ahh.

help!

i really need to talk about this to someone. because i don't want my parents to know.

 

so... about two weeks ago i asked a school mate to scan a few papers for school and send it to me. she saved it as an open office file and since i don''t have that programme, i went through google to download it. however, i ended up registering to some website that has free downloads. i didn't read the terms and conditions.

yetserday before i went to sleep i found that freakin horrible email in my message box. it said, i am charged 96 € (8€/month; i have to pay a year ahead). bad thing is that it actually said so in the terms and conditions.

 

and it also said they gave me 14 days after the day i signed up to cancel my registration. i called them up today, but it's a national holiday and they don't work saturdays and sundays. however, i was able to send them two mails and i hope they get to read it.

 

the money is due on sunday and if it isn't booked by then, they might send some reminders.

 

wtf.

why does this crap always happen to me?!

 

i couldn't fall asleep last night. and they contract also runs for 2 years. i mean... alright, i would've paid those 96€ once when all if everything else fails, but twice?

seriously, i don't even want to download anything. i'm not gonna use that account anyway.

did you put stuff like your address and card numbers in there? or just your email address?

just address and email.

 

i know i am stupid. i should've been more careful.

 

basically, i cant do anything until they answer my messages, but i can't think of anything else. and my heartbeats are kind of unsteady. :dozey: this really bothers me.

where do you downloaded open office from? :confused:

i download it from their site and didn't had to pay anything ... is a free software. :uhoh:

try going on the site and going through your options and seeing if you can delete your address from it and stuff? or put a fake one. it must happen to them all the time. so if you change it to some random words, when it comes to them chasing you, all they have is an email address. which isn't enough, so they'll give up and there you go.

^ for real?

 

i guess i really need to get them on the phone on monday and explain the situation. they can check if i downloaded anyhting ( and i haven't!). and open office is seemingly a free programme. seriously, they must understand that. :cry:

 

i just need to take my mind off things. i'm worried sick about this.

you might as well try it, grace. :P all i know is, if they're going to chase you, they'll do it through your address, not your email. email accounts are way to disposable.

they got my ip address. they'll hunt me down.

i doubt they'd go to the effort, to be honest. i'm assuming this happens to them a lot.

they got my ip address. they'll hunt me down.

hunt you down with no mercy,hunt you down all nightmare long

 

Anyway this is some serious shit. My parents would kill me

hunt you down with no mercy,hunt you down all nightmare long

 

Anyway this is some serious shit. My parents would kill me

 

 

 

thanks for that. you're really helping.

thanks for that. you're really helping.

Well in fact the major has been done by you,there is nothing wise I could add to your advices.

Try to sort it out yourself and if that doesn't work then tell your parents. I'm sure thay will understand more than you think.

I don't see how they can charge you for free software, which means the terms & conditions probably say its a membership fee or something like that.

 

to be honest, as cross as your parents might be, getting them in to help you sort it out now may well be for the best.

 

when my parents were away years ago, the toilet broke. i called a plumber from the yellow pages who came out, said he couldn't fix it without pulling the tiles off, it would cost £40 an hour, and he'd come back, and that if diodn't go ahead would still charge for the first visit. I talked to my Grandpa about it, who saw it for the con it was, rang the plumber, and the plumber never came back or asked for the money.

Poor Grace :(

 

The moral of the story is to keep to well known download sites, either the main website for that software or cnet's downloads (http://downloads.cnet.co.uk/)

they got my ip address. they'll hunt me down.

 

No, they won't. Without a credit card number, there isn't a lot that they even can do.

 

It sounds like a scam to me- make you think you're getting something free, hide a fee in the terms and conditions, and then much later ask for money. If even one in 100 suckers fall for it, they'll make a fortune. Normally legitimate things like that will ask for payment up front.

 

Basically, they have an email address(hopefully hotmail or gmail so they won't have much to go on), a regular address, and possibly an ip address. Ip addresses don't mean much without your isp's cooperation- just ask the record companies that sue anonymous ips for copyright infringment. If you used your real regular address, that could give you problems. I would change it if you can log on.

 

So if emails or phonecalls work, that's great. If they have a problem tell them you don't even have a credit card and wouldn't have signed up if they had clearly asked for one. If that doesn't work just don't pay. What are they going to do? Harass you with emails? Oh no, the horror. Delete them. If they show up on your doorstep to harass you call the police for trespassing. 8 euros a month wouldn't cover the hired help anyway, so it's never ever going to happen. End of story. For all they know you didn't even use your real name. If they wanted money, they should have asked for it up front.

 

If you're still worried then by all means tell your parents because it doesn't matter they are not going to get one cent and there is nothing they can do about it. It's just a scam. Downplay it all as one of those silly internet things, because that's all it is. Hey there's this silly site that asks for money after you sign up for the free service. Aren't they silly to think I'd ever actually pay them now that I don't need them.

 

(And this, in a nutshell, is why I never use my real address when signing up for sketchy sites.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

^ like she said. and the only thing that will happen is that the license for the software will expire. They can't charge you without a credit card. Just uninstall the software and download it from:

http://www.openoffice.org/

so, i don't even have the software.

the thing is that it's not a scam. it's a serious website.

and i am afraid to log on because they might think logging on is a way of submitting?

 

i have no idea what to do.

i mean... i could pay those 96 euro but i really don't want to pay them again next year.

i just want to ring them up on monday and hope they understand it, i mean don't even have openoffice now. and i'm scared of changing the address because they might have saved the old one, too.

nah, they don't care. open office is a freeware. it shouldn't require any of that information to download and install it. you probably installed a suite that included open office and some spamware... you might want to see if you can find the other software and uninstall it if it is still asking you to renew a subscription

^ no, it's not like that.

 

 

it's like a website with membership and you can download all sorts of programmes.

which website?

opendownload.de

hmm. i wasn't able to get the page to load. i was going to try and find an unsubscribe/unregister link

I stuck that web address in google. Its looking very much as though it may not be a legitimate site. Have a read of some of these:

 

http://utterinsanity.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/opendowloadde/

 

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/adwords/thread?tid=4a93b2c09286a7c5&hl=de

 

http://schlaflos-in-mainz.de/2009/01/05/opendownloadde-thats-eur-96-please/

 

http://www.phishmail.de/2008/10/scam-site-des-monats-opendownload/

 

 

I would definitely consider talking to your parents at this point. I'd also consider talking to the german consumer council who seem to be aware of the problem.

and reading the comments on the first blog, might be worth contacting the company who's free software you were trying to download in the first place. they may be able to do something about the site.