Avoid Ziinga!

danjourno

Hi,

Avoid Ziinga.com.

I registered and bought 10 bids for £8.43, and they automatically signed me up for their Gold+ membership at £56 per month!

Just found it on my credit card and emailed them to get them to refund it and they said I agreed to it by making a purchase, which I did not.

My card company says they cant do anything about it.

Avoid Ziinga.com like the plague.

Does anyone know what my rights are?

Thanks
Dan

mobile48

Quick reply with some background information:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments

paulofessex

mobile48 wrote: »

Quick reply with some background information:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/recurring-payments

Just to say that is the most useful reply l have seen in a while on the forum.

Crowqueen

paulofessex wrote: »

Just to say that is the most useful reply l have seen in a while on the forum.

Seconded. Interesting reading, Mobile.

becarefullofscams

just let you know I was unlucky with them to, they charge me first £1.00, then £34.00 and after that £59.99 as they automatically signed me up for their Gold+ membership. When I was trying cancell and get my £59.99 they told my that cancellation fees ar £28.00
SCAM SCAM SCAM stay away from them

danjourno

I got my money back from the credit card company.

Here is the letter I sent to the card company if it helps you.

---

[FONT=&quot]Please find attached the information regarding my dispute.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ziinga is an auction website. Unlike Ebay that charge you if you win. Ziinga charge a fee per bid.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I registered on a website to try it out. In the process, I paid £1 for some trial bids. When I got my credit card statement, I found an additional charge for £56 which i did not agree to. I am a computer consultant, been using the internet for over 14 years and would never have agreed to paying £56.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Before contacting Santander, I emailed Ziinga to ask them for an explanation, and demanding a refund. Please read the series of emails which are labelled (1).[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As you can see, they claim I agreed to a membership, which I did not. I printed off their website for you so that you can see what I’m talking about. Its labelled (3). As you can see, there is no mention of choosing Gold+. Their terms mention 3 levels of membership, and I didn’t choose any.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]After this happened, I did some searching, and found a large number of people who have experienced this problem. I’ve printed off a discussion regarding Ziinga (labelled 2), and highlighted the relevant section.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Having said all this, regardless of what I agreed to, they have said that they would refund the money, but they haven’t yet. I emailed them and they tell me that they’ve refunded it, which they haven’t.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I would appreciate it if you would sort this out and perform a chargeback as I’ve reached an end contacting this “company”.[/FONT]

madchef

On the 15th April, this year, I stupidly bid for a mobile phone and was astonished when I got it for only £2.80 and only then did I Google them, what a complete idiot am I. They took the £2.80 immediately from my bank account, I sent them an email when they asked for a photo copy of my Credit Card and Driver’s License telling them no-one will ever get those from me and told them to cancel everything and refund my money. I contacted my Bank and requested a new card BUT today I find that they have taken a further £2.80 from my account.

I have just contacted my bank asking why they could access my account with the old card and they said that I had entered into a contract with them and should have read their Terms and Conditions more carefully, but also said that Ziinga would be requesting a £59.99 membership fee shortly, so on his advice I have issued a refusal to pay and when I see it in my account to phone that Bank who will cancel the payment. I would say that Ziinga are committing a form of fraud and can't see how they are getting away with it, so BEWARE don't have anything to do with them IMO.

chivvy

I joined Ziinga, then bid on what I thought was £60 cash for £3.84 but was really a £60 Platinum membership. When I realised I cancelled my account but just got my statement through and was charged a £28 cancellation fee. Been on the phone to them for half hour and they will not refund me even after threatening to go to trading standards and Watchdog. Avoid and warn your friends via Facebook etc

gokane

I have had a similar experience with Ziinga. When I receieved a receipt for £59.99 for each of three months, after I 'won' £100 and paid for it during a week's 'free' trial, I send two emails to cancel. I sent another within the week.
My credit card company got the £59.99 back. In spite of 'miles' of email communications between myself and Ziinga they have consistently refused to answer certain questions. Now the company is threatening taking me to court and send the debt collectors around.
This company is dangerous. Any legal suggestions to help me would be welcome. I have contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau.

ozi_ocb

hi.
first of all I want to apologize for may poor english, I'm from Poland.

This is what I did:
I chat whit that lady on on the Ziinga.com website, and this is what she told me:


27 May 2012 02:40 a.m.

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Isabella'

Isabella: Welcome to Ziinga Live Chat Service! For me to better assist you, may I have your Ziinga username?

paul: hi can you give me more information about delete my accout and canceling the subscription

Isabella: I'd be more than happy to assist you with your concern.

Isabella: May I have your username?

paul: no

Isabella: I can only provide you with general information

paul: ok, so i'm waitig

Isabella: This is a penny auction site where you pay for the bid that you place on every auction that you join. With this, you get a chance to get the item that you want in just a fraction of a price.

Isabella: You need bids in your account so you can enter an auction. Each time a new bid is placed, the timer is reset to about 15 seconds – 2 minutes. If nobody places a bid and the timer reaches zero, the last person to bid will win. Thats how Ziinga auction works.

paul: ok and what about closing my account?

Isabella: May I have your username?

paul: ****

Isabella: so that I can provide you the correct resolution

Isabella: Thank you. May I have your email for verification?

paul: ****

Isabella: Upon checking you are subscribe to the Platinum membership, please be advise that if you want to cancel, there will be a GBP 28 cancellation fee

paul: ok, and what about this GBP 59,99 fees for the next two months?

Isabella: That is the Platinum membership fee

Isabella: The item you purchased comes with the Platinum membership and the Platinum membership is a 3 month binding contract.

paul: yes i know, but do you will still take this money if i close my account right now?

Isabella: If you cancel your membership and pay for the cancellation fee, no more further charges will incur in your accoun

paul: so if i close my account right now you will only take that GBP 25 for cancelation fee and that's it? i don't have to be worried that on the next month you will take money from my accout again?

Isabella: GBP 28

Isabella: after cancellation fee is paid no more Platinum membership in the following

Isabella: months

Isabella: However please note that cancellation of membership will void any promotional won auction.

paul: is that for sure? because if i close my account right now and pay that cancelaton fee, and on the next month your company will take money from my bank account without my acceptation, this will be a theft.

Isabella: Are you still there?

Isabella: I understand your concern.

Isabella: rest assure once cancellation fee is paid no more charges will incur in the following months

Isabella: Do you want to cancel your Platinum membership now?

paul: yes i do

Isabella: Ok I send you a cancellation link to your email

Isabella: ****

paul: ok

Isabella: Kindly check you inbox, spam or junk folder

Isabella: then confirm the cancellation link

Isabella: Please be advise that the promotional won auction will be forfeited once the Platinum membership is canceled.

paul: i am aware of that

Isabella: Please update me once you confirm the cancellation link so that I can check here in our system.

paul: ok

paul: i have still one little question. What about chargebacks for this month?

Isabella: I am sorry but that is beyond my scope of support

Isabella: Are you referring to refund?

paul: yes i am

Isabella: I can process a refund for you however cancellation fee still applies

paul: ok, so pease do so

Isabella: ok please confirm the cancellation link I sent you

paul: ok i clik on the link

Isabella: thank you, let me check

Isabella: the cancellation of your platinum membership was succesful

Isabella: rest assure you will not incur further charges

Isabella: please allow 10 business days for the refund

Isabella: total refund that you will received is £ 40.33

Isabella: that already deduct the cancellation fee of £ 28.00

paul: ok thanks you, but can you send me a confirmation e-mail

Isabella: yes an email confirmation was send to your email

Isabella: Is there anything else I can help you with?

paul: ok thanks, one last qestion, when i will get my money back?

Isabella: yes I process a refund for you

Isabella: Please allow 10 business days for the refund to post in your account

Isabella: If you don't have any other questions, I may need to close this chatbox. Please feel free to open the chat again or email us at [EMAIL="info@ziinga.com"]info @ ziinga.com[/EMAIL] for further assistance.

paul: ok, thank you, i hope that we will never have to cotact again, to be sure i will copy that coversation to my folder, in case that something goes wron

Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.

You are not currently in a chat session.





Then i recive a cancelation e-mail from them, but i was not happy because my cancelation date was 2012-08-23, it's three months from now. So i chat with them one more time:



Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Daria'

Daria: Welcome to Ziinga! How can I help you?

Daria: Are you still there?

paul: hi i just cancelled my account on ziinga and there is one think that make me unhappy. In the e-mile that i recived there's this "Your cancellation date is 2012-08-23 which means you may continue to experience the benefits of your membership until the designated cancellation date." BUT I want to cancel right now so the cancellation date should be 2012-05-27

Daria: I'd be more than happy to assist you with your concern.

Daria: May I have your username?

paul: ****

Daria: Thank you for that information.

Daria: May I have your e-mail address?

paul: ****

Daria: Thank you for that information.

Daria: Our system shows that your membership is already inactive. Rest assured that there will be no more charges on your account.

Daria: You ,may disregard that date.

paul: so from today, 2012-05-27, your company wll not take any money from my account?

Daria: Yes, that is correct.

paul: ok, so can you send me e-mail with confirmation that we agree with that?

Daria: There is a confirmation e-mail that was sent to you regarding the cancellation.

paul: yes i know but i would ike to have the evidence for a case that something goes wrong ane your company will take money from my bak accoun again

Daria: Alright.

Daria: Kindly wait for the e-mail within 24 hours.

paul: why you can't send it to me right now?

Daria: We will be processing that, kindly wait for it within the day.

paul: ok i'm looking forward to that

Daria: Alright.

Daria: Is there anything else I can help you with?

paul: i will copy this coversation to my pc

Daria: Alright.

paul: no i'm done for now

paul: i will be waiting for e-mail

paul: and write to you again if im unhappy

Daria: Okay, rest assured that you will receive it within the day.

paul: have a nice day

Daria: Thank you for choosing Ziinga. If you have any other questions, feel free to open a chat or e-mail us at

Daria: Thank you for chatting. Good-bye.

Finally i recived last e-mile with todays cancelation date:

Your request () has been received, and is being reviewed by our support staff.
Our Customer Support Specialists will get in touch with you through email within 24 hours.

Doris, May 27 04:29 (CEST):Hi ****,
Good Day.
This is to confirm that your membership and contract is already cancelled as of 2012-05-27. Rest assured that there will be no more charges on your account for the succeeding months.
Should you have other concern, please feel free to e-mail us.
Regards,
Doris
Ziinga Customer Support


So now i have evidence that they agree to not to take any money from my bank account anymore. On Monday I will go to my Bank and I will tell them about everything


I hope that i will never have any problem with Ziinga again

gokane

Thanks for your story ozi in poland. I hope they won't make any further charges. They are again threatening to take me to court saying a cooling off period in Uk law does not apply to platinum membership! We'll see.

I'd like to hear more...

Gerry