Being a victim of Credit Card Scam

When I was going through my detailed bank account statement, I noticed $10 Debit with the description 'wli*shopperdiscount'. I didn't have any clue on how I spent that money on that day, but thought may be it is just my memory issue. Later I saw this repeating every month and I decided to investigate it immediately. But as usual kept postponing till it was 5 months. A simple Google search with 'wli*shopperdiscount' pointed me to a blog post which informed that it is from a company named Web Loyalty and it is possible to get refund by contacting them.

They refunded me $50 they had taken from my account and also explained me how the whole thing happened. Those who are interested in reading this long story, go ahead...

There were hundreds of comments to that blog post, from various people explaining how they got ripped off without their knowledge. Many however mentioned that, they got their money refunded. One comment was from a VP of Web Loyalty asking everyone to contact him for an explanation.

So I wrote the following email to him:

" In my bank statement, I noticed $10 charged every month with a description WLI*SHOPPERDISCOUNT 800. One blog site (http://leblog.exuberance.com/2006/03/why_does_wlisho.html) pointed out that this is from your organization and I saw your comment saying that you will help us identify the issue and refund the money I lost.

As far as I remember I have not subscribed for this service. Like others noticed, may be some of the web site I transacted must have sold my CC info to you or must have made me click on an offer without disclosing that I will be charged every month for something that I do not want or know.

My credit card ends at XXXX and I request your immediate action to refund all the money taken from my account. I also request you to provide more information on how this happened, so that I can post those details in blogs and let my friends and families know. I am very much interested and eager to know that how you are going to explain this action as hundreds of people are complaining about this and your web site still claims that its a good business model. As evident from the blog posts, your business model has made many of us to take the decision of not shopping online from the web site from where we got trapped (may be since we didn't read all the fine prints!). "

I got an immediate response as below:

" Thank you for contacting us so that we can address your concerns. 

We are sorry if there was any misunderstanding regarding the membership as we strive to make our offers as clear as possible.   As you requested, we've cancelled the membership and issued you refunds for the 5 monthly membership charges that you incurred.     These refunds should appear shortly in your credit card account depending upon how frequently your credit card issuer posts transactions.  

I will be happy to provide you with details on how the membership was initiated so that your concerns are fully addressed.    I am in the process of collecting those details and will send them to you tomorrow in a separate email.  " 

And few days later another email with attachments showing their offer and email templates:

" As you requested, I am providing you background information on how the Shopper Discounts & Rewards membership was initiated.  

On December 25, 2006, when you completed an online transaction with www.wirefly.com, you enrolled in Shoppers Discount & Rewards by clicking on a $10 cash back award, entering your email address twice and clicking “YES” on an enrollment button. I've attached the actual page through which you joined. Please note that directly above the section for entering email addresses, the text advises that you are authorizing the secure transfer of your name, address and credit or debit card information to Shoppers Discount & Rewards for billing and benefit processing.   Immediately after accepting the membership offer you were presented with a membership acknowledgement page and within 10 minutes a membership confirmation email with details on how to use the membership was sent to your email address.  These are also attached for your review.    

We sent you seven more emails from January 2, 2007 through May 24, 2007 with details of the membership.   The one that was sent to you on January 11, 2007 informed you that your 30-day free trial would end in 14 days and that you would be billed unless you cancelled your membership.   If you would like me to send you copies of these emails, just let me know.  

I hope this helps to clarify how the membership was initiated and why you were charged the membership fees.   Please contact me at consumeraffairs@webloyalty.com if you have suggestions for improving our service or to further discuss this matter.  "

I verified my email archives and found this claim to be true. Now I remembered that I had clicked on some offer that appeared as harmless without actually reading the details.

By this time they had refunded my $50 as 5 different transactions of $10.

So now you know the whole story! And one of the comment to another blog post with this issue from a person claimed to be WebLoyalty employee says it all...

"WebLoyalty depends on idiots like you to NOT notice this stuff. To be blinded by the idea that you are getting something for “free”. To not look at your credit card statement so charges go through every month. Its unbelievable the amount of dummies out there that fall for this stuff. Even if you do catch the charges eventually, and get a refund they still made money off of you by collecting interest on your money when they had possession of it."

Vinodayathra

Another new Malayalam movie release here in US. Watching Vinodayathra from Fun Asia theater in Dallas this weekend was fun. Though it does not meet the earlier standards of Sathyan Anthikkad movies, it surely was entertaining and to some extend thought provoking. Sathyan throws pieces of all prevalent social issues in Kerala with an incredible humor sense. I liked Dileep in his innocent irresponsible youth who is trying to avoid the bigger responsibilities of life. Like most of us, until there is a compelling reason, we tend to live the easy life trying to turn a blind eye on issues we face daily, while discussing in detail about Iraq war and Bush Administration. Mukesh reminds us of his role in Godfather genre movies. Meera Jasmine is at her best always, but this particular role looked so repetitive.

The theater was almost full when we watched this movie. Obviously all of them must be Mallus as there was no subtitles for the movie. There was this family sitting just behind me and one of the kids (obviously born in America and speaks only English) kept on asking his dad every now and then what the characters were talking. Dad patiently translated all Malayalam dialogues for his kid to understand the movie better. It was funny, and at the same time pity to hear him say things like "She is asking him what is the cost of one pound of rice?".

Zero Gravity

I was reading a TIME article on how Professor Stephen Hawking experienced the Freedom of Weightlessness by flying in a special aircraft 'G-Force One'. That's when I knew that there are ways to experience zero gravity without going to space.

Earlier I had read news about 'Virgin Galactic'. They are the the world’s first spaceline, which is on track to offer commercial spaceflight for the public. Then there was this article in Malayalam news papers that confirmed that one of the few selected for their first flight is a Mallu (The 'Sancharam' travel TV show host).

I read all the related news then and found the idea too much tempting. A trip to the space to watch earth from top and experience zero gravity will be surely the ultimate of all trips. But the cost of $200,000 (almost 80 Laks Indian Rupees) is too high for me!

Now here is 'G-Force One' from 'Zero G'. Its a normal Boeing aircraft modified to fly a parabolic flight maneuvers that will create temporary weightlessness. And the total cost is only $3,500. Now this is really tempting!

Vegas and Canyons

Already I had wasted a long weekend (Thanks Giving) here without going out any where. But that time I had just landed in US and there was work related issues too. This time it is Memorial Day Weekend. Monday is a holiday and I get three days together. But since it was the most preferred long weekend for all in America for a vacation trip, even my three months advance plans didn’t help me in getting better deals for flight and hotel rooms. So I decided to add one more day by taking leave from work and did all the planning in detail for a grand vacation from 2007 May 26th, Saturday to 2007 May 29th, Tuesday (4 Days). It is interesting how easy it is to book flight, hotel room, and rental car well in advance through internet, but at the same time how difficult it is to search through numerous options and deals to decide on better ones.

Even though many of my friends and their families had committed earlier to join us for this vacation, they all changed their plans as expected J leaving me and my wife alone to enjoy the vacation in peace.

On Saturday, we started very early in the morning to catch Flight 101 of US Airways to Las Vegas from Dallas Fort Worth airport. We reached there by 07:30 AM after a two hour flight and headed straight to the McCarran Airport car rental center to pick up our compact Mazda car from Hertz. Our hotel (Riviera) was not very far (on Last Vegas Blvd, known as The Strip), but they didn’t allow us to check in early. So we headed for Red Rock Canyon which was just half an hour drive from Vegas.


Red Rock Canyon conservation area has large red sandstone peaks popular for hiking and rock climbing. We started from the Visitors Center picking up the brochures and maps and drinking plenty of water. It has a one-way loop road, 13 miles (21 km) long, providing vehicle access to many of the view points and hiking trails in the canyon. We stopped at the first view point named Calico and hit the hiking trails to get a closer look of those strange red rock formations. Climbing those rocks was not tough and was interesting except for the scorching sun. By the time we were back from the rocks, we were out of water supply and thirst was killing us. Nevertheless we continued enjoying the vistas and completed the scenic loop drive looking for water and not finding it anywhere, and stopping at all view points (but not hiking any more). We should have carried enough water!

The most significant geologic feature of Red Rock Canyon is the Keystone Thrust Fault. A thrust fault is a fracture in the earth's crust where one rock plate is thrust horizontally over another. About 65 million years ago, it is believed that two of the earth's crustal plates collided with such force that part of one plate was shoved up and over younger sandstones. This thrust contact is clearly defined by the sharp contrast between the grey limestones and the red sandstones.

Why are the rocks RED? Here is the explanation from Keystone Visitor Guide:
More than 600 million years ago, the land that would become Red Rock Canyon was the bottom of a deep ocean basin. Over time, changing land and sea levels resulted in the deposition of both ocean and continental sediments that became the gray limestone found at Red Rock Canyon today. About 180 million years ago, a giant sand dune field formed over what became the Western United States. Powerful winds shifted the sands back and forth, forming angled lines in the sand. Over time, the sheer weight of the layers of sand compressed into stone. This formation, locally known as Aztec Sandstone, is quite hard and forms the cliffs of Red Rock Canyon. Exposure to the elements caused some of the iron-bearing minerals to oxidize. This oxidizing process can be more easily thought of as a "rusting of the sand," which resulted in red, orange and tan colored rocks.

By the time we reached our hotel room back from Red Rock Canyon we knew well how exhausting the desert sun can make you after a day trip. So for the next day’s trip to Grand Canyon, we carried lots of water and snacks.

On Sunday morning, we started the road drive from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon and covered a distance of about 300 miles (482 kilometers) in more than 5 hours. The drive was really thrilling with straight roads (US-93 and I-40) cutting across vast deserts with changing landscapes and I was able to hit the 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour mark at times.

We stopped at Lake Mead and Hoover Dam at the border of Nevada and Arizona states. By the time we reached Grand Canyon, it was almost noon. It was over crowded with long weekend tourists and finding a parking place was really difficult.

Though I had seen many photos and videos of Grand Canyon, I never had an idea how it will be to feel and experience one of the world’s premier natural attractions and one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The Grand Canyon is a very colorful, steep-sided gorge or chasm (a deep valley), carved by the Colorado River cutting a channel over about 6 million years through the rocks of the Colorado Plateau. It is 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (0.4 to 24 kilometers), and attains a depth of more than a mile (1.6 km). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's history has been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut through layer after layer of sediment as the Colorado Plateaus have uplifted.

We landed on the south side (known as South Rim) of this deep cut on earth’s face and the views from there were breath taking. There were many activities possible other than sight seeing, like helicopter rides, water rafting in the river, hiking down to the bottom of canyon and camping there a night, etc which demanded more time and planning besides money. So we limited our experience to hiking through the rim taking time to enjoy the wonders of nature. Also we spent considerable time at the visitors centre learning the historical and geographical details of canyon.

Sun set and sun rise were special in Grand Canyon as it will cast a magical effect of lights and shadows on the canyon walls. So we waited until sun set and watched this magical play from Hopi Point.

The return trip was not that nice and we were totally exhausted when we reached back to our hotel room in Vegas at around 3 AM in the night.

So the next day, we spent most of the time sleeping as anyway it didn’t make much sense to explore Vegas in the day light as the city has all its activities rolling in the night. We started exploring the attractions in the city by evening, and soon realized that there were too many man made wonders along the Vegas streets, than we could cover in a whole night.

Vegas is internationally known as a vacation, shopping, entertainment, and gambling destination. It was unbelievable how glamorous and special a desert city can become with its huge hotels and casinos each having their own specialty, be it a gigantic volcano simulation, huge water falls and water canals with boating, dancing fountains, or numerous thrill rides.

We were stunned by a Pirates show setup in front of a huge casino where life size ships came running through the water canals (all man made) and displayed thrilling actions that included firing with canons and all.

The last day in Vegas was again needed for taking rest rather than adding more places to our ‘To See’ list. We went to airport early and were back in Dallas by 9 PM, ending our longest vacation in America.

Rodeo at Fort Worth

There were few more things to see at Fort Worth. So we dedicated one more weekend to visit the remaining attractions there.

We started with the down town and spent time till after noon roaming around the spacious and beautiful lanes and visiting some museums. Also, we enjoyed a nice lunch from there.

When we reached the Log Cabin Village which was bit far from city, where an old time village is preserved as it is, it was already closed. We saw it from outside and then returned to the Stockyards area by evening.

We spent some time watching the longhorns in the yards and then proceeded to see the rodeo show for the first time. Rodeo is a popular cowboy sport where they show off their skill at riding, roping and rounding up cattle. It was staged in the historic cowtown coliseum and the events included bull riding (where the bull will try to throw off the rider), horse riding (same on horseback), team roping (cowboys on horse back will catch a running bull with ropes), calf roping (same done on a calf) and women's barrel racing where horseback cowgirls will ride the horse around barrels without letting them fall. All the events were real timed competitions where different teams participated.

There were some fun items too like asking a gang of kids to get hold of a ribbon tied to the tale of a running calf. The scene of calf running away at seeing a whole bunch of kids chasing it down was funny but at the same time cruel.