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My wife and I are victims of a phone scam by Premier Benefits of Orange, California. We hope nobody else in our area will fall for it after reading our story. The phone solicitor wanted to give us $200 worth of coupons "good for two hundred dollars in purchases at any mall in the U.S." Price? "Just $3.95, unrefundable, as a delivery fee," to be taken from our checking account. We listened through all the disclosures of the verifier and we "made a deal" with Premier Benefits claiming to be located at 1442 E. Lincoln Avenue, Orange, California 98865. We were also to be sent information about other offers including a generous phone card, and we would have at least thirty days to examine the package, with the right to cancel. I told my wife, "It's worth the risk. It is only $3.95. If they take more than that, they would be guilty of a crime." I was wrong. What did we get? That was two weeks ago. The coupons have not arrived. The $3.95 is still in our account. Instead, we just learned Premier Benefits withdrew $149.95 from our checking account, because we "did not call to cancel." Why didn't we call to cancel? We didn't call to cancel because there was nothing to cancel. We had not received the package, so how could we cancel? On the phone April 29, I talked to a supervisor who would not admit to any mistake and said it was our fault that the coupons were not delivered. After a long unfruitful conversation I told the supervisor, who sounded like a native of India, "You will probably take a lot of money out of the accounts of hundreds of customers and then flee back to India." "How could I flee to India? I am in India now," admitted the "Orange County" businessman. I called the sheriff's office. The cordial deputy explained to me that our problem is a "civil matter." No crime has been committed. So, apparently it is not a crime to: 1. Sell something at an agreed price and fail to deliver the product. 2. Take without authorization a payment nearly 40 times greater than the agreed amount and never deliver anything. 3. Blame the customer for what has happened. I am writing this because I want the public to be warned about scams like this. We enjoy using coupons, so we were good prospects. It was only at the very end that we learned the coupons would NOT be mailed to us. "They will be delivered personally," said the salesman "By one of our employees." That alone should have been warning enough. When you are operating a "legal" scam, you do not use the mails. The post office has rules against fraud, even when local law enforcement does not. Oh, yes. I phoned the Better Business Bureau in Orange County during business hours. Nobody was there. This e-mail is from: Richard Palmquist Truth Radio: rp@truthradio.com PO Box 344 Nipomo, CA 93444