Credit Card Policy
 

While paying my AMEX bill recently I noticed two charges for 79.99 from Classic Closouts (an internet site) for items we did not buy. My wife bought something last Christmas from them but since then we have not even been on their site. All attempts to contact them via email and phone have been unsuccessful.

I decided to do an internet search to see if others were having similar problems with them. After doing a google search for "classic closeouts fraud" I was amazed to find hundreds of other people getting their credit cards charged by them for items they did not purchase. Some people were getting charged 4 or 5 times. I called AMEX and disputed the charges so I'm relatively sure that the charges will be denied.

I asked AMEX to block all charges from Classic Closeouts and explained to them that CC seemed to be falsly charging hundreds (maybe thousands) of people's credit cards. AMEX said that it was not their policy to block any particular vendor that a card holder requests to block. I find this policy to be ridiculous and was wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences.

AMEX will approve any chargeback unless the voice of God tells them not to, and even then they'll ask him for two forms of I.D. If enough people file chargebacks or complain about a store, their merchant account is at risk of cancellation (if you've ever seen somewhere that accepts all but one major card, they probably got complaints for having a minimum amount for charge purchases.)

You'll get your money back, and it wouldn,t hurt to call your state attorney general and file a complaint. I know that our AG in CT acts like he's been appointed by God to wage a holy war on shady businesses, yours will at least look at the evidence and try to bring charges against a company that is so blatantly committing hundreds of counts of fraud and wire fraud.

While we,re on the subject of fraud, you might want to put an alert on your credit rating; if you do with one bureau, they will contact the other two with the alert as required by federal law.

Let us know how it turns out.

Heh. That about covers it...

Just keep an eye on your account and charge back anything that comes from them.

as a precautionary measure id ask them to put a hold on all chargebacks regardless of the vendor. wouldnt want to risk being charged again and risk the credit card company refuse your requests.

but thats just me erring on the side of caution