The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers about a New York-based online retail company that is submitting unauthorized credit card charges months after purchases are made. Classic Closeouts offers apparel, jewelry and other merchandise online at classiccloseouts.com.  Consumers nationwide have filed hundreds of complaints with BBB about the company’s practices. Complaints from Michigan residents include:

A Hazel Park woman complained to BBB after she received an unauthorized charge of $69.99 a year after making a purchase on classiccloseouts.com. 

A man from Belleville reported to the BBB: “I used this site once and it was years ago. I was recently billed for no apparent reason and without any explanation for $69.99 I tried to call their customer support number various times with no answer or response.”

Another consumer from Moran Township wrote the BBB: “In February of this year I placed my first, last and only order with Classic Closeouts. When I got my statement for the credit card that I had used for that order this month I had another charge from Classic Closeouts for the amount of $69.99. I checked on their web site and the only order they show under my account is the one I place in February for around $28.00.”

A family from Saginaw informed the BBB of losing hundreds of dollars due to unauthorized charges from the classiccloseouts web site.

Classic Closeouts has an “F” grade rating with BBB and nearly 900 complaints from consumers across the country.  It has failed to answer all but 24 cases.

“The BBB is seeing a trend with online merchants enrolling their customers in monthly subscription programs with high fees for low value services,” said Tim Burns, Public Affairs Director for the Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Michigan.  “While the big print in online advertisements may promise huge savings, it is important to also read the fine print so you don’t commit yourself to spending money on unexpected fees and charges for unwanted products and services.  It is important to understand an online retailer’s privacy policy, billing terms and conditions, shipping procedures, and return and exchange rules before you provide them with your credit or debit card number.”

The Federal Trade Commission recently announced it had filed a lawsuit charging Classic Closeouts illegally made unauthorized charges and debits to consumers’ accounts months or years after they bought various items. The action further alleges many consumers disputed the charges with their financial institutions. After the financial institutions reversed the unauthorized charges, the company contested these disputes, claiming that consumers had chosen to join ThirdFree, Classic Closeouts’ sister company that offers a frequent shopper club. Consumers denied agreeing to join the club.

The BBB reminds consumers to:

• Carefully review credit card statements.  Notify your credit card company immediately of any unauthorized or incorrect charges.
• Understand that making online purchases with debit cards does not provide the same protections under federal law to dispute charges as credit cards.  Be aware that unexpected charges to debit cards could lead to your bank account being overdrawn and result in your being charged fees from various parties because of the resulting non-sufficient fund payments.
• Check the company’s reliability report with the BBB before making an online purchasing.  Go to www.bbb.org or call 248-644-9100.

BBB Warns Against Twitter Money-Making Schemes

According to the most recent jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Michigan has a 15.4% unemployment rate which underscores the fact many people are desperately looking for a way to bring home a paycheck. Work-at-home schemes have often preyed on unsuspecting job hunters and now Twitter is being used as a way to convince cash-strapped individuals that they can make quick and easy money. The Better Business Bureau warns that the large print for such offers may promise big returns but the fine print can cost them every month.

“Twitter is the newest online fad and a perfect hook for luring people into work-at-home schemes during these tough economic times,” said Tim Burns, Public Affairs Director for the Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Michigan. “Scam artists had recently been enticing people with offers of making easy money by sending e-mails or by placing ads on Google. Now cash-strapped job hunters are the newest scam targets that need to be wary of shelling out money for work-at-home schemes that revolve around Twitter.”

One e-mail picked up by BBB stated: “Twitter Workers Needed ASAP, You’re Hired! Make Extra Cash with Twitter; As seen on USA Today, CNN, and ABC… Apply Now!”  The e-mail links to EasyTweetProfits.com, a company out of Surrey, England. EasyTweetProfits.com claims you can make $250-$873 a day working at home with Twitter. The Web site offers a seven-day free trial of their instructional CD-ROM for $1.95 to cover shipping. Buried in the lengthy terms and conditions are the details that the trial begins on the day the CD is ordered—not when it is received—and if the consumer doesn’t cancel within seven days of signing up, they’ll be charged $47 every month.

Similar to other work-from-home schemes, phony blogs by made-up individuals have been created as testimonials to the success of Twitter-money-making programs. Make-money-on-twitter.com is one such phony blog—supposedly by a Derrick Clark of Virginia—where the author brags about making up to $5,000 a month posting links to Twitter. The blog also includes an image of the supposed check Derrick received for posting links on Twitter, but the exact same photo of the check has been used countless times on other phony blogs for various suspect work-at-home jobs.

The blog links to TwitterProfitHouse.com which, similar to EasyTweetProfits.com, claims you can make $250-$873 a day working at home and offers a seven-day free trial of their instructional CD-ROM, for $1.99 shipping. Again, however, reading the fine print shows that the trial period starts once the CD has been ordered and the consumer will be billed $99.99 every month if they don’t call the company to cancel.

“We’ve just recently noticed the emergence of these Twitter themed web sites and if experience has taught us anything, we know that it’s only a matter of time before consumer complaints start trickling in to the BBB about them,” added Burns. “Fighting online work-at-home schemes is similar to playing a game of wack-a-mole at the arcade; new web sites pop up as quickly as you knock one down.”

BBB wants job hunters to be aware of the following red flags when searching for a work-at-home job online:

• The “job” is actually a money-making scheme and doesn’t provide actual employment.
• The work-at-home scheme claims that you can make lots of money with little effort and no experience.
• You have to pay money upfront in order to be considered for the job or receive more information.
• The exact same tweet touting the program is posted by many different Twitterers.  The links in such tweets could lead you to scam sites or install malware onto your computer.

BBB JOINS FACEBOOK

We have a new FACEBOOK page that provides consumer tips, news, and other information about the Better Business Bureau Serving Detroit & Eastern Michigan.  Click here to check it out.