Active Network
Reviews and Complaints

This happened to me again today with a 2nd charge of $89.95 to my credit card. This happened to me in December last month where they charged me the same amount and I disputed the charge and they charged me again today! This company is such a scam. How do they stay afloat with all the theft violations, from what it seems over years of stealing money from people! Such awful business ethics. I have been charged twice in the past two months for charges I have not approved. I purchased a race over two years ago and canceled my membership and disputed the initial chargeback in December, only to be charged again the same amount of $89.95. When I called back in December, apparently Covid was the excuse we could not speak to anyone on the phone for refunds.

I signed up for a race in the summer of 2016. My credit card has been charged an automatic yearly membership fee since. The receipt went to my spam, and I had no idea, until today, over 400 dollars later, that I had been paying every year. What a scam. The renewal should at least require a box check. I am very upset and feel completely scammed.

My bank account showed an amount withdrawn for 89.95. I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR A RACE! I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO RUN FOR OVER A YEAR.
From the information that I have been able to find and read, this has happened to numerous people and has been going on for quite sometime. It is unclear to me how or why this continues to happen. Or why a company would not take the appropriate steps to remedy the issue if it indeed was a mistake.

Active Advantage uses deceptive practices to steal money.

When I registered for a couple of events in the Madison, Wisconsin, area, I was forced to create an Active Advantage account--no where in the process did it state that I was signing up for an annual fee of $89.95 that would be charged to the credit card used for race registration.
I am VERY cautious about clicking through so that I don't receive spam emails for activities in which I have no interest. I DID NOT accept a membership and certainly did not sign up for an annual membership at a cost of $89.95.

I called customer service, (866) 561-0647, and after waiting on hold for more than 30 minutes finally reached a live person. They were obviously experienced with dissatisfied customers calling on this subject. The agent assured me that I would receive my refund.
Happy that I get my money refunded; livid that I had to waste my time calling to get back my stolen property.

This company listed a sports event for another company (community evolve) and this was clearly fraudulent. The event had the wrong address listed for the event. The address was for the federal reserve and there was clearly no sports event being held there. I contacted Active since they are the company who accepted the payment for this event. There only response was they cannot give me a refund and to contact the 3rd party event (who I contacted multiple, multiple times with no response at all.) Active has shown they will take your money and refuse to do anything when the company they are sponsoring is clearly a scam. To this day, active still has this fraudulent 3rd party company on their website.

I signed up for a mud run and somehow got entered into a free trial for Active Advantage. I realized this only after they charged my bank card $89.95. I got the email from them at the time of the charge, and every link on it I click is marked as insecure and not recommended by Google to open any of them. I went to try to open their site directly and found literally hundreds of people in the same boat. Why is this allowed. I should not have to look for fine print for an auto enrolled free trial to run in a 5k mud run. This is unacceptable. Trying to reach someone to address it is a joke. I get recordings that state I can call another number for a charge. Another charge? This is ridiculous. Even if I wanted to take advantage of the shoe coupon it is unsecured and not a link I feel worth risking my security. I don't plan on doing multiple runs so this "service" is not a benefit to me. I can't believe they continue to be allowed to do this.

I have signed up our daughter for a summer camp that (we now know) partners with the Active network. About a month after signing up, I received an email welcoming us to the "Active membership" and thanking us for the $89.95 payment towards it. I have called to ask about it and learned that the membership was connected to our signing up our daughter for the camp. The camp is not called "active camp" and is an academic camp, nothing about being active. We are vigilant online shoppers and would have noted if something needed to be checked/unchecked to signup/avoid signup for a membership in what appears to be some fitness related program (completely unrelated to our daughter's camp topic). The person on the phone acted as if they expected us to cancel, which they processed right away.

This business needs to be investigated, as it is a complete scam which amounts to theft. The company makes it look as though you are clicking an agreement to sign up for the race like you intended, but that's not what it is. They are hiding in VERY small print you can do a trial membership of this Active Advantage service, and afterward, you get charged. Since you are getting a ton of emails about the race you won't notice the AA one that welcomes you to your "trial" membership. It's completely unconscionable, tricky, and illegal. I have requested a full refund of my 89 dollars, and I had better get it, otherwise off to Consumer Protection I go.

It looks like it's not even based in the US so that's probably how it can fly under the radar.

Very sad to read through these comments and realize this have been going on for a decade. Even more sad that no one has done anything about it! Plus the rate has gone up, as my husband got charged $89.95 after signing up one of the kids for a summer Humane Society camp. He DID NOT sign up for this, trial membership or otherwise. He contacted the Humane Society and they said they've had problems with this before. I bet there are a lot of other parents that have no idea. The Humane Society should let people know this could happen, AND stop using them. Many people want to show support for this local group, but not at the cost of this hassle. Plus we had a $15 off coupon, that after using this sight, it charged a $10 fee. Again something the local Humane Society should let people know, or they're going to start losing support.

In reviewing my credit card statement I found a charge for $79.95 from active network. Since I had no idea what this was for I immediately called my credit card company. They informed this was a reoccurring yearly charge and that this was actually the third year I was charged by this company. I went to their website and on the front page found a link for people that did not know why they were charged $79.95. When I went to the link I found out I was unknowingly paying for some type of coupon service for "active people." I never knew I had the service and never used it. I guess I was lucky I found it on year 3 and not year 10. I contacted active network and was told I could only be refunded $79.95 for the last year because "that was their policy, " even though in total they had charged my over $200. I was told I was signed up for this service somehow when I reserved a campsite online. Again I have never gotten any services from this company nor did I know I had it. When I looked online I see that I am not alone and that many other people have had this happen to them without them knowing. I have to say I am blown away that this type of fraud is legal and feel especially bad for people that are living paycheck to paycheck and can't afford it. In 2013 there was a class action lawsuit for the same thing against this company. I think there needs to be another one. I will also be writing the CEO but I will have to do more research to find other ways to resolve the situation.

If any of you booked a 5k or other race through Active.com, they are despicable crooks. Check your credit card statements, because they have a sneaky registration system that uses a vague technique to rope you unknowingly into a bogus 30-day trial membership to Active Advantage, at which point you will be auto-billed $69.95 every year until you just happen to notice a charge four years later and realize what's been going on. I get all sorts of spam e-mails from Active Advantage, so, of course, I never read them or sent them to my spam folder. I spoke to a manager, who was only willing to refund the 2017 billing. I see that they are scamming everyone with this, and their rating with BBB is an F-. I have found at least three class-action lawsuits that they settled with California, Iowa, and Vermont on this very issue. I don't understand how they are continuing to get away with this. PISSED. #fraudalert #fraudsters #awfulcompanypractices #thieves #fraudactive.com #refundmyhardearnedmoneythatyoustole

I attempted to sign my company up for a running event sponsored by RunningCares in Davie, Florida. The first event was called, Strong Against Cancer, and it was unfortunately cancelled. I attempted to receive a refund but was persuaded otherwise to instead transfer my reservation to the December 2nd, Ugly Sweater Run. During my conversations with the representative from Running Cares, Mike Roachford, we discussed scheduling a call to talk about the transfer and finalize details. This call never happened, and after over 10 attempts to email and receive a response from Mr. Roachford, I have been left with no choice but to submit a complaint and ask for a full refund. The Ugly Sweater Run was cancelled anyways so we did not even get to participate in what we thought our reservation was transferred to. I purchased the booking protect and after filling a claim, was told that RunningCares would have to be the ones to give me a refund. As I mentioned before, we are a local company here in Davie, Florida and I am very disappointed with the treatment and sheer lack of response that I have had to deal with. I am requesting a full refund. I will not sign-up for another event, nor will I transfer our registration again. This was meant to be a team building activity and a way for us to get involved in our community while supporting a great cause, instead, this has turned into a headache and an overall challenge.

While registering for events, they sneakily ask you to subscribe to magazines for free, which is managed by another company called synapse. Then they upgrade your subscriptions beyond trial period without your knowledge. When called, they would offer new free magazines at no cost. Even if you tell them to cancel the subscriptions and renewals, they will charge your card.

I used to like active.com, but this scammy behavior is making me not use this website at all..

I had a unauthorized credit chard charge of 69.95
Account: Credit card ending in 5368
Amount:
$ 69.95
Made at: ACTIVE.COM-REGISTRATION
On: June 23, 2017 .
I have never herd nor signed up for "Active Advantage".
When I look them up online, it looks to me like you are giving out my credit card information to a 3rd party scam. WHATS UP!
I am signed up to your online website.
William Travis, email [protected]@hotmail.com
From this day forward I will no longer use your website! I will complain to every race director about your site about using my personnel information.

I am being charged $69.95 again my account without my authorization, this is a scam in tricking people out of their money, When you call Customer Support, they want even MORE personal information on you such as your credit card number, social et... So they will own you, then they tell you that if you cannot provide that information, they cannot help eliminate the charge. STAY CLEAR OF ACTIVE ADVANTAGE, THE ONLY ADVANTAGE IS FOR THEM TO TAKE YOUR MONEY !

I myself received an email today from them stating that my membership has been renewed for the second year and that $69.95 has been deducted from my credit card. I have no idea who this company is and have never even heard of them. With the above complaint, I have also used Reserve America for camping at state parks but do not remember seeing this bogus company.

This service provider and their affiliates are a bunch of scam artists. I understand that many may review this organization positively; stating that users should opt out of services that will automatically withdraw funds from your account without your authorization. However, the fact that a paying customer must "opt out" in the first place should be a red flag to most. The company is hoping that a minimally experienced users will come by trying to sign up for an event and accidentally sign up for magazine subscriptions they would never want. Ethical businesses have an "opt in" set up in order to gain their customer's trust. Active Network is an unethical business, and my friends and I will never do business with them again.

I registered for an event sponsored through my doctor's office to raise money for Lymphedema about a month ago. Today I received the attached email saying my trial membership was converted into an annual membership for the rate of $64.95. I didn't know what this was, but I'm resourceful, and figured it out after Googling Active Advantage, who others had also been scammed by. Evidently there's something you have to UNCHECK or you're enrolled in their trial membership to something - I have no idea what the trial membership is for. In the month since I donated to this Lymphedema event, I have NEVER received an email or anything else which communicates to me that I'm a member, and what that entails, or that my trial membership was ending and that I'd be charged $64.95 if I didn't cancel. Additionally, I never saw anything like this on the website saying that I was enrolling in something and that I'd be charged $64.95 after 30 days. I would **NEVER** enroll in ANYTHING for a $64.95 monthly fee. CLOSE THESE SCAMMERS DOWN, PLEASE! Thanks, and please let me know if you require additional info. Cathie [protected]@cathieway.com

This company fraudulently took money from my bank acount using my credit card information. Unlike some of the other reports, I have not signed up for any free trials or anything else on-line. This company is known by financial institutions as an actively fraudulent company. Their game is that they have stolen credit/debit cards and they periodically hit these accounts in small odd amounts (i.e. $59.99; $64.99 etc.) amounts that typically go unnoticed by the consumer.

You don't have to sign up for a "free trial" of anything. That's just one of their many excuses for faudulent charges once they get caught.

Once they have your credit card, they ping your account for cash as long as they get away with it. Some consumers have been hit repeatedly for years. If/when the consumer complains, they simply offer the refund and move on to the next one and the process starts all over. If you do get hit, you have to go back over your account for several years back because you will likely have a pattern of hits over many years. DO NOT attempt to resolve this directly with ACT*Active.com. Go back through your financial institution for resolution through their fraud department.

If you call the phone number [protected], they will immediately ask you for your credit card number. Don't give them any information. Immediately contact your financial institution for safe resolution.

A month after signing up for a 5k race active.com charged me $69.95 out of the blue. Said I signed up for an annual membership. It is a complete lie and scam. I never signed up for such and they attempted to steal $69.95 from me. Used my debit card info without my permission. Absolute thieves! I'll never use active.com again and will tell all my friends and family to do the same and keep an eye on their accounts for thieves such as active.