New look

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a habit of changing things.  I do hope you all enjoy the blog’s new look.

Painvanish problem settled quickly

            The company must be handling many complaints from people because when Dear Hubby called them today he was quickly able to resolve his mother’s billing problem with them.  It paid for him to be patient while going through their auto-attends maze.  At least that’s one more thing we don’t have to deal with for the time being.  I only hope that this is truly the end of it.

            Don’t forget people; do not let those sneaky charges or bills get past you.  Do check your statements carefully.  Don’t give out any personal information over the phone or on the computer.  Stand up for yourselves and make noise if you think someone is taking advantage of you.

            If you have elderly parents, keep an eye on their bank statements.  Usually these scammers begin with a small charge on their account.  If that makes it past them, they go for more money.  Question, question, question any and all charges or bills that come in that you are certain you/or your parent haven’t made or (as in the phony bills) haven’t requested the products.

            The only way these scammers can be put out of business is by raising awareness.  Pass this information on to others.  Put these vermin out of business!

‘Painvanish’ another scam hits home

    We thought we had everything taken care of. We’re not that lucky. We have another company demanding a payment of $19.95 from my mother-in-law for a product she didn’t order, didn’t want, and never received. Tomorrow Dear Hubby will spend a great quantity of time on the phone AGAIN. This time he’ll be trying to deal with Painvanish, our newest scammer. His opening line of, “After a career in law enforcement…” usually gets their attention.

    Are these swindling companies passing around a list of names and addresses of potential victims? Are they connected? Could it be that each one is a different pocket of the same pair of pants?

    The scammers who prey on the elderly, sick, and poor must be put out of business. They hide behind their auto-attends systems to prevent one from actually speaking to a human. They offer you many ways to pay their bill that to some people is simpler than dealing with a dispute. Some people will think it’s only $19.95 to get them off their back. It’s not that simple my friends.

    I tell you now, if these companies are going to be brought to light, put out of business, prosecuted, and punished, it will only be by people not taking the easy way out. Don’t pay them! Fight them! WORDS COST NOTHING. Call the toll free numbers, raise some hell, and dispute the bill. Do not let them control the conversation. Stay calm and tell them you are reporting them to the better business bureau and your State Attorney General and follow through.

    This is fraud and attempted theft. If the company has already lightened your bank account, then what they are doing is a more serious crime. When they take money from your account without your authorization, the crime is theft and is a fraudulent business practice.

    Call or write your State Attorney General’s office. Tell them! Report the theft perpetrated on you.

    You must be meticulous when going over your monthly statement. Examine all charges no matter how small and make sure that you know what each one was for, if you find one you don’t know, call your bank ASAP! You have only 30 days after you receive your statement in which to report unauthorized transactions.

    Betterman/Betterwoman has returned some of my mother-in-law’s money although she’s out quite a bit more since they’ve been stealing from her account for months. On the other front, one phone call to the finance company (I mentioned them in an earlier post) working for Bottom Line books already took care of those problems.

*See my earlier posts: Bottom line books scam and Bottom line Books scam part 2

*also Painvanish problem settled

Bottom Line books scam part 2

     On December 12, 2008 I posted about Bottom Line Books’ attempt to defraud my mother-in-law.  My statistics show there have been a great number of people reading it daily.  This leads me to believe that at least twice that number of people have had the same experience.

     If you are reading this because you are in the same boat, I must explain that Dear Hubby never talked to Bottom Line Books because they’d already sent the bill to collection.  He called the collection agency and explained the situation.  (She never ordered, received, and didn’t want any books.)  They were very helpful in resolving the issue.

     At present, we are in the process of filing a dispute for two more illegal transactions we found.  It seems that both Betterman/Betterwoman and American Leisure helped themselves to my mother-in-law’s checking account.  I looked online and couldn’t find out anything about Betterman/Betterwoman other than they sell vitamins that she doesn’t take, want, and didn’t order.  However, there are a vast number of complaints against American Leisure.

     Of course, we’ve changed her account and alerted her bank about these illegal withdrawals and they’ve red flagged any new transactions on that card number.

*See my earlier post Bottom line books scam

**See also Painvanish another scam and Painvanish problem settled

Bottom Line Books scam

     My mother in law is eighty-one years old.  Her vision is poor and she doesn’t read.  She’s never read more than a few books.  This is a great sorrow for me, a writer. 

     However, Bottom Line Books has relentlessly billed her for books that she never ordered, never received, and didn’t want.  They’ve even sent her to collection through the North Shore Agency, Inc. 

     Dear Hubby spent three days on the phone calling North Shore trying to get through their maze.  After bouncing from one number to another and spending hours at a time in the phone, he at last talked to a human.  He told the person that he was a retired Police Officer.  His mother hadn’t ordered the books.  She didn’t receive or want them, and was being fraudulently billed.  He explained that he’d researched both their company and client and that he understood that they provide a service that some people don’t like.  He added that as a Police Officer, he was often disliked and unappreciated.  The person passed his call to her manager.  Dear Hubby suggested to the manager that they check into their clients’ background before they accept a job.  The collection they were doing on his mother was bogus.  The manager told him they’d take care of it and deleted my MIL from their list.

     The manager did a search for any more collections from Bottom Line Books listed at my MIL’s address.  A few seconds later, she said, “here’s another collection for Bottom Line at that residence it has a different first name.” 

     Dear Hubby chuckled and told them, “I’m sure he’d be glad to pay the bill but it will be hard to reach him.  The delivery charge might be a bit steep and his current residence has no zip code, unless it’s the dead letter office.  He’s been deceased for over ten years.”  The collection agency manager weakly replied, “No problem we’ll take care of that one as well.”

*See my post:  Bottom line books scam part 2

**See also: Painvanish another scam and Painvanish problem settled