Saturday, January 16, 2010

Loral Langmeier Scam

So yesterday I mentioned that I was less than happy with the Loral Langmeier organization, and I bet you don't even know who that is, huh?

Raise your hand if you know who that is.

Anyway.

Back in December, while riding in the car one night, Big Daddy and I were listening to talk radio and heard a lady who was very inspirational, very motivational, very Get Your Butt In Gear, etc. She was offering a free book, which you and I know is never really free, but I called the 800 number to get the details.

The operator assured me that the book was, in fact, free, but that we would have to pay for shipping. I was fine with that.

Oh, and you also get a free month of Loral's magnificent online community, web coaching, whatever the heck it is, and if you don't cancel in the first month, we'll just start charging you $67 a month. No biggie.

Yeah, NO. I do not want the "free" membership.

The operator informed me that the 30-day membership would begin the day we logged into the site, so I thought, "Hey, I just won't ever log in."

Yeah, that didn't work. They charged me anyway. AAAAAGH!

I called the Customer Service department Wednesday, and could tell that this is what they deal with EVERY day, people who didn't want to be charged, who tried to prevent getting charged, because the whole point is - THEY MAKE THEIR MONEY BY OFFERING FREE BOOKS AND THEN RIPPING PEOPLE OFF FOR $67.

The Customer Service rep told me that she would order a recording of my phone call and we would listen to it together, just call me back in 24 hours.

Guess who hasn't answered her extension since then?

I'm so aggravated, both at the scammers and at myself. Because I should have seen this coming. I should have hung up the minute they mentioned the stupid online membership. I thought I could handle it.

But they beat me.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Puppies and printers and scammers, oh MY!

Do you have those days when you feel like you did NOTHING at all, but you're tired anyway? Today was one of those days. And so that I don't feel like a total loser, I decided I'd post my accomplishments, no matter how small.

And off we go

I got my kids fed and dressed. Hey, that's quite the accomplishment here, where the Dirty Laundry girls would like every day to be Pajama Day.

I took this sweet puppy outside humpteen times to go potty, and I fixed his special meals of puppy food and formula. He's one month old today, you see. Oh, and also I can't stop taking pictures of him. Like a grillion.

Let's see, what else? Oh, I called Lexmark regarding a problem I'm having with my color ink cartridge, and surprise of all surprises? THEY ARE SENDING ME A NEW CARTRIDGE. You don't see that kind of customer service much these days! So YAY, Lexmark.

Called scammer Loral Langmeier to argue about a charge to my account. I may write an entire post about this tomorrow. Yeah, I will, so check back. I know, I haven't been so consistent with the writing of the posts, but just check back - I'm trying to do better.

Hey, the puppy just deleted my entire post. Thank goodness for Auto Save!

I sorted my tax receipts - until this afternoon, everything was crammed into one folder. Next step will be entering them into spreadsheets.

Made and/or received several business calls. Have I told y'all lately that we love our business? Ask me about it.

Oh yeah, and I also educated my children. Found a great typing site through a friend's blog. Printed out worksheets, introduced new exercises. It was a GREAT school day.

Did I mention taking a grillion pictures of the puppy? Oh, and wrote a blog post for the first time in 87 years. I guess I wasn't such a slacker after all.