North Star Financial Aka TS Ameriplan Tel fraudulent rip-off business took $249 without my consent & has not returned my money Phoenix Arizona

During the week of December 16, 2002 I received a telephone call from North Star Financial offering to me a guaranteed unsecured Mastercard of $2,000. To receive the card, all I needed to do was pay a one-time only fee of $249. To expedite their offer, the company insisted on a withdrawal from my checking account.

I made arrangements for the withdrawal to occur on December 27, 2002. Soon after I hung up the telephone, I realized that I had just given some unknown individual my checking account number. This made me feel uneasy.

So, the following day I called the company back to cancel my acceptance of their offer. A lady took my call and told me that they would be willing to extend my withdrawal date to January 13, 2003. She was such a nice lady and presented to be very empathetic fo my situation.

After hanging up the telephone, I suddenly realized I did not cancel their offer but agreed to withdrawing money from my account on January 13, 2003.

I am a single parent with 2 children; my oldest is in college, while the youngest is attending private school. I work very hard to support my children. More recently, my income has not been enough to care for all our needs. This offer was very appealing to me, as I figured it would provide me the financial boost that I needed to get over the hump.

After pondering over the offer some more, I called North Star back and told them I simply could not afford the $249. The young lady said she would not withdraw the money until January 24, 2003. Again, I agreed to the extension. Much to my dismay, my account was debited $249 on January 13, 2003 leaving my account in the red and leaving me the inability to pay bills.

I called the company back. When North Star withdrew the $249, the name that appears on my bank account reads "TS Ameriplan Tel". The lady was very apologetic and said they would refund the $249 immediately. Before doing so, however, she forwarded my call to a man who provided me their web address just to prove their business was legitimate. I refused to accept the offer and insisted they return my $249.

I was instructed to write a letter requesting my refund. I mailed my letter on January 13, 2003. On January 16, 2003, the company confirmed receipt of my letter at which time they said my refund would be redeposited into my account. On January 20th, my account was not credited so I called North Star again. I was informed they could not redeposit the money into my checking account so would mail me a check. They lady whom I had been talking to said they did not have anyone immediately available to sign the check but would get it in the mail as soon as possible. To date, I have not received my refund. In fact, I have called the 1-866-517-3698 telephone number over the last few days without success. No one is answering the telephone.

Phoebe Crownpoint, New Mexico
U.S.A.