I found myself in the airport waiting for a friend, and my cellphone ran out of battery. My friend couldn't catch the plane, so I had to make some calls from the payphones next to the baggage claim.

I dial the number in, and I am asked to enter $1 or swipe a card. I happened to have 4 quarters, and for $1 I got 4 minutes of long distance call. I had to do 3 more calls, so, instead of getting more change, I decided to swipe instead my credit card, that I thought it was more convenient.

So far it looks like something quite a normal scenario, one I am sure many other people have found themselves in.

Well, after swiping the card, I get instructions for entering my exp date, and that's all. I can call. No other message. 'Quite convenient', I thought, and I assumed that I would get the same 4min/$1 dollar rate, with maybe a charge fee of some cents for using the phone. I made three calls, of around 1 min and half each.

I just checked my credit card invoice: $11 each call.

This is simply put a scam. There is no visible notice of a $8 connection charge + $1.5/min – at least visible enough for me. Nobody charges $8 for using a credit card. I have used this credit card overseas and they charge me less than $1 for it, at most. And it's not a one time connection fee; each call incurs on it. Their business model is one time users, getting the most they can out of them.

I called them up. They say that they have to cover expenses, and that was all. Only after telling them that I was going to file a complaint, they said that they will give me 50% back. I've seen other people who complaint getting just $11 back.

This is a ripoff and even they know that, so they reimburse you some money just to make you think that they are sorry... They got $15 out of me for nothing! They claim to have 20,000 payphones in the US. I can't imagine the number of people that fall on this scam each day.

Victor
Seattle, Washington
U.S.A.

Like Victor, some of their other customers were credited a partial amount of their bill. The fact that so many customers were able to haggle over the questionable fees on their bill is evidence to us that this company is less than legit. In case you have been ripped off by NCIC and you're in the mood to haggle, their customer service number is 800-382-2887. We also learned of a customer who successfully disputed their NCIC bill with Chase, so don't forget about the chargeback.

PedEgg Accused Of Gross Injustice [The Smoking Gun]

There is a company by the name of Ticketsmyway.com (Event Tickets LLC) that has the scam of the century running. Their operations run like this.

• Advertise tickets slightly cheaper than Stubhub and other sites.
• Consumers place an order online for tickets often months in advance
• Credit cards are charged full amount immediately
• Customers are told to check status of order online
• Orders always show as "processing"
• As date of event gets closer, customer starts calling to find out Status of shipping
• 1-2 days before event, customer are told tickets are "no longer available"
• Phone rep says a refund can only be requested online
• Terms of Use online say any refund request is considered a "cancellation" and customer is charged 45% of the purchase price

Even though company cannot produce tickets, customers lose 45% of their entire purchase price.

The reader adds, "After first call that gets through, company notes number and consumer can NEVER AGAIN get through. Calls are forwarded to a voicemail account."

We looked around online and indeed there were lots of complaints about TicketsMyWay and Event Tickets LLC. Tracy at Rip-off Report says a live CSR told her the tickets were going to be shipped within a few weeks—but they never arrived. When Tracy finally got through to the same CSR again, she was told they were no longer available. A second CSR offered to replace the tickets for $200 more, despite the fact that "their terms and conditions clearly state, if your seats are no longer available they reserve the right to upgrade or provide comparable tickets at NO EXTRA COST."

A customer at onerave.com claims only six of his eight tickets were shipped, because ticketsmyway added $332 in shipping and handling fees "and decided to make up the difference by removing two tickets!"

Rocky at pissedconsumer.com spent four days seeing "processing" on his order and not getting his calls returned. He finally canceled the order and disputed the charges. "I never heard back from them until I received a lawsuit package saying I have to pay by 5/30/08 or go to court."

After our tipster contacted us, she sent in a follow-up email a few days later:

Fyi, I just received a call from someone (no name given) at that company threatening legal action if I continue to "make slanderous statements about them." From other stories online, this is their basic modus operandi and strong-arm intimidation tactic to get consumers to stay quiet about being defrauded and scammed. They steal from you and THEY threaten legal action. What country are we living in again?

Stay far, far away from ticketsmyway and Event Tickets LLC.

(Photo: Getty)

Both NDphoxylady and I know that that doesn't count. The credit card company needs to send you an additional kind of disclosure notice. She has paperless billing, which may explain why she never got it. In any event, that still doesn't excuse their non-notification. Three times she called Chase. She asked for supervisors each time and was directed to voicemail, which she never got a call back from. We told NDphoxylady it was time to escalate to executive customer service and pointed her to the Chase numbers on our site. Within a few minutes of calling, Chase waived the fee. NDphoxylady was happy about that, but still pissed that it happened in the first place.

She wrote, "Now, we pay everything on the 12th, and I do not have the time to check every month that my due date is going to change...I feel like closing my account with them.

I mean to me it's the principle that matters, they could have charged me three bucks and I would still be pissed off. It's their manipulative behavior, and I doubt many people called to get these fees removed. They probably thought it was their fault and never reported it to chase

Is anyone trying to control these companies? I mean can't government regulate something?"

We told her if that she really feels strongly about it, to write a letter to her elected representatives. This excellent post shows you the most effective way to write to Congress.

"Who will protect the customers," NDphoxylady asked. " It's like we have to stick up for ourselves and for other people."

It's always a good idea to scrutinize your monthly bills. You never know when they're going to try to sneak in a new fee.

(Photo: Getty)

"[Business travelers will] push back big time," said Mike Boyd, a Colorado-based aviation consultant. "It's one thing to simply raise fares. It's quite another to do it by imposing restrictions that appear to make it harder to conveniently fly."

Major carriers scrapped most minimum-stay rules - put in place largely to discourage big-budget corporate travelers from snatching up the cheapest seats - at the start of the decade, although United and other airlines recently started bringing the overnight rules back piecemeal.

Friday's changes are far more sweeping because they also apply to highly competitive routes where United goes head-to-head against lower-cost rivals such as Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways.

"What we did this week was almost across the board," [United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski] said. "At the end of the day, it's all about improving our profit as we combat these record high fuel prices."

We previously suggested that travelers evade overnight requirements by buying back-to-back one-way fares, which can be cheaper than a round-trip ticket with a hotel stay.

In related news, United also raised the price of one-way tickets.

United Airlines to require minimum stays from Oct. [The Canadian Press]
PREVIOUSLY: Airlines Revive Hated Minimum Stay Fares
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Here's their official statement:

We recently learned of a mail fraud scam that is falsely using the Quaker Oats Company's name and offering consumers thousands of dollars in exchange for personal information. This is currently being mailed to some consumers’ homes and we want the public to be alerted that Quaker Oats did not initiate, nor does it endorse this activity. The check is not ours and has no value. We do not use these types of incentives for the purpose of collecting personal information from our consumers, and we would never ask our customers to divulge any private information. Please do not respond to the letters or attempt to cash these fraudulent checks. If you receive a mailing of this nature, we ask that you forward it to us at Consumer Affairs, PO Box 049003, Chicago, IL 60604-9003.

Thanks for giving us the chance to clarify the situation, and we encourage you to share this information with anyone who you think may have received this mailing so that they are not victimized by this fraud. We apologize for any inconvenience or concern.

Always be wary of shady offers that claim to come from reputable companies. If you get a dubious mailing like this, be sure to report it to your state's attorney general.

From Ellott.org:

Richards’ conclusion — and it’s one I tend to agree with — is is that some hotels are overbilling their customers on purpose, hoping that they won’t check their final receipts.

Which hotels are doing this? Richards thinks many are trying.

For a long period of time last year I was staying at a W almost weekly. It got to the point that before I took possession of the room I would have them come remove the “goodie box.” Recently at a Marriott I was charged $5 each day for a bottle of water I did not even touch, much less consume.

Have the frequent travelers among you noticed this? It may sound cynical, but we've noticed that whenever refunds are instantly credited with no argument — the probability that something shady was going on increases dramatically. We picture the hotel employee whistling while she removes the charge from your bill. Nothing to see here...

Scam alert: beware of hotels that charge for what you don’t eat — or drink [Elliott]
(Photo: Richard Moross )

JK Harris wasn't just misrepresenting its services. It also made it very difficult for customers to resolve any questions or complaints:

According to Cooper's complaint, JK Harris regularly advertised it had more than 450 offices nationwide. However, the complaint contends that only the main office in Charleston handled consumers' files.

If a consumer wanted to meet with a JK Harris representative about their file they had to physically travel to Charleston.

The other offices were staffed only by sales representatives who could not help consumers with their tax problems.

JK Harris also claimed consumers' cases would be handled by "tax experts" or "ex-IRS agents" when in fact the people handling the cases did not fit those descriptions and did not have tax expertise.

JK Harris case managers changed frequently, and consumers complained they often had to provide the same information to the company several times.

Under the terms of the agreement, JK Harris now has to:

• pay refunds to customers if it can't help them with their tax debts, or if the IRS doesn't accept the OIC;
• provide accurate information on when a customer can qualify for an OIC and how frequently the IRS accepts such claims;
• stop lying with its advertising and sales practices;
• never offer or perform credit repair services.

If you know someone who lives in one of the following states, they should contact their attorney general's office for more information on how to qualify for a refund from JK Harris (we have the number for NC because that's where the article was published):

If you owe back taxes and aren't sure what to do about them, the best thing to do is pay a visit to an experienced and knowledgeable accountant for help. He or she should be able to help you figure out how much you owe (in some cases you may have actually overpaid, and simply filing the appropriate forms for the missing years will solve your problem) and help you set up a repayment plan that fits within your budget.

"'Pennies On The Dollar' Tax Relief Company Ordered To Pay Refunds" [Digtriad]
(Photo of sneaky snake: Getty)

The article says,

The “terms of use” detailed computer software licensing arrangements and usage rules, and many consumers checked the box without clicking on the hyperlink or reading the form.

But buried in the seventh paragraph of the single-spaced document was language that contradicted the free software claim. It stated that consumers would be required to send back two of the four “free” CDs within 10 days or they would be charged a fee of $39 to $49. It also stated that consumers would be enrolled in a software continuity program, would receive additional CDs in the future, and would be charged $39 to $49 for those CDs unless they returned them within 10 days, the FTC said.

The FTC alleged in its complaint that most consumers did not know about these charges or the continuity plan until they were billed. According to the agency, because the defendants did not adequately notify consumers, they could not avoid the charges.

The FTC charged the defendants with unfair and deceptive practices that violate the FTC Act. The agency also charged them with violating the Unordered Merchandise Statute, which prohibits billing recipients for merchandise they did not order.

The settlement bars the defendants from making misrepresentations, including misrepresenting that items are “free” when they aren’t. It requires that the defendants disclose all the terms and conditions of any negative option offer. It bars the defendants from charging consumers for products or services without their consent, and without first disclosing the terms of any refund or cancellation policy.

The settlement also prohibits the defendants from sharing their customer lists, and contains bookkeeping and record keeping provisions to allow the agency to monitor their compliance. Finally, under the terms of the settlement, the defendants will pay approximately $2,167,500 in consumer compensation.

Kudos to the FTC. We hope this sends a clear message to the countless companies who continue to make use of this shady business practice. There are always those people that will refute, "You should read what you are signing!" which is true. But, when a company buries a clause deep in their "terms of use" that completely contradicts the spirit of the advertisement, (e.g. Free software) it is unethical, period.

"Free software" scammers out $2.2 million [NetworkWorld]

HolyJuan claims he sent a letter directly to the company when he first came across the junk mail, asking them to take specific steps to address the situation. Feazel Roofing never responded to him personally, which makes it clear that they faked the online response only as an act of public damage-control.

Oh, and then they insulted HolyJuan:

Feazel has been wonderful to work with and have saved me and my husband along with many others in the area a lot of money and headaches…so kudos to Feazel!

I assume most of you have nothing better to do than sit around blogging each other…very sad…wake up, get off the couch and do something constructive!

THANK YOU FEAZEL ROOFING!!

P.S. this letter and blog site will be forwarded to Mr. Feazel

"Feazel Roofing can kiss my asphalt" [HolyJuan]
"Crummy Roofing Company fakes customer comments to attack blogger" [HolyJuan]

I was ripped off to the tune of $5620. They refused for 3 years to refund my money. Then they told me I have I have no recourse. It was electronic funds transfer for personal training that I never authorized. The people who did it were fired shortly after. It had happened to several other members, and most of the cases were settled. Except mine.

They proceeded to string me along and ignore my letters and phone calls for a few years until they could rest on statute of limitations.

An online complaint filed with the BBB resulted in me being contacted personally by one of the company's VPs via phone the very next day. A month later, after a few faxes and verifications, I was FedExed a check for the full amount.

Since I'm sure I'm not the only one this happened to, if people are out of options, the BBB complaint, a bit of tenacity, and valid paperwork might be a viable option.

Score another one for the BBB. Like I said before, filing a complaint with the BBB can actually work, as long as the company is concerned about maintaining a good reputation.

This is also a good time to review some Consumerist guidelines for getting a gym membership:

• Read the contract carefully.
• Get a month-to-month membership.
• Pay by credit card. That way you can do a chargeback if they try anything sneaky.
• Don't give them your bank account info.

(Photo: mrflip)

In February I rented a car from Advantage Rent-a-Car in Denver to take on a ski vacation in Aspen. I was a bit skeptical of Advantage, but they were so much less expensive than Hertz or Avis, etc... I figured I would give them a try.

Things started off pretty well. When I arrived there was a long line but they had free hot dogs while we waited, which was a nice touch! The car was clean, the type we ordered, had an engine, etc. Long story short: I was pleased with Advantage and remember thinking "I will definitely rent from them again." UNTIL...

On one of the last nights of our trip our rental car was hit by a stolen vehicle that had been taken on a joy ride and abandoned in the front yard across the street from where we were staying. The damage was relatively minor (we would still be able to drive back to Denver), and I called Visa and my insurance company. I also got a copy of the police report.

When we returned the car in Dever I filled out the accident report gave them the claim number from Visa. I was pleasantly surprised by the great service I received from Visa in all of this. Thought they would push back, but they didn't! Visa told me all was well, as did Advantage Rent-a-car. (My insurance doesn't cover me because I only have a liability policy).

In early May I received a letter from Subrogation Management Team. I've learned that this is a third party administrator that handles claims for rental car companies (except Hertz and Avis which handle it internally). The letter said that Visa would be paying for the full damages (~$4500) as well as ~$350 for the "loss-of-use." In the same letter they said that I would owe an additional $3000! They wanted another ~$500 for loss-of-use and ~$2500 for "deminition of value." I called Visa to discuss and they explained that they don't pay deminition of value. I checked and they state that very clearly in their terms and conditions, so fair enough. When I asked why they weren't paying the full loss-of-use they said that what Advantage was asking for was unreasonable.

Here's why: The car was in the shop for 49 hours. Visa calculates a 7 hour work day, so 7 days, times ~$50 a day for my rental equaling $350. Advantage says it's 22 days!!! I asked how they got that number and they said they use a 4 hour work day, which is laughable! Even with that it would only be 12 days. Even if you are generous and give them 2 weekends it only gets to 16!

I called the executive offices and eventually was able to speak with someone named Skip Thompson. He's not the CEO, but a Director of operations or something. Pretty senior guy. He had seen my file (I had his assistant pull it for him a few days earlier) and said that while I might not like it, the charges were reasonable. I was SHOCKED! I asked him: "if you were billed for 49 hours of labor, how many days would you estimate the car was in the shop." He tried to dodge the question, but eventually answered "well, 2 or 4 depending on how you calculate the work day." I told him I was being asked to pay for 22 days and he was speechless. He concluded by saying he would look into it and follow up with me. Unfortunately I was told a few days later that he had instructed SMT to continue to pursue it!

It's not a surprise that the math they use to calculate deminition of value is pretty sketchy too! $2600 in lost value on a $4600 repair is almost unheard of in the industry (I called and asked my insurance company).

It's pretty clear that Advantage is trying to profit off of my accident. Funny 'cause I thought a car rental company was supposed to make money renting cars! I'm disgusted with them.

I'm not trying to get out of paying what I owe, and have told them I'm willing to pay a reasonable amount, but they refuse to bring the numbers down! Needless to say, I won't be renting from them again! Just thought your readers might want to know: Stay away from Advantage Rent-a-Car!

When even your Director of Operations is taken aback by a 22-day claim for 49 hours of shop time, you know you're running a pretty ballsy scam. Advantage, are you really going to try to screw this customer over for $3,000? Is it worth the bad publicity?

(Photo: Getty)

Here's what happened the second time around (emphasis ours):

In March 2008, I received my car insurance premium for six months and again paid the bill in full prior to the date it was due. Subsequently, I received another bill for $11.20 a month later. This time I thought “what is going on here? There is no way I made an error in my check writing again”. I called my agent and discovered the following:

Their system is supposed to charge an additional 2% when people pay only the minimum due for the six month billing cycle which I believe is half. Unfortunately, their system has a glitch which automatically is charging all customers this additional fee even when paying in full by the date due. Although I am sure that many people catch this problem, I am also sure there are a ton of people who simply pay the extra amount with the assumption that they made an error (as I did the first time). Even worse is that this extra payment was somehow slipped into the financial abyss of the Farmers Insurance agency pocket and not applied to any future premiums. The agent wasn’t even sure if they would be able to refund the erroneously paid $10.30. The agent admitted that this problem has existed for more than a year and a half and that they haven’t been “able” to fix it yet. Sounds like a very lucrative mistake to me, and that lots of unsuspecting people are probably paying a “late fee” that they are not required to.

At what point does an error evolve into a tidy little scam on your customers? How about after you let it go on for a year and a half?

I just received a strange UPS package this morning, a check for $4,500

It's obviously a scam but I was wondering if I could get some expert advice on how to handle the situation in the best and most entertaining way possible.

I believe this got started when I posted a "roommate needed" ad on Craigslist. One girl replied right away, saying that she was coming here from another country. She also mentioned that she was having many things shipped to her here... like a BWM?!?!?

I had already given here the address and she said that her Dad was sending a money order. I had nothing bad bad feelings about the whole thing so I told her the place was already taken. A couple of days ago she emailed saying that she needed my help. She needed me to cash the check that her Dad had already sent and that I could keep 10% of it as a transaction fee.

So I'm guessing that the Craigslist ad is how these people got my address.

Should I just not respond? String them along?

Thanks in advance,

Sean

There's really no point in stringing them along — unless you're secretly Batman or something. You're not, right? Anyway, one option is to collect all the information you can about these folks — emails they've sent, the package, all that stuff, and file a police report. It may sound pointless, but Reader Chris managed to get his Craigslist scammer arrested by filing a police report. For all you know, these people have been trying this all over town and you may have the missing puzzle piece. Or they could be in Nigeria.

You can also contact your local FBI field office and ask them if they're interested in seeing the check. If you'd fallen for the scam, we'd advise that you report it to the FBI's internet crime complaint center. Thankfully, you didn't!

Sean sends an update:

The scammer contacted me again and asked if I got the check. She wants me to cash it and send the money to a person in Oklahoma who she says is a car dealer at a place where she wants to buy a car. Also that I need to send the money through Western Union. For clarification, the check was sent from a Florida address and has contact name, address and phone number.

I called the JP Morgan Chase Bank to tell them that I have a lot of contact information from someone who made an obvious forgery of their check. Chase basically said "yes, we're aware of the problem". I asked if they wanted any of the information, like the name and address in Florida that it was sent from. The name & address of who it's supposed to go to? They said, not really.

I called the local FBI and they said they get lots of this and had me go to IC3.gov to report the information. I filed the report but I'm not counting on getting any response.

Well, Sean, you did everything that you could do.

Will this bring an end to cramming on the AT&T network? Maybe it depends on how many customers demand refunds, although it seems that AT&T is taking steps to rein in the worst of the third-party companies:

[AT&T] now requires customers who sign up for third-party services with recurring fees to confirm by replying to a text message. It also requires the content providers to send monthly reminders with instructions on how to unsubscribe from such services.

"AT&T has taken aggressive action to put industry-leading safeguards in place to protect our customers from unauthorized changes from third parties. We believe this settlement is consistent with that approach," Richter said.

Richter had no estimate for how much the settlement will cost AT&T. Given that the company already let customers contest spurious charges, he said the number who will get refunds through the settlement will be small. The company will pay the plaintiffs' lawyers $4.3 million.

Notifications will soon go out to 70 million current AT&T Mobility customers.

Here's more info on cramming to help you protect your cellphone bill from exploding.

"AT&T settles suit over 3rd-party cell phone fees" [Associated Press]
ThirdPartyContentRefund.com

RELATED
How To Fight The Phone Cram Scam

Thanks to airlines bringing back a much-maligned ticket tariff, the minimum stay, business travelers can find that if you return on a Saturday, your ticket could be as much as three times as much as if you returned on Sunday. For instance, "A woman has a morning meeting in Norfolk, Va., on Thursday. On Continental, the round-trip fare from Newark is about $875. But if she stays through Saturday night, the fare is about $250," NYT reports. Their excuse? Soaring oil prices. Luckily, there is a way around it: buy two back-to-back roundtrip tickets, one going to your destination on your preferred departure date, one coming back on your preferred return date. Toss two legs of the trip and it can end up being cheaper than the one original ticket.

It’s Back: The Minimum Stay [NYT]
(Photo: Getty)

Doris wanted to start 2008 off on the right foot, so she made the resolution to lose weight. She ordered a free trail of Wu Yi Tea, "Hollywood's Hottest Diet", and decided well before her two weeks were up to cancel her order and stick to old fashioned eating right and exercise. That was in January. Four months later, Wu-Yi's parent company Living Lean in Las Vegas is giving Doris the run around about canceling her order. Oddly, Wu Yi has this to say about fad diets on their website, "all the diet formulas have been, at best, disappointing, at worst, outright frauds." Pot, this is kettle. You're black. Hear more from Doris, inside.

Hi Editors,

As part of my new year’s resolution I made a pledge to lose weight like 90% of Americans do. On January 18, I ordered the Wu –Yi teas to help with my weight loss program. I was not relying on it being my salvation or miracle diet but I just wanted to try the tea. They offered a free trial on the website and was only suppose to be charged for the shipping and handling fee of $6.95. I DID read the fine print. I had 2 weeks to cancel and if not then I would be charged for subsequent monthly shipments. Well definitely within 2 weeks I canceled! Since I am not someone who balances my checkbook at the end of every month. I just noticed additional charges from Living Lean in Las Vegas for 19.95. Originally, I thought it was fraud and it is! I called the company and they are a cover for WuYI Teas. The customer service person answers the phone and refuses to give the name of the company she works for, she just keeps asking for how she can help and what service that I was calling about. When I asked for a refund (after being on the phone with her for 15 minutes) she pretends that we have a bad connection and that she can’t hear me. Disconnected. It took 4 more phone calls to get to a supervisor who needed to research my account, kept me on the phone for 20 minutes to say that she will refund me within 3-5 business days.

There are many reported cases of scam under Living Lean in Las Vegas and Wu Yi Tea or their other name Easyweightlosstea.com. I really want to bring light the consumerist readers beware of this scam! I have been fighting these charges since February..and it is now end of May. There is nothing free in life. These people cost me time and aggravation.

Doris, it's chargeback time. You've tried working with Wu Yi, it's time to let your credit card company work for you.

Diet programs, beauty regimens, and herbal supplements aren't regulated industries, so researching the company before handing over your credit card information is essential. Searching for "Wu Yi" and "scam" yields enough scary results to make you think twice about the product.

"He proceeded to tsk tsk tsk about the absence of my discount. "Not a problem. I can take care of this for you and make sure you get the discount you signed up for." He was writing on a form, covering the majority with his arm. I craned my neck to look. He pivoted.

(snip part where salesman acts super creepy...)

"Thank you for signing up with IDT for energy savings and you tell my supervisor I was a nice guy, ok?" He squeezed my hand and smiled. "You bet." I turned, locked the door behind me and scanned the pink sheet. I'd never signed up before and the sheet said as much. The whole thing had been a shady way of hurrying unsuspecting folks through. I looked up the number, 1-877-887-6866, and waited on hold for ten minutes before reaching an operator. "A guy just came to my door, I'd like to cancel the Switch and Save program," I said.

Don't fall for this scam. Warn your friends and neighbors, and if a shady ESCO salesman comes to your door and pulls a deceptive marketing move like we describe here, shut the door on him and report it to your attorney general.

IDT Energy, or I Don't Think So Jack Ass [The Wink]
PREVIOUSLY: IDT Energy Still Scamming New York Residents
(Photo: Getty)

ArsTechnica writer Nate Anderson was a recent "cramming" victim, and he wrote about his experience tracking down who was behind it. Cramming is a scam where third-party groups tell your phone company to bill you for "services," services you never signed up for, and the phone company happily obliges, taking a cut of the fee. The phone company does no verification and all the scammer needs is your phone number. In Nate's case, he was signed up for three different voicemail services and email-forwarding service, three at $14.95 per month, and one at $12.95, doubling his telephone bill. Snooping around, he found the companies behind it were ILD and ESBI, and scores of cramming complaints about these "companies" littered the internet. Luckily he was able to get refunds without difficulty (crammers often make it easy to cancel so you don't go complaining to any law enforcement bodies) only providing just as much information as these con-artists used to flimflam him in the first place: his phone number. So how can you fight a crammer?

1. Watch your bills for suspicious charges.
2. If you see a fee for a service you never ordered, contact the "service" provider and request a refund.
3. Ask your phone company about how to remove erroneous charges.
4. File an FTC complaint.
5. After you get your money back, ask your phone company to put a block against third-party charges on your account.

Cram this: a firsthand account of my recent cramming [Ars Technica] (Thanks to John!)

(Photo: Getty)

Erin was the recipient of a recent scam attempt from Moreno and Woods, a debt collection agency that—according to her account and others found online—uses abusive tactics and fraudulent claims to try to con people into paying off debts they never owed to avoid things like wage garnishments and lawsuits. Erin fought back, and shared her story with us to warn others.

I received a voicemail today (5/27/08) out of the blue from a man who identified himself as David Cooper from Moreno and Woods. He said he was calling regarding Case Docket #93659, and that I must return his call immediately or else "the matter" could result in wage garnishment, denial of credit, or closing of existing lines of credit. He gave his number as 866-928-3160, ext. 109. Since the voicemail didn't provide any information that would allow me to discount the matter out of hand, I returned my call.

Cooper retrieved my file, asked if I was Ms. [redacted] - I said I was - and asked me to confirm the last four digits of my SSN - I did not reply to that. I asked him what the call was regarding, and he said that they had a "judgement" against me from Bank of America regarding an outstanding balance of $20,000 on Visa account ending #1181 that was opened in 2001 and closed in 2004. (To the best of my knowledge this account never existed, let alone belonged to me - even supposing someone else had opened it in my name, there should have been some contact regarding it at some point, or a record of it on my credit report). I asked in what court the judgement was obtained, and he said they had the judgement "in the office." I asked again what that meant, and what court of law had entered a judgement against me. He said that technically there was not a judgement yet, but three debt collections agencies had tried to get this money and so the claim was being filed in [redacted] County (where I reside - looks like they're smart enough now to Google area codes before they get on the phone) on May 30.

I said that I had no recollection of that account, had never been contacted by a collection agency, and that I have done business with Bank of America regularly over the past several years. I asked if he thought it was odd such an issue would not have arisen in that time. He said it was odd but he wasn't making it up and if anything someone might have stolen my identity. I said that I check my credit report regularly, and said that if someone has accumulated this debt by using my information, it would be extremely odd that it had not shown up on my credit report, and that neither BofA or a debt collection agency had contacted me in the intervening six years since the account was supposedly opened, or the four years since it supposedly defaulted. He agreed and said he was just trying to figure it since "the judgement" was against me for $20,000. At that point I told him that there might be people who fall for this sort of thing but I wasn't one of them.

He again tried to say that it wasn't up to him, there wasn't anything to "fall for" because he was looking at my folder right there, and there was a judgement against me in court. I asked in what court the claim had been heard - he said again it was going to [redacted] County and would be entered there. I said I understood that, but he had already referenced a docket number (93659) and I wanted to know what court of law had provided that docket number, since a docket number would not have been generated unless a claim had already been filed against me somewhere. He said, "The docket number is here - it's number 93659." I asked again what court of law had provided that docket number. He could not answer (obviously, since it is a scare tactic and no claim has been filed against me anywhere).

Finally I said he had already told me so many falsehoods I had no reason to believe anything he had to say - he asked, "What, falsehoods?" I said, "You called my home, you left a threatening message saying that a claim had filed against me in court and that I could face financial penalties, then when I called you said a judgement had been entered against me - none of that is true!" He asked me to hold on (sounded like he was trying to get a supervisor on the line or something) and I refused, saying "And I'm going to ask here not to call here again," and then hanging up.

Immediately following this conversation, I went online and obtained my credit reports from the three credit agencies (I had not obtained them in just over a year). Everything was in order - I printed off the reports - but while I was printing the last one an inquiry showed up on it from Marshall & Ziolkowski, a well known rip-off company who are now apparently using Moreno and Woods as a front. I immediately put a fraud alert on my reports as well. Hopefully this is the end of it, but I'm prepared to take legal action if they continue to contact me or try to report this fraudulent debt to the credit agencies.

I am just disgusted. The attitude would have been bad enough even if the debt existed, and since it DOES NOT EXIST, it's even worse. And as mad as I am, I'm glad they called me instead of someone who might have believed their scare tactics and paid them - I've worked in the legal field before (specifically, I have worked with creditors on debt consolidation and relief for the disabled and injured), I know my few debts down the cent and I am current on all of them, I am not easily intimidated over the phone, I know how to check my credit report, add a fraud alert, and dispute fraudulent claims, I know my rights and I know what information a legitimate company would have to prove any real debt - how absolutely terrified would I be if I didn't know any of those things? If I thought maybe there WAS some huge bill out there that I now had to pay or face legal penalties? These people should be in prison.

Erin points out that, should they call back, she has several options open to her:

The next steps, if they pursue this, could include me sending a demand for debt validation and/or cease and desist orders; reporting them to the BBB and relevant AGs [Attorney Generals]; and suing them for any violations of FDCPA or FCRA.

RELATED
Moreno and Woods [800notes.com]
"Report: Moreno And Woods"[Rip-off Report]

PREVIOUSLY:
Watch For Baloney "Reservation Rewards" Charges On Your Credit Card
Who Signed Me Up For This? MovieTickets.com "Shopper Discount" Strikes Again
Reservation Rewards Infects GameStop?
(Photo: Getty)

Dear Consumerist,

We hired Ultimate Van lines, based in Dallas, TX, in April 2008, to transport our furniture and other household property from Fortville, IN to Lake Forest, CA, with an estimated delivery time of 7-10 days after pickup. Pickup in Fortville, IN occurred on 4/29/08. They have still not delivered our property to us as of 5/24/08.

They have stonewalled us in our attempts to contact them (they did not answer their phone, or return phone or email messages the first week). They have offered multiple excuses as to why our items have not arrived. They will not divulge the location of our property so that we can go reclaim it. They seem to change the rules of our contract every time we call. They are not consistent in how they explain how their company works or why this delay has occurred. They claim not to receive faxes, emails and phone messages from us regarding payment of our final balance. We are concerned that our property has been stolen from us and that we may never see it again.

I have filed cases with the Better Business Bureau of Dallas and the National Consumer Complaint Database. The police in Lake Forest and Orange County do not seem to know who to refer me to. I faxed the FBI on Saturday in the hopes that they might help us. At least the FBI seems willing to review our case.

We have lost thousands of dollars worth of property; besides furniture, appliances, and clothing, we have lost memorabilia and some financial records.

What is more, my children (my daughter: 3 years old, and my son: 7 weeks old) are sleeping on the floor while they wait for their beds to arrive. We purchased cheap air mattresses in Wal-mart's camping section. My son no longer has a crib, because Ultimate Van Lines never delivered it.

There is evidence that Ultimate Van Lines has perpetrated this scam before on the internet. Unfortunately it was only after we realized there was a problem that we located poor reviews of them online. Customers at ripoffreport.com, my3cents.com, and movingscam.com reported their property being held hostage and cash amounts extorted from them upon delivery.

Please help ensure that Ultimate Van Lines is not free to victimize other customers in the future. We’ve already paid thousands of dollars to relocate to California, and if we hire a lawyer to litigate our case, we will have to pay thousands more. We just want our things back.

I am appalled about all I’ve learned regarding moving companies and their scams since this happened to us. Those who perpetrate these crimes really seem to operate above the law. I’ve heard that the police are powerless to help when movers hold property hostage and extort money from their victims. I want to help put a stop to at least one company making money this way.

- Heather C.

And that's why you want to check out a moving company's reputation BEFORE you sign up with them.

How To Avoid Moving Scams
How To Find a Reputable Mover
Things To Know Before You Freight Ship
8 Tips From A Moving Company
Trouble With Your Movers? Call The Department Of Weights And Measures!

But that's not going to help you out of your current predicament. You want to contact the California Public Utilities Commission, which has jurisdiction over moving companies in California.

I’ve been a reader of the site for a quite a while and have come across an issue I’ve been attempting to resolve completely, with five different levels of call center supervisors without success.

I applied for a Best Buy credit card with the normal 12 months, 0% Interest deal that they offer consumers on large items and purchased an HDTV in December 2005 in San Antonio, TX.

As of yesterday my account is closed and paid off, much longer than I had expected it to be open for, though reviewing the last two months statements I came across monthly miscellaneous charges that I wrote off as being fees associated with deferred interest due to its unspecific, generic Transaction name of “Debt Cancellation-TX”. The “Debt Cancellation” charges varied monthly, but it ranged from $1.96 to to $2.93 to $5.57. Billed monthly, sometimes twice a month.

The name of the service that they signed me up for without my consent I have discovered is “Account Shield” or “Account Secure”. A 100% profit charge that the credit card provider stuffs into their pockets, especially considering they’re signing up their customers for it without approval or notification.

Yesterday on the 20th, I called over 10 toll-free numbers. 1-800’s, 1-888’s. I tried Executive Customer Relations for HSBC (Got their number from Consumerist) but they don’t handle Retail Services accounts. Any outsourced (overseas) CS calls I placed resulted in dead ends. They’d only let me talk to their supervisor whom kept repeating the same scripted response over and over— about how apparently I must have elected to subscribe to the “Account Shield” service as that’s the only way it could’ve been added to my account.

Nevermind the pages and pages of people at this site whom experienced the same thing, signup for this scam of a service without their consent, signature, approval – whatever you’d like to call it.

MSNBC details another person whom has gone through the exact same thing I did. Dead ends, no one would admit that they even had the CAPABILITY to refund the charges.

Finally, I spoke with Yvonne Thomas, Badge Number “Y1T”, at the Wood Dale, IL call center for HSBC. I had spoken with 3 levels of supervisors / escalations (she represented herself as a supervisor) before getting to her. After going through the same process of explaining what happened, how I did not sign up for this, she would not understand where I was coming from, that I had not signed up for this service, it had been added to my account without my consent and as it has a generic name, I wrote it off as a financial charge that was required.

I asked to speak to her manager and she obliged, unfortunately it resulted in only a voicemail being left at “Renee Teresina”’s mailbox. I pleaded my case quickly to make sure the entire message was recorded and hung up. Not two minutes later, Yvonne Thomas called me back and said that her manager was in meetings all day but she agreed to reverse “half” of the fees that they can see a history of. Apparently they only see back one year into my history which means $62.87 in charges. She’d be willing to reverse $32 of that $62. I said that would work for the time being until I could speak with Renee directly and she said she’d go ahead and reverse that portion of the charges.

I called the overseas “Debt Cancellation” department back and somehow they were able to see the entire account history of the Debt Cancellation charges on my account that total $172.37.

To me, $32 being refunded is not enough as this is a service that I didn’t agree to and wasn’t warranted. I’d like to see if my story can be heard and looked into, hopefully getting more if not all of the $172 refunded.

Some quick research uncovered that there are many that feel they have been tricked into this program. The most common scenario is that a Best Buy employee offers you 0% interest on a credit card for 12 or 18 months. The employee tells you to sign here and here, but what you have done is unwittingly signed up for "debt cancellation." Some customers say they never signed up for such a program and virtually all of them say that they were never told about it by Best Buy. Some employees may have even told customers that this program is required to be approved for 0% interest, but it simply isn't true. What is debt cancellation? MSNBC says,

What happened to [the victim] is that he was signed up for something called debt cancellation, which is very similar to credit insurance — once commonly offered by credit card issuers. Consumers pay a few dollars a month, based on an outstanding balance of the loan, and if they die or are incapacitated, the loan is forgiven.

But debt cancellation is a relatively new development, slightly different but much preferred by retailers. Debt cancellation doesn’t involve a third-party insurance company, so the retailer and its credit partner keep all the revenue. Also, it's been deemed a non-insurance product by federal regulators. That’s important, because many state insurance regulators now limit the price of credit insurance, and mandate clear disclosures. Debt cancellation, on the other hand, is hardly regulated at all.

Debt cancellation really insures the store, not the consumer, who is generally dead at the rare times the policy is invoked. The store gets paid, even when the consumer is no longer in a position to care. As with credit insurance, consumers should always decline the product, says consumer advocate Birny Birnbaum, from the Center for Economic Justice.

"This does nothing for consumers," says Birnbaum, who is the former chief economist of the Texas Department of Insurance. “It's 99 percent profit for the companies. Just say no, no, no, no."

This isn't a case of 1 person not reading the fine print, this is a large group of people with the same complaint about the same card. Even if what Best Buy and HSBC are doing is legal, it certainly isn't right. Remember, there is usually never such thing as a free loan. If you ever have erroneous or fraudulent fees on your statement make sure to contact your credit card company as soon as possible. Here are some tactics for mind-controlling CSR's when it's time to escalate. The EECB can also be an effective tool. Never rely on a commission-earning sales rep. to give you the facts and read what you are signing.

SAME-AS-CASH? READ THE FINE PRINT [Red Tape Chronicles]

(Photo: Getty)

"The Camera Professionals" are not actually that professional, nor do they have cameras to sell you. That's what ZDNet reporter Josh Taylor discovered when he decided to take their Google AdWord bait and buy a camcorder they were offering for nearly $300 less than other stores. He didn't expect much success, and he was richly rewarded:

While stories like mine are sadly not that uncommon, I’m still absolutely stumped at what kind of scheme The Camera Professionals is trying to pull off. They never tried to upsell me, they never charged my credit card, they simply appeared to have taken an order for an item they seemingly have no intention of trying to fill.

After reading complaints online about the company, Taylor was expecting a call-to-confirm scam that would lead to an aggressive upsell, and a subsequent out of stock notice if he didn't take the bait. Instead, he simply got nowhere with them. We wonder if it had to do with his manner of payment (Amex).

What's funniest about the experience is that the company actually paid a small amount of money to take Taylor's order:

But that’s not all. Since I clicked on a Google sponsored link to visit them in the first place, they actually paid Google for the privilege of taking an order. It wasn’t much - looks to be about a nickel a click for the search term “Vixia HF10″ - but it’s still a nickel more than they made off my order.

"The worst shopping experience on the web?" [The ToyBox / ZDNet]

It's sort of old news by now, but I had pre ordered Grand Theft Auto 4 (for Xbox 360) and left a $8 deposit well over a year ago at the GameStop in Hicksville NY. When I arrived at the store on Thursday 5/1/08, just 2 days after the release of the game (4/29/08), I was told that they were sold out of the game. "But I reserved a copy." I said. I was told by the goofy teenage employee that "It is GameStop policy to only hold reserved games for 48 hours." So I immediately went into "Where is your manager mode". After explaining that his manager wouldn't be in for another another hour, the employee got nervous and after what can only be described as divine intervention, found "the last copy" of the game under the counter. I said great, thanked him and left with my game.

When I opened the package minutes later, untampered security seal and all, I found that the original game was replaced with a used and worn gangster rap CD. (see image attached). I quickly brought it back to the store, and after the kid giddily took a few pics with his camera phone ("Dude, holy shit, I've never seen anything like that."), I was told again that I had received the last copy of the game and that he was in no position to issue me a refund. If I hadn't foreseen this becoming a huge pain in my ass, I would had thought it was pretty damn funny - my friends certainly did! Boyz N Da Hood, really?

Now a LONG story made somewhat shorter - I made several phone calls to Take 2 Interactive, the manufacturer of the game, while I waited for the GameStop manager to arrive. While dealing with Take 2 I was given a 2 hour royal runaround, however almost everyone I spoke to had a very pleasant British accent. After speaking with everyone from the shipping department to a frustrated Scotsman in the Technical Support department, I realized this could only end with an abrupt and unsatisfying dead end. Eventually I gathered that I would have to take it up with the retailer.

After speaking with the store manager, who was no help, he told me I need to take it up with the manufacturer. Already tried that! I asked for his corporate number and his district manager's phone number as well. I tried the corporate number first where I was told that they could do nothing for me, and I would have to get in touch with the DM. After leaving a few messages with the District Manger over several days, I finally got a hold of him. I have to say, when I did finally get a hold of him he was begrudgingly willing to get me a new copy of the game. Can't say that he believed my story at all, but none the less I was happily carjacking on my TV later that night!

Thanks for your time, hope this is useful for your site, which I love!
~Greg

Oh, we love you too, Greg. We have to say that the District Manager of that Game Stop is a nice guy. It's always good to hear about these stories getting resolved without anyone crying and pulling their hair out.

Consumers report receiving automated message calls from a service calling itself "The Jobline" where you're told they have jobs for you if you call back, but it turns out it's just a scam. If you call the number back, you will get charged $9 per minute, according to messages left in online forums where people share information on telemarketing numbers. They seem to be using the number 976-4477 in different area codes. A scam targeting people already hard up for work and money, that's pretty high on the Richter scale of sleaziness.

773-976-4477 [800notes] (Thanks to Skurry!)

(Photo: Getty)

A commenter to our Worst Company in America nominations picked Best Buy, his employer of six years, to win it all. His reasons, including the credit card fraud, phony bundling scams, and other schemes they made him do to keep his job he heard rumors about happening at other Best Buys, inside. UPDATE: The original commenter has contacted us to say that these things did not actually happen to him and he was not trained to do them by Best Buy. Rather, he heard about them happening at other Best Buys or read about them in other Consumerist articles, and, in a pique of anger, wrote a long comment that remixed all this information together and framed it as if it happened to him. Consumerist regrets the error, and the commenter has been banned.

1. Watch out for extra charges
"They forcefully signed up ignorant customers for internet contracts and magazine subscriptions without the customers knowledge," writes our insider. "I was trained in the way of how to act like the credit card wasn't recognized the first time through since we needed to scan it once for the contract and later for the purchase, and also to do a little X on the screen for them when they had to sign the contract."

2. They don't like warranty repairs
"If we found one single scratch on the phone, we would tell the customer it was sign of abuse and refuse their warranty . . . I think I saw 1 out of 20 phones handled under the service plan because of that." Eventually Best Buy corporate took over because of the complaints.

3. Tart it up if you're gonna ask for a favor
"You better be attractive if you want the easy road through a policy or friends with somebody. If you don't have much on your side, you won't qualify for a 'case by case' policy procedure."

4. Best Buy loves unnecessary charges and services as much as the next big box store
Remember the story about Staples charging $390 for a basic computer repair? Best Buy can beat that: "I remember when Best Buy first started selling VPR Matrix Computers. The machines came with virtually nothing on them but the operating system, yet we still heavily pushed a system optimization to eliminate background programs and make it work so much better. I think all we did on this particular PC was turn on automatic updates, and install the latest patches... There were no unnecessary programs on boot.

5. Bundles are a ripoff
"You want the 299 advertised core system? We have plenty in stock!!! But it's only available in the package with 10 extra controllers, all 32 games, 15 memory cards, 2 extra hard drive kits, and the Replacement plan! Oh and 10 years of xbox live subscription!"

Our insider didn't offer any advice for escaping these pitfalls, but one obvious solution would be to stop shopping at Best Buy.

(Photo: greggoconnell)

Jennifer and 7 other students at the University of California San Diego went through a ticket broker at lastminutefares.net to purchase their airfare for a volunteer trip to Ghana. Their broker, "Michelle Shaw," turned out to be a scammer who took their money and disappeared—but not before she sent two of the seven tickets to the students as a "you can trust me" gesture. Despite repeated assurances by Northwest that at least the two tickets in their possession were still valid and couldn't be tampered with, Michelle Shaw managed to cash one in for a refund sometime in the past few weeks, which Jennifer discovered this weekend when she double-checked their status. Now Northwest is saying they can't help her, and that no matter what their CSRs told her before, this Michelle Shaw woman technically owns the tickets.

I don't know if this is your typical fraud story, but I've read the success stories on your site so I thought I would seek out your advice.

In December, 8 other students and I purchased round trip tickets from San Diego,CA to Accra, Ghana departing July 10th from lastminutefares.net representative Michelle Shaw. This is for a three week volunteer trip we are all taking through Alternative Breaks, UCSD. She was an awful travel agent and after we had all paid, she kept putting off sending us e-tickets with various excuses. Naturally, we were suspicious and demanded our tickets or a refund. She responded by sending us two confirmed tickets through Northwest which, when we checked with a Northwest agent, were valid. After further pressure for the other tickets she failed to send them and we contacted our credit card agencies to report fraud. Seven students were able to get refunds through their credit cards.

I, because at the time I had a valid ticket, was told by my credit card that I couldn't claim fraud because I had technically received the goods promised to me. My friend, Caitlin, was in the same boat. In the meantime Michelle Shaw (a terrible woman and also a very bad speller) disappeared.

Caitlin and I were at a loss and contacted Northwest to find out if we could block our tickets from being tampered with by the scammer. We were assured verbally several times that it was secure, but were refused written confirmations (this was after we both contacted Northwest separately). After being shuffled through several agents we finally reached someone who agreed to notate on our account that our tickets could not be altered by the agent (oh ya I forgot to mention Michelle got my name wrong-Jennier instead of Jennifer- and Northwest repeatedly told me the agent had to change this mistake despite the fact I said OVER AND OVER AGAIN THAT SHE NO LONGER EXISTED AND HAD SCAMMED 7 OF OUR MEMBERS! Sorry, too much yelling there, but come on!). They promised me that I would not have a problem with the minor name change, but still refused to change it.

Unsatisfied, I had a friend who works at the UCSD Res Life office with me call and pretend to be my concierge (Ha! We're staying in hostels!) to doubly check that my ticket was safe and to try to get my name changed. After talking to several different people over the course of the week she was unable to get my name corrected, but confirmed with two different agents that my ticket was safe.

Stupidly, I relaxed. This is my first major trip and I thought everything was now ok (this is the end of January/beginning of February). Tonight, on a whim, I double checked my ticket through Northwest and saw that it had been REFUNDED! Amid hiccups and sobs I spoke to a Northwest agent supervisor, Sandra Dee (no, really, Grease lightening!) from the Seattle office, who confirmed that this was in fact true, the agent had filed for a refund on February 20th! I should have checked my ticket earlier, but since "the incident" I had checked it about every week and (again, stupidly) stopped around the end of February/beginning of March. I called Caitlin, but her ticket is still there and not refunded, so she doesn't know what to do.

I explained my situation to Sandra (this whole time looking ridiculous because I couldn't stop crying) and how I had been promised by at least three agents that this would not happen. In a very, very nice, appeasing way she said tough shit. Apparently, because I bought a consolidated ticket through an agency, the agency has sole control of the ticket and Northwest has no control if they ask for a refund. The ticket essentially belongs to the agent. This made no sense to me and I asked Sandra to explain further and she tried, but it still made no sense to me. I asked about the notation that had been made on my account and she read it back to me as "Northwest cannot make changes to this ticket made on Jan. 27th by C." I was shocked. I told her that I had been told the notation said "the booking agent cannot make changes." She had no reply, other than they should not have promised me that. When I asked why this system would be in place if it allows blatant fraud like this to happen and why I had been explicitly told it would not happen she said that "This doesn't usually happen." Well, that helps!

She clearly felt bad for me because at this point I had run out of tears ans was dry heaving and snotting all over the phone. She suggested I immediately call my credit card company and report the charge (I already called Visa, I have to wait until my bank opens tomorrow to dispute the charge). She offered to sell me the ticket for the original lowest price offered despite it being sold out. I had payed $1980 for the original ticket (b/c it was the cheaper consolidated price) and she offered it to me for $2500. I wailed that I didn't have an extra $500, but she claimed there was no way to offer me the ticket at the agency price.

I'm not trying to be a matyr, but I work two jobs (around 40 hours a week) in addition to school in order to pay for tuition and this trip. Before this I was going to have JUST enough money to pay the program fee for our volunteer trip, but now with the ticket mix up even if I get my money refunded through the credit card I can no longer afford to go on a trip that I have been working towards all year (we have done a bunch of fundraisers and have spent all year learning about Ghanaian culture, plus the anticipation has just, in general, been building since October).

I just don't know what to do. I read the Guide to Fighting back and it says to get in touch with executives. I saw that Delta and Northwest merged, so should I try to find Delta CEO Richard Anderson information? Do I just get screwed and not go on the trip? I'm graduating, which is part of why this was such a great opportunity for me—Caitlin and my plane tickets had been for an extra month after the volunteer trip so we could stay in Ghana and spend some time at Liberian refugee camp and volunteer a week at WWOOF. This is also the first time I won't have to work in the summer in order to save for tuition.

Also, should Caitlin risk having the same thing happen to her ticket or get the refund and re-purchase a new ticket at a loss of $500 (she's barely squeezing by too, but might be able to get the extra money)?

I'm sorry to harass you with such a long email, if you are too inundated with other emails I totally understand, but if you can offer any advice/help I would appreciate it so much.

We suspect you're a person who trusts more easily than we do, Jennifer, what with the volunteering and the trusting Michelle Shaw and the fact that you think calling her a "very bad speller" is an adequate insult. She's a common criminal.

The sad fact is, you got scammed. It's a criminal issue, not a customer service issue.

Northwest should have never promised you that the tickets were yours, and they obviously lied to you about the notes in your account. You should still escalate your complaint up Northwest's chain as well as Delta's, and ask them why they didn't help protect you from further abuse by this scammer as soon as you called them the first time.

Your bigger issue at this point, however, is making sure you file a criminal complaint with the police. Call your local police station or dial 911 and say you need to file a criminal complaint.

You should also contact your credit card's fraud division and explain that the ticket was refunded without your permission, and that now you do NOT have the goods that were promised to you. That should put it back into fraud qualification.

You should also request a new credit card number, as should anyone else who gave that sort of info over to Ms. Shaw.

As far as getting to Ghana, the sad fact is you're probably going to have to come up with more money for new tickets now. No, it's not fair, but that's crime for ya. We suggest you hit up any organizations you're a member of for a short-term volunteer loan (or better yet, gift) to cover the additional cost if you really have your mind set on volunteering in Ghana this summer.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Ian in Pennsylvania says Royal Flowers tried to scam him on a recent bouquet purchase:

With it being Mothers Day, I was shopping around for flowers to send to my mother. I checked the normal big sites since she lives in another state, like 1-800 flowers. I decided to check the local company I use, since they are always cheap and service is great. So I found a great piece significantly cheaper than the other sites. I place the order and everything is going great.

Then I received the following email.

Mr. XXXXXX,   This is in regards to the order you placed going to XXXXXXXXXXXX.   We received a message from the filling florist. They need a total unit price of $54.00 to complete your order. Please respond to this email or call 717-273-4090, ext. 5035, between the hours of 8:00 - 5:00 with your wishes.   Thank you.   Diane, Customer Service

Ok...so their contracted florist now wants more money. You have to be kidding me? They are asking for $7 more to fulfill the order, putting them well over all the competitors (like 1-800 flowers). I'm appalled that they would even consider to ask for more money after a transaction has been completed.

We hope you canceled your order with them on principle and went with another florist, Ian. You may want to also contact your state's attorney general's office and file a formal complaint that the company refused to provide the service at the price you both originally agreed to.

(Photo: blmurch)

Timothy, our hapless eBay seller who kept having problems listing his laptop on the auction site, was contacted by a Real Live Human from eBay the day after we posted his story. "Garrison" apologized for the frustration, and said he'd be making a note on Timothy's account to keep it from getting shut down by other agents. He also suggested several listing options that were pretty well-covered by our commenters in the original thread.

Here's Tim's email:

Just FYI: I have listed the auction for a sixth time (mostly because I think it’s funny now to watch eBay have to refund my listing fees repeatedly). About 15 hours after you posted the story, I got the following email from a human being at eBay:

Dear Timothy,   Thank you for writing eBay in regard to the issues with the laptop computer you have tried to sell.   I have taken the time to review your account and would first like to apologize for the frustration this has caused you.  It is very understandable that you would feel upset with the current activity and circumstances on your account.   Your auction was removed because there were concerns that a third party was potentially accessing your account and attempting to list the laptop for sale.  Please