WIX.com Wix Wix is deceptive, corrupt, underhanded and dishonest Internet

My son wanted to start his own website and we heard that Wix offers free website building. He went onto Wix.com to set up a website. After filling out the information required, it asked him how he wanted to pay for the site so it could be published. I thought it was free. There was some vague wording about connecting to a domain and that cost money, it just didn’t make sense. I allowed him to use my credit card to initially set up the site. The fees that they charge for securing the domain name were expensive, so I figured it would simply use GoDaddy, which I did.

I then noticed a charge of $99 on my credit card which I was not expecting from Wix.com. I contacted my credit card company to dispute the charge. A few weeks later, my credit card company responded and said they had contacted Wix.com and Wix told my credit card company it was not fraudulent and the charge stands.

I tried contacting Wix.com regarding this issue, but it is very difficult to find a phone number on their website. They do NOT post it, anywhere. I had to search for a half hour to find it. I found the number and called their customer service. The automated recording says “please enter your ID to continue”. Well, I don’t have an ID, my son was the one who set up the account. So I just waited hoping someone would answer. The recorded message just kept repeating. After listening to this recording 5 or 6 times, I finally just pressed a bunch of random numbers and was able to get through to a human. The associate stated that since I had filed a dispute against them and it was upheld, they cannot refund my money. He went on to say that if I had only contacted them first, they could have done something. He said that when a dispute is filed it causes their credit to go down and fees to be incurred and therefore they cannot reverse the charge.

How would I have known to contact them first? That is like a Police Department saying “oh, if only you contacted us while you were getting robbed, we could have helped you, but not after the fact.” Their website is confusing and misleading and their vague/confusing terms trick you into thinking that their services are free, when they are not. For them to state that it was my responsibility to know that I must contact them first before filing a dispute with my credit card agency, is absurd.

I can only hope that no one else falls victim to their deceptive practices and maybe someday they will change their terrible policies.