I have been with SquareTrade for about 9 months now. Every month I pay a fee for their services, believing that they will provide dispute resolution and fraudulent feedback removal should I need it. I have always had perfect feedback in the past, therefore, I have not had an opportunity to use their services for dispute resolution until December.
In December, on the Elance site, a buyer posted negative feedback against me on a project that was supposed to be cancelled. I file for feedback removal and dispute resolution with SquareTrade. I assumed my monthly fee would cover everything, and it did not.
The free dispute resolution is nothing more than a website where you can send messages back and forth between you and the other person. I had already attempted that in email, so doing it again seemed almost futile. The only good point to this is having all the information documented on another site, for additional proof (which is only good if you take it to court).
After the buyer refused to come to an agreement with me, I went on with SquareTrade to request a mediator. Well, apparently my monthly fee does not cover a mediator, so I had to pay an additional $20 to hire the mediator, over and above my monthly fee.
I assumed mediation would basically be that the mediator would review the information, talk to both parties, and then make a determination in the case. This is not what happens. All the mediator does is send an email to both parties to get their side of it, and then ask both parties to agree. If both parties refuse to agree, the mediator closes the case as unsettled. No resolution, no decision is made by the mediator - nothing happens.
I had already tried to attempt resolution through both email and the first round of dispute resolution - asking the same things again was a total waste of time, even if a third party was involved.
Therefore, it costs the buyer nothing... And all he has to do is say, "No, I don't agree." and NOTHING HAPPENS!
Their monthly fee and mediator charges are a complete waste of money - because they DO NOTHING.
I am attempting to cancel my account with them - but cannot find phone information to contact them. I sent an email, after which they say they will contact me within 2-3 days. We'll see if how hard it is to cancel an account now that I have discovered they are useless.
Thanks for listening - I am very frustrated by this!
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