(No Subject)
Anonymous
On December 8, 1999 I won a judgement against TLC Worldwide, Inc. in the amount of $164.00 in small claims court because TLC Worldwide, Inc. took money without providing the service they advertised.
On January 8, 1999 my credit card was charge by TLC Worldwide, Inc. for the service of having a correspondent (personal/pen pal) advertisement to be printed and distributed to Latinas in Central and South America.
TLC Worldwide Inc advertises that it prints and distributes correspondent ads every other month sending men's ads... "to over 1,800 selected ladies, who on average will network your photo and data to approximately 4 different ladies. That totals over 6,000 Latin Ladies..."
January 8 my credit card was charged but after many months of waiting, no letters came. On May 12 I wrote to TLC...
Dear TLC Worldwide Inc,
I am unhappy because my credit card was charged in early January
but I have received nothing but more of your advertisements.
If my personal listing order was canceled or lost by you, please
credit my card #... ASAP.
[END]
I received no reply.
I wrote to my credit card company who said that too many months had passed for them to contest the charge. Instead, my credit card company reportedly wrote to TLC Worldwide, Inc. to request a "good faith collection" (or refund). TLC Worldwide, Inc. refused to honor this request.
I wrote to the Better Business Bureau. In September I received a large envelope from the BBB containing a photo copy of my May 12 letter to TLC Worldwide, Inc. and a copy of a handwritten note from TLC Worldwide, Inc. to the BBB. The note was supposedly written by "Estela Perez" of TLC Worldwide, Inc. and it stated, "When we received his letter in May we research (sic) and found that it got misplaced..." The note also said that, once found, my order was processed.
Please re-read the language in my May 12 letter.
In any case, these scumbags still never did distribute my contact information honoring their advertised service. Perhaps they are getting around to doing it now -- 12 months later!
In preparing for small claims, I looked closer at the mailings I received from TLC Worldwide, Inc. In doing this I found another reason to be distrustful: There are too many Mr. Smith's working at TLC Worldwide, Inc.
TLC Worldwide, Inc. mailings indicate that...
"Sam Smith"
"James Smith"
"James McLeod"
"Ray Reitle"
"Estela Perez"
"Bruce White"
"Byron Lutz"
..are people connected with T.L.C. Worldwide, Inc. Kind of fishy.
They sometimes employ the following phrases...
"The Latin Correspondence Specialists"
"The Romance Zone"
"The Latina Connection"
"Latin Love Connection"
"Latin Introduction Service"
"tlcworldwide.com"
"latin-women.com"
"T.L.C. Correspondence is King"
Addresses...
TLC Worldwide, Inc.
PO Box 924888
Houston TX 77292
and
T.L.C. Worldwide, Inc.
PO Box 924994
Houston TX 77292
Ph. 713-896-9993 Fax 713-681-0950
And the last warning signs I discovered... T.L.C. Worldwide, Inc. has no "800" toll-free phone number. Worse, TLC attracts new customers using the two .com web sites mentioned above, but there is not one single email address listed on any web page or in any of the mailings TLC sends out through US Mail.
The credit card scam is easy for them to pull off. Surely the period credit card companies allow for challenges will pass while each credit card owner is trustfully waiting for the every-other-month publication to cycle. Surely the credit card challenge period will pass while each credit card owner is trustfully waiting for the longer times for international mails to be distributed.
Every reasonable person will expect to wait beyond the 90-or-so days allowed by their credit card company.
Once the waiting is over, there is nothing but small claims court.