nickdawgy

I paid for a membership as well. I only bought a couple of games on Amazon with it, so I didn't even get my money back.

It really sucks that people abused it.

PopcornTreeCt

It now says that the promotion has been discontinued.

Awesome. It was hard enough getting Amazon codes when membership was paid. They opened the flood gates with free memberships. This sucks.

Decker

Welcome to last Monday. Word of advice : Bet Philly game 1 and the Yankees game 2.

Groucho

If you cancel your membership, does it expire at the end of the current time, or does it expire immediately? I don't want this thing auto-renewing next year, but I want to leave it open to possible use some of the other benefits.

maxfisher

The way the mod in one of the threads worded it, it ends immediately. He had a pretty shitty attitude about the whole thing and basically said if people were upset about the benefits offered, they could cancel at any time to stop using them. Then he went on to explain that no one is eligible for a refund just because a particular benefit ended.

Anubis2005X

Screw the ECA. I paid for a year long membership of 10% off of Amazon, and now it's gone because of their incompetence. Pathetic...

Krayzie

I got my moneys worth from my eca membership but I am angry that they screwed up the promo. They were stupid to give everyone free memberships. All the paying members got to pay for their incompetence.

Krayzie

When they decided to give the whole world free memberships, they should have refunded all of the paying members.

steebo777

This.

fujishig

So has the ECA actually done anything noteworthy? I understand that they wanted to get their membership up so that they could pull more weight, but how worthwhile was that if they ticked off the majority of the membership (both free and paid)?

At one point, they even stated that the Amazon promotion "paid for" the ECA membership fee by itself.

Groucho

That may have been a mistake, legally.

Decker

So, guess what? Everyone who signed up for this service, free or not, is now officially fucked.

Courtesy of CAG:

I am well aware that this is not a deal and many will flame me and say this is the wrong forum or that this is a re-post. However, at one point it seems like the majority of CAGs gave these people their credit card information in order to sign up for a "free" membership. Many if not all who signed up immediately canceled the auto renew billing feature using the website. It appears that it is now ECA's stance that anyone who did this, did not actually cancel their membership because it was never a working feature of their website. The original thread where I got this info from is found here, full credit should be given to Cager arcane93 for pointing all this out.
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/...240887&page=20

I believe as many CAG's as possible need to see this so that they are made aware they may be charged again by the ECA and of how this organization conducts its business. I fear the other thread is not visible enough for many CAGS to see it. Call this the anti deal if you will, but I am just trying to look out for fellow CAGs and save them some money. Despite this not being a deal, I really feel this thread belongs where it is and should not be moved, so that as many people as possible are made aware of the situation. My main issue with this is not that it is difficult to cancel- that is a common business practice by this type of organization....my problem is that they removed a function from their website and are claiming it never worked and have done nothing proactive to notify anyone.
The ONLY way you can cancel your membership is by a letter through some form of TRACEABLE mail.

send your cancellation here:
Attn: Accounting, ECA, 64 Danbury Road, Suite 700, Wilton, CT 06897-4406.

Here are some tidbits from the ECA themselves, taken from their forum:
http://forums.theeca.com/showpost.ph...6&postcount=59

Was there a button for auto-renewing?

Yes, for some browsers, but it wasn’t intended to be there, wasn’t a working option and was removed as soon as we became aware

Why can’t we terminate via email?

Because the org has grown too large to handle the volume and requiring a mailed piece separates those who are serious from those who are lazy or finicky – joining and leaving repeatedly – and it gives us written documentation, a paper trail to reconcile against

5.Right to update Credit Card Account Information. If the credit card provided by Member to ECA has expired during an attempt to bill fees per section 4, ECA will revise the expiration date and proceed with billing using the same credit card account.

12. Receipt of Mail. ECA cannot guarantee that it receives any mail that Member claims to have sent. Member should, at Member’s own expense, send any notices to ECA in a form to ensure to Member that their communication arrived at ECA, which form may include but not be limited to FedEx, UPS, USPS Return Receipt Requested and USPS Certified Mail.

Consumerista has an article about this now:
http://consumerist.com/2009/12/eca-t...canceling.html

ECA contact info:
http://theeca.com/feed_back
phone: +1 (203) 761-6180
fax: +1 (203) 761-6184

Michael Corvin

I never canceled in hope that something decent might take Amazon's place. I paid, so I figured I might as well hang in until I'm actually due to renew. Pretty shitty to make people jump through hoops to cancel.

How is a person handling snail mail any more efficient than an email?

Asshats.

pinata242

Less responses to process, I assume. They're hoping people are too lazy to actually write in.

I do love that the magical "button" they had on the webpage for "some browsers" is too much to worry about. Finicky consumers!

mhg83

So anyone that signed up for the free year has to write a letter to cancel? Or is it just for those that canceled auto renewal? I dont think i ever canceled auto renewal.

Groucho

Holy crap, that is some shady shit. These guys are crooks, plain and simple.

cartman

This whole "you didn't really cancel" thing deserves its own thread. Lots of people who signed up for free might not bother clicking through to see it in here...

GoVegan

Christ. Not only am I cancelling, but I'm stuffing a backpack full of violent video games, putting on a GTAIV t-shirt and going on a shooting spree.

mhg83

This is some shady shit. Does this case qualify a class action lawsuit? Either way I'm going to write them a certified letter, and contact my bank so they can block ECA from adding charges on my debit card.

Liver&Onions

It might qualify.

badlieut

Not going to waste my time/money sending a certified letter hoping they cancel. I'll just cancel the CC and get a new number.

Decker

That's a super-big hassel though. Can't you alert your CC company of your request to cancel and tell them to refuse any further charge from them?

Has anyone called that number yet? I'm curious what they're saying. I know at CAG, people are notifying the BBB of this shady move.

I love how they say they've disabled the cancel button to keep the lazy and finky from cancelling. Last I checked, even lazy consumers had rights.

fujishig

That "lazy" excuse doesn't even make sense. Why would they care if someone finicky cancels and rejoins multiple times? They have to pay the fee anyway, right? Or are they that concerned about the free memberships, in which case they should just discontinue that if they can't handle the load.

It's obviously just a way to keep the membership (and dues) up by making it difficult to cancel once enrolled. If this isn't addressed, exactly one year after that Game Informer came out with the free membership codes, I expect another uproar.

pinata242

But by their logic, it would be lazy of them to wait until the last minute to renew everyone's subscriptions. They'll probably get a 3-month jump on it.

TheMadMonk

What a bunch of crooks.