Wordsmart
Complaint 163552 Details

Not sure of exact date. It began in 11/2011.

We looked over the initial program & it was very elementary. We decided that we would just keep it & cut our losses.

We received additional cd's for a several months & thought it was just part of the program. Then I noticed that we were being debited $57.60 every month for these things we did not ask for and did not even open. This went on for 9 months. I never authorized further debits. My only fault was not catching it sooner.

When I contacted wordsmart they said that I had been told that this would happen in the original sales call. This is not true. I asked for a transcript of the call. They sent me a recording of just the end of the call. Strange how they omitted the beginning of the call when the agent said that this was all that would be charged. The portion of the call that I did receive was very clear and the agent enunciated every word...except for the part about extra charges. This is what he supposedly said according to the wordsmart script,"regarding the advanced levels, if we have not heard from you and only if we have not heard from you by the end of the 30 day evaluation we will assume success and bill and ship your next higher monthly volume at the discounted 49.95." This is not at all what it sounds like in the recording or the call itself. When he reached this part, at the end of a long call, his speech became very rapid & he mumbled so that it was unintelligible in parts. He never said the word "bill" and the words after this were garbled and unintelligible. Then suddenly you could understand every word again as he rapidly changed the subject! This is the way that wordsmart trains their sales people, I'm sure. But, apparently, this is proof to them that I "knew" about the charges. This should be clearly stated at the time of purchase!



The bottom line is that the way this company operates is totally unethical. Their "customer service" department seems to exist only to tell people that they can't have a refund. You cannot speak to a supervisor. They simply say you should have known. "It was in the sales call & on the box." I did not see it on the box. Sales people are trained to be ambiguous & deceptive. If I am signing up for a subscription and automatic payments, shouldn't I have to give authorization? This should be illegal!



I said that I would like to return all the extra CD's & receive a refund. I was told that I could not. "There will be no refund, Maam." After my problem came to light, I searched the internet and found literally thousands of similar complaints. DO NOT DEAL WITH WORDSMART! They make their money by scamming people. There are many trustworthy resources that can be used to enrich vocabulary & boost grades. Caveat emptor!



Anyone know of a recourse?