I thought I was looking at a legitimate social/dating website and after browsing through it pages I decided to go ahead and join via the '3-day trial membership', afterall it was only $3.17, right? So I signed up. Later that day, after browsing and experiencing it with 'full access', I determined that it in fact was not something I wanted to be charged $34.99 per month for so I found on the site where I was supposed to be able to cancel the trial... You know, so I won't forget to do it later in case I get busy and it slips my mind. Well, the site said to call the company they use for the billing and let them know to cancel trial. I did, I talked to a lady and gave her the relevant info like the site name, email or something, etc. She asked why so I told her, 'Because after I checked it out and browsed the full site, it just wasn't something I wanted to join and I'm glad I used trial for $3 instead of finding out after paying the $36.' She said that that was just fine, it took a few minutes for her to finish on her end (i assume it was to locate my acct. And wait for systems on their end to process request) She stated that she completed the cancellation and that I would not be charged after the trial. GREAT! Done, right? Then she says to me, "For the inconvenience, we have given you 1 month free membership that will expire on Aug. 20th, after which your card will not be charged." I thought, OK, makes sense they would do that so I'd use it for a month and possibly change my mind. So I took advantage of the freebie. On the 23rd of Aug. There showed up a charge for $34.99
The payment says ufipayment.com, Alcuda, etc. So when I contacted the email address on the site for any concerns, questions or explanations I told them my issue. They replied back that basically I'm S.O.L. Because I agreed to terms and conditions and didn't cancel the 'Repeat billing' option before they charged me. This is the thing, It said on the site that the only way to cancel is via the billing co., so I did and was told by them it was not going to charge after the trial, but because of the free month I still had membership access and even after that I needn't worry. Then they snuck in their own scam and kept me signed up without me knowing it, but when I found out they say it's my fault. Why would I need to go searching in my acct.info for this 'cancel billing' button if I am told by the billing co. That everything is kosher??? Well, needless to say I did all the crap they told me i was supposed to have done. Now I'm worried about a charge next month and out $36. This is not ethical, moral or legal, yet they continue to operate with no accountability as they fleece dollars from honest, everyday people. This is wrong and the authorities need to take these scams seriously as financial terrorism.
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