OfficeEarth Pty.Ltd. Deducted money from my credit card which I never used, then when I cancelled, they refused to refund the amount in credit. Melbourne Victoria Australia

Office Earth - Virtual Receptionist - Answering Service

Unscrupulous, unprincipled, unethical, immoral and shameless...

Office Earth changed pricing from $1.90 per call to $2.90 per minute - call costs on average increased by 500% - but they failed to clearly communicate that to the end user. It wasn't until I started looking into my billing that I discovered it by accident.

In the email announcement notifying of a price increase, Office Earth mentioned a rise in subscription fees from $5 to $10 - double, but I persisted anyway wihtout a clear alternative. It wasn't until weeks later I was reviewing calls and noticed the costs had skyrocketed! Going back to the email, there was nothing about the calls increasing from $1.90 to $2.90/min unless you followed a link out to another page and read the small print...

If Office Earth had any scruples at all, they would just highlight this in the email BUT, Office Earth have proven that scruples are not something they have a lot of... Upon finding this out, I followed the link they put in the email to cancel the service as these costs were unsustainable... During this time, they auto-deducted another account top-up from my credit card to put me $30+ in credit. After cancelling, I requested the $30 in credit back because I wouldn't be using the service any more and I had a positive balance... Their response: Our contract says we can keep your money but we'll see what we can do...

From that point on, they have effectively ignored me and I have finally come to the conclusion that they are not interested.

Office Earth write into their contract that they get to keep my money if I cancel the service - not to pay any outstanding debt or to cover any services rendered, just because they put it in fine print. I have since contacted Consumer Affairs who have said that the contract terms are not enforceable by law because:
- It causes a significant imbalance in my rights and obligations under a contract
- It is not reasonably necessary to protect the business, and
- It causes detriment (financial or otherwise) to me, the consumer.

I tried contacting them and they just kept ignoring me or putting me off and so my only option if I want to go any further is to pursue this legally in a court of law... Over $30... That's our justice system!

Office Earth has absolutely no business morals and clearly no objective to provide a fair and reasonable service to its clients. They are clearly blinded by their own greed and have no interest in being an ethical and trustworthy service provider.

AVOID OFFICE EARTH AT ALL COSTS.