CPR Fraud?

[Kitiger]

I don't know if the CPR course I signed up for is legitimate. They claim to give an American Heart Association certification, but their website is [email protected].

After I paid by credit card, they sent an email saying that I also have to sign up and pay for the "separate online element" prior to the skills session that I had already paid for. The skills portion is done by zoom, in a room by myself.

The email said there is a no refund/no cancelation policy, and if I cancel, I will never be able to get another certification (I will be placed on a do-not-certify list).

When I called the American Heart Association, I was told that they do not recognize this website. 

I looked into this at 3 am, after a 12-hour shift. The email they first sent me pointed out that I would soon need my CPR certification. When I looked at my CPR card, it showed that it had expired! I panicked. I didn't realize that I simply hadn't put the new one in my wallet. (I outdate in June.) 

What do you think? Is this legitimate?

[Kitiger, RN]

londonflo said:

You did not receive their services besides processing your payments. . God Almighty, what services where they alleging provided for you past charging you credit card?

I just hated when these scammers would take the students money when their CPR was expired!

Yeah, they're really agitating now. How can I steal something I didn't take and never had? 

I'm hoping others will read this and wary of companies like this.

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

londonflo said:

You did not receive their services besides processing your payments. . God Almighty, what services where they alleging provided for you past charging you credit card?

I just hated when these scammers would take the students money when their CPR was expired!

Have you contacted your credit card company to have the charges removed? You've collected plenty of data to prove fraud.

[londonflo]

JKL33 said:

In addition to the other BS, this is (or could be) a very cleverly worded way of saying that should your employing organization reach out to this fraudulent provider to verify that you completed a course through them, they will say no

What employer would check with them along the other CPR scammers. There are so many of these scamming companies, But may be they actually teach someone to save a live (this is not an endorsement)

[Kitiger, RN]

subee said:

Have you contacted your credit card company to have the charges removed? You've collected plenty of data to prove fraud.

We were going to do this, but then my husband changed his mind. He says he doesn't want to have to go back & forth with them. He doesn't want to be bothered by their numerous texts and emails. Ah, well. 

I do plan to give my employer all this information in an email, so she can warn off the other nurses. And I told the nurses that I work with about this scam.

[JKL33]

Kitiger said:

We were going to do this, but then my husband changed his mind. He says he doesn't want to have to go back & forth with them. He doesn't want to be bothered by their numerous texts and emails. Ah, well.

Oh this almost hurts me. ?

I have actually filed a dispute only once in my life. And it was over a measly $15, for an automated service that wouldn't activate after my card was charged. The company had a VM box that was full and never replied to my other forms of inquiry.

I realize sometimes things don't work/problems happen, etc., but at the end of the day no one is going to have an easy time keeping my money without providing the advertised service if I can help it. Especially if they don't want to participate in trouble-shooting or any customer service whatsoever. Nursing is hard work; it boils my blood thinking about giving it away to a scammer.

 

Kitiger said:

He says he doesn't want to have to go back & forth with them. He doesn't want to be bothered by their numerous texts and emails.

Obviously your & husband's decision. But....ugh. There is a process, probably not much back and forth. You have evidence of what the business advertises to induce your business/payment, and evidence post-payment that they are not actually offering that advertised service.

In my case I opened a dispute, submitted my evidence (which was basically nothing more than a short paragraph noting that the automated service was defunct and how I had tried to reach out to the owner) and that was it. Checked on the status of the dispute a couple of times (through CC website) and like the 3rd time it said resolved, the owner had not replied to the inquiry and I got my money back.*

I understand we're all different though, and we all need to decide what level of annoyance/inconvenience we're willing to endure to get X amount of money back. ???

*ETA I suspect that the reason your CPR scammer is so heavy with the threats is because they don't have a leg to stand on if a dispute is filed. They could also incur additional fees if the dispute is resolved in your favor. Perhaps they are even already in danger of being considered a high-risk merchant d/t previous disputes? Meanwhile you have nothing additional to lose (except maybe 15-30 minutes' time over the course of opening dispute and resolution?)

[mtmkjr, BSN]

Kitiger said:

We were going to do this, but then my husband changed his mind. He says he doesn't want to have to go back & forth with them. He doesn't want to be bothered by their numerous texts and emails. Ah, well. 

I do plan to give my employer all this information in an email, so she can warn off the other nurses. And I told the nurses that I work with about this scam.

Well I guess they won this one.

If my husband didn't want to get in the weeds in a dispute I would do it myself ?

And I agree with @JKL33 I think it would be pretty cut and dry. 

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

Kitiger said:

We were going to do this, but then my husband changed his mind. He says he doesn't want to have to go back & forth with them. He doesn't want to be bothered by their numerous texts and emails. Ah, well. 

I do plan to give my employer all this information in an email, so she can warn off the other nurses. And I told the nurses that I work with about this scam.

It's actually very little work and totally worth it.  There are no bad consequences to revenge served cold.

[londonflo]

Kitiger said:

We were going to do this, but then my husband changed his mind. He says he doesn't want to have to go back & forth with them. He doesn't want to be bothered by their numerous texts and emails. Ah, well. 

There is no back and forth. I have disputed charges (All made without my knowledge)  in a state I never went to for Uber, San Francisco, another for ABE books (I have never bought from them) . It is so easy to report the erroneous charges. no back and forth. Remember your credit card wants to keep YOU as a customer, not some scammer.

If in the future you want to separate your bank account from something else. I use Pay Pal . I use this for all our tax deductibles expenses. Easy to get a list from them , tax ready... The scariest outcome is could your husband have something on your credit card he doesn't want you to learn about?

[Googlenurse, ASN, BSN, RN]

Most jobs specify AHA or Red Cross, but I will say that two of my jobs will not accept Red Cross CPR. So I almost always go with AHA

[JohnHood, BSN]

Sadly, this sounds like a scam. I would report them.

[Lbell]

Did you ever resolve this? I just fell for this too. Unfortunately. I asked them to cancel and refund to my account.  

"There is concern over your authenticity as a student who is completing an official certification, and we have the right to decline participation in any program for students who cannot abide by required and mandated curriculum. As such, will issue a one time exception refund to your original form of payment, however it must be noted you enrolled in an official certification program, at an official location, and the enrollment is valid. Further instances of enrollment and cancellation due to fears of scam, when you enrolled in the official BLS certification, and provide the fraud prevention measures, will not be honored. There are numerous fraud prevention measures in place to prevent unauthorized activity."

Then they stated this

"Your certification session at ( DATE and time) has been canceled per your request (no refund/no credit). (URL link). If you did not intend on canceling your session, please immediately reply so customer service can assist."

 

So is this a verified scam that you found it out to be? I canceled my card in fear after reading this.