I had an even worse experience with Visa this year. I have a Canadian Visa card that, and the billing address is my parents' address in Canada (because there are big problems with having the bill sent to China). So, one day, apparently, my parents got a message on their answering machine that some sort of new "insurance" was being offered, and if they did not want to receive it, they would have to call a number and indicate that...otherwise, they would automatically be billed. Now, the problem is that my father and I share the same name...so when they got the message, they assumed it was in regards to their card. Thus, no action was taken on my card.
Meanwhile, I was traveling in the Himalayas, visiting villages of the Chinese minority group I work with. Most of these villages have no electricity, much less computers, so I had no internet access for about 6 weeks. When I finally returned to Beijing, and got online to check my account, I discovered that for the past two months, I'd had charges of around $150 each month for some product or service that I had never signed up for or agreed to.
I contacted Visa immediately, to inform them that I expected my card was being used fraudulently. They informed me that no, this charge was from a "partner" of Visa, and that I had authorized it. I insisted that I had not. They told me I'd have to talk to that company to resolve the issue.
So, I called that company. It turned out, they offered "insurance" whereby, if I lost my job or was otherwise incapacitated, and unable to pay my credit card, they would pay my premiums until such time as I got back on my feet. They did this in cooperation with Visa, who gave them my personal information -- telephone number, billing address, and account number -- and they then phoned me (and every other Visa client on the list), with the same message: "If you do not specifically phone us to tell us you don't want this, you will automatically enrolled and billed".
Of course, all arguments and appeals to this company went nowhere; at best, they offered to cancel any future billings. But certainly no refund. I called Visa back, and complained, but they said there was nothing they could do...it was my responsibility to respond to the company and tell them I did not want this product. The fact that I'd been in the Himalayas, and entirely incapable of responding, was moot.
To make things worse, the next month I discovered yet another charge for $150 from this insurance company! I called them up, extremely irate, and a very pleasant customer service rep informed me that he was terribly sorry for any misunderstanding, and he would make sure that it was canceled before the next billing period.
But wait...what about a refund? "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not authorized to do that, only our manager can authorize that". "Oh, I'm sorry, our manager is not in right now." Etc., etc., etc. After three phone calls like this, the person said, "When he comes back, he'll contact you." I asked, "He'll phone me in China?" "Oh, I'm sorry sir, we only make direct phone calls to clients within Canada." "Then how will he contact me?" "He won't contact you, sir, you'll have to contact him."
Fortunately, I had been recording these phone calls, and then phoned Visa, this time with much more specific claims of fraud. I played the recordings which demonstrated that the company acknowledged that I had requested to have my account canceled, and all billing stopped; and their acknowledgment that they had still billed me after I'd made my request. Visa followed up on it, and finally told me that I would at least get reimbursed for that last month's payment.
And then, finally, I asked the question that perhaps I should have asked long before -- "If you guys are going to give away my person information to outside companies, and those companies are going to be allowed to charge me for services I don't want based on the fact that I have not specifically said I don't want them, is there any way I can get taken off the list that you give to these companies?"
"Oh, yes, sir, certainly. If you no longer wish to be included in the list, we can take you off of it...but you will no longer be able to receive special offers or services that are routinely offered to our clients by outside agencies." As if she really thought at this point that I was worried about missing out on these incredible offers.
Had my name taken off the list. Haven't had any similar problems since. But what a bunch of nonsense, extremely unethical no matter how you look at it...even if it is technically legal.
