Warning if you purchased anything from EBGames

[Griking]

If you purchased certain items using a credit card you may have automatically been signed up for a $9 a month program without even knowing it.

LINK (http://www.evilavatar.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=6051&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0)

[tholly]

If you purchased certain items using a credit card you may have automatically been signed up for 4 $9 a month program without even knowing it.

LINK (http://www.evilavatar.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=6051&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0)


it happened to me...i called my cc company and got that shit cancelled

[-hellvin-]

On a side note, I love those eb horror stories posted in the comments. Awersome stuff, and I've seen it all before.

Doesn't surprise me a company like eb games would pull something like this. Most of their customer service involves bending you over and.....yeah.

[SoulBlazer]

I love my local shop, but never bought anything from their website. :hmm:

[Mr•X]

Has anyone seen those commercials for EBGAMES on G4?

My Opinion:

:bullshit:

-X

PS: I dont shop at EB anyways....

[GrayFox]

I'd love to know how that's legal.

Now I've got to keep an eye out for this thing, damnit. Wait, I pay with a debit card, would they still charge?

[Ed Oscuro]

EB -----> You takes ca$h

Everything else -----> Proceeds as normal?

Word. FREAKKEN STOR!!</lightsonfire>

[Half Japanese]

I stopped going to EB a long time ago. There's a bitchy female manager that works at the one(s) in my district that is enough reason alone to prevent me from ever going in there. Everything she says comes out condescending and her faux friendliness reveals it's true "go to hell" nature quite effectively. That, and every time I go in there the employees are generally annoying. (There's a fat guy in there, let's call him Bitch Tits, who LOVES to comment on the demos people are playing. Most people don't even care to hear the commentary tracks on DVDs, where it's sometimes entertaining. Let alone a fuckin' demo. Bitch Tits just loves to scream moves at people that he's learned by playing the kiosk when the store isn't busy.)

At least all the guys at the Gamestop are friendly, even though I never did get my goddamn Mega Man shirt (and the scout trooper pre-order goodie for Battlefront ain't lookin' too likely either).

[-hellvin-]

Ahhh Dr.....the name Bitch Tits had me laughing there for quite a while. I love it.

[Half Japanese]

I can't take credit for that wholly, I think that's what they called Meatloaf in the movie Fight Club. Not sure though, don't really remember much about that one.

[Achika]

I'm sure this is in the same vein as the "You're entitled to three monthly email newsletters every week, please check the three you are interested."

Anytime I'm presented with those I just start unclicking the checks they have pre-filled in for me so I don't get that crap. I'm sure that's exactly what went on here.

[Blackjax]

Sigh, I hate this kind of stuff. As I used to work for a credit card company a while back, let me throw you all some advice if this happens to you, through this particular scam or any other like it. Some of these things may seem obvious, but this is probably the best method to get your money back and get said service cancelled.

-- Signs you are going to get scammed --

These are not always present, however in a legal perspective, the "warm sale" done over the phone or by an internet order should contain some of these warning signs.

* The words "Free Trial" are a dead giveaway on these. Always say "NO."

* Never agree to "have the literature sent to look it over." Usually they just enroll you anyway, and the "information packet" is the membership kit.

* Read the fine print, especially if there's a ton of it. "FreeCreditReport.com" is a notorious scammer of this kind. Sure, your first credit report is free, but deep in the fine print, it states that you're also signing up for a credit monitoring service with a per-month charge. This isn't blatently stated up front (or, at least it wasn't the last time I looked)

* Suddenly, the representitive states that this call will be recorded from this point on. They're looking for audio evidence that you are agreeing to the purchase of the product. If you're not intentionally accepting an offer, get suspicious.

* Being handed off to another representitive for confirmation. Again, get suspicious, as you're most likely being verified as having accepted an offer.

* Read all conformation pages and emails carefully. They may show facts that were convienently left out during the initial sale. Just ask anyone caught in the "Girls Gone Wild" video subscription scam.

You may not see any of these, or you might just get slammed with a service you didn't ask for, so...

-- If you have been hit --

1) If there is a phone number in the charge description, call the company that placed the charge on there. Get it cancelled directly from the company that put it on there in the first place. Generally, you only have 90 days before a charge is undisputable, although this can vary. If the charge keeps coming in, you may get stuck with a few of them, so also...

2) Call your credit card company and dispute the charge with them. If you dispute the charge with the credit card company, you do not have to pay the charge while the credit card company investigates it, and by law, you pay no interest on the charge either during the dispute. Also, if no phone number listed to contact the company who charged the card, the credit card company can get the company information and make them prove the charge was valid.

3) If no satisfaction is gotten from your CC company, go up the ladder. Call Visa International, MasterCard, Discover, etc themselves and they can help you more. This is especially helpful if you are using a debit card and the bank will not do a dispute or try to charge you for doing it. Debit cards with the Visa or Mastercard logo have all the same rights as a normal credit card, including dispute rights, so going up the food chain can help.

4) If all else fails, call the credit card company and have the number changed. One bit of advice if it comes to this: ask for the security or fraud department - they can change the card number without associating it with your old number, and "pre-authorized" charges can get sticky at times.

I'd also throw a complaint into the BBB myself, but unfortunately, that does little good. Hope this helps someone out there.


Oh, and fun fact of the day: under the contracts merchants sign with Visa (I can't speak for the rest of the cards), stores CANNOT charge a surcharge or require a minimum purchase for card use. They can lose their merchant accounts for this LOL

[GrayFox]

Oh, and fun fact of the day: under the contracts merchants sign with Visa (I can't speak for the rest of the cards), stores CANNOT charge a surcharge or require a minimum purchase for card use. They can lose their merchant accounts for this LOL

So we're fine if we use Visa?

Huzzah!

[gamegirl79]

Sounds to me like the people that got hit with these charges didn't read the fine print. I shop at EB all the time (store and web) and use my debit or credit card and I've never had a problem with weird charges on my statement.

I'm not saying what EB is doing is right, because it's not....it's pretty sneaky actually. I'm just saying be freakin' careful. :)

[charitycasegreg]

dos muthaf-ers. |I didndt bother to read all the posts, do you guys get your money back?

[Blackjax]

Assuming they actually had fine print, and didn't hide it away on some other page deep in tiny text. This happens quite a bit more than people realize where a company will sneak a service in without saying they are signing you up explicitly.

It happens more with phone orders than internet orders, but it is not uncommon on internet orders. I could name off a couple dozen companies off the top of my head who were regularly practicing this - either barely skirting the law and staying legal by a hair (Ticketmaster) or blatently breaking the law (the afore mentioned Girls Gone Wild people)

[WiseSalesman]

EB -----> You takes ca$h

Everything else -----> Proceeds as normal?

Word. FREAKKEN STOR!!</lightsonfire>

please......PLEASE make more Arfenhouse references. That goes to everyone on the board!

[kevincure]

Blackjax, your last point is on the money. Though the minimum-charge/surcharge isn't common up here in Boston, I'd always thought that it was against the merchant contract. I think the big problem is that the smaller stores are getting outright robbed from their debit machine providers; people I know are pulling .35 per transaction, which is way above what anyone should be paying.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Oh, and fun fact of the day: under the contracts merchants sign with Visa (I can't speak for the rest of the cards), stores CANNOT charge a surcharge or require a minimum purchase for card use. They can lose their merchant accounts for this LOL

So we're fine if we use Visa?

Huzzah!

Visa, It's everywhere you DON'T wanna be! :)

[esquire]

This kind of crap is happening everywhere nowadays. I can't walk into a Best Buy and purchase a DVD without getting asked by the cashier if I want to sign up for a CC, if I want MSN internet, if I want free magazine subscriptions and if I want a warranty. Sheez. Just sell me my damn item and let me be on my way.

[kainemaxwell]

Kind amakes you worried about working there sometimes when you're forced to do some this crap...

[Blackjax]

Kind amakes you worried about working there sometimes when you're forced to do some this crap...

And unfortunately, the corporate suits think this is a hugely successfu way of selling things, and only look at the initial sales numbers, NOT the retention rate or rate of refund. Not to mention how shitty it can be for employees when "minimum standard sale rates" are applied to them just to keep their jobs.

...sometimes it even seems they pull the numbers for these programs out of thin air (or a rear bodily orafice)l

[Half Japanese]

I hate being a whore for another company at the same time I'm having to whore for my employer. Case in point: pretty much ANYTHING you buy at CC that is used with or can be hooked up to a computer brings up a "would you like 3 free months of AOL" thing. I always skip it, I don't even ask the customer at all. Best Buy has gotten really annoying with their Entertainment Weekly shit over the past few months too. Companies are always looking for a way to insert that big marketing dick in ya without your consent.

[SegaAges]

i guess i am lucky in not using my check card anymore (i seriously have about 3.50 in my account right now). i keep cash and pay with it, so that i know exactly what my money is going to

[Avenger]

my phone company called me up and said "we are gunna have you these options all free for 2 months!"...after every sentace she said i replied "i dont want it i dont care" but no matter what all she said was "well you know its free so ill do it anywaY"....finally the stupid bitch put me thru to some other dude and i said "look man dont scam me i dont want ANYTHING new just stop buggin me"...so far nothing has changed which is the way it should be :P

[SoulBlazer]

I missed that "Girls Gone Wild" scam. Can anyone explain that? :)

[Blackjax]

People would order one from a commercial and get subscribed into a monthly subscription service where they would continue to send them to you with no real way to cancel the "service."

Many people complained there was no way to contact them to cancel, nor a way to send them back for a refund. Since the merchandise was already shipped and in the consumer's hands, unwanted or otherwise, a dispute was also difficult. They lost in court over this.

Throw out a google, there's many better descriptions of the whole scam than I can give.

[Blackjax]

Ah, found it - from the FTC themselves

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/12/girlsgonewild.htm