So last month a charge showed up on my credit card statement.  Which is not an unusual event you might say... except it was a charge for a recurring web site subscription that I had canceled years ago. 

I did use the site back then and I liked it, but when I realized I didn't have time to use it anymore, I canceled and didn't think about it again. 

This was well before we moved here to Massachusetts 5 years ago.  The email address I used is also defunct, so they had no way to get in touch with me even if they wanted to offer me services again.

Then this month a charge showed up for the site on my credit card!!! What?  How can that be?  Surely I haven't been paying them every year and forgetting it have I?  (no I haven't I checked my last 3 years of statements just tonight to make sure - no charges from them in that time).

I called the credit card company.  They said, you need to call them and cancel it.  Recurring charges continue until you tell them to stop.  Even if the credit card they originally used expires!!!! Even if the address on the billing statement is so old even the post office won't forward the mail!!!  I didn't know that.  That does not sound right to me and I will be sending my credit card company a snail mail letter of complaint. 

So first I try email - there is no contact phone number on their site. We exchange several emails before they decide I need to call instead.  Since they can't find me in the system with my current address (email or street - there's a surprise),  they sent me a phone number so I could call and talk to an account person.  She assures me it will be taken care of and the charge removed. 

Right.

I go to pay the bill at the end of the month - the charge is still there.  Of course,  I dispute the charge and file a claim.  I tell the chick at the credit card company, "I called and told them I did NOT want to continue with the service and to remove the charge. They said they would do that, but the charge is still on my card and I am not going to pay it!"  The credit card company chick says, "No problem we'll get it fixed."

Today I get a letter from the credit card company.... The idiots.  They said they contacted the company and they were told the charge was valid and lookee here, they sent us a statement too.  See, you need to pay them.

Can you see my head about to explode.

So I called the credit card company again.  Got hold of another chick.  She sent it into the dispute queue again with a different code.  We'll see. 

Tomorrow I get to waste even more time calling the company and blasting them for not taking me off their list.  I will get names and I will get cancellation codes. 

If that doesn't work - I will cancel that credit card.  Yes, I will cancel a card I've had since the 1980's for wasting my time.  Up to now I have never had a problem with them, but if I have to keep calling people over and over just to get an invalid charge removed, it's not worth it to me. 

I had an issue with this company years ago when I first started using them.  I ordered a book.  One book.  That got me on the "let's send her a book every time we publish" list.  I had to send them a letter and tell them to stop and not send me any more books or I would keep them at their expense. 

So what is this lovely company?  Cooks Illustrated.   Deal with them at your own risk.

Seriously.

***
PS - I knew there was a great reason to never do automatic renews on stuff. 

Posted by: Teresa in Idiocies at 09:35 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 675 words, total size 4 kb.

1 This stuff goes on way too often.

There was a company that started auto-charging one of our credit cards a year after the service  was canceled, without sending us any notification, even though our address hadn't changed. The kicker? Their contact information had changed, and we could never figure out where they were so we could call to complain. We had no way to get in touch with them, but the cc company insisted that the charge must be good, since we had a recurring contract. (Not!) We had to cancel the credit card to stop the charges.

In a case like this, the credit card company should offer to give you a new number, so that any charges to the old card number don't go through. Especially since you've been a long -term customer. I know, that's just crazy talk.

Posted by: Twitter Fail at September 21, 2010 12:24 AM (50ZaH)

2 I've cancelled cards for the exact same reason.  Jerks, both the website folk and the script-readers at the CC.

Posted by: LeeAnn at September 21, 2010 08:08 AM (z4aOv)

3 One book, a holiday present. Had I known better I would have had the local bookstore order it. Instead I ordered online. They sent a postcard about the new book. I almost tossed it thinking it was advertising. It was a notice that the new book would arrive unless I sent the card back declining the offer. Next was the phone call trying to talk me into said book.

After that I went to the internet - people do like to complain after all. Oh how I wished, again, that I had ordered via a local store. I bookmarked this thread at Chowhound and it's still going strong two years later.

Thanks for the reminder.

Posted by: cin at September 21, 2010 10:34 AM (DBAeF)

4 I had the same problem with PeoplePC, years ago. When I got DSL, I dutifully called the dial-up provider & told them to cancel my automatic monthly payment. "No problem," they said, "but we'll give you a free additional month just in case the DSL doesn't work." 

Srsly?  "No thank, that won't be necessary." I wrote down the name of the operator & the cancellation code that he provided.

Sure enough, a month later there was the charge again. We didn't mess with PeoplePC again; went straight to the bank (Wells Fargo - credit where credit it due) and they marked it as an illegitimate charge AND filed a complaint with the provider's legal dept. The charge went away.

Posted by: Rev. Paul at September 21, 2010 10:35 AM (0DZhf)

5

Stuff like his has happened to me before. I dispute the charges with my CC company and report my card stolen and get a new one. It's easy as pie and they always reverse the charges.

 

True story- I about put "car stolen" and I was all "Laura, what the hell does your car have to do with anything?" Anyway, I thought I'd share. Now I have to go check on my car just in case this was like an omen thingy or something.

Posted by: Laura at September 21, 2010 11:58 AM (ua7hq)

6 Teresa, you know as well as I do...it's kinda like...once you're in the arms of a beautiful woman, it's hard to leave.  I've had the same situation, the beautiful woman won't let you go. CC companies are not beautiful women, but they will screw you nonetheless.  

Posted by: Yabu at September 21, 2010 07:16 PM (RDdNW)

7 Twitter Fail - yeah they should but they will take the road of least resistance and only do it if they absolutely must.

LeeAnn - you said it!

Cin - Hadn't seen that link but I'm not at all surprised, didn't think I was the only one.

Rev Paul - sounds like you were very lucky with your bank!

Laura - LOL - I love it!

Yabu - dude I have never been and never will be in the arms of a beautiful woman (not my style ) but yes I see what you mean. LOL.

Posted by: Teresa at September 21, 2010 09:24 PM (TeQXy)

8 OK.  That's just scary.  I DO know that if you cancel a book subscription, you have to cancel it IN WRITING sent to the correct address in the small print AND do yourself a favor and send it certified return receipt. Yup, I've had that problem too.

Posted by: Lemon Stand at September 22, 2010 12:52 PM (n/T4g)

9 Lemon Stand - if they don't stop it this time, my next call will involve mentions of the Attorney General and fraud and things like that.  Cause I will be very pissed.  Especially as I've called twice now and have not been told I need to submit my cancellation in writing.  That would be their problem not mine I think. And I think legal action threats often get more attention. *sigh* 

Posted by: Teresa at September 22, 2010 01:54 PM (TeQXy)

10 Which is why I'm very, very careful with setting up automatic drafts that can put their fingers in my accounts.  I'm thinking of setting up a prepaid debit card as my main bill paying account so they can only take what I put in there for them, and use the main bank account where my money is deposited only for point-of-sale debits, withdrawing cash, or transferring money to the other accounts.  

Posted by: diamond dave at September 24, 2010 01:03 AM (TKcOP)

11 Dave, the interesting thing is, since this was over 5 years ago (I'm thinking nearer to 10) that I was using the service, online banking was pretty much brand new.  I was leery of using it.  I figured I had more protection via my credit card (not that this site asked for banking info - it was credit card all the way).

But if it had been my bank, that account is long closed and I would not have been wasting my time with it. heh.

Posted by: Teresa at September 24, 2010 08:27 AM (TeQXy)

Hide Comments | Add Comment