Ordered a Bender Ball? You Joined a DVD Club!
My wife just got her Bender Ball, which looks nifty and was relatively cheap.
The item description for the package we purchased fails to mention a DVD subscription price of 19.99 plus 3.99 shipping.
Even when you view the “See What’s In the Complete Kit” page the 30 Day subscription isn’t mentioned.
It isn’t until you get to the checkout page that it is mentioned.
Yes it is good practice to read the cart description as I am sure someone will point out but joining a subscription service is something that should be noted on the actual item description rather than buried in the shopping cart.
If you ordered a Bender Ball and don’t feel like being milked for 20 bucks monthly call 1-800-601-7088 and ask to be removed from the continuity program. I wonder how many people fail to either see this or check their credit card statements for these charges.
Josh Smith is a blogger, database manager and adjunct professor of business and technology. 
hmmm….almost ordered this online, just ran into this site. thank god. what a scam, shame on them. thanks for all the advice and input. I have a pilates ball that looks just like the bender ball. i am a fitness trainer and at my gym we have also used the dodge balls. i was just curious about the exercises they might have. wondering if they had any new moves, but not worth it to try and find out.
My wife bought a bender ball and we started getting billed by multiple companies for things we never ordered!!! Of course customer service rep was a turd and didnt help with anything. Has anyone expierienced this? the other companies that got our info were: e boost, value plus, and of course our favorite bender ball. Its costing me over 100 dollars and i had to cancel my debit card this has gotten out of hand!!!
We filed a complaint online with the Better Business Bureau regarding unwanted DVDs & failure to issue a refund. Within two days we received a call from Bender Ball stating that they had issued the refunds which should show up in 3-5 business days. Note: The complaint must be made to BBB of the Southland (via odr.bbb.org or phone 909-825-7280).
Correction to previous comment: Website is complaints.bbb.org (my apologies.).
I totally agree that the ordering system is shady, and annoying. I was literally on the phone ordering a bender ball for about 25 minutes. It seemed like every time I thought I was getting close to the end, they gave me the option for “another exciting offer…” And it was all automated, so I couldn’t even express my frustration to an opeater! To top it all off, at the end of the call, they didn’t even tell me the total charge that would be put on my credit card. I could only hope that I actually said “no” to every single extra. I just got the ball in the mail, and the charge was a little more than I expected. I can only hope that I don’t get any surprise charges to my credit card. My advice to anyone that wants a bender ball: just go to a fitness store and you can get similar ab balls, for way less hassle. Or, just get a small rubber ball from Wal Mart!
I haven’t even read through all of these posts, but right now my boyfriend is on the phone fighting yet another charge from Bender Ball. He “opted out” after he realized that he was going to continue to receive these DVDs and they continued to charge him and send them anyway. They have yet to credit him for what he has sent back and have been less than helpful on the phone. I would never have let him order this if I knew how much time he would spent trying to get off of this auto ship program that they claim is so easy to do. Each time he calls they give him a different story. It’s unreal.
I, too, was drilled by these criminals with the $29.87 after-sale theft form my bank account. I have filed complaints with the California AG office, the BBB, and the FTC consumer fraud division. I have also involved the L.A. County Sheriff’s office Fraud Detail — they are undertaking a criminal investigation.
Anyone wishing to join a criminal fraud complaint for being ripped off by these Bender Ball people can call Detective Moon with the L.A. Sheriff’s Office at 562-946-7217 or email him at [email protected] with your complaint details. He asked any emails sent to be as brief as possible, focusing on the amount stolen and your contact details.
If anyone would like to coordinate with me on counter-attacking these crooks, I will volunteer to serve as a central coordinator for that effort. You can email me at [email protected]
I contacted the outfit aligned with this Leslee Bender “celebrity fitness coach” who lent her name to the ball — an outfit called “The Pilates Coach.” Here is the reply I received. I am now in the process of contacting these people.
“Dear Mr. Campbell,
Thank you for bringing this to my attention; you are not the first to have a complaint.
We at The Pilates Coach have nothing to do with the shipping and handling of the Bender Balls. The website below is where you will want to send your complaint and if you know of others that have had the same problem, please forward this email or the contact to that person.
I apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced.
http://moultonlogistics.com
Thank you
Kate”
Yes, I totally agree about it being a “DVD club” and they give you a hard time when you call and want to cancel the DVDs that you never ordered in the first place. The operator I spoke with would not listen to me and kept repeating the same thing over and over; that I can keep the DVDs and continue receiving them.
this is such bull. i ordered mine online- BAD IDEA! there is no turning back on there. they charged my THREE times for priority shipping, so i ended up paying $63 for just the one bender ball. and then i closed the box and thought it would cancel- and somehow i ended up with 2 orders of it. i have talked to numerous of the call center people and they are no help. and today i talked to a “supervisor”. i just want my $83 back right now. and i called to cancel the dvd club stuff but… i dont know if just one call is enough. yea.. i think i will be returning everything and heading to walmart ASAP! thanks for all the advice everyone!
Wal-Mart….
Our Grandma’s always told us “if it sounds too good to be true it most likely is too good to be true”. A kick ball from Wal-Mart? Brilliant!!! For $5 bucks? A steal!!! and our Grandma’s will be so thrilled with our thriftyness. I’m going to Wal-Mart today thanks to all the comments I read about the Bender Balls sceam for green. With the green I’ll be saving I just might buy myself a movie DVD. Heck, why not. thanx, Lisa
I just want to say THANK YOU for saving me from the bender ball!!! I was about to purchase this ball after recentlly having a baby-and thought i’d do a little research first. It’s a sad world when people are scamming trusting people who just want to start looking a little more decent-and think they have finally found hope in a program such as bender ball….which does nothing more but put people in even more of a financial slump then they already are!!!! Shame on Bender Ball.
I apologize for the length of this post - but I’m so grateful to all of you for saving me your bad experience.
I went to the BB website with that actually impressive infomercial in mind, and was prepared to get it…but something held me back.
I’ve not yet had a really bad experience ordering online, but I knew it was good general practice to research a company/product before purchase, but that wasn’t it. There was just something unseemly about that site.
I didn’t like that there was no option to get just the ball - I didn’t want a kit. And I didn’t like that they wanted detailed contact information on the first page before further information would be given - at least on the site I went to. (http://www.benderball.tv/spark/index.php?tag=bbedseag100)
There wasn’t an “About Us” link to make me feel more comfortable either. In retrospect, I’m glad that is the site I went to since it made me second guess the company and find this and other sites.
Though I didn’t purchase a ball (etc.), I have had success with contacting the BBB in the past over shady business practices - I strongly suggest getting them involved as most companies don’t like to have a government agency breathing down their necks. These companies COUNT on people giving up - even if you close your account, they have your money which is still profitable if you have enough people do only that. They will even try to intimidate you via collection agencies. And lots of people pay with debit cards and have no recourse like those who use credit cards. I’m strongly suggesting that even those who get their money back from their credit card companies, still report these frauds. You will help make the authorities pay attention by the sheer number of complaints. They already have a D rating and over 600 complaints on BBB. Imagine if everyone reported.
As always, look up a company’s BBB rating and use this marvelous tool we have in the internet to thoroughly research before buying. This was my reminder to be diligent about that from now on.
So I ordered the Crunchless Abs on a whim.. what a bad idea. I found out all of this crap RIGHT after I pressed confirm. of course. so I call back the next day and tell them I want to cancel, they say ok.
Then three days later the charge shows up on my debit card. I call back, this other guy says that my cancellation couldn’t be processed because my order was already “being shipped.” That’s impossible considering it was LESS THAN 24 HOURS AFTER.
anyways… how do I make sure that I really don’t get further charges?
He said that I was cancelled and gave me the RMA number. but how can I be sure now since they stole my money basically?
I’m even ok with paying the shipping back!
Thanks for posting this. I unfortunatley have already ordered the bender ball. After reading these posts I did not want to wait to see if I would be charged extra fees later on, so I called my credit card and asked to change my account number. I will still be charged the original fee of $20.91 but will escape future charges. And the people at Bank of America are so much nicer to talk to. Thanks for everyones posting. I think I will head to Walmart tonight to start my ab workout.
(Sorry this is so long. ) OMG! I consider myself a pretty conservative buyer when it comes to buying anything online or from the TV. And usually my husband is as well. Yesterday morning we ordered the Bender Ball kit for $9.99. While I was on the phone placing the order, my battery on my phone was dying, and when I tried to transfer it to another phone, I lost the call. I had already given my credit card # and indicated that I did not want any additional products. Pressed “0″ several times. I had to use the phone again to call them back to confirm my order, and when I did the recording said to the effect of “we noticed that you started your order, but for some reason ended the call. We are going to give you additional videos for completing your order.” So I did, pressed “0″ a few more times, gave my email and mailing address, and CC # AGAIN, and tried to proceed to checkout and get confirmation of order. Of course, my phone had not had sufficient enough time to charge, it was less than 5 min. between calls, and so I again tried to get to the end, pressing “0″, and finally lost the call. I called the customer service 800-601-7088, and spoke with a man. (Could hardly understand him.) And he said that the order hadn’t been entered yet. Check in a couple of days. Well today I finally confirmed that my order was in process for shipping. THEN I found this site! After reading all the posts in the earlier months, I decided to check recent posts. After reading those, I called the customer service #, took her name, canceled my order completely, and asked for a confirmation #. She offered to give me $5 to stay with my order, I declined. I stated I want to cancel completely, and I didn’t want my card to be charged. She offered the $5 again. I declined, again. Now mind you, I have been very calm, patient, and spoke with a pleasant phone voice this whole time. I thanked her for all her help at the end. She gave me the conf#, confirmed that my credit card would not be charged, and that my order was canceled as it had not shipped yet. Let’s see if “Samantha” was telling the truth and my customer service manner works!
yeah this is one f##ked up site i didn’t call i went on the site and had a similar experience after i placed my order and i clicked the confirm button normally on other sites you would get a confirmation saying that the order was placed but i didn’t get this confirmation so not knowing this site was the unscruplous site it turned out to be i clicked again well i just wanted the dvds and ball the company claimed i ordered the product twice and i also ordered some energy tablets every month mine you when you go on the site they claimed this is free free free, free my ass.
i sent back everything that was ordered up to today after three months of sending refund request after refund request i still haven’t received any refund. this company needs to be closed down
Wish I had read this before ordering. I am guessing the best bet for those of us that gave our credit card is to simply call our credit card company and say we lost our card and want a new one. That way they will issue a new card number and the Bender Butheads won’t be able to charge you next month for something you didn’t even want to begin with.
I unfortunately called and ordered from their TV ad, I don’t remember anything about them telling me about additional DVDs. When I placed the order she did talk me into taking the vitamins for $6.99, I told her I didn’t wnat anymore being shipped, she told me to cancel the subscription when I receive the order. Which I did, I called and talked to some guy, after he could not talk me into it, he finally said he would cancel them, I didn’t think about asking for a cancelation number at the time. That was July 15th, last Sunday Aug 3rd I noticed A $26.98 charge to my account, I called on Mon Aug 4th and talk to Andrea employee 67, taking names and numbers now, she said the guy I spoke to on the 15th did not cancel it. she said she would, again after trying to get me to keep it, offering a $5 discount, she finally said she would, this time I demanded a cancelation number and also told her I was filing complaints with the BBB, and having my bank dispute the charge, and I was also going to look into filing a small claims case, seeking the full damages of $5,000.00, I told her after seeing that there are 718 complaints with the Better Business Bureau just from people trying to get refunds, I had no confindence in getting a refund, so I was going to file a lawsuit to get my money back. She put me on hold and then said she would put my file through to the “excutives” to have my refund processed. She then gave me an RMA to return the vitamins, I said I haven’t got them yet, and that since I didn’t order them by law I ddin’t have to return them, but I would anyway, that I have enough Nature Made Vitamins to last until 2010. I told her I have proof that I called on July 15th, and they should have a recording of me canceling it, and if they didn’t, I assume they destroyed the evidence. In either case I told her the BBB 718 complaints is enough evidence to birng into court to prove a pattern of their business practices. After all of that, I got up today and found out they charged me another $26.98, I called once again Bender Ball, only to be put on hold for 10 minutes until I heard a dial tone, they disconnected me. I then went to my Bank of America branch and canceled the debit card I used, and also filed a dispute for both of the charges, they said they would put the $54 back into my account, and it could take up to 90 days for them to investigate and make a decision. I now assume the other charge is for more DVDs mayber that I knew nothing about, but the guy today just disconnected me and never did anything, so I guess I have to call these people back and try to cancel this again. If you want to see a bunch of complaints, just go to the California branch of the Better Business Bureau that handles their area, I forget which one, just put in Bender Ball’s zip code. These people are real scams artists, and so is the SavvierFitness.com company, there are lawsuits listed with this company listed in California, they have another exercise program that is on TV, I forget but you can see it if you go to their website. They also have a picture of Leslee Bender who is the trainer behind the Bender Ball. If anyone knows how to get ahold of her, I would like to send her an email asking if she makes her money mostly by scamming people.
You know a company is bad when their website doesn’t list an address for there corporate office, they don’t want anyone to know how to find them, only someone who burns a lot of people is worried about people finding them.
WOW! I did not want to order mine with a CC. I contacted them by e-mail, I was given this address: P.O. Box 8349 Van Nuys, CA 91409. I was told to send a check for the price of the ball, tax, and shipping fees. I have not ordered it yet. I am now thinking that perhaps going to the grocery store and purchasing a $3.99 ball and letting some of the air out is something for all of us to think about. Glad someone suggested it.
WOW! I did not want to order mine with a CC. I contacted them by e-mail, I was given this address: P.O. Box 8349 Van Nuys, CA 91409. I was told to send a check for the price of the ball, tax, and shipping fees. I have not ordered it yet. I am now thinking that perhaps going to the grocery store and purchasing a $3.99 ball and letting some of the air out is something for all of us to think about. Glad someone suggested it.
The Bender Ball is a scam. I have been researching it for a couple of days and saw that someone else went to Target or Walmart and got a Dankskin Pilates Mini Balle. So off I went (I really need to strengthen low back and abs) to Walmart and I did find the Danskin Mini WITH DVD and straw to inflate for $6.88 plus tax!!!! And I didn’t have to wait a month. This ball is much thicker and stronger than what I’ve seen of the Bender Ball. I am a Happy Camper!
I fell for the scam just like everyone else on this board. To complicate matters, when I called to try and cancel my subscription to the DVD club I ran into a phone number that is not accessible on the Island that I live on. That 800 number of Bender Ball is only accessible from the 50 states. Sent them a few emails asking for a local California number that I could dial and they kept referring me back to the number that is accessible. Any, I got fed and followed the advice given above. I filed a complaint with the BBB. Within 1 day, representatives of Bender Ball were calling, telling how sorry they were for the mistake. Sure they were!
They offered to give me a credit and to reimburse me for the shipping of the DVD’s back to them. Lets see how long it takes.
Anyway, Moral of the Story: Skip the call to customer service and file a complaint with the BBB.
I ordered the Bender Ball online about50 days ago. When I placed my order, there was a box to check if you DID NOT want the autoship program and I checked it. I submitted my order, printed the screen and thought that was that. I received the ball 10 days later, did not receive any further shipments until this month. I thought it was strange so I called and said I received two DVD’s that I didn’t order. The Customer service (if you can call it that) rep said no problem I have to PAY to ship their crap back and they will refund me. He even had the audacity give me an RMA as if I ordered it and didn’t want it. I contacted my credit card company and let them know this was an unauthorized charge. This company should be shut down. This is unacceptable for consumers to have to deal with this kind of deception.
Great, I wish i would have seen this before I ordered. I ordered on the automated line and was told the total after my cc # was accepted. It went for $9.99 + s&h to a total of $35 being charged on my card. I received an email on Saturday with my order # as of today I haven’t received a shipping confirmation. I started searching online about bender ball and found so many complaints. I called customer service and could barely understand the rep. I was told they would try to stop the shipment and was given a return authorization # and told after product was returned it would take 7-10 days to refund. After more reading I called back to customer service and actually got someone I could understand. He pulled up my order and saw the notes of cancellation. I also said to cancel any and all future dvd’s as well. We shall see what happens. What a joke
I cancelled my membership and they are still charging my card and they haven’t issued a credit yet. I had to cancel my card, so next month they won’t be able to charge it. THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM!! THEY LIE, SO BEWARE!! I am reporting them to the BBB.
After I entered my comment above on 9/11/08, I was so mad that I filed a complaint with the Better Busiess Buueau, (THE SAME DAY) which was very easy to do on-line. I just received a voice message on my cellular (9/15/08) from BenderBall saying that they were sorry for the misunderstanding and that I will be receiving a credit to my card within 2 days. SURE SURPRISED ME!! Please all of you who have been wronged, FILE A COMPLAINT!!! We as consumers must stop these unethical companies from ripping us off.
At least something they said was true. I RECEIVED A FULL CREDIT!!
So i ordered the ball…got scammed and they started taking monthly charges out of my account that I didn’t order of course…called my bank and had them block bender ball from taking anymore money out of my account…fast forward 6 months later….found out they sent me to collections for not being able to deduct the money out of my account even though I didn’t order anything else…jerks…i’m calling the BBB tomorrow……:(
I too fell for this stupid a** scam!!! I got the ball in the mail back in July and had no idea I was signed up for some continuity plan…however I kept getting these random charges on my card but was never receiving anything in the mail. Then I emailed them numerous times to complain and they said I could send everything back but I would still receive another $20 charge for the last month of the plan. I told the guy to go f*** himself and that I wanted to speak to someone higher up but “no one was available” so he said. The funny thing is, that I never received anything in the mail for the continuity package…no dvd’s at all…..and then once I complained, they sent ALL the missing dvds to me the other day. I was SO mad that I am contacting the BBB and I WILL get my money back because they are in breach of their contract. F*** Bender ball!!!! STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!! And seriously, you probably could go to the store and get a ball and it would work the same…
So, it is Christmas Day and yesterday (Xmas eve)I ordered the BB bc i it was ‘crunchless abs with fast results!’ and I am going to the Beach for spring break, anyways i ordered. I went online today to see positive feedback and i came across sooooo many negative results and needless to say I am NOT too enthused. I am going to my bank first think in the morning and unauthorizing my consent on the activity. I have learned my lesson to research before ordering!!!Hopefully more peaople read this before ordering!!!
OMG!!! I am so glad I just read these. I wrote down the number to order the wonderful bender ball because I wanted those fabulous abs, then checked to see if I could order on-line and found these comments. Thanks all!!! I may be flabby, but not broke or scammed.
Wow…dont order the Bender Ball. First of all..the whole process took over 20 minutes (via phone) with all the “extra” features. After declining about 290i359-3u-94(yeah..that many lol) of all the extra features, I did not get a final price before I placed the order. I got it in the mail and still saw 1 ’special’ offer that i was signed up for. I just canceled that today. The ball….its ok. I would have gotten the same results from a little rubber ball that my nieces and nephews play with. I do use it cause I bought it..but its not worth it!!!
I ordered the Bender ball and then was warned by my Pilates instructor that it was a scam. I just called to be taken off of the Continuity plan. By the sounds of it, I may end up with some unauthorized DVD shipments. It’s too bad they have to resort to being deceptive when it’s a good product. I wish I had known I could have purchased it at Walmart!
I was about to buy the Bender Ball but decided against it when i read all the reviews about the DVD scam so today i went to Target and just bought a toy bounce ball for $3 and it works great! I suggest it to all of you
I wish I would have researched this more before ordering. I will be calling first thing in the morning asking to have my order to be cancelled.
after reading all of the horrible reviews on the internet, i called my bank and had them cancel my card before the bender ball company has a chance to charge my account. i don’t even want to try and fight the customer service. it was much simpler to just call and cancel my card.
I am so thankful I found this site! I was going to order the Bender Ball, because the infomercial made it look really good, and I had heard of it previously anyway. Before I order anything, I like to do a little research on the product and the company. I have found nothing but negative things! Good thing I checked this out first. I’m on my way to Target now to buy a ball which is all I want. Thanks everyone!
Normally I do heavy research before purchasing something online but for some reason I didn’t this time with Benderball…I ordered mine from benderball.tv and only afterwards I noticed that there was also a benderball.com website….whats the difference? I’m still confused, maybe benderball.tv is the fake one
I hope not! I made sure to uncheck all of the additional promotions they try to fool people into getting (I’m always fully aware of those). The question is….if I did of all that correctly and ONLY ordered what I needed (the kit) and made sure to uncheck all the additional stuff, will I still be charged for random dvds like everyone else? can someone please let me know? I also accidently typed in a shipping address instead of my billing address…will that effect my order? (maybe prevent them from charging my card?) that would be great….PLEASE LET ME KNOW SOMEBODY!!!!!
I ordered a bender ball last year over the internet. I got two balls. I paid with my ATM card. When I got a second ball I thought no big deal. It’s paid for and ‘ll just give the other ball to someone else. A couple of months later I get a bill from a collection company that states my charges were refused by my bank. NOT TRUE. They threaten me with reporting my non-payment to credit agencies even though no one from the company ever contacts me and lets me know they didn’t receive payment. I call the number the collection company gave me…..and here isn’t any option that allows you to speak to a real person. The only option is. “how do you want to pay your over-due debt?” I reported them to the attorney general’s office. They said if they got enough complaints they would take action. I sent a check for both balls with a letter letting them know I had reported them to the Attorney General. I will be calling them again and forwarding this web site to them. Then they LOST the check and the letter so I got another form letter from the same collection agency with the same phone number. I sent a second letter with another check registered so they couldn’t say they didn’t receive payment. I have pretty much quit ordering over the internet because of this incicent. My bank assures me they never refused payment - the money was in the account. I think this is a scam to double thier order - My $9.00 ball ended up costing me over $40.00 - not to mention the time contacting the Attorney General, writing letters and trips to the post office to register the mail. These people are crooks.
I also intend to call the televison companies that advertise these balls and let them know how they treat their customers.
i wish i would have read this before i ordered from bender ball. first of all, i was ordering and i had to walk away as my phone rang. when i got back the website had errored out and told me to start over, so i did. well, of course, they charged me for two bender balls. i also usually don’t go through with order if they have those traps where you join something. but i was sure to pay attention and mark that i did not want to join i just want the ball. So, first i get two balls and they say it is my fault so i have to pay to ship it back and had to eat the shipping for both balls. then i think, well, this ball ended up costing $35.00 after shipping for both and shipping one back. and then they keep calling me saying my order cannot be processed. i just got off of the phone… they said that i was signed up for the ongoing program, i was so mad, i told them i did not!!!!!! i was sure of it. luckily i lost my credit card about a month ago and they were unable to charge me and they told me they would cancel my order. i told them i NEVER ORDERED anything but the one freaking ball!!!!! i told them to never charge me or contact me again!
I ordered this and they keep taking money out of my account and said I ordered another one when I didn’t. I’m reporting them and now have to cancel my debit card so they can’t get in my account, it’s a SCAM!!!!
This is a complete rip off. Once they get your credit card info, the begin monthly unauthorized charges to your credit card. What I don’t understand, is why they have been allowed to get away with it for so long. I intend to contact the LA County Sheriffs office, [email protected], 562-946-7217. It appears this has been going on for years.
Hi,
My mother ordered this a while ago and she doesnt really look at her transactions.
I was about to use her DVDs and noticed they do not work..
does everyones Dvds work?
also, the reoccuring charges on ur card….what should i look for in her transactions??
What does the description say?
Please help.
Thanks..
I took one of my kid’s rubber balls that was $1.99 at walmart that we’ve had for a while so it wasn’t quite full…. tried the exercises from the commercial and it works just fine. In case anyone is wondering!
I ordered the bender ball because it looked easy, as I’d rather spend an hour or so in my own apartment exercising than having to prepare for and drive to a gym, as my complex doesn’t have a gym onsite. I ordered the bender ball and at the FINAL check out screen, my total for the bender ball, the dvd trainer, and the E Boost (basically a green vitamin), was to be $30.98, including shipping and handling, and all charges for the products. A couple of days after my order, I checked my bank statement and found two charges from bender ball; one for $25.xx and another for $7.57. I’m no mathematician, but that adds up to more than $30.98. I didn’t call to argue it, I said “whatever, it’s only a few bucks” and promptly received my bender ball, dvd trainer, and e boost in the mail. I haven’t used it yet as I’ve been preparing to move to a new place and haven’t had the time or energy for much else. I received an email notification from my bank today, informing me that I was overdrawn. I have been very particular about my checking account and know for a fact that I did not authorize any charges that would put me into a situation where I’d be overdrawn. So I went online and saw that i was being charged $30.86 twice from bender ball. I practically had a heart attack. It’s only $61.xx, however, being that I’m a furloughed state employee, I DO NOT have that additional money in my account for something like this. I called bender ball customer service and they told me that when i clicked “check out”, i was signing up for a monthly program. Really? If it was in the fine print, I had no idea, as I only saw what I was being charged for, once. Maybe I should read the fine print, but who does with stuff like this? So then I told the customer service rep to cancel my order. He said he couldn’t, but that he would transfer me to the department that would be able to. So I finally was able to connect with a young woman who could not understand what on earth I was talking about. She said that i had 30 days from the time I checked out to call and cancel my “membership” and I had failed to do so. i explained to her that a large majority of the nation would agree with me that with an as seen on tv order, fine print isn’t going to be read, because we usually feel there is no need to. She then proceeded to inform me that the next set of bender ball stuff, as part of my “membership” will be shipped in 7 to 10 business days. Ok, great. It hasn’t been shipped yet, so put a stop on the order and cancel the charges. Apparently bender ball doesn’t have the authority to override their own system. She became very indignant with me and told me that she has absolutely no way to stop the processing of the order and to just send the stuff back when I receive it in the mail. Ok, let me get this straight… I am going to be charged $60+ dollars that I did not knowingly authorize, accrue an insane amount of overdraft fees and continuous overdraft charges from Wells Fargo (you all know how that goes), try and reason with my bank about it, stress about being overdrawn, and then I have to pay shipping to return the items I don’t want, and then wait for god knows how long to have a refund credited to my account? Really? I asked her, “what about the overdraft fees I’m going to accrue because of this?” She said, “well, just fax us your bank statement and we will take care of it”… I explained to her, “this entire process of receiving the goods by me, returning them to you, waiting for the refund of the original unauthorized purchase amounts, faxing my bank statement and waiting for you to process that, and then waiting for the refund, is all going to take a minimum of 30 days and really, I don’t have that time or patience.” I asked to be put on the phone with a supervisor or someone with more authority. She stated, “we don’t have a supervisor available, every single supervisor is in an extremely important conference right now.” I told her to go into the meeting room, pull a supervisor out, and put them on the phone, or better yet, transfer me to the corporate office. She then went to find a supervisor and after about 3 minutes came back on the phone and said, “this is what I can do for you… I will refund your purchase amount by 25%”. I told her that was not acceptable and re-listed every single reason why my temper was being lost and that this situation must be rectified immediately, or bender ball will have a battle on their hands that they will lose. She became very snotty with me again and said, “let me find my supervisor.” Ok, great. I would rather speak with a sup than with a regular rep anyways. The supervisor came on the phone and told me that they were putting a priority refund through the system as of today’s date, the same date of the original charges, and to keep the stuff that was coming in the mail. I explained to him that I don’t want the stuff that’s coming in the mail, and I won’t get it, because before the date the shipment is due to arrive, I will be moved into a different address and the forwarding information I will be submitting with the postal office won’t take effect by that time, so it’ll be a nice gift for whoever moves into my current apartment after I leave. He then proceeded to inform me that it will take 5 business days for the refund to be posted. I hope he is right, I really do. I’m livid right now and have to contact Wells Fargo to let them know about these charges and to put a freeze on my account so that I don’t accrue any other ridiculous overdraft fees associated with this bender ball crap. I’m pissed. I’ve worked in customer service, I’ve worked with many different customer service systems, I’ve worked with many different order processing and shipment tracking systems. What I don’t understand is how they have no authority to stop an order immediately that hasn’t even been filled by their warehouse, nor has it been shipped, and won’t be for at least another week? How does that make sense. I even tried to explain this to them and they were dumbfounded by what I was saying. This is the last time I’ll be ordering anything from an as seen on tv ad, or infomercial, whatever you want to call it. All I wanted was the bender ball, that’s it. I didn’t even want the dvd, nor did I want the vitamins, and I DEFINITELY DID NOT want a monthly program that’s going to cost me $60+ a month. Since there is absolutely no way around being enrolled in the monthly program, simply don’t order the bender ball. Go to BIG 5 or whatever sports store you have in your area and get a basketball, deflate it to about 3/4 or 1/2, and use that instead. It’ll save you a significant amount of money and stress.
What a scam! They try to explain themselves by implying I knew what I was getting into when I ordered the ball. The DVD’s I received and sent back with the reference number on the exterior of the envelope, as per their instructions, has mysteriously not been received by their warehouse 2 months later. I am furious with this shady company. DO NOT fall into their trap. And wait until you see this cheap product. You will laugh, but it isn’t funny.
I hate this company, what a joke, who in the world would read that small type?
hey every one i am the one who ordered bender ball but i was not charge for the because i read the notification written on my shopping cart and packing slip u guys must read all notification to avoid this thing will happend to u but be attentive not just clicking all submit button by not reading it. that thing did not happen to me i called upon receiving my order and everything has been canceled just for 2 min u must read all notification.