Auction Monster review: Unauthorized charges to my account! 126

A further search of my bank account reveals that Auction Monster has been accessing my account monthly for an unauthorized $54.95 since January, 2007. I have tried repeatedly to reach them by phone with no luck...only an answering machine. WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Several months ago I signed up to a training course from Auction Monster. It clearly did not interest me and told them I would contact them if and when I wanted their services. Since then they have charged my credit card £34 each month, $70 and I do not know how to stop them other than to cancel the credit card. I want the money back - this is little more than theft and seems a regular habit of American companies!

J. C. Thornton

Solving AUCTION MONSTER problems (from Australia).

1. Find your order number from Auction Monster by visiting https://secure.reg.net/Customers/MyOrder.asp

2. Contact reg.net by either email: info@reg.net or telephone from Aus: [protected], quoting order number.

These guys run the ecommerce for Auction Monster and are able to refund you and request refunds from Auction Monster – they were very helpful and understanding.

Also the email address for Auction Monster is: sritchie@impactprocessing.com if you want to go so far as contact them directly.

Hope this helps! Please spread this information far and wide to ruin this rip off company!

Ciao,
Deon.

It doesn't stop with Auction Monster! Now I'm getting notices in the mail that .. oh lucky me .. I have been signed up for some overpriced, worthless "service" for "ONLY" $12.95 a month!

If these ###s are tapping your account you should IMMEDIATELY cancel any cards. Your financial institute will issue you a new one. This puts a roadblock up so these thieves can't steal any more from you. You can also lodge a formal complaint with your bank. They will have you fill out a statement regarding the thrift. The bank will put the money back into your account and go after these losers.

When I talked with the fool at Auction Monster he was such a hack as to be chewing gum while we talked! That alone tells you what low life's these people are!

Oh, and you should also post messages all over the "Net in regards to your experiences.

Fools like Auction Monster give all Internet biz a bad rap. Report them!

I have just discovered that Auction Monster has made 5 deductions from my credit account without my knowledge for items I NEVER ordered or received.
MY BANK IS NOW IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING MY FUNDS BACK AND HAVING THIS COMPANY CHARGED WITH CREDIT CARD AND IDENTITY THEFT. All of my cards have now been canceled due to these rogues (WHO SHOULD BE IN JAIL) and hopefully will be soon.

I ordered the Ebay selling tool, which was supposed to be free and I have been charged 2 months following $67. Stay away from these people.

I also had the misfortune of applying for a "free e-bay kit" . This has turned out to be the most expensive free gift I have ever had. How to stop the removal of funds from your account when the bank says that you have voluntarily given your number to the company helping themselves. I have tried the phone but the number appears to be unavailable. I suppose the only way out is to write to them. The address is on the web site.

Auction Monster, 16192 Coastal Highway Lewes, DE 19958.
The phone no. on the site [protected].
If anyone has succeeded in getting money back. My e-mail is - warranty.guernsey@mercedes.co.uk - I'd love to hear from you.

I ordered a free kit and was expecting to pay postage of $1.87 I believe. A month later, bogus charges of $59.95/month began showing up on my account. I had my credit card company give me credit, but they are now showing up again. How do I get them to stop?

I called my bank and got information on filing a dispute. Then i called auction monster directly [protected] and spoke with a very rude man, who told me that it was the "customers fault" because they don't read everything. I proceeded to ask me for his name, and he gave me his first but stated that he was not allowed to give out his last name. you can't tell me that if you work in customer service that you cannot give out your last name. I told him that he was afraid that i was going to report him LOL.

He gave me a confirmation number and said that it would be refunded within 3-10 days. Good riddance! It caused me to get over 100 in overdraft charges from my bank. >:o

Actually if you read the "Terms and Conditions" before you sign up, it says that Auction Monster will be billing you 59.95 monthly and you can call [protected] to cancel anytime.

If you keep access to their account they charge you the fee. I have just discovered that they are still charging my account even though I have cancelled my account.

I have been charged continual amounts from this company without authorization. I paid my webhosting as well through MD webhosting so don't know whey this amount is being taken out each month. I will be reporting this to the NAB credit card fraud team.

When I gave my credit card for MD web hosting, they offered a free auction advice service which mentioned nothing of a continual charge from this organization.

I signed up at some point for some free information about Auction Monster. The next thing I got was a very heavy sales phone call pressing me to sign up. I refused this but suddenly I have found a charge for $54.50 on my credit card. I did not authorize any payments and did not agree to make any purchases. I am currently challenging this with my credit card company.

Wish me luck!

Add my complaint for getting ripped off by DRI*
Auction Monster. [protected] MI.
Billed $59.95 VISA; I don' t recall giving them my VISA number because it was free. I have to check my records because this may have been a SECOND CHARGE.
What can we do?

After reading all the complaints about this company, I called [protected]. You have to press 1 for Billing and then 2 for Billing. I told them I wanted to cancel my free trial AND make sure I don't get charged $60. The girls name was Chelsea and she canceled my account right then and there, no problems. Also, I had called them earlier and they could not find my account. Girl called me back when it finally popped up, but I had canceled already. So it can be done. Just thought I would share.

I simply asked for information on this company online & before I knew it I have been charged 3 times on my credit card! These are not small amounts either. I try to call & cannot get through on the phone. There is just a "click" & then no one is there! I have contacted my credit card company to change my credit card #, but somehow they managed to get my new number as well. I am now waiting to fill out complaint forms from my credit card company so that they can reverse these charges and hopefully block them! Scammers!

they charged my bank 59.95 and made my account get over drawn and i am so pissed they should make good for this what a rip off

they took money from my account and made my account become over drawn i want my 59.95 plus 35. for the over charge i am so pissed

I to am being charged a monthly fee 59.95 i don not remmeber ever asking for a ebay kit of anykind?

I too tried to sign up with them but before i put my credit card info I read their agreement and it did state that you will be charged monthly fees and the $59.95 fee, so they did disclose this, people just need to read things before quickly and easily giving up credit card information to anyone. It's true you might be excited over something that sounds good but always take the time to read before you leap. After I read that I decided not to sign up with them.

I was to pay for shipping and handling, never mentioned any other charges. That is why they charge for shipping and handling, they then have your credit card information for further charges.

Beware!

Never authorized anything beyond a $1.87 "shipping fee" for a product I NEVER received!
Contacted by email and phone today, 10/18/07. Phone Response was that it will take 8 to 10 business days to cancel the "membership" and the VISA charge.

Also contacted Reg.Net, the payment processor, without any response as of this writing.

Meanwhile, even if the PROMISED cancellation IS processed, I'm out USD 59.95 for more than a week!
Given other complaints I have read, I am not counting on the promised credit.

Also, just as a side note, its interesting how complaintsboard.com was offline(?) on this computer when I tried to enter a complaint. BUT, came right up when I navigated to the site on a different computer?

CAVEAT EMPTOR ... Don't let these people screw you like they have so many others!

I just wanted to say i followed Deon's advice and so far it was absolutely spot on.

I tried to get Barclaycard to stop them taking payments but there were absolutely useless.

My experience with Auction Monster is below if you can be bothered reading it.

I bought what I thought was just a single CD with information on it regards to Auction Monster. When you complete the order you agree to the terms and conditions as a normal online transaction. What you dont realize is that as part of there terms and conditions they state that unless you cancel the subscription you will be charged a monthly fee. Who reads terms and condition when all you are buying is a CD?

Very clever way of getting you to hand over cash.

Thanks again Deon.. I look forward to seeing my full refund!

Alex.

I was thumbing through my bank statements today; which I will start looking at every month now because I noticed I was $200.00 off in my checking account. I quickly started going through the statements and sure enough the $59.95 a month charge is there along with a phone number. Of course it is Saturday; so I left a message. We will see what happens on Monday.I did not go through with the purchase of there services but some how they got my information anyway. I hit the cancel button not the submit button I think something illegal is going on here.

As I have read through your complaint with this company I decided to go check them out and if you people didn't get so excited over getting something free maybe you could of see the Terms and Conditions that are posted on the page where you enter your credit Card info. Its stated in 12point font that if you fail to cancel in the trial which is 10 days then you will be charged. What could be more clear? They also give you the customer service number so you can call and cancel with them. I signed up with them just to see how everything worked and I canceled 7 days after i ordered it and all I was charged was the $1.87 for the SH the reps that I spoke to were very nice and helpful and nothing further was charged. So if you wouldn't be so lazy and cheap about getting something for free and read what is clearly stated on the website then you wouldn't get charged. Because they do disclose all the info on the page where you sign up your just too damn lazy to read it!

Thanks,
Phallynn.

I have been charged from auction Monster from my, Visa account. The thing is, I have never had anything from them or anything to do with them, and yet they are taking money from my Account. I do not even know what they do or what it is that they sell. They have been taking money from my account, the sum of... £ 35.25p.

I have had to tell my Visa company to put a stop to them taking money out of my account. The thing is, How do I claim my money back from these devious people. I would be grateful for any suggestions.

I was able to call the customer service number and talk to the billing department and they canceled right away. #[protected]. Whether or not there will be future charges we will need to wait and see.

Try calling [protected]. Press 1 and then 2 to see what they will do. Hopefully this will prevent them from even trying to get the money again. 2nd if they won't comply with giving you info about the "account" you can file charges with the police as well as file as fraudulent charges through the bank. Hopefully they would be able to get your money back.

Thanks, I'll try that.

They charged my account and said I agreed to the charges. When I called on 11-4- 07, I confronted Zach(124) and he said I could cancel immediately. My cancellation code was 58525. Within minutes of my recorded cancellation, they hit my account again.Each hit was for 59.95.

I would just like to add that nowhere in all these complaints did I see where anyone said that they read the "Terms and Conditions" at the bottom of the advertisement that explains the charges after the 14 Day Trial. It is all there. I, like many of you, saw the glitter from the advertisement and did not read the Terms. $1.87! Wow! Can't lose! But thru some of the info from this site, I called them right away and got a prompt cancellation. No questions asked except after they told me that all was canceled and I would not be billed further. Grow up people! Read it all! Do your homework first before making a decision. I learned something here and also will do my homework first. Guilty Also! I think they should put something in the body of the advertisement to carefully read the "Terms and Conditions" first before ordering.

If you read the terms & conditions it fully states that they charge you $59.95 a month for their services.

Thanks a billion for the advice. I'm in the process of getting my money back from reg.net so I hope everything works out.

On 10/29 they took directly from my checking account $1.87 and on 11/09 they took $59.95. I never authorized this company or any other company to withdraw anything from my checking account...

Auction Monster is a FRAUD! They say they are charging you $1.87 for shipping and handling and then charge you $60 for "Monthly Access". You can call [protected] and go to billing and talk to a girl named Chelsea, but she is pretty useless. She'll tell you the charges are in the fine print and you have to call your bank if you want to be refunded. But at least if you call you can cancel your "Access Membership" and get a cancellation confirmation and not be charged again. BE CAREFUL PUTTING IN CREDIT CARD INFORMATION ONLINE!

They charged $59.95 to my bank account, without my authorization. When I called to cancel and get a refund, all they did was argue with me. They will charge you at the end of the trial period(it's 10 days that includes weekends) then charge on the weekend so you can't do anything about it until the following week, so then it's to late. BEWARE of this company it starts with a $1.87 charge then it goes up from there. Make sure you read the terms and conditions, thats how they get you.

Also had by this scam organization posing as eBay affiliated in their advertising... not to be trusted, they bury the information about charges deep in the terms, not honest about the 'real' cost of the service. Perhaps it would be too easy for consumers to make a non-value judgement if the charges were sold up front. I can't seem to ever get an answer at the 800 # to try and settle this, will keep trying and continue to warn anyone I know about them. I wonder what eBay has to say about their implied relations?

Same problem here! After receiving their cheap-crap info CD and company rep called and asked if I was excited about the program. Hardly, I told him. It would not even load on my computer. I told him I was absolutely not interested in the program, I thought that would be the end of it… until $59.95 charges began being deducted from account.
A contact with customer support said the AM rep was not authorized to cacel the "membership". How the hell was I supposed to know that? Why didn't the rep suggest who I needed to contact?
I'll tell you why? Cause the company is a f***ing scam, that's why.
I have filed with the bank fraud department and with the Attorney General of Texas. I would suggest all of do so as well.

How do you complain to eBay about these guys? they are sporting The Ebay logo from the eBay site. Does eBay give a crap about the underhanded business practices.

This was the same thing that happened to me! I joined up for a free CD ebay tool kits with a 15 day cancelation notice time period wich I canceled before it even arrived and I still got billed.