I started my first membership with stamps.com in September.
At the time I had limited use of a vehicle and was selling often on e-bay. I was enticed by their offer for a free scale and that I could ship first-class mail from home. At that time, you couldn't ship first class mail through paypal or e-bay. I used the service for 2 months when I realized it really wasn't worth the $16.00 I was paying. The interface could be difficult to navigate and I wasn't saving time - I was adding it so I called to cancel. The man whom I spoke to insisted I keep the service.
I explained I had no use for it and was not interested and he continued to counter my statements by insisting I was getting convinience, a good deal, etc. Again my answer repeated times was no. Eventually, he tells me he is going to change my plan to a 9.95 basic plan and waive the service fee. I tell him that is not necessary I am not interested but he tells me he's already activated it so I might as well go ahead and use it and if I change my mind cancel again.
Well I called back and cancelled with someone else but this time I explained straight away that I already tried cancelling with someone else who continued to insist I don't cancel and also forced another month of service on me - albeit for free. I was firm and not polite about it and thankfully it worked! The man also told me there was another account in my name that had been opened; I told him I signed up for the wrong thing and didn't think to close it. He told me it was no problem and that he would take that account out of the system. My original account was cancelled. This was November.
So, fast forward to July. I re-activate my membership with stamps.com, against my own advice. I came into a situation where I had no access to mail some important documents and I decided to go with stamps.com again. I paid for my month of service and then after whirlwind of events taking place I forgot all about cancelling my account. I am back and operative after about 2 months when I realize stamps.com has taken 31.98 from my debit card. I find in my e-mail several notifications that they hadn't been able to get payment for me for the last 2 months (I had no money on there).
So - here they have not been able to collect any money from me at all for two months - yet they are continuing to rack up charges. I call in to explain that I would like the charges reversed as I have not logged in or used the service. I am told that it does not matter that I have not logged in or used the service because what I'm actually paying is a liscencing fee. I was told by the second woman I spoke to I am getting the opportunity to print postage online - that is what the charges are for regardless of whether or not I ever print anything or login.
I explain that they can look and see I've done nothing so therefore their company is not out any money by just giving me money back. I tell her I realize I should have cancelled but I didn't and the matter of fact is I haven't used the service, logged in, gotten nothing so I would still like my money back. She tells me she is going to transfer me to someone who can help me - Okay.
I get another woman on the phone, I explain the predicament, she tells me she understands but those charges are legit. So, I offer a hypothetical question. Say a person signs up with stamps.com and then forgets they did it - would the 15.98 a month just continue to pile up year after year and they would owe you the sum of $600.00 simply because they never cancelled? Apprently, yes.
She tells me to please hold and she will see what she can do for me. After about ten minutes she comes back and tells me she cannot cancel the charges. The reason given? She tells me that I owe money on my previous account and that they waived charges for me on that account already. Yes, that's right - the account where the man forced another month on me and waived the charges? Yep. I then tell them I was not informed of ANY outstanding charges on that account but she tells me it shows they are there. I tell her that makes no sense because why would nearly a year pass and I'm just hearing this now? Eventually I tell her I think she is making it up and that I will not be a returning customer and I will file complaints and with a "Have a Nice Day" I hang up.
I went into my e-mail and found the old reciept from when I cancelled my past account - it says that there was $0.00 due to them post closing my account. Just as I thought? She bold-faced lied to me. Then, I had another look at their TOS - of which they make difficult to find. There is no mention that customers are paying for a liscenscing fee.instead it says we are paying monthly installments for a service plan. I tried to look at what the definitions of each service plan are except there are no actual service plans listed on the site. Again I check - and it doesn't say that they can continue charging your account if you fail to cancel out your service but do not actually use it.
Furthermore, what it does say? It says that by signing up you agree to waive your right to be notified when they take money from your debit card.
What else? It says that you agree to let them have access to your updated financial information. That's why they knew when I finally had money on my debit card.
There is plenty more disgusting things found in their TOS and I can't say they are completely to blame. As a consumer, I should have been more thorough about examining the TOS instead of breezing through and I admit I should have cancelled but I didn't. However, charging people money for literally nothing? Continuing to charge people who you have gotten no money from for 2 months? Lying to your customers?
I will be calling back to confront them about lying to me and claiming false charges on my previous account, along with confronting them about why their TOS doesn't say we as customers pay for liscencing fees and why it doesn't say that if I don't cancel my account they can continue to charge me if I don't use the service.
0 comments