24Protect Plus - 24protectplus123 - Intelius compromises integrity to earn ProtectPlus a buck. Internet

I just saw this charge (19.95 and said something about Protection Services) on my bank account and called them to get the biller's number. When I called, I was very apprehensive to give them any personal information. But the customer service rep (who was actually very nice) told me it was probably attached to the 1.95 person look-up thing I paid for (intelius.com).

I was very careful when I paid for the original 1.95 charge to deselect all of their "special offers" so I am quite certain that I never agreed to anything - even through their tricky "uncheck if you don't want" schemes. But after figuring out what happened, I searched in my junk mail folder and found an email from this 24ProtectPlus123 place that does say toward the bottom that after "DATE" I would start to be charged a monthly fee if I didn't call to cancel the subscription. Although, it never says how much the charge will be and the first part of the email goes on and on about free offers. Even if it hadn't gone to my junk mail, I think I would have assumed it was junk because it was NOTHING that I signed up for and it appeared to be strictly offers until you got to the bottom.

I really blame Intelius for this - I think that their system signs you up for stuff even if you elect not to. I can tell you that I will never think "Oh, it's only two bucks" about a service like theirs again and I will be urging people i know to not use Intelius at all.

The customer service rep at 24ProtectPlus123 was actually very nice and probably deals with this all day long. She quickly reversed my charges (said they would be back in my account in three business days).


(Note that if you go to 24ProtectPlus123.com - where the customer service rep told me to go - it redirects you to 24ProtectPlus.com. Not sure why they have the extra one with all the numbers.)

Amanda
Cambridge, Minnesota
U.S.A.