Did I get shafted or was I just stupid

Flange/Flanders

I recently was browsing facebook when someone posted up a link to Ziinga.com, one of those internet auction sites like madbid.ie. I was a bit naive about the whole situation when I saw a live auction for an ipod shuffle 2 gb. I bid and subsequently won the auction, able to purchase the ipod for about €2. I googled ziinga but didnt find any negative reports about them.


Anyway, I completed purchase and the website said that I was entitled to a limited service for 7 days and if I wanted full service I had to sign up to their full membership which was in the region of €60 a month for a subscription. I had no interest in this and said Id leave it.


Yesterday, I was looking at my credit card statement and it said that I was charged €66.99 by ziinga yesterday. I immediatly contacted them to find out what the story was, I was put through to a call centre in Malta and the girl informed me that on payment, I automatically signed up for a 3 month platinum membership. She also told me that to cancel the membership would cost me €39. I was furious about this as I could not find this clause in the terms and conditions and she told me that it was there and it was also on my payment confirmation email.



I rang up my Bank Of Ireland credit card helpline this morning and I was informed that they cannon intervene directly and that even if I cancelled my credit card then they still have an obligation to pay ziinga so they would seek payment from my new credit card.



As you can understand, I am livid about this. I am normally very cautious about these things and had a look through the ziinga website to make sure that there wasnt any hidden clause I was missing, obviously I didnt look hard enough. Is there any way I can get my money back (unlikely I know at this stage) but I at least do not want to pay this shower a cent more.

kippy

Flange/Flanders wrote: »

I recently was browsing facebook when someone posted up a link to Ziinga.com, one of those internet auction sites like madbid.ie. I was a bit naive about the whole situation when I saw a live auction for an ipod shuffle 2 gb. I bid and subsequently won the auction, able to purchase the ipod for about €2. I googled ziinga but didnt find any negative reports about them.


Anyway, I completed purchase and the website said that I was entitled to a limited service for 7 days and if I wanted full service I had to sign up to their full membership which was in the region of €60 a month for a subscription. I had no interest in this and said Id leave it.


Yesterday, I was looking at my credit card statement and it said that I was charged €66.99 by ziinga yesterday. I immediatly contacted them to find out what the story was, I was put through to a call centre in Malta and the girl informed me that on payment, I automatically signed up for a 3 month platinum membership. She also told me that to cancel the membership would cost me €39. I was furious about this as I could not find this clause in the terms and conditions and she told me that it was there and it was also on my payment confirmation email.



I rang up my Bank Of Ireland credit card helpline this morning and I was informed that they cannon intervene directly and that even if I cancelled my credit card then they still have an obligation to pay ziinga so they would seek payment from my new credit card.



As you can understand, I am livid about this. I am normally very cautious about these things and had a look through the ziinga website to make sure that there wasnt any hidden clause I was missing, obviously I didnt look hard enough. Is there any way I can get my money back (unlikely I know at this stage) but I at least do not want to pay this shower a cent more.

You were able to purchase an ipod for €2 and you weren't at all dubious?

frozenfrozen

those sites work on the premise that a few hundred people will bid 1 euro, and you don't get your money back if you don't win. so the idea of an ipod for 2 euro isn't that ridiculous in this case

Flange/Flanders

kippy wrote: »

You were able to purchase an ipod for €2 and you weren't at all dubious?

No it wasnt that I was dubious, its just I thought that was an enticer to get people to sign up to their service, I was offered membership immediatly after payment but didnt click into it.

kippy

frozenfrozen wrote: »

those sites work on the premise that a few hundred people will bid 1 euro, and you don't get your money back if you don't win. so the idea of an ipod for 2 euro isn't that ridiculous in this case

I know how the sites work........
The OP didn't do much research on them however:
http://www.scambook.com/company/view/59339/Ziinga.com

El.duderino

Yes and Yes

meoklmrk91

kippy wrote: »

I know how the sites work........
The OP didn't do much research on them however:
http://www.scambook.com/company/view/59339/Ziinga.com

From reading through the comments on the above site it would seem that once you sign up and pay the €2 then you were given 7 days of their premium membership and if you don't opt out in those 7 days then you are automatically signed up for three months. Its all in the small print apparently.

If I were you I would cut my losses and buy myself out of it, and be more careful in future!