I opted into a free trial to emusic.com that was advertised to me through the Facebook "Flair" application. The terms were for 25 downloads or a limited number of days (30 I think) whichever comes first. I downloaded only 18 songs and cancelled my membership via their web page within 72 hours due to their poor selection of popular music. I was angry to see that they billed me anyway on February 13th for $11.99. I called them on March 5 and spoke to Patricia who claimed that I had been billed because I had exceeded the 35 song limit for downloads. She claimed that my final download ordered was for an entire album of songs that effectively put me over this limit. This is false on a technical level and I will elaborate specifically why.
All downloads from their service are performed through proprietary software called the eMusic Download Manager. This application allows you queue and download multiple songs at a time. Only one song downloads at a time using this tool. It also allows you to cancel songs that have not downloaded but are pending in queue or even cancel downloads that have begun, but are only partially completed. If you opt to download an entire album, it put's each individual song into queue as a unique download. So should you decide that you accidentally clicked on the wrong song, you simply right-click on the song as it appears in queue and select the cancel option.
Although I had in fact clicked the link to download the entire album from one of their artists, I had only intended to initiate the download of Track #1 (these two options have download links that are close together and can easily be confused. Noticing this mistake I quickly cancelled the remaining tracks in the download manager before they even began. The download of track#1 was only 2/3 complete by the time I had cancelled the rest. So the digital information that comprises the MP3 file never left eMusic's servers and thus never downloaded to my computer. The "merchandise" was still in their possession and had in fact never left and never would. Anticipating a potential conflict I took a screen shot of the download manager's list of files received and still have it in my possession.
After explaining this all to Patricia comprehensively, she refused to accept my request for a refund. She claimed that "if you click the link then the download has happened." I asked her if she used the service personally. She said yes. I asked her if she was familiar with the option to cancel the download using their software, she said "yes." This last answer proved that she was contradicting her claim because she acknowledged that a download could in fact be cancelled before it took place even after a download link has been clicked. This left me flabbergasted. She claimed that if I went to their website and checked the "download history" for my own account, that I would see everything that I downloaded. Unlike the download software which queues and lists each song individually, the site history only acknowledges that an album was selected without further detail. Clearly their website is lacking vital information, and quite possibly, the eMusic Download Manager is not programmed to transmit such details back to the company which is a major flaw in their system and a liability to ALL of their customers. How many people on the internet have accidentally clicked the wrong link then clicked the "back" button? EMusic.com appears to have only gone halfway in providing such a feature, sure they let you cancel, but what's the point if they don't acknowledge it?
I asked to speak to a manager and Patricia said that only one manager existed in her site and that they would not be available for another hour. One thing I have failed to mention thus far is that Patricia was the second rep I spoke to about this complaint. I had debated this point back and forth only minutes prior to my call with her with another woman who's name I did not record. That representative hung up on me rather than deal with my complaint. That previous representative also told me that they "do not have the ability to see" which downloads completely transmitted to the customer's computer confirming my suspicions.
In conclusion, I can only assume that eMusic, by virtue of it's acknowledgment of it's own software's download cancellation capabilities, and it's reliance upon download reports that contain significantly limited information about download completion, that they are being negligent of consumer rights and thus deserve to be investigated and fined. The consumer is not and should not be held responsible for this negligence. I have disputed this with my credit card company, but due to the low dollar amount I am positive that they will simply credit it me and write it off rather than take the time and resources to press the issue with this merchant. Hence, I have chosen to file this report in hopes that it might spur interest in and scrutiny of the merchant's business practices.
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