Luqicharmz
Elliston,#2Consumer Suggestion
Sat, August 08, 2009
I am a former employee of a different bank and worked in the checkcard disputes department. I've seen your situation many times. It's not a fraud transaction since you've done business with the merchant and gave them your checkcard information. This transaction is considered unauthorized. Visa doesn't allow disputes on these "subscription merchants". When you signed up for the free CD, it included a "free" trial of a subscription (it's the same with all "pay for shipping" samples). There are a lot of companies doing this and I hate it. It's sneaky and deceptive. In Visa's eyes, you authorized the charge by not cancelling the subscription (that you didn't even know you were signed up for). The procedures that you've discussed are the same with all banks. With a subscription merchant, you first have to call the merchant to cancel and request a refund. The bank will cancel your debit card to make sure that merchant doesn't charge you again. Once the refund posts to your account, they can go back to waive the NSF fees. The fees that you were asking about when you had a positive balance are called "unavailable funds fees". It means that you had transactions pending that didn't have enough funds to clear the account. I don't agree with this process because you can then get charged an overdraft fee when the transaction posts. For future reference, you should never pay for shipping of a free sample or free product. Even when you follow the cancellation instructions perfectly, it's difficult cancel before the trial ends (which is calculated from the date you ordered it, not the date you received it). In a lot of cases, you will also get charged from other companies as well because the fine print states they can share your card information with their partners and sign you up for more subscriptions. A note to everyone though. If you have a charge on your account, first call the phone number listed with it. If the merchant has no record of you or if the phone number is disconnected, call your bank immediately and file a dispute for unauthorized transactions. I would recommend completing a complaint with Visa in hopes that their process will change or they can take steps to prevent these companies from preying on unsuspecting consumers. I hope this helps. Best of luck!