Check.me, Pageonce, Check Inc. Bill Pay Scam utilities credit card Palo Alto California

On January 2nd, 2014, I "Googled" "Century Link bill pay" so I could pay my Century Link bill. Normally, I keep an eye out for third party billing services. However, this time, there was a link, hi lighted in a different colored font as are sites that you have recently visited. 

I clicked on this link, which later turned out to be "Check Inc. or Check.me" (They use both names, as well as saying formerly "Pageonce", and continued to pay my bill. I never noticed, at any point, that I was being charged a fee or that I was on a third party site. I completed the process, and as soon as I finalized payment, I noticed that I was actually on an external site.

i immediately emailed "Check" and expressed my displeasure with their practices. I soon received an apology saying that they would gladly refund the $6.99 if I would just give them the routing number and account number to my bank account. Really? I asked them why they couldn't just refund it to the card I used and they replied that they couldn't do that but they would mail me a check if I'd give them my address. I did and they ensured me I would receive the refund within 7 days. I, of course, haven't seen it. 

But, out, that is not the big problem. The problem is that Century Link never received payment from "Check". Check promised me that payment would be made by January 7th. Today is Jan 14th and they still have not received payment. 

My most recent emails have gone unanswered. It looks to me like I was ripped-off and will never see that money again.