Hard to believe at my advanced age that I sit in my room bothering no one I know of only to find I allowed a thief to enter my home and steal $70.80 from me. I even have a loaded gun handy but this thief was so slick I never even considered using it to shoot my new MacBook!
The alleged "thief" in my story is SOFTWARE-HQ and from a quick review of other "RipOff" reports it looks like I am not the Lone Ranger. I am stunned by the number of grievances on this disreputable company. My shame is I did not consider checking the complaint before I got ripped off!
It has been only some 24 hours since I decided to try to save some money on phone calls and check out SKYPE, the VOIP "mostly free" phone service. I am just an old guy living on SSA, no job, trying to make it day to day. So this seemed liked a good idea. Once in SKYPEs site almost in a flash, I found myself with the Software-HQ website in my face. I was under impression this was PART of SKYPEs program. It appeared to offer some sort of "support" services for SKYPE, when in fact it turns out they seem to have nothing to do with SKYPE.By the time I had "signed up" for a onetime charge of $35.40 for what I believed was part of the SKYPE service it was too late to reverse the unwanted purchase.
I scrambled mindlessly around the SOFTWARE-HQ site to find anyway to reverse this "error" but there was no way to do so. Only a blazing capital red letter WARNING..."ALL UNSUBSTANTIATED AND/OR FRAUDULENT CHARGEBACK REQUESTS WILL BE PROSECUTED AND COLLECTED TO THE FURTHEST (sic) EXTENT OF THE LAW UNDER THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT (FDCPA)! On reading this THREAT to a supposed new customer I immediately knew I had been sucker punched and they were not going to refund my $70.80! Thats right... They even charged me TWICE for the same identical purchase!
If any of this sounds familiar it is because the same "theme" seems to be repeated in a number of other consumer complaints on SOFTWARE-HQ! I can not help but wonder that maybe SKYPE is in cahoots with SOFTWARE-HQ to rip prospective customers off. Its obvious I am NOT the ONLY one to report a similar experience. There is at least one, perhaps more in the various reports on being ripped by SOFTWARE-HQ in conjunction with an innocent effort to do business with SKYPE... When this happens more than once to consumers the idea of coincidence wanes thinner and thinner with each report.
I have received my first absolute REJECTION from SOFTWARE-HQ. I e mailed this first polite request IMMEDIATELY after I could find no other way to reverse whatever transaction seemed to have occured. I have sent now two polite requests for refunds and even told them I accept their $5.99 "processing" for their trouble. After I sent the second request thats when I began to wonder "Gee willikers Opie, I wonder if there are any negative blog sites on Software-HQ?" I began my search and quickly discovered the complaint!
After read several grievances on this company, several, perhaps more, almost identical to my experience I began to sniff "BAIT & SWITCH". Maybe SKYPE did not know that Software-HQ may be invading their website but it seems like they sure as hell should have known it. They may be an unwitting co-conspirator to CONSUMER FRAUD, but it only takes two participants, unwitting or not, to create a conspiracy. One of which if true should have Software-HQ shaking in their boots wondering if the Feds are are their door!
I, for one, do not take this lightly. Not at my age. I have managed, so far, to eke out a survival living mostly on my meager SSA income. Seeking to reduce my telephone expenses so I can manage a wee bit better seemed like a reasonable idea. I, nor does anyone, deserve to be assaulted by SNEAK THIEVES hiding in our computers where one can't even shoot the criminals while they are in the act. So I invite Software-HQ to do whatever they wish to me. I assure them I have extremely little to lose, their WARNING in bold red letters notwithstanding!
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