EMusic.com has ads all over the internet offering 25 free downloads, so I succumbed and signed up for the trial membership. Little did I know the scam I was signing up for. When I signed up, emusic required me to enter my credit card information, and with that, they automatically enrolled me to their monthly subscription service.
Anyway, I did end up downloading some tracks, but ultimately I found the music selection lacking. Since I did use the service the few weeks, and I didn't cancel soon enough, I suppose the first charge from emusic was legitimate, even though they get to do this in a sneaky, bait and switch way:
Sign up free!
Now give us your credit card number!
Now we're going to take your money for what we advertised as free!
After I got billed the first month, I definitely wanted to cancel my account before they scammed more money out of me, so I went and cancelled on the web before the subscription renewal date for the next month. But I noticed later that month that emusic had still charged my credit card for that month, which I had cancelled.
And I had a HELL of a time trying to contact EMusic's customer support to resolve this. First I tried calling the customer support phone number listed on their website (866-240-9271); which never went through to a live person. Whenever I called that number, I got a recorded message saying that the number is not available! I also tried to call the emusic number listed on my credit card statement, 866-847-0719, and got the same recorded message. But I couldn't find any other contact numbers on their website! How can they be a legitimate business and have no valid customer support line?
At the same time as I was trying to contact their telephone customer support, I also sent them an email via their web request form, asking to refund the unauthorized charge to my credit card. I received an automated email telling me they have received my request, and per the email instructions, responded to that email. I got no response after a week, so I sent another email to cs@help. Emusic.com and also sent another from their web request form. After another week, still no response, so I sent another email, and then a third and fourth email and I NEVER received any response to my emails. Wow, what stellar customer service, emusic!
At wits end, I googled emusic customer support number and found a message board where someone had posted their head office numbers. I called the head office in New York (212) 201-9240, and finally spoke with a customer service representative. I explained that they had billed me for my cancelled subscription and they should reverse the charge. The rep said they have a firm no refund policy and there was nothing they could do because the account was already cancelled, and assured me that I wouldn't see any further charges to my credit card. That's nice, but I explained that they had already taken money from me AFTER I cancelled my account, so they charged me for services not rendered, and I was expecting them to refund the unauthorized charge to my credit card. Like a robot, she just kept repeating their canned no refunds blurb, no matter how many times I tried to explain that they stole money for services not rendered. Eventually I asked to speak to her supervisor, but she said he wasn't available and he would just tell me the same thing anyways. Lucky for her I am a calm person, so I didn't blow a fit, but just hung up after asking a few more times. After all that, I got NOWHERE.
Emusic is an absolute SCAM! They use deceptive business practices, bait and switch to lure their sucker customers in, then proceed to fraudulently bill their customers.
These scammers use unscrupulous practices to steal money from their customers. I will never do business with these scammers again.
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