Caveat Emptor - Avoid the Video Professor!

I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent and a smart internet user and purchaser, but in the process of researching materials for classes I'm going to teach, I thought I had made all the right decisions.

I decided to check out some of the materials that Video Professor offers, so I ordered one set and paid the $6.95 fee for the "free" tutorials. You have 10 days to review them and if you determine that they don't meet your needs, you can send them back.

Order them, I did, and waited their arrival. Prior to the packages' arrival, I received a 'letter' from them stating they had been shipped. Shortly thereafter the set of tutorial disks arrived and I proceeded to evaluate the set.

Keep in mind that Video Professor states you have 10 days to review the merchandise.

On the seventh day I determined that the materials were insufficient for the purpose I had intended. Consequently, I called their phone number to get a Return Merchandise Authorization number. Imagine my surprise when they informed me that they had already billed my credit card 3 days earlier for the amount of $189.95.

Note that I was just 7 days into the 10 day evaluation time frame.

I told the Customer Service Agent that my time frame to review the materials hadn't expired as yet. "Sorry," I was told, but there was nothing she could do. I asked for a credit of the amount as I was going to return the materials. "Sorry," again she said.

I immediately called the credit card company to get this resolved, as I was within the time frame in order to return the package. I disputed the charge with MasterCard. Days later I received the paperwork necessary to dispute the claim.

It took three months and a few phone calls to convince and prove my dispute to MasterCard, and it finally did get removed. Now, if I had used American Express, the charge would have been credited immediately and they would investigate my claim - no problem!

Two points:
1) Avoid Video Professor at all costs as they do not live up to the claim of an evalution time period, and you will have a heck of a time trying to get your money back.
2) Use a CREDIT CARD, not a debit card, when purchasing on the World Wide Web. This will help should an issue develop with the product or company.

By the way, the materials I 'reviewed' were not at all that impressive.

Caveat Emptor! Let the buyer beware!

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