As if we didn't already hate CornellPass

Anyone who took the free trial for CornellPass and then cancelled might want to check their credit card bills. At least one other person and I both got billed despite cancelling before the free trial was up. (And they charge you for the premium membership too)

That's part of the great new service. We can now enjoy a lack of technical support, no recourse for problems, and having to solve their billing mistakes.

Andy has succeeded admirably. Cornell Athletics is sounding more and more like a "real business," every day.

It's unfortunate that the AD, Andy Noel, Annita Brenner, et. al are getting blamed for things that are now clearly out of their control.

If they would respond to our letters and work with us to remedy the situation, then they wouldn't be taking all the slack for Real Network's mistakes.

Still, if they decide to dig their heels in, and ignore our pleas for help, then I suppose they do deserve the blame. After all, they thrust us into this situation.

I'm sorry that RN did this. But, I think you all can now understand my lack of willingness to just give RN unfettered access to my credit card account. If you're dealing with a business that's incompetent or unscrupulous, they can overcharge you and it becomes your problem to solve. I don't chose to spend my time fighting to get my own money back. If they had offered a true billing option (one where they send me a bill and I send them a check), I would have signed up to the CornellPass. As it is, RN is in the driver's seat. That is not a good thing. Good luck with it.

Step one, I think, is to contact the issuing bank and protest the charge.

It's not worth all the hassle for 7 bucks... it's the principle of the thing.

What about next month? And the month after?

Sure it's worth it. All you have to do is write a note to the bank and don't pay the charge to the bank. Then the bank has to contact the retailer and clear it up. You don't ever have to pay it unless it gets cleared up. It's only if RN gets bothered by this enough that they will stop. If the charge companies get enough complaints they can pull their charging rights. Now that would be a great one for RN and the CornellPass wouldn't it.

> Sure it's worth it. All you have to do is write a note to the bank and don't pay the charge to the bank.

Aha! -- an opportunity for me to gain LifeWisdom (tm) from an elder!

Jim (or somebody), how does that work? Does this mean I can call up my credit card company and tell them "Whenever X sends you a charge for me, tell them to pound sand"? F'rinstance, "Whenever the newspaper that I discontinued 6 months ago but which keeps billing me sends you a charge for me, tell them to talk to the hand" as opposed to me having to get the newspaper to refund the charge every time they mess up?

Greg wrote:

F'rinstance, "Whenever the newspaper that I discontinued 6 months ago but which keeps billing me sends you a charge for me, tell them to talk to the hand" as opposed to me having to get the newspaper to refund the charge every time they mess up?

Greg, I have no idea what the procedure is, but I think however you go about it, you really should make an effort to incorporate the phrase "talk to the hand" into your plan. )

5 seconds and google taught me how to dispute credit card charges:

[consumer-affairs.co.la.ca.us]

[www.epinions.com]

Any contract that my employer negotiates is reviewed by a team of lawyers and always has specific performance clauses.

I think that the non-performance of RN, coupled with the fraudulent billing of people signing up for a free trial, should be examined by our lustrousless Athletic Department to see if Cornell can void the contract, make peace with the alumni, and restore the hockeycam.

Again, there's nothing preventing the HockeyCam from happening but athletics's stubbornness. OCSN doesn't care about it (at least for the video).

Yep, a phone call is often all it takes. For a small charge, the credit card company will usually just say "OK" and clear the charge from your account, pulling the money back from the merchant.

For larger disputed charges, the credit card company will ask you to follow up in writing. If the merchant will cancel the charge, the written follow-up becomes unnecessary. For example, when the Cornell Store improperly charged some $4,000 to my Visa card (whee), I didn't have to dispute it for long, or on paper, because I got the Store to credit my account the day after I discovered the error.

Well, after calling Real Network, I discovered that it was not actually a billing mistake, but a somewhat deceptive practice on their part which leads you to think you have cancelled when you haven't. When you sign up for the free trial, you are signed up for both College Sports Pass at $4/month and Real One SuperPass at $9.95 a month. You actually have to cancel both separately. When you cancel the College Pass, which is what gives you the ability to listen to Cornell games, you remain enrolled in the other service, which is useless for listening to college hockey (of course none of this is at all apparent until you get billed). So, I suppose the lesson in this is to never trust the free trial.

So, you're telling me that they are hiding some of their charges. Wow, I wonder if the AD knows about this.

John E Hayes '98 '00 wrote:

5 seconds and google taught me how to dispute credit card charges:

Solutions to 95% of practical problems can be found with Google.

I agree with Jim and Al. Don't pay the charge. Your bank will stand behind you and if they don't get another card from another bank. You get six offers in the mail every day like most of us, eh?

Greg,

If you or one of your friends has a credit card statement from Maryland Bank in your posession, you can find a wonderful dispute form on the back of the statement. If you fill it out completely and send it to the credit card company with which there is a disputed charge, you will get a reasonable response.

I used that form last year with Capital One Bank and they took the charge off my card without further hassel on my part.

If anyone would like me to email them a scan of the dispute form I will be happy to do it. In my opinion all the card companies should be required to print a similar form with each statement. Maryland Bank has a very classy customer service department.

Marty

Marty '74 said
[Q]Maryland Bank has a very classy customer service department.[/Q]
But just not good enough to get your business, eh.