Ziinga.com review: unauthorized payment 83

mine is just a warning, see the ziinga name and get away from this scamming website, i simply cannot believe their still getting away with the same thing they did to me in feb 2011, they ended up £159.00 out of bank account, i got nothing, their customer services team are the worst ive ever encountered anywhere, trouble is people dont know about this company until its too late, they even had the nerve to charge me forty something pounds for cancelling a membership i didnt even join to start with. these ### should be in jail but there not, still here today ripping innocent hard working people off, why they cannot be stopped i dont know, its about time someone somewhere was able to shut down this awful robbing scamming site for good the owners need to be jailed for along long time for the misery they have caused. Does anyone know how to get them stopped and prosecuted.

I had joined up to the site just before christmas and bid on a few things with my free bids, once i had used them up however i had stopped bidding as i didnt want to buy any credits to bid, then in January i recieved an email saying i had won a DVD player from them at the cost of £1, i couldnt remember bidding on it but i had randomly bid on a few things to use up my free credits and thought it might of been on of them, so i put through a payment for what i thought would just be £1.
The next day i revieved a call from my mum asking why £58.99 had come out of our joint account and upon checking seen it was from zinga i then emailed them to find out what had happened only to be told it was all in the small print, after emailing back and forth with them i had told them that if anymore money came out of my account that i would be seeking legal action, and enquired about the dvd player as i had googled it and it was worth bout £80 so i thought i would at least get that, but was told i would have to provide address and photographic ID to prove i wasnt trying to "scam" them by taking advantage of the dvd player for a £1 deal which is disgracful! i had then forgotten about it until today when another £59.99 came out of my account! Now how a site like this can be allowed to actually run a business and havent been dealt with by fraud investigation teams i dont know but if you could help me at all i would be really grateful!

I agreed to purchase an Ipod for $1.52. The ad said I could cancell at any time. This was for a penny auction opportunity. They billed me $39.99, then $69.99. I cancelled 1/6/12.
They refunded my $69.99.
On 2/1/12 Ziinga charged my account $99.99. I contacted them numerous times and was told this had been sent to the billing department for correction. I spoke with the people in London where Ziinga is located. I was told I could not talk with a manager. I was told their policy was that they have 30 days to refund the $99.99.
On 3/1/12 instead of refunding my $99.99, they took another $99.99 out of my account.
I went to my bank. The bank called and spoke with them. They said their was a request in the billing department to refund my $99.99 f 2 months.
The [people at Ziinga told my bank that I agreed to the purchase in fine print and the account does not close until 3/30/12 even though I cancelled in January 2012.

COPY OF EMAIL SENT TO Ziinga.com TODAY:

Hi,

I live in Sydney, Australia and received an email in early October stating that I had won the Canon A1200 Digital Camera and that all I had to do was pay $3.00 for the delivery fee which I did straight away. I still hadn't received my camera and was starting to become a bit concerned but that all changed when I went to my bank today and was told that I had a $1.00 then a $268.80 withdrawal from my bank account by ziinga.com on the 29th October 2012 which was/is completely unauthorized. I never signed up for anything ongoing whatsoever and most certainly didn't authorize any money to be withdrawn from my bank account beside the $3.00 which was what the email stated all I had to pay to receive my free gift being the Canon A1200 Digital Camera.

I would like my money returned to my account immediately and for any future plans you may have of making any further withdrawals from account also stopped immediately. If the Camera really is free and I only required the one payment of $3.00 for delivery then I am happy to continue with that transaction but if not I want all transactions stopped at once and all my money that was stolen from my account returned at once.

I am on a disability pension with the government which only gives me $409.00 a fortnight to live on for rent, food, electricity etc so I would never have purchased a camera and the only reason I paid the $3.00 was for the delivery fee for the free item (or so I thought) so If I don't receive an instant refund I will also be making formal complaints with a legal aid lawyer, dept. of fair trading & consumer affairs, numerous police forces including all fraud teams as what happened to me is nothing short of theft and I have now been made aware that your company has done the exact same thing to not just me but many other people from around the world that believed they too had come across a true bargain only to be ripped off too.

I hope to hear back from a Ziinga.com representative ASAP and that all my money is reimbursed back into my account immediately.

Got a email saying I had won something on this site. Foolishly went there, the prices on everything were so low. Bid on a mobile phone for my grandson, £6 plus a pound. Have not received this (two months later) and this company has taken that money and £59.99 has from my bank account from for the last two months. Sent them a cancellation email the day after the first amount was take. They acknowledged this and said their customers relations would be in touch within a few days. Needlessly to say they weren't. My bank can't stop them taking this money each month all I can do is, let them know about it and they will refund it back to me, but they can only refund the amount that is taken after I first inform they of it. I have lost the first £59.99 and the six plus one taken the first month.

I am paying dearly for my cheap phone. DONT HAVE ANY DEALING WITH THIS COMPANY AND TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES ABOUT THEM, THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THEM, THE FRAUDS.

I used Ziinga.Com (a penny bidding auction site) I "won" with a bid of £2.84. I was then asked for my debit card details which i did so.And payment was made for £2.84. I then received an email saying I had chosen the "platinum" membership package and that I would be charge £59.99 per month. I did not want or request any membership and I emailed them to say that I wished to cancel the membership, this email was just minutes after I had made my payment of £2.84. Ziinga responded by saying that I could cancel the membership but their would be a charge of £35 and also a further 3 monthly payments of £59.99. I advised them that I wasnt happy about the charges and was told that there no alternative but to pay up. At this point i did some research and have found numerous complaints of the same nature and many having had the payments taken from bank accounts without permission. I am a single parent on a low wage and if these payments are deducted from my account I will be in financial ruin. Please help!

PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! DO NOT USE ZIINGA.COM My experience is basically the same as most of other people who have been conned by Ziinga. On 11th November 2012 I went on Ziinga.com. (I can't remember how I got to the site). I put a free bid on a £35 Sainsburys Gift Card and won straight away! I paid the £5.17 Including P & P) on my credit card. They asked for documents for security which I scanned and emailed. Next time I went on the site I saw I had some bids so I put a few bids on items (no Sainsburys Gift Cards). The bids kept going weird but I wasn't bothered because I was just 'messing' with bids, which I believed were free bids. A few days later when I went on my Credit Card account online I saw that, on 13th November, Ziinga had taken a further £178.97 from my Credit Card. Immediately I phoned Ziinga. I got through but I could not understand what the person (gentleman) was saying to me and after a couple of minutes he terminated the call! So I went on the online chat and 'chatted' with a lady and asked why they had taken the monies from my Credit Card. It was then that I found out that at some stage when I was completing the purchase of the Sainsburys Gift Card I had 'agreed' to a free week membership followed by a 3 months Platinum Membership (at £59.99 per month). (This was the first I knew of this - I had NO idea that I had signed up for this membership). The lady on the 'chat' said that as I had used some bids (about 4 bids) that I was bound to pay for the 3 months membership. (Even though the bids I made were during the 7 day free membership period!). After some 'debate' she said I could cancel the 2nd and 3rd months, but I would have to pay for the first month (£59.99) as I had used some bids. Also, I would have to pay a £35 cancellation fee as the 3 month membership is binding. She also said that I would NOT get the Sainsburys Gift Card. (Please note that they took the monies from my Credit Card during the period that they said was the 7 day free membership period and that I put the bids on during the 7 day free membership period).

I realised I was getting nowhere and so I said I did wish to cancel which I did via an email which she sent to me. (So I cancelled within 7 days of signing up, as I believed I was covered by the Sales of Goods Act and would get all my monies back). As I was 'chatting' I phoned my Credit Card Company and explained what had happened and that I did not know why Ziinga had taken this £178.97 from my account. (They are sending me the Chargeback paperwork). Further to this I have sent several (3) emails to 'info@ziinga.com' and their replies have all been that I agreed to and signed for this 3 month membership and that they have done all they can do to help me. SO, AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME ZIINGA HAS TAKEN £94.99 FROM MY CREDIT CARD AND I HAVE RECEIVED NOTHING.

Tried to email regarding the fact it did not say anything about entering into a contract… I received an email about 5 hours later stating “Included with this payment, you will receive a 7-day Platinum membership for FREE. Once the free days expire, normal monthly charges of A$89.99 will apply. The membership clause is stated within the receipt we sent after you have completed the transaction.” its not until after you have given your details and made a purchase do they tell you its $89.99 a month for 3 months with a $53.00 early cancellation fee… joke.

I answered question on the Internet without understanding that I had to pay for it. As soon as I understand I turned to my bank. Ask Ziinga repaid the money but then they tokk it again and I recieved a letter from the bank, that told me that Ask Ziinga had taken the money again because I should have finished the account myself. My account is finished since october. I have been to the police with other similar cases and they helped me, now I am going there tomorrow. I wish that there was a page where they told all people to avoid this type of fraud.

I signed up to this won something and put my card details in but it declined as I entered the wrong ones then I looked up at reviews afterwards ( should of done before ) and my card details didn't save as I got an email afterwards asking me to pay for the item or it'll expire so I'm assuming they don't have my details or I wouldn't of got the email and as theres no funds in the acc it'll decline so nothing's been taken.

I emailed them and asked to close my acc but didn't get a response.

I think I had a lucky escape that I didn't enter my correct details!

No mention of monthly fees when you first join but when you win your first promotion or auction they state that by paying you accept their T&C and have to pay 59.99 per month if you want to cancel there is a fee for that too, plus you have to pay to bid @@@@@ DO NOT USE THE SITE YOU WILL BE OUT OF POCKET AS THEY WILL TAKE THE MONEY AUTOMATICALLY FROM YOUR CREDIT CARD @@@@@@@ YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ITS A TOTAL RIP OFF SITE STICK TO MAD BID OR ONE OF THE OTHERS THAT HAVE FAIR BIDDING AND NO CHARGES MONTHLY @@@@@@@

On 30 January 2012 I was on my computer doing different things and a pop up came up saying go to this site and bid on different items at a very low discounted price. I went to the site and saw many items was shown to bid on. Being a bit leary i chose a cheap item and attempted to bid and was rejected stating that i must be a member or to click a certain area for a free bid i did that and bidded on a camera and within seconds was told congrats, you won the bid click here for payment and shipping.

I did that and a screen open for my credit card information after completing that i received a message to welcome me and a receipt for my recent purchase. While reading the welcome portion i noticed where they were asking for scanned copy of front and back of my credit card, copy of valid id (passport or driver’s license) and signed credit card form. Also reading on it was mentioned that a subscription fee of $99.99 per month was part of the purchase this made me think as to why all that much information and the fee attached.

So there was a contact for any questions to them so i contacted them as to why all this information was required also a monthly fee and if in fact it was required i didn’t want to be a party in it and to cancel/disregard my request. I received a reply stating that i had joined their group for three months and a cancellation fee of $39.00 would be paid by me for cancellation. Mind you that this information was not out there for viewing prior to completing the credit card information this information was made available after that transaction.

Being on a very fixed income no way can i afford to pay them any type of monthly fees.

I have just signed and i went to the section to bye bids and sore at the bottom a the screen the charges so i haven't given my card details so i paste and copy their charges iI think their are robing us left and right After a 7-day trial period, normal rates apply and your account will be charged £ 59.99 /month for the Ziinga membership, all inclusive. what a rip off.

RUBBISH! I signed up for a website, Jobinaclick; was told that for doing so, I can get an ipod shuffle for £2.00 (p&h). I put in my details and received an invoice saying that I signed up for ZIINGA and was charged £59.99 and that this was a monthly fee. I immediately canceled and was told via e-mail that I would be charged £28.99 cancellation fee but still had to pay the first £59.99 fee! I reported this to my bank and my bank informed me since I gave my card details, they can pretty much take a payment. I then canceled my card. Tomorrow, I am going to the bank an canceling my account! SHAME ON THEM! They are thieves! and they are operating very marginally to get away with it! Avoid avoid avoid!

They are nothing but, Con Artists, They have conned me out of money that they stole from my Bank Account. Not only this but they Wanted me to PHOTO COPY my Credit card to send to them, They already had my Bank details when I signed up to them, And when I won an auction they were running at the time, which was a Camera of which I NEVER Received they took out the sum of."£59.99" out of my Account. Bearing in mind the item I won was "£1.00 and oddments." I AM VERY ANGRY.

the above named company have taken 2 payments of £59.99 from my bank account without my permission, they con u into believing you have won an online auction thus u end up giving them ur credit card number, only to find out a few months down the line they have used ur card to gain payment from ur account, wen u speak to them via site chat they block you, so u try the fone number given only to find out it doesnt exsist, my bank have also told me should they apply for a further payment there is nothing i can do due to them having my card details, i live on benefits as im unable to work so i can ill afford these payments

I came across a website called www.ziinga.com. Another one of those auction sites but this one looked very promising. I had been on these sites in the past and had won numerous wonderful items in my life. I had a thorough look around and saw that a new visitor gets some first dibs on some amazing prizes so I Bid on a Canon Power Shot Camera and won this item for a mere R134.00.

They requested me to send a copy of my ID, Some utility bill proof of address and a photocopy of my credit card used to purchase said item. I did all this but I photo shop some digits off my card as I am well versed in the mechanics of internet fraud (in fact my previous career was in internet security). After a couple of days I logged into my control panel and noticed the status is now “documents received”. On their terms and conditions it states that the item might take two to four weeks to ship pending approval of documents. This was the second of May...

Here is where the punch in the gut comes in. Today the twenty first of May I logged on and started a chat with one of the Ziinga personal to enquire if everything is ok. I spoke to a person named “Summer “ and was told that it has not been four weeks yet and that it will still be shipped. Smiling at my own impatience, another message popped up saying that they notice I have not yet activated my platinum membership. “Platinum Membership?”, I asked. “Yes sir, we require you to activate your platinum membership and pay your membership fee before we release the prize.” Stunned I asked what that would be. “R699 monthly”(under a minimum three month binding contract), Summer replied. So hold on they want me to pay R699 plus the R134.00 which I already paid. The camera is worth R600 on bidorbuy.co.za by the way. Now a bit angry I asked Summer if she could please cancel this and just refund my R134 to my credit card. Summer informs me that I have to pay and additional R299 cancellation fee. Do the math here. I spent about an additional R200 this month on credits too just to bid on other items with no success I might add.

Needless to say this has been one of those bad experiences, but then again at no point do they properly explain this. Even looking at the terms and conditions does not make it clear to the user before they pay for their initial “first prize”. Sites like these are attracting more and more attention lately as people flock to them in hope of a bargain. Whether or not this kind of luring is legal or even morally valid I am not quite sure. One thing though, I will be warning newcomers to this site and will be looking into the legalities of this in the next few weeks.

Your review will help others learn about this website.

When i first saw the site i thought wow lets have a go luckily i won ipod shuffle 2gb for 3.61 GBP on my first bid (free bid so no bids were bought) and thought its too good to be true, so i went to pay for the item with my credit card all went through fine but then they started asking for important documents such as home details, credit card info, copy of credit card front and back, driving licence or passport and utility bill to be sent through to them, i spoke to the live assistant and asked for my item but they refused and said u need to send in those documents before we can release the item, on no part of the terms and conditions does it say to provide this information, so i will not b getting the product by the looks of it, but luckily i have cancelled my credit card and told them about the situation + told them that it was a scamming site and they helped me out by refunding the amount. problem solved.

PS. stay away from ziinga.com, site don't fall in to there trap, should really research any site b4 making any payments.

You are now chatting with 'Haydz'
Haydz: Welcome to Ziinga! How can I help you?
annemichael: 60 pounds was taken from my account ? my bank account that is
annemichael: ide like a full refund
annemichael: as did not sign up for this
Haydz: May I have your username?
annemichael: annemichael
Haydz: Thank you for that information.
Haydz:
Haydz: May I put you on hold for a minute or two (2) while I check the information?
annemichael: ok
Haydz: Thanks for waiting upon checking you had purchase bids and this comes with platinum membership
Haydz: The monthly charge is 59.99
annemichael: it doesnot tell u that when ypou purchase them thats a discrace i dont want to be a member at all
Haydz: I have sent a voluntary unsubscription request to your email address. Please open it and follow the link provided. This will cancel your membership. Let me know if you are done so I can recheck your account.
annemichael: im checking now
annemichael: will i get a refund
annemichael: ive clicked the link do i need to sign back on that link ?
annemichael: ok done it says im cancelled now
annemichael: what about refund ?
Haydz: Regarding refund I do apologize however you had used bids so we can no longer give refund, what I can do to cancel the 3months binding contract I will send a second letter this will charge you 28.00
annemichael: no way take no money from my account ever again !
annemichael: ill report this con
annemichael: discusting
Haydz: That will be you option
annemichael: cost me 0ver 70 for 100 bids thats wrong that like
annemichael: watchdog n police her i come !
Haydz: Yes however you already used them
Haydz: As per our Terms and Condition we can only process refund if no bids used
annemichael: theres 100 bids left so only used the 100 apparrently free ones !
annemichael: shocking con con con con

These guys are real rip-offs! i had won an auction and paid for the bid and 4 weeks go by when i check on the shipment of my prize they tell me it has been forfeited because i have cancelled my membership.. the problem i am having is that before i even cancelled the membership i asked one of the customer service agents if i will still receive my prize even if i cancel and they confirmed yes i will.. i think they should at least refund my credit card...

Please stop if you planning to buy something from Ziinga.com, its all fraud and you will end up with nothing in your hand. they will not show you the real picture and terms and conditions untill you bid and win something. once you have a become a successful bidder for any stuff then they gonna ask you to provide very important documents of your identity like passport and drving license copies and credit card scanned copies (front and back). They have not mentioned it in there terms and condition page and will say you to send these documents otherwsie your deal will be cancelled. moreover they will subscribe you for platinum membership without asking which will cost you 59 pounds after the trial period expires. Dont make yourself fool and dont buy from ziinga.

I found this website online and saw that they were auctioning items at a reasonable rate. I did NOT want a membership so I thought I would try my hand at their "free auctions" page. I won the item that I placed a bid on and gave them my credit card details. Two days later I noticed that R659.99 was deducted from my credit card. When I called Ziinga to ask them what that amount was for, they said that I subscribed to a platinum membership and that was the cost of the membership. I have contacted the fraud department of my bank but I fear they wont do anything as I gave Ziinga my credit card details when I "paid" for the bid I placed. They said they want to charge me nearly R300 for the cancellation. I went back onto the website to see if I could find any terms and conditions that I maybe didnt read properly and saw that on the receipt they sent me it said I get a 7 day "free trial" membership and that I can cancel this membership any time within the 7 days. These people deducted the membership price off my account 3 days after I had signed up! THESE PEOPLE MUST BE STOPPED. THEY ARE RIPPING PEOPLE OFF WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE!

Щrdered a coffee maker on the 28th january for £12 34 they took this amount on 7th of feb 2012 still not received coffee maker then on the 18th of feb 2012 they took another £59.99 i am lucky in the fact my bank are looking into this as i had a verification by visa form which i filled out i may get my money back bur had to order new card in case they try againю

I joined Ziinga. com without being told that there was a monthly charge. I was told that i won for free a coffee maker. All I was told to do was pay shipping and handling. I have been charged several withdrawals now.

if u too have ben scammed by these people please contact consumer complaints [protected] in uk also they will put u intouch with european complaints commission who are sorting this on at least my behalf, this company needs to be stopped, they have already stolen £120 off me and are threatening to take a further£89.99 from my account, which they can no longer access. we all need to work together to get them stopped, thank u

Keep away immediately! I was just bidding for 1 small item of $10.00.-. Two days after, they tried to charge my credit card twice with $30'000.- (Thirty thousand dollar).

They took this amount from my account because I fell for their con and apparently JOINED the site for whatever it was and now they have taken the cancellation fee! (Inappropriate Content Removed)! What a bunch of scam artists. How do we stop this!

Don't touch this outfit - they are operating illegally and will rip you off. I am doing battle with them currently - no goods and charges for terminating their 'contract'. Wish I had researched them before getting suckered in!

I was won actions 27/07/2012 from ziinga.com but my product which I won I didn't get when pay money so now I will stay AWAY from most sites like this ...

I bought a bid package for a $9.64, then noticed 2 other payments of $119.99 came out of our credit card account a month apart.

I received an email form a friend which turned out NOT TO BE FROM A FRIEND with download this video - THEY OBVIOUSLY HAVE STOLEN HER EMAIL IDENTITY NEVER USE ZIINGA!

I usually look to see if there is an option to pay through paypal on sites like this, as there wasn't i decided to do some research 1st and i'm glad i did. I read many useful comments about this website and decided to stay away. I'd advise everyone else to as well!

The page is a lie, you have no chance to win anything and the money will take it off when your credit card, and very easily lose your money do not make the same mistake I did.

This site is real rip off, you have not got any chance of winning anything and suddenly they give you a lovely £59.99 membership charge on Credit Card without my authority and i cant see this mention in the Terms and Conditions.

The agreement is not clear. On the day I went to the site, I immediately called customer service and spoke to a representative who said I couldn't cancel the process.

Id never heard of this website before, i didnt even type it in to visit the page. All i did was to reply to a tweet i got in reply to someon e id tweeted. Anyway once id touched the tweet this caption came up on my phone telling me id won something and all i had to do was give them my email address once i did this a page came up saying i bid for a ipod and won it. They then asked for my card details, iv seen friends been riped off this way so i didnt give my card details. Two mins ago i got a email saying i have now got an account. Please what do i do i dont want an account im worried that by giving my email stuff im legaly bound to give folk money. Plz can i get some help.

I HAVE JUST HAD £59.99 TACKEN FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION
MY EMAIL IS henryrdavies@blueyonder I want it back as its daylight robberey
im going to get court accition though my bank for allowing it to be withdrawn

I cannot understand why a Company operating in this manner is allowed to continue to operate, and why the Directors are not in Jail. If any one of us just helped ourselves to Credit Cards in the way that Ziinga do, the cops would be on our backs in an instant. Where is our protection here? Shut them down and lock them up!

I was thinking about signing up to ziinga.com just today - simply because they are offering a £60 voucher to use at Sainsbury's by signing up to their free 7 day service, (Enjoy 7 days free Ziinga VIP membership – afterward billed at £59.99 per month- their words not mine!)
However after reading these comments and complaints I will definitely NOT be signing up!
How exactly can they be allowed to still advertise in this manner, even after all of you guys have been scammed by them?
Anyone thought of going to the BBC's Watchdog about this company? There seems to be a very strong case against them being somewhat of a scamming company.
Anyone managed to get a refund for this £59 they have charged you? and how did they get your payment/card details to charge you for this?

I signed up this morning and bid straight away on an iPod Nano.

Luckily I noticed the R659.99 monthly fee (for 3 months) at the bottom of the info on my 'purchase' I did not complete the purchase, did not give them my card details and have emailed their info email to cancel my 'subscription'.

I will update here if I get a response.