Follow up to thread about Outdoor explorer Club

[mrsarkar]

FYI, a law enforcement agency is already on to the Outdoor exp club's malpractices. You can submit a complaint (actually request a complaint form, first, by writing0 to:

Washington State Attorney General's Office
Consumer Protection Divsn.
900 4th Av., #2000
Seattle, WA 98164

You may also call BrandDirect at 1-800- 982-4008, to cancel membership.

[mrsarkar]

Here's an adaptation of what I wrote (In case this helps somebody). ********************

This is in reply to your letter dated June XX, 2001 and refers to the credit card charge I'm disputing: by Outdoor Explorer Club (BrandDirect Marketing, Inc.), posted XX-XX-2000, for the amount $69.95 (please see enclosures: copy of cc statement). This charge reflected the refundable fee for yearly membership in the Outdoor Explorer Club. Being dissatisfied with the quality of services, I cancelled that membership on March XX, 2001, over the telephone, which was well within the membership period ending XX, 2001. No cancellation number was provided for my reference, though I was told that the refund would show up on my credit card within 1-2 billing cycles.

In clear contravention of the Outdoor Explorer Club membership agreement, BrandDirect has not refunded me the $69.95 membership fee so far, despite at least 5-6 calls I made, since April 2001, to the Outdoor Explorer Club customer center. Their customer center seems to be run by a third-party, that usually bluntly tells me that my "request/query about the refund" will be passed on to the "credit research department", and that flatly refuses to provide me any contact numbers for BrandDirect. It is quite obvious to me that BrandDirect and the Outdoor Explorer Club are not merely providing poor service, they are also avoiding the payments they owe me.

Certain dubious practices of BrandDirect and the Outdoor Explorer Club had earlier been investigated by the Washington State Attorney General's Office. These had included discrepancies in charging credit cards, in canceling memberships, providing the promised free trial periods. Importantly, these also included obtaining personal information including credit card account numbers and card balances/limits from certain credit card companies (which, needless to say, reflects poorly on the ethics and integrity of such companies, too).

[Joe]

Hope its works out for you.

[mrsarkar]

I got a "full and permanent return" letter from cc co at last.
:)

[Joe]

That's good to hear! :)