MVQSavingsAce
Complaint 168880 Details

The date I listed in this complaint is the date I filed this information with the FTC: "I received a letter today from an unidentified company. That is the letter did not indicate who it came from. It stated that I had to respond within 30 days or they would renew my membership and charge me $27.95 a month. To not renew I had to call SavingsAce at 888-593-5216.

I had never heard of SavingsAce so I looked them up in my bank account history. I discovered that I had been getting charged 23.95 a month through the last 12 months and 19.95 a month for the 15 months prior, starting on June 10, 2010. Wow, did I feel stupid.

I looked up their website. They offer discounts on various products. I do not use discounts and coupons from any online services and had never accessed their site before.

I tried to call their number but could not get through so I went to the address they mentioned in the letter and cancelled my membership. The account number they mention in the letter is 858098550. When cancelling I had to read their terms and it says I can only get a partial month refund.

I was able to call the company at approximately 5:50 pm Eastern Time on October 9, 2012, the same day I received the letter. I talked with Cindy A. - agent number 700720. She told me she could not give any refund according to my terms of service. She did get me in contact with A.J., a supervisor, agent 22501. She looked up my history. She says I originally signed up via an offer on the Vitacost website for a 30-day free trial membership. I told her that I have a rule against signing up for such "Free" memberships. I think she mentioned that there was some discount on Vitacost, but I was not clear on that point. She said it would have shown as a popup advertisement.

She further stated that they sent letters on September 9, 2011 and October 10, 2010 in addition to the September 13, 2012 letter that I did read.

She could only refund this months fee, but she did offer to send my information forward to their compliance department. She said that they would get back to me in a few days. That is where I left off.

They had my correct email address in their system so I researched my old emails. I found that I had received an email from them on September 11, 2010. It said "Welcome to another years of SavingsAceSM!". Like the letter it stated that if I took no action the credit card would automatically charge me $23.95. However this membership number on this email was different. This membership number was 876228364. I had previously opened and read this email. I believe I did cancel this membership at that time because I have a confirmation of my cancellation dated September 11, 2010. The confirmation number is 876228364-20100911.

Let me point out that none of their correspondence notes that the fees are monthly. They only say the amount. My first thought when reading the letter was that they were referring to an annual fee.

Also the envelope is rather plain, although the window does show the words PLEASE RESPOND WITHIN 30 DAYS. UPCOMING CHARGE FOR MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL. However, I thought that was a clever way of getting me to open up an offer for a credit card. Even when reading the letter I was suspicious that it was a way to get my personal information. Only after seeing my bank statement did I realize that it was serious.

I have saved the above correspondence from the company. I am seeking relief in the amount of $586.65 from the company. I hope that you can assist me."

Since then I did further research and discovered additional charges bringing my total to $726.30. The company reimbursed me for one month and called today and said that they would reimburse me for a total of 8 months in 8 separate payments. I did not agree to desist from full reimbursement or drop my complaint. I talked with Christina who told me that I would have signed up for an offer of a $20 rebate but I would have had to send in the receipt to get the rebate. I reiterated again that I never sign up for that type of deal and never received any reimbursement. My contention is that their viruses or spyware strips this information from my orders from a legitimate company and signs me up without my permission. I told her this when I talked to her.