At approximately 6:30 pm on Friday, September 1st, 2023, I submitted an automotive question to justanswers.com. I was asking about the name of a specific component of the fuel pump assembly for an 2003 chevy suburban 8.1L 2500 lt. I was told there would be a $1 charge, which I agreed to, and within a few minutes a mechanic had answered my question via text message. Later in the evening I opened my banking app for an unrelated reason, and saw that I had been charged the initial agreed upon $1, and another charge from justanswers for $34 that I had not been informed or aware of, nor had I consented to this charge. When I went to the justanswers site to question this charge and pursue a refund, the Customer Care chat response, which I assume is automated, was less than helpful. Initially it responded that the $34 charge was for a "membership", and described the alleged benefits of this membership in a blatant attempt to convince me as the consumer to keep the membership, and when I reiterated that I neither wanted nor consented to the membership or its fee, it again responded with the benefits of the membership. I again stated I did not want nor consent to the membership and wanted a refund, the chat responded that my membership was canceled but I could continue to utilize the website and membership for the remainder of the month, stated nothing in regards to my requested refund, and closed the chat so I could not reply. After this, disputed the transaction with my bank, and then I initiated a new chat with justanswers customer care. The justanswers customer care chat again reiterated that my membership had been canceled but I could utilize its features for the remainder of the month and was welcome to reinstate my membership at any time. I, again, reiterated in turn that I did not care to utilize the membership for the remainder of the month, I wanted a refund, and added that I found their business model predatory, manipulative, and dishonest. I was again met with a message that my membership had been canceled and the chat was again closed so I could not respond. After this I called the customer care phone number, which answered with a message that my membership had been canceled, and I followed the prompts to the main menu, then billing issues, and ultimately the prompt to request a refund due to "membership price". At no point did I actually speak to anyone, and there was no option to leave a comment on the service or whether or not I was displeased or concerned with the product. I did receive my refund within minutes of the phone call ending, for which I am grateful. However, I find their practice of automatically enrolling in and charging consumers for a membership that they do not disclose or gain consent for, or even minimally inform consumers of to be dishonest, manipulative, and fraudulent. In looking into the company after the fact, I noticed that they seem to be deleting negative reviews, which is also manipulative in it makes the company's online search results paint an untrue picture of the quality of the company and its products.
Desired outcome: Stop manipulating reviews, inform consumers and seek consent for all charges/payments
This complaint has been resolved automatically due to user's inactivity.