40 replies to this topic

[badhangover]

Several reports of these received by members of several cigar boards in the past couple of days.

They are refund offers for excessive fees chaged by MC/Visa for foreign based transactions between the years 1996 to 2006.

A person is offered the option of claiming a simple $25 refund; itemize their foreign expendiatures for that time period; or state a number of days out of country during that time frame.

Research of the settlement agreement shows this to apparently be on the up and up. Nonetheless, I'd rather eschew the twenty-five bones than to willingly hand myself into Mr Dickie's noose for petty change. Better to be safe than sorry.

Edited by badhangover, 05 December 2007 - 01:04 AM.

[Ginseng]

Several reports of these received in the past couple of days from members of several cigar forums.

They are refund offers for excessive fees chaged by MC/Visa for foreign based transactions between the years 1996 to 2006.

A person is offered the option of claiming a simple $25 refund; itemize their foreign expendiatures for that time period; or state a number of days out of country during that time frame.

Research of the settlement agreement shows this to apparently be on the up and up. Nonetheless, I'd rather eschew the twenty-five bones than to willingly hand myself into Mr Dickie's noose for petty change. Better to be safe than sorry.

Let's see, 6 boxes of...nah!

These would be currency conversion fees? IIRC, they run about 3%

Wilkey

[badhangover]

Yes, Wilkey. You are correct. They are for excessive currency conversion fees.

[denverdog]

I just got one today, I laughed and tossed it. I will try to dig it up and scan it in for educational purposes.

[BobbyRitz]

Thanks for the heads up Raymond!

I agree, $25 is too small a reward for providing this information.

In other matters, I apologize for not calling while in California. Our schedule was more tightly packed than I originally thought.

Rob

[Devil Doc]

As my bootleggin' Granddaddy used to say, "Son, don't rat yourself out".

Doc.

[tone-ny]

Got my refund paperwork yesterday. I did the math I was out of country during that time period a lot. Maybe my refund will let me buy some goodies

Ironic in yesterday's mail I got back a notice that I wasn't entitled to a refund on another class action for a vehicle manufacturer.

[rob300c]

I got one of these.
As I was overseas for about a year during the time frame I probably will benefit from filling this out.
I probably will net significantly more then 25 bucks.
Cigar purchases weren't a factor for me.

-Rob

Edit to add...
I did not read it carefully but it appeared to be a settlement for a class action lawsuit and not some gov't refund.

Edited by rob300c, 05 December 2007 - 08:49 AM.

[tomthirtysix]

I got one, too, and was going to send out a PM to some people asking about this. See, in my situation, I wouldn't have to detail everything because my purchase was very small, and the $25 would actually be more than whatever "refund" I was entitled to.

[Mark Twain]

It looks like someone sued the major cc companies and made them agree to pay out a settlement for $336,000,000. The option #1 form doesn't ask you to itemize anything and it also dosen't ask you what time frame you traveled outside of the US. It looks pretty simple to me. Just sign it and get a check for $25. The other options are more complicated. You have to itemize things and list time frames of travel and you can only get back 1%-3% of the total transaction fee.

[davew0670]

got it..threw it away. Seemed like nothing but a "flag raiser."

[insight]

Who is the Claims Administrator?  That and the confidentiality statement will tell you a lot about how comfortable you should be submitting the info.

[Mark Twain]

Here's their site

[Strayvector]

Here's their site

Thanks, Marc. Currently out of town so I have no idea if I got the paperwork or not, but I'm with Anthony on this. I was out of the country for 18 months so hopefully the settlement will buy me some goodies.

[insight]

I am absolutely filing and unconcerned about the big brother aspect.  The Settlement Administrator is only going to be concerned with fraud.

[Mike33]

I just did it online (option #1) and took all of 2 mins. I always felt the CC companies and banks were screwing their customers with over-inflated foreign transaction fees, now I might be able to get 1/3 of those dollars back

[AVB]

I had already filled out the forms to qualify for Option 3 earlier this year. I can document just over 12K of overseas spending during that time frame of which I'll probably see $120. Beats $25 but if you can't back it up I'd go for option 1.

[pook]

I will never use a credit card for an "overseas" purchase

[badhangover]

I'm glad to see those who have responded have taken some thought in regards to the matter.

I, too, have made "safe" foreign credit card transactions during that time. But I will not be claiming any refund. Just my humble suggestion, but if one has ever made an "unsafe" cigar purchase, I would never admit to any foreign purchases to claim such a small refund. They'd have to get their proof some other way. Not from me.

As I originally posted, this does appear in all respects to be on the up and up. But I ain't officially telling anyone about foreign purchases at all if there are some hypothetical contraband purchase(s) in my purchasing background.

Edited by badhangover, 05 December 2007 - 02:30 PM.

[Mark Twain]

I'm glad to see those who have responded have taken some thought in regards to the matter.

I, too, have made "safe" foreign credit card transactions during that time. But I will not be claiming any refund. Just my humble suggestion, but if one has ever made an "unsafe" cigar purchase, I would never admit to any foreign purchases to claim such a small refund. They'd have to get their proof some other way. Not from me.

As I originally posted, this does appear in all respects to be on the up and up. But I ain't officially telling anyone about foreign purchases at all if there are some hypothetical contraband purchase(s) in my purchasing background.

1. They already know you've made a foreign purchase becuase it has shown up on your cc statement. The cc companies had to release this information about the settlement to all customers who've traveled outside of the US or had a foreign transaction fee show up on their cc. If you got a letter about this information, then they know.

2. The time frame is 10 years (1996-2006). You don't have to list specific items that you purchased with your cc. Did you travel out of the country at anypoint in time during the last 10 years and buy anything with your cc? If so, you can claim a part of the settlement.

3. Internet purchases count too. We're in a global economy now. The settlement could cover up to 13,440,000 Americans that check option #1 and ask for a $25 refund. No one is going to itemize, let alone aduit that number of requests.