JustAnswer.com : Unauthorized Charges to Credit Cards, Billing for subscriptions never requested, Internet

 JustAnswer.com is a website where the public can ask an expert questions. JustAnswer.com connects you to an expert, for a fee, a scheme which at first appears OK.

When you first ask the expert a question using a web form, you are asked to rate the urgency or your question. The fee to get an answer is appartently based on the level of urgency you select.

I selected the highest rate of urgency, $48.00 to get the question answered as it was the weekend and I could not find a wiring diagram that I needed and I needed it before Monday. Subsequently I got a wiring diagram from JustAnwer.com and I got it within twelve hours, but it was the wrong diagram. That's not even the problem I am complaining about.

My complaint is that when you select an amount you are willing to pay to get your question answered, NOWHERE on the page does it say that you are selecting a "subscription" for their service. You select the amount you are willing to pay and you provide your card information.

Eight days later I am notified by email from JustAnswer.com (an email I could have easily missed) that I am a SUBSCRIBER to their service at $48.00 per month, and that my card will automatically be billed each month.

I never selected nor chose a subsubsciption. I even dropped through the first time "ask a question pages" to see if I missed anything the first time. Nope, I missed nothing; they state a one time charge but in reality the define it a subscription as you discover later.

Their methods are underhanded and deceptive. It is apparently a "gotcha" situation, an "opt out" type situation where you the customer, need to take action later (after you catch them) to "cancel" your "subscription".

Bear in mind: There is NO mention of your having purchased a "subscription" at the time you provide your card number and agree to a specific ONE TIME charge to your card for asking ONE QUESTION.

It's the modern business model I know, and it is dishonest and disgusting.

Bear in mind the answer they provided to my question was only semi-useful but none the less I was completely willing to pay the original one time fee, leave them a positive review, all of which I did, and simply move on having learned something.

I find it particularly interesting that it took them EIGHT DAYS to notify me of my "subscription" I was alleged to have purchased and I had to call them to tell them they were FOS. I so easily could have missed that email and had them banging away at my card before I noticed.