Thompson & Company Of Tampa, Thompson Cigar CREDIT CARD FRAUD!!!! CHARGED US $98.50 FOR A CIGAR CLUB WE NEVER JOINED!!! CUSTOMER SERVICE UNRESPONSIVE!! TAMPA, Florida

In December of 2009 I ordered a 20 cigar 'Sampler Pack' from Thompson Cigar for $29.99.  The cigars were of horrible quality, very dry and crumbly, nasty aroma, and not worth the price despite the fact that we got twenty of them for thirty bucks.

We began to get telemarketing calls (not to mention tons of spam and mail order catalogues) from them almost immediately.  Each time they called, they offered to enroll us in a 'Cigar Club', and each time we declined.  The last time we spoke to one of their telemarketers was in February of 2010, at which time we asked to be taken off their call list.

The calls stopped.

On April 26th of 2010, I noticed a pending charge on our Visa card in the amount of $98.50 from Thompson Cigar!  I attempted to call them immediately, and like others who have complained here, could not get through to customer service, although calling their order line got an immediate answer.

I contacted the Visa card issuer and informed them that this was a fraudulent charge.  The only way to guarantee that this charge would not go through was to report the card lost or stolen, which we proceeded to do.  This set off a chain reaction and ALL of our credit cards were frozen, causing me untold inconvenience because I have several services (like our internet and telephone bill) set to automatically be billed to these cards each month.

Today, May 3, 2010, I finally got ahold of a 'customer service' rep who barely spoke english.  He refused to resolve anything, saying that someone else would be calling me back later in the week.  He also stated that the "order" (the order we never placed or authorized) would be shipped this week.

I kept telling him that we had NOT placed an order, and that we had NOT given consent to join their 'Cigar Club.'  In fact, the mailing address they have for us is no longer valid, as we have gone to a PO Box because our regular mailbox had been the target of vandals on several occasions.  At this point I have no way of knowing IF an order was indeed shipped but it shouldnt matter because we didn't PLACE a second order with them.

Buyer beware!  These people, once they have your credit card # on file, will place fraudulent orders on it, months later, and give you nothing but the runaround when you attempt to dispute it.

They say all orders are tape recorded, but they refuse to play the tape of any conversation we may have had authorizing this charge.  The reason for that is simple, no such recording exists.

I intend to file a complaint with both the Postal Inspector and the Attorney General, but in the meantime I've had all my credit accounts frozen and am without a credit card until new ones can be issued, which is going to take about a week, and then of course I have to change all my billing information on the various services I've used these credit accounts to service.