"free" trials charged me

[machcoirgirl]

I did several free trial offers last night and found that all of them had charged my bank account the full amount of membership.  I am now out $100 and I desperately need that back.  Why did this happen?  And how can I get this money back?

[LendaL]

First you need to go to the trials you did website an cut an paste their TERMS OF SERVICE on wordpad/notepad and make damn sure YOU READ THOSE TERMS CAREFULLY!!! cant stress that enough...alot of trials put a payment 'on hold' on your card,...it doesnt go thru..just to make sure its an active card.

..and if you followed those TERMS to the letter..after you have attempted to make contact with that particular trial offer and get no results...you take it up with your credit card provider...

I no longer do trial offers because of such issues...its not worth the headache of sending emails, making phone calls, and cancelling cards to me..i just do free offers now...but like i said, those funds usually disappear within a day or so...but different sites terms of service may vary...

[machcoirgirl]

I did read the terms of service very carefully, even saving a copy of each and every one in a separate file for future reference.  I do not recall seeing that they would put some money on hold for a little while.

And even if this is just a check to make sure that my card is active, my bank has those transactions listed as "pending," resulting in my being overdrawn on my account, which just cost me $49 in penalties.  So maybe this is just my own fault for thinking that this site would actually help me with my money problems.  What a joke.

[Administrator]

If the charges 'drop off' your bank account, the overdraw charges should disappear as well.

[picklefiend12]

With most banks, they don't care if the money was credited back, they're greedy and will still charge the overdrafts, as they believe you should have enough in your account for the full amount, even if you're not to be charged that amount.

[Ginnamary]

I JUST posted on the same topic.  My bank suspected fraud and declined the charges.  When I got the call from the FRAUD department I totally freaked.  I thought someone got my info from the net since I was putting my info in so much lately.  The name of the company that tried to charge me $50. did not match any of the trials I did so I just took all my money out and prepared to close everything down, etc.  Found out today that it was a trial offer after all AND that yes, they do freeze up your money from the very first day.  It would be nice to know that so you don't overdraw your account or get calls the the fraud department asking about purches in amounts you did not make on dates you did not make them.  Dunno if I'll even keep doing this kind of stuff but if I do you can be darn sure I'll keep track of every penny.  What a tremendous pain.  I can't help but feel completely mislead.  I do read all the terms and I don't recall anything being said about freezing up your money if you're usuing a debit card.  Am I wrong?  If not shouldn't they be required to.  It's kind of a big thing to leave out

[megmac516]

yeah that happend tome then on topof it i didnt recive the product for the free trial and was charged $90 on top of it and i dint recive a thing

[janell07]

Most free trials are so free,which is why I don't do them.

[Mojoshog]

I JUST posted on the same topic.  My bank suspected fraud and declined the charges.  When I got the call from the FRAUD department I totally freaked.  I thought someone got my info from the net since I was putting my info in so much lately.  The name of the company that tried to charge me $50. did not match any of the trials I did so I just took all my money out and prepared to close everything down, etc.  Found out today that it was a trial offer after all AND that yes, they do freeze up your money from the very first day.  It would be nice to know that so you don't overdraw your account or get calls the the fraud department asking about purches in amounts you did not make on dates you did not make them.  Dunno if I'll even keep doing this kind of stuff but if I do you can be darn sure I'll keep track of every penny.  What a tremendous pain.  I can't help but feel completely mislead.  I do read all the terms and I don't recall anything being said about freezing up your money if you're usuing a debit card.  Am I wrong?  If not shouldn't they be required to.  It's kind of a big thing to leave out

Many times with debit cards it is the bank that "holds" extra funds when you use it not neccessarily the vendor. I know this wasn't your case but something people should be aware of when using debit cards. Companies also preauthorize to make sure they can get paid when it comes time to charge the card. Can't really blame them for that when people are using cards that they know can't be charged.

[hjh1974]

I JUST posted on the same topic.  My bank suspected fraud and declined the charges.  When I got the call from the FRAUD department I totally freaked.  I thought someone got my info from the net since I was putting my info in so much lately.  The name of the company that tried to charge me $50. did not match any of the trials I did so I just took all my money out and prepared to close everything down, etc.  Found out today that it was a trial offer after all AND that yes, they do freeze up your money from the very first day.  It would be nice to know that so you don't overdraw your account or get calls the the fraud department asking about purches in amounts you did not make on dates you did not make them.  Dunno if I'll even keep doing this kind of stuff but if I do you can be darn sure I'll keep track of every penny.  What a tremendous pain.  I can't help but feel completely mislead.  I do read all the terms and I don't recall anything being said about freezing up your money if you're usuing a debit card.  Am I wrong?  If not shouldn't they be required to.  It's kind of a big thing to leave out

The only time I ever get a call from my bank or credit card is when I do a trial offer and use my bank card or credit card. 

[derej26]

The best advice i ever got here was to go to walmart and get a prepayed card to do all of the FREE offers on herei put 20 on the card did my offers then after i canceled and got the money back  i spent the money off the walmart card.

[lexus16888]

stay away from free trials.

[silklash]

Free trials are ok if 1) you read the Terms & Conditions and/or 2) you are interested in the product or service.  Vigilance is a good idea, too, such as using a card that isn't linked to your primary source of funding until you've decided if you like the product or service enough to keep it.  Again, though, keep in mind that FC rules & regs specifically discourage signing up for a free trial only for the payout and then immediately cancelling.  Just bear that in mind and keep an eye on your funds.