NACS National Association Credit Services preferred merchants card fraud- promised to give a credit card $200 ripoff St. Petersburg Florida

I became another victim of the NACS ripoff, and I realized it just now after reading the reports of other victims.

As others, I got a phone call from a representative who said I am approved for a major credit card. Other details of the conversation are the same as in other stories: I provided my info and authorized the $200 deduction from my checking account. The welcome package did not come in 10 days as promised, so I called them and they assured it's going to take 4-6 weeks.

Next I recieved a confirmation letter, which I was supposed to sign and send back -- this was the first time the words "preferred merchants card" appeared. I got concerned and called the customer service again, saying that the confirmation letter is not about what I talked with the representative, and I am not going to sign it. But since my money was deducted already, I think they didn't care much. They said they handle different cards and I am supposed to get whatever I discussed with the representative.

So I waited more, and today I have recieved my "welcome package", which included the merchants card (obviously with no Visa and Master Card logo on it), 2 catalogues full of crap, 2 pieces of paper representing the $100 certificates and a bunch of sheets explaining (very badly though) in what kind of s**t I got myself into.

Now I got really worried, and not sure what exactly the preferred merdchants card is I went online, and guess what I found first? The whole list of ripoff reports from other naive consumers.
NOw I am concerned with what to do next. Should I try calling the company first (I think, I came accross a report where somebody told that they returned the money), or run direclty to the bank until it's not too late? My money was deducted on Dec.26, so it's less than 60 days so far. In any case I am going to file a report with FTC and some other places which should know what's going on.
By the way, it is important to potential new victims: when I talked to the NACS representative, he not only didn't mentioned the "preferred merchants card" words, but he also called the company South Eastern Financial, however my debit was from NACS, as well as the stuff sent. Also, when they called me their number appeared on my caller ID, which I saved for some reason, and it is different from their customer service number.

I might try to call it, and you can try too: 305-949-8334.
There are a lot of stories here about how everybody got ripped off, but it would also be helpful if there were more info on what you guys did afterwards and how it worked. I would appreciate any feedback or advice.
And thank you very much to the creaters of this website, it gave me an opportunity to realize that I am not the only one who suffered and how helpful Internet is in avoiding fraud if you're only careful enough to check everything first.

Elina
New York, New York
U.S.A.