Unautorized Billing /Fraud

[mode09]

I live in Pennsylvania.
I bought an internet TV unit and signed up for an account from the company that deals with it's services.
The agreement was that I was to pay $9.95 for the service, which I opted to have taken out of my checking account monthly
as a automatic withdrawl from them, which was right for several months.
Recently I noticed that my account was coming up short in money, and I discovered that they had been
taking $19.95 from my account for several months, which I did not authorize for them to do, nor was it ever brought to
my attention by them.

The error was due to a mistake on their part in which their records were messed up and they were
charging me as if I were not only using their service, but also using them as an ISP ( in which they
do charge 19.95).


We contacted them and asked them to please refund the money that they took unautorized from our bank accout.
They said they would pass the information along to their billing department, and we never heard back from them.
My wife called again after about 4 weeks, and they said the final decision was that they were not going
to refund our money.

I feel that they were in the wrong by never contacting me to find out what kind of account I had with them
when their computer records were in put into a state of error, and that they were basically stealing
money from my account. Is ther some kind of legal action I can take to get the
unauthorized portion of my money back?

My wife said out of anger that she would sue or take this to the news as consumer fraud, and this company's
basic answer was "Go Ahead".

 

[JETX]

Though I understand your anger and distrust of the TV provider (WebTV??), but it really should be directed at the primary problem. That is YOUR bank.

The bank has a fiduciary responsibility to protect your funds. They violated that responsiblity when they paid an unauthorized amount from your account. I would contact the bank and demand that they make your account 'right'. If they refuse or give you any 'flack', tell them that you will report their violation to the state/federal banking authorities and the Federal Trade Commission.

At the same time, you need to formalize your complaint with the vendor. Send your complaint to them by certified mail (RRR). Detail the situation and be specific in what you expect them to do. Give them a 'reasonable' amount of time (5 business days??) to respond to your letter.

Then you will at least have documentation of your case.