Stay Away from Privacy Guard

Discussion in 'Credit Talk' started by fxs158, Sep 8, 2003.

  1. fxs158

    fxs158 Well-Known Member

    I am furious with their customer service, this people are out to get your money peiod. I guess I should have stayed away when I saw the one dollar charge for a trial.

    Here is what happened;

    I was going to order my credit score at my fico so that I could have a baseline from now and later to see how I was doing. However I have a trial membership at privacy guard and I notioced that I could get my credit score from experian and transunion for 10 dollars "I know that this are not acurate" I just wanted to have a idea about where I was at. I went ahea and purchased this feature plus added te what if for a aditional 3 dollars making the total 13 dollars.

    I noticed my browser refresh two times so I got curios and decided to check my debit card, to my surprize there where two charges of 13 dollars. I closed the browser and called Privacy guard.

    After getting the run around anc calling several numbers I was unable to talk to someone that could help me. So I decided to access privacy guard to see the credit scores I had bought, well to my surprize they where not there the second time around. If that was not enought I check my debit card and this time they had charged me a total of 4 times 13 dollars????

    I called agai and finally got to Peter "supervisor" on the Credit info department. I wish I have never talked to him, basically his point of view was that I pressed refres four times and altough it might have been by mistake tough luck they would not do a refund. He was rude and honestly did not seem to care for me as a customer. He was more interested on keeping the four 13 dollar charges than making sure a customer got any satisfaction. He was honestly down right rude.

    So now it seems that I am out of $52.00 and the worst part is that i never got to access my points. Moral of the story, stay away from companies that have no interest on solving simple problems and the only thing they seem to care is their bottom line.
     
  2. gucci-gurl

    gucci-gurl Member

    Hello fxs..........I would call my bank first thing in the morning and dispute these charges, I would think that you should be able to have them taken off this way. Good luck to you!
    GG
     
  3. fxs158

    fxs158 Well-Known Member

    Gucci,

    Thanks for advice, unfortunately the card I used is a debit card as I do not have any credit cards. I do not think that debit cards offer the protection of credit cards. Sad part is that the extra money they took out will cause me to bounce a check as I already wrote the bills for the month and honestly will not get cash until next week to replace the cash they took out.

    I talked with another supervisor there and he seems more reasonable and willing to help, he told me to fax him a copy of my bank statement and he would re-inburse the extra charges. Problem is by time i get bank statement the damage will be done. I faxed a copy of my online statement and hope he can reverse the charges based on that but only time will tell. Man this is so frailed, I am still very disappointed that the first supervisor "Peter" acted as nonchalant as he did. Someone like him does not deserve a supervisory position, he had the nerve to call me a liar because according to him there was no way that the charge would be reflected that fast on my bank account. The fact is that nowdays when checks are scanned on retail stores they are actually pulling the Cash off your account \right then and there and you would think someone on a managerial position like him would know this. I hope that he is the exception and not the norm at privacyguard.com

    If all fails, what recourses do I have. Where should I file complaints? I know that this is not allot of cash but some of us live right by the wire and the extra money they took out will end up hurting me and that is why I am so upset.
     
  4. GEORGE

    GEORGE Well-Known Member

    YOU HAVE "LIMITED" CHARGE BACK RIGHTS EVEN WITH A DEBIT CARD...
     
  5. gucci-gurl

    gucci-gurl Member

    fxs, I can sure understand that.......for me as well that is money that I would miss. I would still contact my bank and have them do an investigation, tell them that these charges were not authorized and beg them to reverse them.....if nothing else it is sure worth a try anyway, all they can do is say no and you'll still be in the same boat but if they do that would be great! Good luck!
     
  6. blackie

    blackie Well-Known Member

    I used to run a business that accepted heavy credit card billing via a merchant account and I got a birds-eye view of the game of contested charges. Long after I moved on, I took what I learned and applied it from the consumer side.

    ALWAYS use your credit card for any purchase you may even think you might contest. Citibank is my personal choice because they make contesting charges simple. Flip over the billing statement, check a box, and send it in. Other card issuers sometimes make you jump through more hoops, like getting a notary.

    The rule of thumb is, if you didn't sign a receipt, you're not responsible for the charge. So, I always take this stance: "I demand said merchant produce a point-of-sale purchase signed sales receipt. While this charge is being investigated, please issue a conditional credit to my account."

    Bottom line is, you win - always. I know - I used to be the screwed merchant. These days, I regularly contest about a half-dozen charges a year. It's like me sending Citibank to your house with a baseball bat to retrieve my money. Terrific muscle. That way, you don't even need to haggle with a-holes. Let your card issuer go rough them up. Take it from me, merchants always lose about 99% of the time.

    I agree, debit cards are a different animal, but you do still have sway with your debit also. It will just require more jumping through hoops - notary, filling out forms, etc. But, you shouldn't have too much difficulty contesting it. I've done it before, but it was more of a hassle.

    In the future, use a credit card when buying anything that doesn't require a point-of-sale purchase signed sales receipt. Otherwise, it will feel like bringing a knife to a gunfight when something goes awry.
     
  7. thickman66

    thickman66 Well-Known Member

    about 9 months ago I disputed a charge off my Wachovia Debit card and they refunded me my money until they invesitigated and once they completed the investigation, it was all good...I kept my money. Give it a try.
     
  8. Geo

    Geo Well-Known Member

    I have been with privacyguard around 6 months ago(also I have opened accounts for two or three relatives and friends) and never have been charged a penny from privacyguard. They offer a great service!!... and for free!!.

    Just use a virtual account with $1 limit when open the account. I know that Citi and MBNA offer virtual accounts.
     
  9. fxs158

    fxs158 Well-Known Member

    I will give a try to your suggestions as I have yet to see them triying to refund any cash. This should be considered theft but unfortunatelly companies get away with it.

    Any ideas as to where should I complain about their practices to keep others from falling prey to the same situation that I did?
     
  10. SoParkDiva

    SoParkDiva Well-Known Member

    I have 2 debit cards with 2 major banks - Wachovia being one of them. Wachovia makes it very simple to charge back to your account. Simply call them and give them a reason why you want your money back. Within 24 hours the money will be put back in your account while Wachovia investigates.

    Years ago when I was in dire straits I complained falsely about a $250 debit charge. Wachovia put $250 back in my account immediately which I quickly took out and used. 30 days later Wachovia sent me a letter gently informing me that they had investigated the charge and found nothing improper so they would be taking the $250 back out of my account within 10 days from the date of the letter.

    Of course by then my financial situation was okay. But that's a great way to get a no fee "loan" from Wachovia for 30 days :)
     

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