This case of mine has about a month of history. It all began with an initial subscription to Fileplanet.com on the basis that I would receive a closed beta key for Star Trek Onlne. IGN.com, IGN Entertainment's main website, openly advertised Fileplanet.com as the place to go and sign up if you want a beta key. Upon signing up, I am then told that all beta keys are now gone. This is blatant false advertising. However, this isn't my main point. I believe IGN Entertainment got me signed up, and kept me signed up for over a month even after my request to cancel my account on the FIRST DAY I signed up. Here is my first ticket I sent to them:
Date Created: 1/7 2:17 PM PDT
Subject of your request (please select): Beta - Trial - Demos - Free Games Help
"I am aware that you state you do not give refunds in your 'Terms and Agreement' section but I subscribed to your product under the idea that I would receive access to the Star Trek Online Beta. I clicked the ad on the IGN.com site and it said in the corner that I must be a subscriber to Fileplanet.com to join. So I sign up, make a payment for the month using paypal, click 'Join Beta', and then the button changes to say 'Beta Closed'.
In my opinion my money is totally wasted and I do not wish to use the site for any other reason. I am asking if you would be so kind as to refund this first transaction and also cancel my subscription. I am writing this ticket literally minutes after making payment and never wished to subscribe unless I received this access to the Star Trek Online beta.in my opinion, it should not be advertised that I can join the online beta if I subscribe, only to then pay you and find out I cannot actually take part.
If a refund is not issued I will have to dispute the transfer on the Paypal site as I will have no other choice. I beleive it is my consumer right to receive a product as stated in your advertisements, and if I am not satisfied I have received what is stated in the ad, then I have a right to a refund and cancellation of service."
This is their ignorant and impersonal response:
"Thank you for contacting FilePlanet support! We would like to offer the following suggestions based on the subject of your ticket request: All currently available betas are listed on FilePlanet's front page. If a beta is not seen there, it is most likely closed to due keys exhuasted or the beta has ended. The word [CLOSED] will be on the page demoting it is closed if you should find an old file download. Please note some restrictions apply. Some betas may be regulated and limited by system specs, age or country location. FilePlanet does not determine this and cannot open the beta to you outside of these restrictions. The Beta does NOT necessarily require what the promotional site for the game states are the minimum requirements for the retail game. The Beta is a test. The developer may have other requirements. The information you read about the game before it's release is NOT what the Beta is based upon. *Customer Service will not be able to reverse this decision once you have done the system check and been declined. Keys are limited and once they run out the sign up period is over..."... And it goes on like that, never mentioning a refund or my request to cancel. I later file a dispute with Paypal and then escalate it after IGN.com ignore my dispute to get my money back. Paypal reject the dispute stating that because it's not a posted item in question, they cannot refund on the basis of quality of a vendor. So I hit a brick wall there. Nevertheless, I found out how to cancel subscriptions using Paypal and so I looked at my account and I notice there is no subscription to IGN Entertainment. Great, i've only lost $6.95, that is the end of it, my subscription has been cancelled.
On the 2nd of February, they take out another payment of $6.95. What?! By this point of coure I am fuming and send them yet another ticket which is as follows:
"You have taken an unauthorized payment from my Paypal account and I need this to be refunded.
If you would refer back to Ticket 2833-8350254, you will notice that I requested my subscription to be canceled on the basis that I did not receive a product from you that was promised before I registered. That matter was closed, however you obviously ignored my request and kept my account open. Please note, this request was issued on the DAY I subscribed. This gave you plenty enough time to cancel my subscription. After following your support section, it states to cancel the subscription you must either E-mail support and request cancellation, or go to Paypal account under 'History', click 'Subscriptions' and you can cancel from there. So I email you and ALSO go to my Paypal account, and the subscription for Fileplanet is no longer listed. I assumed you did as I asked and canceled it for me. To me, this was the end of my relationship with you.
Now, your policy states that if i request cancellation 10 days before renewal date, I will not be charged.in this case, you have broken your own Term and Conditions. The payment of $6.95 was taken from account today, and I believe unlawfully. Please refund me, instantly. Thank you."
I then figure out another way of cancelling the subscription by using the account management section on Fileplanet.com. They then send me this response:
"Hello Laurence, We do see you have already cancelled your subscription. It will remain open until the end date described on your cancellation confirmation email. You will not be recharged.
We appreciate your email however we have determined that per our User Agreement you are not eligible for a refund. Http://corp. Igngamespy.com/user_agreement.html
Kind Regards, Bonnie Huynh Customer Service Specialist IGN Billings"
I want to break my computer monitor by this point. This is my response:
"I cancelled my subscription because I found a way to do it on your site after noticing that you had not cancelled it yourselves.
Like I have said, I requested my subscription to be cancelled on the day I first subscribed which I beleive to be January the 7th. Did you even bother to read the ticket I pointed out? You also havn't read your user agreement.
"1. Payment Obligation and Credit Card Authorization. You are responsible for paying any and all charges relating to your Premium Service account, including without limitation, periodic subscription fees (the initial fee and automatic renewals). You grant IGN permission to charge your credit card (or other approved facility) to pay for all such charges. The subscription fee will be billed at the beginning of your subscription and on each annual, quarterly or monthly renewal thereafter, dependant on the original subscription term selected at registration, unless you cancel at least 10 days prior to the renewal date pursuant to the process set forth below.
2. Renewal and Cancellation of Your Subscription. You grant IGN permission to automatically renew your subscription and charge your account up to five (5) days prior to the day on which your subscription is scheduled to end. However, you may "opt out" of this automatic renewal by visiting The Support Center (http://support. Ign.com) and canceling on your own or by using our online form to notify IGN. IGN will cancel your account upon receipt of such notification from you."
Both sections I have put in bold I attempted to carry out with you. I sent you a ticket, and it was well before 10 days. I cancelled the account myself recently only because you took another payment unlawfully and I had only then found another way of doing it.
You blatantly did not read my first ticket sent to you and missed the part where I asked you to cancel it. This is your fault.
If I do not receive a refund I will be speaking to my lawyer.
Kind regards,
Laurence" I have not received a response to that one yet but I don't think they are going to be helping me. I just thought I would come here to warn everyone about their horrifying customer service and what I consider to be theft.
The whole case shows how ignorant they are being and how clearly they do not even pay attention to the details of their own User Agreement
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