Stanford Who's Who Fraud, Scam, lies, false, money-hungry, illigitimate New York, New York

I (foolishly) bought a membership for Stanford Who's Who in October 2010 after they contacted me by phone. At the beginning of December, I was wrongfully charged a payment ($198) that I did not agree to. I contacted customer service immediately after the charge showed up on my bank account and spoke with multiple representatives, including at least one supervisor. After several days of a lot of back and forth and even being threatened by a supervisor to not be helped at all, we finally were able to come to an agreement (not a full refund, but they said that's "the best we can do." $99 back in my account and waive my monthly $9.95 membership fee). They said they would email me a copy of the refund agreement that I would then have to sign and send back before any money would be refunded. The agreement was supposedly emailed to me on December 10th. I never received this agreement and requested (via email) that they resend it. I received a timely response stating that they would send it again shortly. That was on December 22nd. I had been checking my inbox and spam folder daily with no sign of any agreement for almost a week. I finally emailed the person that I was supposed to be receiving it from directly to make sure she was aware of the situation . No response. My phone calls/voice messages/emails continued to go unanswered until FINALLY on January 10th I received an email stating that the agreement was attached. There was NO attachment. So, once again, I emailed them back letting them know the situation. Fortunately, they promptly sent the agreement in an attached file. I signed it right away and sent it back via email. Within about 48 hours, $99 was back in my bank account.

A few days later, I tried signing into my online account with Stanford Who's Who and it was SUSPENDED! Our agreement stated that I would continue to have a membership in good-standing, online access for one year, I would receive a desk tribute, and a hard cover copy of their business directory as well. I have NONE of those things. Don't even have the complimentary air travel vouchers they promised initially. Almost $300 I've paid to them with NOTHING to show for it!

I have filed a report with the New York BBB (where Stanford has an "F" grade and laundry list of claims against them) and a local news station that investigates scams like this one. The BBB is in the process of contacting Stanford Who's Who directly. The local news station has contacted them, and Stanford has denied any wrong-doing on their part. They lied that I authorized the transaction and lied that I was never threatened not to be helped. If they do in fact record their phone conversations as they claim to do, that will disprove any of their lies.

I am determined to get this resolved and expose these frauds so they can no longer victimize any more people! You can't buy credibility. Don't fall for it!