Complaint Review: Wozo.com LLC - Internet Internet

Okay, so I got sucked into doing the free i-Pad offer from a Facebook ad. This was one of the offers suggested through that process and I chose the WOZO offer because it was a minimal purchase and the add stated that I would receive a poster

for 99 cents, I didn't even realize that I had 'joined' a poster club!  I placed the order and the window closed.  Normally, when shopping online, you receive some sort of confirmation, so I expected that but didn't received one.  I let it go, thinking that I would just receive the poster, then go from there.  (I admit that, at the time, I did not read the fine print and was not aware that I would be charged a $29.99 membership fee on top of the 99 cents, if I did not cancel within 4 days(?)...but really, what's up with that?  It has been my experience that a "trial" membership usually lasts at least a month, AND, in this case, if I have no tangible product or services in my hands, just what am I supposed to be evaluating during that 4 day period?)

When checking my e-mail some days later, I received a notice from my bank that a purchase had been made over the internet, and that if I didn't recognize the transaction to call them immediately.  I, of course, did not recognize the transaction, but thought that possibly my husband had made a purchase for my birthday.  (Ya, I gotta deal with this on my birthday!  Happy Birthday to me!) 

I googled the name on the transaction and found a story on this website almost identical to mine and knew that I had been scammed.  In that Rip-off report he/she stated that, "There is no phone number listed on their website, only an email address ([email protected]). I repeatedly emailed this address to cancel my account but got no response." 

So I called my bank and told them that I wanted to dispute unauthorized charges.  The bank employee asked if I had called the poster company and I told her about the Rip-Off report and what it said.  She found a phone number for the company and we had a three-way call.  WOZO was emphatic that they would not reverse the $29.99 charge because I agreed to the terms of service and did not cancel in time.  They, however, agreed to cancel my account, and gave me a cancellation number.  I was told that I would receive my poster and would not be charged a membership fee the following month.

Then, I got to thinking, okay, so I obviously paid for a months membership, so, as a member for that month, I should get something for that 30 bucks, so, I went to their website and tried to sign on to "my account", but couldn't because I did not have a password.  Up to this point, I still had not received a confirmation or correspondence of any kind and had been given no password in order to login.  I clicked on the "forgot password" button and, only then, received a password in my e-mail inbox.  (Oh, and, by the way, there absolutely is no phone number listed on their website!) 

I finally got signed into my account and clicked on "order status" which showed the order number to be the same as the cancellation number that I had been given, the order date, and the recipient: me.  Then it stated that "This order is marked as Cancelled" and "Your Order Contains the Following Items:".

To me, this sounded like they had canceled the order, as well as, my membership, and that I would be receiving nothing at all for my $31!  I called the company again and spoke to a representative who told me that even though it states that the order is canceled, that I would still be receiving my 99 cent poster plus another one for the 29.99 that I had paid.  I told him that I had not chosen another poster and was then told that I didn't get to choose, just that I would receive one from the same category as the one I had selected to begin with!  Wow!  What fabulous customer service!  Not only are they tricking you into a membership, they make you purchase something that you may not even want!  Unbelievable!!!!!!  Also, upon further research of the WOZO website, I discovered that there is nothing explaining about how a membership is supposed to function...so how are you supposed to know any of these stipulations.

I went back and clicked on the "order details" and this is what came up:

WOZO.com - Order #XXXXX

Your order details are shown below.

Order Status: Cancelled




Order Date: Xth Oct 2010 @ 1:14 AM


Order Recipient: Me


Order Total: $0.99 USD

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Order #XXXXX Contained the Following Items:

Item Details	Price
1 x  Gift Wrapping:	$0.99
Items:	$0.99
Gift Wrapping:
Shipping:	$0.00
Handling:
:
Total Cost:	$0.99 USD

This also appears that the order has been canceled...

Now I have spent 3 hours dealing with this , and will probably end up receiving nothing for the money which was, I feel, stolen from my bank account!  There should be some sort of recourse here!  Lesson learned:  (Duh!)  Don't disregard the terms of service, always fully read and understand the fine print!  And basically, don't get involved with these free offers, period!