Go-Pass.com May Be Charging You More Than You Owe for Tolls

There are evidently two companies that control the tolls on Denver’s E-470.  Most of the road is controlled by ExpressToll.com, but the North West corner, called the Northwest Parkway, for some reason is controlled by a different company called Go-Pass.  Not only is this terribly inconvenient (having to have two different accounts and/or getting two different bills to pay tolls for simply driving in a circle –even on just one outing), but the real insult to injury is that it would seem Go-Pass likes to charge you for things that may not have transpired.

We picked someone up at the Denver airport and drove them to Boulder on E-470.  I received our bill from ExpressToll.com, logged on, and paid the $3.15.  There were no fees, and it was very simple (actually, the online billing system was screwed up and they kept trying to charge me $6.30 even though the bill was only for $3.15 so I had to call and get that sorted out, but that’s another story…).

A month later we received a bill from Go-Pass.  The toll was $3.20, yet the bill was for $4.55.  I’m sure they count on people going, “Meh, it’s only a couple of bucks,” but I called the number on my bill.

First of all, there is a $.15 processing fee.  Why in the world would this not be included in the toll?  Not only that, but there is a $.60 mailing fee.  Here’s the kicker though… they charged me two “mailing fees,” claiming to have already sent me one bill.

When I called to get this corrected, I think the person on the phone was rather surprised that I was complaining about $.60 (again, I think they make money off most people just saying, “Meh, it’s only $.60”).  I told her I had never received a previous bill.  She told me I had.  I asked if I was just supposed to believe her and accept her word as fact.  She said they keep very specific records.  So I asked her to prove it.  She put me on hold for quite a while, but when she came back she let me know that she had spoken to her supervisor, and when they looked it up it turns out that even though the bill had been generated, “for some reason” it hadn’t gone out.

WELL IMAGINE THAT.

I am so sick of companies nickel and diming me for fees and services, and then on top of that charging me for services that I DIDN’T RECEIVE, because they don’t think I’m paying attention.

I know most people don’t.  But the point of this post is: PAY ATTENTION… YOU’RE LIKELY GETTING SCREWED.

…

FRAUD ALERT: “Experian” Charging People’s Cards Without Authorization

UPDATE: BE SURE TO READ THE COMMENTS, AS THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF USEFUL AND INTERESTING INFORMATION POSTED THERE.

Today I received my CC Bill and noticed a charge from Experian (which is a credit reporting agency).  I have never signed up for anything from Experian, nor have I authorized them to make any charges to my credit card.

The charge was for $19.95 and listed a number of 877-297-7790.  The company name listed for the charge was EXPERIAN *CREDIT877-297-7790 CA.

American Express let me know the charge actually came from ConsumerInfo.com.  When you type that address into your browser, you guessed it… FreeCreditReport.com; the landing page even has a photo of that douchebag musician from the annoying commercials.

I asked Amex why then my statement said the charge was from Experian (a “reputable” company and one of the three major credit reporting agencies in the US), and they didn’t seem to have an answer for me.  Really, Amex?  Any old company can use another company’s name to make (fraudulent) charges to my card, and you don’t seem to have a problem with that?  Not only that, but you can use a fake name (ConsumerInfo.com) instead of your real name (FreeCreditReport.com) and then LIST your name as someone else’s company (Experian)?!

I also can’t believe Experian hasn’t done something about this. There is a company (FreeCreditReport.com) using their name for some really shady activity!

FYI: when you Google the above phone number, there are hundreds of posts reporting fraudulent charges to people’s credit cards (under the guise of legitimate credit reporting agencies).  There are even reports of people calling the number, being asked for their CC number for identification (who are these people giving out their CC#’s just because someone asks for it?!), being disconnected, and then receiving more fraudulent charges (not surprisingly).

Bottom line: Freed Credit Report dot com is fraudulently (illegally) charging people’s credit cards for services they do not sign up for or authorize.  Be aware, and check your credit card statements regularly. [UDPATE] In most cases, it’s not FreeCreditReport.com initiating these charges, but a third party who has obtained the credit card numbers making a purchase at FreeCreditReport.com with your card.  However, if FreeCreditReport.com made ANY EFFORT WHATSOEVER to make sure these were legitimate purchases by checking the name of the person making the charge against the name on the card, or even requiring a billing zip code or card authorization number, this wouldn’t be happening.  Instead, FreeCreditReport.com is (of course) happy to receive the money from these illegal charges, and your credit card is happy to receive their percentage.  IMO, this is why no one wants to do anything to prevent this activity… they’re all making money!  Judging from reader comments, the credit card companies are usually quick to reverse the charges, but the credit reporting companies (Experian) and FreeCreditReport.com/ConsumerInfo.com are VERY reluctant to help in any way.

If this has happened to you, call your credit card company and REPORT IT TO YOUR STATE’S ATTORNEY GENERAL.  Call them (this is a link to the AG for every state in the US).  Do it now.  Eventually, the attention brought to this huge (and still growing) problem will surely cause someone to do something about it (instead of banks, credit reporting companies, and the Attorney General simply continuing to ignore the problem).

Sending an Old Fashioned Telegram in Modern Times

[update] ATTENTION: AmericanTelegram.com is an extremely shady company.  Not only were they awful to work with (not returning calls, charging fees that were not published, charging per character to include the delivery address in the telegram message body without disclosing this charge up front, etc.), but I just received my credit card bill and found they charged the transaction as CASH, so I was charged additional “cash transaction” charges by my credit card company.  I can’t believe American Telegram can stay in business.  They are shady.  Their customer service is abysmal.  DO NOT USE AMERICANTELEGRAM.COM.

[update] I finally received some response from the company, by way of a “teen texting” style barrage of e-mails with absolutely no tact or sense of how to address customers in which they attempted to defend their actions.  For instance:

“If you could, please attach the screenshot to those you let know about your issues. [sic]   We have not changed our website in several years, meaning this information was presented to you when you checked out.   I am sorry you did not read it, but it was there, sir.”

Hilarious. p.s. The information to which this person is referring states clearly that the words in the destination address are included, not extra.  I assume this company’s “customer service” consists of a couple of people with absolutely no training except what they learned by arguing and pulling hair in grade school.

My dad is retiring, and we thought it would be clever to send him an old fashioned telegram on his last day at work.

Western Union used to be THE entity for telegram communication in the U.S., but they sent their last transmission on Friday, January 27, 2006.  Here’s a little history on Western Union’s telegram heyday.

So I began researching companies that still offered the service.  American Telegram seemed to be the most legitimate company still sending telegrams.   Following is my experience placing an order for a telegram:

First of all, I would highly recommend NOT using American Telegram.

American Telegram is pretty much a suck-fest.  I had a question about the telegram I wanted to send.  Their website site has a bunch of “call our operators!” banners everywhere, but no real answers to any of your practical questions (Do I pay for punctuation?  Do you use “stop” instead of a period, like a telegram should? etc.).  So I called, but got a message stating all operators were busy, and that I should leave my name and number and they would get back to me.  I did that, and after an hour of waiting with no response called again, as I needed to be sure my transmission was entered that day, for next day delivery.  I left my name and number again, but still received no response after another hour of waiting.

I probably should have taken this as a sign and abandoned American Telegram.  Instead, I decided to go ahead with the web form for sending a telegram.  The page clearly shows the next day service is $22.95 plus $.79 a word, and even if I was paying for the word “stop” (used at the end of a sentence), it should still have only been an extra $3.16 (four “stops”).  I typed in my 25 words (plus four “stops”), filled out the sender and recipient information, and entered my credit card number.  When I clicked “Process Telegram” I was taken to a sort of receipt page that stated my charge was for $22.95, plus 45 WORDS, plus tax (no mention of tax on the preceding page).  The bottom of the receipt showed:

Order Total:
$62.74
Thank You! Your order will be processed very soon! Need to make a change to this order? We're happy to serve you. You may contact corp@americantelegram.com, or you may Call us at 1-800-835-3967 during normal business hours (PST timezone).

I immediately called the number on the receipt, received the same message I had previously heard, left my name and number AGAIN, and have since done that several more times… still with absolutely no response from American Telegram.

So… no confirmation page before taking your money.  No word counter on the form where you type your message.  No information on how punctuation and word count actually works.  No returned phone calls.  Mostly just a giant, suck-fest.

I paid $62.74 so you can learn from my mistake: DON’T USE AMERICAN TELEGRAM.

By the way, according to their phone message American Telegram evidently also runs Candygram, but their website makes NO mention of this service.  They DO, however, list a singing telegram service, but then inform you that it will be delivered by phone –so who cares?!  Anybody can call someone and sing to them.

 

Other telegram companies:

SendTelegram.com

iTelegram (The International Telegram Service)

Telegram Stop

To be clear, Telegram Stop is more of a novelty service that is in no way legally binding or otherwise associated with most of the reasons one would send a telegram.  For $5.95 they will print and mail your message.  You also get a digital copy e-mailed to you.  There is no expedited delivery, and most messages will be delivered in 4 to 8 days.  You can’t deliver to any sort of live event, and you must give a street or P.O. Box for delivery.  Thus, the only real difference between Telegram Stop and sending a letter, is that you can choose their “styles” to print the message on.  In other words, Telegram Stop is pretty much a scam, charging you $5.95 to send a $.44 letter.

…

Colorado Periodic Report Filing Scam

Attention Colorado business owners:

I have an LLC for my business in Colorado.  Colorado requires a business’s information be kept up to date with the State with yearly filing.  The fee for this service is $10, and can be done entirely online (you can do it with physical copies on paper, but it’s more expensive).

This year I received forms around tax time stating that I needed to pay a $225 filing fee.  The form looks kind of official, so I did a little research to make sure I wasn’t missing something.

So you know “Corporate Controllers Unit” is a Nevada based company.  They have NOTHING to do with the state of Colorado.  If you read carefully, you’ll see that technically they are offering to help you file your paperwork.  Thus, what they are offering is a “service.”

Just above the signature line at the bottom of the page is this sentence: “This product or service has not been approved or endorsed by any Government Agency and this offer is not being made by an agency of the Government.  U.S.C. 39.6.3001(d).  This is a solicitation for the order of services, and not a bill, invoice or statement of account due.  You are under no obligation to make any payments on account of this offer.”

However, they are making it look like they are agents of the Government, and you are required to pay this fee.

Don’t fall for it.

 

Just a few sources on the subject:

The Ripoff Report

Steamboat Pilot & Today

Rocky Mountain Real Estate Law