I do think it is a $ making-misleading-etc. website/organization. When signed up I was charged $159.00 for "lifetime" membership; although this was not mentioned at the sign up but was, as explained by the online operator, ".. a confusion at sign up .." They did say they will refund the money and it will take ~ 5-10 days; it remains to see if this amount is credited; may all these products they auction out be "black market" products? We will never know I guess.

Review all SWIPEBID.COM complaints
SWIPEBID.COM
Posted: 2010-08-09 by rjs94041


Unauthorized $159.00 credit card charge

Complaint Rating:
Company information:
Swipebid
Mountain View, California
United States

I Signed up at Swipebid.com to make bids on the products for auction on Tuesday, September 14th.
No where does it say on their web site that you will be charged $159.00 for annual membership fee or for any other reason.

I "assumed" that by giving your credit card information, your credit card was to be used ONLY for making the purchase on your successful bid...in other words, if you were the winning bidder, you would use your credit card to finalize the purchase.

Unfortunately, that is NOT the case with Swipebid.com.

As a safe guard, anytime I make an online purchase with any Internet vendor, (I'm a big buyer with Amazon and Apple), I immediately check my checking and savings accounts too make 100% sure the correct amount of money has been debited.

I did the same thing with Swipebid.com five minutes after confirming my membership.

There it was, $159.000.

I next had a brief chat session with "Cynthia", wanting her to explain why I was charged $159.00.

Her reply was to go back and read and re-read the information pertaining to the $159.00 charge.

My reply was that I wanted an immediate refund.

Her reply was that (1) I first had to use up all of my bid credits in my account, and If I was not a successful bidder on any item, then (2) I had to fill out and submit a refund form. and (3) IF and only IF my claim for the $159.00 refund was approved, ONLY then would I receive a refund within 10 to 15 days.

I quickly ended the chat session followed by a Google search "COMPLAINTS AGAINST SWIPEBID.COM"

'Holy Moly'!!! Look at all of the complaints.

My next step was to call my bank HSBC and explain what had occurred regarding the unauthorized $159.00 charge from Swipebid.com.

RECOMMENDED PROCEDURES FROM HSBC BANK REP:
1. Most credit card charges are "pending" for 2 to 3 days before the charge is actually charged against your account. It's during that critical time period the customer can take the necessary action to "challenge" any unauthorized or fraudulent charge(s).

2. Close the credit card account (immediately) and put a block on that one specific charge so that it doesn't clear.

3. Request your bank issue a new credit card with a different account number.

4. Access your checking and saving account daily, followed by telephone calls to your bank until you see the reverse charge(s) on your account statement in the "deposit/credit/addition" column.

Today is Sunday, August 8th, and below is the actual "block & refund" of my $159.00.

Two days from "fraud" to "finalize funds back into my account"

I Signed up at Swipebid.com to make bids on the products for auction on Friday, August 6th.

No where does it say on their web site that you will be charged $159.00 for annual membership fee or for any other reason.

I "assumed" that by giving your credit card information, your credit card was to be used ONLY for making the purchase on your successful bid...in other words, if you were the winning bidder, you would use your credit card to finalize the purchase.

Unfortunately, that is NOT the case with Swipebid.com.

As a safe guard, anytime I make an online purchase with any Internet vendor, (I'm a big buyer with Amazon and Apple), I immediately check my checking and savings accounts too make 100% sure the correct amount of money has been debited.

I did the same thing with Swipebid.com five minutes after confirming my membership.

There it was, $159.000.

I next had a brief chat session with "Cynthia", wanting her to explain why I was charged $159.00.

Her reply was to go back and read and re-read the information pertaining to the $159.00 charge.

My reply was that I wanted an immediate refund.

Her reply was that (1) I first had to use up all of my bid credits in my account, and If I was not a successful bidder on any item, then (2) I had to fill out and submit a refund form. and (3) IF and only IF my claim for the $159.00 refund was approved, ONLY then would I receive a refund within 10 to 15 days.

I quickly ended the chat session followed by a Google search "COMPLAINTS AGAINST SWIPEBID.COM"

'Holy Moly'!!! Look at all of the complaints.

My next step was to call my bank HSBC and explain what had occurred regarding the unauthorized $159.00 charge from Swipebid.com.

RECOMMENDED PROCEDURES FROM HSBC BANK REP:
1. Most credit card charges are "pending" for 2 to 3 days before the charge is actually charged against your account. It's during that critical time period the customer can take the necessary action to "challenge" any unauthorized or fraudulent charge(s).

2. Close the credit card account (immediately) and put a block on that one specific charge so that it doesn't clear.

3. Request your bank issue a new credit card with a different account number.

4. Access your checking and saving account daily, followed by telephone calls to your bank until you see the reverse charge(s) on your account statement in the "deposit/credit/addition" column.

Today is Sunday, August 8th, and below is the actual "block & refund" of my $159.00.

Two days from "fraud" to "finalize funds back into my account"

"CHECK CRD PUR RTRN 08/06 AW-SWIPE-BID.COM 18885410915 GB 4356XXXXXXXXXXXX 2180400 ?MCC=7 9801333 $159.00"