A couple of years ago I joined Classmates.com as a premium, or "gold" member, on a trial basis. I decided not to renew the second year, because it simply wasn't worth anything. I didn't get one iota of value out of it. Never successfully contacted anyone, and no one contacted me. Most of the schools I went to have their own alumni organizations that have proven very effective, so this commercial one just never had much value added. I gave it a try, and figured that was that.

Well, not quite. They have this automatic renewal option, but I set it to manual at the time. Apparently somewhere along the line my renewal switch was changed to "automatic" and even though I've assumed I was no longer a member they apparently managed to slip the fee past my radar for the second year. In fact, I didn't notice that they'd deducted a membership fee until a couple of days ago, when I was surprised to see the deduction of $39 for a third year listed on my bank account. I almost missed it this time too, had not my bank manager pointed it out to me. I'm starting to get pretty steamed. I'm having trouble paying for gas money as I work independent contracts to put food on the table, and these guys are stealthily ripping me off...
I want to make clear that since that first year was a "trial," as far as I was concerned, I made certain that my renewal authorization was not automatic, and I just assumed that it would stay that way. At any rate, after having found the charge for the third year barely a week after it was entered I immediately informed them of their mistake and requested a refund. I didn't request a refund for the previous year because I just figured "well, they got me on that one," and it would be sort of messy to point out that I had no idea I even was a member for a year.

Anyway, if some software glitch inadvertently had set my renewal to automatic and I noticed it only a week into the subscription year I figured any ethical company would surely acknowledge the mistake, and issue me an immediate refund--I mean, if their intentions were the least bit honorable. But instead these guys played "gotcha." They claimed that due to their "terms of service" clause I'm not due any refund even though I pointed out the unauthorized charge within a short time. Yeah, it's hard to prove that I set renewal to manual way back when. But if that weren't basically just a cash cow for a scam, wouldn't my word be good enough? Unless, of course, they know they aren't providing any actual value...

"Your money are belong to us," they say.

So basically they ripped me off for one additional year, and are set to rip me off for a third, all because somewhere along the line they set my renewal from manual to automatic. I mean, doesn't the fact that they're playing "gotcha" with my money sort of suggest that they're not quite the customer-friendly and helpful service they claim to be? It's not as though they've ever actually given me anything for that dough, mind you. They just managed to get a hook into it, like some Nigerian bank scam, or Kojo Annan's "real good thing" at the UN.

So, what think you? Do I have a right to expect a refund? How much? One, or two years? Pain and suffering? A free trip to the Carribean? A lifetime supply of Hennessy?

I know this will garner minimal interest, but here's my email reply to their "gotcha" note:

Dear Florence:

No that won't do. I did not authorize the payment, and I also never authorized changing my renewal to automatic in the first place. YOU DID THAT ON YOUR OWN. I don't know whether it was done inadvertently through some sort of software glitch, or deliberately, but if the latter that constitutes fraud. And I would add one more thing; since you're clearly reluctant to refund my money after being informed that I did not authorize the renewal barely a week after you extracted the it, it's reasonable to infer that you changed my renewal to automatic deliberately. Not proof, mind you, but a reasonable inference based on your lack of good faith. Seriously, you just figured I wouldn't notice, right? Especially since I haven't noticed before. I wonder how many others have been in this boat?

I simply don't authorize automatic renewals for this sort, and since I didn't regard Classmates as having provided any value I would not have renewed "manually." In addition, you claim below to have removed me from automatic renewal yourselves. The instant I discovered this sitution from my bank I changed that switch (back) to manual myself, so your claim to have made the change is simply disinformation, unless, in the mean time, you had changed my renewal back to automatic! I have informed you well within a reasonable period about "your mistake," and it would be only ethical good faith for you to refund my fee without the need for further action from my bank, or from me.

Besides informing my bank and making a formal complaint I intend to post the details of this situation on a "blog" that's currently among the top thirty in the country, with over 10,000 hits per day. I may be overestimating the impact of this "infant media" but it's at least possible that, by bringing this to the attention of those few people, we might add more than $39 to your cost of business. And if there are others out there who have been similarly hoodwinked perhaps we can perform some sort of public service.

Posted by: Demosophist at 11:52 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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