- Report: #565183
Complaint Review: Highbeam.com Research - Chicago Illinois
Reported By:
Carolyn -
New York, New York, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Highbeam.com Research
65 W Wacker Pl Ste 400 Chicago, 10028 Illinois, United States of America
Phone:
800-860-9227
Web:
www.highbeam.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
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Highbeam.com Research "NO RISK FREE TRIAL" OFFER IS A SCAM - CREDIT CARD WILL BE CHARGED $199.95 Chicago, Illinois
This rip-off artist offers a "no-risk free" one-week trial of their online document retrieval service. To access the "free" service, you are asked to check off their Terms and Conditions, and provide a credit card number. Nowhere in their seven-page tiny print Terms and Conditions does it indicate that at the end of the free trial period, you will automatically be enrolled as a member and charged an annual membership fee of $199.95. And get this: my college-aged son signed on for this "free" trial in September 2009 (they prey on high school and college students), never used it, and it wasn't until three months later, in mid-December, that my credit card was charged the $199.95. When I called Highbeam, they said they could cancel the membership but not provide a refund. I filed a dispute with my credit card company and told Highbeam I would report them to the BBB and Attorney General's office unless a refund was issued. Lo and behold, they issued a refund to my credit card account and the dispute was closed. However, several weeks later, unbeknownst to me, they supplied some sort of "documentation" to the credit card company which "provided convincing information indicating that you did engage in this transaction." I repeat: nowhere in Highbeam's 7-page Terms and Conditions does it ever state that "free trial" users will be automatically enrolled as members at the end of the trial period, nor does it indicate what an annual membership will cost, nor does it explain how "free trial" users can avoid incurring such a charge. The only warning it issues -- twice -- is that "this is an auto-renewing contract" but the text makes it sound like this only applies to established members. TOTAL SCAM!!!!
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Carolyn
New York,New York,
United States of America
.Update 2/25/2011
#2Author of original report
Fri, February 25, 2011
I filed a complaint about this with the Better Business Bureau on 04/16/2010 and received a prompt reply that since I hadn't requested their mediation services in regards to this issue, my letter would become a part of BBB's "letters of experience" which are kept on file for three years and allows BBB to see if there is a pattern of similar complaints against a company. If a pattern develops, this information will be included in the firm's BBB reliability report. BBB also sent a copy of my letter to the business "for their records." I encourage anyone else who is a victim of fraudulent billing practices by this company to add their "letter of experience" to the BBB files!
