHT AFTER I COMPLETED THE SALE. THE SITE IS MADE TO TRICK YOU SO WATCH OUT!
Bonnie says:
This is a TOTAL MONEY MAKING SCAM. They look for ways to just keep padding the bill. You will be CHARGED 2 or 3 TIMES what the initial cost is with all the B.S add ons and RIP OFF SHIPPING. Made CHEAPLY IN CHINA, NON STICK INTERIOR PEELS OFF INTO YOU FOOD!!!! BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE.You CAN "dispute" these charges with your credit card company. DISPUTE THE CHARGES.. YOU WERE CONNED.
Cathy says:
I too was very taken by the commercial and ordered the xpress ready set go. First I was blown away by the total but was unable to go back and cancel the order. There was just no place to confirm or cancel. $39.90 for the product, $33.80 S&H and of course $9.95 for the recipe club that I never intended to join. Then there was the money exchange since I live in Canada and to top it all, I had to pay $12.05 at the post office to claim it. That little machine turned out to be very expensive...I used it once and it worked fine. The second time I decided to cook a steak...I followed instructions to the letter. The timer quit, the food stuck to the bottom big time, the red finish bubbled and peeled and cracked...Wow! What a bargain!...But what can a person do? It says right with it that if you send it back they will keep S&H from your account so that means at least $33.80 for receiving it and another $33.80 for shipping it back to you...Talk about a rip off! I wish I had read the comments. I never would have ordered it...
vlminfla says:
When I ordered my Xpress Redi-Set-Go, they included a "recipe club" that I did not order. I noticed this once my order was complete and I was checking the charges. It was an additional $9.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling. I immediately e-mailed and called their customer service and asked that the "recipe club" be removed from my order and my account credited for the total of $14.95. Their customer service only operated from 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM EST, so since it was a Saturday, I was not able to contact anyone by phone. I got an e-mail back from on the following Monday saying that I would have to return the recipe cards that I received in my order before they would refund the cost of the "recipe club" less the shipping and handling. Well, I did not feel that I should be charged for the shipping and handling since I had tried to cancel immediately upon order and the recipes for which I was being charged $5.00 for shipping and handling were in the same box with the cooker and didn't even weight one-half ounce. The person I spoke with (not American), after a long time on the phone, agreed to credit back the full $14.95 and cancel my "recipe club" enrollment. She said that I would see the refund in 3-5 business days on my account. Well, it's now been 10 days and I have not received the refund. I did finally receive the cooker and the "recipe club" items which amounted to 3 little pamphlets stuffed inside the box that the cooker was shipped in. Hardly worth $1.00, let alone $9.95 plus shipping and handling of $5.00 additional. At this point I still have not received the refund and I called Customer Service again. I had to go through about 3 people before I got someone to agree to credit my account. They would never acknowledge that I had tried to cancel the order before nor would they give me a confirmation number for the credit they are to issue. And, they told me that it will be another 3 - 5 business days before my account is credited for the $14.95. No one would let me speak with a supervisor and I had a very hard time understanding the customer service people's English. Needless to say, you should be very, very careful if you purchase anything from this company.
Fransisca Lee says:
This is scam, be careful. Shame on you!
Mimi says:
Shame on "ALL" who are involved with cheating people out of their hard earned money.
Brittany says:
DON'T BUY IT!! I saw the commercial and decided to call and order it. I gave them my Credit Card info and the representative kept calling me back saying she needed the info again. This happened like 3 times.
I later when to my online banking and have seen "someone" who had my credit card info went to the Apple Online store and spend $300!
They were the only people who had my info.
I called the company and it took me 15 minutes and 4 representatives to get to a "manager." I explained what happened and the "manager" said "oh well not my problem maybe you should just call your bank and file fraud." and she hung up on me!
I've since got it resolved but wow this company is REALLY shady!
IT IS A SCAM!!
Disgusted says:
Yes-I went through the order hassles, rude people, extra charging and think I finally got rid of them.
I think you get the point...and I hope that someone who has the power to stop this behavior does too.
I will never again overlook my #1 rule -and neither should you. Do your homework before purchasing from a company you don't know -no matter how legitimate they may appear. Don't let the holiday rush get you into hot water!
I have filed a formal complaint with the Florida State Attorney General's office and will follow through with other appropriate agencies as time allows. If you have complaints similar to these noted, feel fee to email me or leave a comment.
Let my rush to place an order -slow you down. Do your homework before picking up that phone or placing an order with a company you don't know.
READ UPDATE 2011--Another consumer story: Redi-Set-Get Scammed!
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Denise,
I am so sorry to hear what happened to you with this company, but I am glad that you have used your resources to warn others about this issue. I will also post this information on my blog and website.
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of Scam Victims United
I haven't tried it, but just ordered. You can get it it for $39.99 at Carolwrightgifts.com & if you enter coupon code WYDCWG before 1/31/10 you'll get 10% off. Your total will be $41.89 including shipping. After all the horror stories I heard about the receipe clubs & outrageous shipping from the website, this seemed worth a try. Carol Wright isn't known for fasssst service, but they will take things back if the don't work. Hope this helps!
Thanks for posting this. I have been considering buying one after seeing the commercial so many times.
I have never ever had this much problem with a company before. These people have no conscience. I am totally disgusted and don't see how they are still in business! Never got the product and only got a partial refund, not even half and it took several phone calls. They kept giving me the run-around. I think they do this so you will eventually give up after months of frustration and waiting.
I agree! Have you filed a complaint with the BBB, or your Attorney General, and/or the FTC? If not -give it a shot. The only way anyone who has the power to stop them is if they "see a pattern of abuse"! One doesn't have to look too far to find the abuse -simply do a search for complaints against this company! Why someone doesn't do something to stop them from ripping off consumers is beyond me!
Thanks for sharing! And keep us posted.
Denise
First they tried to send me more items than a ordered. Then one of the plates had the black covering peel off. When complained to the company they told me that the warranty period was over. I said this had nothing to do with a warranty and a respectable business would realize that the item was poorly manufactured and should be replaced. Just this week the knob on top of the appliance broke off. I said the heck with it, it would not be worth the effort. Three words for everyone "Dont buy it"'
WOW! I am NOT going to order now after reading all this!!!
thank you! and my sympathies to all of you had to go thru this!
This item is a piece of junk! Do not buy it! I just ordered it, got it 2 days ago, and was really excited... UNTIL I opened the box. I was worried immediately when I opened the pans and could clearly see that only the top of the pan is painted (not the bottom) and the non-stick coating is such a think layer that you can't even tell it is there!! Cheap, cheap, cheap. I thought well, maybe just the insert pans are so cheaply made.I seasoned the product, used only the provided spatula and after making only two items in it, the not stick coating has scratches and I didn't even use any of the special insert pans to cause the scratch. Extra S&H for the "free" unit made my first payment $95 plus they want ME to pay to return this piece of junk! I think it is time for a civil action suit against this company!
Sorry I didn't review internet before ordering. I too received items I did not order or request. Upon opening, I found an invoice for $140 of which $45 was the infamous non-refundable S&H fee, plus, if I used their return label for USPS return shipping, I would be charged an additional $19.50. Package returned via UPS for $14. Now, I wait for my promised refund, $95 as I am out the excessive S&H fee plus my UPS return. Lesson learned at a price tag of $60. I have filed a formal complaint with my credit card company.
i had to change my credit card number so they couldn't screw me for more money...........i ordered the 4 pans and they ripped me off and sent only 3