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View Full Version : IGN Founders Club - Its POOP!


Player0
04-01-2005, 04:29 PM
I will never use FilePlanet, IGN, or Gamespy again. Last year, I signed up for the IGN Founders Club. For $80 or so, you get a year of IGN, Fileplanet service, plus a bunch of shitty magazines and some other crap. Having been a long time subscriber to IGN alone, I figured Fileplanet was worth an extra $45 a year. So I went for it.

I bought a subscription, just like I always did with IGN.

So, a year later, I'm counting every penny, and I notice an $80 gamespy charge on my bank account today. Those greedy sunsa:mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2:as charged my farking card!! Did I authorize this? Hell no. But, apparently, in some myriad of fineprint EULA/TOU agreement redtape cockknocking bullshit, they say that they'll automatically renew unless you cancel. This wasnt the case with IGN in the past.

I guess it's my fault for spending $80 without having a lawyer go over the fine print. Shady shady shi!t. I probably would have renewed the service, on my terms. I would charge MY bank when the timing is right for ME. Thus BUYING a service.

One of GameSpys FAQ actually address this 'automatic renewal' shit and basically goes on to say ':mad2::mad2::mad2::mad2: you, it was in the fine print, you're stuck with it.

http://support.gamespy.com/article.aspx?id=10291&cNode=7L4J8N

I contacted them the only way I could, a shitty webform. I issued a complaint with my bank. I dont know how that will swing. Gamespy apparently has no likelyhood of crediting this.

I will go OUT OF MY WAY to make sure I get others to avoid IGN/Gamespy if I dont see a good resolution. I hate companies that try to make money by defrauding and f*cking over customers rather than offering services. These sites probably make more money in advertising than they'd EVER need from subscription fees. You know, like Electronics Arts, or the RIAA.

Really just need to make a list of places to boycott these days. I dont know if it does any good in the long run. But everyone is out to screw the devil out of you anymore.

illmatik
04-01-2005, 07:14 PM
I have a similar thing going on with another subscription site which I cancelled shortly after purchasing... They tried to tell me to NOTIFY US BEFORE MARCH 31 2005!! I was like wtf, I'm telling you NOW!!! Sure enough.. slips my mind, no email notification prior to renewal, and POW $65 charge on my card. Web contact form doesn't work of course, and I'm out $65. I think I'm going to complain to BBB about policies like this. I think complaints should be filed against crazy fine print like this as well. Yes, people in our age group/ generation have some of the shortest attention spans (I blame it on Atari and the C64.. lord help the ps2 generation), but legal mumbo jumbo terms and conditions should be presented plainly first along with a link to the offical wordings or something. subscriptions just plain suck.. I'm glad I've got well stocked newstands everywhere I go in nyc, so that I can buy magazines only when they have something of interest rather than clogging my mailbox and wasting paper.

Synthohol
04-01-2005, 07:30 PM
just for that reason, it pays to call all your creditcard companies once a year and say you lost your card and you will get a new one with a different # so any auto subscribtions will be stopped in their trax.

i suppose that will be the only way to protect yourself against this or other frauds. most companies issue new cards within 48 hours at no charge.

just a thought:)

Player0
04-01-2005, 08:26 PM
Its $5 to get a renewed card from my bank. I think im gonna switch banks anyway so, especially if I end up paying for this.

I think a signature should be required (electronic or not) EVERY time a charge is made with a credit card.

I blame the credit card companies for allowing this bullhonk to happen. Its actually a bank card. So my bank AND mastercards problem.

Nut
04-02-2005, 11:26 AM
I recently had a similar experiance with an online hosting company. It was a 30 day free trial and three days after I signed up I decided their service wasn't for me. First shady sh!t was there was no way to cancel online, you must call customer "service". Wait on hold for 45 min to have the f'er tell me to go to a "secret" website to cancel the service. I was pissed but it gets better. Fill out all the online forms and submit my cancellation. WHAT? it takes 30 days to cancel service? :wtf: Their site said 30 day FREE trial but once you sign up and use their service for just one day they bill you for 3 months service (it takes 30 days to cancel) So basically there is no "Free Trial" I finally got the BS charges waived and they never did charge my CC but it took over an hour on hold and talking to a "Supervisor" (yeah right). I thought this company would be nice an honest given they take out 10 page adds in most computer magazines, 1&1 hosting. CROOKS! :mad:

Nut
04-02-2005, 01:30 PM
:2finger: Correction! I just checked my online banking a few minutes ago and the Crooks charged my card yesterday. Oh and billing questions are only handled Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. Now calling my bank to report unauthorized charges. :mad:

Player0
04-06-2005, 07:45 PM
More updates:

IGN / Gamespy, whoever the hell they are, REFUSES to issue any sort of refund, credit, or ANYTHING to my account. No word on the bank whether or not they will authorize the charge.

Player0
04-07-2005, 01:36 PM
Well, it worked. I don't know if it was any of my measures that made them change their minds. I got my money back today PLUS one of my bank NSF's was reversed.

W00t! Victoly!

I removed the other boycott thread. Apparently these issues are possible to resolve so boycotting isnt the answer. Im still burned from this experience and will be wary to subscribe to ANY online service owned by big business.

I wish they hadnt made this such a pain in the :mad2::mad2::mad2:, but Im happy that the outcome has worked in my favor for once. Sometimes I can be a real pain in the :mad2::mad2::mad2: to deal with. But sometimes that has its advantages too ;)

Synthohol
04-07-2005, 01:59 PM
im glad they caved, and to have a bank, especially with your luck with banks, to reverse a fee, you gotta be on top of the world right now! :)

Nut
04-07-2005, 02:06 PM
Thats cool you finally got hooked. I use to subscribe to fileplanet but was a month to month subscriber. When I decided their service wasn't for me I was able to simply cancel.
Definetly not a good business practice to charge peoples credit cards without their permission. I'm glad you got it resolved. I myself have faught companies who overcharged me tooth and nail over much less. So far I haven't lost a case. I even had one company who, I guess they made a mistake somehow, but they refunded me TWICE for $30.