In December 2008 I was contacted by a SalesTeamLive sales person who sold me on a plan to send out yellow post cars. I signed up with SalesTeamLive to mail Yellow post cards to abentee owners. I was very explicit with my instructions to the Sales person that I did NOT want my credit card to be set to autobill because I wasn't sure if I would want to continue and that the only way I would continue is if the autorenew was turned off. I wanted to see the results from the first mailing and go from there. She confirmed that they would turn the autorenew off on my credit card. This is a very important fact because I would not have signed up if this had not been the case.
Late January 2009 I see a new charge for $1497 on my credit card for SalesTeamLive, even though I explicitly told them that I did not want my credit card on autorenew. I should have called my credit card company that very instant and had them reverse the charges, but I figured I would probably end up sending out another campaign so I didn't do anything even though they had billed my credit card without authorization.
I called/emailed them saying that I wanted the autorenew turned off on my credit card since I didn't authorize it to be set to autorenew. To their credit they finally did turn it off.
In July 2009, I emailed them telling them that I wanted a refund for the $1497 on the credit card, since I was not going to be sending out any more campaigns. They told me that "refunds are not given on prepaid mailings". At no point in time did I sign, agree or even hear about this policy on prepaid mailings. If I had known that then I would have not signed up in the first place and I would have demanded my money back and contacted my credit card company to have them reverse the charges back in February of 2009.
I fruitlessly tried to pursue a refund with the company through September of 2009. I called several times and spoke with several people from different departments promising to call me back, only to get an email stating that they would not refund my account.
In April 2010 I gave up all hope of trying to receive a refund from the unauthorized charge to my credit card in January 2009. I told them just to send out postcards that way they wouldn't get to keep the entire $1497 that they had wrongfully charged to my credit card. Unfortunately, the lion's share of the $1497 was probably profit, so they made off pretty good with this unauthorized charge.
I know I am writing this almost 7 years later, but I still remember from time to time. Hopefully, this will prevent other people from getting ripped off by them.
Lessons Learned:
-Be sure to get everything in writing, especially non-standard agreements that are made with you by their sales people.
-Promptly demand a refund if they bill you without authorization, even if you think you will be doing another mailing in the future. Immediately after demanding a refund, contact your bank and credit card company about the situation and tell them you are trying to work it out with them directly, but you have doubts that they will refund you the money because they have a history of doing this to people. Make sure you find out the time period you have to contest the charges with your bank.
-If they refuse a refund then have the credit card company reverse the charges. Again make sure you do this within the time limit allowed by your bank and credit card company.
-Don't do business with SalesTeamLive. They're very nice at first, but it's all about the money for them. Once they have your money they are going to fight tooth and nail to keep it even if it was them making the unauthorized charge in the first place.
Sales Team Live Reviews
In December 2008 I was contacted by a SalesTeamLive sales person who sold me on a plan to send out yellow post cars. I signed up with SalesTeamLive to mail Yellow post cards to abentee owners. I was very explicit with my instructions to the Sales person that I did NOT want my credit card to be set to autobill because I wasn't sure if I would want to continue and that the only way I would continue is if the autorenew was turned off. I wanted to see the results from the first mailing and go from there. She confirmed that they would turn the autorenew off on my credit card. This is a very important fact because I would not have signed up if this had not been the case.
Late January 2009 I see a new charge for $1497 on my credit card for SalesTeamLive, even though I explicitly told them that I did not want my credit card on autorenew. I should have called my credit card company that very instant and had them reverse the charges, but I figured I would probably end up sending out another campaign so I didn't do anything even though they had billed my credit card without authorization.
I called/emailed them saying that I wanted the autorenew turned off on my credit card since I didn't authorize it to be set to autorenew. To their credit they finally did turn it off.
In July 2009, I emailed them telling them that I wanted a refund for the $1497 on the credit card, since I was not going to be sending out any more campaigns. They told me that "refunds are not given on prepaid mailings". At no point in time did I sign, agree or even hear about this policy on prepaid mailings. If I had known that then I would have not signed up in the first place and I would have demanded my money back and contacted my credit card company to have them reverse the charges back in February of 2009.
I fruitlessly tried to pursue a refund with the company through September of 2009. I called several times and spoke with several people from different departments promising to call me back, only to get an email stating that they would not refund my account.
In April 2010 I gave up all hope of trying to receive a refund from the unauthorized charge to my credit card in January 2009. I told them just to send out postcards that way they wouldn't get to keep the entire $1497 that they had wrongfully charged to my credit card. Unfortunately, the lion's share of the $1497 was probably profit, so they made off pretty good with this unauthorized charge.
I know I am writing this almost 7 years later, but I still remember from time to time. Hopefully, this will prevent other people from getting ripped off by them.
Lessons Learned:
-Be sure to get everything in writing, especially non-standard agreements that are made with you by their sales people.
-Promptly demand a refund if they bill you without authorization, even if you think you will be doing another mailing in the future. Immediately after demanding a refund, contact your bank and credit card company about the situation and tell them you are trying to work it out with them directly, but you have doubts that they will refund you the money because they have a history of doing this to people. Make sure you find out the time period you have to contest the charges with your bank.
-If they refuse a refund then have the credit card company reverse the charges. Again make sure you do this within the time limit allowed by your bank and credit card company.
-Don't do business with SalesTeamLive. They're very nice at first, but it's all about the money for them. Once they have your money they are going to fight tooth and nail to keep it even if it was them making the unauthorized charge in the first place.