Paypal subscription and going to direct CC billing with Groundspeak

[+CdirtO]

Maybe someone at Groundspeak can answer this one since Jessica (Groundspeak) refuses to explain it.

 

I happened to be in my account profile and noticed that I was showing as a basic user. I have been a Premium User and on auto pay since 11/19/02! I then noticed this little blurb off to the right side that mentioned Paypal and Groundspeak changing from them to regular CC billing, and that I should update my info with Groundspeak and cancel my subscription through Paypal.

 

To clarify dates here, this was on 07/08/09. My normal expiration for my membership being 11/26/09. (The extra week being caused by a stolen CC and my forgetting to update paypal back in '07, so I did go basic for that week. My bad!)

 

So..... I did this, updated my account info with Groundspeak, WAIT A MINUTE! Groundspeak hit my CC right then for $30.00 and extended my account to 07/08/10! Now, I have lost 5 months of paid for membership! Jessica's reply to my email to Groundspeak about this was blunt. "This is an issue on our side and your account has been updated."

 

I have not received a refund of the overpayment. My expiration date has NOT been extended out to 11/26/10. The way I figure it, Groundspeak just hit me for $11.48 extra.

 

I have emailed back to Jessica requesting the details of her resolution on my account and have been kind enough to have waited 2 WEEKS! No response. What gives. I even gave Groundspeak an out. Send me a static cling travelbug for my truck and keep anything extra. That hasn't happened either.

 

Obviously, stopping payment on the card and requesting a new CC number from my bank is an option. I'd really rather not do that as it will cost me more than the $11.48 owed me by Groundspeak, but we have a principal here. I DO NOT give my money away, but Jessica must think I'll just sit back and take it. NOT. And I think I am being kind to Groundspeak by staying Premium, since I am not nearly as active in geocaching as I was. Becoming a basic member and not giving Groundspeak any of my money is obviously becoming more and more an option.

 

Please let me know how to resolve this as my emails go unanswered now.

 

Thanks.

 

P.S. - I did cancel my subscription with Paypal.

Edited July 25, 2009 by CdirtO

[+SamSpade47]

Watching this thread...

[+CdirtO]

How 'bout it Jeremy. This is your company. Got anything to say?

[GOF and Bacall]

Your original post was on Saturday. I would not expect to hear anything from Groundspeak until sometime later today. They don't hang out in the office all weekend.

[+beejay&esskay]

I'm certainly willing to give Groundspeak some slack in responding, but I do follow this (and a few other threads) with interest.

 

Maybe I'm focusing on this because I'm about to buy a second PQ membership, but it does seem there are a few problems with subscriptions at the moment.

 

Because of changes involved in transitioning away from PayPal?

[+CdirtO]

GOF & Bacall,

 

Not to be rude, but, you obviously skipped over the "I've waited two weeks for a reply" part of my post.

 

And as for not hanging out over the weekend, explain to me all the other Groundspeak lackey responses to

threads on these forums that have happened all weekend long without response to this thread. Any one of those lackeys could have popped in here with an explanation or something stating they would look into this.

 

They obviously know they have a problem, but are making no effort to correct things in a timely manner. I know that my customers expect their issues resolved asap, I see no reason why I shouldn't expect the same service from someone I pay money to.

 

Thanks.

[+Raine]

I haven't said anything because this is the first time I've seen this thread.

 

It's 6:45am here so once Jessica gets in during our normal business hours I'll ask her to take a look at this.

 

-Raine

[GOF and Bacall]

GOF & Bacall,

 

Not to be rude, but, you obviously skipped over the "I've waited two weeks for a reply" part of my post.

 

And as for not hanging out over the weekend, explain to me all the other Groundspeak lackey responses to

threads on these forums that have happened all weekend long without response to this thread. Any one of those lackeys could have popped in here with an explanation or something stating they would look into this.

 

They obviously know they have a problem, but are making no effort to correct things in a timely manner. I know that my customers expect their issues resolved asap, I see no reason why I shouldn't expect the same service from someone I pay money to.

 

Thanks.

 

I didn't skip over any part of your post. When you sent an email and when you started a thread are two different things. As you see, here it is Monday morning and already you have a response from a Groundspeak employee.

 

Of which lackeys do you speak? Keystone? Mtn Man? One of the other forum mods? They have nothing to do with the day to day business of GS. Even if they where paid employees of Groundspeak I doubt that they would have access to, or authority to speak for, the business office.

 

I'm not saying you don't have an issue with the GS payment set up. I just think you had an unrealistic expectation of a response to this thread.

[+Lil Devil]

How 'bout it Jeremy. This is your company. Got anything to say?

Jeremy was banned from the forums. You'll need to address one of the other lackeys instead.

 

Keystone and mtn-man are volunteers, not lackeys. Raine and Jessica are lackeys. Lackeys do not work weekends.

[OpinioNate]

I'm very sorry for the frustration you are experiencing.

 

However, I see that your account expiration date now reflects your recent payment. Thanks for the support of the site!

[+CdirtO]

Thank you OpinioNate,

 

I have checked my account and it does indeed reflect the correct date. I appreciate your and Raine's fast handling of this issue. I have to admit, tho, I am not happy with Jessica. This seems to have been something that could have been fixed within hours of the first email. What made me mad was the complete lack of followup from her.

 

As for Jeremy, Lil Devil, Its a good thing he's been banned! He needs to get out and find more caches, and having to deal with jerks like me takes too much of his precious time!

 

I am again a happy cacher.

 

Go ahead and lock down this post or not as you see fit!

 

Edited for atrocious grammer... I gotta get some sleep!

Edited July 27, 2009 by CdirtO

[+Jessiep]

Hi CdirtO,

 

 

This is Jessica. I’m sorry for not receiving your response sooner. We receive hundreds of e-mails a day so our responses can be delayed at times, but I agree 2 weeks is too long to wait. Other posters are also correct. These are also our office hours, which is why no one was available to get to your forum post sooner. Typically the lackeys posting in these forums over the weekend work on our development team (and are usually replying to threads from their homes), and they don’t handle billing issues. Billing issues are handled during normal business hours.

 

 

As for your account, I have made the needed changes and talked with Raine who is one of our developers. This is a problem we have not come across before but we will be keeping an eye out to make sure it is not a reoccurring problem. For some reason when your account renewed it reset your renewal date to the date of the new payment instead of adding the new year onto the end of your subscription as it should have. Your current expiration date is now correct. I do apologize for the error with our system and our delay in getting this issue resolved. We do very much appreciate your continued support.

[+Renegade Knight]

...P.S. - I did cancel my subscription with Paypal.

 

Smart move. PayPal used to facilitate payments. Now they are facilitating growth. Alas you can't focus on the latter without getting in the way of the former. The former made them worth using. The latter kills companies.

 

Looks like PayPal could use folks like Jessica and OpinioNate