Webcertificate Warning
 

I know all of you don't use webcerts for the same purposes, but for those of you who keep one around to use on shady "free" deals that demand credit card information for one reason or another, you may be interested in my current problem... I posted it in "other bargains" but it seems relevant over here too...

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...91#post1840191

Re: Webcertificate Warning
 

wow. i thought they were supposed to deny charges if no money is in the account.

they have no current email for me so i am not too concerned,

Re: Re: Webcertificate Warning
 

That's what I thought too... but the rep said that the company making the charge sends in a $1 test charge, and if that get authorized then MasterCard allows them to make the real charge in any amount they desire.

I'm not sure if that's true of if he was just trying to worm his way out of actually dealing with me. I have seen $1 test charges come and go... Oh well.

I got one of those e-mails too. For an apparent charge of $3.50 or so. So meaningless. It's a real old account too, I know I haven't bought anything on it in at least a year and a half, probably more. Have no idea why there's even an overcharge. I tried to log-in to my account, but have failed. Ironically, the Web certificate isn't even in my name. I just made up a joke name (i.e. Seymour Butts). Not sure if I should really look into it or not

why bother- let Seymour deal wth it when webcert catches up with him :)

This is commonly misunderstood about credit cards. Even if your credit card is expired and you no longer have it, if a company puts a charge against it, the credit card company (Bank) can still come after you for the charges, even if it goes over limit.

But I thought DEBIT cards worked differently.

So the only way to TRULY protect yourself from an empty debit card or an expired credit card is to actually CANCEL the card...?

I logged on and went to the help area, typed the question how do you close your webcertificate account?
Two days later, received an e-mail.
Account closed.
Problem solved.

warning: do not trust webcertificate
 

They have been secretly charing me $3 a month, disguised as a "dormancy fee". If you have any money with them, I recommend using it as soon as possible and then never do business with them again. They took my money and I don't recall them telling me before, while or after they do it.

As I just posted in the other thread, ecount has now taken this to the next level, and is referring the accounts out to a collections agency. I got a letter today from NCO Financial Services, Inc. Under Federal Law, if you write a letter disputing the charges within 30 days of receiving the collections letter, NCO is required to investigate before proceeding. As a practical matter, it means that they will just send the account back to ecount. Here is the letter, which you can copy and paste into your word processors:

"This letter is written in response to your collection letter, a copy of which is attached. I received that letter today. You are hereby advised that I dispute the debt. This account was a debit card. Ecount allowed unauthorized charges to be posted to the card, despite the fact that there were no funds to cover the charges and despite the fact that there was no authorization for those charges. Rather than reversing the charges, which I do not owe, Ecount apparently is attempting to collect the amount of those unauthorized charges from me. I do not owe them. Please cease any collection attempts."