Complaint Review: Online Supplier - Internet

I'd like to start off by saying, as a customer service representive, there are three types of calls I answer. There is what we call a help call, which is basically where we help new comers to the program start their website. We help them build it, help them get a merchant account and advertising for their website. And also usually answer a ton of questions about the service. Then we get cancel calls. People calling us to cancel their service with online supplier for whatever reason. And last, we get billing disputes. People calling up because they are unsure of why they were charged. Now, let me explain what Online Supplier is and the sign up process for it. Online Supplier is a drop ship company and a website provider. We offer a webstore that is customizable to some extent and we provide products to sell on the webstore, as well as auction sites, like eBay. Drop shipping means that you can sell any of the products before buying them and once you make a sell and received payment for the sell, you'd be able to order it from us and we'd ship it to the customer who bought what you had sold. Sounds reasonable, right? I understand that the advertising for the service is a little misleading. They through the name eBay around like it's really them. And many people believe they are signing up for something through eBay. Now, the whole sign up process is this: They see, "FREE EBAY STARTER KIT!!! ONLY 1.95 FOR SHIPPING!" There is your red flag right there. Come on, people. When is ANYTHING in America free? Never. Whether it's claiming it's free on the TV commerical, a magazine ad, or the internet, NOTHING IS FREE. Why? Because if you notice, there is always always always always always fine print. No matter what you are getting. So not just this service, but anything claiming to give you something for free. Then you have to use a credit card to actually order this kit. So, isn't that another clue that it's not actually free? Also, we are required by the FTC to post the terms of membership (fineprint) before any sign up. So yeah, just like any thing on the internet, the terms are at the bottom of the page in the form of a hyperlink. Why? Because terms are always too long to put on the regular page. It's just the way it goes on the internet. So now, one more thing. It's all clearly there, but no one bothers to actually look at the whole website page to see if there is any type of fine print. Actually, I won't say no one because that is completely untrue. My grandma is constantly on eBay to buy things. She goes crazy with printing everything she deals with for her records. If there is something asking for her credit card (especially if it says it's free) she reads every little thing on there. I guess I'm lucky to learn from such a lady, but I guess some people don't quite grasp that idea. YOU ARE PUTTING YOUR CREDIT CARD ON THE INTERNET THINKING YOU ARE GETTING SOMETHING FOR FREE! I'm sorry, but that can't be anyone's fault but you're own. All the information of payment of fees were in the terms. On the same page you fill out to get the card (yeah, you don't have to click on anything, just scroll down to see the rest of the website) it tells you, "Your kit includes a FREE 14-DAY TRIAL to YOUR VERY OWN WEBSTORE." What happens after trials end? They bill you. Netflix has a trial too! I was billed after my trial ended since that's how it usually goes. I'm not saying this company is perfect. Believe me, I have frustrations on this same thing. Only it's different for me because I don't like hearing people cussing and yelling because they were only charged THIRTY DOLLARS because they didn't read anything when they entered their credit card, thinking they could get something for free. This whole website thinks it's a scam, and I can understand. Because it's only the angry people posting here on ripoff.com. No surprise there. But you, unlike me, don't ever get to hear about the people who actually use the service or who cancel because they knew they had a trial. Also, they are diffently working on making this better. We installed a new thing that basically tells them the date they would be charged and gives them the phone number so they can cancel. And so lately, we've been getting a lot of cancels, a lot of people who are excited about the service, and surprisingly, people who are mad that they were billed. Even though we now TELL THEM THE EXACT DATE! It's not anyone's fault. Some people are just too rushed to pay attention or for some kind of reason, I don't know. And some of these people who call because they don't know why they were charged actually just accept it and take it as a lesson to READ THE FINE PRINT next time. We can't stop people from signing up and not reading anything. People like that just exsist. Any and all companies get people just like that. We're not perfect. No one is. I'm not really standing up for anything, I just would like to put my two cents in since I would never be able to say what I really want to say on the phone. And if we were a scam, I would totally tell everyone off. But I can't because we are not a scam. It's just an internet company. People can make money with the service, and people do make money. Sometimes people don't get their kit, either. Don't know why, that's just what happens with mail. My grandma sent me a package several times and I never got it. I would have liked to get it, but I didn't because that happens sometimes because you can't rely on anything. That's why we also give our number so incase you ordered a kit and didn't get it on time, you could call and we'd work something out. Like resend it and extend the trial to make sure you get the full time on the trial. They're not evil, they're just a business. But here's the closing, finally. It's a lesson to be learned whether this has happened to you or not, be careful on the internet. No matter what. I don't even give out my e-mail on the internet unless I'm sure I won't get spam mail. I never order anything from the internet untill I'm sure what it is. Like Netflix. Or something like that. So just be careful about what you do on the internet. Read fine print. And this will NEVER happen to you again! Unless you really did get scammed.