ECA Discussion Thread - WARNING: Some CAGs Who Cancelled Are Being Auto-Renewed

hal2pin.jpg


CAG Vallain 2010 and beyond...
 
I was on the CAG letter, but also sent a separate letter on my own; I got a reply letter with official ECA letterhead in the mail about 2-3 weeks later confirming my cancellation...still got it, too. I haven't seen any emails about auto-renewal, but I'll be keeping my eyes open. I did try to log in with my old login, which the site claims is blocked or inactive.
 
I'm sure I'm going to get attacked for saying this, but the CAGs who panicked and caused the massive run of cancellation have to share the blame. A few weeks after the nerd rage subsided on CAG the ECA web site was updated and settings were changed so that your account would not auto-renew unless you specifically chose that option again. (Basically the auto-renew was set to neither yes or no, so even if you never went back to the site to choose No your account still wouldn't renew.)

So, if instead of the massive over-reaction people had just been patient everything would have been OK. No-one was trying to cheat you (that's a laugh since the whole reason most people signed up was to take financial advantage of Amazon and many cheated Amazon out of a lot more than $20 with the coupon stacking!) That doesn't completely excuse the ECA because they should still have been able to handle the manual cancellations correctly during the "panic", but mistakes were almost inevitable given how swamped they were.
 
Hi guys, I never sent in any letter or anything like that. When I check my membership status at the site it shows my expiration date and that my auto renewal is N/A and that my auto renewal is OFF. It also has a grey box underneath with options to add an additional term and one at the bottom that says *No Additional Term, Thanks. I am scared to check it because there is not a explanation of what the * entails.

Should I check no thanks or leave it blank? It expires 8/3/10

Any thoughts? I am getting stressed. It looks like I am ok, but these people seem dishonest and tricky!
 
I paid for my membership on 4/20/09, but my card hasn't been recharged *knock on wood*. I cancelled through the site. Am I in the clear here? Hmm...
 
For the reason for cancellation I put "The ECA is charging people who have cancelled their account and seems to be a shady and dishonest entity"
 
[quote name='donkeydrop']I'm sure I'm going to get attacked for saying this, but the CAGs who panicked and caused the massive run of cancellation have to share the blame. A few weeks after the nerd rage subsided on CAG the ECA web site was updated and settings were changed so that your account would not auto-renew unless you specifically chose that option again. (Basically the auto-renew was set to neither yes or no, so even if you never went back to the site to choose No your account still wouldn't renew.)

So, if instead of the massive over-reaction people had just been patient everything would have been OK. No-one was trying to cheat you (that's a laugh since the whole reason most people signed up was to take financial advantage of Amazon and many cheated Amazon out of a lot more than $20 with the coupon stacking!) That doesn't completely excuse the ECA because they should still have been able to handle the manual cancellations correctly during the "panic", but mistakes were almost inevitable given how swamped they were.[/QUOTE]

They only did that because of all the media pressure.
 
[quote name='token2k6']wowowowowowowow, how long has this been stickied? I got an official e-mail from them saying my account was canceled a while ago when this all went down..when I tried to log in, I couldn't..NOW I don't even know what credit card I used (not my debit ones) and I never check my itemized statements..FFFUUUUUU[/QUOTE]

It's been sitting in another forum section for a while and was recently bought to Video Game Deals and stickied by CheapyD today after lilboo recently posted the charge he got the other day.
 
[quote name='donkeydrop']I'm sure I'm going to get attacked for saying this, but the CAGs who panicked and caused the massive run of cancellation have to share the blame. A few weeks after the nerd rage subsided on CAG the ECA web site was updated and settings were changed so that your account would not auto-renew unless you specifically chose that option again. (Basically the auto-renew was set to neither yes or no, so even if you never went back to the site to choose No your account still wouldn't renew.)

So, if instead of the massive over-reaction people had just been patient everything would have been OK. No-one was trying to cheat you (that's a laugh since the whole reason most people signed up was to take financial advantage of Amazon and many cheated Amazon out of a lot more than $20 with the coupon stacking!) That doesn't completely excuse the ECA because they should still have been able to handle the manual cancellations correctly during the "panic", but mistakes were almost inevitable given how swamped they were.[/QUOTE]Not going to attack you, but the "nerd rage" as you put it, was the only reason they reinstated the online cancellation option. Before our actions, Hal and his underlings repeated the mantra that it was easy to cancel via snail mail, and did not at all address our concerns that 1000s of free members (and paying)would be auto renewed without their knowledge and consent.
I'd say based on recent developments, our concern and outrage was pretty fucking warranted.
 
Oh, and Strell, I cancelled via the CAG mass letter and three separate letters of my own. I received an email and written confirmation of my cancellation. I can no longer log in to my ECA account (yeah!)This week would be my renewal week, so I'll be watching my CC statement.

Thanks again for taking this on, you rock.
 
[quote name='verticalbunny']Any chance of getting some help?
Please..[/QUOTE]

Vertical,

Check the very first post in this thread...it has the details I believe.
 
[quote name='verticalbunny']where is the cancellation option online? is it the same as no additional term, thanks?[/QUOTE]
Yes, click the no additional term button then continue on. There are five or so screens you have to go through in order for it to be fully canceled.
 
[quote name='verticalbunny']Any chance of getting some help?
Please..[/QUOTE]
Originally Posted by major morgan
I had mine set to not auto renew, but I was still able to login. I was also a part of the giant CAG box of cancellations.

You CAN cancel through the website immediately, if you wish.
1. Login to the website
2. Go to your profile and select membership status
3. Go through the steps, but be careful on the steps because step 3 says "Yes/No auto renew" and Step 5 says "Yes/No Cancel my membership now". Step 5 defaults to "No" so your membership will still be valid if you just click submit.

I just did this and after I terminated I was unable to log back in. I also got a cancellation email right way.

Now if people still end up being charged after this, then you should be angry.
 
[quote name='verticalbunny']Any chance of getting some help?
Please..[/QUOTE]

Geez, it's only been four minutes since you asked the question, give people some time to answer. I mean, come on . . .

(I'd answer, but I canceled through the CAG box back before the current system was implemented, so I haven't seen it and wouldn't want to give you a wrong answer. Edit: And by the time I hit "Post" others had answered anyway. ;) )
 
I turned off auto-renewal at least a month ago but I decided to check. When I went through it again, it noted that I did not want a renewal (3,6 or 12 month), which was good, but on step 3, auto-renewal option was set to on. I cancelled immediately telling them they aren't worth the trouble and for a website that claims to be about the consumer, they were anything but. I don't think they could charge anything to the card # I gave them anyway since I lost it earlier this year and had it cancelled but still, what a shady organization.
 
Just tried logging in and I'm still getting the "The username arcane93 has not been activated or is blocked." message . . . My account wouldn't be up for renewal until August anyway, so hopefully they've got all of this straightened out by then.

Clearly, though, they never completely deleted my account, as my login is an email address that has no semblance of that username in it.
 
[quote name='sasuke543']what do i do if it says my account is blocked or not activated? :([/QUOTE]

Wait, hope that means that they canceled your account correctly, and keep a close eye on your credit card statements around the time they would be renewing you.
 
Updated my post with new additions to each list.

After we get more entries, I might simplify it down into less groups to make it a little easier to follow. What I have there now seems to be a bit unwieldy, but there are some certain demarcations to be had.

Will update as I can.

Also, as others have suggested, anyone who can still get into their site should call their attention to this right now. We need to see if they have any response on this issue.
 
[quote name='chakan']Not going to attack you, but the "nerd rage" as you put it, was the only reason they reinstated the online cancellation option. Before our actions, Hal and his underlings repeated the mantra that it was easy to cancel via snail mail, and did not at all address our concerns that 1000s of free members (and paying)would be auto renewed without their knowledge and consent.
I'd say based on recent developments, our concern and outrage was pretty fucking warranted.[/QUOTE]


That's just your assumption based on the site owner being a bad guy. Reality is he was just naive (and credit to Cheapy for trying to warn him that people will abuse a system any chance they get). He got overwhelmed and didn't know how to get out of it without totally destroying his membership list and therefore ruining his business. I can't be too hard on a guy just because he failed to understand how many people just have no morals when it comes to saving money.
 
I have updated (again) to NOT auto renew. If it still renews in 4 months when my Free membership is up, I will dispute the charge with my credit card. I refuse to waste my energy on worrying any further.
 
I cancelled my membership through their site today. My membership would have expired in early September.
 
[quote name='donkeydrop'] I can't be too hard on a guy just because he failed to understand how many people just have no morals when it comes to saving money.[/QUOTE]

Oh this is stupid. He's failed to provide us a way to cancel THREE TIMES now. First with broken website, second with a lame "we're not responsible/don't know anything out how our stuff works" excuse, and NOW with people being charged AGAIN despite being told that their memberships were dead and their financial information erased. How much proof and how many chances does the guy need? Dr. Claw gets better service from his MAD henchmen than we've gotten from this guy.

Blaming it on a small group of exploiters is ridiculous, and even then, is not an excuse for having a completely broken mechanism THREE TIMES that is now extorting money from people who want nothing to do with any of this.

I could understand once. Maybe even twice. But to start blaming the CAG Community after the third time AND when the organization has acted childishly the entire time is ludicrous.

Just get out of the thread and let us deal with the fact that people are getting screwed with charges for no reason other than pure incompetence.
 
[quote name='donkeydrop']I can't be too hard on a guy just because he failed to understand how many people just have no morals when it comes to saving money.[/QUOTE]
Then he shouldn't have set up the Amazon deal in the first place. Someone that ignorant shouldn't have the right. If there's an exploit, it'll be exploited.
 
[quote name='chakan']I might spend an hour of my time at PAX next to their booth with some EFF fliers, and try to convince people not to become entrapped with them.[/QUOTE]

IF PAX let's them have a booth after this mess, I may have to go to PAX just to knock it down.

Anyone care to join me?
 
[quote name='donkeydrop']That's just your assumption based on the site owner being a bad guy. Reality is he was just naive (and credit to Cheapy for trying to warn him that people will abuse a system any chance they get). He got overwhelmed and didn't know how to get out of it without totally destroying his membership list and therefore ruining his business. I can't be too hard on a guy just because he failed to understand how many people just have no morals when it comes to saving money.[/QUOTE]
Have you even read Hal's statements or his hilarious interview with himself on GamePolitics? If you took the time to look into the issue, maybe you wouldn't assume I was making assumptions.
 
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1) Are you fucking kidding me? This again?
2) I knew retards like donkeydrop and elektrodragon would pop up trolling and defending the eca. There is no defending what they did. Seriously? You're either trolling or dumber than dirt. GTFO already.
 
[quote name='donkeydrop']That's just your assumption based on the site owner being a bad guy. Reality is he was just naive (and credit to Cheapy for trying to warn him that people will abuse a system any chance they get). He got overwhelmed and didn't know how to get out of it without totally destroying his membership list and therefore ruining his business. I can't be too hard on a guy just because he failed to understand how many people just have no morals when it comes to saving money.[/QUOTE]

Why are you backing this idiot?

He knew well enough what he was doing, he did this on purpose to stat pad his membership list with the GIMAG code for free after 100s and 1000s paid 19.99 for it.

Only reason for that is to get more sponsorship money because of his "list" of members.

Seriously if you have no beef with what's going on, just leave. We don't need a Hal Halpin Defense Force attorney in this thread.
 
Wow and I thought the ECA was gone for good from any future discussions aside from jokes....still nothing but trouble.
 
I'd actually like to know how many people signed up for this, (who eventually got pissed and tried to cancel), and freely entered their CC info with the full intent of actually subscribing to a worth-while entity for gaming advocacy, only for the fact that at the time they were able to stack Amazon codes.

I don't buy all this being mad that there's not an option to unsubscribe because of yada yada, so you cancel out of principal because the ECA is all evil and stuff. The cancelers canceled because they didn't get their Amazon discounts after Amazon got fed up with being ripped off from code stacking and canceled their promo with The ECA. Amazon's system was flawed because it couldn't prevent code stacking (read:cheating) at the time.

So greed killed a program that was working fine before massive fraud on the part of some members. ECA got scared of the backlash and had no system in place for dealing with mass cancellations so they handled things related to the cancellations improperly.

I see a lot of self-righteousness in these posts and not a whole lot of self-accountabiilty. We're called CAG's for a reason. We're "Cheap Asses"; I know I am. I just checked my account and you can fully cancel via web now. So everyone still unsure of their status needs only to log in to the site, cancel and stop bitching. And next time don't ruin a system for everyone because you feel entitled to more than you deserve.
 
Thanks for lumping us all in to the exploiters category.

Some of us paid full price for membership, and actually cared about issues like game censorship, net neutrality and DRM.

Some of us would have been happy to stay signed up AFTER the Amazon code clusterfuck, if it was just that. But when others were trying to cancel and couldn't, when questions about the renewal process were met with post deletions and bannings, some of us took a long hard look at the ECA as an organization.

Some of us determined that the ECA is not at all concerned with the consumer as it's name suggests, and more about establishing a power base for Hal Halpin in the videogame business. Some of us then decided we want nothing to do with this organization.

And finally, some of us are sick and fucking tired of how fucking difficult it is to get away from these assholes.

Sorry if some of us don't fit into your neat, broad characterization.
 
[quote name='RuzzT']I'd actually like to know how many people signed up for this, (who eventually got pissed and tried to cancel), and freely entered their CC info with the full intent of actually subscribing to a worth-while entity for gaming advocacy, only for the fact that at the time they were able to stack Amazon codes.

I don't buy all this being mad that there's not an option to unsubscribe because of yada yada, so you cancel out of principal because the ECA is all evil and stuff. The cancelers canceled because they didn't get their Amazon discounts after Amazon got fed up with being ripped off from code stacking and canceled their promo with The ECA. Amazon's system was flawed because it couldn't prevent code stacking (read:cheating) at the time.

So greed killed a program that was working fine before massive fraud on the part of some members. ECA got scared of the backlash and had no system in place for dealing with mass cancellations so they handled things related to the cancellations improperly.

I see a lot of self-righteousness in these posts and not a whole lot of self-accountabiilty. We're called CAG's for a reason. We're "Cheap Asses"; I know I am. I just checked my account and you can fully cancel via web now. So everyone still unsure of their status needs only to log in to the site, cancel and stop bitching. And next time don't ruin a system for everyone because you feel entitled to more than you deserve.[/QUOTE]


I'd like to make a suggestion to the rest of the community that we ignore any future posts like this.

Please don't feed the trolls. This was already hashed out in the previous ECA thread. Over and Over.

I'm talking to people like arcane,strell, and chakan and the dude with the Hal/2001 sig pic (name slips me). We already made our points in the last thread. No need to give these trolls any satisfaction.

Please.
 
Oh.

My.

God.

You people are straight ridumbulous. Let's say you bought a game from Best Buy. You decide you don't want it. You return it unopened and with receipt. All is good, until a few months later, they bill you a pro-rated amount depending on how long you had it. You ask them what their malfunction is. "Well, see, if it was in your house, then we know you clearly were getting entertainment value out of it. You could have used it as a hat, or perhaps a tiny table."

That's what is going on here - people getting charged for something they already made intentionally clear they want nothing to do with.

So hey. Maybe you'd like to drop me some spare cash, since you don't seem too worried about it being douched away from you.

Edit: Sure thing Ralph. No further trollchow from me.
 
Anyone want to be a CAG rep and highlight the fact that they can't do anything right?

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2542042110&v=wall

[quote name='Strell']Oh.

My.

God.

You people are straight ridumbulous. Let's say you bought a game from Best Buy. You decide you don't want it. You return it unopened and with receipt. All is good, until a few months later, they bill you a pro-rated amount depending on how long you had it. You ask them what their malfunction is. "Well, see, if it was in your house, then we know you clearly were getting entertainment value out of it. You could have used it as a hat, or perhaps a tiny table."

That's what is going on here - people getting charged for something they already made intentionally clear they want nothing to do with.

So hey. Maybe you'd like to drop me some spare cash, since you don't seem too worried about it being douched away from you.

Edit: Sure thing Ralph. No further trollchow from me.[/QUOTE]

I think we all can agree except for the ECA Defense Force, that we've been past this already. Look at where the thread DIED.....

We're all pist now that we have to hawk our accounts because people are getting "RENEWED" when they CANCELED.
 
[quote name='Strell']
Edit: Sure thing Ralph. No further trollchow from me.[/QUOTE]

Much obliged Strell.

Energies are much better diverted to helping people cancel and making sure that this shitstain of an organization does not make any more money off us or anyone else.
 
can't log in, it says my screen name is blocked/not activated so i'm hoping my canceling worked even though i didn't get an email. anyone have their screen name blocked yet still got billed?
 
[quote name='hellmutt']My account still has the proper settings. I won't know until October if they actually bill me or not...

the-eca.bmp
[/QUOTE]I registered the same time, and that's all I currently see. I just turned auto renew off, but can't seem to cancel online.
 
[quote name='confoosious']I'd like to make a suggestion to the rest of the community that we ignore any future posts like this.

Please don't feed the trolls. This was already hashed out in the previous ECA thread. Over and Over.

I'm talking to people like arcane,strell, and chakan and the dude with the Hal/2001 sig pic (name slips me). We already made our points in the last thread. No need to give these trolls any satisfaction.

Please.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, if people like the above even cared enough about the issue...They'd read the previous thread, like we all did. Then they would either understand, or continue being ignorant...Any other reasoning provides no good solution.
 
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