Original Message:
Re: Has anyone dealt with Americap International Corp.? (by Donna M.):
ken1193 wrote:lisam500 wrote:=====================================I have filed a billing dispute with Americap and reported them to Better Business Bureau. Chris knew I would do this if he didn't provide my confirmation or a refund by a date he chose. The credit card company has refunded me my money. I believe it is now up to them to work with Chris, but as of now, I believe I am no longer dealing with him.The Better Business Bureau is a well intentioned but otherwise impotent and powerless entity, capable of doing nothing more than just "keeping track" of filed consumer complaints. "Keeping track" doesn't solve a thing and also doesn't scare a company one bit. All a company has to do is change its name to take on a new identity and thereby acquire a completely "clean slate". BBB does serve to let people know that complaints exist, but to be blunt it's capable of doing nothing more than that. Also, I tend to believe most folks only check BBB complaint history AFTER they experience a problem.
I do hope that you would make the effort to notify the Attorney General's Office in Florida of your experience, and do so in writing. Specific address info for the AG office appears in other RedWeek forum posts. The new RedWeek "search" function is primitive and basic, but it may be able to retrieve the posts for you which contain that address info. Complaints lodged with the people who actually have the power and the legal authority to deal with these parasites are more effective than complaints to the completely powerless BBB. Just a suggestion.....
Have to agree with Ken with respect to the BBB. They really are powerless and can only track complaints. They have no authority to "make" a company do anything including the return of your money. And often once the company responds to a complaint (whether the complainer is satisfied or not) and the person handling the complaint deems the response "appropriate", that particular complaint is resported as "resolved" or no longer reported on their record. So threatening to report a company to the BBB has little consequences to the company. Also, something to note - being a "member" of the BBB means absolutely nothing in terms of whether or not this company is legit or not. I know these things as I worked at the BBB; and basically, if you can 'cut them a cheque' - you are in, you are a member. Any kind of extensive history or background checks are usually done AFTER they are members when the complaints start rolling in. Not much, if anything, is done BEFORE they are signed up except, of course, to cash their cheque and mark off another "sale" and the company is off to the races as a "member". My friend worked in the sales dept. and it was obvious it was all about sales, getting your numbers up and signing companies up - regardless of "who" that company is. Often it would only be after numerous complaints started coming in would the manager or whomever start actually investigating who we were dealing with only to find the company is a scam. Meantime, they have already been reported as a "member in good standing" for a few months and have scammed countless people. In short, as long as you have the money to pay their membership fee, there is not much else in terms of requirements to be a member. Pathetic really. I suppose offices vary from state to state, city to city in terms of just how much effort they put into researching who they sign up; but bottom line, being a "member" of the BBB is absolutely not indicative of what type of company you are dealing with; and threatening to report a company to the BBB does not exactly make the company shake in their boots either...The BBB is a joke....just my humble opinion.