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I saw a commercial for Perfect Button (product description irrelevant). I went on to the Net to order it. On the TV commercial they made a point of $10, double the order for payment of shipping only, blah, blah.
When on the Net ordering page when you say "Order" it goes directly to asking for your credit card, FIRST THING! In other words, it is not like the millions of other order pages out there, where you do your shopping then give credit card information.
THIS IS THE FIRST OF MANY SCAM STEPS THAT THIS TELEBRANDS ORDER PAGE HAS.
So I entered the credit card info, figuring there would be the opportunity to review the order before pressing a "place my order icon."
I then ordered additional items per the offers that they keep coming up with. In other words, after placing my initial order and clicking "next." (Again, I did this assuming that there would be a review order page and I could decide what I wanted and did not want.)
The next page was yet another order. Same thing, the offer was for additional items, pay for shipping only. Was a good deal, so I order, again with the intent to think about it before pressing apparently NONEXISTENT, but ANTICIPATED, "complete order" page or icon.
After about four of these pages, I get a summary page that says "Thank you for your order, please allow three to six weeks for your order to arrive." (Sidenote: why a business should be allowed to take you money and not deliver products for a month and half is beyond me. I digress.)
THIS IS THE SECOND SCAM ASPECT OF THE TELEBRANDS WAY OF DOING BUSINESS, NOT HAVING A "REVIEW AND APPROVE YOUR ORDER" PAGE. 99.9% of businesses have a confirm order or approve order page, but not Telebrands.
I then look all over the site for some way to review, change or cancel the order. There is nothing. I then check my e-mail, nothing there about the order placed. Checked my credit card online, nothing posted yet.
Then I return to the order page. I see on the contact page there is a number to call, but only M-F, 9-5 sort of thing.
THIS IS THE THIRD SCAM ASPECT OF THE TELEBRANDS PAGE, NOT HAVING A WAY TO CONTACT THE COMPANY IMMEDIATELY, VIA E-MAIL, CHAT OR THE PHONE.
THE FOURTH SCAM ASPECT IS THAT THE SITE SAYS NOTHING ABOUT HOW TO QUESTION ORDERS, REVIEW ORDERS OR TO CANCEL AN ORDER. All they say is thanks for the order and then they vanish (after having got your credit card number.)
I then search Google, specifically "how do I cancel a Telebrands order" and this site with all the complaints came up.
So I contacted my bank ATM/Debit toll free number and say I want to "stop pay" the order. She says that since it has not posted we have to wait until Telebrands actually attempts to make the charge. (That makes total sense.) I told her that from what I read on the Net is that once Telebrands gets someone's money, it's impossible to get it back and I ask what I can do.
She says that I can simply report my ATM card as lost and that will stop all charges from going through. And I can then get a new card within days. Needless to say, that's what I did.
TAKE THAT TELEBRANDS.
(And truth be told, it's probably a good idea to get a new ATM/Debit card (with number) rather than to have one number floating around the net for a year or two. So this was a blessing in disguise.)
I am filing a complaint with the California Attorney General about this. Fortunately I took screen shots everything. So I can show the AG what I am talking about.
Update: when going back to the Perfect Fit page I noted that on that page that takes credit card info, there are no indications that it's a secure page. (no "S" in "http://" should read "https://")
Looks like this site really helped because but for the complaints here I would have run the risk of someone using my card, stolen from the non-secured Telebrands order page.
Here is the exact text from my complaint just filed online with the California Attorney General:
Telebrands is violating our Business and Professions Code Section 17200, et seq. for its unfair business practices.
1. Before commencing with an order, the Defendants take one's credit card number first thing. In other words, BEFORE one has ordered items.
2. Defendants do NOT have a "review order" process and a "confirm order" process. In other words, they don't tell you that as you select their come-ons and offers, that you are in fact ordering those items WITHOUT the opportunity to review or confirm the order, at the end of the process.
3. Defendants have set up the site to NOT inform the consumer a subtotal of what they are ordering. The only total one gets is at the end of the process when they say "Here's your order, wait three to six weeks for delivery."
4. Telebrands takes consumers' money, but can make them wait six weeks for an order? Why? Is it because Telebrands does not have the items in stock when taking people's money? That's another violation of law.
5. Defendants do NOT tell a shopper anywhere that AFTER giving a credit card number that from there after you are in fact buying the items, you are not "browsing" or "window shopping."
6. Defendants do NOT provide the consumer any way to edit or change an order, during the ordering process.
7. Defendants make it difficult to contact and difficult to discuss with Telebrands any questions, change of mind, or to cancel an order. They are doing this to cause people to give up and go away.
They maintain limited office hours for contact, 9-5, M-F. They should be required to maintain customer service since they are taking orders after 5 and on weekends.
Perhaps this also violates California's home solicitation sales act, where one is denied the opportunity to change one's mind within three days of placing an order.
8. From all the complaints I have seen on the Net (see complaintsboard.com) Defendants make it difficult to obtain promised refunds, with the intent of making people fed up to where they go away.
9. Defendants' website is designed 180 degrees the opposite of what people are used to, this with the intention to unfairly dupe people into ordering large amounts of merchandise and making it impossible to question, review or confirm the order.
In other words, Defendants expended significant effort to design the site so to dupe/defraud people.
Because of the Site's crafty, misleading design I suspect that a significant percentage of consumers end up buying merchandise they did not intend to buy. But rather than complain they simply move on to other things and forget about being defrauded.
http://ag.ca.gov/contact/complaint_form.php?cmplt=CL
I totally agree with this complaint. The same thing happened to me regarding this product. I was under the assumption that it was optional to get the free product since I didn't want to pay shipping and handling charges for items I don't need. Needless to say it is yours if you want it or not and therefore stuck paying for shipping and handling anyway.
I immediately called telebrands to cancel the order but was told it wasn't in the system yet but they will try to flag it and for me to call back in 48 hours. Needless to day it was shipped within 48 hours and I ended up receiving the product with a charge of double of what I expected. Lesson learned I will never buy anything from Telebrands.
After this fiasco I learned that I was purchasing an imitation of the product I was looking for which was Instant Button; www.instantbutton.com I purchased Instant Button with no issues and the product was high quality and not that cheap stuff telebrands sold. Another lesson learned purchase the orginal.
I had the exact same experience. Once I got all my buttons ( most of which were "free" + shipping) I did use one until it the clasp kept digging into my stomach. The retainer clasp has to have quite a bit of depth to catch on the button shaft in order to hold. It became quite uncomfortable.
The other button I tried to use fell apart in my hands before I could use it. Lastly, the button shaft in most cases is not long enough to penetrate all the way thru most belt area material. I guess if it was, the problem I describe in the first paragraph would be even worse.
Buyer Beware with these crooks.
I totally agree with this complaint. It should be called the PERFECT SCAM. The internet site duplicated my order, and without a final review process I could not avoid executing the order. I immediately called customer service, but was told that they would not have my order in the system for two business days, so I could not cancel at that time. HOW CONVENIENT. But I was told they will send a message to HOLD the order until I called back. Of course, once I called back, no notice of the HOLD could be found, and the order was processed. NOW for the Coup de Gras. You get charged a shipping and handling FEE of 6.99 PER ITEM, not PER ORDER. That should be unlawful. And of course, if you want to return the item the S/H is NOT REFUNDABLE, and you got to pay the return freight.
PO'd in Palmetto Bay, FL
Thank you for your posts. I ordered the Button and was not sure how to get the free button, so answered yes for the additional button offer. Then I was given a page at the end with a total of almost $50. I went back to the home page, trying to edit my order, only to find that I duplicated my order. So now I have a total of almost $100!
I immediately searched the order status and could find nothing, then called my credit card company. The customer service rep suggested I look for fraud posts, which led me to this site. Upon reading one of the above posts, I immediately called back my credit card and canceled my card. This is a major pain, as the same card is used to pay many online accounts, but I do not want to risk my credit card number being in the hands of scam artists!
I will still try to call tomorrow to cancel the orders, but I expect I will be given the runaround. If my order is processed and gets charged to my credit card, I am hoping my credit card company can assist me in disputing the charges.
Thank you for the feedback. I am sending my son away to college and thought this product would be an easy way for him to replace lost buttons. I guess I'll need to teach him to sew now!
I agree with the above replys, I went online to order the Pet Rider, filled in my credit card info and proceeded to order, I was not allowed to review order and was automatically charged. Called to complain and was told had to call customer service M-F 9-5. Of course its Sunday and tomorrow a holiday. If I stop payment its going to cost $30. I can't find anywhere to edit or cancel and these people should be prosecuted according to all the complaints!
Oh how I wish I had googled this company and saw these complaints before placing my order. I placed an order with them for a different product but with the exact same scam. I refused to pay the extra shapping charge and have been waiting for 8 weeks for my purchase to arrive. I ordered on line and paid with a credit card 1.21.14. I have not received anything in the mail and just checked the "www.GetOrderStatus.com" only to see that my order has been cancelled with no explanation and no information on how to contact the company. The number on the credit card bill rings and then just hangs up on me. Now I'm very nervous about what is going on with my credit card and personal information. This company's tactics should be on the news...and they should be behind bars.