Posted on 12/17/2004 3:42:33 PM PST by ecurbh
I was doing our weekly checkbook balancing this afternoon, when I noticed a $9.00 charge on 12/15 from something called VISA-WLI*RESERVATIONREW800-7327031 CT. It rung a bell, and I remembered seeing a similar charge last month on 11/15. I had not really thought much about that previous charge because my new wife (HairOfTheDog) and I had merged bank accounts the previous week, and I had assumed it was a transaction she had performed and forgotten to write down, or some kind of bank charge related to the changes to our account.
But we now saw that this was fishy, and knew we had not authorized any ongoing charges from any such company. We called our bank, filed a dispute on the charges, and were refunded our $18. The bank said they would follow up with WLI Reservation Rewards to find out where they got our account information and to stop any further charges.
I did some Googling on "WLI Reservation Rewards", and found a number of sites with others detailing similar problems with this company. For example, Rip-off Report.com has 326 reported incidents of this fraud.
Evidently, here is how the scam worked:
-They are associated with a number of seemingly legitimate sites, including Fandango.com, where we had purchased movie tickets on 10/15.
-At the conclusion of the transaction, there was an offer for "$10 off your next purchase". That seemed fine, we planned to use Fandango again.
-Apparently, accepting this offer, which we probably thought was from Fandango, authorized Fandango to give our credit card info to this "WLI Reservation Rewards" and initiate a $9 monthly fee. If we had seen any indication of this at all, there is no way we would have accepted such a thing.
What is this fee for? What does WLI Reservation Rewards do? We have no idea. We never heard anything from this company offering their services. You would think they would at least send out an email saying "Thank you for signing up for our service." Evidently they just lay low and hope you won't notice a measly $9 charge on your account each month.
We called Reservation Rewards, but surprise, there was no answer, just a recording to call back between 8am and 11pm Mon-Fri. OK, but we were calling at 2:30pm Pacific on a Friday! Then we called Fandango, and spoke to their customer service, who we let know in no uncertain terms that their relationship with Reservation Rewards was not acceptable, and that as a result, we would never be using Fandango's services again. Fandango was adamant that they were not responsible for the actions of this "3rd party" company, and we assured them that yes, they are responsible for $10-off offers appearing during the purchase process on their own site.
Bottom line, if you are using Fandango, stop. Watch your bank statements for monthly charges from "WLI*RESERVATIONREW800-7327031". Also remember that Reservation Rewards is associated with other online services (see the link above for more customer reports).If you see this type of charge appear on your statement, contact your bank immediately to dispute the charge.
Please delete completely my name, email, account numbers and all other records you have for me.
I have just found out that through your website I was offered some 'coupon' or something that cost me $9 per month through RESERVATION REWARDS until I caught it and cancelled it through my bank.
This is clearly fraudulent. I never intended to authorize you to give my bank account info to any third party company, and I received NO services from this 'Reservation Rewards' company. A brief google search on "Reservation Rewards" shows thousands of complaints about this company and YOUR company. Fandango's name is indeed being harmed by your relationships.
I wanted movie tickets. I had really enjoyed your service. But I will not do business with a company that allows a fraudulent company access to my bank account.
Please forgive this non-LOTR ping, but I am really mad about this.
Thanks for the heads up.
If you'll post the Fandango number I'll call em.
Ping to friends. I know this isn't my normal subject matter for pings... but we really think folk should complain to sites like Fandango for associating with these kind of fraudulent companies.
fyi
Thanks!
Fandango:
1-800-326-3264
WLI Reservation Rewards: (Good luck)
1-888-688-5995
Hmmm... thanks for the alert... :-)
Egads guys, thanks for the head's up!
Credit card stealth charges scam heads up by FReeper ecrubh and his wife.
thank you H.O.T. Dog, appreciate it. j
Well I just called that number and the voice mail only lets me order movie tickets...Is there a trick to talk to a human?
What stinks about it is that I really liked to use Fandango. I bought all my tickets for MULTIPLE views of all the LoTR movies through Fandango... I'll miss the service, and told Fandango so. It's silly for them to wreck a good service by associating with this company.
Oops, sorry. Customer service number is (866)857-5191.
Thanks for the ping.
No trouble... I just hoped people wouldn't mind the interruption!
Forewarned is forearmed. Nothing to forgive. Thanks for the heads up.
No interruption :) I've never used the company but I want to check with my sons and give them this information.
Something for the tech ping?
A head's up an interruption?
No, not really.
It's good to be warned before finding out for one's self the hard way.
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