Buyers Club Scam Reporting

Programs that provide a hotline, website or other mechanisms that people can use to report scams involving fraudulent or misleading buyers club memberships which are typically sold in the course of selling another product, either with a free trial membership being a condition of making the purchase at the offered price or with a free trial membership being included as a "thank you" gift along with the initial purchase. The customer may not understand what was purchased or may believe that they have not authorized payment for the membership, and yet the credit card used for the initial purchase is billed for the buyer's club membership at the end of the free trial. Consumers often report that they don't recall ever having spoken to the companies, and they don't understand how they can be charged when they have not given the company their credit card number. Sometimes, a wide variety of products are promised at a discount, and then once the fee is paid the products are unavailable or not as advertised. This is particularly true for travel-related buying clubs.