Hot CloseOuts 2013
Complaint 298746 Details

I was looking for an ipod touch for my daughter and a comparison search on google led me to hot closeouts 2013. I saw an ipod touch with about 3 minutes left on the clock and I clicked "register to bid" under the item, a registration form popped up, I filled it out with credit information with no notification that I could see about being charged. I thought it was like ebay and I would only get charged it I purchased something. After I registered a box popped up saying I needed to go to my e-mail and confirm my registration. I quickly went to my e-mail to confirm so I could bid on the ipod touch that had very little time left. When I was done I could not get on there site anymore. Internet Explorer said the site I clicked "register to bid" on no longer existed. It pulled up a cached site that said something like, this site was available at 1pm GMT time on 1/6/14 but no longer exists and this is what the page looked like at that time. I went back to my e-mail to look at the e-mail link that confirmed my registration and that's when I discovered there were two other e-mails from them. One of those e-mails said Thank you for your purchase of $99. I was so confused! I spent the rest of the day trying to get on their site. Finally later that evening I was able to get on the site but I was unable to get in touch with customer service to discuss the $99 I got charged without my permission and knowledge. I clicked on the contact information and there was a section that said anyone could chat from 9am - 6pm CST, yet there was no link bringing me to a chat. There was an e-mail for customer service that did not work for me. So I used the final option of sending a form.

The first time I used the form I had not yet got on the site and was on the cached site. I wrote a "form" about how I was charged, how I couldn't contact anyone at their customer service, and how I never got the 25 bids I was promised for watching the video about the site----that was part of the registration e-mail. I told them I would call my card company and block the charges if no one called me soon letting me know what was going on and that the site was not a scam.

I sent two more "forms" asking for help from customer service and never heard anything back. It is now 2 am on 1/9/14 and I still have no response from hotcloseouts2013. I decided I got scammed on 1/6/14 when their site wasn't working properly and then there was no way to contact anyone at the company. Instead of losing out on the $99 I lost, I decided to start bidding to hopefully win something. I did win 200 more bids and a $25 restaurant gift card, but as I've been bidding on the ipod I wanted I realized that a lot of things that said they would go up a penny or 51 cents or 61 cents (depending on the item) wouldn't go up as people bid towards the last 15 seconds of the bid..and these weren't items that were capped out (a max price for bid such as $29)..these were things that capped out at $18 for instance and would remain at $17.57 for hours or days as people kept bidding and using there bids (and bids cost money). Another interesting thing about the site is that unlike most bidding sites every time someone bids towards the end the clock resets to 15 seconds. I eventually read this in the faq section they have. HERE'S THE PROBLEM---THIS COMPANY CHARGES CUSTOMERS--TRAPPING THEM---PRIOR TO THEM HAVING THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ THE FAQ SECTION OR TO REVIEW THE SITE WORKED----REMEMBER I CLICKED "REGISTER TO BID" AND THEN FILLED OUT A FORM TO BID NOT KNOWING I WOULD BE LOCKED INTO A $99 COMMITMENT. I suppose I was foolish to start bidding to try to get my money's worth from the scam. I wasn't even going to do a complaint because of that, but then I decided I would write a complaint because I have a feeling I'm not the only one who had bid on things to try to use there bids to get there money's worth. There have already been numerous complaints about this site, but I believe the complaints would tripple, at least, if everyone who made a poor decision like me to try to use there bids to minimize their loss of being scammed in hopes of winning something would have made a complaint. Those complaints probably aren't made because it's not likely to recover any money after a person has utilized the site. Anyhow, hopefully someone can stop this scam from continuing. Like I said their chat doesn't work. Their e-mail doesn't work for me, but maybe that's because I don't use outlook. But most importantly, the "form" I filled out with a promise to contact me within 1 to 2 days with my questions about the $99 fee I was unaware of, the 25 bids I was promised but never received by watching the video about the site (which was part of the confirmation e-mail), and about not being able to contact them via chat although they claim to have top notch customer service-----was never responded to (and I did make sure my phone number and e-mail were on my account information). Anyhow, I am going back on the site to try to win something with the bids I purchased that I didn't know I was purchasing so I hopefully won't lose my money. I probably will lose my money, but I'm bidding the try to get my $99 worth. Thanks for the venue to express my complaints. Please remember most people in my situation probably won't make a complaint because they figure by bidding they've ruined their chances of getting their money back, and they are probably right, but that is exactally why I wanted to try to explain my story. Maybe others will come forward with similar information that would have been too emarrassed to do so otherwise, or that maybe felt there was no point since they used some or all of their bids. Hopefully this complaint will give some insight in to how this company is scamming people and preventing them from reporting it. When 2 days is up and there is still no response by customer service, I can imagine a person may think "oh my gosh, I bid on this site to get my money's worth--There supposvie chat doesn't work--and now no one has returned my customer service request via "form." At that point most people wont bother to report because legally not much can probalby be done, however, I just want people to know this site is a scam and to STAY AWAY!!!)

Thanks so much for taking the time to read,

Amanda (Personal Information Removed)

(mother of 4 trying to make ends meat, struggling to put food on the table, mom who couldn't get her kids christmas presents before christmas and was trying to find an affordable way to buy my oldest daughter an ipod touch and got scammed---2 of my children I found presents for on walmart.com and my yougest I found a dumpster set at fleet farm for 14.99...unfortunately my LP tank needed to be filled, my car insurane was due, my husband business phone broke, our business computer broke, and our van broke all in December making Christmas a bust...I was so excited to buy them presents in the beginning of this year, only to be scammed by hotcloseouts2013....my 8th grader is really looking forward to her ipod touch and I don't know what to tell her about the 100 I am short to buy her gift because of hotcloseouts2013!)