Reservation Rewards = SCAM

ATTENTION ONLINE SHOPPERS and Friends:

Before you purchase online for the holidays PLEASE read!

A year and a half ago I purchased flowers for my friend from FTD.com, not knowing I had signed up for much more than a bouquet of daisies…

After submitting my credit card information to pay for the $40 flowers on FTD’s website a page popped-up on my computer encouraging me to apply for a $20 rebate - for a poor college kid, that’s an attractive deal.

I clicked it to find out more information, but after realizing it was just another scam I exited the screen. NOTE: I did not sign up for anything nor did I purchasing any additional items. I bought flowers, nothing else.

Although I review my purchases regularly, I never noticed anything out of the ordinary on my account – until last night when I was checking my account again. There, on my online banking account screen I saw:

Pending Withdrawal - Reservation Rewards - $12.00

Reservation Rewards? What was that? I racked my brain trying to think what store I could have possible purchased $12.00 worth of rewards at. Nothing came to mind. That’s when I thought to Google search the “Reservation Rewards”, and I found these:

1.http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQ7x3X6CN43d2k6TLJcsjJlgwlDwD9C1JV3O0
2.http://www.complaints.com/2008/august/24/FANDANGO___RESERVATION_REWARDS_SCAM_182699.htm
3. http://www.ripoffreport.com/Corrupt-Companies/FTD-Reservation-Rewa/ftd-reservation-rewards-do-not-c9pap.htm

I found hundreds of blogs and customer complaints about other people – like me - who were paying for the same bogus rewards program. Turns out, I was one of the unlucky ones.

Reservation Rewards IS A SCAM.

It’s part of a company called “Webroyalty” that claims to offer rewards points and coupons. Well, I’m here to tell you that THEY DON’T. I went to my bank to print out my debit history, and it looks like they’ve been feeding off my account for over a year and half. At $12/month – that’s more than $250 gone.

After calling the number (800-732-7031) and clicking around for 5 minutes, I finally got to talk to a customer service rep. He said I had signed up, and that it was my choice to participate. I told him that I NEVER signed up for anything and wanted my money back. He said they could only refund me up to 6 months prior to my call, I wish I would have pressed further, but $72 is better than nothing.

I alerted my bank and cancelled my credit card, but I won’t get back my $200.

Friends & followers PLEASE be careful this holiday season – even legitimate sites can be deceptive.

Here’s the most recent update about the scam as presented by the Associated Press.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQ7x3X6CN43d2k6TLJcsjJlgwlDwD9C1JV3O0

I can’t believe I fell victim to this, I just hope no one else does.