HollywoodProfiles.Com should be HollywoodRip-Off.com? W. Hollywood California

I was online one day about a month ago and I saw a web ad for special subscription to HollywoodProfiles.com for $1.95 for a year membership instead of the $149.95 they usually charge.

I was interested and thought that it sounded like a good deal. It sounded a bit too good to be true so I read all the information to see if there would be any additional charges but there was no indication of any additional charges and $1.95 would be the once-off fee payable.

I signed up, they set up a profile for me a few days later and I logged in once, looked around briefly and left it for a while. 3 weeks later, I saw a charge for $49.95 from my checking account. I immediately called my bank to inform them of the unauthorised charge and lodged a case. I went back onto the HollywoodProfiles.com website and looked around a bit more. It appears that the regular way to sign up to the site would be to call their number and register with them. The terms of membership agreement state that there would be a an initial membership fee, and if cancellation is not within 14 days of the trial period then a monthly charge which is the "then-current Membership fee". I called them up to dispute the charge and they said that that was the term of the membership, to be billed monthly. I cancelled immediately and requested a refund. They asked whether I would like a free trial month and I refused as I was scared that this would continue the scam, i.e "a free month" = one more month billed?

I called back a few days later to check on the status of my refund and was informed that it had been declined as it was my responsibility to read the terms and conditions. The terms and conditions that I had read on the $1.95 sign up had not stated anything about the monthly charge! And what is strange is that they do not publish the monthly charge anywhere on their website. If I had known that it would cost $49.95 per month, I would never have signed up as this charge is absurd! They were not interested in honoring my request for a refund and I hadn't even used the service during the month that I was "signed up". My bank informed me that seen as I had signed up on a website, they would not be able to make a claim for a refund for the charge either.

What a waste!

Genlenben
San Francisco, California
U.S.A.