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Calling Video Professor a Scam
palmerj3 writes in to give some wider attention to a piece on Techcrunch today in which Michael Arrington reacts to Video Professor's desperate attempts to shut him up after he called Video Professor a scam in a piece syndicated by the Washington Post. As described by Arrington, the ways the company's site operates (differently depending on where a visitor comes from) are strongly reminiscent of the practices a Senate committee recently condemned. (Here is a detailed example of another, similar scam, from a not-naive victim. Video Professor's tactics sound even more deceptive.) Video Professor seems to react with belligerence, not to mention legal threats, towards any hint of criticism. Please share any direct experiences you have with this outfit.
Ordered a disk from them in 2005 as part of another promotion I think (one of those complete X deals). I never got the disk as it was improperly addressed, they dropped off my apartment number, so it was returned to sender, but I got a lovely $70 charge on my CC a month later. I called to complain and they offered to resend out the disk at first, but I finally got them to refund the charge. Ended up working out OK, but again, that was a few years ago.
In Canada this is called 'negative option billing'
It has been illegal here for 10+years.
No more CD of the month clubs
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them.
His appeal is that he makes a complicated machine, a computer, seem easy to use and he'll make it easy for you. I actually have talked a couple of people who have done business with these folks (I'd elaborate but Slashdot has a problem with anonymous proxies - yeah, like posting as an AC cuts it). They are high school graduates at best, very intimidated by computers, and many times, they have to use a computer at work and they're scared of losing their jobs over it or they're older people who want to keep in touch with kids and grandkids over the internet. Keep in mind that not everyone out there is as comfortable with computers as we are.
As aside note, I woner if this was there when the lournalists looked at the site..
After your 10-day free trial, if you decide to keep the complete set, we'll conveniently bill your credit card just $289.95.
- this is on the fron page of his site.
It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
My ex tried this a while back without asking me.
She started trying to cancel it within two weeks.
It took over 3 months before they would actually cancel it, and that was like pulling teeth with tweezers.
She must have sent 20 emails and spent 40 hours on the phone trying to get them to cancel.
That is either Massive incompetence, or total scam.
I really don't care which, but I'd advise you to not use Video Professor.
Besides, their stuff is really basic. You'd be better off taking an introductory course at your local college, or just checking out stuff at your local library.
(Either of those options will be cheaper as well.)
Video Professor sounds like a perfectly viable product without resorting to tactics like these. Loads of people are scared of computers. Why make a bad name for yourself with scammy practices when you actually have something to sell?
I got scammed too. Not only did I not get my "free" MS Excel video in the mail, but I got billed for it and other CDs too. I ended up contacting my bank for a stop-payment. It got so bad that I had to change my CC number. Fuckers! I hope the CEOs ass lands in prison for this shit!
Ya, I'm pissed...
Life is not for the lazy.
This is true for anything offered for "Free!" as seen on TV (and sometimes with a frequent commercial featuring a catchy jingle) or via the internet. Whether it's something offering video instruction, credit card reports, identity protection, or gift cards; they're all scammy, underhanded, and fraudulent as far as I'm concerned. (Also be aware of any website selling tangible goods that has any mention of "associated services provider" mentioned anywhere on their site. That's a red flag as well.) What they do is sign you up for an associate's "services" contract on your credit card or debit, and more often than not they will not tell or warn you up front about this nasty practice. Usually these so called services provide not a damn thing of value to the consumer, and they take a small monthly payment usually from $14 to $30.
So what can the consumer do? Scan your credit card bill every month. If you see small unknown fees for things that you don't know what the hell they are (more often than not labeled "marketing services") then you've been dinged. And currently with the fairly weak protections on the consumer side the most you may be able to do is cancel payment or do a chargeback, and then go through the typically pain-in-the-ass procedure of getting your account numbers changed.
And why are these nasty little scams allowed? First they go after small amounts of your money, so from a legal aspect I suspect (IANAL) it's not tantamount to grand larceny. (Yet over years, it adds up to it for the unwary.) But the main thing is that they use a provisional contract in order for you to get the "Free" item, and with that - the provided text in microprint (or in white on a white background on a web page) is their method of pickpocketing you legally on a monthly basis.
And until something is done via the legislature to enact better consumer protections against such con-artist style practices, these scams will continue to bilk the consumers. (And you thought the guys from Nigeria were bad, then you've never seen the guys in Colorado or Connecticut.)
This is the point where those gift visa cards come in handy, have just enough to cover the shipping or whatever on it and be done with it, no worries of those rediculous charges ever getting put onto your card that you can't get rid of for months on end.
At any rate you should still be wary of anything you (can) buy off of tv like this.
Why is common sense called that if it's not common?
Unfortunately, the TechCrunch article and this entire discussion only deals with the online aspects of ordering from Video Professor. Many computer novices will be ordering from a toll-free number, as advertised on TV. How much is disclosed to those customers?
Does this law only apply to negative option for which you opted in? I recall Rogers in Ontario (Canada) giving people premium channels to watch for free for a month (without asking to opt in) and then billing them unless they called in to cancel. I had some friends try to cancel for days, never being able to get through on the phone (phone line actually busy) - end result they sent "please cancel all my cable" with the bill. This was definitely less than 10 years ago.
I have to disagree with you. If all of the below are true:
These systems tend to have a bad name because at least one of the above requirements are broken by many bad-faith operators. In Video Professor's case, VP are selling unaccredited video learning courses apparently primarily aimed at the elderly for absurd amounts of money. In addition, apparently many customers were unaware of the fact they were signing up to an automatically rebilling system. So in my list of rules above, both (2) and (3) were violated. Book clubs in the UK were infamous for breaking rules (2) and (4), though in fairness their prices were reasonable enough that they had many satisfied customers. Cable and Satellite TV companies the world over are infamous for (1), often combined with (4).
The fact that so many scams use the model doesn't make the model a scam. There are plenty of scams that use the "You pay $X for something in the expectation it'll be sent to you" model too, but fail because a list of rules ($X has to be reasonable, the actual something you ordered needs to be delivered to you and be as described, the actual something that's sent to you can't be stolen property, etc) are broken.
As always, with any commerce system, the key questions are based upon good and bad faith, and the reasonable requirements and expectations of buyers. "First one free, others not free and sent automatically unless you cancel" is not inherently a scam. It is, after all, an improvement on "Pay for all of them, sent automatically unless you cancel."
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
You might want to consider what they are selling here. Marketers abuse the language horribly. If I have to pay money, even if it's for shipping, it's not "free". If it involves me handing over information, or wasting my time it's not "free" either, even if no money changes hands. If I have to call and cancel, that's a "further obligation" as far as I'm concerned. If I'm automatically signed up for something that I will be billed for, that's not a "trial".
What these companies need to do is advertise something along the lines of "sign up for our service and get your first month free", as that's what they are actually selling. Calling that a "free trial" instead is a lie, even if it legal in the fine print.
Lastly, it's up to the company to decide how they want to sell their product. If they don't want free loaders, then they should change their business model. Taking a hostile approach to your customers and scamming them is not the answer.