Proactiv Solution, Guthy-Renker LLC Unsolicited products shipped and unauthorized use of corporate purchasing card Santa Monica California

In September, I received products from Proactiv Solution that I did not order. They were billed to my corporate credit card and shipped to my attention at one of my company's satellite offices where I only work for a few days every 1-2 months.

I called Proactiv Solution and they told me that an internet order had been placed in my name, to bill to my company card and ship to me at that location. The customer service representative told me that in addition to the first order, I had been enrolled in their automatic shipment program and they were storing my credit card info.

I demanded that the account be closed and all billing information purged from their databases. They said they would reverse the charges to my account if I returned the products but that I would have to pay the return shipping fees. Naturally, I complained and the rep said I could try marking the package "return to sender" and taking it to my local post office.

I was able to return it without additional cost, however when I received my latest credit card statement, Proactiv had only credited the products and NOT the shipping/handling fees on the original order- a difference of $5.95.
I notified my credit card company of the fraudulent transaction and claimed the full amount including shipping- now pending. And of course I canceled the card.

I refuse to beleive that an average thief would use a stolen credit card number to purchase and ship something to the actual cardholder. Thus I cannot accept that this transaction was initiated by anyone other than Proactiv Solution who probably obtained my full credit card billing information AND alternate shipping address through nefarious means- probably from another online retailer.

Since the victim is on the hook for the original shipping charges of $5.95 and the return shipping costs...and the actual cost of the shipment is more like $3.00, they could have a nice little profit center there if they did this enough times.

I highly recommend that anyone who purchases online with a Citibank credit card enroll immediately in their Virutal Account Number program- that generates a random one-time use credit card number for use in online or phone purchases. You never have to give out your "real" credit card number to any "unseen" party. I don't know for certain if it's possible but it seems reasonable to assume that you would have additional traceability if someone did try to reuse a card number- you would know where it was used previously and therefore where the security lapse occurred.

Seattleite
Bothell, Washington
U.S.A.