Unexpected Passport To Fun and Shopping Essentials Charges

10 Responses to “Unexpected Passport To Fun and Shopping Essentials Charges”

1. Lynda on April 4th, 2007 12:30 pm

   I just discovered I was a member of Passport to Fun. When I phoned them they told me I had joined by clicking a “$10 off coupon” on a website (not their own website.) I do vaguely remember seeing a $10 off coupon a few months ago when I was going through the page after page Publisher’s Clearinghouse want you to go through when you enter their sweepstakes. I don’t remember agreeing to join PTF, and if I did click on the button there definitely was nothing saying CLICK HERE AND YOU AUTOMATICALLY JOIN PASSPORT TO FUN, or READ OUR TERMS OF AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE CLICKING THIS BUTTON, or some such. I’m pretty careful on the web, and I don’t think I even clicked the button, just went on to the next page. When I talked to PTF they told me nothing they’d done was illegal. However, they somehow obtained not only my name and address (which they could have done from the original page of Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes) but also had my phone number and credit card information! Now, I definitely did NOT give them either phone number (which by the way is unlisted) or credit card information, or permission to charge my Visa, and I am sure that in doing so they broke the law.

2. Eliane on September 29th, 2007 7:59 am

   We just received a cc statement we have several charge from passport to fun for a total of 45$, We never subscribed for any of their stuff. Things to do is call the bank and they will submit a claim also call the cc cie and they will automaticly put the money back, and regarding their right to do stuff like that with peoples cc i am taking care of it and will keep you inform. Thats it for me those cie can not get away with that anymore, It’s enough!!!!!

3. Gregory on November 26th, 2007 7:17 pm

   I also received a CC statement showing multiple charges from PTF and SE.
   I called my CC company and they told me they were a 3rd party vendor. I immediately got the fraud department on the line and went after them. Good thing I check my statement every month so there was only one month to deal with. These companies told me that they gave me a gas card and a walmart gift card which I never received nor did I ever agree to any offer. The procedure is to have your CC company call the vendor which they will lie to you and cancel it over the phone with the rep present. They will also sign you up for magazine subscriptions and bill your credit card. the good thing is I caught it fast and did not have to deal with multiple months of charges. Because they will only give you back current charges. Well if they offer you these things how come they never send you anything in the mail.

4. Joanna on December 8th, 2007 6:51 pm

   I have been getting the same things…Since December 2006 told my bank i didn’t make any purchases to those places bank argued with me for a while so i just gave up…Well it happened to me again…I only bought a few things online before and I dont ever remember the coupon thing…But its up to 600 dollars of charges…I am getting very sick of it…

5. Sean on January 4th, 2008 9:41 pm

   Well have I learned alot today!! My wife informed me of 2 $1.00 charges and 2 $29.95 labeled Passport to Fun on our cc statements. After much googling I feel like an idiot. Apparently when I was making a purchase on Partstrain I too got the $10 off offer on my next purchase so I filled it out and the rest is history. I am going the route of my cc company and see if I can stick PTF for extra charges. I read about a class action lawsuit. Is this still in the works?

6. Dina in Indy on January 11th, 2008 1:08 pm

   These people Passport to Fun sure have a great program designed to bamboozle consumers. On my first call (to 877-442-5880), the rep yelled at me and hung up. I called back (at 9:50 CT), and the offices were closed - even though their hours are until 10:00 p.m. CT).

   I called back this morning. When they wouldn’t refund all charges (back to May), I asked for a supervise. I was disconnected. On my next call, I was transferred to a superviser. That person would not give the refund, so I asked for and was transferred to that person’s supervisor. That person alleged that because I wasn’t the one who signed up (for a service we have yet to receive, btw), they couldn’t help me.

   I found another number, 888-801-2604 (it was at another complaint site, but I forget which one - there are so many!). I was transferred to a supervisor (unfortunately, I forgot to write down his name), and he and I went round and round for about 20 min. He wouldn’t give us a full refund, and he wouldn’t transfer me to his supervisor. He said that according to the terms of the agreement, he couldn’t refund all the charges. I reminded him we hadn’t received the e-mail with the terms. I reminded him of the rude treatment I received initially. Eventually, he accused me of being rude, and he even said he understood why someone hung up on me. I told him that the least he could do for insulting me would be to refund all the charges for a service we have neither requested nor received even though we’ve been charged.

   The person I talked to was at their office at 801 McGill, Suite 800, Montreal Quebec, Canada,H3AZN4. Another address I was given for complaints is 9500 W. Dodge Rd., Omaha, NE.

   My husband never signed up for this - they apparently stole his card number when he purchased tickets or something from another site.

   Finally, a call to Entertainment Rewards went very smoothly. My husband might have inadvertently signed up for that when he purchased concert tickets, but at least it only took one phone call to cancel the service and receive a FULL refund for all charges. They even sent an e-mail confirming the refund.

   The people at Passport to Fun are just lying scammers.

7. Micah on January 26th, 2008 12:17 am

   My firm is investigating unauthorized credit card transactions with and Shopping Essentials. Numerous unsuspecting consumers are alleging similar allegations. Please contact me to share your experience. 205-838-9012; madkins@msnattorneys.com. Micah Adkins

8. Christy on February 22nd, 2008 3:11 pm

   I found and signed up for the class action lawsuit. http://www.girardgibbs.com/memberworks.html My losses were 250 as I was out of the country and didn’t see it until I returned… I got the account cancelled at 800-556-8489, but they would only reimburse 3 months… Hopefully this suit will get my money back… At least I feel better about it…

9. Matt Wiggins on June 19th, 2008 7:05 pm

   Just got off the phone with Passport to fun and could not be more upset. They did refund the 14.95 that they charged on 6-11-07 but I have been paying since aug-07.
   I am going to keep trying wish me luck.

   Chase was very un-helpfull, we got suckered off the travelocity.com
   That is who I am going to talk to next.
   How is this legal, is anyone out there trying to sue?

   matt.wiggins@yahoo.com

10. Martin on June 23rd, 2008 9:27 pm

    Found this web site while I was checking charges from Shopping Essentials -

    http://www.msnattorneys.com/CM/Custom/Attention-Consumers.asp

Got something to say?