ComplaintsforSupercharged Science

• Initial Complaint

  08/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  In July of 2020, my wife participated in a web event with a cost of $6.50 with a "free trial" of the Supercharged Science Curriculum, offered by the company named in this complaint. Beginning August 20, 2020 and every month thereafter, Supercharged Science has - without our knowledge or consent - been charging the credit card that was provided for the "free trial" $57 per month. Upon determining what this charge was (in August of 2022), I immediately unsubscribed and requested a refund. In total, $1425 was charged, for which we used no services and got no value. We were homeschooling our children during this time so I (the one who reviews the credit card bill) did not recognize it as an illegitimate charge until this month. When we asked the company for a refund, they indicated that we "opened their emails" and that we shouldn't expect a refund even if we did not use the service. I have asked that they retain their records, which will show that our account was not ever logged into and no curriculum was used from July of 2020 when we unfortunately checked out their program until the time of cancelation in August of 2022. No value was delivered, thus a refund seems reasonable. It isn't like we are asking for something for free; we are asking not to be charged for something we didn't want or use. The service is advertised here: https://www.superchargedscience.com/. We were apparently paying for the premium K-12 plan (based on the cost) but had no idea that we were signing up for a recurring charge and - most importantly - never used the service. We have respectfully requested a refund and after repeated back and forth with a representative the "best that they can do" is a $285 refund, which seems a ridiculous compromise for something we never used or intended to use and did not understand. 

  Business response

  09/12/2022

  According to the customer, after she purchased a DVD from our company online, she accepted a free trial of our online science education program.  But then the customer claims we began charging them $57 per month "without our knowledge or consent".

  The customer was in fact very clearly notified before her purchase that she would be charged each month.

  Also, in email correspondence with us (attached  below), the customer acknowledges that her husband, who apparently reviews their credit card bill, was aware of the $57 charge each month but failed to tell her.  The customer also acknowledges that "It is possible I did not cancel my subscription..."  

  While I feel for the customer, blaming our company for their oversights and expecting us to pay for this is entirely inappropriate.  Nevertheless we will still try to work with her to resolve the situation.

  In any case, we strive to be very clear about how customers will be charged before they purchase any products with recurring charges.

  On the web page where this customer enrolled in the free 30-day trial of the science program, it is explicitly described in multiple places that they will be charged monthly for membership after the initial 30-day trial is over.  In fact the majority of the text on the page is devoted to informing the customer that they will be charged after the trial.  You may see this web page here:

  https://www.superchargedscience.com/opt/esci-free-trial-slp-2/

  This is how the customer is informed of recurring charges:

  1.       The video on the top of page describes in detail that the customer will be charged, but can cancel any time.

  2.      The bold print below the video asks the customer to check a box acknowledging the follow:

  
  "Enrollment in the full online e-Science program is free for the first month. After the first month, I will automatically be charged just $37 per month as long as I am enrolled (or $57 per month if I choose the advanced grade 5-8 & High School level program), unless I cancel during the first month. Of course I'm free to cancel at any time, and can even cancel within the first 30 days of my enrollment and not pay a dime if I am not completely happy with the program.  You may cancel at any time by going to www.superchargedscience.com/contact.htm or emailing [email protected]."

   

  

   

   

  
  3. Right above the button the customer clicked to enroll, it is repeated for a 3rd time:
  
  "Grades 9-12 & Advanced Grade 5-8 plus K-8 Curriculum. After this free 30-day trial, you will be charged $57 per month (you can cancel any time).  This program also includes full access to the grades K-8 curriculum.  Click the button below to start your trial for this program now."

  
   

  

   

   

  
  

   

  At some point, a customer has to take responsibility for reading agreements (or even watching the video).  We tried to make it as clear as possible what a customer is agreeing to.  As a result, it's very rare to hear a complaint of this nature.

   

  In addition our website has a clear membership policy that outlines monthly charges and our cancellation policy in detail:

  http://www.sciencelearningspace.com/cancellation-policy/

   

  Right at the top is says in a huge font:

  "After the 30-day trial period, NO refunds will be issued. You may cancel at anytime, but you will not be able to receive a refund.

  PLEASE, keep track of your subscription – if you want to cancel, do it in a timely way (according to this document). It’s always sad when someone writes asking for a refund because they changed their mind or lost track and we have to remind them of this policy."

   

  

   

   

  Also, the customer claims that they never used the program from July of 2020 to present.  Our login records showed 170 login access records between 07/21/202 and 8/20/2020.  After this, there were no logins recorded until 8/22/2022.  Also note that there is content on our website that does not get included in any logs when the customer accesses it, so we don't know if a customer used this type of content or not.  Plus, this customer received content in numerous member-only emails.

   

  On 8/27/202 in an email to our customer support, the customer acknowledged "It is possible I did not cancel my subscription due to grief-caused distraction."  I am sorry for your loss - that's really hard.  While I do understand forgetting to unsubscribe, this is not our responsibility as a business to compensate the customer for - especially since it would violate our own membership policy.

   

  See excerpt below from the customer's email to us:

   

  

   

   

  The customer indicates that her husband saw the charge each month on their bill, but failed to discuss it with her.  In a message to us, she said "I did not intentionally sign up for this service and my husband did not know it was not a legitimate homeschooling expense so we are just discovering it now."  While I empathize with the matter of mis-communications that sometimes occur between husband and wife, this is obviously beyond our responsibility as a business to resolve. 

   

  The customer is asking for a refund on the basis that she was never informed she would be charged, but then in her messages to our customer support, she fully acknowledges that she logged in to the program and tried it out, but then forgot to cancel her membership. 

   

  When a customer enrolls in our program, we simply charge them monthly, much like many other online services or mobile apps.  We don't charge based on usage, and in no way imply that we will. 

   

  As a small company, we incur expenses and pay staff based in part on the number of members we have - not really based on the number of times they log in.

   

  When we heard about this customer's situation, rather than strictly enforcing our membership policy, we made an exception and gave them a refund for 5-months of membership as a courtesy.  I was surprised that in response, the customer filed complaints and threatened to spread bad reviews unless we refunded them more money.

   

  We are a small family-run company.  In 15 years of business, I don't believe we've ever experienced such an aggressive customer.  I imagine there must be some hardship in this person's life to act this way.  I do feel bad for them. 

   

  Given everything described above, I believe it's clear that we have acted in a legal and ethical way, and certainly don't owe the customer anything more.   In fact, I believe we've already been more generous than most companies would have been.

   

  However, upon further consideration, perhaps this customer is upset in part due to some type of hardship.  We regularly give away numerous scholarships to families in need.  As such, perhaps we can use our scholarship resources to provide an additional refund to this customer in the hope that it will help them through whatever challenges they may be facing in life.

   

  I'd like to invite the customer to arrange a phone call with us so we can discuss this.  

   

  I hope we can serve this customer in a way that truly helps them.

   

   

  Thank you.

   

  -- A* ******

  Customer response

  09/15/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 17792223. In addition to this response, the President & CEO of the business reached out to me directly to attempt to resolve the issue. Through that conversation, we have arrived at a satisfactory response and, once all agreed-upon items are executed on both sides I will consider the business response to have fully resolved this issue to my satisfaction. 

  In light of this, I have accepted the business response, as noted by the subject line of this email. I have also provided an attachment of the email documenting our mutual resolution plan agreed to by both sides (PDF of our email agreement) to document the agreed-upon steps.

  At this point, I consider the BBB involvement to be completed and feel that the issue can be marked as satisfactorily resolved. If you have any questions or need any further information to close the issue please let me know. 

  Regards,
  

  
  P**** ******
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

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