I seem to have been defrauded by Funcom and wondered if anyone else has experienced the same? They claim that I registered for Age of Conan on 28th May 2011 and then apprently set up a recurring subscription.

This is not true. I did trial AoC at least a year ago (and probably even two years ago) however I found the game to be dull and quit within a week or two if I remember correctly. And I certainly didn't ever set up a recurring subscription, even back then.

I must have given my credit card information to Funcom when I joined the game ( I can only guess they made me do so in anticipation of subscribing, which I never did). Ever since May 2011 they have been taking £10.34 from my credit card. Yes, my fault for not noticing the amount going out every month, but even so, why have they suddenly started to take money from my credit card without my authorisation?

I have seen a LOT of people with similar issues with Funcom in various forums, but what is particularly telling for me is that they have offered to refund the November amount (even though it is mid-December) which surely points to their feelings of guilt in this matter. However they refuse to refund any earlier amounts and will not show me my playing logs (which I know would prove that I haven't logged into the game for well over a year).

They seem to have washed their hands of the matter and won't progress any further, although I will be trying to escalate the matter with them.

I would appreciate some advice on where to go from here and would especially like to hear if anyone else has heard of a similar thing with that company. Can I, for example, claim back the money through the credit card company, even though 6 months have elapsed?

Thanks in advance,

Tim.

When you sign up for many trials they ask for CC info. You are setting up the recurring sub THEN, you then have 2 weeks to CANCEL your sub or else you are charged "for your convenience". Yeah its shaddy and yes it can be a pain in the butt... but its all legal and not fraud.

In the future I recommend checking your monthly statements every time you get them for stuff like this.

It is my experience with several sub games that signing up requires a set up of recurring billing, but there is normally an option to turn the recurring off, it may be this that was overlooked when you signed up.

As for fraud, no it isn't treally, you basically gave permission for them to take money when you sign up, & it's up to you to tell them different.

Sounds like you need to talk with your bank about this. They will advice you of a course of action

To the top posters in this thread. Read it again. He said he played it last year, maybe even two years ago. That does not account for why billing starts in May 2011 long after he stopped.

In our legal system the onus is on you to realize that companies are tricking you and trying to screw you over. Its not illegal. You are just screwed. This happened to me with a game site that let you play lots of different games. I caught it a lot earlier than you though.

Originally posted by Cuathon

In our legal system the onus is on you to realize that companies are tricking you and trying to screw you over. Its not illegal. You are just screwed. This happened to me with a game site that let you play lots of different games. I caught it a lot earlier than you though.

In my country charging you without your authorization is illegal and can result in legal ramifications for said company regardless if they have your CC info from a previous transaction. Thank god I don't live where you do

Originally posted by Starpower

Originally posted by Cuathon

In our legal system the onus is on you to realize that companies are tricking you and trying to screw you over. Its not illegal. You are just screwed. This happened to me with a game site that let you play lots of different games. I caught it a lot earlier than you though.

In my country charging you without your authorization is illegal and can result in legal ramifications for said company regardless if they have your CC info from a previous transaction. Thank god I don't live where you do

no, its just that they trick you into signing up for their trap without realizing you authorized it. there is fine prints or a TOS or EULA thing that everyone knows no one reads and hidden in their is that the free trial has an opt out subscription instead of you having to consciously opt in where its damn obvious to the consumer that they agreed to pay money.

Originally posted by Starpower

Originally posted by Cuathon

In our legal system the onus is on you to realize that companies are tricking you and trying to screw you over. Its not illegal. You are just screwed. This happened to me with a game site that let you play lots of different games. I caught it a lot earlier than you though.

In my country charging you without your authorization is illegal and can result in legal ramifications for said company regardless if they have your CC info from a previous transaction. Thank god I don't live where you do

But this was with authorization.

When you sign up it clearly asks for credit card info so that the sub can automatically start AFTER the trial. The op didnt read the fine print... which isnt really fine print at all its right there plain as day.

This isnt charging with out authorization, its signing up for something, not paying attention, and then having buyers remorse down the road. Granted, I dont like what funcom is doing either but many mmo companies do the same thing. This is why you ALWAYS need to read what you are doing when you enter in CC info.

Funcom has pulled this with other people. Look around some old threads and you will see others claiming the same thing.

I removed my CC info from their site long ago after I 1st heard about this. My advice is call your CC / Bank and see what options you have with them. Have all your ducks in a row before hand. Like dates you did the trial and what not.

Talk to your CC company. As you are from the UK you should be pretty well covered.

Originally posted by Pyrostasis

Originally posted by Starpower

Originally posted by Cuathon

In our legal system the onus is on you to realize that companies are tricking you and trying to screw you over. Its not illegal. You are just screwed. This happened to me with a game site that let you play lots of different games. I caught it a lot earlier than you though.

In my country charging you without your authorization is illegal and can result in legal ramifications for said company regardless if they have your CC info from a previous transaction. Thank god I don't live where you do

But this was with authorization.

When you sign up it clearly asks for credit card info so that the sub can automatically start AFTER the trial. The op didnt read the fine print... which isnt really fine print at all its right there plain as day.

This isnt charging with out authorization, its signing up for something, not paying attention, and then having buyers remorse down the road. Granted, I dont like what funcom is doing either but many mmo companies do the same thing. This is why you ALWAYS need to read what you are doing when you enter in CC info.

the thing i got charged for wasnt quite so obvious. but either way its not like its an honest mistake by the company. they set it up as opt out instead of opt in because THEY KNOW PEOPLE WILL MISS IT OR FUCK UP. Its an intentional ploy to get money. They know full well what is likely to happen.

Originally posted by Pyrostasis

Originally posted by Starpower

Originally posted by Cuathon

In our legal system the onus is on you to realize that companies are tricking you and trying to screw you over. Its not illegal. You are just screwed. This happened to me with a game site that let you play lots of different games. I caught it a lot earlier than you though.

In my country charging you without your authorization is illegal and can result in legal ramifications for said company regardless if they have your CC info from a previous transaction. Thank god I don't live where you do

But this was with authorization.

When you sign up it clearly asks for credit card info so that the sub can automatically start AFTER the trial. The op didnt read the fine print... which isnt really fine print at all its right there plain as day.

This isnt charging with out authorization, its signing up for something, not paying attention, and then having buyers remorse down the road. Granted, I dont like what funcom is doing either but many mmo companies do the same thing. This is why you ALWAYS need to read what you are doing when you enter in CC info.

Did you even read the post?. He said he played over a year ago.. how do you account for a charge starting in May 2011 If he hasn't even touched the game this year

Think about it

Thanks for the replies thus far - I should point out to some repliers/posters that I DID NOT SIGN UP in May this year - it was a much longer time ago. I do understand those kind of agreements and have never fallen into those traps. I just need to know who at Funcom started a subscription up that was dead and buried, without my permission. But if they are refusing to show me the logs of playtime etc. I don't see where I can go with it. Escalation is my only hope.

Interesting that others here have had the same problem with Funcom though, thanks for mentioning that - it could be that some of them were threads I had found previously.

Originally posted by timcclayton

Thanks for the replies thus far - I should point out to some repliers/posters that I DID NOT SIGN UP in May this year - it was a much longer time ago. I do understand those kind of agreements and have never fallen into those traps. I just need to know who at Funcom started a subscription up that was dead and buried, without my permission. But if they are refusing to show me the logs of playtime etc. I don't see where I can go with it. Escalation is my only hope.

Interesting that others here have had the same problem with Funcom though, thanks for mentioning that - it could be that some of them were threads I had found previously.

People have a tendency to just skim and then post not actually doing much reading.

I'm quite sure people will continue to write you authorized it and forgot to click the option of.

That's MMORPG.com posters for ya

Nope, happened to me, too. Funcom's skeevy as hell, that they're the ones behind TSW depresses me. But that's a whole other discussion.

Calling your credit card company will fix it, then email Funcom as well and, just for shits n' giggles, report them to the BBB and screenshot the report, then include it in the e-mail.

This kind of thing happens far too frequently to be an accident.

Originally posted by timcclayton

Thanks for the replies thus far - I should point out to some repliers/posters that I DID NOT SIGN UP in May this year - it was a much longer time ago. I do understand those kind of agreements and have never fallen into those traps. I just need to know who at Funcom started a subscription up that was dead and buried, without my permission. But if they are refusing to show me the logs of playtime etc. I don't see where I can go with it. Escalation is my only hope.

Interesting that others here have had the same problem with Funcom though, thanks for mentioning that - it could be that some of them were threads I had found previously.

Its possible someone stole your identity or card info. Possibly an employee or possibly not. I know there are some crack type people who steal credit card info and use it only for things that can't easily be attached to them or are not suspicious enough to get authorities involved, like using your card info to play a game you had trialed.

Are you sure the charges started long after you signed a demo though?

Originally posted by Pyrostasis

When you sign up for many trials they ask for CC info. You are setting up the recurring sub THEN, you then have 2 weeks to CANCEL your sub or else you are charged "for your convenience". Yeah its shaddy and yes it can be a pain in the butt... but its all legal and not fraud.

In the future I recommend checking your monthly statements every time you get them for stuff like this.

Are we talking buying Age of Conan and by trial you mean the 30 free days? Because none of my Funcom accounts have credit cards linked to them. More importantly, your trial wouldn't move you to a full subscription because up until Age of Conan went free to play you still had to buy a client to access the game.

Originally posted by Cuathon

Its possible someone stole your identity or card info. Possibly an employee or possibly not. I know there are some crack type people who steal credit card info and use it only for things that can't easily be attached to them or are not suspicious enough to get authorities involved, like using your card info to play a game you had trialed.

Are you sure the charges started long after you signed a demo though?

This is the more likely scenario. For a company that's legitimately netting millions of dollars a year, it would make no sense to break the law to pull in a couple thousand extra dollars by reactivating old accounts without permission. Credit card companies have a LOT of power over merchants. Getting into a situation where many customers issue chargebacks over services that they did not ask for and/or did not receive is terrible for any business; if you're not in good standing, you basically cannot accept credit card payments anymore which is as good as declaring bankruptcy. Regardless of how evil you believe your archenemy game company to be, they're not intentionally defrauding their own customers. There's no money in it and it would destroy the company.

I have no similar experience with any game, but please, keep us informed of your progress. It's really important for all MMO gamers, not just AoC.