Ziinga.com
Complaint 123741 Details

I went on to Ziinga (quite by accident) and placed a FREE bid on a coffee-maker that was on auction. The price was something like $4, plus shipping, which came to a total of $22.47 which I paid by credit card. A few weeks later I got a message to say that the product was not available in my part of the world (New Zealand), but that I could either have some bid credits, or have an amount refunded me in compensation of $110.59. I agreed to the latter.

Tonight I looked at my Credit Card statement and saw an amount of $118.99, plus 2 payments of $1 taken out of my Credit Card without my knowledge by Ziinga.

I emailed them and asked to cancel my account immediately, only to be told that I have "joined" a Platinum membership which was binding for 3 months!
(this information was apparently on the bottom of an emailed receipt for the $22.47 I paid, but I did not see it at the time).

They came back to me and said they wanted an amount of NZ$54 cancellation fee!! I wrote back and said I was completely unaware I had ever entered into any "contract" with them, and that I was not happy to pay another $54.
They then wrote back and said that as I had received a payment of NZ$110.59 as an alternative to physical delivery of the product (they told me it was unavailable here) they would not be able to fully cancel the contract, and that I was required to pay the full 3 months fees of $118.99 for each month remaining in my "contract".

I then offered to repay them their $110.59 and that I then considered the contract null and void, to which they replied I would still have to pay the $54 cancellation fee, even if I repaid that money.

(At this point I cancelled my Credit Card anyway, so they will not be able to take any more from my account.)

I then read their "Terms and Conditions" and see they will charge anyone who does not comply with their payment demands in a timely manner the amount of over $800 and place it in the hands of a debt collector.

I strongly feel that this is an illegal practice and should be stopped immediately. I told them I have never ever used their website since that first time, and have no intention of ever using it again. I do not intend paying them anything more, and now after reading this website, probably won't be refunding them anything at all and told them they would be hearing from my Solicitor.