Posted: May 3rd, 2011 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Scam, spending | Tags: mothers day, online flowers, proflowers, Scam | No Comments »
Mother’s day is upon us once more, and that means flowers!
I know, it’s tempting to head over to the ProFlowers website and order a special delivery for mom. Especially with television, internet and radio ads everywhere you turn. But there’s a big reason (in my opinion) not to do so.
It’s not that ProFlowers has a bad product or shoddy service, though that certainly seems to be the case for some people.
For the record, the flowers that I ordered were in excellent condition and lasted quite a long time. My problem was far worse than poor quality flowers..
In fact, my problem with ProFlowers was that the process of ordering flowers on their website led to my being enrolled in a “coupon program” resulting in a monthly $14.95 charge on my credit card – without my knowledge!
You don’t need to be enrolled in some credit card billing scam. You can bypass ProFlowers and support local florists.
LocateAFlowershop.com lets you search for florists by City and State or by zip code.
FTD.com lets you schedule a floral delivery online and hands that delivery off to a local florist to complete. TeleFlora is yet another online floral site.
With so many alternatives, why risk unauthorized monthly credit card charges with ProFlowers?
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Posted: October 12th, 2010 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Scam | Tags: ezsver, proflowers, Scam | No Comments »
A while ago I shared how I had been the victim of an unauthorized credit card billing scam after ordering some flowers from the Proflowers website. It seems that Proflowers is not the only company to associate itself with these scam companies, and they’re finally getting some heat put on them.
According to this article, Orbitz, Priceline.com and VistaPrint have all partnered with similar “click fraud” companies in the past – and now they’re disassociating with them, due to customer complaints!
“ last year a federal judge in Boston approved a $10 million class-action settlement against marketer Webloyalty; the New York State Attorney General’s office recently reached $18.5 million in settlements with two separate marketers and some of their retail partners; Congress and the Federal Trade Commission have investigated. And in spite of the profits it yields, even online shopping sites have started to realize that subjecting their customers to these kinds of scammy offers is bad for business”
The article goes on to explain exactly what happened to me (and many others) at ProFlowers.com:
“These offers look harmless enough. After shelling out $75 for a bouquet of flowers .., internet shoppers are presented with an offer: “Click here to save” $5 or $10 on your next purchase. But there’s no coupon to be found, only an invitation to join a discount club for a small monthly fee.”
So far, so good – IF the customer could just say “no” to joining the “discount club”. The problem though is that the initial click to save on your next purchase transfers your credit card information, and they “enroll” you automatically! In the case of “Ez Saver” (the fraud company that got me on my ProFlowers order), that enrollment resulted in the automatic billing of $14.95 a month to my credit card. How anyone thought this wasn’t fraud is beyond me, but I’m glad to see the authorities cracking down on the practice.
All told, in my case I was charged for 2 or 3 months before I caught on. For their part, the Ez saver folks agreed to cancel my “membership” and completely reverse the charges since I discovered them in time. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons it’s good to have a credit card. If I had made this initial purchase with my debit card instead, I would have had a harder time not paying those charges if Ez Saver was not cooperating and I had to tell my bank I didn’t authorize those charges. At least by paying with credit, I could have disputed the charges with my credit card company and there would be no loss of money on my part while the matter was being settled.
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Posted: May 10th, 2010 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Debt | Tags: Debt, debt settlement, Scam | 2 Comments »
Two members of congress have introduced the “Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act,” which seeks to reign in the fees charged by some debt settlement companies and require written disclosures of services before they are performed. The bill would also require debt settlement firms to offer the right to cancel for a full refund.
A typical debt settlement program requires the customer to make payments to the settlement company in exchange for services rendered by the company. Part of the payments are taken by the company to pay the various fees associated with the service, while the remainder is kept in an account administered by the settlement company.
Many disreputable debt settlement companies also require the customer to stop paying their creditors in a bid to make the lenders more willing to accept a lower overall payment, but this is a bad idea. Doing so will simply harm your credit score and could land you in court.
There is certainly a need for some form of regulation of the debt settlement industry. Since the recession began in 2008, the Council of Better Business Bureaus has reported more than 3,500 complaints about debt reduction companies. The complaints range from claiming that debt settlement programs don’t work to alleging that they led to even more debt, lawsuits and wage garnishments.
With all the sharks out there, it’s easy to be wary of debt settlement companies claiming to eliminate your debt for pennies on the dollar with no side effects to your credit, but that just isn’t possible. And perhaps worst of all is the fact that debt settlement companies charge you for what you can do yourself – for free!
Source.
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Posted: February 16th, 2010 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Insurance | Tags: Auto Insurance, Insurance, Scam, spending, Tips | 1 Comment »
As the name suggests, Gap insurance is meant to fill a gap in already existing insurance coverage. The “Gap” in Gap Insurance stands for “guaranteed auto protection” and it is most typically offered on leased vehicles, for situations where the vehicle may be worth less than the total amount owed on the lease if the car is totaled, but gap insurance exists for many other types of loans as well. Without gap insurance, you would be on the hook for the difference between what the auto insurance pays for the totaled vehicle and what is still owed on the lease.
Signs like this are common in the U.K., but there is another kind of GAP car buyers need to be aware of.
Is gap insurance worth it?
Well, that depends on your financial situation. Let’s consider a simple example:
You buy a new car that costs $20,000. You have no money for a down payment and finance the entire cost of the purchase – remember, this is a simple example so I’m ignoring all the other taxes and fees involved. A new car loses as much as 20% of its value the minute you drive it off the lot, so within seconds of leaving the dealership your shiny new car is worth $16,000.
With me so far? Good.
Now, on your way home something terrible happens. You get into an accident and the car is totaled. You now owe the bank $4,000. That’s the difference between the amount you owe the bank ($20,000) and the depreciated value of the car at the time of the accident ($16,000).
Gap insurance would pay the $4,000 difference on top of the $16,000 replacement cost.
In this example, gap insurance would definitely be worth it unless you had $4,000 in savings to pay for the difference on your own.
Is gap insurance a good idea?
In general, gap is a good idea if:
- You have less than 20% to make a down payment.
- You “roll” negative equity from a previous car loan into a new car loan.
- You finance for 60 months or more.
- You finance a vehicle that depreciates very quickly, such as a luxury, highly optioned or one of many domestic vehicles.
Most of these cases revolve around financing too much, owing too much and not saving enough. Sadly, the type of people who find themselves in such a situation often have few real options but to purchase gap insurance.
Is gap insurance a scam, a rip-off or even necessary?
Strictly speaking, no. It is not a scam or a rip-off, though some car dealerships who offer it may be. It is also not strictly necessary as you can avoid needing it by doing any, or preferably all , of the following:
- Always pay at least 20% of the purchase price as a down payment
- Don’t buy more than you can afford.
- Have an emergency savings account with enough cash to cover any expenses not paid by your auto insurance.
- Always buy slightly used vehicles and never buy new.
By following the above, you will position yourself so that gap insurance would be a needless expense and you might even growth your net worth while you’re at it!
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