Complaint Review: Freedom Resource/Lenox Capital - Marietta Georgia

Today, August 8, 2002, I was called at work by "Andrea," a "representative" of Freedom Resource. I was offered a credit card with 0% financing, no annual fee, and a $2500.00 limit for which I was told I was already pre-approved. In addition, I was to receive rebates on $50, or was it $100, in gas money, grocery coupons, and a 3-day, 2 night weekend was mentioned. They ONLY needed a $221.95 one-time-fee.

That should have made me run away screaming, or at least hang up the phone. I didn't. I was doing other duties at work as well, and wasn't paying as much attention as I should have to the conversation. When I asked her some materials to look over, she said I would receive them with the card She asked me for my bank account number, and stupid me gave it. When I asked her for their phone number, she said her supervisor would give it to me after he taped the conversation.

When "Eric" got on the phone, he taped me answering questions, the normal stuff. Something seemed weird, perhaps my intuition telling me something was definitely not right. The offer seemed to good. Why wouldn't "Andrea" give me the phone number? Another intuitive trigger was the fact that "Eric" verified my checking account number.

I just verified it with "Andrea," why is he doing it again? I told him I wanted to check this company out, and he said, "definitely, check out the Better Business Bureau, but keep in mind, that every company has its problems and he reminded me that Freedom Resource deals with thousands of customers for any bad rap that I might encounter. This was odd dialogue, I thought. He must have been thinking, "so what, check out whatever you want, but I still have your account number." "Eric" also left the phone number as the last thing.

Five minutes I had to call them back, I decided against the whole thing. Too strange. I got a busy signal, I tried several more times, more busy signals. Credit card companies NEVER have a busy signal, always a recording asked you to hold til doomsday. Now I knew I had been majorly scammed. Immediately, I got on the internet, checked the BBB, then found this website. How invaluable it was. It prompted to really move on this.

I called my bank, the lady instructed me to gather the information regarding what was going to come in and out of my account and they would close the existing account and open another account for me. At no charge! She said to do it immediately. They took care of everything and the only thing I am really out is the time from my day, stress, contacting the direct deposits and automatic withdrawals from the account, and of course, buying new checks.

Hopefully, because I had acted quickly (within one hour) of the call everything will work out ok. However, I am demeaned by the whole experience. While the banker was taking care of my paper work, I noticed how proficient he was. He knew exactly the course of action to take. "So I asked, does this happen to many people very often?" His answer startled me. "Yes, too often. About 12 in the past 2 weeks." That is sickening.

The main reason I am writing my close encounter with Freedomn Resource is that I know that others are being called this very minute. Had I not (eventually) tuned in to my intuitions and seen all the information in this site, I might have decided to do something too late. I want others to know that they are not alone in being abused by con-artists like this, to trust the nagging negative thoughts when things don't seem quite right, and never give out your personal information unless you initiated the contact.

No offer will disappear in the couple of hours or days for you to think the offer over, do some background work on the company, and YOU call THEM back. That is, unless it's a SCAM!!! Now, what I want to know is how can we get these scammers to pay for their crimes, like any other criminal would? How are they evading the laws, why hasn't something been done already? How can they be untouchable like this and be able continue to spread their malice day after day.

Alex

Tallahassee, Florida

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Freedom Resources Lenox Capital

CLICK HERE to read about Credit Card Scams... find out how to get your money back. Consumer makes harsh but accurate statements. *Rip-off Report Investigation follow-up provides valuable information.

STOP! ..before you think about using the Better Business Bureau (BBB)... CLICK HERE to see how other consumers were victimized by the BBB's false or misleading information. Don't be fooled! It has been reported, when there are thousands of complaints and other investigations underway by authorities, the BBB has no choice but to finally give an UNsatisfactory rating to a BBB member business that is paying the BBB big membership fees every year. When a business is reported that is NOT a BBB member, BBB files WILL more likely show an UNsatisfactory rating, then reportedly shake down that company to become a member of the BBB. One positive thing about the BBB is, either way, if a business has an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB, you can be sure, the business is bad. But what about all those BBB member businesses that had complaints filed against them? Consumers never get to hear about them. What about the BBB advertising to the public? Is this a false and misleading perception they are giving about consumer confidence when dealing with a business? Click here to understand more of what consumers and business alike are saying about the BBB. You decide. ..Remember. The BBB membership is not earned, its paid for!