Complaint Review: EMerchantclub Specialty Merchandise Corp - Simi Valley California

It all started in December 2006 when eMerchantclub decided they would no longer do back end web customizations. Incidentally I did not receive advance notification of this change. During this same month (or shortly thereafter) I noticed that an "Update" had occured to my website, so I did a trial order to ensure all was working well just to discover that the PayPal module was reset to US Dollars rather than Canadian dollars (I am a Canadian online retailer selling exclusively to Canadians).

I proceeded to contact their tech support to have this changed as had previously been done without any issue when I initially purchased the website (for $1500.00) back in January/February 2005. I was not advised that they could not at that time and was told that a ticket was open to have it done. I kept checking my site for the next few weeks and my request had not been completed, so I called them once again and was told that they would need a few days to follow up and assured me that it would be completed.

Once again I kept checking and ended up have to call them back a third time, at which time I was advised that they could no longer assist me because of the decision made back in December. I once again explained to them my situation and that I could not in good business practice be a Canadian retailer selling to Canadians but charging US Dollars! They showed no empathy so I asked to speak with a supervisor, they advised that there was not one available but that they would put in a request to have one contact me in a day or two, I heard from no one.

Now in June I get a credit card charge for $199 for no apparent reason so I called to ask why and was advised that this is the usual annual fee for, and I quote, "upgrades and what not to my site". I was also advised at this time that an email went out a few weeks before indicating this would occur, I did not receive this advance notification. I was also advised this had been charged to me the year before, I reviewed my credit card statements from the year before and my card had not been debited this charge the year before.

Then they tried to charge my monthly hosting fee to my credit card but it was not authorized successfully because the previous charge of $199 had maxed out my card. So they waited a couple of weeks and debited the hosting fees at that time. By this point I was furious and decided to cancel my website with them and advised them in writing that they are no longer authorized to debit my credit for anything else fearing that they would find some inconspicuous charge they feel is warranted to fulfill my cancellation request.

I now decided to contact a Canadian hosting company to transfer my domain name to them and get a hosting package with them instead, this company requested a domain transfer authorization be completed by sending the request to [email protected] as this was the contact info in the Whois database. I then received notification from the Canadian hosting company that emerchantclub had not completed the request, so I called them up to see what was up, they advised me that this email addressed is not checked and that because my account had not been current recently that there would be a $35 charge to release my domain to me! It's my domain name anyway! The nerve of these guys??? So I asked them if my account was current now, and they said yes, I then asked them why they were screwing me with yet another $35 charge, they advised that it was in the "Membership Rules" (you remember...the ones they changed in December without notifying me). What a huge bullshit fiasco. I give you fair warning...Do not do business with this company.

If anyone wants to contact me in relation to a class action lawsuit against them I am more than willing to join the effort.

Steve

Lively, Ontario

Canada