- Report: #551324
Complaint Review: terraserver.com - Raleigh North Carolina
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Author Confirmed
Why?
terraserver.com
5995 Chapel Hill Rd #109 Raleigh, 27607 North Carolina, United States of America
Phone:
877-878-9248
Web:
www.terraserver.com
Categories:
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terraserver.com Terraserver The old bait and switch, tons of fine print. CSR is cocky and unprofessional Raleigh, North Carolina
Terraserver provides aerial mapping online. I used to be a customer but had unsubscribed to their service years ago because the maps were not up to date in many areas.
On December 22, 2009 I received this email from them:
From: TerraServer.com Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 6:36 PM
Subject: 2010 Calendar - New Aerial/Satellite Photos
Body: Over the last year, we have worked with our friends at DigitalGlobe and Pictometry to add new data from around the globe. The new imagery is very high resolution (0.15-0.6 meters per pixel) and very recent (2008-2009). This new imagery adds to our current expansive imagery archive and we will continue working with our partners to keep growing.
Note:Deleted crap about a free calendar
I signed up Tuesday, December 22, 2009 11:22 PM, I searched in 2 locations in Wisconsin and the images were from 2004!
I went in and canceled my account on Tuesday, December 22, 2009 11:30 PM (8 minutes later) and sent them an email explaining I was expecting 2009 imaging and please do not charge my card.
Needless to sat today I see a charge on my credit card statement for $29.95 So I send them another email telling them to refund it or I will dispute it with my credit card company and get this response:
Thank you for using TerraServer. We have a No Refund policy which is very clear and is part of the Membership Agreement which you must agree to before joining.
We will dispute any chargeback attempt and we will win. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you. Thanks again for contacting TerraServer. TerraServer Support phone: 877-878-9248 fax: 919-573-8729
I sent them a email back confirming I would be disputing it and adding them to this site. This is the response I received:
Thank you for using TerraServer. We have added literally millions of new images worldwide including very high resolution and very recent imagery. This does not mean that this imagery is available everywhere. We have very poor coverage in Antarctica, for example. Per our legally binding Membership Agreement, which you must read and agree before joining, under the Refund Policy section: "All products are provided as is and no purchases will be refunded. Once you have subscribed no refunds will be provided. If you do not cancel before the end of your current term and you subscription is automatically renewed there will be no refunds. We do not guarantee coverage of any particular area, so please search the site before you purchase." In the past, we have had a few other people join our service and then try to rip us off and cancel the charge. We dispute these blatant rip offs and we always prevail. Our Membership Agreement is very clear and has already been reviewed by all major credit card companies. If you attempt to rip us off, we will report you to ripoffreport.com. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you. Thanks again for contacting TerraServer.
The bottom line is you can get better imaging from (((competitor's name redacted))) for free and terraserver.com has poor customer service and a rude & cocky person replying to their emails.
I did see one other report on here about them and its easy to tell the same cocky person from terraserver responded to that one.
sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company, ..plus, if you post a competitors name more than likely they will show up on search engines as a Rip-off! - - your comments on this policy are welcome. CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report. In this case we removed an alleged competitors name2 Updates & Rebuttals
Rich
Ashland,Wisconsin,
U.S.A.
Again Great Customer Service
#2Author of original report
Thu, January 21, 2010
Brian Randy Funk of RealUP and Terra Server in Raleigh, North Carolina says I was "sent and has now received his free calendar" I canceled my subscription 8 minutes after I signed up. You must ship them calenders fast! I also did not download one single map image since the ones of the area I was interested in were from 2004 and not 2009 as your spam email had implied.
You will do anything to keep your $29.95 even take confidential information off my credit card and publish it here, while you remain nameless in all contact info and on your websites.
I left out no pertinent info from any of the emails yours or mine. We will let the people who read this side with who they think is being honest and fair.
We will also let the credit card company, Raleigh BBB and the holder of you secure certificate decide whether publishing my confidential information on the web is ok under their user agreements.
I can't wait to see this $10 calender. If it shows up I will post pics of it.
ts-support
Raleigh,North Carolina,
USA
Terms Of Use
#3UPDATE Employee
Mon, January 11, 2010
Richard Hansen of Bitter Creek Candle Supply, Inc. in Ashland, WI has attempted to take advantage of a special offer and then rip us off with a chargeback.
Richard Hansen leaves out several important parts of our customer support communication, including his own emails as well as selectively quoting our emails.
Richard Hansen purchased a Monthly Subscription for $29.95 and, as part of the special offer, received a FREE 2010 Calendar which is valued at $10 with an additional $3.09 in shipping. Richard Hansen was sent and has now received his free calendar. It appears that he may have been trying to get the free calendar and then rip us off by disputing the charge.
There was no "bait and switch" - nowhere does the email state that our new data is available in all locations. We have, in fact, added millions of new images that are both high resolution and very current. This actually includes Wisconsin which has many new images from 2008/2009. See links to Madison, Milwaukee, La Crosse, Eau Clair, and Appleton:
Furthermore, as you can see from the links above, anyone can freely preview all of our imagery and see the exact dates and resolutions available for any given location.
TerraServer has very clear Terms Of Use which are industry standard and are linked to on every page. The Subscription Agreement which users must read and agree to before joining. This is a legally binding agreement and those that attempt to violate this are ripping us off.
Per the Subscription Agreement, which Richard Hansen read and agreed to: "REFUND POLICY. All products are provided as is and no purchases will be refunded. Once you have subscribed no refunds will be provided. If you do not cancel before the end of your current term and you subscription is automatically renewed there will be no refunds. We do not guarantee coverage of any particular area, so please search the site before you purchase."
We have been in business for over 10 years and are very professional. We have tens of thousands of subscribers who love our service and clearly understand the automatic renewals. We pay royalties based on subscribers and subscription usage. When a customer attempts to rip us off with a chargeback this not only costs us the subscription sale but also credit card transaction fees and royalties.
People like Richard Hansen have attempted to rip us off in the past by disputing a valid charge with their credit card company. In every case, we have challenged the chargeback attempt and have won. The credit card companies and processors have approved our website, billing practices and legally binding terms. We were not being cocky, we were being honest in an attempt to deter Richard Hansen from ripping us off.
