Giving your credit card to buy memberships or products?

How many of us have been the victim of buying a exercise video or vitamins and finding continuous charges monthly on our credit card statements for more items we never approved?  We sign up for 30 days and months later find out that we are on a never ending cycle of 30 days and funds have been taken out of our credit card without our knowledge. It seems this is more of the norm these days.

It is important to know what we are buying into. Many companies lure individuals in and make it very difficult to contact the company and cancel services once the scam has been uncovered.

A few years ago I joined a women’s organization (NAPW) and paid a large amount of money for my annual membership. It was a compete waste of money and time but I chalked it up to a learning experience. About 12 months after joining I received my first phone call from a very articulate woman who informed me I was chosen to be “woman of the month” (along with 300 other women) and for $2500 I could take this offer . I quickly realized it was another way for them to get my money and do nothing for it. I tried to get off the phone with this aggressive rep. and after bluntly stating I was not interested she continued to barrage me with her sales pitch. I had to hang up on her and she had the nerve to call back and tell my receptionist we must have been disconnected.

After being very annoyed by this experience I tried to reach NAPW to complain and could not get anyone on the phone. I had a bad feeling and googled complaints about the company. I was horrified to find out that if I didn’t cancel I would have a monthly membership automatically deducted from my Amex card after the end of the 12th month. I persistantly called every phone # I could find and asked to cancel my membership. I was immediately transferred to voice mails. When I called back again I would get recordings and it became obvious to me that I was purposely being ignored. It took me 3 hours to get someone on the phone who was able to help me.

Buyer beware!!! If you buy into something with your credit card make sure to read the fine print first.



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