Complaint Review: Platinum2000/Platinum Discount Membership Club or Continental Benefits Group

On 27 January 2000, I get a call from a company called "Platinum 2000" stating that I was Pre-Approved for a Guaranteed Credit Card with a credit line from $1,200.00 to $5,0000.00 depending upon my credit report. I asked the representative who's name was Mark, if there was a catch to this and he said, you have to send in $179.00 to complete the paperwork process.

I thought about it for a moment and gave them my account number at the Bank to do an automated withdrawl from my acccount on 1 February 2000, for $179.00. Mark stated that the average line of credit was averaging $1,200.00 and I said, ok, I'll give it a try. Mark stated that in three weeks I would receive a Benefits Package explaining the credit card.

On 1 March 2000, I tried to call the Customer Service number that I was given to inquire about the credit card, (877) 737-0692, but found out I could not make this call from Puerto Rico. I then called a friend in the States to transfer the call to me in order to speak to customer service.

I made the connection to Customer Service and was held on line for more than 30 minutes. Finally, a representative came on and I gave him my tracing number 2363666 to track the order.
The representative looked up the file and said that I agreed to the membership to Platinum Discount Membership Club and that if I wanted to cancel I would have to talk to "The Cancellation Department".

Immediately, I get mad and say, Why would I want to join a membership club? He says, "if you want to cancel, I'll have the cancellation department call you". I told them I wanted a credit card not a discount membership and I want to be cancelled ASAP. The representative said he'd send my request to be cancelled forward and that I would get a call in 5 days for confirmation.

I also asked for the phone number and address where I could call from PR and send a letter to the President, the representative wanted to know why I wanted this information and refused to give it to me. I was getting pretty steamed because I could not call them from PR and I did not know where they were located.

Finally, I hang up and try to do a search for them through my bank and Yellow Pages, no luck there.
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