Complete Savings SCAM!

I rarely blog about things like this, but today I'm a little sick to think of people being ripped off and not even knowing it. I mean, to some people, $12 a month is a LOT of money...and those are the same people that may not be able to monitor their bank accounts for fraud, etc. So, here's the deal:

Back in June, I remember very clearly ordering pizza from Pizza Hut's website when we were swimming with Lynn and Hannah at Mom's house one evening. At the end of the transaction, there was a pop-up that offered a $10 PH coupon. I clicked on it--I'm a sucker for coupons, okay?--and apparently, it grabbed my credit card (debit card) info. About a month later, $12 was taken out of our checking account by Complete Savings. WELL...several months earlier, I'd tried the Grocery Game. It was like, $10 every few months. When I saw the Complete Savings for $12, I assumed it was the Grocer Game under a new name and increased price--but since I wasn't using that website anymore, I assumed I'd missed something. After the second month, I was like, why didn't I remember to call them? So I cancelled THAT membership. But then it popped up again TODAY. And then it clicked--this wasn't something that I'd authorized. I googled what came up on our bank statement, Complete Savings CT. "Their" website was spoofing Google...I didn't click on it because it was fraudulent (James has better words, I'm sure). But everything else that came up was about how it's a scam...and one link mentioned "Pizza Hut." It all came rushing back, so I called Bank of America as soon as I got home this morning.

Here's my e-mail to James...

So...

I called Bank of America and reported it as a scam. They are going to go ahead and temporarily credit our account $36, available tomorrow, and it will take about 90 days for them to investigate our claim. They blocked all future $12 transactions from Complete Savings, but warned that sometimes companies like that will come back under a different name with a different amount, so to watch for it.

Then I called Complete Savings. They made it VERY difficult to get to a live person, but I did...and she was kind enough to let me know that I had access to whatever it is until 9/1 and then they'd cancel. I said no, I asked for a refund. So she was going to refund today's $12. I said no, I didn't sign up for your "service", I don't want your "service", and you will refund me all 3 amounts. She said, hmm, I'll see what I'm authorized to do. I said, while you're speaking to your supervisor about that, please mention that I have just reported your company to Bank of America as a scam. Strangely, right then she was able to credit all $36 and cancel our "membership" immediately.

These people make me sick. I think I should blog about this--people need to check their bank accounts!