Originally Posted by elessar123 Don't count on it, cause that was my case.

Ugh, guess I'll go through the dispute process if it happens. Either way, I hope people understand that this shit isn't going to stop until they get nailed with a class-action lawsuit. Until the day that happens, people getting charged after cancelling will continue.

Just popping in to say ECA can eat a giant bag of dicks.

Because I know Hal lurks here.

Originally Posted by Incinorator I just got charged yesterday too. I canceled auto-renew right after I signed up. Been going back and forth with them via email but they are definitely unwilling to refund me and keep saying that they have no record of me ever canceling. I like this quote from them: "Unfortunately you didn't successfully turn off your auto-renew. Did you follow all 5 steps in attempting to turn it off?" 5 steps? Seriously??? I'm calling my bank right now to get them to issue a charge-back, but what do I do if The ECA tries to prove that I didn't cancel and tries to get the bank to recharge me?

Same thing happened to me. I got charged and I KNOW that I cancelled my membership last year. Unfortunately, I don't have any proof of it. I'm debating on whether to contact the credit card company or not. Since I have no proof of cancelling I'm not sure they will side with me.

Originally Posted by gamegirl79 Same thing happened to me. I got charged and I KNOW that I canceled my membership last year. Unfortunately, I don't have any proof of it. I'm debating on whether to contact the credit card company or not. Since I have no proof of canceling I'm not sure they will side with me.

9/10 times they will side with the customer. I've disputed several times and they either credit me or do a chargeback against the merchant.

They may have you fill out paperwork, but if you are telling the truth, you have nothing to worry about. I mean "you" as in anyone who reads this.

Originally Posted by slowdive21 9/10 times they will side with the customer. I've disputed several times and they either credit me or do a chargeback against the merchant. They may have you fill out paperwork, but if you are telling the truth, you have nothing to worry about. I mean "you" as in anyone who reads this.

Truth. I did a chargeback when RedOctane wouldn't respond to my warranty emails, and it was very easy. As long as you're telling the truth, they'll side with you.

Originally Posted by gamegirl79 Same thing happened to me. I got charged and I KNOW that I cancelled my membership last year. Unfortunately, I don't have any proof of it. I'm debating on whether to contact the credit card company or not. Since I have no proof of cancelling I'm not sure they will side with me.

File a dispute with your CC company right now. They'll get a statement from you and then contact the merchant (in this case, the ECA) and ask for their side of it.

Assuming they don't respond, which a number of merchants don't, you'll get your money back without question. If they do, it may go with another round of back-and-forth, or they may just side with you. It just depends on how convincing you are.

Don't waste any time, go ahead and file your dispute.

Again, it's worth noting in your explanation to your CC company that this is a 'donation' to a non-profit organization, not a remittance for any services rendered. Even if they tried to claim it was a 'service' they are providing, it is paid in advance, so there is no way they should be able to assert that you 'owe' them anything.

Add to that perhaps some documentation where the ECA themselves have admitted that their website does not work correctly, perhaps the links to that info should be reposted here. The broken ECA website is not the consumer's problem, so if the ECA tries to come back with any crap about 'not disabling auto-renew' or whatever similar garbage send that info to the CC company that this is a documented problem with them and nothing to do with you.

Originally Posted by Dead of Knight Consumerist FINALLY posted an article about this. Guys, PLEASE post in the comments or send them an email: http://consumerist.com/2010/09/did-t...-canceled.html EDIT: Just sent an email to Consumerist linking them to this thread.

Bumped.

So... what exactly is supposed to happen when your account has expired? I just followed up on this out of curiosity (my account expired in June, or at least was supposed to), but I have no problem logging into the site and looking at my membership profile, etc. Is this normal? My profile shows the correct membership expiration date, which has now long passed. I definitely haven't been billed (the CC I used was a temporary virtual number which no longer works), and to the best of my knowledge I never got any emails warning me that my account would be terminated or that they tried to bill me.

I'm not too concerned about all this, but I'm curious as to what was supposed to happen when my membership expired (or was supposed to?). I can't believe this mess is still going on after all this time; it's amazing just how unorganized this organization seems to be.

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Here are some suggestions you may wish to look into

For those who have NOT YET been charged, but are worried they might be

-The best bet in this instance is to contact your financial institution NOW, and inform them that all of your ties have been severed with the ECA, and that any future transactions by the ECA are, and should be considered, fraudulent. Ensure that you record ALL information relating to the call, such as date, time, and who you spoke to.

While your institution may not actually do anything, and while it may not prevent a fraudulent transaction, you can cite the conversation later during a chargeback.

For those who HAVE been charged

1) Initiate the chargeback ASAP.
2) Contact your local police department, and inform them that you are the victim of credit card fraud. How departments react will vary by locality, but if they are willing to complete a police report, this can assist with the chargeback process.
3) Contact your state's attorney general. A listing of Attorneys General can be found here: http://www.naag.org/current-attorneys-general.php
4) Contact the ECA through certified (signature receipt) mail. Inform them that you canceled your membership as per the membership agreement on XXXXX date, that you have been billed, that you have taken the above steps, and inform them that any continued attempt to bill you for this, or in any other future instance, will result in further legal action.
5) Lawyer up (if you choose to do this, please do this step prior to any of the above.)

(As a word of advice, my personal understanding is that since this is an issue of your cancelation, and not an issue of ToS, since your cancelation has removed the ToS burden from your shoulders, you are not bound to the arbitration set forth in the ToS .... just a little something to think about)

Also

1) Contact the BBB
2) Contact the CT attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, and inform him of the practices going on within his state. (http://www.ct.gov/ag/)
3) Contact all news related sites ... both consumer related news as well as gaming related news. Especially sites which have, at some point, written on the ECA's practices.
4) Good ol' fashioned boycott. Contact the partners of the ECA, and inform them that due to the unethical and illegal practices of the ECA, that you can no longer support their companies so long as they continue to partner with the ECA. Even more importantly: Actually STICK TO IT!

Anyway just some things to think about ... typical disclaimer here, I am not a lawyer, so use these suggestions at your own discretion.

Just an FYI for the kids: G4 and Adam Sessler support the ECA.

No, they support the ESA.

I just checked my account and I appear to be safe - my last charge was in 2008 with a non-payment in 12/2009 ($0).

Your Membership term will expire:
12/08/2009 15:47:50

And will auto renew to:
N/A

Your auto-renewal feature is:
Off

Your auto-renewal setting was last updated:
Not Available

Hopefully there are other CAGs with the same status. To get this information, once you successfully log in, click on your email address on the left side in the golden MEMBER LOGIN box.

Originally Posted by slowdive21 Just an FYI for the kids: G4 and Adam Sessler support the ECA.

Originally Posted by Jodou No, they support the ESA.

I believe theeca listed him as a supporter on their site.


This is the best I can do, with my non existent eca access:


Here is a forum post from the pms forum saying they offered him a free membership. Will Wheaton is on there too.

http://www.pmsclan.com/forum/showthr...hlight=sessler

Plus Sessler had a 55 minute panel with Hal at Pax...

Well, I wouldn't believe anything I saw on their site TBH.

Originally Posted by slowdive21 Will Wheaton is on there too.

Wil Wheaton had a very public twitter flamewar with Gamepolitics, which is the propaganda arm of the ECA

Originally Posted by chakan Wil Wheaton had a very public twitter flamewar with Gamepolitics, which is the propaganda arm of the ECA

I know that is why I pointed him out. The post is from 2008, so it adds some validity to my statement about Sessler. I know there was a similar post on the eca forums because gypsyfly was our POC for the eca.

Originally Posted by slowdive21 I know that is why I pointed him out. The post is from 2008, so it adds some validity to my statement about Sessler. I know there was a similar post on the eca forums because gypsyfly was our POC for the eca.

Adjective
gypsy (not comparable)
(pejorative, offensive)
Of or having the qualities of an itinerant person or group with qualities traditionally ascribed to Romani people, including suspected of making a living from dishonest practices or theft etc.

Whats the email people are using to contact the ECA about chargebacks? If they're claiming people who can't access their accounts never turned off auto-renew, might as well send them an email to make sure this doesn't happen again next year.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/14/ec...-court-battle/