Bogus $200 Walmart Gift Card

During the first week in October, I received a telemarketing call from some telemarketing scammers who got my number from information I submitted when applying for membership to take surveys for money.

[On a side note, be very, very careful about signing up for "surveys for cash" ads. Most of them just want you to buy something and will only give you what they say they will give you after you sign up for a dozen things you don't really want. In a later note (soon after this one) I will give you the names and links to legitimate survey takers and mystery shopper companies who are also legitimate.]

Anyway, I was speaking to some young man who had an Indian or Pakistani accent. A lot of what he told me I had trouble understanding the first time, and when I tried to get him to stop and repeat it, he just kept talking. I had to actually yell/scream into the phone: "HEY HEY HEY! STOP A MINUTE!" before he finally shut up. Then I got him to speak a little slower.

He told me about a membership in the United Benefit Advantage program, which is a discount shopper program. It sounded like a good deal, with a two week trial period costing only $4.95, so I said okay. He then told me if I agreed to sign up for four magazine subscriptions, I would receive a $200 Walmart gift card! I found that hard to believe, so I asked him several times, "You mean I am going to receive a $200 Walmart card--I mean an actual $200--just for signing up for some magazine subscriptions?" He said yes, it is true.

He took my address and CC number. He actually took my address THREE times, before he got it right. I made him read it back to me to make sure he had it right. He told me I would receive a packet in the mail within 4-7 days. My bank account was charged $4.95 for the buying program. I did not know my bank acct was also going to be charged $49.95 for the magazines! I didn't know that until after ten days when I still had not received anything in the mail.

After ten days, I called this guy back. Of course, I couldn't get transferred to the guy with the difficult accent, so I spoke to a nice woman (I took note of her name, but won't put it here) and she was surprised that I had not received anything. She concurred, though, that I would be receiving a $200 Walmart card. She took my address down again and said she would be sure shipping has my address and find out why I had not yet received the package.

A few days later, I get a text message from this shipping department stating they needed my shipping address to mail the pack out to me! OMG! I was beginning to sense a scam here. Being that I was beginning to fear a scam, I checked my bank account. Fifty dollars had been taken out, but I had received nothing. I called back one more time. This time I was getting pretty hot. I spoke to another person who took my address again and passed it onto shipping. Being that I was a little skeptical, I immediately demanded a refund of my fifty dollars for the magazine subscriptions, but did not demand a refund of the $4.95--yet. The man said a refund was in progress and gave me a confirmation number, which I wrote down. He said it would take 5-7 working days for the money to get back into my account. It's a crime that it takes a business only seconds to TAKE your money, but it takes DAYS to get it refunded.

On Saturday, Oct. 30, I receive a package in the mail from United Benefits advantage and a magazine. The magazine was not the one I asked for. I asked to receive People Magazine, but instead I received a copy of US magazine.

So, on Monday morning I called this damn telemarketing business again and ask to speak with a supervisor. The guy that answered the phone REFUSED to give me a supervisor until I told him why I wanted to speak with one. I told him I had a problem with this entire business transaction and I wanted to speak with a supervisor. He kept refusing to put a supervisor on the line until I told him what it was that I had a problem with. Now I was getting really damn angry!

I told him I did not get what I was told I would get, although money had been taken out of my account and I wanted to speak with a supervisor. He said he would see if a supervisor was available. He put me on hold. About ten seconds later he said there was no supervisor available. I told him that was BULLSHIT! I told him it's just that no supervisor wanted to talk to me, so I was going to contact the Consumer Protection Agency, the FBI, any other regulatory agency, law enforcement agency that might have any jurisdiction in this matter and make a full report.

I told him I was also going to post this entire incident on Facebook, My Space, my blogs, and anywhere else I can, so I can spread it throughout the Internet and maybe save other people from being scammed like I was.

If you speak to someone on the phone and they mention you will receive a $200 Walmart gift card--HANG UP! If you fall for this and give them your account information, you are gonna get screwed like I was.

On Monday, I also called United Benefit Advantage and cancelled my membership there. I told the nice young lady that I had no problems with UBA. I had problems with the telemarketing company and told her what happened. She said she was going to pass on to management what happened, because it cost them business. I cancelled my membership not because of UBA, but because of the bad experience with the telemarketing company, so the telemarketing company cost UBA business. The young lady agreed to refund my $4.95, too.

So, I should get my $49.95 refunded and my $4.95 refunded within a few days. I WON'T be getting a Walmart gift card. I don't know if the magazine subscription(s) will be automatically cancelled or if they will continue. I will just have to wait and find out.

My advice to you, is don't fall for these damn telemarketing scams. Most are probably SHADY at BEST! Everyone wants your money! Don't let them have it.

In my next note, I will tell you about some honest, legitimate mystery shopping companies and survey companies. Many are scammers, but I have been through them and know who they are.

Be careful, my friends.