Complaint Review: Rocket Lawyer - San Francisco Internet

I signed up for a trial period to build a power of attorney for my Mother who has Alzheimers. Per their rules you MUST GIVE A CREDIT CARD NUMBER DESPITE ADVERTISEMENT OF FREE DOWNLOAD OF ONE LEGAL DOCUMENT. This itself is a complaint but not the primary reason for this report. In my opinion, this is completely uncecessary and seems like a shady business practice designed to take in funds because some PEOPLE WILL FORGET to cancel. 

Why not just let the customer download the ONE DOCUMENT FREE OF ANY OBLIGATION and FORCE THE CC ENTRY WHEN THE CUSTOMER GOES TO CREATE OR DOWNLOAD A SECOND DOCUMENT?  

So the sign-up and first (AND ONLY) download was in MAY 2012. I downloaded the document and then due to the circumstances forgot to cancel.

Recently I was conducting a thorough review of my bank statements and saw they they have been happily charging $19.95 per month to my CC since then, for a toal of $279.30. I contacted them by phone & was disenrolled in the paid service, my account reset to basic plan, & the rep (who was very polite) promised to send forward a request for refund of indeterminate amount. I then received the E-MAIL QUOTED BELOW this complaint. The mentioned refund did come through in three installments of $39.90.

However, this still results in my having paid them $159.60 FOR NOT EVEN LOGGING IN TO THEIR SITE for 14 months!

I am still livid about the PARTIAL REFUND considering the complete lack of account activity.

1. I believe a very good business model would be to FOLLOW UP (e-mail would be fine and show good faith) with EVERY CUSTMOMER AFTER THE 30-DAY TRIAL PERIOD to ensure they wish to continue the plan before the charge is incurred.

2. I would think a MAXIMUM of 90 DAYS INACTIVITY would warrant a FOLLOW UP to ensure I (or ANY CUSTOMER) is still interested in maintaining the services and incurring the monthly charges. 

3. Perhaps a change to AUTOMATICALLY REVERT to basic plan after 90 DAYS OF INACTIVITY would be a good business practice to avoid customers feeling like they've been ripped off and then publising bad publicity by e-mail. word of mouth and reports like this. Even if customers use the service regularly then don't need it for 90 days, why continue to charge them FOR NOT USING THE SERVICE?

I will never use them, never recommend them, in fact, quite the opposite, I will actively tell anyone NOT to use them because their business model/practices are not customer focused.

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For the account under [email address removed ] I show that a Free Trial was started on  5/21/2012. When that account was not downgraded during the trial period, per the agreed upon terms of the trial, that account entered a paid Legal Plan on  5/29/2012, the day after the trial had expired. 

As of  7/24/2013 this account has been downgraded to the Free Membership level. You will not be billed again. 

As a courtesy, we have already processed a refund for the total amount of $119.70 on  7/24/2013 to the card associated with the Rocket Lawyer account. Please allow up to 7 business days from the date of refund for the refund to be reflected on your statement by your financial institution.

This account is not eligible for any additional refunds. Please review the below statement agreed to when subscribed, which was listed on the trial sign up page:

By clicking Continue, you are indicating that you have read, understood and agree to the following:

Your free trial entitles you to the Basic Legal Plan. We will begin regular billing of $19.95/month after your free trial ends. If you decide you don't want to keep your Basic Legal Plan, simply downgrade the service to a free membership to discontinue the Legal Plan and monthly billing. No matter what, the legal documents created and saved during your trial are free, yours to keep, and you can access them at any time.

For further billing concerns, please contact us directly via e-mail at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Kendall

RocketLawyer Billing Department www.rocketlawyer.com

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