I have begun going over my bank statements to prepare for my taxes when I noticed charges from privacy Plus for $9.95 that had been taken out of my account over the last year. I also noticed a charge from essentials Plus for $149.00 from February and $109.00 Feb. 2003. When I called to question these companies (both the same) they claimed I had signed up for privacy plus through a pop-up window (not true). Essentials claimed I had agreed to sign up through an infomerical (also not true - nothing had been purchased).
Essetials stated they would "cancel" the account and refund the $149.00 - but they could not give me any information on how i was intially signed up and if I wanted proof or further information I would have to put it in writing to request a refund for the intial $109.00.
Initially, privacy plus gave me the same 7-10 day refund time frame and would only agree to refunding me for the current charge of $9.95. When I called back later, I found out that Mwi had obtained my information for America Online - after all, they had my old billing address on file just like AOL has. They agreed to refund me the entire amount.
I called AOL to find out why they had given this company my billing information and found out that Mwi is one of AOL's "partner" companies. I was LIVID! The AOL rep would NOT agree to keeping my information private - even though their terms of service state they would not give anyone our info unless we request it. We NEVER authorized any of these programs and AOL will not block these companies from taking our money even when WE asked AOL to not let ANYONE utilize our information.
I am still spinning from all this BS and intend to cancel my AOL account and speak with an attorney about this scam.
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