Consumer complaint received 2017-08-06
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Company: FIFTH THIRD FINANCIAL CORPORATION (OH)

Complaint:
To whom it may concern ; I have been conned by a very lawyered savvy " XXXX '' company that had me believing I could legitimately earn a living by way of working from home. Please note, their paper work has addresses and points of contact being within a few different states such as MN and IA. Their case number assigned to me from their XXXX is # XXXX XXXX XXXX. The 24 page dispute from this company has a Merchant address of XXXX. XXXX XXXX, MD XXXX, The XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX is located at XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, NV XXXX XXXX. Please note the Dispute Documentation listed below. XX/XX/XXXX ( page 1 of 2 ) XXXX XXXX Dispute With XXXX University/XXXX XXXX XXXX The following is XXXX XXXX perspective regarding the XXXX University/XXXX XXXX XXXX disputed charges on her XXXX XXXX. Most of the so-called teaching sessions in XXXX XXXX were focused on XXXX investing more money if she wanted to secure greater access to merchandise warehouses and products to resell over the internet. The education portion of the interactions was a very small percentage of the actual overall contact. It was getting systematically more and more expensive than initially implied and felt deceptive. All the information provided was part of an unending sale pitch. Questions were asked to reveal credit card limits, and then spend those funds to increase more access. The pitch was that you have to spend money to make money. XXXX felt she was being groomed to wade deeper into the world of business independence and prove it by increasing her commitment. After seeing her initial investment of {$45.00} increase to well over {$3000.00}, with more investment coming, she felt uncomfortable and suspicious. XXXX decided to stop all communication. XXXX is suggesting that they provided XXXX with training opportunities that she failed to follow through with. XXXX stopped communicating with them because of what was becoming an obvious trap to take her money. This was not what the original advertising had implied. It appeared to be a scam. There was far more emphasis on investing additional money than actual useful information about the business. It is interesting to note that XXXX XXXX XXXX appears to be originating from XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX which is a small island off the east coast of XXXX. What is particularly disconcerting we contacted the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and were advised to dispute the charges through Fifth Third Bank Master Card. Ruths credit card was canceled. We initiated the dispute XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX XXXX chargers were found to be invalid. We were reimbursed {$3100.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. The bank wanted to automatically reissue a new card even though XXXX declined. The bank rep decided to reassign a new number without mailing a new card as XXXX told her she didnt want to use it. XXXX did not authorize the release of her credit card information to anyone for any purchases at any time. This was a new credit card number issued after the initial dispute. We never received any documentation regarding the banks decision to consider a rebuttal by XXXX XXXX. Their lawyers had crafted a legal response that covered them but was not in reality accurate. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX noticed a new charge of {$3100.00}. Contacting the bank, XXXX discovered that the XXXX XXXX XXXX had released the new card number to the XXXX University. Without XXXX consent, XXXX XXXX allowed the very company that had lost the dispute the first time to charge her all over again. This is contradictory and outrageous. We feel we have been robbed twice and XXXX XXXX was compliant in this second crime. We would prefer not to seek legal counsel at this time to resolve this issue. We also believe that Master Card needs to reevaluate their business ties to XXXX University and the XXXX XXXX XXXX. The sales practices XXXX experienced through her brief interactions with them were certainly unethical and misleading. Details and Timeline 1. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) XXXX XXXX was attracted to an ad on her computer that advertised an opportunity to provide financial independence through utilizing drop ship internet sales. Initially, a {$45.00} membership fee was required. Once into the site, XXXX was encouraged to pay an additional {$97.00} if she was to get to the next level of resources. XXXX chose to pay both fees totaling {$140.00} thinking that was all that would be required. ( In hindsight, XXXX was being groomed for future spending. ) There was never any mention of additional financial commitments at this point. 2. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) XXXX was then contacted on her cell phone by a representative from XXXX University regarding their program outline. They said that, once in the program, a coach would be contacting XXXX each week for 7 weeks, followed by four monthly calls. The XXXX main programming areas focused on were XX/XX/XXXX, drop shipping and posting links for companies. The hook was the easy accessibility of the coaching and information provided. XXXX was then informed that another representative would be calling her that evening to explain the business in more detail. This first call lasted one hour. ( page 2 ) 3. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) XXXX was contacted again, later that evening, by a representative to see if she would be a good fit for the business. During the conversation the concept of using other peoples money to work for you was discussed. She was then asked if she understood the need to spend money to make money? The rep then asked if she had a credit card and how much borrowing ceiling was available. XXXX divulged that she had {$3100.00} available. XXXX was told that if she committed that money, she would have access to companies that needed drop shippers. This call lasted two hours. ( In hindsight, we should have realized how strange that it just happened to be the exact amount XXXX said she had available in her credit card. ) 4. ( XX/XX/XXXX )  XXXX received her first coaching session with XXXX regarding using XX/XX/XXXX as a tool and was given access to training videos. XXXX. ( XXXX ) XXXX was contacted and told that she needed to set up an appointment with a financial counselor from the XXXX XXXX. XXXX. ( XXXX ) The next appointment was encouraged to be made quickly. Supposedly, there was time sensitive information for XXXX to learn regarding her investment. At this session, XXXX husband XXXX joined the conversation over speaker phone with XXXX XXXX. Having been in sales, XXXX noted that XXXX was leading XXXX through his presentation in a systematic way to corner her into making a decision of some kind. It eventually surfaced that XXXX would want to legitimize her business by setting up an XXXX license. In the end, this was going to cost an additional {$590.00}. ( We were shocked that, after all the money spent to this point, we were asked to spend more. We also learned, with a little research, that we could have secured this license for a fraction of the cost on our own. ) At this point, we told XXXX that we needed time to consider the additional cost. He seemed surprised and wanted us to make the decision that night. ( Another red flag. ) 5. ( XXXX ) The next session, the rep told XXXX that once identifying her niche in product sales, XXXX XXXX would guide her to the wholesale company that could provide multiple brands and styles to choose from for posting on her website. This company would manage the orders, create and market her website for additional yearly cost of {$3000.00}. At this point, XXXX told the rep that she couldnt invest any more money. The rep then backed-peddled and changed the fee to be just a one-time only fee. ( It was obvious that something wasnt consistent in the way fees were charged. They seemed more interested in getting whatever money they could moving forward. ) At this point, XXXX discontinued all contact with XXXX XXXX because we felt this was not a legitimate business. The relentless pressure applied to continually invest more money was unpleasant and frightening. The coaching was initially very minimal and the teaching materials covered information that anyone could access on the internet. XXXX was a victim, drawn into an ever deepening financial trap. This is a sleazy company that is designed to ensnare and take advantage of people who only want to improve their lives financially.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation