TLG Shopper and Savings Insider
Complaint 135957 Details

On 4/15/12, my wife placed telephone order from an infomercial for a "Tummy Tuck Belt System". As a part of the automated check out system, she was prompted to accept a one month trial membership in a buying club for only $1. As a part of the buying club, she would receive substantial discounts from companies such as Target, Walgreens, etc. and she would also receive a FREE $100 Gas Card. She was also told that during the trial period if she decided to not continue with the service, she would have to call and cancel the membership or would be billed at their regular monthly rate.

On 4/20/12, she called 800-526-4848 to cancel the membership. She had to try for 3 hours before reaching someone who promptly told her that they would have to transfer her. She requested the transfer number which was given her: 800-475-1942. She was then transferred and the person on the other end politely accepted her cancellation for the buying club.

The credit bill came in and it reflected the price for the "Tummy Tuck Belt System" as well as a $1 charge for some company and a second $1 charge for a second company.

A month later, the next credit card bill came in with a further charge for a component of the "Tummy Tuck Belt System" (expected) as well as the following charges:

5/31/12 TLG Shopper @ 21.95
5/9/12 Savings Insider @ 29.95.

My wife had told me earlier to expect a couple of charges for something to do with the "Tummy Tuck Belt System", so I ignored the charges and paid the bill.

The next credit card bill came in and it reflected the following charges:

7/2/12 TLG Shopper @ 21.95
6/8/12 Savings Insider @ 29.95

I immediately became suspicious that something was not right.

I called "Savings Insider" at 888-803-3219 and was told that there was no record of my wife cancelling the membership. I complained and told them that I wanted my money back and after some argument, they agreed to credit my money back to my credit card.

Then I called "TLG Shopper" at 800-525-4848 and was given the same speech about them showing no record of my wife cancelling the membership. After a lot of complaints on my part, they agreed to cancel the membership and transfer me to a "supervisor". The supervisor was abrupt and said that he would refund my money to my credit card.

The next morning I checked my credit card on line and saw that 5 minutes after that phone conversation, that ANOTHER $29.95 had been charged to my credit card from "Savings Insider".

This prompted a call to my credit card company where I was transferred to the "disputes by phone" department. They placed a dispute on the charges mentioned above and said that after 15 days if the charges had not been credited to my account, that they would write off the charges and charge the charges back to those companies banks.

I also contacted the state Attorney General's office. They have sent me complaint forms to fill out.

An additional call to the Attorney General's office in Washington was made. They recommended that I contact the local FBI office to see what actions that they could take and also recommended that I call the credit ratings company to lodge a "fraud alert" on my credit rating, which I did, (that information was also sent to the other two credit rating companies).

I also talked to the local FBI office that advised me to contact the FBI web site and file a complaint on line with the IC3 department which handles on-line frauds. I followed his suggestion and did so.

On 7/12/12, I did a check on my credit card on line statement and saw that the monies that were charged to my credit card by the two companies were all credited back with the exception of the initial $1 trial membership fee.

The amount that was charged to my credit card by those two companies was $134.75.

The companies that were charging my credit card were:

Savings Insider

TLG Shopper, also known as Shoppers Advantage, Budget Savers, Great Fun, and Membership Advantage.

Thus far, we have been lucky. I was told by the state Attorney General's office, the Attorney General's office in Washington, my credit card company and the FBI agent that I talked to that I had done the right thing.

Companies that scam people like this should be put out of business and criminal charges should be brought against them.

For all intents and purposes, these so called "buyer's clubs" are overseas and cannot be prosecuted by the federal government.

One thing that neither my wife nor I have been able to figure out is how the SECOND company got on the band wagon and began charging my credit card if my wife had agreed to a trial membership in one "buyer's club"?

So as others have said: "buyer beware"!