Complaint Review: American Advantage Grant Department

My story is much the same as many of the others reported against this particular company, and I did voluntarily give them my checking account information, which I know was very naive. I did NOT, however, authorize them to take anything out of my checking account. I had given the whole thing serious thought while I was on the phone with the "customer service representative" & it just sounded too fishy to me, especially since I had repeatedly asked the woman for contact information of ANY kind (phone, address, etc) & she refused to give it to me till after I authorized the "program." So then I told her, I had changed my mind, I said on the RECORDED response portion, "No, I am not comfortable with this, I am not authorizing any money taken from my account without having some way to contact this company if something goes wrong." Then when she continued to try & pressure me into authorizing the payments, I hung up. She called back several times but I never answered the phone. Then, about a week later, I recieved the welcome package in the mail with the $500 worth of grocery coupons & !FINALLY! a phone number to reach them at. So, I wrote down the phone number, resealed the package, and wrote "RETURN TO SENDER" on the box, & shoved it in the mail. I called them the very next day (they were closed when I got the letter) & asked to have my membership cancelled, that I never authorized it and I did NOT want money taken from my account & I didn't want any more mail or phone calls. The woman I was speaking to put me on hold several times during this call, but finally agreed to cancel my membership & said that no money would be taken out of my account. Several days later, they withdrew $299.95 from my account. I called them & told them simply they either give the money back, or I will sue them. They refuse to give the money back, so I am going to sue them. I would advise anyone else this has happened to to take legal action as well.

UPDATE: I called my bank and filed a dispute following the instructions placed on another Rip-Off Report for this same company & my bank will be replacing the money within 2-3 days. EVERYONE AFFECTED BY THIS SCAM, SEE EDITORS NOTES ON HOW TO GET MONEY REPLACED TO YOUR ACCOUNT!! THE BANK WILL DO IT!!

Rachael
Saint Charles, Missouri
U.S.A.