Beware "Time Factor"!

[TTMommy]

I ordered a trial sample of skin cream from Time Factor, for which I agreed to pay $3.95 for shipping and handling. After it came, well within my 14-day "trial," I decided I didn't want any more, and I contacted the company as directed. This is the reply I got (italics added by me):
-----
Hello,
We have cancelled you from the auto-ship program per the terms and conditions of the policy

Thank you
Lisa
Time Factor
Customer Service
800-658-7310
-----
Well, I should have been suspicious of the seemingly shady wording right then....

Let me say that I DO read terms and conditions. They're just not always stated in the clearest of language, to say the least. In any case, I checked the unbilled activity on my credit card statement, and--lo and behold!--there was a charge for $106.94 from Time Factor! Imagine my surprise. And then the dawning of recognition that I had been, um, had....

I went back to try to find those elusive "terms and conditions," and they were nowhere on Time Factor's website. I basically had to go through the signup process (without finalizing!) all over again to get to them. And what did I find? Well, I guess, in my stupidity in reading legalese, I had agreed not only to pay $3.95 for my sample--a fair offer, I thought--but also to accept auto-shipment EVEN IF I CANCEL, to the tune of $89.95, plus $16.95, which is refundable if I return the product unopened, less shipping and handling, of course....

So the $3.95 sample, if you decide you don't want any more, actually costs you $20.90 because you have no choice, once you sign up for a "trial," about whether or not to accept another shipment. You get it automatically, and you can send it back, but you're still out the--forgive me for editorializing here...--TOTALLY EXORBITANT charge of $16.95 for shipping and handling!!! Plus, of course, your own cost for shipping the unopened product back to them.

[katlnhats]

Hi,

Unfortunately, some companys do this type of thing; and I'm not sure of the legality of it. You may want to contact the online Better Business Bureau. There is a place where you can file a complaint for an online company and they give you plenty of space to tell what exactly happened.
After you submit your complaint, since this is an online BBB; what they do is transfer your complaint to the office that handles the problems from the area the business is actually in.
You usually get an e-mail either the same day or the next day, from the worker assigned to your case - and whatever correspondance they have with the company, you also get an e-mail-copy of. For me, it would be worth filing one as maybe; actually a good possibility, that this company would rather make it right with you than have an unsolved complaint listed w/the online BBB. I have used them once and they really were fantastic.
Here is their link:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now]
At the top of the page, you will see File A Complaint, click on that and it walks you right through the form - you also have a place to explain all that happened.

Kat

[verwon]

Unfortunately the BBB is totally worthless. They are not on the consumers side for anything, you see there are no requirements a company has to meet to be listed with the BBB and be able to put those little BBB logos on their pages or in their stores and ads, other than to pay a membership fee.

So the BBB has no real interest for consumers, because we aren't the ones paying them a membership fee. Even with bad business, a company can use any excuse they want, and the BBB will say that is a good enough reason, say your complaint it settled, even if it isn't and you are out of luck. So the BBB will do you no good at all.

The company has that in their terms and conditions, and just like any other site you use, even if you don't read all the rules or TOS, it is a tacit agreement that by using the site, or signing up for an offer, that you have agreed to all of them. They are considered legal and binding and there is nothing you can do about it.

Now, you do not have to pay the shipping though to return the item, simply DO NOT open the package, write RETURN TO SENDER on it, and then drop it back off at whatever delivery service was used to send it to you, and they will return it at that company's expense.

[katlnhats]

Hi,

I've had the opposite experience with the online BBB bureau - I filed a complaint about an online merchant - they transferred my complaint to the appropriate office and I had a case worker within a couple days and a full refund PLUS 10% from the merchant "for my trouble".
I'd use them again in a minute, and hopefully, I'll never need to!

Kat

[MZDEE]

I HAVE HAD THE SAME TROUBLE WITH THESE PEOPLE TIME FACTOR. BUT UNFORTUNATELY I HAVENT BEEN ABLE TO TALK TO THEM, SO THAT I CAN CANCEL THEM OUT. COULD SOME ONE PLEASE TELL ME HOW THEY GOT IN TOUCH WITH THEM AND WHAT THEY NEED TO GET A REFUND OF THEIR MONEY. SOMEONE PLEASE RESPOND. THANKS!!!

[TTMommy]

Their customer service person's email is [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now], and she's pretty responsive--always gets back within 24 hours, in my experience, although it's not always what you want to hear.... Their phone number is 1-800-658-7310; I never tried calling, so I don't know if you get a real person or voicemail. Good luck!

[wrwlumpy]

Same thing happened to me. I'm going to NYC on vacation and on the NYC web site there was an offer to recieve two NY passes for free if I filled out a survey. As the survey went on I was told that in order to get the passes, I had to pick one of the following items for free in order to recieve the $287 free passes. I chose Time Factor Cream because it was the only thing I could possibly use and the shipping was $3.95. Then I called to cancel. The company who answered sent my call to another company, who requested my phone number because they were busy and would call me back. There was a call back to tell me that I could not cancel and that they were sending me a 2 year supply of this miracle cream and said that I had authoized them to charge my credit card $89.00 to do this. Going back through the entire survey again I saw their disclaimer in small print. I never finished the original survey when on the last page, the list of offers had changed from free items to a sentence that said I must purchases 1 year of phone time or I must purchase a digital camera for $200.

I checked online to find out if others had been scammed and this site is only one of many where people have been ripped off by the same company. I was able to Cancel this atrocity by calling my credit card company which did show the $3.95 amt. The intelligent lady who helped me came up with an idea to stop these ****. She told me that she would report the card stolen and issue me a new one so that my credit card info that I gave them would be worthless.

I'll never take another online survey and thanks to the lady at mastercard who saved me a bunch of money. Many people had complained of ongoing charges to their account with nothing being shipped to them.

[TTMommy]

Despite the Time Factor debacle, I do online surveys/offers all the time (and it's been very profitable for me ), but I've learned to 1) read the terms and conditions carefully AND save a copy, and 2) research it ahead of time if it's not a name-brand company (like Tickle or Stamps.com is). If I had taken the time to do a quick search, I never would have signed up for Time Factor! Reports of bad experiences, similar to mine and worse, are everywhere!

[jojogirl]

Was taking surverys online to earn extra cash- DON'T DO IT EVEN IF IT'S A TOP RATED SITE! All you are doing is signing up for "free trials" and subscriptions to sites. It will be hours of work and more hassle than benefit.
Enter, Time Factor. I am having the exact same experiences that you all are having. I have contacted them, twice. They REFUSE to cancel the order. I found out about them through my sister who was also refused, so I thought I could cancel the "autoship" before it goes out. They again REFUSE to cancel the order and are insisting on sending me the product that I DON'T WANT and then tell me to return it after I have recieved it. Unfortunately, they are within their rights, due to the famous "terms and conditions" they keep badgering me with after I ask them to cancel this before it ships. This way they get the $16.95 in shipping (which is totally ridiculous).
So, lets post in as many places as we can and see if we can shut them down. They are within their legal rights, they are just deceptive and poor business operators with their rude refusals to terminate the autoship program and billing credit cards when asked not to.
Contact your credit card company immediately, inform them of the situation, and keep GOOD recorrds of your emails, conversations, and return shipping of the product so that you can legally discpute this poor excuse for a company.
Good luck all of you out there.

[jojogirl]

Thanks to one of the post responses, I was able to go in and report my credit card stolen as well and actually prevent these people from charging my card! If they refuse to act like a proper business by honoring a customers request to NOT recieve the product, then I have no problem canceling out a credit card all together to prevent them.
Thanks so much for the idea. Maybe it will help someone else and all we're out is the 5-6 days without the use of the card, which is probably a good thing!
Gotta love posts on the internet!

[katlnhats]

Originally Posted by jojogirl

Thanks to one of the post responses, I was able to go in and report my credit card stolen as well and actually prevent these people from charging my card! If they refuse to act like a proper business by honoring a customers request to NOT recieve the product, then I have no problem canceling out a credit card all together to prevent them.
Thanks so much for the idea. Maybe it will help someone else and all we're out is the 5-6 days without the use of the card, which is probably a good thing!
Gotta love posts on the internet!

Hi,

Usually you can just file a complaint w/your credit card company and they'll get in touch with the company for you. And usually when companys start getting complaints from credit card companys, it's time to change their business practices.
Kat - Glad you didn't get charged!

[verwon]

Kats, I know what you mean about the BBB, sometimes, just your complaint gets results, but it really depends on the ethics and morality of the company, it has nothing to do with the BBB, they cannot make the company do anything. If you file a complaint and the company disagrees, no matter what you say, including the fact that the matter was not settled and you refuse to sign off and say it was, they will list it as settled and unfounded, regardless of the results you have received.

So, you can get results just as effective by going straight to the company and complaining, you can really skip the BBB altogether, and if they are a straightforward and honest company, you will get the same results you would as if you had filed through the BBB. My husband and I discovered this the hard way.

[katlnhats]

Originally Posted by verwon

Kats, I know what you mean about the BBB, sometimes, just your complaint gets results, but it really depends on the ethics and morality of the company, it has nothing to do with the BBB, they cannot make the company do anything. If you file a complaint and the company disagrees, no matter what you say, including the fact that the matter was not settled and you refuse to sign off and say it was, they will list it as settled and unfounded, regardless of the results you have received.

So, you can get results just as effective by going straight to the company and complaining, you can really skip the BBB altogether, and if they are a straightforward and honest company, you will get the same results you would as if you had filed through the BBB. My husband and I discovered this the hard way.

Ver,
Sounds like you had a bad experience w/the BBB? And I had the opposite and also went to the company first, many, many times. I got so many excuses I'm amazed I believed any of them - but I did....and my order, after several months and my cc charged, never got shipped. That's when I went to the BBB, filed an online complaint and had my refund plus 10% for my trouble in a matter of days.
I wish you had just as good of an experience as I had.....though I "did" try the company many times first.

Kat

[verwon]

Guess it all depends, some businessed cooperate it seems and some don't.

[ravenkat69]

Well, as sad as all this is, I'm glad I'm not the only one in the TIME FACTOR trap. I found this posting area by doing a search for Time Factor to try getting to their website to get a phone # to call about my return & refund. Thanks to whomever posted the 800 # for them. I also just emailed 'Lisa' regarding my refund situation. She cancelled my autoship on 6/19 and included instructions on returning the unused product if I didn't want it. I sent it back with the expense of shipping plus 'signature required' costs. I have yet to get my refund. I got suckered into this in a survey area too... and we also got pulled into one of those quick payday loans that we get dozens of offers for via email each week. We needed some quick cash for a loan deposit on a vehicle my husband needed to get to work, one vehicle wasn't working.
Don't go for these deals either, they are a trap too. We got approved for a quick $500, with a $25 fee per $100 borrowed, so our total payback was $625 which you are required to pay back all at once, which isn't fully clarified up front. They give you 3 extensions if you don't/won't have the full amount in your bank account on the due date, but you need to give them 2-3 days notice to request an extension. Each extension actually costs you $125.00, and on the next due date, no... they don't subtract the $125, you still owe the full $625! We went through 1 extension & paid $125, and at that point didn't know about the 2-3 day notification required we just requested it a week prior. We also didn't know the $125 paid was an extension fee. So when we got an email notice for the $625, I flipped. We had also been on vacation for a week, and I didn't request the extension in time, because I didn't have time and didn't know there was a 2-3 day requirement. I did fax & email an extension request 24 hours before scheduled payment telling them we absolutely wouldn't have the $625 and they shouldn't proceed, and was told nothing could be done. I saw the debit post on my checking account and called the bank immediately to stop payment. This cost $25 but was worth it. I had the option of stopping the 1 attempt, or all attempts by this company and chose the 2nd option, and thankfully! When Cashnet USA tried the first time and got denied, they tried to be clever and split the $625 into 2 debits to my account, and got denied again. Now they will wait for me to send them their money when I feel we are capable of paying, and will pay in payments, which they were not willing to accept initially, payments is not part of the contract even though it seems possible. With 3 available extensions and $125 payment per extension, one would believe this is actually a payment option.
Becareful everyone!
Chris