Passport To Fun Claimed I had accepted membership to their discount shopper program and billed me $19.95 every month Ripoff Des Plaines Illinois

This company in Des Plaines has already been the subject of another Rip-Off Report I read - same treatment he/she got from these 'quick talkers'! So here's the story.

My wife is 1)not English 2) suffers from Arthritis and saw an advertised product on TV - FlexProtect Advanced Formula. The company managing the DR TV campaign is a company called ITV Direct (I researched this company and found they had indeed recently done a $ 2 million deal with Nutracea the company that manaufactures FlexProtect).

So, my wife purchased the product and was then hassled to purchase other products and services ALL of which she completely refused guiding the agent back to the products she'd ordered and only these.

We received the product, which unfortunately for my wife caused uncomfortable side effects. But as there was a money-back guarantee, we felt OK and called them back to obtain the RA number we HAD to have to get reimbursed. 3 weeks later after numerous phone calls, 2 emails, and promises of call-backs I decided to take action. I traced down the companies involved, got hold of the VP of Marketing of Nutracea and explained my case. We got hold of the RA number - it was RA followed by the original invoice number!!!

I'm looking at my credit card debits and I see a charge for $19.95 which I had noticed last month but thought that it might have been my daughter or just a take-out charge I hadnt accounted for. When it came up this time and I ask my family, no-one knows what I'm talking about. I check back to Januray and December 2006, and see that in January I got charged the $19.95 as well. And its from a company called Passport To Fun?? I call them and ask who they are. They tell me they manage shopper incentive programs and that we are members since Dec 2006 (the date my wife purchased the products for ITV Direct).

I basically tell them we're certainly not and I want my 3 x $19.95 back. They say I get $19.95 back and the freedom to use their services for free for 12 months. I say I simply want our money back and they read me their terms & conditions. I finally get the name of their HQ in Des Plaines.

So, to date I'm out 3 times $19.95 and hope to see $19.95 back on my card in 2/3 business days. So I'm still out 2 times $19.95 and will now attack their consumer affairs people.

It's not so much the money, but that's always important, it's just that there are crooks out there who'll fleece you and keep right on "working". Shame on them, and shame on us for allowing them to keep going. I'm gonna tear the walls down...you just wait and see.

Thanks

John
Tenafly, New Jersey
U.S.A.