Watch out for this online credit card fraud via Fandango.com!!

12/17/2004 | ecurbh and HairOfTheDog

[ecurbh]

Just wanted to vent and to make sure others avoid same mistake.

[Corin Stormhands]

Where is the HQ for Fandango?

Find out and copy this information to the Attorney General and Chamber of Commerce.

[freedumb2003]

May I humbly suggest that this go to news or f-news (I never understood the difference)?

I think it is too important for chat.

That's just my opinion. Please don't swat me :)

[HairOfTheDog]

Not sure how to do that, but they are in CA.

For additional information about Fandango, please contact us:

12200 W. OLYMPIC BOULEVARD, SUITE 150,
LOS ANGELES, CA 90064
PHONE: (310) 451-7690 FAX: (310) 451-7861

[HairOfTheDog]

Thank you :~D

[Not A Snowbird]

Thanks for the heads up. I never use Fandango, here's another reason not to.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yep.... it's a reason not to ever use them now!

Ticked us off, and we wanted ~everyone~ to know about it.

[Corin Stormhands]

Attorney General's Office
California Department of Justice
Attn: Public Inquiry Unit
P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
http://caag.state.ca.us/contact/index.htm

California Chamber of Commerce
1215 K Street, Suite 1400
Sacramento, CA 95814
P.O. Box 1736, Sacramento, CA 95812-1736
Telephone (916) 444-6670;
Fax (916) 325-1272
http://www.calchamber.com/index.cfm?navID=281

Better Business Bureau
http://www.bbb.org/complaint.asp


I pride myself in being somewhat of a consumer vigilante. Let me know if I can help.

[HairOfTheDog]

Cool - ecurbh's typin' away on it.

[sionnsar]

important ping to article

[trussell]

Another one to watch for...

On your telephone bill-- ORBIT TELECOM

They charged 12.95 on my sept. bill...said it was a set up fee...non refundable.

15.95 on my October bill. I disputed the set up fee and got it refunded.

I didn't catch it first time, because the "confirmation" email was caught by my spam filter!

They got my info when I was surfing the net...was offered a "surveys for money" opportunity. Filled out the info...got to the last screen where they say it will cost...I backed out, I didn't click through!

[ecurbh]

I tried filing a BBB complaint, but it redirects me to a regional website. There it says that they are redesigning the complaint system, and expect it to be back online on November 30. :(

I'll check out the AG and CoC, then figure out how to email the BBB.

Thanks for your help.

[GretchenM]

Excellent work and thanks for the report.

[Flyer]

I know this isn't my normal subject matter for pings

This could be dog related because it's a bitch?

Thanks for the heads up!

[HairOfTheDog]

HEY! Action report! This is a bit of a surprise because I never contacted the RESERVATION REWARDS people directly by phone (got voice mail and hung up) or by email, but they have sent me an email. I cancelled it through my bank and wrote the angry email to Fandango, not RR. We posted this thread, and wrote the CA authorities Corin listed at 28. One of the things we did has given us action. No response from Fandango to me, but here is the response from RR.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This notice confirms that your membership in Reservation Rewards has been cancelled and we have issued a refund of your membership fee. This refund will appear as a credit in your credit card, debit card or PayPal account within the next 3-5 business days.

We are sorry to see you go and hope you reconsider becoming a member again in the future. Any money you've saved is yours to keep... and thank you for trying our service!

Please let us know if your request was resolved to your satisfaction. All responses submitted will go to our Customer Service Director for review because your feedback is important to us.

Sincerely,


The Reservation Rewards Team
customerservice@reservationrewards.com
1-888-688-5995


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Complaining loudly works! I am still considering my response to them, I appreciate their willingness to refund without a fight, but that does not forgive the fact that they tried to hit me with stealthy unwanted charges in the first place.

[Corin Stormhands]

I'll check out the AG and CoC, then figure out how to email the BBB.

Assemblies of God, Church of Christ and Bible Belt Baptists?

Ooops...sorry, wrong forum.

[Darksheare]

Excellent!

[ecurbh]

We recieved a response from Fandango this AM:

Dear [HairOfTheDog],

Thank you for contacting us and taking the time to voice your concerns. Hearing from our customers is invaluable to improving our service.

We are sorry that you were frustrated by one of our advertiser's offers. We work closely with Reservation Rewards to ensure our customers are fully aware of the extent of their offer and how to qualify for the $10.00 cash back incentive. To view the offer from our confirmation page, customers must click the offer button that specifies:

"By clicking above, you can claim your reward from the reward provider, Reservation Rewards."

The terms of the membership are then listed on the offer page (under "Offer Details"), which includes the following:

Get your $10.00 Cash Back Award after your next Fandango purchase, Money-Saving Discounts FREE for the next 30 days plus all the valuable benefits of Reservation Rewards, with our compliments. It's a Special Reward for your purchase today! If you are 100% satisfied during your trial, do nothing. All your Reservation Rewards protection and discounts will automatically continue for just $9 a month billed by Reservation Rewards to the credit card or deducted from the debit card you used at Fandango today. For your convenience Reservation Rewards will use the contact and credit or debit card information you provided to Fandango today for billing and benefit processing.

In addition, just above the blank fields requiring your email address, the following is listed:

"By entering my email address as my electronic signature and clicking YES, I have read and agree to the offer details and authorize Fandango to securely transfer my name, zip code and credit card information to Reservation Rewards for benefit processing."

Please be aware that the entire program and how to receive the cash back incentive is explained prior to any request for commitment and requires you to enter and confirm your email address and click on the red Yes! acceptance button that points to the full offer.

We apologize for the misunderstanding and will continue to work closely with all our advertisers and affiliates to ensure that the ads on our website are clear to our customers. We contacted Reservation Rewards to confirm your membership was cancelled and all charges to your account have been refunded. They have provided us with the following details:

Name: [redacted]
Email: [redacted]
Join Date: 10/13/2004
Cancel Date: 12/18/2004
# of Billings: 2
Refunded: 2 credits of $9.00 each
Confirmation#: [redacted]
Member was sent email confirmation.

Thanks again for your email and please be assured that your comments will be forwarded to Fandango's management team.

Sincerely,

Indra Kumaran
Manager, Fandango Customer Support

Best Regards,
Chris
Fandango Customer Support

NOTE: Please do not click the reply button. E-mails sent to this address are not read.

Our response to Fandango:

Thank you for your response, I did receive the notification from Reservations Rewards. However... in the spirit of your comment "We work closely with Reservation Rewards to ensure our customers are fully aware of the extent of their offer" I would say this.... It isn't clear what benefit RR even brings to the table, and would I never agree to something as ridiculous as a monthly fee to get coupons, so on this both you and they have failed to be clear. I never received anything from them, ever... Not the $10 off (I don't even know how that was supposed to work) nor any notification that I belonged to anything.

Fandango offers a good service. You've wrecked it by accepting advertising money from a rip off company that can only detract from you and make people angry.

Have you deleted my credit card information from all your databases, and removed me from all email lists? I requested that you do that. If in the future, I find out you have ended your relationship with this company AND have instituted a policy of NOT advertising with rip off companies AND have a policy of not sharing customer's credit card info with them with only an email 'signature' (yeesh) perhaps I will do business with you again. Reputable companies offering good products will sell themselves, they can collect their own credit card information in a clear sale situation, they won't have to hide their charges in your coat-tails.

[HairOfTheDog]

Further update for the record...

Dear ________,

We are sorry that you were frustrated by Fandango and by one of our advertiser's offers. We have deleted your account from the Fandango databases.

We are continuing to grow and improve, and we truly hope you will give Fandango another chance to prove ourselves to you in the future.

Best Regards,
Chris
Fandango Customer Support

[Oorang]

Thanks for the ping and the info. Way too many sneaks out there these days and yes they figure no one will notice them stealing a "measly" $9 per month. Good for you for going through your accounts with a fine toothed comb. It amazes me how many people never check the itemization on their visa bills.