EarthLink incredible sleaziness

[RustyShackleford]

I wonder if this kind of thing is going to start happening more and more ...

About a month ago, disgusted with my ATT DSL service,
I signed up for EarthLink. When I called to cancel with ATT,
they made nice (sidebar: it's pretty amazing what these companies
will do when you threaten to cancel service), and I decided to stay
with them. I called EarthLink the next day and cancelled.

A few days, a month or so after the cancellation, I noticed a $40+
charge on my VISA, from EarthLink. I called, and they said that when
I signed up for DSL, I'd automatically been signed up for a dial-in
service (for backup and when away from home), and when I cancelled
the DSL I did not cancel the dial-up, so the charge was for a month of
dialup (pretty expensive dialup), and since they are a "subscription
service" there is no possibility of refunding my money.

Is this incredible, or what ? Supposedly a supervisor is going to call me
back "within one hour" (we'll see how THAT goes). And I will file a
dipsute form with my VISA holder (Penfed). I guess it's not worth to
much trouble for $40, but wanted to get the word out on EarthLink and
to watch out for this kind of stuff in all quarters.

P.S. It's been an hour and supervisor did not call back.

 

[modhatter]

If you don't file a complaint and contest the charge, then they have won and will only promote more such behavior. I have come to realize that this is the way now with most companies. They will always try, and if they get away with it, they just make more money, and you will have less.

 

[free4now]

Sounds like pursuing this with your credit card is a good idea. And see if you can get this on consumerist to warn others.

I recently gave the required 60 day notice to cancel my gym membership (24 hour fitness), and they errantly stopped my gym access completely so I couldn't access the gym during the 60 days I had already paid for. It took conversations with three gym employees to get that resolved.

Even sleazier, they won't give me any written confirmation of my phone cancellation.

Class action lawsuits seem to be the only way to motivate these corporations to behave lawfully.

The upside to the economic crisis though is that our society is starting to wise up to the fact that corporations need to be forcefully restrained from antisocial behavior.

 

[growing_older]

Earthlink has been a horror with telemarketing for me. I don't know how I got on their list, but every three months or so I'll get 10 or so calls from them asking me to sign up for their VOIP service. They say they are a third party acting on behalf of Earthlink and cannot stop the calls (which sound like they come from a call center in India) and when I call Earthlink they also claim they are not responsible since it's a third party. Very frustrating.

 

[RustyShackleford]

Apparently I got through to them on my second call, and they have
credited back the charges.

 

[Westernskies]

Apparently I got through to them on my second call, and they have
credited back the charges.

So would it be appropriate to change the title of this thread?

 

[saluki9]

So would it be appropriate to change the title of this thread?

They still charged the card without making it clear they were going to do so. I would say leave it.

 

[RustyShackleford]

So would it be appropriate to change the title of this thread?

No.

Did you actually read the original post, or were you just unable to
comprehend it ? I signed up for DSL. I cancelled it the next day. They
"automatically" signed me up for dial-up when I signed up for the
DSL, without telling me. When I cancelled, perhaps if I'd said "did
you sign me up for any anciliary services without telling me ?, if so
please cancel those too" perhaps these charges wouldn't have appeared
on my credit card a month later. As it was, I had to make two long
phone calls and become extremely assertive on the second, in order
to get the refund. And it remains to be seen whether or not any new
charges appear next month.

If this does not seem like sleazy business behavior to you, then I hope
to God that I never have to do business with you, or anyone like you,
and I pity anyone who does.

 

[Lister]

I had a similar problem with XM Radio but I will spare you all the details. My solution was to simply contact my credit card company and contest the charge. I just had to document what happened and how XM would not refund the charge. Worked like a charm, I got a credit.

 

[jambo101]

I had a similar problem with XM Radio but I will spare you all the details. My solution was to simply contact my credit card company and contest the charge. I just had to document what happened and how XM would not refund the charge. Worked like a charm, I got a credit.

I also had a problem with them(XM Radio).When i signed on i took a 2yr package for a few hundred bucks,when the 2 yrs were up i decided to let the subscription run out as i hardly ever use the radio, well XM doesnt work that way and they just billed my credit card another couple of hundred bucks for another 2yrs,its called negative billing and its very irritating as the companies that use this technique seldom point it out and you end up having an unexpected charge on your credit card

 

[RustyShackleford]

Wow, that is very encouraging to hear that contesting the credit-card
charge worked so well. Beats talking to the phone-robots, plus Penfed
is typically a pleasure to deal with.