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Report: #227660

Complaint Review: GSA/ SBA Express, NetworkAgenda.com, Grant Writer Pro - St. George Utah

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Kirkland Washington
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
  • Why?
  • GSA/ SBA Express, NetworkAgenda.com, Grant Writer Pro networkagenda.com St. George, Utah U.S.A.

GSA, SBA Express, NetworkAgenda.com, Grant Writer Pro fradulent charges, deceptive practices, singularly unhelpful St. George Utah

*UPDATE Employee: Resolution Offer

*Author of original report: But wait--there's more

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While doing Bank Statement reconcilliation for my company, I cam across 2 suspicious charges:

11/16/06 - $5.95 from a company called GSA/SBA Express
11/28/06 - $7.95 from a company called NetworkAgenda.com

Both are based out of Utah. I spoke to each person on the account, and none had ever heard of either company. I googled both names and found several Rip-off Reports for the exact same companies and amounts, though they also included $29.95 from Grant Writer Pro.

I called the bank to report the charges (they said a signatory must dispute the charges in person). The owner disputed the charges, and as I was filling out the forms today, I checked our account again:

12/4/06 - $29.95 from Grant Writer Pro
12/28/06 - $7.95 from NetworkAgenda.com

I called each phone number listed on the bank statement:

1-866-370-7270 (Grant Writer Pro) - A woman identifying herself as Lordes listened for a moment, then, when it became clear why I was calling, hung up on me.

1-800-986-2640 (GSA/SBA Express) - I was told that only if I provided certain information, could they help me. I was asked (in this order) for:
- my zip code
- my name (with spelling)
- my email address
- the first and last four digits of the card that was charged

While I hesitantly provided the first three pieces of information, I explained to the customer service representative that I did not think providing my credit card information to a company that had already engaged in fraudulent billing was a good idea. She proceeded to ask for this information several more times, then told me that she could possibly help if I faxed her a copy of my bank statement to prove I'd been charged. Oddly enough, the word "redacted" did not occur in this request.

I called Grant Writer Pro again. I was assured that the previous hang up was unintentional. At each company, I listened to the exact same woman read their "Your call may be monitored..." message. I spoke to another woman identifying herself as Sharon, who asked me for the exact same information in the exact same order.

I explained that I was not going to give her my credit card info, and by the way her company has 32 separate fraud-related complaints against it on this website, so I would now be handling this dispute directly through my bank and filing a fraud report. I assured her I did not hold her personally responsible, and hoped she had a nice day, but I was through dealing with her company. She called back 30 seconds later to ask for a faxed copy of my bank statement.

I see that someone identifying himself as "Ryan" seems all kinds of broken-up when he reads these reports and promptly promises to reverse the charges, but given the repeated and flagrant nature of this fraud, his crocodile tears simply don't pass the smell test. (Subsequent updates also reveal these to be empty promises)

I called my bank, again, and told them I particularly enjoyed getting hit with another set of fraudulent charges while in the process of disputing the first.

I'm not sure if there's a way to file a legal complaint (this is at least a regulatory violation) but if anyone has any idea, I'd be interested to hear it.

Karolyn
Kirkland, Washington
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 12/28/2006 06:27 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/gsa-sba-express-networkagendacom-grant-writer-pro/st-george-utah/gsa-sba-express-networkagendacom-grant-writer-pro-fradulent-charges-deceptive-practic-227660. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
2Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#2 UPDATE Employee

Resolution Offer

AUTHOR: Ryan - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, January 10, 2007

My name is Ryan Riddle, I am the general manager of Iworks and we handle all the customer service for Raven Media which includes several products, including GSA, GWP, SBA Express, etc. If you are at this site then it is probably because we failed you in some way in the customer service process and I would like the opportunity to make it right.

This is the customer service number 866-396-5718.

If you call this number you should get a friendly helpful agent that will be happy to help you and even give you a refund if that is what you desire. If for any reason our agents did not help you and you don't feel that we have done our job please feel free to call or email me personally and I assure you that I will handle your problem immediately.

My cell number is 435-773-1795 and my email address is ryanr@wskc.org.

Sincerely,

Ryan R.

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#1 Author of original report

But wait--there's more

AUTHOR: Karolyn - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, December 29, 2006

Seeing as how while in the process of disputing the first set of fraudulent charges I found, I was hit with two more, I decided to search my account for any other transactions by these three companies.

You guessed it--they've been hitting the account for months. GSA/SBA Express, NetworkAgenda.com, and Grant Writer Pro have been making unauthorized charges to my bank account for months. All told, they've stolen $245.20 from my account in the last six months.

I have to admit--it's a great scam. They first hit me with $3.95 charge. When that wasn't disputed, they upped the ante--next month, it was $29.95 (both Grant Writer Pro). Over the next two months, they added charges for GSA/ SBA Express and NetworkAgenda.com.

Fradulently charging a debit card (as opposed to a credit card) makes sense. Given the sheer magnitude of transactions in a bank account each month, unless you're putting every charge under a microscope, you won't catch it.

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