Humble Bundle. A great company that gets: Software, Applications, Games. Phone applications and even book writers to contributes their works into monthly packages where they send a % of the contributions to real organizations to help the comunity, a company who I really hate having to write this article about because they have done so much good, but sadly at the same time unfortunatley, due to one person who works for them, is not just hurthing the company itself, thier hurting the people who support them as well. Even though they claim they are not part of Steam Games, a lot of what they do seems to be incorporated with them, and merged into a whole. Even Stripe who processes their transactions seems to be part of this huge theft issue within their company.
Wednesday 10-25-2017 I will be meeting up with the Sanfrancisco PD, then the local prosicuter for that county if there is enough time left. I had thought origionally that the issues I have been having with Humble Bundle the past few weeks were just stupid civil matter issues, which many of you most likely have heard in the past when you had to get an officer involved. That famouse frase "It's a civil matter, we can only take a report!" My plans origionally was to just do my normal small claims subpoena warning, like I give to any company who has ripped me off in the past as a courtesy to let them know their about to go to small claims court if they don't rectify the issue. As it turns out, many of you who have dealt with this company in the past, posted information that I read up on and looked deeper into the issues I was having and found out a lot of things.
As it turns out, its not a civil matter but a criminal one that hasn't just been happening these past few weeks, it's been happening for several years with them, and dates back far before I signed up with them in the first place. And the biggest reasons for having to get the PD involved, is because the employee there doing the stealing, is screening the database and removing any trace of messages I send to management. What they are doing, is ringing up duplicate sales of the same things I am purchasing, and hoping I will not notice. I caught onto this after sending a message for the third time and finding my previouse ones completely purged from the system. The employee involved who is doing the theft, is the same one who replied and said too much before purging even that email.
I had bought several bundles for my wife and two children for Christmas. When I got several emails in regards to the purchases, they were listing incorrect information in regards to them. I first thought maybe the issue with build 1703 of my OS might be at fault, but in reality, other orders on my account were placed and sold. At least the rep who claims this before deleting the database said this. If you look my name up on Ebay, you will see not one single software product sold be me ever. I might buy a few things, but my 17 years of being there, there is absolutely no history of me selling even one software item, let alone anything humblebundle. Yet I'm accused of doing this and every purchase I myself have made, clearly shows only activation by with my providers IP registered on those activations. Obviously the woman there who answered my email said way to much, because as I said above, they purged the database of everything I sent them including their reply.
So keys have been sold by me from all my purchases dating back 4 years on my account? That was the eye opener something was up, because I only opened the account up 11 months and 26 days ago. So how can an account that's not even a year old be selling things from it on Ebay for 4 years? It can't, but due to record tampering by the employee there who is doing this screwed up and didn't catch thier mistake. I had also informed them if they don't fix the issue, I would be having my bank do chargbacks which 4 of them will cause their bank to hit them with return fees of $35 each. All of this was in the email I had sent them which garnered the reply I got before it was deleted. I was even told I would be held responsible for any and all chargebacks I have done over the years. Again, only been with Humble Bundle for less than a year, but didn't tell this theif that. So, I go to see if I can contact Stripe to let them know whats going on and shockingly, I see a history of chargbacks, and a lot of them. They don't say what for, but clearly show the dates are way prior to me signing up with HumbleBundle. After a lot of searching, I find a real address listed for Stripe. Know where it goes to? The same address listed for Humble Bundle!!!! I'll be stopping by as I said above with a few officers from their local PD and I will be recording EVERYTHING. Just heads up for the people of California. You do not need the permission of anyones consent to record them in a public place, and that recording is admissable in court as evidence as long as you are part of the conversation. This doesn't mean you can accidentally leave a cellphone in the establishment recording and hope to catch them once you leave, you can get in seriouse trouble for that, under wire tapping laws. You have to be present and part of the conversation. Some officers will say it's illigal, but look it up both Federally and State for California, you only need to be part of the conversation and in a public place recording without asking to catch the thieves.
Anyway, if you have had similar issues, report it. Don't ignore it. If things go down as I believe they will, we will have the most interesting video to watch in another day =) In the meantime, if you get charged and they refuse or just never get back after contacting HumbleBundle, or any thieving company for that matter, contact your bank or card company and not only do a chargeback, stop the card as well.
To try avoiding issues like this in the future, if your bank offers free accounts, then I highly suggest opening several for online purchasing, not just one with absolutely no overdraft. This way you can spread out purchasing, and wait for the item to clear without worry of a false charge coming through and taking funds ment for something else. Example as follows:
Main account1 holds $2k and never ever have a card linked to it, so no risk of account getting emptied out, and NEVER give a routing number and checking number out to anyone, other then payroll for direct deposit. Then open 2 to 3 checking accounts with only 1 cent to keep them open. So now we have Main account1 = $2k, then account2=1 cent, account3=1 cent, and account4=1 cent. Companies like humblebundle don't allow you to purchase several bundles at once. They require them to be bought seperately. So lets say you plan buying two $12 bundles. Soon as the total for the first shows what the total is and you see it's $12, using whatever means you access your bank account with, transfer $24 to ck2, ck3, or ck4. Lets say you transfer $24 to ck2. Ck2 now has $24.01 in it and you can now complete the first order, then repeat it for the second. Now should humblebundle try adding some strange fee like a $10 handling fee which is rare but it does happen, if they try charging $34, the bank will decline the transaction because it went over the $24 total you thought you were paying. Now lets say you need to get diapers and food which costs $94.00. Do not transfer the $94.00 into ck2, transfer it to ck3 and use the card associated with it. Now some of you are wondering whats the big deal, why not just put the $94 into ck2 totaling $118.01? Because even though you don't have an overdraft, too many purchases in one account can still possibly cause you to get hit with a overdraft bank fee of about $35. You don't want this. You see, stores and online companies all have different ways of processing orders, and putting all the eggs into one basket, is a huge way in losing money. So lets say you did put both into ck2 totaling $118.01. This is what would happen. After several days, the holds the bank puts on those purchases falls off, giving you access to the money in case you didn't finish the transaction. Now when Humble Bundle puts in the paperwork for $34, instead of the $24, or even if they without asking sign you up for monthly billing, when they put in the paperwork and try to take $34, because there is 118.01 in there, the bank oks the transaction instead of declining it. Now the account has only $84.01, instead of the $94 needed. You would think the bank would decline the $94? Nope. Because they gave an othorization for the sale, they are required to back it. On top of that, they know your main account had the funds so now instead of declining the transaction, they ok it which now overdraws your account causing you to have -$9.99 plus you then get hit with a overdraft fee of about $35 causing you to have an account with -$44.99. You don't want to be in the position to have to fight with the bank and merchant. Keep your online purchases seperate from your local store ones, and you should be safe. Reason why you never have a credit card directly connected to your main account, or give the routing and checking number to anyone? Besides looking at my other articles which clearly show why, I'll explain it here. You don't ever want to be in the situation where your entire bank account gets emptied out. Imagine while shopping, someone behind you at the register takes a snapshot of your card# and even gets your pin # watching you. Within a few days, that information gets turned into a bogus card and the last thing you want is to be in line making a purchase to get embarassed because the card gets turned down and then find out it was caused due to every penny being stolen in another state via atm and purchasing. It's happened to me, and a huge nightmare to fix, not to mention getting your bank to coorporate. My bank was at least helpful, because what took place should have set off a red flag. Day that happened to me I was at my local store buying groceries, used my pin. At the same exact time, many states away, my card that got duplicated was used at an atm and my account emptied out. I'm not Doctor Who, I dont own a TARDIS so can't be in two places at the same time. Take the steps above, and even those curropt companies that try rebilling you will fail as you only put the money in that is needed and your main account stays safe!
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Lord-Xanthor
San Bruno, California, United States
Theft continues
#3Author of original report
Thu, November 01, 2018
It seems Humble Bundle has been selling bundles with illigal products in them and has not bothered to notify the buyers to compensate them. This means when you have purchased a bundle of software titles, not all of them were authorized by the developer to be put into the bundle. This results in one of two things on steam. Either the product is kept but stripped of all benefits, like updates, cards, discounts on new releases, or worse the game just vanishes from your list of purchased titles and if your like me with a vast library, if you havent played the game, or not in a while, you might not catch this. I only caught on to this because a game I recently purchased didnt use the steam cloud but the same data saved in roaming. What I purchased looked similar to a terraria clone, so when I purchased and downloaded the game to play, I was at first suprised to see I had saved games listed. Loaded one up to realize it was one I completed under another name which no longer listed in my library. Found out it was another title from Humble Bundle to be deleted yet no refund or replacement offered. Makes one wonder if the money being spent there, is really making it to the organizations as they say they do.
Scott
San Bruno, California, United States
Disaster update
#3Author of original report
Sat, January 06, 2018
I have done many of cases when it comes to companies like humble Bundle, and most of the time, they get their due. Unfortunately, I lost this case. Had the case been a civil instead of small claims, things might have been a lot different. Im putting this here because I made a few mistakes, and rather not have anyone reading my articles make the same mistakes I did. As I mentioned before, when you go to court you need to prove damages, and small claims, especially in California if you have the wrong type of judge, which I did, spells disaster. This was because despite the company refunding everything, which they did, the next part is proving damages.
Some judges as I have learned yesterday, dont care about damages, they see a refund was given, and rule for the defendant. I had such a judge, and to be honest, this is the first time Im actually going to say this judge definately doee not belong on the bench. I lost other cases, not many, but some, and I'll never say that bout them. This one, and you can pull up the transscripts if you so choose of the small claims in redwood city for 1/5/2017, you will see not one plaintiff won a case. I hate bill collectors as much as anyone does, and really honestly, just loved seeing one sent out on their tail losing all 11 cases they paid for and not just lose them, but forced to pay some of the people they actually took to court in the firt place. But after my gloating at seeing this, I realized, this guy who just lost over $40,000 never got to give his say in court.
When you go to court, the plaintiff gives his point, the defendant theirs. The judge took a look at all 11 cases, and even missed a few so after the collector left, actually ruled on them as well. No judge is allowed to do this EVER. If a judge dismisses you from the court and discoveres there were cases that got carried over, if they dismiss you, they are required to rescedule those cases and inform both plaintiff and defendant. He just ruled in the defendants behalf with the defendant not even there and the plaintiff already dismissed fromt he court. But let me tell you about what took place with this collector, moment the judge saw he was a bill collector, NEVER once looked at the case.
He just said "Bill collectors have unclean hands, I'm ruleing for the defendant, and had most of the defedants had been here, would have awarded damages for you to pay as well" Which is similar to what happened with me. When it came to my turn, the judge was more pissed with the fact I didnt file this in civil. Small claims is any case under $7,000. This case was $3500, or there abouts. My turn, the defendant interupted before I got to speak my side, and I let them, because when this happens, and is does, the normal route is for the judge to intervene and inform them they will get their turn, and not to interupt. Instead, this judge said nothing, and did not give me my turn, did not look at the evidence, and sent them happily on their way basically giving them the paving way to rip more people off. For me, this will be my last report on this case.
It's not worth the aggreviation, nor can it be appealed, because in small claims cases in California, all decisions are final! No appeals, no redos, no going to higher courts, the deed is done and that is that. I choose this route because our courts in small claims do not allow attorneys of any kind, which normally makes the battlefield even, and why I choose small claims despite being able to do civil prose, which is not an easy task. I am sending the judge a letter, clearly highlighting that it is in no way being written to get him to change his decision, but the fact of why he should not be practacing, and just like many in the past who have been caught, he most likely will one day make the same mistake, and to think hard now. It wont be me that does this, this case is not worth the time, and it isnt. In the end, I may have lost, but doesnt mean if you have the same problem, that you will lose. For me, it was just a bad judge. I did all the work, unfortunatley, none of that work got looked into.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Lord-Xanthor
San Bruno,California,
United States
Theft continues
#3Author of original report
Thu, November 01, 2018
It seems Humble Bundle has been selling bundles with illigal products in them and has not bothered to notify the buyers to compensate them. This means when you have purchased a bundle of software titles, not all of them were authorized by the developer to be put into the bundle. This results in one of two things on steam. Either the product is kept but stripped of all benefits, like updates, cards, discounts on new releases, or worse the game just vanishes from your list of purchased titles and if your like me with a vast library, if you havent played the game, or not in a while, you might not catch this. I only caught on to this because a game I recently purchased didnt use the steam cloud but the same data saved in roaming. What I purchased looked similar to a terraria clone, so when I purchased and downloaded the game to play, I was at first suprised to see I had saved games listed. Loaded one up to realize it was one I completed under another name which no longer listed in my library. Found out it was another title from Humble Bundle to be deleted yet no refund or replacement offered. Makes one wonder if the money being spent there, is really making it to the organizations as they say they do.
Scott
San Bruno,California,
United States
Disaster update
#3Author of original report
Sat, January 06, 2018
I have done many of cases when it comes to companies like humble Bundle, and most of the time, they get their due. Unfortunately, I lost this case. Had the case been a civil instead of small claims, things might have been a lot different. Im putting this here because I made a few mistakes, and rather not have anyone reading my articles make the same mistakes I did. As I mentioned before, when you go to court you need to prove damages, and small claims, especially in California if you have the wrong type of judge, which I did, spells disaster. This was because despite the company refunding everything, which they did, the next part is proving damages.
Some judges as I have learned yesterday, dont care about damages, they see a refund was given, and rule for the defendant. I had such a judge, and to be honest, this is the first time Im actually going to say this judge definately doee not belong on the bench. I lost other cases, not many, but some, and I'll never say that bout them. This one, and you can pull up the transscripts if you so choose of the small claims in redwood city for 1/5/2017, you will see not one plaintiff won a case. I hate bill collectors as much as anyone does, and really honestly, just loved seeing one sent out on their tail losing all 11 cases they paid for and not just lose them, but forced to pay some of the people they actually took to court in the firt place. But after my gloating at seeing this, I realized, this guy who just lost over $40,000 never got to give his say in court.
When you go to court, the plaintiff gives his point, the defendant theirs. The judge took a look at all 11 cases, and even missed a few so after the collector left, actually ruled on them as well. No judge is allowed to do this EVER. If a judge dismisses you from the court and discoveres there were cases that got carried over, if they dismiss you, they are required to rescedule those cases and inform both plaintiff and defendant. He just ruled in the defendants behalf with the defendant not even there and the plaintiff already dismissed fromt he court. But let me tell you about what took place with this collector, moment the judge saw he was a bill collector, NEVER once looked at the case.
He just said "Bill collectors have unclean hands, I'm ruleing for the defendant, and had most of the defedants had been here, would have awarded damages for you to pay as well" Which is similar to what happened with me. When it came to my turn, the judge was more pissed with the fact I didnt file this in civil. Small claims is any case under $7,000. This case was $3500, or there abouts. My turn, the defendant interupted before I got to speak my side, and I let them, because when this happens, and is does, the normal route is for the judge to intervene and inform them they will get their turn, and not to interupt. Instead, this judge said nothing, and did not give me my turn, did not look at the evidence, and sent them happily on their way basically giving them the paving way to rip more people off. For me, this will be my last report on this case.
It's not worth the aggreviation, nor can it be appealed, because in small claims cases in California, all decisions are final! No appeals, no redos, no going to higher courts, the deed is done and that is that. I choose this route because our courts in small claims do not allow attorneys of any kind, which normally makes the battlefield even, and why I choose small claims despite being able to do civil prose, which is not an easy task. I am sending the judge a letter, clearly highlighting that it is in no way being written to get him to change his decision, but the fact of why he should not be practacing, and just like many in the past who have been caught, he most likely will one day make the same mistake, and to think hard now. It wont be me that does this, this case is not worth the time, and it isnt. In the end, I may have lost, but doesnt mean if you have the same problem, that you will lose. For me, it was just a bad judge. I did all the work, unfortunatley, none of that work got looked into.