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Jan 22, 2002, 9:41pm

Hi :o)

Over the last 5-6 years I have maintained my grown childrens Dialup ISP
accounts as Christmas presents, etc. and have paid by credit card.

Last summer my prime credit card company had their server compromised and
they issued me a new credit card number. During this time I also *bought
down* several other credit card accounts for a lower interest rate and was
issued new account numbers.

I phoned all the ISP services with the information and was told that the old
cc numbers would not be on my account records or on their dbase and got an
authorization code to this effect.

Received 2 bills today (identical), except one had the cc# from the account
that was closed June of last year. Thankfully this account is maintained by
a family oriented Credit Union I have been a member of for almost 20 years.

The charge was for a magazine subscription. My daughter was online in her
dialup and signed up for a 3 issue free trial for this and when the trial
time expired, they auto billed any Credit Card number that popped up
relating to my ISP accounts. (don't blame her cause I have done the same
thing).

After a total of 5+ hours on the phone to 5 companies (mostly on hold), much
to my dismay discovered the ISP's not only had a record of all my outdated
CC numbers, but that they revert to them at will.

Guess you would like to know the point of this story :o)

If you are paying for internet service using a Credit Card, keep track of
what you sign up for..... most especially trial offers and expect problems
straightening it out when the trial period is up, or as was the case in this
situation, being billed before the trial period is expired :o)

Jan 23, 2002, 10:18pm

Hi everyone:

[View Quote] [snip...]

> After a total of 5+ hours on the phone to 5 companies (mostly on hold),
much
> to my dismay discovered the ISP's not only had a record of all my outdated
> CC numbers, but that they revert to them at will.

Isn't that kinda like billing a credit card that DOES NOT EXIST anymore???
If that's the case, someone can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I do
believe some states have laws against this sort of practice. I'd look into
this if I were you.

> Guess you would like to know the point of this story :o)

Yeah. They're trying to charge you for services rendered using CC
information that's OUTDATED!!!

> If you are paying for internet service using a Credit Card, keep track of
> what you sign up for..... most especially trial offers and expect problems
> straightening it out when the trial period is up, or as was the case in
this
> situation, being billed before the trial period is expired :o)

A better idea would be to utilize a REPUTABLE online service such as MSN or
AOL so then this way you KNOW the type of service you're getting and the
level of CUSTOMER CARE they have. Don't trust these "back yard" ISPs when
it comes to something like this.

I can't speak from experience, but it just seems to me as though it would be
good common sense IMHO. :-)

Just my $.02 worth... :-)

Cheers for now everyone... :-)

Patrick Cook
Owner - Pub 102X
pchamster at msn.com
Denver, Colorado

Jan 24, 2002, 5:31am

It actually sounds just like AOHell :o(

[View Quote]

Jan 25, 2002, 11:30am

u americans are wierd :) always complaining bout the best. like microsoft
and AOL. i mean i dont know bout u, but i never have probs with aol, and its
always atfull speed for me :). well when i use it that it. cuz i cant
accully use it here in libya, but do in england.

SWE
God created me with ignorance in mind :)
www.emptyco.com (the still empty site)

[View Quote]

Jan 25, 2002, 2:39pm

The problem is, that the best in marketing often displace
the best in service and/or quality. This "best in marketing"
often is a result of a very aggressive and monopolistic
strategy.
MicroSoft for example tried to force PC manufacturers, not
to preinstall any optional operating system, with the
penalty not to be allowed to bundle their other systems
with MS windows.
Some companies buy good patents exclusively, just to let
them rott in the drawer, or just buy the whole company
that has the patent.

Btw., that's not only an American phenomenon, same here
(germany), where for example Siemens (the biggest) brought
down Nixdorf (the best), then included them into their
imperium - but only to destroy them completely.


[View Quote] --
"_
|
/\
\ /
__/ /_

Jan 25, 2002, 2:43pm

go ananas go ! I totally agree with you ;))
Same in france btw... But the french don't like that at all so we always go on strike... lol

Fox Mc Cloud

"ananas" <vha at oct31.de> a écrit dans le message news: 3C518749.243EE9A at oct31.de...
> The problem is, that the best in marketing often displace
> the best in service and/or quality. This "best in marketing"
> often is a result of a very aggressive and monopolistic
> strategy.
> MicroSoft for example tried to force PC manufacturers, not
> to preinstall any optional operating system, with the
> penalty not to be allowed to bundle their other systems
> with MS windows.
> Some companies buy good patents exclusively, just to let
> them rott in the drawer, or just buy the whole company
> that has the patent.
>
> Btw., that's not only an American phenomenon, same here
> (germany), where for example Siemens (the biggest) brought
> down Nixdorf (the best), then included them into their
> imperium - but only to destroy them completely.
>
>
[View Quote]

Jan 25, 2002, 7:23pm

you use AOheLl? Please don't tell me that it's true, dude! :-((

KAH

[View Quote]

Jan 25, 2002, 7:50pm

An unfortunate side effect of a capitalist society. :( But with all good
things come the bad as well. :) Microsoft, AOL/Time Warner, and a few
others give us something to carry out our aggressive tendencies on. *shrug*

SW Chris

[View Quote]

Jan 25, 2002, 10:54pm

Actually the ISP I was talking about is reputable :o) *will not mention
company names*

Is the same ISP that a few years ago kept overwriting the phone companies
servers when I cancelled their fantastic long distance package.

That fiasco took several months to clean up and the phone company finally
put a vice grip on my account to keep them from shoving the service of my
choice aside.

Just cause they are reputable doesn't mean they won't use strong arm tactics
to force you to keep their promo deals against your will :o)

My problem is why in the heck would they not delete an old, closed Credit
Card number after they have been given the information to do so *replaced
with a new #*, and after giving the customer an auth code # to confirm it is
gone?

One reputable ISP, not the one mentioned above, still hasn't cancelled my
account with them and they keep trying to charge my closed CC account every
month :o)

Sooooo, at the end of every month I call them and my old Credit Card
customer service dept. to report it again... lol... <-----have gotten in the
habit of doing this and possibly would miss the monthly farce.


[View Quote]

Jan 26, 2002, 7:22pm

Is full speed 32000bps?? Or do you acculay get above 40000bps (Hisgest ive
ever seen on Dialup with AOL) and AOL DSL can get smoked by a good 56k
Dialup.. lol

--
TrekkerX
Commatron & Athnex & Anti AOL activist
http://www.commatron.com
http://www.athnex.com
[View Quote]

Jan 26, 2002, 7:56pm

Finally got to the bottom of the mess with the outdated, expired CC being
billed :o)

The magazine ordered via 3 Free Trial issues is a company affiliated with
Time magazine (owned by Time Warner).

The ISP pleaded the 5th when I asked if their company scans registries for
Credit Card info if a trial offer expires and has not been cancelled and the
also pleaded the 5th.

Contacted the NIPC (FBI computer crimes division) and reported abuse, just
in case and guess what?

When I called the magazine company again and relayed that info to them was
then told that .... yes... in fact... they do scan your registry for Credit
Card numbers to use for billing.

The really odd thing is my daughter bought a new PC last fall and did a
clean install from a new disc of the ISP service......*things that make you
wanna say hmmmmm*... lol

If these posts are annoying folks I apologize, but felt it was good info to
have and an alert to not give out credit card info for any trial program.

BTW, I only use this ISP for a backup in case cable goes down :o)






[View Quote]

Jan 26, 2002, 8:26pm

Sounds like a company's trying to cover up their illegal operations. Good
ol' FBI shows them who's boss :)

--Bowen--

[View Quote]

Jan 27, 2002, 5:06am

Oh, well oops. I just did that for a 2 month magazine trial subscription
before this whole thing started. ;)

Guess I'll cancel it right away.

SW Chris
[View Quote]

Jan 27, 2002, 7:31pm

lol, i got a french friend, very violent little thing :)

SWE
God created me with ignorance in mind, and im thankful :)
www.emptyco.com (the still empty site, and prob will be for a while)

[View Quote]

Jan 27, 2002, 7:33pm

Well for microsoft, that prob is the best ffor newbies, and right now the pc
world is packed of newbies, more newbies then experts or intermediates, or
people who have accully turned on a pc before :). so maybe they have windows
installed cuz it suits more peps, and well is more expensive then linux(
bout $200 more expensive) so would be cheaper for the user. and most
programs run on windows anyway. well maybe im wrong, maybe its cuz of the
ignorance i was blessed with :)

SWE
God created me with ignorance in mind :)
www.emptyco.com (the still empty site, and prob will be for a while)

[View Quote]

Jan 27, 2002, 7:34pm

im sorry dude! i thought i told u :) honest :)

SWE
God created me with ignorance in mind :)
www.emptyco.com (the still empty site, and prob will be for a while)

[View Quote]

Jan 27, 2002, 7:34pm

Thats cuz ur american and in america! :)

SWE
God created me with ignorance in mind :)
www.emptyco.com (the still empty site, and prob will be for a while)

[View Quote]

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