Previously, a reader wrote in about how hard it was to get a refund from Empire’s Who’s Who, a business contact directory. Many of our commentors said the best way was to dispute the charges with the credit card company. Today, another reader writes that all it took for her was the THREAT of doing so.

Beth says, “To that [salesman Daniel Gray] responded that he would save me the time and credit my account. He immediately had his secretary send me a letter to sign and return saying that I was “pleased with the outcome of the conversation” (which I was, since I was getting a total refund), and that I would get a refund back on my charge card.

I signed the letter, faxed it back, and the charge was refunded that day. So….YES, IT IS POSSIBLE to get a refund from Empire Who’s Who. But, it takes a lot of time, effort, and persistence.”

Never forget folks, the ace in the consumer sleeve: the chargeback. Though, for bonus points, can any reader tell us what rights Beth signed away when put her Jane Hancock on that letter? We have to wonder…

Previously: Empire Who’s Who Service Gets Imperial

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Beth wrote:

“I am writing in reference to the above complaint about Empire Who’s Who. I am not necessarily wanting to be a part of your blog, as I don’t generally get active in this kind of thing. But, I wanted to give my experience, because I was just successful in getting a TOTAL REFUND from Daniel Gray at Empire Who’s Who.

If there is any way that you can post this for me, I don’t really want to sign up for “Consumerist”. But, I feel an obligation to respond to this particular complaint for all to see.

I continued to call Daniel Gray telling him and complain, and he did give me some money back from my initial payment, but wanted me to stick with the company. On my final phone call I did record the conversation and made sure that I had on the recording informing him that I was recording it, and got his permission.

I then proceeded to tell him that I did try searching their members, and sent out emails for my particular interest (animal rights, which generally has a small percentage of a following in the general public), and he kept trying to convince me that even though I wasn’t getting responses, that in the long run this would work. After giving it a little time and effort so I could report back that I wasn’t receiving responses from others, and that many emails bounced back to me (which was all true), I finally kept saying over and over again that this company was not working for me. It was not a good mesh. I kept repeating myself over and over again, and asking for my money back.

When he kept saying he was trying to help me, I kept saying that the only way to help me was to refund ALL of my money.

Finally, I told him that if he didn’t I would dispute the charge with my credit card company. To that he responded that he would save me the time and credit my account. He immediately had his secretary send me a letter to sign and return saying that I was “pleased with the outcome of the conversation” (which I was, since I was getting a total refund), and that I would get a refund back on my charge card.

I signed the letter, faxed it back, and the charge was refunded that day. So….YES, IT IS POSSIBLE to get a refund from Empire Who’s Who. But, it takes a lot of time, effort, and persistence.”

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