MWI Essentials; MWI Connections; Memberworks, Inc; MWI Leisure Advantage; MWI Homeworks; MWI First Unauthorized charges to my Discover card for services I never asked for or received Stamford Connecticut

Upon accessing my Discover statement online on 5/26/03 I noticed a charge from MWI Essentials in the amount of $149.95. Not recognizing the amount or company I called the number next to the charge (877-271-4883) only to be told via recorded message that it's a holiday & no one could take my call. I then called Discover to challenge the charge & was told that the amount of $149.95 would be credited back to my account & a dispute with MWI would be pursued by Discover.

Then I did a search for MWI Essentials at www.queryserver.com & soon realized that many people nationwide have been ripped off by this company & their various aka's for several years now. I further learned that the state of Minnesota settled a consumer fraud suit with MWI in April of 2000 & that the state of California is currently filing a case against MWI for the wrongful charging of consumers.

A complaint posted at consumeraffairs.com alerted me to the possibility that these charges had been levied against my Discover (or other credit cards) before so I went back through my statements. Sure enough, there have been 4 charges levied against my Discover card:

7/5/2000 $ 84.00
6/14/2001 $ 99.95
5/13/2002 $119.95
5/13/2003 $149.95

Since I only had statements back to April of 2001 I called Discover back yesterday 5/27/03 to ask for copies of statements from the opening of my account in 1999 to March of 2001. Because it would cost $5.00 per statement it was decided that Discover would go through those statements looking for further MWI Essentials charges & I would call back today 5/28/03 to find out the results. Discover found the only charge prior to my records was the 7/5/2000 charge of $84.00.

I was given the address of the 180-Day Dispute Dept. & told to submit a letter explaining my case to them. In addition to writing that letter I called the number next to the MWI Essentials charge on my current Discover statement which had been on holiday before & via recorded message after providing my telephone number that my account had been cancelled. I never succeeded in talking to a live human being. I then wrote a letter to MWI Essentials enumerating all charges & demanding a refund of all monies.

Then I decided to call the number (203-324-7635) as given in the rip-off report of Michael of West Hartford, CT (ripoff47333.htm on this site) & spoke with Tina. I told her the charges had been made without my authorization. She told me my account had been cancelled & $149.95 had been credited to my Discover card. When asked how MWI got my credit info she replied that when I purchased my OrbiTrek from Thane I also was eligible for a 30-day trial in Memberworks, Inc. After the 30-day period my card was then charged $84.00. I told her that I knew nothing about it & then demanded the refund of the rest of the charges (totaling $303.90). She told me that company policy would only permit her to refund charges dating back one year(i.e. $119.95). I told her that was absurd & then said "I'll take legal action. I WILL get the rest of my money." She then said "I've now refunded all your money. The credit should show up in 3-5 business days."

So we'll see. I am grateful for this web site & other web sites
which helped me realize that this has been an on-going problem & which helped me formulate a plan to obtain reimbursement.

Thank you,
Jane

Jane
Harrisonburg, Virginia
U.S.A.