Vistaprint.com – Buyer Beware*
Posted by mwearl on September 19, 2009
Looking for a cheap place to buy business cards? You might find companies like vistaprint.com near the top of your Google search. Your “cheap” cards might end up costing you a lot of extra money. Here is the scam – and it IS a scam!
You get ready to place your order and you are offered $10 off because it claims you were a previous customer. The next month you may see a curious charge or two. They might be called things like Mvq*Vpclubus and Mvq*Bizmax; and each of them is a $14.95 charge against your account.
When I saw these charges, I googled them and things pointed to vistaprint.com. Since we had just purchased business cards from them, I assumed these were the charges for the cards and moved on. I didn’t realize that this was the second month these charges had been made.
I am one of many Americans paying bills online and am guilty of not staying on top of my charges. Having reviewed these charges, I have since learned that I have been charged $14.95 TWICE each month since May! Shame on them and shame on me for not monitoring this better.
Additional google searches have returned complaints against these fraudulent charges and the company. One complainant offered their 1-800 number to call. We called 1-888-243-6185 and spoke with Eric and then a supervisor who were both very helpful and assured us that in two business days we would be refunded ALL charges.
We did receive an email shortly after stating this intention, but others have been promised the same and continued to receive charges. I will give the employees of Vistaprint the benefit of the doubt, and will follow up when this is resolved.
* Update: September 22, 2009 – As promised, our account was refunded $14.95 x 8 for the 4 months these charges occured. I encourage any other victims to call the 888 number above.
Cybele said
It happened to us too! I ordered very adorable custom invitations for my son’s 3rd birthday and Vistaprint has been charging us $17.95 time two for months. What a Scam!
Look out!
Dale said
I just saw these $14.95/Mo. on my Visa statements. The charges went back four months. I called 866-897-9095 and spoke with a representative. She said she could only refund the current charge and cancel my subscription. I asked for a supervisor and threatened to dispute the charges. She said she would refund all charges for the four months.
Shame on me for not monitoring my statements better; but shame on VistaPrint for being so underhanded! I’ll think twice before doing business with VistPrint again!
Johnny said
I’ve ordered lots of things from VistaPrint and have never had those charges appear. It sounds like one of those “clubs” or “programs” other come ons that your are offered on a LOT of sites (I see it at Deep Discount too) when you go to check out. I usually check “no thanks” or “skip” or “take me to my total” or one of the other options (those options are sometimes not very obvious, on purpose) and never take the “$10 off” offer. If you do accept it, you need to read all the text below that says that by accepting the $10 or whatever the discount or offer is, you are agreeing to a trial period of this “great” savings thing or club or whatever and that you will be charged $x.xx per month if you don’t cancel within the trial period, etc. etc.. You can still get great deals on sites like VistaPrint, but just be careful about clicking on things online where you seem to be given something for nothing. Carefully READ what you my be agreeing to. It’s just common sense. I agree, Vista should not be doing business with sneaky offers like this, but the consumer has some obligation to be proactive when it comes to what they are agreeing to with their payment information online and elsewhere.
David said
Thanks, this information helped me get to the bottom of this right away. I am wondering if a class action for fraud should be attempted.
Frank Herold said
Vista Print got me also I cancelled my account with them today and talked to supervisor Mathew and hes said he would credit my discover card asap. Time will tell. I was charged $14.95 twice two months in a row. I am to receive credit for all 4 bogus charges.
Kathy said
Thanks for the clear instructions! I contacted them, asked for a supervisor, and requested a full refund of the charges and cancellation of the membership. They told me I can expect to have this in 3-5 days. Again, this just speaks to the flaws in our ‘online’ world where we just assume that a charge we see on our statement is one of the “regular” debits to our checking or credit card that we INTENDED to authorize.
Thanks for your help!
Kathy
leah bush said
I ordered from them several months ago and have never recieved a charge for anything on my statements. It does sound like a “club” technique.
Bill Patterson said
I just contacted the Bizmax after I had already cancelled my credit card because another online company attempted to charge my account $460.00 and Chase bank called me to see if I had authorized the charge, which I had not. They cancelled the account and asked about other charges that may be fraudulent, I then reviewed the current charges when I noticed the $14.95 charge from MVQ Bizmax. From there I went back 10 months and had found this charge every month! This is a business card and there are a lot of transactions but I will definitely go over each transaction.
Holden said
This forum just saved me almost $300. Also beware: they changed the name of this “Bizmax” service several times to avoid detection. Spoke to a manager and they were very quick to offer a full refund. What a sham. Thank you poster!
Karen said
I too was burned by Vista Print. I didn’t get a 10.00 off coupon! But it’s in their disclosure whenever you purchase from them that you will be charged $14.95. I contacted my bank they gave me the phone number and said call Vista Print at 888-243-6185 and document the cancellation number, the name of the person you spoke with and the date you called. Mia is who I talked to, I’ll tell I feel real sorry for the people that have to work for Vista Print and why isn’t someone shutting this place down????????????????? From now on I will research every company I deal with on the internet. Mia told me to expect a credit within 10 days of the entire amount I was charged and gave me all of the information I needed. If I am charged again next month, or if I do not receive the refund I am to contact my bank and they will bring charges against them.
Allison said
I was also charged a monthly fee of $14.95 for 3 months in a row! I love their cheap and high quality stuff, but this is just going too far!! Thanks for all the information.
lou ter said
Thanks for posting this! i too had these “mystery” charges and i f not for your info i would not have know what to do !
i have dealt with vista print b4 and not know any of htese scams
grrrrrr its despicable that they prey on people who owluld not noitce