I got scammed

I had an old, outdated book on government grants for small business, so I went online to research some of the government sites to access info on these. The government sites are hard to navigate and read, and I came across a site which had all this info in one place. I skipped over several sites that seemed “scammy”, and came to one that was $1.50 to try it out. I thought, hey, $1.50, for 7 days, I’ll give it a go. I read their agreement twice. I went to the checkout page and never found ANYTHING that made me say “hey, I don’t want to sign up for this, it’s a binding agreement.” I am VERY alert to being scammed, and I should have known better but I didn’t find ANY red flags. So I gave it a go. The site kind of stunk and I left, but hey, it was $1.50.

Well, no it wasn’t. Today I found a $49.50 charge to my bank account (I used debit). I called the company, and of course they said I had signed an agreement to a 7 day trial and I HAD TO CANCEL WITHTIN 7 DAYS or I had agreed to be a member for $49.50 a month. I said I had never seen that anywhere and they pretty much said “how could you miss it, it was right on line 2 of the agreement.” Sigh. It wasn’t. Oddly, I can’t even GET to the web page I originally landed on to sign up, to even double check myself. The lady I first spoke with hung up on me (I did get mad, but still). I called back to confirm that my account was cancelled. Then I found TONS of info on these scams online and was heartened to find one person reporting a similar scam and she argued until she got them to refund the money. I called back and did my best, which just wasn’t good enough. The guy called me a liar, pretty much flat out said he didn’t CARE about if I was a happy customer or not when I told him I was his customer and not happy, and wished me good luck getting my money back from my bank since I had given them my credit card information and “signed an agreement”. He was apparently the 2nd person under the people who owned the company because I asked for a manager and he said he was the manager, then I said well why don’t you get me one of the owner’s and he said he was an owner. I got to the end of what I could do and had to settle for asking him how he slept at night with such a black soul and reminding him that karma IS real and it IS a bitch, so enjoy the high times now.

So now I feel really stupid. Upset. Mad. Worried that I am down $49.50. Defeated. My ONLY consolation is that I am going to tell EVERYONE I can about this so NO ONE makes the same mistake! Stop giving these people your money! It is a waste. They are thieves. I filed a complaint with the BBB, more as an FYI. I’m SURE they had that disclaimer SOMEWHERE in a TINY font so I’ll never get that money back. I’m sure my bank won’t back me up (I hate my bank too but that’s another story). As that jerk off so snidely pointed out on my third call “I gave them my credit card info so good luck.” Thanks for stealing from me and then rubbing my nose in it too. REAL nice customer service.

Here is the website I went to (except I cannot find the page I saw originally where you “sign up”)
http://www.grantresearchguide.com/resource/login.php?access=false&redirect=index.php

This is another site which is the same company. (advertising the "free CD" which apparently never comes in the mail and then magically costs $49.50 /mo) www.grantresearchguide.com

I have found SO many complaints online about this company and others like them. DO NOT EVER USE THEM. If you have had trouble with THIS company here’s their address and file a complaint with the Las Vegas, NV BBB!


800-235-1364
Grant Resource Center
Grant Instructor LLC
3155 East Patrick Lane
Suite 1
Las Vegas NV 89120


I got the last guy I called to SAY that he doesn’t CARE what I think about the company, and that nothing I could say would hurt their business, since THEY’RE on the INTERNET. Well, I’m on the internet too, so PLEASE LEARN from my mistake. Don’t give these evil people another cent!