Mail Fraud as Practiced by LeanSpa
Oh man, the LeanSpa people are a piece of work!
So I’m gullible. After reading all the enthusiasm for the LeanSpa weight loss program on FaceBook, I thought I’d try it. Didn’t work for me. So I cancelled LeanSpa and they promised me a refund within 10 business days of their receiving their product back through the mail.
On September 2, I mailed each of the two packages back. I got the Delivery Confirmation because, well, heck, it was a chunk of money and I wanted proof I’d sent their LeanSpa product back to them.
Well, thank god, I had that proof or I wouldn’t have been told that I’d receive my refunds. The impression I got from the LeanSpa Customer Service when I called on September 19th was that if I didn’t have that proof in my hot little hands, they would have claimed the shipment had never arrived, ergo, I had never mailed it and LeanSpa could skip out on paying me back my money.
Phew. I thought.
On September 27th, I called to find out the status of my refund. LeanSpa claimed that the order for my refund had gone out but it would take about 5 days before it was processed. [They were hanging onto my money like Scrooge!] On October 2, I received two emails from LeanSpa—one for each of the packages I returned—claiming my refund had been “issued to your credit card and should appear on your account within the next 7-10 business days”.
Concerned, I checked my account on October 8th. Nothing. That figured. Probably squeezing a little more interest off my money.
All month, I kept checking. I finally decided today, November 11th, to contact LeanSpa and find out what was going on. They won’t speak to me. I can contact them via email and they will respond within 3 business days. Uh-huh. Just like they responded with refunding the money I spent on their product.
The same one they claimed I would receive a refund on within 7-10 business days of their receiving the product back which would have been September 19th. That would be 53 days ago.
LeanSpa was really quick to get the money off my credit card. They didn’t seem to have any problem taking it. Why is it they are having such a difficult time issuing it back?
I have filed a complaint with the US Postal Service for Mail fraud. Anytime a company uses the US mail to do business, i.e., mailing their product to you, and there are irregularities, it can be considered a fraudulent use of the mail.
Filing the complaint isn’t likely to get me my money, but it should create problems for the company that is cheating me, LeanSpa. At the least, the complaint will go on a list and the more people whose complaint goes on that list, the more likely LeanSpa will have to stop cheating people.
And yes, they are cheating. First, I should have had my refund by September 19th.
By keeping my money, they are accruing interest on it. If I give up on trying to get it back, it simply makes them more likely to do the same thing to other people. That adds up. And in this economy, no one can afford to be cheated like this.