Ziinga.com
Complaint 90066 Details

On 16 March 2012 I was working on my internet when a pop-up appeared from Zinga to say that I could have a iPod Shuffle 2 GB free of charge. All that I would need to pay was R24 for the delivery charges. It also stated that with this promotion came a free seven day Platinum Membership to Zinga. There were terms and conditions that I unfortunately signed which tricked me into thinking that this free seven day Platinum Membership was for a trial period only. The wording read: "Once you become a paying member, you can review the benefits and the price of your membership by going to "My Account". So I thought that you only pay once the free trial period was over. After I signed the terms and conditions, and had signed my credit card details for the R24 delivery cost, I realized that I had been tricked. So I immediately sent them an email cancelling everything including the Promotional Gift which was the iPod Shuffle.
This is the receipt I got for the delivery charges:

Karen, Mar 18 11:54 (CET):
Hi gary2grace,
Our record shows that you were charged 24 ZAR timestamped on Mar 16th, at 19:46:37.
Best Regards,
Karen
Ziinga Customer Support

This is a message I got after I cancelled my iPod Shuffle gift:

"When you purchased the iPod Shuffle 2 GB last 2012-03-16, you were informed that included in the payment is a Platinum membership. Before completing the purchase and submitting your payment details, you are required to accept Ziinga's Terms and Conditions by checking off the tick box available otherwise the process will not go through. When you click on Submit, it confirms that you have read, understood and agreed to our Terms and Conditions. An e-mail has been sent to your registered e-mail address when you paid for your won auction.
Hence, the details about the membership, its benefits and charges are informed to you in the email, on the Payment page as well as in the Terms and Conditions page which we ask our customers to read before the completion of transaction. Furthermore, an email receipt is sent to our customers upon purchase as a reminder about the membership charges.
With this promotion, there is no intention to deceive as all necessary information is communicated to our customers.
To clarify, the "7 days free" is not a trial period. This only means that we added 7 days, free of charge, to the 3-month duration of a Platinum membership.
Please take careful notice of the notification that the Platinum Membership is already binding right after you made the payment for the bid package and agreed to get the membership together with it. It is just that the charge for the membership starts on the 8th day of the trial giving you free 7 days for the membership.
Please be advised that if we are unable to received or take payment for the cancellation fee, you will be still binded in the 3-months contract. So, you will still incur charges for the membership fee."

They also told me:

"However, before the cancellation date of 2012-06-21 there may be additional charges incurred as part of your three months binding contract so we encourage you to keep using your account and consume your remaining bids and credits.
Based on the Terms & Conditions agreed to at the time of registration and payment, cancellation of the Platinum binding contract entails a charge of 295 ZAR cancellation fee as withdrawal from the agreement.
We have canceled your membership as per your request. Since your membership is in conjunction with the 3 month binding contract, you will still be charged for monthly membership fee.
Please be advised that if we are unable to received or take payment for the cancellation fee, you will be still binded in the 3-months contract. So, you will still incur charges for the membership fee.
Your request (#136884) has been deemed solved.
You can always reply back to this message to reopen your ticket."

So I had no option but to send them the ZAR 295 cancellation fee otherwise on the 8th day they were going to charge me the Platinum Membership Fee of about R659.99 per month for three months.

This is my cancellation receipt:

Hi gary2grace,
This email has been sent to you upon your request for a refund and/or cancellation of subscription from Ziinga.com.
The details contained here outlines the charges incurred, their corresponding refunds and any cancellation fee or other fees that may apply. This information has been relayed to you by our Customer Support Agents and reflects the figures discussed.
Please examine the information below:
Transaction Date2012-03-18 12:04 Item NameRefund Amount iPod Shuffle 2 GBR 24.00
Charge NameCharge Amount Cancellation Fee(R 295.00)
Total Charge Amount(R 271.00)
According to our Terms and Conditions, a cancellation fee of R 295.00 shall be charged as penalty for breaking the 3 month binding contract for subscriptions.
Continuing with this verification process will fulfill the transaction for you.
Please click on the link below to confirm the refund and/or cancellation request.
https://www.ziinga.com/refund_transaction.php?vs=b9113dddd6abc1313bcc572bf5591e
If you have questions regarding this transaction or any other transaction, please contact us through:
EMAIL: [email protected]
LIVE CHAT: http://www.ziinga.com
PHONE: +27-105009105
WEB: http://www.ziinga.com/za/contact
The Ziinga.com support team is at your service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Once again, thank you very much!
Best Regards,
Ziinga.com


Karen, Mar 18 16:31 (CET):
Hi gary2grace,
Please log in to Ziinga and kindly click on MY ACCOUNT and click on Transactions.
You can see the invoice regarding your cancellation and you can send a receipt to your registered email address.
Hope this information helps.
Best Regards,
Karen
Ziinga Customer Support

So I paid ZAR 295 cancellation fee and ended up with nothing not even the iPOD Shuffle.