UPDATE: MyGallons.com Suspends Accepting Membership Fees
After acknowledging that it did not have a contract in place to process transactions, gasoline-hedging service MyGallons.com has suspended accepting membership fees and placed the current fees in a non-interest bearing escrow account, says the BBB. Read the BBB's findings inside.
The BBB says:
The Better Business Bureau challenged the company’s advertising regarding their offer, and the company met with the Better Business Bureau on July 9, 2008 and has modified it claims. The company’s merchant services provider, PowerPay, has assured the Bureau that membership fees processed by them on behalf of MyGallons.com customers have been placed in a non-interest bearing escrow account. As of this date Mygallons.com acknowledges it does not have a contract in place with a vendor who can process transactions with gas stations across the country, and they have suspended accepting membership fees. The Bureau will issue a new report as the company’s evaluation continues.
MyGallons.com had originally claimed to be partnered with US Bank, but an investigation by the BBB revealed that that program had ended and that MyGallons.com was operating without a contract in place. The BBB has amended MyGallons rating from "F" to "NR" or "No Rating."
MyGallons LLC [BBB](Thanks, Teresa!)
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Comments:
If you look at the "letter to members" on their site, they are stating that US Bank pretty much screwed them over and that this is not their fault. They say US Bank said "oh, never mind" after contracts were signed, one day after public launch.
My question: Why did they not stop accepting memberships as soon as US Bank allegedly changed its mind?
I think the deserve a curb job, and shotgun to the groin.
the = they
And why is the money in a NON interest bearing account?
@Zeniq:
Exactly. Like Paypal got caught doing a couple of years back, not disclosing the fact that they were making interest off of cash that people didn't immediately transfer out.
@howie_in_az: I know some services who can correct that. Does this mean MyGallons.com should have went to FreeCreditReport.com, b/c then they could have seen this coming like an atom bomb?
Well, they took their sweet arse time to stop collecting!
How about just refunding the fees and offering to notify customers when things are back in order again?
Aren't escrow accounts suppose to be the most secure type accounts (ie no interest = no risk) ?
The company (and offering) smelled of fraud.
The most shocking part of this article to me is that the BBB actually *did* something!
@Zeniq: How interesting. Their PR guy told me that the US Bank partnership was just for the pilot stage and it was always known to be as such... guess they're talking out both sides of their mouth. What a surprise.
I think they still need an F.