archives.com ANC*NEWSPAPERARCHIVE credit card unauthorized billing fraud scam free trial cancellation Omaha Nebraska

archives.com should be reported to the Attorneys General of every state for FRAUD. I signed up for a free 7 day trial on May 16, 2014. I had to give a credit card so I gave my PayPal debit card. I canceled within the seven days and received an email confirming that my membership was terminated effective May 23 - within the 7 day free trial period. On May 24th archives.com attempted to charge $7.95 to my paypal account. AND on the same day they also attempted to charge $49.95. Fortunately this is a debit card not a credit card, and my PayPal account was empty.

They then attempted to charge my PayPal account on the following dates:

5/28   $49.95
6/2     $49.95
6/10   $49.95

At that point I called Customer Service several times over a three day period to get this to stop. Every time I reached a live person they said their system was down and they couldn't research my issue, and please to call back the next day.

On June 15th I went on-line and canceled my account - again. At that time I got a confirmation that my membership was canceled and in fact I had no payment method on file! I also called PayPal and asked for a replacement debit card to be sent to me.

On June 17th they AGAIN attempted to take $49.95 out of my PayPal account. By this time I was deliberately sweeping my PayPal account every day so that there would be no money for them to steal.

On June 18th I sent an email to customer service with all of the above details, including forwarding the original cancellation email showing that I had canceled within the 7 day free trial period, and I instructed them not to bill me again. I did not receive a reply to that email.

On June 25th I received the replacement PayPal card.

On June 27th (yesterday) they AGAIN attempted to withdraw $49.95 from my PayPal account.

So I canceled my PayPal debit card. I hope that will be the end of it but somehow I doubt it.

Since then I have gone to every consumer complaint site I can find to document this THIEVERY.

It's 100% clear to me that their business model is based on luring people in with the promise of a free trial so that they can get their credit card numbers, then billing those cards regardless of whether the person cancels within the free period.

In my opinion this is a criminal enterprise  They are deliberately stealing from honest people, on the theory that eventually people will give up and just write off the $49.95.

I hope all my negative reviews help other people to avoid this SCAM.