Update: The Olathe Police Department arrested a 22-year-old female suspected of forgery in this case. She is being held in the Johnson County Jail where she will await her first appearance in court.
OLATHE, Kan. — An Olathe woman has gone to police, the Johnson County District Attorney’s office and FOX 4 News, trying to get the word out about a company she says stole money from her.
It started with a knock on Rachel Bowerman-Deering’s front door. When she answered, she found a young woman selling magazines.
“I don’t make a habit ever of buying things from door-to-door sales people,” Bowerman-Deering said. “I just don’t.”
But she really wanted to renew her subscription to Yoga Journal, so she went against her better judgment and bought a one-year subscription from the saleswoman. She wrote her a $47 check. That turned out to be a big mistake.
The next day, when Bowerman-Deering checked her bank account online, she noticed a debit for $147. When she pulled the transaction up, she saw the check that she had written for $47, had been altered to $147.
The person who forged her check didn’t even try to be clever.
Whomever it was simply added a 1 in front of the 47 and never even tried to change the second line where Bowerman-Deering had written out 47 and no 100s in cursive. She immediately called the door-to-door sales company to complain.
But she’s never reached a real person, just a machine. She said she’s left three messages and not received a single return call.
She filed a dispute with her bank and a report with the Olathe Police Department and the bad check unit of the Johnson County District Attorney’s office.
Then she called FOX 4 Problem Solvers.
“I can’t be the only person this has happened to,” she said. “I want to warn others.”
FOX 4 checked, and Bowerman-Deering definitely isn’t the only person to have had a less than satisfactory experience with the door-to-door magazine sales company Ultimate Solutions. The company, based in Florissant, Mo., has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau.
According to the BBB, Ultimate Solutions used to be based in Ohio, where it had compiled more than 30 complaints.
Demetra Wright Kyles is listed as the founder and owner. FOX 4 Problem Solvers’ attempts to reach the company by phone were never returned.
Problem Solvers, however, did reach someone at Yoga Journal, the magazine that Bowerman-Deering had wanted to buy. Yoga Journal had never heard of Ultimate Solutions, but is now looking into the company. It’s also sending Bowerman-Deering a one-year free subscription.
Bowerman- Deering’s bank has also assured her that she will get the extra $100 back that was fraudulently taken from her account. But Bowerman-Deering said she won’t be satisfied until the person who scammed her is held accountable.
