ComplaintsforInternational Association of Professional Writers & Editors

• Initial Complaint

  10/10/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  IAPWE has been charging me monthly for a FREE trial. I have tried multiple times to cancel but have not received anything that confirms my request or acknowledges my effort. The process to cancel is extremely shady and I fear they will continue to try charging me.

  Business response

  11/02/2023

  We are showing that the complainant's account was canceled on 10/8/23 and we have refunded the most recent charge as a courtesy. There is no further resolution we are able to offer on this matter.

  Customer response

  11/09/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************
  
  
  
   
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  09/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This is an employment organization for writers looking for work. I signed up for their Free Basic Subscription account during my registration process but was forced to accept a 30 day free trial to their Professional Subscription, which I did not want. That Subscription option involved gaining access to my PayPal account thru PayPal's automatic payments feature.I could not cancel this automatic payment thru PayPal's website and was forced to call PayPal in order to get this auto payment removed from my account.I have written the contact person who had communicated with me, asking to have my account with ******************** cancelled and have not heard back as of yet.

  Business response

  09/27/2023

  We are not showing that the complainant reached out to us at any point to request assistance with cancelation through our support email at ************************************ however, we are showing that the complainant's account has now been canceled and closed, and there is nothing further we are able to do on our end.

  If we had received any correspondence from the complainant, we would have responded, however, we are glad the complainant was eventually able to get this resolved.

• Initial Complaint

  08/02/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I want to cancel my subscription, but for them cause theyre scamming they ask for more steps to finalize the cancellation process in PayPal but mine was with Mastecard so they left me with no other options to finalize my cancellation which should be a one click operation.

  Customer response

  08/02/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************
  
  
  
   
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  07/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Cancellation of membership. I applied for IAPWE membership yesterday after receiving their email. It was a free trail that will start to receive money after 30 days. I found through many people that IAPWE was a scam and wanted to cancel their membership however I have submitted the cancellation form many times now and they have not cancelled my membership. They only respond with instructions on how to cancel through PayPal on my gmail. But I have not subscribed through PayPal. I have subscribed through a credit card. I want to cancel this membership as quickly as possible and want IAPWE to assist me, They have not responded to my mails again.

  Business response

  08/14/2023

  The complainant files this complaint after giving us less than 24 hours to respond to their email request. 

  Contrary to the complainant's statements, they were never charged at any point for their free trial.

  We have canceled and deleted the complainant's account as requested.

• Initial Complaint

  07/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I signed up for a free trial to IAPWE's freelancer membership. I realized I wasn't interested and cancelled the membership through PayPal, as they instructed me to do in their cancellation email. Even though I did what they told me to and cancelled the subscription through PayPal, I was still charged for membership later. Now they are ignoring my calls. If this continues, I'll have to close my PayPal account permanently to prevent them charging me, but I'd prefer not to have to do that.

  Business response

  08/14/2023

  We are disappointed that the complainant has stated inaccurate information in their complaint.

  We have confirmed that the complainant never canceled their subscription in their PayPal account as per our instructions. If they had done this, it would not be possible for them to be charged again.

  We also do not accept calls since we have an immediate voicemail message that clearly instructs callers to contact us via the contact form on our website.

  The complainant signed up for a free trial, never canceled their free trial within the free trial window and was then charged.

  At no point did the complainant reach out to us requesting cancelation, assistance with cancelation or a refund.
  

  We have canceled the subscription on their behalf and have issued a refund request as well. We hope this resolution is satisfactory to the complainant.

  Customer response

  08/18/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************
  
  
  
   
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  07/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The IAPWE opportunity isnt what was advertised. Shortly after registering, I attempted to cancel my subscription of $4.99 and delete my membership. The process was lengthy and confusing. Even after filling out the forms to delete my account, no confirmation email was sent and the money was deducted via my debit card. My emails to ************************* ************************************* ********************************** have been ignored. My emails to ******************************* have been ignored too. Refund me and permanently delete my membership immediately. This organisation is a scam.

  Business response

  08/14/2023

  We are not showing that the complainant reached out to us at any point through our ********************************** email address as instructed on the Contact page of our website.

  This is the first time that we are being made aware of the complainant's request to cancel.

  We have canceled and refunded the complainant's membership as requested.

   

  Customer response

  08/21/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  [Your Answer Here] I received an email from IAPWE asking me to take down my complaint, which I refused to do. I never heard from them again. There has been zero indication that my account has been deleted and there has certainly been no refund made. 

  I also wrote to ********************************************* to escalate my complaint and attached these screenshots to that email as well. 

   

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************
  
  
  
  
   
  

  Business response

  08/24/2023

  We are sorry to hear that the complainant is still not satisfied with our efforts to resolve this matter. 

  Our records show that the complainant's account has been refunded and deleted on our end. 

  We are not sure how or why the complainant is stating otherwise. 

  Upon checking further, we are showing that we issued the refund to the complainant but that the complaint's bank rejected this due to the following reason, "The ***** identification numbers are incorrect." We have not encountered this issue before when issuing a refund and there is nothing we can do on our end to resolve this since it is the complainant's identification numbers that are stated as being incorrect according to the error message.

  We are also showing that the complainant did not follow the BBB's own proper protocol for filing complaints, namely, providing a business with a reasonable time frame to respond and resolve their concerns before escalating to the BBB.
  

  The complainant filed a complaint with the BBB approximately 24 hours after contacting us.

  We are sorry to hear that the complainant is still not satisfied, however, beyond refunding and deleting their account, there are no further actions that we are able to take to resolve this matter further.

• Initial Complaint

  07/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I chose a free membership plan when joining IAPWE and then they asked for my PayPal details which I thought was standard procedure. Now when I logged in to my account I found my membership plan had been changed to a professional plan which they charge $4.99 monthly and this had been billed on my PayPal. I absolutely did not agree to this and now I can't seem to cancel that subscription. Please help

  Business response

  07/17/2023

  We are disappointed that the complainant stated they were charged when no charge took place. 

  We attached documentation showing the complainant acknowledging that they were never charged.

  We have also attached documentation of us informing the complainant that we had canceled their free trial as they requested. 

  We provided this documentation to the BBB, however, the BBB has refused to take any action on this complaint.

  We have already canceled the complainant's subscription at their request and since no charge took place, there are no further steps we can take to resolve this matter.

  Customer response

  07/21/2023

  From: *************************** <**********************>
  

   

  Greetings, 

   

  I would like to believe that IAPWE resolved my issue since they got back to me. I will be awaiting correspondence at the end of the month of July so I would like to know the possibility of following up with this complaint incase they have not solved my issue. For the time being, I'd like to withdraw my complaint. 

   

  Regards,

  ****************************

• Initial Complaint

  06/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I have tried on several occasions to cancel my membership with IAPWE, but every month they charge me the membership fee. They never respond to me.

  Customer response

  06/24/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************************
  
  
  
   
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  10/03/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I answered an ad like the one below:This one was published only five days ago:We're now hiring a freelance writer to create blog posts, articles and website content.Work can be completed on a flexible schedule based on freelancer availability, however, deadlines may be provided.Content needed will vary in genre/topic but will usually be based around websites for small businesses and organizations.Rate of pay is $20 per 100 words (this comes out to approximately $100 per article).If interested, please apply at ***************************** Reached back out on several occasions and I never heard anything.When you respond, they will tell you that you must have a PayPal account in order to get paid.So I hesitantly got one. I reached back out again to find out where to find the assignments. Naturally, I heard nothing.I had seen the complaints prior, and for whatever reason I didnt believe them. There are hundreds of complaints against this company and they are all valid. Its a huge scam.I signed up for a free service, that has charged me **** monthly for 6 months.

  Business response

  10/03/2022

  While we are sorry to hear that the complainant is unhappy, we are showing that the complainant signed up for a free trial of one of our optional paid memberships.

  The complainant was provided with instructions for canceling their membership during signup and was free to cancel their membership at any time.

  We are not showing that the complainant made any attempt to cancel or reach out to us requesting cancelation.

  We are also not showing that any of the complainants correspondence with us went unanswered, however, we did offer to refund any charges within the last 60 days as a courtesy and we never heard back from the complainant. 

  As our offer still stands, we will issue this refund to the complainant as a courtesy and we will therefor be able to provide no further resolution to this matter.

  Customer response

  10/11/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# ********, and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

  [Your Answer Here]

  Dear BBB,

  I really appreciate the BBB taking my complaint seriously.

  As the public records clearly indicate, I am only one of hundreds of people who were deceived by IAPWE.

  I am very pleased and beyond satisfied with the outcome of my complaint, but the credit for that goes to PayPal.
  IAPWE only offered to refund the last sixty days of paid [alleged] services (that were clearly never rendered to an inactive user account) as a result of PAYPALs internal REVIEW of THE COMPLAINT, AND SUBSEQUENT REFUND of 100% of dues I remitted under false pretenses. 
  

  it is a fact that PayPal had already reversed 100% of the money, PRIOR TO my receipt of IAPWEs goodwill offer [as submitted to the BBB] to issue a refund for two months.

  So again, I am satisfied with the resolution, thanks to the BBBs making it publicly known, and PayPals findings that the charges were not legitimate. 

  IAPWE deserves no credit for any resolution.

   

   

   

  In order for the BBB to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************
  
  
  
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  06/02/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I have gone through their process of cancelling my membership for months and they will not end my subscription and keep charging me 9.99/month

  Business response

  06/02/2022

  We are sorry to hear that the complainant has been experiencing issues.

  We are showing that the complainant never reached out to us requesting assistance, however, we have canceled their subscription using the information provided in this complaint.

  Customer response

  06/02/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************
  
  
  
   
  
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩