kadyellebee

Whee! I have run into them before. I DEMANDED my refund IMMEDIATELY (to the woman who had a very hard time understanding me), demanded talking to a supervisor, and then called my bank and informed them that it was an unauthorized charge. The bank credited my account (it was my debit card) pending investigation, and I got my refund from the scammers. (The bank of course took their moola back) It all worked out well - but like you, they tried to tell me how I really wanted this stuff, it was a good deal, etc - she stopped when I SCREAMED that I wanted my money back, that they had overdrafted my account and I had no money for FOOD. Guess I got through that time. Good luck!

I am having a similar problem. My wife did this. Do you have a 1800 number for these duds. MT

mwi connections got me for $94.00

mwi connections just showed up on my bill for $96.00. who are they? the 1800 # is 1-800-568-2386

I got two charges from these bastards, one was 96.00 and the other was 19.95. THis makes me so mad

what is mwi connections? i’ve never heard of them until they took $96 out of my account with a debit card.

I had never heard of this company til I saw a $96.00 charge on my Visa bill!! They, along with Provida Life Sciences who fraudly charged $249.89 on my Visa bill are the biggest scammers going. I have contacted the attorney general offices of Ca. and NC; filed consumer complaints on-line and with the NC atty. gen. office. I have written the president of Visa and sent copies from the internet of people with the same problems as mine. I also called the CBS show "48 Hours" and would love for them to do an expose on these companies! Supposedly a person named Rachel Kolczynski used my Visa to purchase stuff from a t.v. informercial which I NEVER watch, let alone order stuff from! Something needs to be done about these fraudulent companies and NOW!

MWI charged me $89.95 as of 1/14/02! I’m gonna get it back!

I have been screwed too... they charged my credit card $96.00.... I have called my credit card company but all I got was the stupid machines..saying they are going to send out a form to me.... I have seen that a lot of people have been hit by this... was looking at one.. and she said that she called them and said that she wanted her charge taken off... they said they would in 7 days... she said no.. and told them now... and told them that she had contacted her bank...and let them know about their scam and how the BBB had revoked their license in 1999... and said that she was going to contact the attorney general... and that there are tons of chatboards on the net and people are setting up lawsuits and complaining...she was supposed to get her refund in3-5 days...good luck

I signed up to get $25.00 K-Mart gift certificate and in order to get it you had to sign up for MWI Connections. Called and told them I did not want it, but a charge of $79.95 still came out of my bank account. Talked to a lady named Alexander ID# 14657(also confermation #). Will see if it comes.

I was just charged too. Has anyone looked into a class action lawsuit? I have been scammed too. I’m going to contact my lawyer to see what can be done.

mwi connections charged me 96 bucks for god knows why?
i really need to know what the hell is going on...
can somebody plese explain this to me?
what should i do next?
thanks

I WAS ALSO SCAMMED BY WHOEVER THESE PEOPLE ARE.I HAD A $99.95 CHARGE ON MY ACCOUNT. I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THES PEOPLE.I CALLED THE 800 NUMBER WITH NO RESULTS. EVERYONE I TALKED TO WANTED MY PHONE NUMBER AND ACCOUNT NUMBER.NONE OF THEM COULD SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH.ITS TIME WE DID SOMETHING ABOUT WHOEVER THEY ARE

I just looked on my Visa statement as well. $79.95 has been charged by MWI Communications. I don’t even know what they DO let alone how they got a hold of my debit card #. Now I am overdrawn, and have to battle a $25.00 overdraft fee on top of it!

Oops, that IS "Connections," by the way. I goofed ;)

MWI has charged my VISA $84. I hope some of you have luck getting $$$ back.

I just called MWI to receive a refund. My account was activated by receiving an offer for a free $25 gas card (which I through away). Call 1-800-568-2386 - Brian at ext. 14812 was helpful. We’ll see if the refund is processed in 3-5 days like he said. here’s some info that might help
http://www.connections123.com/
Connections
PO Box 24128
Omaha, NE 68124-0128

My son just got a $96 charge to his debit card. He was out of the country in HAITI without a telephone at this time. The company wants his bank number before they send a refund because they cannot find his charge on their records...so they say. Did MWI refund you directly or to your bank? Thanks for helping.

My son just got a $96 charge to his debit card. He was out of the country in HAITI without a telephone at this time. The company wants his bank number before they send a refund because they cannot find his charge on their records...so they say. Did MWI refund you directly or to your bank? Thanks for helping.

I was scammed too! My old High School released a compiled directory of every graduate and their current address, the company that did the compiling (Harris Publishing) uses this information to sell the "MWI Connections" program. Funny when I gave my information to the people for the directory I was told that this compilation of data was only to be used for contacting old classmates and would never under any condition be used for anyone’s monetary gain. If anyone else has tracked their MWI Connections charges to Harris Publishing let me know. (I will say that I did get a refund after hours of calls...but I still feel that my resonal info was misused and is still in the hands of deceptive con-artists).

I just got a $96 CHARGE ON MY MASTERCARD FOR THIS MWI SCAM.!!!! I called them at 800-568-2386 and spoke to Jonathon ID# 14739 and he advised me that I’d signed up for membership via an infomercial... I advised that I had not and demanded an immediate refund... He acknowledged that maybe they made an error, but "can I take a few momemts to tell me about our program"... These people are a joke... I again demanded an immediate refund.... He claims that I’ll see a credit on my statement within 7-10 days. I won’t hold my breath.... I’m contacting my bank, the Illinois Attorney General, and the BBB... Anyone have any success with a refund yet...?

I never heard of MWI connections. Until I found out I was missing money. I called my bank and asked why I was missing money and they told me the transaction was by MWI. I didn’t think much of it until it happened to me again. This time I went to the bank and told them I never made a transaction with them. They charged me $96 and the other tome was $99.95. I couldn’t believe that they took all that money from me because I don’t have a job right now. I cann’t afford money to be missing out of my account. Know they are investigating it. I hope I get that money back.

I just got screwed by MWI connections as well.. I just found out a few hours ago. I am freaking out.. I have never heard of these guys and my credit card has been credited $99.00.. What the *$&) is going on and how do you get these guys?? I think a TV show exposing their scam is a GREAT idea!

What am I gonna do about MWI Connections. I dont know what is going on.. I pay my tuition through my visa and now its overdrawn and if I dont get this figured out I will be forced to move out of my dorm. I have a minimum wage job and cant afford to get money taken out of my account by scammers. I am screwed big time!!!

I just got screwed by MWI Connections. I just found out not even five minutes ago when my husband went to pay the bill. I feel like I have been raped and taken advantage of. The only thing I did was call to order Elastic Plastic for my son for Christmas, and WHAM !!!!! I get hit with $96.00 on my Visa. How can this happen How can we make it stop?
My husband is furious and so am I. I am going to call our credit union, the BBB, anyone who can help? If anyone gets refund, let us know.

Dear Sir

Let me add my name to the list of those fraudulently charged $96.00 by MWI. Thanks for the website. It enabled me to quickly realize I had been scammed, or as so many have said, screwed! Probably like most people I thought it might be legitimate and I just couldn’t remember making this charge. I too called the 800 number that showed up on my bank statement. I met a lot of resistance from the sales rep when I called to request a complete refund. The rep did everything possible to avoid giving me a refund, although finally she said I would get a refund at the next billing cycle. I’m not holding my breath 'til that happens.

Tom

MWI Connections showed up on our business account of all things! Called my bank, and they are researching the unauthorized charge. We told the bank to show our card as stolen so it won’t happen again under that number. Called MWI Connections and talked to a guy named Keith who says we accepted the offer when calling on an informercial. I told him there was NO WAY!!!! He says he is going to get us a full refund. RIGHT! On the bright side, his English was perfect. Wish I knew where he got the debitt card information. I’d like to sue them!!!!

As a follow up to my earlier message: I have received a refund for both my recent charge from MWI Connections and an earlier charge from a year ago (both charges totaled about $200). I insisted that they give me a copy of the voice recording that they are legally bound to have to charge my account to possess ... they say they can not find it now and said that their affiliate Harris Publishing would have that tape (Harris says that MWI Connections would have it go figure).

Anyway if you need a refund please call Jason Chapman at MWI at 888 206 2321 ext 2406 in Omaha, NE. He was fairly helpful but still lacked the integrity to admit that what he is involved in is a SCAM. They have also renamed the package "Simple Escapes" so beware of that program...has the same address and phone numbers as MWI Connections.

I have yet to hear anymore from the lawyer I thought was doing something about these guys. I guess the best anyone will ever get is a refund.

In the meantime I have started the practice of being as rude as humanly possible to any uninvited telemarketeer as well as returning all postage paid junk mail return envelopes back empty with the note "GET A LIFE". I know that sounds childish but at least I’m not in the practice of lying or stealing as these ruthless people are.

I would be interested to see if anyone’s MWI nightmare involves the same situation as mine did where I was just trying to participate in a reunion directory for my High School.

Also as far as sueing these people I believe their actual main operations are from the Bahamas (I’m still working on proving this theory though...though I have some intersting leads that point that way).

I got my Discover Card statement and found that MWI Connections has charged $99.95 to my account. What can I do?

I got my Discover Card statement and found that MWI Connections has charged $99.95 to my account. What can I do?

I just received a 96.00 dollar charge to my visa bill!! I’m probably going to get an overlimit fee because of this. Apparently when I signed up for this service to receive magazines, I wasn’t listening to the guy when he told me that I receive a gas card ( Which was never activated anyway) and that somehow automatically subscribed me to this OTHER service. I called Visa and they took off the overlimit fee, but I had to call this other company to try and get this refund. The lady I spoke to kept trying to get me to try out the service and offered to refund my money by way of gas cards and AOL memberships, but eventually I got her to send a refund and cancel my service. She said it should come in the next 7-10 business days. It’s probably not even a refund. It’s going to be a certificate I’ll have to mail in and wait another month to receive. I’m a telemarketer for MCI, but we never pull this rotten sneaky stuff through our customers. These people should ROT IN HELL

Quick note to TERRY:

Don’t be rude to telemarketers just because of ONE bad experience. We’re the one’s who’ll set you for a call back 30mins. later, so be nice. PLUS, we only get 7.50/hour. Everybody has to have a job and pay rent. You’re probably just lucky to have found a nicer job. In my case, these were the only people in town hiring.

I also found a charge for 109.95 from my debit card. Like the rest of you, I never ordered whatever service this is. All I know is that they claim it is from an infromercial billing. They said they would credit my account. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? HOW DO THEY GET THIS INFORMATION. I AM MAD TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will join a class action suit if anyone can find out more and how to get rid of these scam artist.

MWI*Connections charged my Visa for $96 on 3/9/02. I ordered a TaeBo DVD and turned down the MWI offer but apparently that didn’t matter. I called MWI @ 800-313-3540 and was told I would be credited. After reading some posts from others saying it happened more than once to them, even up to a year later, I called my credit card company and asked them to move my account to a new account #. The credit card company said any credits would pass through to my new account. You may want to consider doing this also.

Read this: http://www.heartlandbbb.org/Reliability_Report.asp?compid=7000028

Then report MWI to the Omaha BBB like I did. Homepage is http://www.omahabbb.org/

I posted two prior messages about MWI*Connections trying to scam me for $84. I have received my refund (credited VISA) makre sure you request to be removed from their database after your refund goes through.

Plus I filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. (www.ftc.gov) if enough people file a complaint on these people they will start a FEDERAL investigation. Obviously conducting fraud across state lines will be of interest. File a complaint on ftc.gov, omahabbb.org, and let your local news know about it. If everyone would raise a stick maybe these people would get shut down, or better yet sued.

FIGHT THE CHARGES!

I just filed a complaint with the ftc and hope that something is done. I am over fifty years old and I work hard for my money as I know you all do and this is just not right. I agree, lets fight this scam.

I happened to notice an unauthorized debit from MWI Connections of $96 on my VISA check card just last nite. I tracked them down, and their website is www.connections123.com. In case anyone needs it, their ph# is 1-800-568-2386. I believe this originated from a magazine subscription I took out, and apparently they sold or gave out my check card #. Have tried to call them, but closed til Monday a.m. Will give 'em #ell starting then. Good luck to all of you as well !

I was contacted by phone by some guy who sold me on a high school compendium of information about all my high school classmates at Eagle Point, Oregon. (I noticed Chad’s similar message above.) I paid $79.94 on the January bill of my VISA for that and maybe I’ll never get it. This is a credit card I set aside for risky use and guess what—my February bill has an $84 charge from WCI*Connections.

I haven’t started working on this yet but I’ll see if I can just take care of it thru VISA because I just know those other guys are a snake pit and I HATE getting the runaround. I’m going to close the credit card account when I make that phone call.

You might consider having several bank credit cards for a layer of protection. I stopped charging on my debit card last year when I got spooked by reports of identity theft. Now I won’t even go to a convenience store for cash.

Correction = That last one was not WCI*Connections. It was MWI*Connections.

Ken

Hello me too had a chage of 96.00 on my visa card from connections. I called and canceled the service I hope I get refuned. This is bull shit they can charge your account like this.

MWI - Most Wicked Inc., This is what i could think of those who tried swindling my 96 dollars. I wonder how they creeped into my account. I have never received andy phone calls from them..however, I was shocked to see the charge on my debit card. I THINK IT IS HIGH TIME WE SEW THESE GUYS..WHAT SAY??

Fuck MWI to Hell, they stole what little money I have and they will pay for it (Visa debit - $96, suprise suprise)!

Riley County Police Department in Kansas has received a complaint of a charge from this company on a citizen’s credit card similar to I have read on this site. I have checked with the FBI on this, and they are currently putting a case together on this company, but they need your help. PLEASE DIRECT YOUR COMPLAINTS TO THE FOLLOWING WEB SITE TO BE INCLUDED IN THE FBI CASE.
www.ifccfbi.gov

Add one more surprised victim... I’m not sure what MWI stands for, never heard of them (until a $96 charge appeared on my account), have NO IDEA how they got my card number. My bank says it was an internet purchase, but I’ve NEVER purchased ANYTHING over the net... whoever has succeeded in getting their money back, please pass me a note saying how it got set right!

I received a statement on my VISA yesterday with an unauthorized charge of $84.00 from MWI. I called this company only to be told 1) the computers were down and they couldn’t help me, 2) that if I had a charge, I must have an account, and that 3) a publisher that I ordered a high directory from authorized a trail period with this company--which I told this publisher explicity NOT TO DO! NOw I can’t seem to get ahold of anyone at the publisher to tell them I want to cancel my order with them for even dealing with MWI. I am appalled by both these companies. I’m gald I found this message board. WHAT SCAMMERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MWI CONNECTIONS WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?? 96 DOLLARS FOR WHAT. I JUST GOT HIT BY THESE GUYS. I’VE READ ALL THE TESTIMONIALS YOU GUYS POSTED. I JUST CALLED THESE PEOPLE AND SPOKE TO ANDREW #TP232. HE ASSURED ME I’D RECEIVE A REFUND IN 3 TO 5 BUSINESS DAYS. IF I DON’T HEADS WILL ROLL. THIS IS COMPLETE BULLSHIT. THESE PEOPLE NEED TO BE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS. I’M SURE I WON’T BE THE LAST ONE TO FALL VICTIM...BUT IF AND WHEN YOU HAVE TO CALL THESE PEOPLE, DON’T FALL FOR ANY OF THE OKEY DOKE THEY MAY TRY TO PULL. THEY GUY I SPOKE TO DIDN’T HAVE THE HEART TO ADMIT HE WORKED FOR A SCAM COMPANY. BUT BE AS POLITE 'AND' FORCEFUL AS POSSIBLE. KILL EM' WITH KINDNESS, BUT AT THE SAME TIME LET THEM KNOW YOU’RE SERIOUS.....PEACE PEOPLE--I’M OUT

I’ve had the same proble with MWI. I was charged $96 to my Visa debit account. I called the company and after being offered many different discounts, they finally agreed to take the charges. I also told them to take my number out of the system. Let’s see. I just hope I get the money back soon. I’m a college student on a very limited budget. I also agree with the person who said they might be out of the Bahammas, because they couldn’t speak very good English and the first thing I thought when they spoke was that they were not American.

I was just taken for 96.00 and I called my credit card company and had to close my account. They are refunding me this money and I don’t know who this MWI Connections company is. But they need to be stopped from doing this to people like us any time they want.

MWI connetions took 89.95 from my checking accout and the olny thing they could tell me is that they got my info from reg for a CD player. I had never heard of them befor this. I have contacted a lawyer and I have also wrote a letter to the Attorney General of NE.

These assholes took $89.95 from my account on March 22, 2002. I called the 800 number you folks gave me and they told me my money will be refunded soon (next cycle). It had better be!! I have contacted by credit card company about this as well.

Who the hell are these assholes? My credit card is debited $96. How do they get hold of your credit card number? What can be done to get this reverse.

I just got a charge myself. I’m glad this website is here or I may have just dismissed it as something I forgot about. I’m calling them right now to get my money back.

I discovered a 96.00 charge on my AMEX from MWI connections. I called the 800 number and was told there was a 30 minute wait due to "overwhelming customer response." I certainly believe that. I checked to see if they had a website and discovered that this was a scam. I called AMEX and they immediately issued a credit. I hope all of your credit card companies will do the same for you. Those of you that were scammed through your debit cards, good luck. You will have to deal with your banks and that’s almost always a no win situation. Banks are only one step lower than these scammers.

I discovered a 96.00 charge on my AMEX from MWI connections. I called the 800 number and was told there was a 30 minute wait due to "overwhelming customer response." I certainly believe that. I checked to see if they had a website and discovered that this was a scam. I called AMEX and they immediately issued a credit. I hope all of your credit card companies will do the same for you. Those of you that were scammed through your debit cards, good luck. You will have to deal with your banks and that’s almost always a no win situation. Banks are only one step lower than these scammers.

Don’t order anything from tv infomercials and you wont be charged by mwi. When you order anything from tv, for example, a cooking product, a video, cleaning product, anything, that’s when the infomercial distributes your account information, so no matter how bad you want something advertised on tv, never order it.

I thought I would add my third message to this list.... First of all I have been successful in getting a full refund, but it wasn’t easy. I basically told these nice folks from MWI Connections that I would spend every waking hour calling their 1-800 # till I got a refund...it worked after spending four hours one night overloading them with calls. The individual I finally talked with was Jason Chapman (888 206 2321 ext 2406), he was fairly friendly but did keep reminding me of the great deal I was going to be missing out on and that they had over 7 million happy consumers (I have not been able to locate one yet). Jason also said that one mailer is sent to your house with small print at the bottom saying you are going to be charged (yet it neglects to give an amount...hmm) He also said that it was bad marketing to write statments boldly like "YOU WILL BE CHARGED" or "INVOICE". He said that frightens their 7 million happy customers. He also said that it was too costly to send out invoices that a consumer could have to see how much they were paying or charged (funny with 7 million happy customers I would assume that they would have an easy time sending out such a letter). Anyway you can get your money back if you are persistent and we can all take the lesson of not buying anything over the phone or off infomercials, etc.
Also to the person saying that we should not be critical of telemarketers. I had to file legal paperwork two years ago to keep MCI from calling my house (it was happening at least twice a week) and I hate the fact that I pay for my phone and over half of the incoming calls I get in the evening are unwanted telemarketers. I work for a phone company and I am sad to say it people are paying more for their phone bills because of this excess traffic on the network.....it is the same as SPAM so I abuse every telemarketer that calls my house now and forever.

I too have been cheated by these fellas. I have just talked to teh bank and I am going to claim a dispute. Now, can’t these people, whoever they are, be brought to book if they have cheated so many of us?

$109.95

Just wondered if there are any former Lenoir-Rhyne College (NC) students out there who were contacted by phone to purchase an alumni directory and were surprised to find out, later, that their VISA card had been charged $109.95 by MWI Essentials and $84.00 by MWI Connections....

I too have been scammed by this misfit moron’s!!! A credit for $96 appears on my credit card statement. I have no idea who MWI Connections are, but I will certainly find out. I find it incredulous that any company can make unauthorized charges to my or anyones account. This is blatant fraud and theft. Something needs to be done to these criminals, this is robbery. My wife is attempting to contact these thiefs to get our account credited. But my real concern is that they have our account number and can simply do this again, or someone else for that matter!!! This is unbelievable!!!

I noticed an $84 charge on my bill. So my first instinct was to look it up and these messages are what I found. Thanks to all the rest of you for keeping up this message board or I would not have handled my situation as I did. It looks like I got sucked into this wen Harris Publishing called for the high school directory thing. Anyway, I called my credit card company and got a new number so this won’t happen again. And I called MWI Connections and told them I never to intened to sign up for their service (does anyone know what they do or even what they claim to do?) The woman I spoke to wasn’t difficult and claimed I will receive a refund for the amount on one of my next two statement depending on the billing cycle. We’ll see, but it’s been disputed nevertheless as credit card fraud. I will be contacting the Omaha BBB and the Federal Trade Comission next.

PS: How did these messages get onto a site called hopeless romantics? hee-hee

hi..
i’m one of the victims of MWI connections..
i don’t even know who are these guys..
but they really piss me off when I found out 96 bucks
had been missing from my credit card account..
I’m gonna make sure I get a refund..
or they gonna suffer

P/s: their homepage is connections123.com

pay a visit ..and make sure u make your presence known

Well, I take a looks at my credit card and see a charge for 99.95 with a company I’ve never heard of and they want me to pay them.
Their website www.hopelessromantics.com is no help what so ever. It is a big problem when you can’t report this company to the Better Business Bureau because they supposdly don’t exist.
What a bunch of crooks.
And that connections123.com is another website is something else.

MWI hit my account 3-26-02. I did not know this until 4-8-02.
After going to my bank this morning (4-9-02) i called MWI from the bank. The lady could not tell me where she got my credit card #.
she said
"For your privacy I can not tell you that"
hahahaha What a joke. My bank put an unauthorized use on my credit card and ordered me a new one.
the MWI person said my order will be cancelled and i will get a refund. 7-10 days for credit and 3-5 days for debit. Funny how it takes that long to give it back and it only tool 1 day for them to receive it. MWI told me that i had ordered it off of TV. They told me it was from a $19.95 pancake flipper that I ordered off TV. I received a post card from the "Perfect Pancake" place stating that my item would not be in their warehouse until April 15th. To call 1-802-846-3719 if i have any questions. I called numbers that i got off a consumergroup site (1-800-568-2386 is the only one that worked) BEFORE i called that number. And they gave me this number to call 1-800-284-3900.

1-800-568-2386 is to MWI connections. the 1-800-284-3900 is to informercials. they said that they have had TONS of callers on this matter. Seems that MWI or whoever is giving out all of out credit card #’s

I received a $96 charge from MWI as well, which caused my account to go below what I needed for a purchase i was making .. I was freaking out about what I was going to do, but then I found this list ... I called up, and said that I didn’t know what the fee was for, and the woman (who was actually surprisingly helpful) cancelled my account and said that I’ll get a refund soon ... I guess I’ll find out soon enough! It was funny though- in the background, i distinctly heard at least three other customer service representatives talking about cancelling their accounts....

Apparently i had agreed to a $25 gas card and some other special movie premiums... (which is funny cuz i very clearly recall saying 'no' to a massive number of telemarketing calls)

I just got one for $96. If i dont get some money back, some one WILL pay.

I have just received my statement from the bank, and found a $96.00 charge. I called and was told I would receive my money in 7 to 10 days, yea right! They need to be stopped I am writing to the Attorney General and Better Business Bureau there is more out there one is media outsourcing they will give you a free month on magazines and then you get a bill for $700.00. another is ABEnergizer order something and never receive, then try to call them and no one ever answers.

Worse for me! I just got a $149 bill on my old credit card taht I have not used for over a year. They have new number now: 1-888-241-0073. We must get them refund and stop them asap!

I just find their websit. Take a look. http://twiki.cageyconsumer.com/MemberWorks

I have a MBNA Mastercard . I was taken for $99.00 from MWI Connections. I called them asked what I bought the man could not tall me. My card company will take it of my account,but I want this company to go down.The man could not speak well,I had to keep asking to repeat things.After I told him to credit my account ,he saked me if I would like to hear about another offer.Can you believe these people?

I was a victim of the MWI Essentials credit card fraud recently. I disputed their unauthorized charges on my credit card for the past three years, and upon informing them of my intentions to take them to court, they finally agreed to reimburse the charges. It is important that all of us, victims of MWI essentials file a complaint to local attorney generals, better business bureaus, and the federal organizations (such as the FBI-www1.ifccfbi.gov and federal trade organization-https://rn.ftc.gov) for them to launch an investigation to put a stop to this corrupt business organization. MWI have been sued in the past (http://www.heartlandbbb.org/Reliability_Report.asp?compid=7000028) but with obviously no permanet solution to put a stop to this organized crime business. It is incredulous that with so many fraud reports and complaints from victims from all over the country for the past decade, the governing bodies of this country have allowed this company to carry on with its fraudulent business to this date. if anyone needs to get their money back I suggest you do the same, call them for a refund with intent to file a law suit, and file a complaint report to as many consumer affairs organizations around the country. Here is the company information for those who intend to pursue this further than just getting a refund:

MemberWorks Incorporated
9500 W Dodge Rd
Omaha, NE 68114
Phone: (402) 661-2000
Web Site: www.memberworks.com
Primary Contact: Mr. George Vogel
Customer Relations Contact: Ms. Sue Gardner

i just got charged 100$ by MWI* . They wont get away with that, thats what i get per week, they just cant take that in one day!!! Never! I called every number I could, they were nice, I wasnt, I am never gonna be. They reap what they havent sown!

Well, it seems I also have been ripped off by MWI Connections. Late June I received my bank account statement, and there, among the transactions was a charge against my Visa Check Card for $12.95 by MWI Connections. The charge was made on 5/29/02. A day earlier I had ordered an item off an infomercial ("Quick Cooker") and the charge for that was also on the statement. When I purchased the Quick Cooker they offered me a subscription to some service of discount coupons which I rejected. However, I am assuming that they make a commission on the sale of this item and so passed my details along to MWI, in order to get that commission.

I was tied up in a project for the rest of June and could not get to to the bank until July 1. Just before going I did an online check of my bank account and found a second charge by MWI for $12.95 on 6/25/02. So that was now 2 charges of $12.95. I was feeling really pissed.

I went to my bank (Intrust Bank, Kansas) and told them I did not authorise these deductions. They told me they would fix the matter for me. Today (7/6/02) I received a letter from my bank telling me that they cannot resolve the matter without me first ringing MWI Connections and telling them to refund the unauthorised deductions. I will do that ASAP. The number my bank told me to ring was 1800 750 4364.

I am most unhappy about this. I arrived here in the USA from Australia on December 24, 2001. I have been subject to 4 other scams since arriving here ... costing me in total $275. In Australia these kinds of things just do not happen. I am now very wary of buying anything over the phone. And I am rather disillusioned too.

Hi all.
I work for MWI Connection has a Cust. service rep.
I started there a couple months ago and it didnt take me long to realize that it is indeed a huge scam. The whole thing is quite cleaverly disigned to take your money without you realizing it. For those who dont know, the companys real name in Memberworks Inc. Connections is the name of the product they ''sell''. There are many more, always appearing has MWI sumthing. But what I have to say is that posting comments on a forum is not gonna do much. Most of you where satisfied with receiving your refund. This is how this company gets away with it. The catch is that enough ppl are not realising they have been billed to make this proffitable, most of the ppl who ask for a refund only ask for 1 years, when they often have been billed for 3-4 years.... Its a statistic thing has they say, and you wouldnt believe how much money this racks up. The company has about 8 millions members throughout united states and canada, but i could swear to you that no more than a third of these ppl are actualy aware of it. And the funniest partrs is that, since they actualy loose money when ppl end up using the membership, I have realise that they start sending stuff in late and not honnoring orders of '' participating members'' so that the members gets unsatisfied and cancels its mbship.... thats new marketing for you, hehe. No, its not funny but hey! you know why it works? Cuz you are most likely NOT goin to do anything about it...

P.S.: Anyone here has an honnest customer service job to offer??

I was scammed by MWI Essentials as well. I am in the process of trying to get my money back. When I call the actual company (800-313-3540) They want me to fax them proof of an overddraft charge that they caused. I have faxed it 3 times. My bank is investigating now. I have found, that this company has been sued many times, and twice, they settled (for $1.3 MILLION). A lawyer emailed me after I told him my situation, he says I may be included in a class action they already have filed. Watch out for these people!! All I did was order OxyClean over the phone....

I never have been scammed by this company, but I am getting overloaded with phone calls to my Skytel Pager service (a 1-877 number) of people trying to cancel their Simple Escapes memberships for the last 9 months. These people always sounded lost (or easily taken advantage of) based on how they left their information. I finally called a (to what sounded like) an elderly lady. Her Capital One credit card had a bill on it that lists "MWI Simple Escapes" with my pager phone number on it. Why would MWI be listing an invalid phone number to a phone they don’t even have? It prevents innocent people from cancelling the bill.

I had done research on Simple Escapes before, but did not succeed until I found the full name - MWI Simple Escapes. Has anyone else gotten an invalid phone number? Who would I call to complain about them using my phone number on their credit card statements?!

I too was scammed. I was just about to pay my VISA bill when I noticed that I only had $13 left in my account. I looked and there was a 139.95 charge to my account from MWI*Connections. I will be calling tomorrow to get my money back... This makes me oh so mad. I think I just might have to change my account number and never use my debit card again...

Have they charged any credit cards or has it all been debit? Cause I believe credit cards have much better protection from those sorts of things. Anyhoo, I’m filing a report with the ftc and would certainly like to be involved in a lawsuit against them.

-Jason

To add my name to the list (just in case anyone wants to add me to a class action law suit or something against this company). My discover card was charged 99.00 from a company called "Simple Escapes". I called the 800 number and asked the guy (who was very hard to understand) what the charge was for. He said that, when I mailed in a registration card for a "deluxe ab slide" I agreed to sign up for a free 30-day trial of a travel program. He said that, when I did not call and cancel within 30 days, my account was charged for the annual fee for the travel program (99.00). Well, lots of things are shady with this. 1) I NEVER purchased an abslide. 2) I never use my Discover card (therefore, I never have any charges on it anyway). When I told the guy that I was going to call the BBB, he said he would refund my card. Well, I received a credit for 57.50 on the next months bill. When I called to ask where the other 41.50 was, the guy said, "Oh, you just said you wanted to cancel your account (wrong - I had asked for a refund), you needed to ask for a refund of the prorated amount". Whatever!! So, I asked for a refund of the prorated amount, and he said that he would issue the credit immediately, and gave me a confirmation #. Shady business practices for sure!!!

I have also just received the charge of death. I called the number and was promptly greeted by some effeminate male who cheerfully said I would be receiving my refund within two months. As an extra precaution I am sending in a charge dispute claim to my credit card company.

Just took a look at my bank account on line and saw that MWI had taken $96.00. Had ordered knives over internet (Miracle Blade) and some stuff over the phone from Signatures. What a rip off. I use debit card so first thing Monday I will be calling BBB and our Attorney General. He is death on this type of thing and has won many judgements against scammers doing business in Idaho. You can add my name to a class action suit.

I too got scammed by these punks. When I asked them for documentation or some kind of proof they said I agreed to it when I purchased something from an infomercial, also. So I tried to catch them (cause I’ve never purchased anything through an infomercial) by asking which company was it that I went through and they didn’t have any record of it. Isn’t it shady that they have our CC #s but have no information about which of their 3rd party marketers I ordered from. On the BBB website under the co.’s reliability report they claim they verify all third party client orders through tape recordings. But its impossible to reach corporate to get those recordings. I don’t know what to do. I filed a complaint with BBB. I too want to be in on the class action suit, not for the money though, but just to have enough people for the suit to follow through so we can get those scam artists. Its sad because some of us can’t afford a lawyer on our own.

Because MWI probably won’t tell you themselves, for those of you who have gotten charged $109.95 on your CC with the merchant description MWI Simple Escapes, you’ve probably also gotten charged $96 some time in the past. The 109.95 seems to be a "renewal fee".

I checked my account online and saw that my balance was -$400! There was a charge from MWI Simple Escapes for $140.00 and that made every purchase made after that was posted get an Unavailable Funds Fee of $31.00! And these debit purchases were for $2 - $5, because I had no cash on me! So, I paid $31 for a $2 charge due to this company’s scamming operation. I just gradated college and need to get job so I’m on a very limited income. Now I have nothing until this is cleared up. I’m not calling the company. I’m letting my bank deal with this and also a lawyer I found online dealing with this company’s scamming. Good luck to everyone!

i never got my money back, the bank just ignored my calls and sent me a warning letter about fraud. thats great service from (wells fargo). yeah thanks a-lot.

I too was scammed. Here’s my two cents:

In addition to calling your bank or card company to get the charge removed, you should also report the incident to the states attorney where you live, where the charge was posted (which your bank and card company may be able to tell you), and in Omaha where the company is located.

What is amazing and inexcusable is that these guys are still in business after at least a year of scamming people.

I too have been duped into their scam. They called me about 3 months ago for one reason or another. I told them not to enroll me into the program, but they did it anyway. Last month I found that there was $99 taken out of my account. I was able to get the money back that time. Now I go to check my account and guess what..... there it is again, another $99 out the window. I called them this morning and I found that the person I talked to, Tim (who could barely speak English with a heavy middle eastern accent), all he wanted was to keep me with them and keep asking why I wanted to "leave their services when I could save sooo much money if I stayed". When I told him that I never signed up for the service and never wanted it, he told me that I would have the money back in my account in 3 - 5 days.

There has to be a way for these people to be brought down and kept down. There are too many people complaining about them and yet they are still around and taking people’s money.

So glad i found this.......today i checked my onlind bank statment and saw a charge for 139.95 from MWI Connections. Well, i didnt give it much thought at first cause hubby and i had been doing loads of xmas shopping over the weekend. Then i started looking at receipts and it wasnt adding up and either was my check book.
I immediately went to google.com and typed in MWI connections and found tons of complaints against this company, or so called company.
I got their # and called and very firmly told them that I did not authorize this transaction and i wanted the 139.95 back and to cancel what ever it was. The person on the phone Kevin ID# TP221 told me that he would refund my Visa Debit card and that it would take 3-5 days. I asked him what was this company i told it was a disconut company for things like travel meals etc etc.....he said i got something in the mail in October and sent it in for membership. I told him that I did no such thing!!!! He said he would take care of it and refund my money.
Then i started thinking.....and reading.....so i called them back. I now spoke with Shelly TP#599-she said that my account said i signed up via the web. I told her there was no way that i did, cause I have been out of work since May and could never afford 139.95 on unemployment (which is the truth). She said that i could of visitied anyone of their web sites: coolsavings.com, connections123.com, dealpass.com. i dont remember anything of the sort-im not one to visit those kinds of sites. She said that my account was creditied and it would take 3-5 days. But here is what i found stragne she said the credit would be as follows $106.60 and 33.35. I Asked her why and she gave me some lame excuse. I just hope that in 3-5 days the credit was there. If not, there phone lines are going to be burning with my calls.....
I hope we can stop these people. I felt like telling the girl on the phone...do you know you work for CROOKS!?!?!??!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Yeah, I have never heard of these people either until I discovered a charge of $119.95 against my checking account. I’m a student and this sent me into overdraft which I have to battle the bank with. Yuck. I wish you all luck!

I have used the Ab Energizer, and was left with several burns to the stomach. I heard that there would be a lawsuit against these companies and was wondering if I would be entitled to anything. I have had these burns for about 2-3 months now, they aren’t going away. Please inform me if there is a web site, email address, phone number etc that could help me THANK YOU

I had this happened this weekend. I had 139.95 taken out of my account from the slim and I freaked out. I called the bank and did a fraud report on the company. After doing that I went to work and looked the company and could not believe how many people this is happened to. I found there number and called them. They gave me this story that I could get movie tickets for 4.50 hey I soend 139.95 to get movies tickets for 4.50 I don’t even go to the movies that often. I demanded my money back and they did give it back. Also sent my bank print out’s of this company so they had a heads up. here is there info if you need it

address
9500 West Dodge Rd
Omaha Nebraska 688114

Phone number
800-750-4364

Good luck everyone

I found a charge for 79.95 on my credit card bill and am pissed to find out I am getting ripped off in some huge ongoing scam! If someone is filing charges against them let me know so I can sign on. We should be compensated for all of our wasted time dealing with this scam!

I am also a victim of this scam. I can’t believe how many people have been victims to this company and that they are still in business. I am in the process of working with my bank right now. MWI also assured me that I would get back my $79.95 in 3 business days. We’ll see what happens.

yeah .....scammed too.
I just thought to check my account.
$96.00 withdrawl.
talked to Pamela id# 14462 said sorry for the miscommunication.
It was from ordering the stupid Miracle bLADES OFF THE INFO-MERCIAL.
They asked if I wanted membership to a discount coupon club.
I ADAMANTLY said noo repeatedly to these requests.
They signed me up any way. Now I have to leave work to get to my credit union and put $100 buck back in my account to cover my automatic insurance withdrawl.
They gave me the 3-5 business days canned speech too and I, like Aaron, cannot believe this company is still in business.

I dont care if I doo get my money back.
I will still sue them for fraud and theft (wich might be the same thing, I dont know.....we’ll see)

-mike

MWI Connections took a total of $108 from my credit card account of 2 transactions of $96 and $12 on the same day. I never heard of these people and never ordered anything from them. I’m writing my credit card company to reverse the charges. I think the information came from http://www.carletonsheets.com or when I ordered for Phase 4 Orthopedics. Both are informercials at midnight.
Both weeks from each other.
To review other negative web site about these people click on the link below.

Clark
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=MWI+CONNECTIONS

I saw anttorneys web site for those who are suing MWI Connections Memberworks inc. There is a form on thier web site you fill out. It is possible you could be a part of a class actions suit. I don’t know all the details but at least fill out the form to compain abut MWI Connections. These are attorneys whao are fighting against MWI Connections

http://www.jameshoyer.com/problem_membershipclubs.html

Memberworks scammed me for total $359.80 because I hadn’t noticed the $89.95 charge to "Essentials" for the last four years. It’s such a non-descriptive name that a just assumed it was a retailer that I forgot about. That seems to be their hope. Of course, since I didn’t catch it, the were nice enough to keep auto-enrolling me without bothering to tell me.
I’ve joined the James Hoyer lawsuit and filled out the online form at the Federal Trade Commission site. I have also filled out forms with the Consumer Protection agencies in the various states where they have offices. I would encourage everyone to do the same.

I have been checking my account everyday since Friday, I’m waiting for my income tax money. The $96 bill showed up then, it did not clear until today. I stopped at my bank to fill out the paper work to dispute this. they gave me an 800 number for MWI. I was told to call tnem and see if we could get it solved that way. The nuber I got was 1-800-7504344. I got a recoreded message saying that the call can not be reached in you calling area. So I called the 800 number posted by Meredth. I spoke to a man named rick his employee number is TP773. he told me my refund would happen with in 7 - 10 business days. I still am going to give a copy of all of this to me bank.

I just looked at my visa account and MWI charged my account $139.95. It was charged on 03-13-03. I wasn’t even watching tv that night. The phone number on my account is 1-800-411-8104. I CALLED IT AND A RECORDING CAME ON AND SAID i COULD CHECK THEM OUT ON THE INTERNET AT WWW.DEALPASS.COM. I’m going to call my visa company and see if I can get it off, but I feel that something should be done to this company. I only work 4 days a week and my card is only used for emergenys. I don’t have a lot of money to through around and I know that a lot of the people that are getting taken don’t have it eather.

I am an ex mwi consultant and know how they work and what they dont tell you. no consultant there likes their job and hates their managment. most of them know exactly how you feel and arent trying to screw you.
mwi has a dont ask dont tell policy, so i am going to tell you everything you will want to know and ask for.
ask: have i been billed in the past, do i have anyother mwi accounts and whats their numbers, and then ask to be taken off of the no call no mail list.
they can give you a full refund so dont take no for an answer and ask for a supervisor. only thing they cant do is take care of overdraft fees if you were signed up on the web or credit card overlimmit fees.
always ask for written confirmation of cancelation too.

one last tip: dont get mad at the consultant because ultimatly they will cancel your account. it is their job to read through the script but once its done they have nothing left. they just need to hear no 3 times.

I am an ex mwi consultant and know how they work and what they dont tell you. no consultant there likes their job and hates their managment. most of them know exactly how you feel and arent trying to screw you.
mwi has a dont ask dont tell policy, so i am going to tell you everything you will want to know and ask for.
ask: have i been billed in the past, do i have anyother mwi accounts and whats their numbers, and then ask to be taken off of the no call no mail list.
they can give you a full refund so dont take no for an answer and ask for a supervisor. only thing they cant do is take care of overdraft fees if you were signed up on the web or credit card overlimmit fees.
always ask for written confirmation of cancelation too.

one last tip: dont get mad at the consultant because ultimatly they will cancel your account. it is their job to read through the script but once its done they have nothing left. they just need to hear no 3 times.

I am an ex mwi consultant and know how they work and what they dont tell you. no consultant there likes their job and hates their managment. most of them know exactly how you feel and arent trying to screw you.
mwi has a dont ask dont tell policy, so i am going to tell you everything you will want to know and ask for.
ask: have i been billed in the past, do i have anyother mwi accounts and whats their numbers, and then ask to be taken off of the no call no mail list.
they can give you a full refund so dont take no for an answer and ask for a supervisor. only thing they cant do is take care of overdraft fees if you were signed up on the web or credit card overlimmit fees.
always ask for written confirmation of cancelation too.

one last tip: dont get mad at the consultant because ultimatly they will cancel your account. it is their job to read through the script but once its done they have nothing left. they just need to hear no 3 times.

I too was scammed by MWI-ValueMax for $139.95 on my visa check card I have researched this company and they use what is called Negative Option Plan. The charges show up when either a telemarketer calls and you verify your home address this is taken as consent to join thier program. They also use spam mail which if you dont respond to and just delete it it is also taken as consent for them to enroll you in thier program. When they contact you via a telemarketer your account information is in front of them the whole time they buy such information from Banks, Mortgage Companies, and Credit Card companies. Amazon.com has also sold information to this company I am considering sending an email to amazon to protest them selling financial and personal information to such companies I know one thing for sure I WILL NEVER USE AMAZON AGAIN!! I have contacted MWI and was told I will get a refund in 3-5 business days but in the same call the lady said 7-10 business days when I asked her which one it would be she got agitated and hung up. I them called back and talked to a supervisor which I had to fight to talk to as they at first would not let me talk to a supervisor I informed the supervisor I have disputed this charge with my bank and that the company will be responsible for any and all charges accrued because of this theft to which I got "We will not pay any charges" and then she hung up. Hopefully I get my refund good luck to all of you in dealing with these con artists if it were us who took money from someones checking or credit card account we would be in prison for a felony why is this company not being held to the same standards?

I too was scammed by MWI-ValueMax for $139.95 on my visa check card I have researched this company and they use what is called Negative Option Plan. The charges show up when either a telemarketer calls and you verify your home address this is taken as consent to join thier program. They also use spam mail which if you dont respond to and just delete it it is also taken as consent for them to enroll you in thier program. When they contact you via a telemarketer your account information is in front of them the whole time they buy such information from Banks, Mortgage Companies, and Credit Card companies. Amazon.com has also sold information to this company I am considering sending an email to amazon to protest them selling financial and personal information to such companies I know one thing for sure I WILL NEVER USE AMAZON AGAIN!! I have contacted MWI and was told I will get a refund in 3-5 business days but in the same call the lady said 7-10 business days when I asked her which one it would be she got agitated and hung up. I them called back and talked to a supervisor which I had to fight to talk to as they at first would not let me talk to a supervisor I informed the supervisor I have disputed this charge with my bank and that the company will be responsible for any and all charges accrued because of this theft to which I got "We will not pay any charges" and then she hung up. Hopefully I get my refund good luck to all of you in dealing with these con artists if it were us who took money from someones checking or credit card account we would be in prison for a felony why is this company not being held to the same standards?

dont listen to those heartless bastards when they say 'oh you’ll receive your refund within one to two bank statements' these halfwit scags took 140 bucks from me the day before christmas and the day after my mother died. i’ve had to call repeatedly about my 'refund' and i keep getting the same crap...the representative who i contacted before must have failed to enter the information properly. this is just a warning...i’m now on month THREE of the refund challenge. keep that 800 number and the representatives ID number...make sure to cover your ass or they’ll shove some more illegitimate charges up it.

My poor mother was zapped by this idiots! She is on retirement pay and they took $96.00 for nothing she ordered. I called but it was Saturday, so I have to wait until Monday to get the information. I was able to get thru other complaints the corporate information here it is:

MemberWorks Incorporated
9500 W Dodge Rd
Omaha, NE 68114
Phone: (402) 661-2000
Web Site: www.memberworks.com
Primary Contact: Mr. George Vogel
Customer Relations Contact: Ms. Sue Gardner

I hope and pray we all get our money back and put an end to these thiefs....

God bless their dumb hearts and the people working for them and hope they find out and find a better job!

God Bless you ALL!

My poor mother was zapped by this idiots! She is on retirement pay and they took $96.00 for nothing she ordered. I called but it was Saturday, so I have to wait until Monday to get the information. I was able to get thru other complaints the corporate information here it is:

MemberWorks Incorporated
9500 W Dodge Rd
Omaha, NE 68114
Phone: (402) 661-2000
Web Site: www.memberworks.com
Primary Contact: Mr. George Vogel
Customer Relations Contact: Ms. Sue Gardner

I hope and pray we all get our money back and put an end to these thiefs....

God bless their dumb hearts and the people working for them and hope they find out and find a better job!

God Bless you ALL!

My poor mother was zapped by this idiots! She is on retirement pay and they took $96.00 for nothing she ordered. I called but it was Saturday, so I have to wait until Monday to get the information. I was able to get thru other complaints the corporate information here it is:

MemberWorks Incorporated
9500 W Dodge Rd
Omaha, NE 68114
Phone: (402) 661-2000
Web Site: www.memberworks.com
Primary Contact: Mr. George Vogel
Customer Relations Contact: Ms. Sue Gardner

I hope and pray we all get our money back and put an end to these thiefs....

God bless their dumb hearts and the people working for them and hope they find out and find a better job!

God Bless you ALL!

sorry didn’t mean to push this button so many times
yikes so sorry!

Ohmigawd! Talk about an answered prayer. It took a lot of frustrated guessing, but I found you! My $139.95 was taken from my account on March 10. For some reason I paid attention to my bank statement--I never do--in the deep, dark hours of the night. Called the 800#. Got a "Lisa" who tried to tell me I ordered a discount card of some kind, and I would be receiving my complimentary cd player soon. WHAT? I didn’t waste words. She tried to give me back $60.00 and I could keep the cd player. NO! So, okay, she says, we will refund your money. TODAY the non-English-speaking female (who both my husband and I swear we’ve dealt with B4) calls to ask for my husband (not home) to tell him his cd player is ready. I blew it and she--the rude witch--kept telling me to quit interrupting her as she was trying to explain that my husband bought a discount card, etc. DIFFERENT DEBIT CARDS COMPLETELY! When I said, "Oh, here he is now," she hung up. again I call the 800# and speak to "Nancy" about the phone call. (I got both id’s) She tells me she shows the acc’t cancelled and a refund ordered as of the dark-thirty hours of this morning. (3-hour time diff.) I called my bank (Union) and was told just as I read in a much earlier post. I authorized my bank to initiate an investigation, my bank credits my acc’t, when the liars, cheats and thieves pay up, I happily give the $$$ back to my bank. In the meantime, I’ve cancelled my card. How sad when the only ones you can trust are the banks. This is scary, though. These posts go back 2 years! HOW CAN THIS BE? I’m calling Marti Emerald at our local news. I’m just so grateful to have found this site, albeit after the fact.

A mi me paso exactamete lo mismo que los casos anteriores! MWI Connections cargo a mi tarjeta de credito 205.00 dolares sin mi autorizacion por supuesto!!

I just saw that MWI has taken monies out of my account. lucky for me it was only $8.50 this time. But thanks to all of you writing to this web site I was able to see a head of time that it was a fraud. I never even heard of this company before. It just popped up on online account. So i called my band and they stopped payment and filed a disputed for me and I had to cancel my visa card. Good luck to some of you in getting your $$$ back.

I just saw that MWI has taken monies out of my account. lucky for me it was only $8.50 this time. But thanks to all of you writing to this web site I was able to see a head of time that it was a fraud. I never even heard of this company before. It just popped up on online account. So i called my band and they stopped payment and filed a disputed for me and I had to cancel my visa card. Good luck to some of you in getting your $$$ back.

I just saw that MWI has taken monies out of my account. lucky for me it was only $8.50 this time. But thanks to all of you writing to this web site I was able to see a head of time that it was a fraud. I never even heard of this company before. It just popped up on online account. So i called my band and they stopped payment and filed a disputed for me and I had to cancel my visa card. Good luck to some of you in getting your $$$ back.

I just saw that MWI has taken monies out of my account. lucky for me it was only $8.50 this time. But thanks to all of you writing to this web site I was able to see a head of time that it was a fraud. I never even heard of this company before. It just popped up on online account. So i called my band and they stopped payment and filed a disputed for me and I had to cancel my visa card. Good luck to some of you in getting your $$$ back.

I just saw that MWI has taken monies out of my account. lucky for me it was only $8.50 this time. But thanks to all of you writing to this web site I was able to see a head of time that it was a fraud. I never even heard of this company before. It just popped up on online account. So i called my band and they stopped payment and filed a disputed for me and I had to cancel my visa card. Good luck to some of you in getting your $$$ back.

I just got nailed for $139.00 i think my product is focus factor. I can’t believe these kind people are in business, imagine how much money that they STEAL..... right from under us. I’d love to take a business like this down.

please email me with any questions concerning MWI. I work in houston and I hate my job. I do enjoy refunding all monies taken by MWI et al. I will tell you what to say concerning each account, at no charge of course.

Thanks

Those pricks charged my master card $139.95 on 3\13\03
for mwi*connections and right below that charge was one
for $139.95 also on 3\13\03 for mwi*healthplus. Now, first
thing i did was i called my credit company and said what the f**k is this MWI bullshit. I told them this was not done
by me and they gave me a full credit for those scamed
charges. Now, if they had (OR DO HAVE) my bank debit
card #.........I would have to pay them a visit myself. You know, like paint their walls BLOOD RED! Because thats what
i feel. Not just for me, but the people that work hard for the money that MWI pulled right out their ass. Money they need
to pay bills. So MWI wants BLOOD money, HEY MWI. YOU
STUCK YOUR ARM UP MY ASS TWICE. I HOPE YOU LIKE THAT SMELL. BECAUSE I’LL FILL YOUR NOSE SO FULL OF
SHIT TIL YOU HAVE MY CRAP COMING OUT YOUR MOUTH!

I just can’t let this go on. It’s time for some fun. I just hope they at MWI don’t get their feeling hurt when they see me!
If you have something to say to me then do so...at
Roxyismydogg@aol.com

I just can’t let this go on. It’s time for some fun. I just hope they at MWI don’t get their feeling hurt when they see me!
If you have something to say to me then do so...at
Roxyismydogg@aol.com

I just can’t let this go on. It’s time for some fun. I just hope they at MWI don’t get their feeling hurt when they see me!
If you have something to say to me then do so...at
Roxyismydogg@aol.com

I just can’t let this go on. It’s time for some fun. I just hope they at MWI don’t get their feeling hurt when they see me!
If you have something to say to me then do so...at
Roxyismydogg@aol.com

We filed a complaint against "MWI" with the US Postal Inspection Service in November 2002, just after their mailing showed up. The first week in April 2003, we received a letter from MWI refunding all charges against our account ... they cited the US Postal Inspection Service investigation.

That credit card account is now closed.

My wife tried to buy the two-headed "Gore" "Bush" coin in 2001 but they "didn’t have any" so she got a "Bush" only coin. We sent it to the family Republican and later found out MWI used that purchase to bill our credit card.

I amd debating sending a copy of our materials to the FTC while writing our synopsis for the U.S. Postal Service.

I just found out the news a couple of days ago when I tryed to take some money out of the bank and found ou that my account was overdrawn. Appartly MWI simple escapes debitted $109.95 on 3/17/03 and MWI connections took 12.95. I called the 800# I got from the bank when I was trying to figure this mess out and they told me that my wife ordered some kind of discount membership from them and that we should have recieved the info by know. She told that she would send me another packet and I said OK like a dumb ass. Later I talked to my wife and found out that out that she never heard of the company before. Then I looked on the web to try to find info about MWI and look what I found. I also found out that they have been charging me $12.95 a month since Sept of 2002. We have called them a couple of times since then to try and get a refund for these, but I can’t even get the SOB’s to admit any other charges besides the one’s the deducted me last month. So far the have costed me $200.60 plus about $200 worth of NSF fees. I have filled reports with jameshoyer lawsuit and ifccfbi.gov and I encourge you all to do the same. I hope these SOB’s ROTT IN HELL for what they did to me and the rest of you all, because I only have $20 left to make it through the rest of the week out of a $600 pay check just because I had to cover the bank charges

i just got nailed for 139.95 by these people. how can this keep going on? i looked them up on the bbb and they have had 7 complaints in the last 6 months

MWI Connections got me for only $8.50. They followed the exact same pattern I found when I researched it online. I had never heard of them before, but I called the 800 number on my bank statement. They kept making sales pitches to me while I yelled that I wanted my money returned to me. (She had the nerve to tell me to watch my language when I asked her to "shut up." I replied that I generally DO YELL at those who STEAL from me.) The woman had a VERY thick Spanish accent ... so thick that I could hardly understand her. I’m steamed, but I’m glad they didn’t get more from me. I’m filing a dispute with my bank as soon as I can get there in the morning.

MWI CAN ROTT IN HELL, cause I’m still pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My wife just received her Discover card bill with $149.95 billed to MWI connections. I called them and talked to "Laura" who was useless, then asked to talk to her manager, "Jackie" (ext.9911) who was more helpful. Sounds like we purchased a magazine subscription (which we didn’t) 2 years ago and they kept billing us every year. They’re now supposed to take us off the mailing list (yeah right!) and refund within 10 days. I did some research on the company and guess what, they have a "Consumer Advisory Board". If you want to complain (or spam) here are some contact #s:

Chairperson Patricia Royer: patricia-royer@merck.com & royerpat@aol.com
Frank J. Kelley: fkelley@Kelley-Cawthorne.com
Mary M. Heslin (Heslin Consulting) heslin@glas.apc.org (?)
Dianne Goss: Dgoss129@aol.com (228-6438) (486-1534)
Robert D. Marotta (Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter) : rmarotta@keglerbrown.com (614) 462-5435

COMPANY CONTACT:
Jamie Moore, 202/777-3518
or
Sandy Nelson, 202/543-8071

Bruce Douglas, Vice president of product marketing : (914) 997-0952

... I’ll start making phone calls...

My wife just went to the bank to find we were hit by mwi for 139.95 and i have no idea how.weve only used our card online once 6 mos ago i am gonna find the bottom of this

My wife just went to the bank to find we were hit by mwi for 139.95 and i have no idea how.weve only used our card online once 6 mos ago i am gonna find the bottom of this

WELL , WE GOT SCAMMED TOO BY THIS MWI CONNECTIONS FOR $ 96.00 ! MY WIFE NOR I HAVE ANY IDEA WHO THEY ARE ! WE CALLED THE 800 NUMBER AND THE USELESS PERSON WE TALKED TOO DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THE ADDRESS TO MWI SO WE COULD COMPLAIN TO THEIR CONSUMER ADVISERY BOARD OR TO THE CONSUMER RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OR SOMEONE WITHIN THIS BOGAS COMPANY ! I HOPE SOMEONE FINDS A WAY TO DESTROY THIS COMPANY , I JUST CANT BELEIVE THEY ARE STILL IN BUSINESS . IT SEEMS THEY HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR AT LEAST YEAR OR LONGER ! I’M IN THE PROCESS OF WRITING THE BBB IN OHIO , AND THE FTC IN OUR STATE .
THIS KIND OF THING SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE TO OPERATE AND I HOPE THEY ALL GO DOWN HARD . . . (LIKE A LITTLE PRISON TIME !)

If any one knows how to contact MWI’s consumer advisory board, please let me know. I was told that I might be able to get my money back that way. I also found out were MWI got my info from; SHOP AMERICA. My wife ordered diet pills from them, overcharged, and when she cancelled it MWI took $96, $12.95 a month for almost a year. I had no clue until last month when they took $109.95. This explains why we haven’t been able to balance our check book for some time know. I just can’t believe that they scammed so much out of us and cost $400 in NSF fees and returned check fees. I wish you all good luck getting your $$$ back but I want more. I want them to write equifax and explain to them they have been steeling from me causing my credit to get worse.

Well, just add me to the list. Last year it was $109.00 that I didn’t even notice. I discovered it I received my Visa statement. I or my wife have used the account for at least a year. Anyway, I have received a lot of good info.

Thanks to all

Well, just add me to the list. Last year it was $109.00 that I didn’t even notice. I discovered it I received my Visa statement. I or my wife have used the account for at least a year. Anyway, I have received a lot of good info.

Thanks to all

I just got had.. or shall I say just found out. Thanks to this website, we noticed that everything was here and it was all correct. Now we are dealing with them about getting my money back. Now I am really looking into my account. The funny thing is Shannon (ID# TP421) said 7-10 business days and another associate said 3-5 business days.. Shannon also said that there was no one else above her to speak to about this situation. Which was a LIE!!!!! I found a different # 402-661-2000 on the website and spoke with Tina Owing. She wasn’t to much help.. She said the same thing as everyone had else said about the audiotape.. She said it would take a few days.. "Bet that will never be produced!"

So if anybody has any other advice on what I should do.. Let me know.. Lets do everything we can to shut them down.. Thanks for the website..

I was scammed by mwi connections. I ordered pops-a-dent(a kit to pull dents out of your car) and mwi connections took $96.00 out of my checking account without my authorization. I have never, as of yet, recieved the pops-a-dent, nor did they take any money out of my account. I called the 1-800 number and talked to a girl that connected my to her supervisor. I was not nice to this man. He got me my money back in about 3 days!! How can they get away with this? I am reporting them to the better buisiness bereau.
Thank you for this message board. I got a lot of information here to help me solve my problem.

Suzi-Q

I was scammed by mwi connections. I ordered pops-a-dent(a kit to pull dents out of your car) and mwi connections took $96.00 out of my checking account without my authorization. I have never, as of yet, recieved the pops-a-dent, nor did they take any money out of my account. I called the 1-800 number and talked to a girl that connected my to her supervisor. I was not nice to this man. He got me my money back in about 3 days!! How can they get away with this? I am reporting them to the better buisiness bereau.
Thank you for this message board. I got a lot of information here to help me solve my problem.

Suzi-Q

Hi,

Thanks for all the comments posted here.

Here is what I did this morning based on suggestions posted here. I was ripped of for $96.00 based on making a purchase from skymall. These are the folks that advertise on airplanes.

When we notice that the charge had been made, I called the 800 number (800) 568-2386. Here was her tactic.
1. Convince me that the service is great.
I stopped her there and got really angry right off.
2. She again tried to convince me by offering a discount membership where they would refund me $60.
I refused.
3. She asked me if I ever went to the movies. I got very angry at this point and started mentioning mail fraud, attorney generals office, etc...
4. She then offered at 3-5 business day refund of the full amount.

FYI: I do plan on cancelling my 2 debit cards. Probably a good idea once a year just in case.

Thanks for keeping this web site up. It really helped.

Re:MWI Connections
I just got off the phone with representatives of MWI Connections. There has been an unauthorized debit on my debit card since September in the amount of $7.00, unbeknownst to me. It was such a small amount I never bothered with it..and I had certainly forgotten by the time the next month rolled around. In talking with MWI, I found that I was signed up for a "special discount deal" on magazines, travel, Sam Goody’s, as well as Blockbuster video rentals when I placed an order through Lillian Vernon catalog. I have been doing business with them for over 5 years and there’s nothing been a problem until now. I declined the offer. Since the end of September I have been charged for this service. It’s a small amount, but still unauthorized. MWI was very helpful and never once got out of line with me. My hope is that the credit appears on my checking account in 3-5 days as promised.

Well I got the $96.00 charge too. I called MWI after logging on to this site and getting the 800 number. I was told that my membership was paid up until 2004, I told her I did not want this membership and that I wanted a refund. She said she would cancel my membership for 2004, I then asked if I was getting a debit back to my account and she said yes. I will wait and see. I also went to the FBI website at www.ifccfbi.gov and posted a complaint about them. I will be contacting the BBB and the FTC as well. I think I may be getting scammed by some other company called Questsavers as well.

I noticed a charge for $8.50 on my CC bill. I searched and found this search result was #1 and then called the 800 #. Crystal #TP707 was fairly helpful. Said my wife signed up for MWI Connections when she bought some frames from Lillian Vernon. But my wife assures me she didn’t. But she said she’d credit it back to me with out much hassle. Then I call my CC company to let them know I’m putting those charges in dispute and find out that there was a charge in April and a new on in June...all for $8.50. So I had to call Crystal back and tell her to take those off as well.

I never did find out what great benefits I should have been receiving with our membership...

I just got screwed and left my account negative. Has anyone figured out what is going on? I got socked of $96.00 today. I am going to call them and have them reimburse me for the mistake and credit my account for the overdraft charges also.

I found a great phone number on another page for their costumer service: 1-888-206-2321. I’m glad I got it from that page, because my bank gave me a different number and no one answered there. The socked us for $149.95!! We can’t remember ever giving anyone that debit card number for anything. But, happily, when I called them, they credited the account right away (took about 3 days to show up on the account). They are already in big trouble according to some other pages.

I called my bank this morning and found that i was charged 98 dollars for an item i did not order

I’m just one more consumer that found an unauthorized charge on my credit card for $109.95 from MWI*VALUEMAX, don’t know who they are, never ordered anything from an infomercial like they claim, but I’m going to fight for my money back and to stop this people from stealing our money!!!

Well, today was my day to be introduced to this ?@!# company. I checked my account today and they charged me $149.95. It looks like they are getting a little riskier since the amount they took from me is higher than any I’ve read about on this site.

Who are these people and what do they do. I’ve never heard of them and definitely haven’t signed up for anything.

Today I received an overdraft from my Master Card Company and found a $149.95 charge from MWI connections. To my surprise I had no idea who they were or what this was for. When I called the lady told me that it was for my renewal memebership. I never filled out anything for this service. I asked to speak with the supervisor and she agreed to refund my money. I decided to look through all my statements and found 2 other charges from this company from 2002.

Ha, I called them as soon as the charge appeared and they very nicely told me they would NOT cancel the account until I "looked over thier offer" I love the internet.

Just Found Out About MWI/Conections. MWI Charged Us $1.95, On 6/18/03 Then Returned The $1.95 The Next Day. On 7/17/03 MWI Took $119.95. I Called!!!! To Find Out What I Signed Up For?. I Got "DOUG" On The Line. After Verifing My Name, Address , & Phone Number, Twice.... "Doug" Says ,, Thats Not The Address Of Record That We Have!!!.... We Have An Address With A Different Zip Code .. "Doug" Gave Me A Zip Code Of An Area About 120 Miles South Of Us. Then He Says "HO I Know What" .." I Will Cancel The Order. Your Money Will Show Up In Your Accont Tuesday Or Wednesday. End Of Conversation. I Checked My Bank Records Back To Jan 03 No Other Hits By MWI Show. Just For Gigles I Went On Line To Look Up Any Info On MWI/Connections,,,, And Look What I Have Found ,,,, A Major Internet Scam,, How Did Thay Get My Debit Card No#?After Reading All Of The Above, I Am Not Going To Wait For My Refund. I Am Contacting The State AG. And My Bank. Good Luck To All Keith & Emily

Here is one more to add to your list. I just noticed that My checking account was hit for $139.95 and $12.95 yesterday via my debit card. We also used Shop america to Purchase some calcium pills for my wife. I’m calling both the better business bureau and the local Fraud Dividion of the County Attorney’s office.
I will also be calling the numbers on the statement. These are different than the ones listed on many of the messages listed above. If it helps they are 1-800-750-4364 for mwi connections and 1-888-394-6932 for mwi homeworks.

This company is committing fraud left and right. Their service is a scam. I figured this out after signing up for their free trial after clicking on a banner to get a free 25$ gas card or a 25$ amazon.com gift card. For only a 1$ processing fee it seemed like a good deal. After freaking signing up and expecting to get a free gas card. It says I have to subscribe for like 6 weeks and fill out a survey for them to send back to me and god knows how long that will take before they charge my cc# to hell. I called them up and yeah they can not speak english well and some weird music in the background. At first they could not find my account until i was referred to a supervisor. All i wanted back was my 2$ from processing fees!!! No they would not refund my 2$$...So now I did a search on their company because I figured its scamming us all. Now I am afraid of being charged for no reason. I am going to call my bank to get my 2$ back from these scammers. And if there is a class action lawsuit, I want in on it too. They wasted my time and deceived me. I want more than the free gas cards now. I want to shut down the company so no one else gets scammed.

and the supervisors name was Jackie and her id# was 9911

Unreal. I signed up for "savings" on movie tickets and other various things for $1. I was unaware that there was a recurring charge. I was starting to wonder about this company when I received my Form for a $25 K-Mart gift card, but then the fine print states that you have to be a "member" at the time of processing, which could take 4-6 weeks. NO THANK YOU. I decided to do a little research and this is the site I ended up at. I took one of the numbers listed in the posts above and gave them a call to cancel BEFORE I received any other charges.

This phone call, with any reputable business, would have taken 2 or 3 minutes talk time. This CALL TOOK 20 MINUTES!!! At first I was friendly and told them that I wished to have my account cancelled before any recurring charges were applied to my CC. I was asked 3 times to verify my name, zipcode, and address. Finally after about 7 minutes of this and hold time, she asks me if I have receives thier "Membership Value Packet." I reply no, and I don’t want it, I wish to cancel. This is where it gets rich!

At first she tells me that thier companies policy is that they cannot cancel until AFTER I have received the packet. I replied that A consumer who holds thier account should have the authority at anytime to cancel thier membership. She comes back with "Well we havent fullfilled our obligation, so at this time...." I said HOLD IT!! Its only a friggin dollar, I don’t care whether you have fulfilled it or not, I wish my membership cancelled. Then she SUGGESTS that I wait until the packet arrives in the........ HOLD IT!!! No thank you. I said I am not taking your suggestion, I wish to have my membership cancelled. She says "Well Sir, you are not understanding what......HOLD IT!!!! I say Yes I am, and ma'am, please do not repeat yourself because YOU are not the one understanding. This repeats until I am at the freakin point that I am screaming over the phone that I want to speak to a supervisor or she better cancel my account or I will take it up with the BBB, FCC and whoever else I need to contact. Finally she says I am cancelling your account goodbye.

I immediately called back and spoke with someone else to verify that it has been cancelled and they said yes so we will see.

The number I called was 1-800-568-2386 and her name was Angie and her ID# was TP966.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
lol

I just signed up with Connections for their $1 trial membership offer. It was my intent to buy some meal vouchers to use at WDW. However, after reading these posts I’m leary of dealing with this company. It seems once they have your credit card # they continue to post bogus charges and make your life hell trying to get the charge taken off. One interesting thing I’ve noted--many people were falsely charged for $96. That figure comes up many times. I’ve never seen a complaint about a charge over $100. Now, I’m not a lawyer (nor do I play one on TV!) but I seem to recall that fradulant transactions under $100 are considered a misdomeanor and as such your recourses are limited. You might get your money back depending on your cc, but you won’t be able to bring charges against them. I’m going to cancel my membership and hope for the best.

MWI got my wife ATM Visa for 149.95, upon further inspection we found another $7 charge earlier in the month. We haven’t purchased anything from TV ads for quite some time, and still can’t determie how they got our number. Beware of these slick bastards, a phone call gets some foriegn speaking operator thats worthless. We asked to be credited and have disputed the charges through the Bank. Next stop is AG and BBB. I hope they end up in a cell with there new 350 pound life partner.

MWI Value Max debited my account for 149.95. There was only 5.10 in the account but I had overdraft protection from a credit card. i called the bank and they were familiar with the company and gave me a phone number 1-888-394-8179. I called them and a machine asked me to type in my phone number. I entered my phone number then they hung up and will now not answer my phone calls.

I just got scammed by this - I’m so sorry I ever signed up for the "free trial" of Focus Factor - $119 - which overdrew my bank account so there’ll be charges to battle with the bank
I’ll supposedly get my money back in 3-5 business days!
And I know the reps are just doing their jobs, but - if an irritated caller is trying to remove fraudulent charges from their account they really shouldn’t launch into an upsell of how much money i can save on one of their membership plans!
Thank goodness for this site or I wouldn’t have even known what the heck MWI was or the number to call.

Hi there, I currently work for MWI and though I’ve signed a NDA I feel it necessary to clear a few things up.

There are several ways you could have been offered the program. The most common is when you’re purchasing something from an infomercial, a lot of people don’t know what an infomercial even is so they immediately get defensive and claim they’ve never done that. An infomercial is basically anything advertised on TV that provides a number for you to call and order. As far as the company is concerned this can also mean something you ordered through a magazine or even a catalogue. One of the best examples I’ve heard from a person was "I never called an infomercial, I just bought a couple CDs last month on TV!"

90% of the time it’s YOUR fault for not paying attention to the telemarketer on the phone. Even when you’re ordering something from a catalogue you should listen to what’s being told to you. Also alot of you are just plain greedy and hear an offer for a free giftcard or DVD or whatever and think you can just sign up for that and cancel before the trial period is over. But when you have forgotten to call and then get billed you get angry. Go figure.

10% of the time the original telemarketer is not meeting his quota or whatever and unfortunately you get slammed even when you said no. This really does suck and makes my job harder of course. You should definately get your money back in a case like this and I promise you you will. After 3 attempts at keeping you in the program(just say no each time) a refund will definately be given.

Anyways, I just wanted to point out that the people you call at MWI are just normal people trying to do their job. Namely to keep you in a program that DOES work. Of course if you want out of it then that’s fine, just let us have our say.

I have been charged by MWI Essentials twice. In Sept 2002 they hit my bank account for $96.00. This was after I had purchased a Richard Simmons product through an infomercial. At the time I thought that this charge was from a store and didn’t think anything else of it until a charge for 149.95 was made to my bank account again in July 2003. I went back and looked at my previous statement as saw that they had tested to see if the account was still open by charging my account 1.95 in June 03 for shipping and handling and then crediting the account the $1.95 on the same day. Again originally I thought the bank had made a mistake and posted this to my account in error. I never connected it with the Sept 02 charge until the July 03 charge showed up.

I called MWI the same day and asked what I had purchased. They told me about the discount program. When I told the lady I had never agreed to the purchase she kept trying to explain and I kept saying no. At no time did she say she would refund my account. I asked her when I signed up for this so called discount program and she could not locate my information. She put me on hold and then a supervisor, Wilfred #7329 came on the phone and said he would need my account number to locate my account. I refused to give it to him fearing another charge would be made. He did tell me to then dispute the charge through my bank.
I contacted my bank the next day and filed a dispute. The money ghas been temporarily credited to my account pending the results of their investigation. I now have to send the Chargeback department a detailed letter in writing.
I am also sending letters to the Nebraska Attorney General (apparently that is where MWI is headquartered), the FCC, The Michigan Attorney General and our local TV station that has a Consumer Complaint division.
There is another web site that states the State of Minnesotta had sued MWI and won refunds for comlaintants. They must also change the way the do business in the state, like inform consumers that they will be charged x amount for this service.
By the way, does anybody know exactly what service this company provides.

IWAS TAKEN FOR149.95 AND DID NOT EVEN TALK ,ORDER OR CLICK ON TO SOMETHING TO SEE WHAT IT WAS I KNOW I WANT MY GOD ----- MONEY BACK AND I AINT GIVING THEM TO LONG BEFORE I RUN DONE A LITTLE SCAM OF MY OWN ON THEM SEE IF THEY LIKE IT

IWAS TAKEN FOR149.95 AND DID NOT EVEN TALK ,ORDER OR CLICK ON TO SOMETHING TO SEE WHAT IT WAS I KNOW I WANT MY GOD ----- MONEY BACK AND I AINT GIVING THEM TO LONG BEFORE I RUN DONE A LITTLE SCAM OF MY OWN ON THEM SEE IF THEY LIKE IT

They charged me for $109.95!!!
That’s sooooooo crazy!!! arghhhhhhhhh

Our account has just been debited for an unauthorised amount of $1. I called the toll free # listed on the transaction entry on my bank statement, and spoke with the ubiquitous Wilfred #7329. He assured me that I would be receiving a refund in 3-5 days and my account with them would be cancelled. I called back because I still wanted elaboration on how they obtained my details. (If you can’t get through on the automated system w/o giving your phone # or membership #, just hold on the line and a rep will pick up. Immediately state that you want to speak with a supervisor.) I then spoke with Cassi #TP663 who told me that my details had been provided by - wait for it - BANK OF AMERICA, my bank! They had sent out my checking a/c details to an Inbound/Outbound Telemarketer who then passed them on to MWI Connections. When asked who the I/O T'marketers were she replied, "MWI Connections".

Best of luck, people!!

My credit card was hit for $119.95. And I too had never heard of WMI Connections. I call ed the 800 number that was fortunately on my credit card statement. I talked to Ashley No. TP128 and after 5 or so minutes I got it across that I wanted my credit card account credited for $119.95.
She finally said that she would and that it would take 2 working days. I called my credir card company on the third day and was told that I was credited back my $119.95.
Try1-800-750-4364
Paul P.

My husband received a packet in the mail, an offer for coupons ect. We did not order anything from television, but we got on it right away. Today, my husband called his credit card companies and his bank to let them know what happened. If anyone gets a packet from "connections123" call your bank and credit card companies and let them know immediately. My husbands bank and credit card companies assured my husband that there will be no charges from this company on his bill. Just wanted to let everyone know to handle this scam right away. Good luck.

My husband received a packet in the mail, an offer for coupons ect. We did not order anything from television, but we got on it right away. Today, my husband called his credit card companies and his bank to let them know what happened. If anyone gets a packet from "connections123" call your bank and credit card companies and let them know immediately. My husbands bank and credit card companies assured my husband that there will be no charges from this company on his bill. Just wanted to let everyone know to handle this scam right away. Good luck.

My husband received a packet in the mail, an offer for coupons ect. We did not order anything from television, but we got on it right away. Today, my husband called his credit card companies and his bank to let them know what happened. If anyone gets a packet from "connections123" call your bank and credit card companies and let them know immediately. My husbands bank and credit card companies assured my husband that there will be no charges from this company on his bill. Just wanted to let everyone know to handle this scam right away. Good luck.

MWI Business Max charged my Visa 11.95. Im so surprised on how many people have been charged without consent. I noticed they got sued by the Attorney General back in 1999 in Minnesota and according to the settlement they are supposed to be issuing double refunds to people who were charged without consent. I demanded a double refund and was given the run around . They told me I needed to write a letter to the consumer affairs dept. in the businessmax building. She didn’t give me the double refund. Im still waiting for the credit of 11.95 , they told me it would take 3 business days. How outrageous. She told me I clicked some box on the internet agreeing to a membership. I never agreed to anything!! I feel like im one of the lucky ones that didnt get charged an outrageous 95.00. But still the principal of the matter is they charged my card. Im paying interest on this for 3 days. Something needs to be done now about these scammers!!!! Its rediculous. It makes me so mad.

MWI Business Max charged my Visa 11.95. Im so surprised on how many people have been charged without consent. I noticed they got sued by the Attorney General back in 1999 in Minnesota and according to the settlement they are supposed to be issuing double refunds to people who were charged without consent. I demanded a double refund and was given the run around . They told me I needed to write a letter to the consumer affairs dept. in the businessmax building. She didn’t give me the double refund. Im still waiting for the credit of 11.95 , they told me it would take 3 business days. How outrageous. She told me I clicked some box on the internet agreeing to a membership. I never agreed to anything!! I feel like im one of the lucky ones that didnt get charged an outrageous 95.00. But still the principal of the matter is they charged my card. Im paying interest on this for 3 days. Something needs to be done now about these scammers!!!! Its rediculous. It makes me so mad.

They just got me. MWI Connections charged my Visa check card $119.95. I am pissed off. I called the company and they said I signed up for some year long membership to get discounted movie tickets and some other crap. I know I never ever did this. I have never even heard of MWI until today. I called them and they are supposedly refunding my money in three to five business days. They better or I am going to take some srious legal action. I feel completely violated.

They strike again.... they just charged my account 12.95 yesterday. Thank god it wasn’t more. Luckily I live by checking my online statement daily. Im so glad this site was here, at least I know I’m not the only one. I will be more informed now when I talk to my bank.
You can add my name to a class action suit.

Slammed 149.95 charge. I didn’t authorize, family of four on a budget. These guys have to be stopped. Sorry honey
no money for milk. Called the company shady little devils.
I put a stop on my card and will dispute with the bank in the morning. Man what a bummer.

yea just looked at my statement and was charge 11.95 with mwi connectsion being the transaction. i called them and they told me i was being charged a monthly membership fee by checking a box when made a flight reservation through orbitz. sad thing is, i think i did check that box and therefore, it’s not one of those unauthorized charges i guess.

..but when i said i wanted to cancel my membership, the guy just kept going on about how they’re saving me money. so i was like "just cancel my membership" and the guy told me to call again and hung up. so i called again and talked to someone else and he cancelled it for me.

i just received a gotdamn $96.00 charge to my account from(mwi conn.) on 9/19/03 and i want to know who the fuck are these people.
could someone please email me at traviskita@aol.com or
call me at (318)377-5039 please i want my gotdamn money send there telephone number i’ll call there ass.

MWI, just fraudulently took 96.oo from my account unauthorized. They will not get away with this. I can’t believe this is all from trying to order some pans on a TV add for 19.95, once they added up all the extra shipping charges I told them to forget the order not to place it, then this shows up on my account, not to mention the 30.00 dollar NSF fee they caused me. These people need to be shut down.

BEWARE, RE: MWI, ORDERED FROM VIDEO PROFESSOR, STILL HAVING A HARD TIME WITH THEM, ALL OF SUDEN I SEE A CHARGE ON MY CC# FROM MWI FOR 12.95, CALLED MY CC COMPANY THEY TOLD ME MORE CHARGES FROM VIDEO PROFESSOR FOR $96.00 AND $69.95, I HAD RETURNED THIS MATERIAL ACCORDING TO THEIR PROCESS WITH RA#’S, THEY ALSO TOLD ME THAT WHEN I ORDERED VIDEO PROFESSOR THEY GAVE MY CC# TO WMI, THIS WAS NOT AUTHORIZED BY ME, IT NOW SATURDAY AND GET CANT GET THRU TO MWI, EVIDENTLY THEY DON"T WORK ON SATURDAY OR SUNDAY, VIDEO PROFESSOR GAVE ME THEIR PHONE FOR MWI IT IS 1-800-750-4364, PLEASE DON’T TRUST VIDEO PROFESSOR, I AM GOING TO REPORT THEM TO THE STATE OF COLORADO BBB AND THE FTC, I AM NOT WAITING UNTIL MONDAY, THEY SCAMMED ME AND I AM PISSED, ANY COMMENTS ABOUT VIDEO PROFESSOR, THE GAVE OUT MY CC#, DON"T TRUST THEM. LUCY

BEWARE, RE: MWI, ORDERED FROM VIDEO PROFESSOR, STILL HAVING A HARD TIME WITH THEM, ALL OF SUDEN I SEE A CHARGE ON MY CC# FROM MWI FOR 12.95, CALLED MY CC COMPANY THEY TOLD ME MORE CHARGES FROM VIDEO PROFESSOR FOR $96.00 AND $69.95, I HAD RETURNED THIS MATERIAL ACCORDING TO THEIR PROCESS WITH RA#’S, THEY ALSO TOLD ME THAT WHEN I ORDERED VIDEO PROFESSOR THEY GAVE MY CC# TO WMI, THIS WAS NOT AUTHORIZED BY ME, IT NOW SATURDAY AND GET CANT GET THRU TO MWI, EVIDENTLY THEY DON"T WORK ON SATURDAY OR SUNDAY, VIDEO PROFESSOR GAVE ME THEIR PHONE FOR MWI IT IS 1-800-750-4364, PLEASE DON’T TRUST VIDEO PROFESSOR, I AM GOING TO REPORT THEM TO THE STATE OF COLORADO BBB AND THE FTC, I AM NOT WAITING UNTIL MONDAY, THEY SCAMMED ME AND I AM PISSED, ANY COMMENTS ABOUT VIDEO PROFESSOR, THE GAVE OUT MY CC#, DON"T TRUST THEM. LUCY

MWI Connections frauduently charged my credit card. I called the Federal Trade Commision on them. The FTC told me to tell everyone who has been frauduently charged by this company to contact them. If the FTC receives enough complaints, they can go after MWI Connections.

MWI Connection has over 27 different names. Some of the names they go under include; MWI Essentials, MWI ValueMax, MemberWorks Incorporated, Simple Escapes, and many more.

Please contact the FTC if MWI Connections has frauduently charged you.

Federal Trade Commission
1-877-382-4357

I got blasted by a charge of $96 this month and I didnt order anything... Very Pissed right now And Ihave been getting phone calls from them saying they are goin to send me all this and I tell them no they keep telling me they are and they cant even speak english. The number though they are calling me from is (718)280-7611 so right now i believe they are in New York. Has anyone that called got their refund yet? Anyways if anyone has any info can you email me at Kielbasa@cox.net thanks. Very pissed to and just yeah...

I first noticed that there was a charge on my checking/debt acct for $149.95 on my bank statement from a company called MWI*Connections, with their 1-800#. I was not familiar with this company. I called to find out why I was billed and they claimed that they sent info to my address and because I didn’t respond they enrolled me. They claimed that my bank gave them my address and cc# and authorized the charge, which they did not. It turns out that they did send info - to an address that I hadn’t lived at for 2 years. I demanded my money back, and the woman said that she would refund it. I checked my bank statement a week later, and there was a credit to my acct from MWI - for $126.55 - which was not the full amount. I called them again and another woman apologized and said that she could not refund my money - even though I had NEVER authorized them to take it in the first place. They said that the membership was prorated and that was why I only got a partial refund. After arguing for about 15 minutes, I demanded the manager and he said that they would refund the remainder of the money. I also requested that they take my name off of their list. I don’t know if I will see the remainder of the money but what scares me is that they have probably charged me tons of times and I never noticed. It does not seem legal to acquire my credit card info and bill me without my consent. After reading this forum I am pretty sure I know where they got my info - Harris Publishing. I ordered a RISD alumni directory 2 years ago.

Well, seems like we got lucky. We only got hit for $19.90. I noticed tonight when I checked my bank account. I immediately jumped on the net and found this page right away. Thanks for the #’s to call. I did and talked to Tim-ID#15279 and he said they would refund my money. It may not be much, but nobody screws me out of money. And I will also reprot them to the FTC. And I sent them a nasty gram. We’ll see what happens. Luck to the rest of you getting back your money

I’ve been scammed by MWI*Connections too for $149.95. The number they are now listing as of 9/30/03 is 1-800-868-6216. It seems they may be connected with IBILLCS since both of these companies tried to submit charges on the same day several times over the course of 2+ months. I’ve never purchased anything from them and don’t know who they are. I’m in the process of filing an affidavit through my bank. Tonight the fun begins when I call them. If anyone call tell me who these people are and what they are offering I would greatly appreciate it!

I also recently order from Video Professor and returned the items as they directed, with a RMA#. I now have a charge to my debit card for $12.95 from MWI*CONNECTIONS, and I have no idea what it is for. I am going to contact MWI CONNECTIONS and see if I can get it removed. Wish me luck. I know it is only $12.95, but these days every penny counts. Imagine how many times they have charged different people that 12.95. That could add up to quite a lot of money, if they charge several thousand accounts a day.

I too was scammed. I found out a few moments ago by logging on to my bank account. I did a search like everyone else here and found this site and scrolled through. I called several different numbers that I found here on my bank’s web page and through their webpages. http://www.connections123.com and http://www.dealpass.com. I finally got through on the number 800-313-3540. What happened was I called and got these smart scissors from the tv commercial and I specifically told them I didn’t want to sign up for anything and they did it anyway. Them I’ll deal with tomorrow. I spoke to a Maurice Day ID # 15185 and he assured me I’d be refunded my money through my bank in the next 2 business days. I will call them back if i’m not and I will next call the Federal Trade Commission now and then I’m calling my bank tomorrow morning and report fraud. I will refer to this web page to the FTC when making my complaint. Good Luck all.

I found a 96 dollar charge on my credit card from this MWI Connections-I called the number I found on my credit card and got a computer but was able to go on-line and cancel, which I did. I have no clue as to where this charge came from. I now received my statement and was only credited 72.85. I tried to call MWI and recieved a message that my account has been cancelled and the computer then hung up. So, I called my credit card and put it in dispute.
Michele

TO MWI VALUE MAX CALL ME AT 813-928-3177

I posted on Oct. 17 and have been trying to do something since then. I have tried contacting this MWI Connections since the 17. I finally got through and was told their computers were down and to call back. I have tried calling back since than and been unable to get through. Today I used a differerent phone number and got through, Naomi gave me a run around but she did state she would credit my account the 23.15 within two business days, we’ll see. Good Luck
Michele

ALL the MWI victims, please spread the news that Orbitz is one company that revealed credit card information to MWI!!! Please check the following email I got from Orbitz customer service, and read the link, too.
Dear Orbitz Member,

Thank you for contacting Orbitz.

To cancel your connections membership, please
contact Connections
department at 1-888-728-6081.

We value you as a customer and look forward to
serving you again in the
future.

Sincerely,

xxxxx
Orbitz Customer Service
www.Orbitz.com

Most Low Fares Made Easy

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Check the link below. I found that the author is
right! You must have
revealed our credit card information to MWI-
connections! You never do
this again!

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/orbitz.html

Here is the email I received from Orbitz regarding MWI Connections, who has billed me $9.95 twice thus far. I saw the posting blaming Orbitz, and decided to investigate for myself. See what you think. Seems like Orbitz is trying to hide something... (In any case, I’ve called my credit card company and put the charges into dispute. Don’t bother trying to call MWI Connections - it’s a major waste of time. They will put you on hold for ages, and then apologize profusely. Afterwards, they will just tell you that their computers are down and ask that you call back in a few hours. From what I’ve read on this site, seems like that is what they tell everyone. What a load of crap.)

Email from Orbitz:
Dear Orbitz Member,

Thank you for contacting Orbitz.

Orbitz uses latest Secure Socket layer (SSL) technology to secure your
data on the web site. The pages in which you enter your personal
information and more importantly your credit card information are
secured via this Technology. This measure is taken so that no third
party can view your data before, while, or after you have entered this
data.

It may be possible, you may have clicked on the link on Add A
Page,containing the MemberWorks landing page. It may have opened in the
upper left-hand corner of the your screen.
On the landing page you may have accepted the Memberworks offer by
entering your e-mail address (it does not have to be the same e-mail
address used for Orbitz login) and clicked 'Yes'.

For further assistance in this regard, please contact MemberWorks
Customer Service at 1-888-840-6299.

We value you as a customer and look forward to serving you again in the
future.

Sincerely,

Sean
Orbitz Customer Service
www.Orbitz.com

Most Low Fares Made Easy

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

I would like to know where and when I gave permission to Orbitz to give
my
credit card information to MWI Connections. As far as I am concerned,
I
never consented to having my credit card information shared with MWI
Connections.

--- Orbitz Customer Service wrote:
> Dear Orbitz Member,
>
> Thank you for contacting Orbitz.
>
> For further assistance regarding this issue, you may
> contact:
>
> Customer Care: 1-888-840-6299
> E-mail: MembershipServices@Connections123.com
> Customer Care: 1-888-728-6081
>
> Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to
contact
> us.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Sandy
> Orbitz Customer Service
> www.Orbitz.com
>
> Most Low Fares Made Easy
>
>
>
> Original Message Follows:
> -------------------------
>
> I have received two unauthorized charges on my credit card from MWI
> Connections in the two months after I purchased an airline ticket on
> your website with said credit card. I have never heard of this
> company and have not received any goods nor services from this
> company. Is Orbitz responsible for providing MWI Connections with my
> credit card information?

For 14 years, MWI has been a leader in bringing value to consumers through innovative membership programs that provide access to significant savings on everyday products and services in the areas of health care, personal finance, insurance, travel, entertainment, computing, fashion, personal security and more. Click here (http://65.218.28.30) to see what members are saying about the value of our programs.

Our members typically enroll in monthly or annual memberships in our programs. When consumers agree to enroll in a program, they generally receive a trial membership. During this time, the member may use the program’s services without obligation, as described during the program offer. A membership kit, which includes a membership brochure and a membership identification number, is sent to the consumer upon enrollment. The kit explains the benefits and contains a toll-free number used to access membership benefits and information during the trial period. In the event that a consumer decides to cancel the program, he or she can call the toll-free number during the trial period and cancel the program without incurring an enrollment charge.

We are strongly committed to consumer satisfaction and meet or exceed the requirements of all applicable state and federal laws and regulations, including consumer protection laws. Additionally, in 2001, MWI implemented its Best Marketing Practices (http://65.218.28.30/consumer.htm) nationwide to further ensure that the terms and conditions of our programs are fully disclosed to consumers in a clear and understandable manner. Our Best Marketing Practices include full disclosure of membership benefit channels, payment and cancellation terms, and refund policy. MWI obtains each consumer’s express consent to a membership charge before a charge is made. Another MWI consumer satisfaction initiative was our creation of a Consumer Advisory Board to help us further improve our consumer-related practices. The Consumer Advisory Board’s members include several well-known consumer advocates, a former State Attorney General and a State Commissioner of Consumer Protection.

In MWI’s experience, those consumers who believe that they were charged an enrollment fee by MWI without authorization are simply mistaken. Some of these members have simply forgotten that they enrolled in a program. In other cases, consumers are unaware that their spouse (or other authorized user of their account) enrolled in a program. When provided with information demonstrating express consent to enrollment and charge, such consumers recognize that they did, in fact, agree to enrollment and the enrollment charge. If you do not remember ordering a MWI program for which you have been charged, you should contact our Consumer Affairs Department at 1-800-962-4106. We would be happy to answer any questions you may have concerning your membership.

Hi this is
Ben, ben@kreme.com
I am fighting to get all my charges reversed. complain to:

MWI Inc.
9500 West Dodge Road
Omaha, NE 68114-3314
1-877-503-4052

CC: James Hoyer Newcomer & Smiljanich Attorneys at Law
One Urban Centre, Suite 550
4830 West Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33609-2589
(813) 286-4100
(800) 651-2502
http://www.jameshoyer.com/problem_membershipclubs.html

CC: Nebraska Attorney General
Hon. Jon Bruning
Office of the Attorney General
2115 State Capitol
Lincoln, NE 68509
(402) 471-2682, FAX: (402) 471-0006.

CC: Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20580

CC: Better Business Bureau, Inc.
11811 P Street
Omaha, NE 68137 -
Phone: (402)391-7612
Fax: (402)391-7535
Email: rschulte@heartlandbbb.org
WWW: http://www.heartlandbbb.org

Hey... I checked out my online bank statement about an hour and a half ago, and noticed an unidentified transaction from MWI Connections, charging me $14.95. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what this was from, so I went to Google and typed MWI Connections to try and figure out what the company is about, and if maybe that could refresh my memory on a certain purchase I had made, or whatever. I didn’t find a website. What I did find was a huuuuuge number of forums like this one in which several people were going through the same thing I am (most of them for a lot more money than me). So I called the company (the number from my bank statement), and was on hold for 25 minutes. I just got off the phone with her. I explained to her that I wasn’t aware of any purchase or transaction with the company, and that I haven’t even heard of the company. Like many postings mentioned before, she didn’t speak English very well, and I found myself many times repeating what she had said to verify if I had heard her correctly. After talking for a bit, she explained to me that I would be cancelled from the service that I never even signed up for, and that the $14.95 would be refunded to my account in about two days. All in all, she seemed pretty helpful. Without prompting, she gave me her name and ID number. I asked her what I should do if the money wasn’t refunded to my account in two days, and she assured me again that it will be... So I guess I’ll check.
Anyway, I guess the key is be PERSISTENT. Demand answers. I’ll post again in three days if my account is not yet refunded. Thanks.

Ha, so I’m not the only one, apparently! I noticed an unfamiliar $14.95 charge in my online checking account recently. I am watching that account like a hawk since money is currently tight, so I was baffled as to what this was. I had completely forgotten that I was enrolled through some other site a few months back, and forgot to cancel after the trial period ended. My bad. $14.95 a month for something that you don’t use adds up after a while! I just called and cancelled after spending several aggravating minutes on the phone with some guy who barely spoke English, who tried to persuade me to stay a member...four times I told him "I just want to cancel! Just cancel it!!" Finally he agreed to cancel my membership. Gee, imagine that, he finally listened to me. *sigh* This has taught me to be wiser about money and watching my account more closely in the future.

This type of scam, ripping of normal law-abiding Americans, causing huge amounts of grief and stress, and going unpunished and unstopped, is a real disgrace. You are thieves, criminals and con artists. You are exactly what is wrong with this country. I thought we had the best justice system in the world. This is Identity Theft, pure and simple. If I can file a complaint with the FBI or any other branch of law enforcement, I will. I am researching this now. I work for the federal government, and I will not rest. It is the job of the government to protect the public and address this type of illegal activity. The fact that you are still in existence using this con is a real discredit to our legal and justice system.

This “negative-option” scheme, where you enroll unsuspecting people into your plans without authorization and bill them for ‘memberships’ in advance, has been proven time and again in court (California, Ohio, Minnesota, Connecticut, Nebraska, Nevada, Connecticut, among others) to be deceptive marketing and business practices. The Minnesota settlement forced you to change your Telephone Solicitation Script to make it very clear what you were trying to do, as well as providing renewing notifications in advance of upcoming charges for ‘services’. This settlement forces you to tell customers on the first page of your membership enrollment kit that their account will be charged in 30 days unless they cancel and that their account will be re-charged each year thereafter unless they cancel. In addition, MemberWorks must send a letter and envelope with 14 point font saying "Upcoming Charge for Membership Renewal," before each annual renewal. The letter also must say, " if you take no action your account will be charged to automatically renew your membership." All of these things you did not do in our case. It also provides damages for double the amount charge if you fail to produce a tape showing the consumer’s specific consent. I’m still waiting for proof of our authorization. Unfortunately, Maryland must not have taken you to court yet, so the public here is still subject to your deceptive practices, as is much of the nation. You are violating the RICO statute, the Unsolicited Goods Act , and conducting fraudulent , deceptive business practices.

Taken from the Hardin County,Kentucky New-Enterprise News Agency:

“The BBB Website states: On April 27, 2001, the California Attorney General announced that MWI had settled charges of misleading telemarketing practices. The sale of a 30-day free trial membership with a ‘negative option' cancellation resulted in complaints from consumers who were upset to find charges of $49 and $89 on their credit card accounts.

Without admitting liability, MWI agreed to pay $1.5 million in civil penalties and costs. The firm also agreed to change its business practices and improve notice to purchasers.

MWI has reached agreements with Attorney General offices in California and Nebraska, as well as reaching a settlement with the state of Minnesota.

As of Oct. 24, MWI has a civil complaint filed against it by the Florida Attorney General.”

MWI Simple Escapes just got me too for $159.95 on an inactive credit card that I used for a balance transfer only and never used to charge anything. Their telemarketer had a very heavy eastern Indian sounding accent and could not understand the work No, fraud, unauthorized and may I speak to you supervisor, etc. I called the credit card company too.

I to was taken for $124.80 by this so called MWI connections. I Ordered the "6 second abs" for my husband and the lady told me that for ordering I would recieve $500 worth of coupons as my free gift for purchasing the 6 second abs machine. About two weeks later I recieved what just looked like a piece of cheap cardboard that said if I called the 1 800 I would recieve gift certificates to great places like Target and AppleBees etc. I just threw it out and now my account is in negative status because of this UNAUTHOURIZED charge. I tried calling the numbers you have posted 1-800-568-2386 and all I get is press 1 to enter acct # (I have no acct # I never signed up or press 2 to enter your ph # I press 2 then enter my phone number only to be told by a computer Thank you your membership has been cancelled then get hung up on ( what membership I never ordered a membership) I also tried calling JAMES CHAPMAN @ 1-888-206-2321 and the phone rings 5 times then starts beeping. I’ve had no sucess in contacting this company and need to get my money back if you can help please let me know. I can’t even seem to find this company. Oh they may also have a website at www.geopath.com BEWARE and good luck everyone on getting your money back and getting rid of these bogus type company who rip us hard working americans off. Maybe someone should tap into thier accounts and still thier money and see if they like it.

They got me too! I was charged $159.95 MWI Essentials - nothing I ordered. I discovered this on my latest statement yesterday. Today, after seeing all the complaints, I checked previous statements, and sure enough, there was $139.95 from before!!! What crooks!!! They say they will credit the charges, but I will keep checking and hounding them to do so, until every penny is credited back. I just cannot understand how they have continued to do this for such a long time!! I cancelled my card and did place a call to an attorney someone else who was ripped off recommended.

These ass wipes alos hit me and my account for pit nearly $200.00 .Theyy also made my bank account get over draft fee’s .So far I'vew been getting run around byue there company, and wish to ask all of you for assistance to help get even towards MWI Connections

I also got hit for $249.89. My husband thought that I bought something and I thought that he bought something. I had my bank investigate and they gave me the 800 number. I called and got some foreigner who could barely speak English. Her name is Jackie, ID #16415. She promised to refund my money in a couple of days. However, I told my bank to file a claim against them and the never except their charges again. In fact, I believe that they have hit me more than once. I’m going to check my past bank statements.

The scamming goes on. The charges were on my discover card for 9.95 per month for five months. Total 49.75. Since I havent used my discover since Oct of 03, I hadnt been checking transactions only making my payments. MWI Connections claims I subscribed to their service when I booked a room on line in Oct with Orbitz. Scarry that they know that much about me. I didnt subscribe to their service. The charges are being disputed by discover. It has been quite a day on the phone. I have been scammed like this with another service, also on discover. I have never had this happen with Visa or Master Card. I use Visa or Master Card all the time. What card have others had the problem with? I am beginning to wonder if it is Discover. Discover is blaming Orbitz.

I’ve work for the company for several months and i’ve the same membership programs and they are making my bank account and my wallet big and big and i am even going out more often with the benefits that i have!

I must say that i got very upset when i find some of this forums specially when It is first not logic that the company have more than 6 million of satisfied members SAVING money for their daily expenses and accessing the discounts for hotels, airfares, car rentals, prescriptions, vision care, movies, major retailers and the list is not over!
And i mean, i am as well a consumer like everybody and i am very happy having this membership programs.

What we specially do at the time that our members call regarding the charges in their statements is just try to explain the GREAT benefits that we asume they dont know and we actually clarify how and when they got offered our services.

Some members simply are not only NOT listening what we are trying to say and besides that they course and show up their low education.

The fact is that it will be stupid to think that are "UNAUTHORIZE" carges on their accounts WHEN we show the 1 800 telephone number on the statements!!! and that no company has the right to charge any cent to any account without the card holder permission.

So, i really want you people in this forum first to be a little more educated and logical and the next time that you want to claim a $25 dollars card for gas or retailers or a $500 or $700 for grocery READ and UNDERSTAND the Terms and Conditions.
As well when you received on your mailing address an enveloppe with your name on it OPEN IT and dont toss it!

We offer our members 30 day trial period or more and they are not attach or forced to keep our membership programs at anytime WE JUST ASK YOU TO TRY IT!

The cheap fee that we charge our members they have it back more than 1000 times in regwards (cash back) USING our programs.

So, PLEASE people, dont make a storm in a glass of water and start using or trying our great disccount programs!!

FIRST OF ALL CHARLES, I TOLD THE REP THAT I DID NOT WANT THIS FREE TRIAL AND IT WAS STILL ADDED. WE DON’T CARE ABOUT THE BULL THEY ARE OFFERING. WE WOULD NOT BE ANGRY IDIOT IF WE SAID WE WANTED IT. SECONDLY, YOU SPEAK OF EDUCATION WHEN YOU CAN’T EVEN SPELL. IF YOU HAD SO MUCH OF AN EDUCATION YOURSELF YOU WOULD HAVE A BETTER JOB. FREAKING SCREWBALL. GET A LIFE PUNK. NOW, LET YOUR CEO KNOW.

I was charged only $9.95 for MWI Simple Escapes (and it looks like I got off easy) and when I called them they said it was authorized through Classmates.com. You can’t call them, so I e-mailed them with my complaint. I have had my subscription with classmates for about 5 years and this is the first time this has happened, so I let them know what was happening. Hope this doesn’t happen to anybody else.

I guess, I just stepped into this trap through the Orbitz-webpage. Of course, I could not reach anybody under their costomer service number as it is Sunday today.
I will try to reach MWI Connections tomorrow and will post the result.

I can only discourage anybody from using Orbitz if they work together with such scam company.

Regards,
Michael

I have been charged $9.95 for MWI Connections for the last six months. We moved during that time and I didn’t notice it on the bill. It was a Marriott credit card, which I only use for Marriott stays. When I talked to MWI Connections, they said I signed up through Orbitz. Last Sept I booked a stay at a Marriott through Orbitz. Is Orbitz responsible for this scam as well as MWI? MWI says they can only refund one month. Who do I talk to to get the rest?

Hi, I got billed $9.95 on my debit card, at first I didn’t even kow waht the $%^$#^ was MWI Connections, then I found this site, I called the # listed in my bank statement (877) 234 1336, they have a recorded message asking your membership # and or phone #, immediately after that, the next option is "do you wish to cancel your membership?" Of course, but I wanted to get my $9.95 back, I got diconected, whatever, I don;t care about the $9.95, so far, but if you need my name to do something about this idiots, you let me know. Funny thing, I don’t buy anything over the phone, so I still can’t figure out where did the get my info

I just got scammed 129.95 by this "company." I am having Discover resolve it, but I did contact their "representatives," and they were none too helpful. They "can’t find" my information, and, to top it off, ask me for my Discover card number. My husband talked to them awhile while I was reading this message board, but then "Lisa" (ID 2943) asked to speak to me. If she was thinking a woman would be easier, she was sadly mistaken. I was as polite as I could be under the circumstances, but I let her know in no uncertain terms that I will be persuing this--through my Discover, business watch agencies, and my lawyer, if need be. It’s only 129 bucks, but I’m a teacher, so that’s a LOT to me. If anyone knows of any good consumer watch places (other than BBB or FTC) let me know; also cue me in if you know about the lawyer who is persuing a class action suit. I would be interested. It’s not the amount of money--it’s the principle.

On a side note, I think I got into this when I ordered hotel reservations on priceline.com. But Discover has scammed me in the past with an auto club membership I did not ask for, so I’m with Ken about wondering about the ethics of THAT horrible plastic-mongering firm.

A final note, to Charles:

I hate to say this, but as a college English teacher, it is clear to me that you are functionally illiterate, and also quite naive and illogical (as you claim of all of the rest of us). I NEVER authorized charges. In fact, I DO NOT know what I am being charged for, and the company won’t tell me. There was NO FINE PRINT--I did not order anything, or receive anything, or get a call, or sign up for ANYTHING. I am not stupid, and quite good at keeping up with "fine print"--my job requires it. My mistake was to think that in this country I could order reservations online and not have someone steal my identity and card information. Perhaps I was the one who was naive, but I am quite sure that my education level did not play into the fact that I was dishonestly treated by a sham of a company. I think that it might be best for you to find a discussion where your insensical, illogical, and highly ungrammatical comments might be appreciate.

"If anyone knows of any good consumer watch places (other than BBB or FTC) let me know; also cue me in if you know about the lawyer who is persuing a class action suit."

Check out some class action info here:
http://badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff36507.htm

Is insensical a word?

I HAVE ALSO BEEN SCAMMED BY MWI. I HAVW BEEN GETTING DEBITED ON MY CHECKINGS ACCOUNT FOR THE PAST THREE MONTHS. THEY WERE CHARGING ME 9.95 FOR PREMIER HEALTH, 9.95 FOR 24 PROTECT, AND ,9.95 FOR CONNECTIONS EVERY MONTH THESE 30.00 DOLLARS WERE COMING OUT SO I CALLED THAT 1-800-568-2386 NUMBER AND HAD IT CANCELED BUT THEY NEVER MENTIONED ANYTHING ABOUT A REFEUND. BECAUSE OF THEM I HAVE HAD TWO CHECKS THAT BOUNCED AND I HAD TO PAY CHARGES ON THEM. IF ANYONE HAS ANYTHING THAT WOULD HELP LET ME KNOW.

Hello, I thank you people to keep placing your comments here, at least we’ve not only taking your money, we are also taking your time, hehehe...Anyways
Ammy 'the angry' about your comments, they are very appreciated and let me tell you that i am working very hard on my 5th lenguage wich is more important of course. Good that you can understand my context wich is the important for me.
There is something that happened to me last week and i want to share it with you people. I have a call from a guy that cancelled his membership 20 minuts ago when he called inquiring about $9.95 in his account. HE told me that while the Rep. was trying to explain him the benefits and try to inform him about the money-savings values that we offer he was NOT LISETENING and shoutting till the top of his lungs, finally the Rep. cancel his membership and mentioned that he can find out on our website what we offer, so, then he inform himself and he decided to call back, then i got his call. He appologize for what happened before and he asked me to reinstate his membership because he was planning to make some major purchases and he wanted to take advantage of the up to 70% off name brand furniture, appliances and electronics that Connections has, TOO BAD!, his membership was definitively cancelled since he cancelled in that terms. I told him that it was not possible to reinstate his membership and he implore so several times. Well, I offer him to join another program on-line but too bad, new programs does not have same things so, for him was not suitable. 'I learn my lesson' he said.
Before we hangup i issued a refund and he said: 'you should not since it was my fault'. We are humans and here on the other side of the line we have feelings as well, i understand how people feels and since he was nice and considered to joing our programs i was giving him back the money so he can save at least $9.95 for his major appliances, as a joke of course.
Thats it, please atleast as i said before, let us explain you about the membership and send out the information, so you can have your gift and make an inform decision.
The phrase of the day: 'Nice people get nice things'

The same story here!

We just got scammed by MWI with full authorization from ORBITS. My dad bought a ticket at Orbits, one month later he had a charge on his credit card for 20$. A month later, another charge for 20$!!!!. Lucky for him he noticed it the second time and called his credit card company to cancel transaction.

Thanks to you guys, we figured out that it was ORBITS giving out credit information. So we called ORBITS customer support to ask them about MWI. It turns out that ORBITS has an agreement with MWI to share personal data, including credit card numbers with their "primary partners". I could not believe it!, why would a perfectly legit company like ORBIT would partner with known scam artists. I can’t imagine that ORBITS’s managers do not know about this scam. MWI has been in buisness of screwing people over for more than 5 years (judging from google)!. I guess you can’t trust anyone.

I would advise people to avoid ORBIT !

Eugene.

CHARLES-YOU SOUND LIKE A SAD PERSON, WHO PROBABLY CANNOT GET WORK ANYWHERE ELSE EXCEPT MWI. BUT, CHARLES, WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND. PERHAPS, ONE DAY YOU WILL BE SCAMMED OUT OF YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. PERHAPS, IT WILL BE YOUR MOTHER OR YOUR GRANDMOTHER. OR, MAYBE ONE DAY, A FRUSTRATED PERSON WHO WAS CONNED BY YOUR EMPLOYER WILL SNAP, AND SHOW UP IN THE PARKING LOT OF MWI, AND TAKE THEIR FRUSTATION OUT ON YOU, CHARLES. BUT, ANYWAY, WE ALL LOOK FORWARD TO THE DAY YOU POST AN APOLOGY, AND LET ALL OF THE GOOD HONEST FOLKS KNOW THEY WERE CORRECT, AND MWI IS A WORTHLESS, DECEITFUL COMPANY, DOING NO GOOD AT ALL IN THE WORLD. YOU ARE NOT A NICE PERSON, CHARLES. YOU ARE AN ANIMAL, BEING EMPLOYED BY ANIMALS.

Charles, I’m coming to yer parking lot boy. I’ll be seeing you real soon.

My scam charges were diputed and won through Discover. All charges were credited back to my account. Guess those scamming folks at MWI couldnt prove that I joined their service. I sure didnt. Look out for ORBITZ. It was the cause of my scam.

Ken

My January 2002 Visa bill had a fraudulent charge of $249.95 from some company called PROVIDA LIFE SCIENCES, which I had NEVER HEARD OF. My credit card company refused to help me or take off the charge. I was not familiar with Form E at the time or I would have burned Bank of America a "new one"!!!!!!

My February 2002 Visa bill had a fraudulent charge of $84.00 from a company called MWI ESSENTIALS. Again, I had never heard of this company, nor had I EVER ordered anything from a t.v. informercial!!

HOW, I wondered did these two companies get my card number? I called the 800 tel. nbr. shown by the expense on my Visa card and on EACH fraudulent charge I learned that Rachel Kovalchi (someting like that) had made BOTH PURCHASES!!!!!!!

After more investigating on my own with NO help from BofA, I discovered it was BANK OF AMERICA that had been SELLING MY CARD INFORMATION!!!!!!! They were supposed to have CEASED selling info to MWI as late as the 1990’s!!!!! However, they had started again!

I closed my account with Bank of America and wrote to the N.C, CA., CT., and IA. Attorney General’s offices! Each responded except Iowa. I also filed an on-line Consumer Complaint, wrote the BBB and the FTC and also the PRESIDENT OF MY VISA COMPANY!!!!!

I watch my bill very closely each month, you can believe!

Lucinda

ATTENTION!

Consumer Affairs has a webpage that details what you should do if you get an erroneous charge from MWI Connections.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/scam_alerts/mwi.html

Do what they suggest as soon as you can!

Even if what happened took place in the past, send a letter out to Nebraska’s Attorney Generals Office & The Federal Trade Commission.

They need to know what’s been going on!

Ready? Set? Go!

Here is a good one. I help my father look after his accounts as a matter of fact I have his bank card to run after things for the house. Last Wednesday, 04.14.04. he check his account balance because he wanted to be sure that he had enough to cover his car maintainence, and of course he didn’t. When I got home from work he asked me what was worth $199.95 and why I bought it without telling him. I told him I didn’t have a clues as to what he was talking about. I checked into it and some company I never heard of called MWI Simple Escapes took the money. I called them up and gave them a peice of my mind, told them not to charge my dads card ever again and to return the money. They said that they would credit the money back to my fathers account and apologized for the "mistake". I asked them how they got my fathers card number and the said that they had a recording of one of thier reps. talking to my father. I asked them the number that they called my father at, wouldn’t you know that number had been disconnected for months. There was no way in hell they recorded my father talking to one of their reps.

I hope that they are shut down soon.
dumba**es

Is there any way EVERYONE who has had similar problems with MWI Connections and affiliates can file a class action suit?

I’m disputing $149.95 plus change....Oh, and to reestablish my previously impeccable credit rating.

I had charges of 99.95 on my GM Card. I called MWI Connections and they said I had asked for the discount movie offer. We do not go to movies. They also said it had been authorized through GM Card.
I called GM Card and they said I would have to get MWI to take the charges off. After two days of talking with both companies, I told GM if they did not take the charges off then they could cancel our credit card.
GM told us that MWI was one of their vendors. I asked her what she meant. She had no answer. I asked MWI how GM Card was connected with them and she said they were partners. Figure this
They said they would give us credit. I hope so.
S.Wilson. Good luck to all.

BLAH!! I HATE SCAMS!! DOESNT EVERYBODY THO? ANYWAYS. .THIS COMPANY GOT ME FOR $250 DOLLARS ON MY AMEX CARD!! LOOSERZ!! CANT U FIND SOMETHING BETTER TO DO? ANYWYAS IM DISPUTING BUT I WANNA KNO.. IS THERE ANYWAY TO PROSECUTE THEM?

I just got charged $9.95 on my Master Card by some asshole company called MWI Connections. Thanx to the other people who’ve gotten screwed from them on this site, I now know what I’m dealing with. I’m not concerned with getting a refund but just getting my name off their goddam list. Oh and calling them up everyday telling them to SUCK MY BALLS, YOU PIECE OF SHIT CONNERS.

Oh boy! and you people say that i dont know how to spell!.
Well, i maight not but i rather that than speak that kind of slang.

Notes/Comments:
1.- Mr Robert Greene: Your fathers account with us was a RENEWAL of Simple Escapes that he got when HIS bank call him more than 2 years ago and offered him to try the program and receive a $25 gas card, we DO have that recording, I listened to it, if you want to hear it do not hesitate and give us a call.
SO, He accepted it and the charge that he is got this year is the Renewal of that.

2.- For Melanie: Dear Melanie, dont lie, we NEVER charge that amount to any accounts, we should prosecute you for lier

3.- Trasky, as i said before on my previous messages, i am happy that you are wasteing your time and calling us. You know, calls from people like you make us laught . We need you!! please dont stop calling us every day at any times!

I too was scammed by thede MWI bastards. DOes anyone know anything about them? IF so please email me at Butterfly24345@aol.com. Anyone know about any lawsuits formed twords them?

Oh wow!! I checked my bank account this morning to find 3 $1 charges from companies I never heard of. So I look them up to find this. So far I did sign on to one free membership for $1. Forgot about it, never got anything. So anyway so I am so lucky to know this know before I get socked big time! Now I am on two other companies. I have found 10 different numbers to call. I plan on getting up very earliy tomorrow. Oh I am going to uses tones of voices that I have never used. I even asked my husband to use his sailor voice if I don’t get respect. I called a number in Nebraska only to get a very fast talking man. Intimitated the crap out of me. I am a very nice, lad back women. This pushes buttons I didn’t know existed. I already e-mailed a complaint to the federal trade commission for $2.
I do however feel lucky to find so many new people how I share common ground with. We should get together for brunch! Except we all might be going to the shelter together, instead. I live in Denver which isn’t far from Omaha. A useful website is
www.consumeraffairs.com/scam_alerts/mwi.html

God Bless you all!! I will pray for you all. God uses all things for good. That always keeps me sane, so I would like to encourage you all.

After reading all this I guess they first started screwing me out 9.95 a month back when I booked with ORBITZ for my Grandmothers funeral. Isn’t it a shame they scam the bereaved, or anyone else for that matter. On closer look MWI is on my Visa along with HDI Simple Escapes (84.00). from an order thru Domestications. That won’t happen again! WE NEED TO STOP THESE CREEPS!

I can’t believe this. I’ve never felt so stupid. My total bill only amounted to 3 charges of $9.95, but that was money I don’t have. I’m printing all of this information and I will hope to stop these charges. And people who rob common people like us must be stopped, so please let me know if their is a lawsuit or any punishment being taken because I will gladly give my account also of how I was robbed. Thanks for all of the help with the phone numbers, I will post again if I find one that works. Thank everyone who is concerned.

I had been charged two payments of 12.95 on my debit card that i had no idea about and they were from MWI Connection!! If you call 1-800-750-4364 and then press 1 for billing information.....after that press 1 for you to put your account number in and then it will ask you to put in your ID number and press pound afteryou put it in........DO NOT hit any numbers just keep hittin the pound button and then it will send you to someone to help you and just tell them to cancel your membership and give you a refund. It worked for me....so yall should try it!!!

A couple of months ago, my friend ordered 2 tickets for an event off of the internet. When she got her bill with the charges there was also a charge from MWI for 179.95. She called immediately to have this charge removed (yet to find out if they did). She also called the place where she ordered the tickets. They indicated that they had a secure website and felt this did not come from them. In reading all of these notations, I am appalled at how easily we are scammed.

06/03/2004 - Ditto to most previous comments. Charged $199.95 to my bank account debit card. Did not know, nor ever heard of them. Interesting reading on the web. Am very disappointed in US Attorney General and Federal Trade Commission, that they would allow this to continue. Some complaints go back as far as 1998. What will it take to stop this? Any comments or help in ending this tragedy, welcome at the following: andyandrews@mchsi.com

I had this happen to me today actually. I noticed a charge on my credit card for 12.95 dated a few days ago. I contacted the 800 number that was listed and I got customer service. I asked why this charge was on my card and the rep told me that it was because I redeemed a 10 voucher from my credit card company, Household Bank. I told her that was quite funny because I´m actually in Spain at the moment so there was no way possible that I cashed any voucher in. Then she went on to say what the benefits to having this service was, that I´d save money shopping at various stores..and I said again..Well, I´m in Spain so I don´t reckon I´ll be shopping at any of those stores any time soon. I´ve been in Spain for 7 months as a matter of fact. The rep was polite and she stated she´d cancel the service and reimburse me. I just hope that happens!

I’m found 2 charges from MWI through my debit card.
Here’s the additional toll-free number from them:
1-888-840-6299

Hello,

Thank God I found this site. I too was charged 9.95 per month for six months and I thought it was for a ministry service I had ordered. Then I changed bank accounts and on the last day when I had one penny in the account and had changed the ministry service to my new bank....in came the 9.95 charge again. And I was charged $30 by the bank for the overdraft. We investigated and saw MWI in the charge, so I searched. I called the number for them listed above in a prior post, and they were very helpful and agreed to take off the six months of charges plus if I fax the copy of the $30 bank charge, they will pay for that also. They told me that I had ordered through Lillian Vernon last November and I was asked if I wanted a free $25 gas card, and when I agreed, then I was signed up on MWI. She said I should have received a large envelope of info plus the card....which of course I never received.

I also intend to contact Lillian Vernon about all this. And keep a closer trace of my bank account. I think they are able to continue this because their full name is not appearing in your bank statement. Just watch for MWI on each bank statement. Good Luck! Rev. Linda

Hi guys,
I have also been screwed by MWI Connection ($1 and $96). I have just discovered that. Monday I’m going to call them and demand my money back and cancel any membership they put on me. I will also close my Bank of America account.

Hi there,
I was at the grocery store last night and tried to use my debit card for $4.00. It got denied. I knew i had at least a few hundred $$ in there. I went to the bank today and found out that MWI charged $199.95 to my account. I have never even heard of them. Just like all of you, they said i bought something from an informercial. They also said I had a login number and tryed to sell me stuff! I was like WTF? Finally, they said they would return my money in two days. Too bad if they don’t I know someone who can. People just really shouldnt fuck with people that they dont know. What goes around comes around.

I just saw a 99.00 charge on my credit card, i called the guys up for it and they say they would reverse it, the guy also said that he would lower it to 60 dollars and that way i wud get to watch movies at $4.50 and blah blah..lets see if they really reverse it or i shud write to the attorney general

Yes apparently I had place an order for vista print for free cards 250 cards and was only suppose to pay the shipping and handling and I can remember that my that on my last three statement had been showing up on my credit card and I noticed the first time and called my cc company and they figured that it may be coming from another company posted in someone else name and I was trying to figure out the date of purchase but there was reference. So called the number that given on the statement 1888584-2217 but the office hours wasn’t at great timing with my hours and so today 7-14-04 for the 4th time this payment of 9.95 is stating that I owe money. So while I had time at school. I thought to myself to let me find out who and what this company is and I located so many people who have been ripped off by these people in fact they made me have an over the fee limit for $29.00 on my cc.

Hey everyone,

I guess I just joined the MW rip-off club. I noticed the charge for 9.95 this month, and got on the horn with these clowns. I was curious to what the hell this was.
Apparently the people working there don’t even know what type of service they provide for 10 dollars of my hard-earned per month.

It looks like Orbitz sold them my credit card information on February, 21. This is the scary part - I haven’t used Orbitz for over a year. The MW clowns sent an e-mail to my old address, and since I didn’t respond to it, it somehow means that I authorized the charge.

Unbelievable.

Wow I couldn’t believe all the people being scammed from this. I too have been charged 9.95 a month for the past 4 months. I figured it was my wife charging something like usual but when I asked her she had no idea. So when I did a search on MWI connections I found this site. Something needs to be done about this. These people are getting rich off of this scam.

Hey Charles—

Guess what? I received a phone call this week from the FTC inquiring about your honest and trustworthy company, MWI. Looks like the federal government is looking into your shit. I HOPE to God you assholes go down hard.

Maybe it’s time you go back to school, get a diploma and a REAL JOB? WITH A REAL COMPANY?

you are not alone they have gotten me also but for 139.95 on 3/25/04. I got it back luckly but they sent me a letter on 7/12/04, saying I can get a double refund in 30 days by filling out a form if they can not play the tape of me giving them authorization. I sent it back 7/19/04. But still havent heard from anyone.

I too just got caught in this web. Apparently they said I signed up for it through vista print. I told him I never did and had never heard from them. I had no idea I would be charged $9.95 a month for nothing. This should be illegal and stopped.
I can not believe the companies willing to lose customers because of thier affilations with such a rip off site.

Well, looks like I just joined the club, I was recently charged $9.95 for MWI Simple Escapes, and then 3 days later another $9.95 for MWI Homework Helper. I spoke with my bank who is disputing the charges with this company to get me my money back.

I was just charged $199.95 dollars from MWI connections and I have never heard of them. I cant do anything cause its the weekend but hopefully i will be lucky and get my money back. I will call them tomarrow and see if i can get my money back if not i will try with my bank. Thanks for giving out MWI’s phone number.

i too have been scamed by theses so called savings networks...i had a FREE member ship trial, i called and cancelled all was good .....then to my attention TWO MONTHS LATER i am being charged by them for abou 40.00$ ...WHAT THE HELL so i call(good # to comlain to)1800-568-2386 and proceeded to tell this non english speaking woman i already cancelled and ive been charged something isnt right. SO this lady proceeds to try and sell me things and then tell me that my account with them is still active!! That was it i lost my temper i told her to learn english and go back to her 3rd world country. No one at that company is american, no one speaks perfect english, and they dont know what the heck their doing. they need to be shut down, people need to do something about it...look how many e-mails youve got concerning mwi this deffinatly tells me something, ......too many people are getting ROBBED

I am so sorry to hear about the scams that are being pulled by companies that probably aren’t even in the U.S. The sad part is that we knew this was going to happen when our government feels the need to keep wages down and to expand....wait until your taxes and information from them are being sent out by those doing our taxes in India...Our government is allowing these companies to get away with what they do...

I just discovered the same thing on my DiscoverCard bill. Seems I have been paying Simple Escapes 9.95 a month since April 04 when I renewed my subscription to Classmates. I cancelled and also contacted Classmates. They basically tell me how stupid I was to enter YES to Simple Escapes offer and then key in my credit card for the second time to be charged. I say it never happened that way. My association with Classmates.com is about to end and I will not renew because of this. I recommend paying classmates members to be AWARE!!

You can add another victim to your list. It’s Sunday night so there isn’t much I can do til tomorrow, but thisevening,while looking over my bank account monthly statement,I see there There are three Charges for $9.95 each, I’ve done a little investigating on the internet for the past few hours and see that I have been ROBBED (as have a ton of other people) I don’t know the details yet, but what it appears is there is ONE company, who is charging me $9.95 each month, using THREE DIFFERENT company name for some kind of rediculous "membership" that I would have NEVER EVER signed up for. They have stold nearly $100 from me, I am a disabled woman who lives below the poverty level, I also am a single mother of a special needs child, $90 is a HUGE ammount for me..so how did this go on so long? I’ve been EXTREMELY ill, in and out of the hospital and recovering from 3 major surgeries. These people might as well have been hiding in an alley way with a tire iron to knock me over the head to mug me because that how I feel.......ROBBED !!!

24Protect has been taking 9.95 out of my account UNAUTHORIZED since last April. Unfortunately I had not been paying attention to my statements. They said I subscribed when I ordered a credit report on clearcredit.com which is a scab site - DO NOT GO THERE. I have requested all of the money back and have protested at my bank.

On their website, they have logos of some major retailers, Lowes, Home Depot, Terminex, etc. I cannot believe these major companies are not doing their homework any better than this. Craziness. I have a lot of work to do I guess - a lot of letter writing to do some edumacating!!

Thanks for all the info I learned here.

Hi!
Wow! I was looking for the MWI CONNECTIONS website on the net and I find out this amazing forum.
I am actually a member of MWI Connections since 1999. At that time I placed an order thru the TV and they offered me this. Since then I use their services and what I can say about that is that is simply helping me and my family get out and have fun most of the time. However I am not here to make propaganda about this. I am very impressed of all the people that is here, talking about unauthorized charges from them!
I don’t belive this company is doing all this to be hones with you. What I can suggest is calling them to let them know that you don’t recall having their services and that you wish to know how they got your information and even better, If they have a recording or something like that.
Personally I trust this business and I have never had a problem with them. But I belive that there is no perfect business in the world.
I hope all of you’ll find out how come you have their services and that you have back your money if there was a missunderstanding.

Yep, I raise my hand when it comes to getting scammed by this MWI Connections place. For the past 3 yrs, they’ve been charging me monthly eiter 12.95 or 14.95 per month. Yeh, my fault for not checking my account but who thinks after buying tickets to visit your future in-laws some idiot decides to charge bogus charges on your account. I just got off the phone w/ my bank and they’re going to put a block on my credit card and they’re going to send me a new one. And they’re going to investigate and reimburse me up to oct of 2004. In a way I lose, but it’s better than nothing. Bummer.

Yesterday I found an unauthorized charge to my VISA account for $249.95 from AP9 connections(They have the same tel. no. as MWI). I checked my previous statements, and exactly a year ago I found a $149.95 charge to the same account. So they have gotten me for $400.00! I have not authorized either of these and never heard of either of these companies. I will pursue this matter as far as it takes and then some.

i started getting charged by MWI connections $9.95 , once a week 8 months ago, now i’m getting charged 49.95 twice a month by AP9 connections. i dont have a total but these motherf**ckers are still charging me today i will call every number i can to get it to stop and then i will see about reinbursement with interest.

also i believe they got my information through VistaPrint.com because that was the only merchant with which i used my virtua credit card.

the virtuacard is virtual credit card number generated specifically for use online, i do this to keep track of whose abusing my info.

the virtuacard that is generated is linked to a card i already hjave in my possesion but is managed online.

i want to file a lawsuit, IF ANYONE DOES FILE A LAW SUIT LET ME KNOW AND I WILL GO CLASS ACTION WITH YOU
note: the last charge was from 8days ago

vistaprint
orbitz
classmates

we need a list of those sites responsible

Man I just noticed these erroneous charges. God Knows how many others I be discovering after reviewing my past transaction. So far I have noticed it in my last month Visa & Discover. After googling it seems they have been doing as early as February of 2000. Surprisingly neither Discover nor Visa have taking any measure to Block or penalized these Merchant so called AP9 MWI connection.

We need to include these creditors in the Lawsuit too.

They got us! 12.95 twice a month for the past 2 months! Unreal that it has happened to this many people and nothing has been done that stops them! Guess they are winning the battle - it’s as though they have found a legalized scam........ wonder who is at the top? Must be someone w/ a lot of dough since some of these complaints go all the way back to 2002. Where is consumer affairs? FBI? All the AGs mentioned here? Looks like one of the major TV networks would like a good documentry - hell, I paid the $50 - would like to see something for my $. Someone tell 60 minutes that they have show on their hands!

I was looking over my bank statement on-line and notice a charge of 199.39 charge to my account. I called 1-888-6216 to see what company charged this phony transaction to my money master card. When you call, you get a voice that says, "Connections." You only have two choices. They don’t say what products they sell and do not direct you to a web site. I knew this was a fradulent charge. The customer sevice representative had an Indian accent. I knew then that this company was phony. I told her that I never made the charge. She claimed I charge for some diet pills. Connections and diet pills don’t match. These people need to be out taken out of business and charged with Internet fraud. I am looking into getting criminal justice system involved. If you look on other web sites these crooks have scammed alot folks.

Apparently I too got screwed by this mwi. I really can’t understand how they got my c.card number. I had a doubt that I was being fraudulently charged and changed all my credit card numbers two months back. Irony is that this mwi charge on this particular card was the first charge because i didnot use this card even to buy gas. I have no clue how they got my number. Something needs to be done about these guys. I doubt how good is the financial system in US is considering that this is a listed company.

I had two charges of 14.95 comin out my bank account ever month and had no idea what it was. I let this happen for like 10 months because I thought it was something my husband ordered however he questioned me and thought it was me. I called them and cancelled it and demanded a full refund and they said I would have the refund within 2 business days. I still have no idea how they got my bank account number or why they took it upon themselves to charge my card. These people are nuts and need to get in trouble for this crap!!

Their number is 800/568-2386. They are horrid to deal with run you in circles in an attempt to stop the unauthorized debits and obtain credits for the past. Professional scammers!

I just called and talked to a young man named Joel, his employee number is: 25507. He told me the same thing, that I’d be reimbursed within two business days. I have not seen anyone on this site come back and say if they actually did it or not, so in two business days I will come back and tell if I recieved my money back. If I do not, I will call my credit card company and file a dispute for the charges, then have them hot card it and get me a completely new account. I do not trust Connections.

My wife noticed a charge in her account and started to investigate ... She called the 800 number appearing next to AP9 Connections and in doing so discovered that they have been tapping into her account for sometime (since early 2004) to the tune of $423.00. She has demanded her funds returned immediately ... all of it! They represented that she would receive credit in two business days. Lets see what happens.

It does not boggle my mind that this can occur as I have experienced acts far worse than these events ... It’s very scary out there! I lost my company to illegal activities of Hedge Funds, Prime Brokers and Banks. It only cost me 60 million Don’t believe me … Check out this website http://www.thesanitycheck.com. I AM ONE OF THOUSANDS!

As for this SCAM … this is a little company, relative to the companies on the NYSE & NASDAQ, but their activities are, obviously, supported by the big boys [Wall Street (steal from the poor and feed the rich)]. In fact they have been acquiring all sorts of companies and being funded by Wall Street. DO YOU THINK WALL STREET KNOWS WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN DOING TO THE LITTLE GUY?

MemberWorks Incorporated changed its name to Ventrue Incorporated [MemberWorks Incorporated (NASDAQ: MBRS - News), a leading marketing solutions company, announced today that it has completed its re-branding as Vertrue Incorporated (NASDAQ: VTRU - News)] … http://www.vertrue.com/ … click on Press Releases.

OTHER WEB SITES:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff120436.htm

http://www.complaints.com/directory/2005/january/21/26.htm

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/scam_alerts/mwi.html

http://groups.msn.com/USBankComplaints/usbanksellingconsumerprivateinformation.msnw

http://www.laborlawtalk.com/showthread.php?t=60560

I do not like lawyers but Ventrue does have deep pockets … http://www.girardgibbs.com/memberworks.html?gclid=CO6I8OXF_okCFR2zgAodWlWVNA