Premier Benefits Corp. Don't give them your checking account number! It's a scam! Orange California

Premier Benefits Corporation is a fraudulent entity. They are running a scam! DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY PERSONAL OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION.

They called my home mutiple times over several days, and when I finally gave in and spoke to them, they claimed to be offering $200 in free gift certificates, with no expiration date, to be spent anywhere in Massachusetts, on anything I wished to purchase. Naturally this seemed too good to be true, so I pressed for more information. They claimed to be "customer satisfaction representatives" associated with numerous malls and grocery chains in Massachusetts, and said my name had been randomly selected based on my purchasing history. The woman on the phone was so repetetive and persistent that I did not even notice at the time how little sense that statement actually made.

The catch turned out to be that in order to recieve the gift certificates, I would have to pay a one time $3.95 shipping and handling fee "not today or tomorrow, but in the next five business days." In order to pay this fee, I was asked to provide my checking account number and the routing number for my bank, along with the number of my next valid check. They would not accept a credit card or an actual paper check, claiming that their method, in which I would speak to their "legal recording" and "state in my own voice that I agreed to pay only $3.95" was far more secure. They claimed that it would be a direct transaction between their bank and mine, that my bank would hear the recording and verify it, as if my bank had some sort of mysterious voice recognition equipment or something.

I was uneasy about providing this information, and with the fact that they would not accept more traditional payment methods. I continued requesting information which could be used to verify that Premier Benefits was a legitimate company. The woman kept prompting me to give her my account information, saying that once I did, I would be transfered to the legal recording and would then be provided with a customer service phone number, and a package confirmation number. She kept saying that even if I gave her my account information, there was no way they could charge my account more than the agreed ammount. She tried to convince me that if they could, the bank would be foolish to print that information right on the check, and since the bank clearly isn't foolish, then it must be safe. Don't be fooled! If it's enough information to charge your account $3.95, it's enough information to clean you out!

Every time I asked a question, the woman either interrupted me with one of her stock phrases, or tried to flatter me, saying I was obviously intellligent and educated and should be able to see that what they were doing was perfectly legal and logical. She even went so far as to suggest that if I believed in Jesus, I should trust her.

I asked to speak to a supervisor. He came on the line and immediately began repeating the exact same phrases I had herd over and over again from the first woman, and I took the two or three minutes while he rattled on to check out the company's information online.

A quick search turned up this site, with more than one ripoff report about these people. I sent them packing at that point. Afterward, I checked out the address they'd grudgingly provided when pressed. It turns out to be a P.O. box at a UPS store. These guys are a total scam. They came really close to getting me, even though I almost always hang up on telemarketers as soon as I can demand that they remove me from their call list. These folks are extremely persistent, and qite convincing, at leas at first. Don't let them get you!

Coren
Northampton, Massachusetts
U.S.A.