Vbuzzer refused to remove my credit card info.

[gnzhang1]

Just contacted support, they refused to remove my credit card info. because I have a home phone plan. what a absurd reason.
I prefer to use paypal.

Vbuzzer used to be a good and honest company. Now they makes me feel I am ripped off.

If they do not remove my credit card info this weekend. i will dispute all charges and cancel all my service.

[zag]

Welcome to the club. :)

Tip: Keep an eye on your card statements.
_________________
The Cable Guy

[donaldjustine13]

They should just keep it and if you are going to purchase some of their products again then you shouldn't have to put your credit card information because they already had it. The Vbuzzer would not give your credit card information to some other person. It will be kept as confidential as it is.

[markf]

[quote="donaldjustine13"]They should just keep it and if you are going to purchase some of their products again then you shouldn't have to put your credit card information because they already had it. The Vbuzzer would not give your credit card information to some other person. It will be kept as confidential as it is.[/quote]

The problem is, vbuzzer may start using you credit card for purposes you didn't anticipate.

That's what happened to me. I signed up for pay-as-you-go for $10. About 2-3 months ago vbuzzer began debiting my account $2.50 "administrative fee." I don't believe I was ever made aware of that fee. When my account went below $2, they charged my credit card $10.

if I had been able to delete my credit card information I would have been protected from that charge, which I absolutely did not consent to or expect.

Right now, I can't find any way to cancel my pay-as-you-go account. (I don't even see such a service being available.). Nor can I delete the credit card info.

I've contacted vbuzzer to request the $10 be credited back to my card. And that my account be closed. Hopefully that will turn out well. But, with vbuzzer's "F" rating at the BBB, I'm afraid I will have to open a formal dispute with my credit card company.

IMO, what vbuzzer did borders on fraud.

1) They should not have automatically charged my card after introducing a new monthly fee without first obtaining my affirmative consent to this new cost. I.e., they should have let my account be suspended due to lack of funds, so I could review the condition and decide whether to accept it.

2) My credit card's expiration date had changed since I last used it. Vbuzzer had to experiment with new expiration dates to get the charge accepted. IMO, that looks very shady.

I was happy leaving money on account with vbuzzer. The per-minute rates were great. I regret that had to come to an end. But, the way vbuzzer conducted that change of business policy left a distinctly bad taste in my mouth. I could accept that the terms of service (and prices) would change. But, not that I'd be automatically billed for fees that I hadn't accepted. Nor, that they'd experiment with new expiration dates to make my card info "valid" again.

Anyway, that's a good example of why people may want to remove their credit card info. That may be the only way they can control what amounts to unauthorized charges (i.e., charges for new, surprise fees which they didn't bargain for).

Regards.

[admin]

We removed and will remove credit card info upon customer request. That has never been an issue. We are not error-free, but if there is an issue you can always contact us to resolve it.



In the first few years of operation we did not require credit cards, as a result we experienced a scary, increasing amount of misuse and fraudulent use of our phone service. Since then we decided to only serve customers with a valid ID or credit card.



If you have concerns paying by credit card, you can send us a money order with a copy of valid ID, such as a driver license. Of course this is a free market, you don’t have to subscribe to our service if you are still uncomfortable with it.

[markf]

Just a follow-up. Vbuzzer promptly returned the $10 charge to my credit card.

I can understand the importance of verifying identities using credit cards, as "admin" pointed out.

But, I think vbuzzer should be extra cautious about charging credit cards when its stated policy is "no refunds except when fraud is involved, which we're willing to negotiate" (loose quotes). That's a pretty strong policy. Which I believe places responsibility on vbuzzer to be extra careful about how it uses credit card information.

After vbuzzer has acquired a credit card, that should suffice for identification purposes. I would suggest that they have a checkbox saying "do not use" (and an explanation that the information can't be deleted because it is necessary for identification purposes. For example, you can add another card and choose "do not use," and then delete older credit card info. But, one card must be kept on file, although it can be flagged for non-use except pre-auth charges to verify validate.).

I just think there's something wrong when 1) a plan is changed (like, evidently my pay-as-you-go plan was), and 2) my account begins to be consumed by $2.50 per month charges that I didn't accept when I chose "automatic refill", and 3) my card is charged when I didn't expect it, and 4) there's no way that I could find to turn off "automatic refill," and 5) no way to say "don't charge this card, even if you need to keep it for identification purposes."

And, finally, 6) when vbuzzer's refund policy is so strongly worded in their favor. That's a recipe for generating ill will.

I don't have a problem with vbuzzer having a very limited refund policy. But, that should give them the responsibility to be absolutely sure they don't charge a card improperly (and allow customers to protect against that happening).

That's my 2 cents. It was resolved satisfactorily. But, it still seems like a potential to generate ill will for others. I understand low-cost VoIP is probably a low-margin business and vbuzzer probably doesn't have the luxury to implement everything I described. But, in that case they should their refund policy should be worded differently, so it reflects some flexibility and acknowledges that there could be misunderstandings between the customer and vbuzzer's automated processes.

Hope that's constructive.