Complaint Description:
The ECA has been in the news for their deceptive practices, so here's another one. Last year, they made members jump through hoops to cancel their subscription. Hundreds, if not thousands complied. I even received an email from the ECA on December 22, 2009 informing me that they had received my request in the form of physical mail to cancel my membership, and they immediately blocked my account from their site. In the email, they also claimed to have deleted my personal information, so I thought I was completely done with this horrible example of a non-profit organization. Come August 2010. My credit card was charged automatically by the ECA for another year of membership - despite the fact that I could not access my paid account for eight months since they received my cancellation mail. My credit card on file did not even have the same address, yet somehow they charged it without my permission, and their promise that they will not, on top of their promise that they have purged my personal records from their database. I contacted the ECA immediately, and received a reply claiming they will look into it. It has now been 2 weeks without a word about any progress, or my refund. I'm filing this complaint because they're illegally charging me, withholding my personal information, including financial records, and failing to maintain contact or issue a prompt refund for their mistake. I'm also filing because I know more people will be affected by this, and the ECA doesn't seem to want to right their wrongs without being pushed by authorities.