| I try to give websites the benefit of the doubt really, I do. Recently, though, there was a site that left a really bad taste in my mouth. First, a little background In early-to-mid April, I got into the pen-pal scene. Like my interest in ham radio, beekeeping, or geocaching, its just something to do in my free time. Neither having stamps, envelopes, nor a printer and being a bit impulsive I started looking for online services that would let me compose letters online and they could handle the printing and mailing of it. Thats where I found 1HRMail.com At first, it seemed decent. You create an account, buy postage, and send letters. Pretty simple stuff. After creating my account and buying postage, however, I found what I thought was a bug in the website. After I logging in, I could see my postage balance, could create contacts, etc. As soon as I tried to send a letter, though, I was told I needed to login. I tried repeatedly to get this to work on multiple computers from Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. Same behavior each time. I contacted the website through their Customer Service form to let them know of the issue. I also told them that if the site wasnt usable, I would like my $10 postage credited back, since the way the site was working didnt let me send out any messages. No response. I kept digging, though I found their Facebook page, their Twitter account, etc., but it was all just self-promotion and marketing attempts. There was no way to interact with them other than the contact page on their site. I did find a few posts on the Facebook page about the site not working, not being able to use the service, etc., but these posts were quickly deleted. uh-oh. I went back and starting reading more details on the site. Apparently, they start you out on a 14-day trial and if you dont cancel within that time, you start getting billed at $15.95 per month. Since only a few days had passed since I signed up, I assumed Id be fine. Boy, was I wrong. After logging in, I was greeted with a message that said the site was undergoing temporary maintenance and to try back soon. That message remained for two weeks coincidentally, just long enough for me to not be able to cancel my trial. During this time, I tried to get someone to cancel my account via the Contact Us page. I didnt seem to be getting any monthly charges from the site, so I assumed it had been taken care of. On May 28, though, I received a $15.95 charge from them. I immediately notified my bank and let them know I wanted to dispute the charge. As of today, the charge has been disputed. Now, a second charge has been made (currently in Pending status) that Ill also be disputing if/when that clears. I logged into the site today, just to make sure I didnt overlook any options to cancel my subscription. The only option -- aside from "Help" and "Logout" links -- was to update my credit card information. I wonder how many people are fooled into entering a second credit card at this point... While the page mentioned I can cancel my membership, there arent actually any options for that on the site. I will be working with my bank on this issue, obviously, but Id also like bring more attention to their site and not in a good way. They aren't registered with the Better Business Bureau (naturally), but I went ahead and added them to the database and filed a complaint. In the meantime, I guess my only option is to report the card usage as fraudulent and get a new card.Its one thing to have a crappy website, but its another to be a flat-out scam The only address I was able to find in correlation to them appears to be a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom condo in California I might need to look into it further to see where that leads. Though the domains Whois information is hidden, so I dont have any contact information to go off of, it looks to be a California-based operation. Like I said I like having hobbies for my free time. At least until the charges stop (and are credited back), Im going to have fun doing some campaigning of my own... Though it probably wont help me get my money back, maybe itll at least help others from getting scammed. |
