Contributions to ECF

[eagleshadow]

I was "pleasantly" surprised to find my PayPal account debited for $24 from ECF recently.
I was really into vaping, and feel this is a good forum with some really good people; I'm sure they may not feel the same about me after seeing this post, but, I feel I have an obligation to post my experiences here.
I contributed to this forum through PayPal over a year ago, finding this forum to be the best forum of it's kind with not even any near equals, and I found the members to be knowledgable and friendly. I had quit smoking through the use of electronic cigarettes and vaping devices, and felt that a one-time contribution was in order, to help the site with expenses and to help be sure the resources here were available to others the same way they had been to me.
I didn't lose interest in vapping, but found I didn't have the time to use the forum, so I haven't even logged in for months until recently.
I do not recall when I made my contribution anything regarding a recurring transaction. Very possibly, I overlooked this, giving ECF the benefit of the doubt.
Regardless, when I did contact the site regarding this recent charge, I received a reply back that they would "turn the recurring debit off" (no mention made of refunding my money); again, possibly I missed it, but could not find anyplace to turn this off in my profile or anywhere else on this site. After responding to this e-mail received from ECF, I received no confirmation or any further contact.
This is a great forum, without equal, and I support it wholeheartedly, but I do not understand why this kind of "solicitation" is used. To be honest, I consider these veiled and very well hidden "recurring payment" 'switches' to border on stealing, which is way below the integrity of this forum.
Take this for what you wish. No harm is intended towards this forum or any member, and I still support the forum and members 100%.
I'd only state to any member to very, very carefully investigate and scrutinize any financial transaction that you might enter into, and I would urge the forum leadership to make all contribution conditions clear, concise, and disclose all information regarding any transaction.
Thank you.

 

[bacc.vap]

It should be pretty clear if one reads the sign up page that it's set up as a recurring subscription. The page has changed somewhat from the past as I remember it, but it always had the explanation of the asterisk at the bottom. After you sign up you can also cancel the recurring part in paypal with just a click or two.

 

[Oliver]

Very sorry you feel that way, Eagleshadow - we have updated the subscriptions page recently to make it much clearer that the payment is recurring as well as adding a non-recurring payment option. We set up recurring payments years ago, simply because it was asked for by members who did not want to lose the privileges if they forgot to renew.

Of course, we're more than happy to refund your recent contribution - just PM me your PP email address and I'll sort it for you.

FYI, as bacc.vap said, managing recurring payments is done within your paypal account, not on ECF as the software has no way of interacting with PP subscriptions once they're set.

 

[Rickajho]

It makes it very plain and simple when you decide to be a supporting member that it is a recurring annual charge to whatever account you assigned to it via PayPal. You forgot.

You may have also forgot to check your e-mail account assigned to ECF lately - since ECF would have sent you out advance notice that the annual supporting member "fee" was going to be charged to your PayPal account again before it happened. Like this one:

Paid Subscription Expiry Notice

Dear [ ],

Your subscription "Supporting Member (UK + EC Member States)" is about to expire or renew.

If you have selected a recurring subscription you will be automatically billed for the renewal and may disregard this message.

If your subscription is paid annually you must visit http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/payments.php and renew it.

If your subscription lapses, you will lose the permissions associated with your subscription.

If you have a recurring subscription and wish to cancel it, please log into your paypal account and delete the subscription. See this article on how to do this: How to Cancel a PayPal Subscription: 9 Steps (with Pictures)

If you have any queries, please contact accounts@e-cigarette-forum.com

All the best,

ECF

If you wanted to stop this from recurring at any time all you had to do is go into your PayPal account and delete the recurring transaction there. It's not some kind of conspiracy. You entered into a contract, with an opt out clause even, and you forgot about it.

 

[keepsmiling]

ALL forum contributions work exactly this way. I was recently charged for a forum subscription for another type of forum I no longer frequent. They had a reminder set up by the forum to tell you it was about to renew. My only complaint was that a few days lead time would have been appreciated. Real life sometimes has a habit of getting in the way, you know? I got the notice last Saturday, by Sunday the money was taken from my PP account.
I contacted PP to see if I could get a refund. I got two replies from PP reps. One saying I should contact the admin at the site, and chances are they would gladly send me a refund. As well, they sent along a request. I got my refund the next day.
You have to go into settings on your PP account and remove or inactivate recurring payments.

 

[Rickajho]

ALL forum contributions work exactly this way. I was recently charged for a forum subscription for another type of forum I no longer frequent. They had a reminder set up by the forum to tell you it was about to renew. My only complaint was that a few days lead time would have been appreciated. Real life sometimes has a habit of getting in the way, you know? I got the notice last Saturday, by Sunday the money was taken from my PP account.
I contacted PP to see if I could get a refund. I got two replies from PP reps. One saying I should contact the admin at the site, and chances are they would gladly send me a refund. As well, they sent along a request. I got my refund the next day.
You have to go into settings on your PP account and remove or inactivate recurring payments.

For what it's worth:

I received my e-mail notice from ECF about my upcoming renewal on 08/22. It wasn't charged to my PP account until three days later - on 08/24.

 

[eagleshadow]

Which, to the last, was not done. Down at the bottom of the page, in small letters, there is a statement that your contribuition is a recurring transaction.
Now why wouldn't this be stated more clearly and prominently, like, as part of the "please help....." statement above.
And I don't even see that I'm a paid member here, yet my $24 was not refunded.
No harm is or was evern intended, but I received one e-mail stating this would be taken care of, and when I wrote back, I never heard another word.
I escalated this on Pay Pal today, but know how that decision will go, so it's like, bye to Pay Pal after the good news is verified.
Thanks all, 'hope everyone is doing well !