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State Investigating Florida Gas Card Company

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Jan 16, 2009 12:19 am US/Eastern

State Investigating Florida Gas Card Company

South Florida Man Says He's Owed Hundreds Of Dollars

Reporting
Carey Codd
E-mail
DELRAY BEACH (CBS4) ― After hundreds of complaints to a consumer group, the Florida Attorney General's Office is investigating a Largo-based company offering free gas cards to customers.

One South Florida customer, Gary Perlman, shared his story with CBS4.

Last summer, Perlman saw an ad for the Williams Delray Kia dealership that offered $500 in free gas with the purchase of a new car.

"At the time gas was $4.35 or $4.40 a gallon, and I said that's a big savings," Perlman said. "That will help a lot."

Perlman bought a car and contacted the company handling the gas cards. The company uses several names, including Free Gas Redemption and FreeBeeGas.com.

According to Florida public records, the company is owned by Crystal Clark under the parent name, Tidewater Marketing Global Consultants.

Perlman said the promotion works like this: A customer purchases $100 worth of gas each month at a specified dealer. The customer sends those receipts to Free Gas Redemption or FreeBeeGas.com and the company is supposed to send a $25 gas gift card within two months. This continues until a customer has reached $500.

Perlman says for months he did not receive a gift card and could not reach the company.

"You have no faith in a company that does something like this to a consumer," Perlman said.

Perlman showed us the gift cards he received this week after warning the company he planned to take his complaints to CBS4.

"I've gotten three but it's like pulling teeth," he said. "I mean it's very, very difficult and I don't think I'm gonna go again with an offer like this. I just don't have the faith in it."

Perlman is not alone.

Records from the Better Business Bureau reveal that since 2006, nearly 800 people have lodged complaints against FreeBeeGas.com. Hundreds of those complaints have been resolved by the company within the past year.

The BBB report says "Consumers allege that once they pay the $5.00 fee and turn in their gas receipts, they either never receive the gas cards, or the gas cards do not arrive with the time frame promised by the company."

The BBB gave FreeBeeGas.com an F rating.

The Florida Attorney General's Office is investigating FreeBeeGas.com for unfair business practices. They opened their investigation last summer.

According to the Florida Attorney General's Office, they are forwarding complaints to the company and it appears "the complaints are being addressed."

The general manager at Williams Delray Kia told CBS 4 their free gas card promotion is over. We are told the whole situation has been frustrating for them but "(FreeBeeGas.com) are getting cards out to people now," the general manager said.

We attempted to reach officials from FreeBeeGas.com for comment but they did not return our repeated phone calls.

Perlman feels FreeBeeGas.com should be scrutinized. He wants the hundreds of dollars in gift cards he said he's owed. He realizes $500 is not a large amount of money but he said in this economy every dollar counts.

"It's small," he said. "It's an annoyance but it doesn't have to happen. It just doesn't. It's not fair to the consumer."

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