A company, Silicon Mobile Technology, that claims to sell laptops "wholesale" to stores like ours.  They called me to try to get me fill out a "standard industry application" and set up with them to carry and sell their laptops through our stores. To explain the nature of their crime being perpetrated, Silicon Mobile Technology’s scam tactics are: Forgery, deceptive and unfair trade practices, unauthorized usage of credit cards, amongst other crimes. What they do is call you and attempt to make it "look like" they want you to become a Wholesale/Reseller vender of their laptops by sending you an industry standard credit application so that if you are approved, you can then purchase wholesale from them, in order to resell their laptops to the public at retail. As part of the sales scam, they bait you or entice you to fill out their industry standard credit application by offering you a free of charge DEMO laptop for 45 days, to display in your retail storefront. So, while you think that all you are doing is getting set up as a potential distributor, in fact their real aim is to fraudulently sell you a "so called" DEMO laptop. The offer for 45 days is verbal over the phone so you can’t prove what they said. However, I did ask them to put this in writing and they did send me an Email to that effect. After they send you the DEMO laptop, behind your back and without your knowledge, they then write up an invoice that looks like a sale and gives you only 30 days to pay and states that "all sales are final".

They then try to make it appear to your credit card company that you intended to buy the DEMO and not merely accept the test DEMO unit from them for a trial period of 45 days as part of their sales pitch and that they say you can return without being charged. This is even on their website (www.superlaptop.com) that they will send you a no charge DEMO if your application is approved, but nothing about 30 or 45 days trial period. Now, once you have the laptop, they run a charge through on the credit card number you put down on their credit application and charge you for the laptop without your authorization. Of course they "time it" so that by the time you send the laptop back per the verbal agreement, you get your credit card statement a week or so later, only then to find out that they charged you for the supposedly returnable DEMO unit. Now they have both your money and the laptop. I think you will agree this is a particularly creative scam. Makes you wonder how many other retail venders have they scammed this way? Get a sales department working the phones to call all of the computer retail stores in America with the same offer and even if they only get away with it 50% of the time, that adds up to a lot of fraudulent laptop sales and a lot of money.  In any event, when I received my credit card statement, I’m shock and upset when I find out that Silicon Mobile has charged me for the so-called DEMO laptop I sent back.

So, of course, I called Silicon Mobile and spoke with the salesman that originally called me, Mr. David Jan, and demand they credit me my money back per our verbal and written agreement. He agrees to do so and then sends me an Email that states, "that they will credit me my money back for the laptop I have returned" and includes an Email attachment of " their industry standard RMA form for me to fill out and send back to him. RMA stands for "RETURN MERCHANDISE AUTHORIZATION". This alone proves that Silicon Mobile lied about this being a "sales final", at least in my particular case. If they send someone a RMA form, that, means their policy is in fact to allow merchandise to be "returned for credit".  It even states that on their RMA form.  Under other circumstances, when Silicon Mobile sells a laptop directly to a consumer wanting to buy a laptop from them, "all sales are final" may apply. My situation is different, there was no attempt by my company to "buy" this laptop, it was a store test DEMO only that could be returned without being charged. Ultimately, they never give me my credit back. From that time forward, November 4, 2002, they have thwarted all my efforts resolve this when ever I call them, by always asking who I am first, then once they know who I am, they say no one is there to take my calls. They claim the company manager and David Jan are always gone somewhere and they don’t know when they will be back. They claim to take my messages and have someone call me back, but of course no one ever does.

I then call my credit card company, AT&T Universal Card and tell them the date I returned the laptop, sent them proof of UPS delivery, and the reason for the return was that, simply stated "It was a store DEMO – not for purchase". Please keep in mind that this started in October of 2002 and there have been numerous attempts on my part via phone calls and letters to AT&T to get my money back. At the time, when this first began, I did not know what kind of scam they were running.   AT&T Universal Card takes the side of the SCAM ARTIST MERCHANT and gives me only repeated ambiguous excuses as to why they will not credit back my credit card and they are aiding and abetting the criminal merchant by taking their side. There is some, as yet unknown, mysterious reason why AT&T is taking the side of this criminal merchant, rather than their customer. Which by the way reminds me, that I called 2 other "disputes department" managers from two of my other credit cards to try to find out how these situations are normally handled. Both department managers were astounded by what AT&T Universal Card is doing. They couldn’t believe how AT&T is handling this. They told me that they always go out of their way to attempt to try to protect their customers from scams like this and said there is something "unusual" about the way AT&T is handling this. In any event, after I sent AT&T the evidence I had of the scam, the documentation that’s proves this was not an attempt by me to "purchase" a laptop from Silicon Mobile, and a copy of the Email David Jan sent me stating "they would give me my money back", someone at AT&T in an attempt to help Silicon Mobile, calls and alerts Silicon Mobile that, they received all this proof from me and suggests to Silicon Mobile that they need to come up with some sort of fake receipt with my signature on it, stating that all sales are final, or they will be forced to give me my money back. Silicon Mobile and AT&T did not bank on me saving the Emails, the Credit Application, the RMA Form and all of the other evidence I happened to save.  So, Silicon Mobile follows the suggestions from AT&T and creates some sort of bogus receipt dated 9/6/02, that says all sales are final and they forge my signature on it and then fax it to AT&T. The date on this bogus receipt and the time of day is very important because it is the exact same date Silicon Mobile faxed me their "New Client Application", the same date I filled it out and faxed it back to them with my credit card number on it, the same date they supposedly check out my company’s vender information and bank information in order to approve my application, the same date they claim they "approved" my application, the same date they sent me an Email to the effect that they would then send me a DEMO laptop without charging me for it, the same date they shipped out the so-called DEMO laptop and the same exact date they charged my account for the laptop according the date, 9/6/02, on their receipt.  Now THAT is an unauthorized and fraudulent charge, as they didn’t give me 45 days or even 30 days.  I have a letter from Silicon Mobile in response to the BBB of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterrey & San Benito, California, that states in part and is enclosed: "What we had agreed with him was we could send him a laptop computer for display and let him pay 30 days later".  Which proves in their own words that, first, this was NOT an attempt on our part to out right "BUY" or "PURCHASE" a DEMO laptop, second, that our purpose was NOT an intentional "sale", thereby making the charge to my credit card an "unauthorized charge", and third, that the laptop was in fact "returnable without charge".  Had I know it was 30 instead of the 45 days they told me, I would have returned it within that time frame. That’s part of the scam.

Also part of the scam is that they claim they will only send you this DEMO if your application is approved, not for the purchase of it, but to get set up with them as a reseller of their laptops through our stores. Again, that’s part of their deception. It was impossible for them to check my company’s history in order to approve my application in that short a period of time. Silicon Mobile is located in California and faxed me the application at 10:08am. I am located in Texas, Central Standard Time, which made it 12:08pm here. It was hours later, about 5:30 – 6:00pm when I faxed back the application to them. My bank was closed as well as the Trade references. In fact they never did check my company’s bank and trade references information. I contacted the "trade reference I listed on the application and they told me Silicon Mobile NEVER called them to inquire on my company’s credit history. To make their scam work, they had no intentions of checking my references, as all they needed was my credit card number that was required to be on their "New Client Application".

I can tell you honestly, that I never signed any kind of receipt at any time for anything. The only thing I ever signed was the "New Client Application", on 9/6/2002, that Silicon Mobile faxed me to get set up as a distributor of their laptops. I wrote and told this to AT&T.  AT&T Universal Card didn't care. AT&T should have sent me an affidavit so to sign stating that this was an unauthorized, fraudulent charge. If this was an order I placed over the Internet, the other disputes department managers told me it might be a different story. This is just another scam, albeit a creative scam. I would like to know why, mysteriously, AT&T Universal Card is taking the side of a criminal offense perpetrated by Silicon Mobil and helping to protect them, but that doesn’t matter, a fair solution to matter is simply for AT&T to credit my account back for the unauthorized and fraudulent charge.

A couple of months ago I noticed that my interest rate had increased from 8.99% to 19.99%. When I phoned AT&T about this ridiculous increase, I was informed that my credit score had decreased, which warranted the higher rate being charged. I immediately closed the account and followed up with a letter of complaint to AT&T. This month, my interest rate increased to 24.99%.

The reason for the change in my credit score is because I recently purchased a house, thus increasing my debt to income ratio. Regardless, I have never been late with, nor missed any credit payments.

I probably would understand if AT&T increased the interest rate for future charges to discourage further use of the card. After all, only a fool would keep a balance on a credit card if (s)he knew the interest accrued at
24.99%.

What is difficult to believe is that AT&T can increase the rate to an almost usurious level, after I have charged $5,000 and am in no position to pay off the debt in full to avoid paying this absurd interest rate. My
guess is AT&T has figured this out.

The percentages they offered were good until the amount was paid off, providing the cardholder did not default, paid late, etc. I was having no problems and abiding by the terms until 10/02, when I noticed that the interest rate was 24.7%!!!!! I immediately called ATT who told me that they couldn't do anything about it-it was really a Citibank card.

I also explained that they had not notified me of the increase and I was told that they don't have to. Fortunately I was able to transfer the balance to a card offering 3.99%.

I immediately cancelled my ATT Universal Card with a letter expressing my displeasure with the whole thing- and I cancelled my husband's Citibank card because I will no longer have dealings with ATT Universal and Citibank.

After my divorce in 1999, I immediately began building my own credit. I first got a car loan, then I opened 2 credit card accounts at fairly high interest rates of 14.9%. I had to do this, because I was just starting out. After 1 year of on time payments to every debtor I had, I received an offer from AT&T card services for a credit card with 8.9%, with an offer to transfer balances at that rate till they were paid.

Of course I took advantage of that, transferred every debt I had to other cards over to AT&T, and closed the others. I have still continued to make payments on time since 1999, and was even offered a credit line increase by AT&T one year ago.

This month, I received my AT&T statement, and my interest rates had been chanced to 24.9%! I called, and was told that they routinely do credit reviews of their customers, and based on credit delinquencies in my past, I was now considered a credit risk, and this action was done in order to warn off any potential delinquent payments. With the AT&T agent on the phone I went on line and ordered my credit report from equifax. There are no late payments on it since 1997. NONE since 1997, and NONE since I opened my account with AT&T. SO basically , in a nutshell, AT&T is running a scam ....a legal scam.

They are offering people with less than perfect credit in the past an opportunity to transfer debts to them, promising a low interest rate. Once you have established a substantial debt to them ($6,000 was what I transferred, and they still offered me more credit, which I didn't take), they then use the delinquencies in your past as reason to up the rates. MINE ALMOST TRIPLED. I have closed the other accounts I had in order to keep my debt ration down, and now in order to get away from AT&T I must open another account somewhere else.

I have worked hard for the past 3 1/2 years to rebuild my credit after my divorce. I did everything as I should have. Worked my way down to lower interest and the reward of seeing my debt shrink. I did everything I was supposed to do. What AT&T did was legal, I am sure somewhere in the fine print there is something that gives them the right. But it was ethically and morally wrong.

I will never do business with this company again. Apparently Citibank has bought this company. This must be where it all began to go down hill, because I have never had a problem until now.

However, in spite of that fact, my credit card statement arrived today with three separate charges from DMK. They were as follows:

DMK Member Proc. Fee..........................4.99
DMK Smart Perks...................................29.99
DMK Homeplay.......................................99.99

I do not know how they received my credit card number or identified me, but the charges occurred none-the-less.

I notified AT&T immediately. They have cancelled my card and will issue another.

From a bit of reading on the web, I learned that DMK may have acquired credit card numbers from J.C. Whitney, Co. If that is a possible link to this fraudulent practice, it is possible in my case as I have ordered auto parts from J.C. Whitney. The last order was many months ago, but J.C. Whitney would have my card number on file.

 AT&T Universal Card Platinum Master Card/CitiBank (AT&T MC) is reneging on their BILLING RIGHTS SUMMARY - SPECIAL RULE FOR CREDIT CARD PURCHASES "If you have a problem with the quality of goods or services that you purchased with a credit card, and you have tried in good faith to correct the problem with the merchant, you may not have to pay the remaining amount due on the goods or services."  12/29/2003 I contacted AT&T MC re: the purchase I made at the Miami International Airport [I am a permanent resident of the State of Florida and I have been at Temporary Duty Station _ _ _, CA] on 12/18/2003. Florida is my permanent home state and Broward County is my permanent county of residence - as per the State of Florida Department of Motor Vehicle Driver's License and Motor Vehicle Registration. Miami-Dade County where Miami International Airport dwells, is within 100-miles of Broward County. The representative issued me a conditional credit and instructed me to compl!
ete the notification of Disputed Item sign and return once I received my Billing Statement.  On 1/26/2004 I received and signed the Notification and mailed it back to AT&T MC. On 2/6/2004 I received a letter from S. Larson stating that I needed to sign and date the typed statement "My account was charged $84.00. Neither I nor anyone authorized by me made this charge." I signed it and sent it back on 2/6/2004. On 2/11/2004 I received another letter from S. Larson stating that the $84.00 charge was "made outside of your home state and more than 100-miles from your billing address" and my account will be re-billed $84.00.  I contacted the Billing Dispute department on 2/11/2004 and Nancy, ID number 031 was very abusive and threatened me stating she would send my $84.00-bill to collections if I did not pay it. I tried to calmly explain all of the above and she hung up the phone on me. I called back and requested to speak to her supervisor Mr. Terry Dosher and was told to go hire!
 an attorney because I must pay them $84 because they had already paid the merchant Miami International Airport. I have been a cardmember of AT&T Universal Card for more than ten years and could not believe they would resort to this type of fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace.  Can you help me please.