WARNING. Videoblocks.com deceptive free trial.

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dotcom

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Plain and simply put they are deceptive. Yes they put free trial and no obligation in bold but if you read the fine print. (Whoever does?) you will see they will bill you $50.00 without notice. It's negative billing. It's a terrible way to do business and I will avoid this company and warn others to avoid them.

I have pleaded with the company to refund my $50.00 and they just point to the ToS. Yes they may be right but since I tried the service for 2 days and downloaded 9 clips I hardly think the $50.00 charge is fair practice.

The email originally came via MacLife magazine and since I respect them as one of the most reputable magazines available I felt "safe" to give Videoblocks a trial. I have been bitten once and warn others to avoid this company now. Lest they get bitten. I found this discussion by a Google for "VideoBlocks.com sucks" so I trust others will find this warning and take heed.

If you have a good experience with a company you tell 2 people. If you have a bad experience you tell 10 people. I am certain I am not the only one to get a surprise bill for $50.00 and cancel immediately. They can view their own stats to confirm this and that will be an indicator of how many people they have ripped off.

The ToS state you have use only while you are a subscriber. Therefore, since I have cancelled my subscription, the 9 clips I have downloaded are useless and not available for me to use. So I gave them $50.00 for NOTHING!
 
Wow thanks, I too signed up for their free trial through creative cow. Luckily I was able to cancel my account before they charged me.

dotcom said:
Plain and simply put they are deceptive. Yes they put free trial and no obligation in bold but if you read the fine print. (Whoever does?) you will see they will bill you $50.00 without notice. It's negative billing. It's a terrible way to do business and I will avoid this company and warn others to avoid them.

I have pleaded with the company to refund my $50.00 and they just point to the ToS. Yes they may be right but since I tried the service for 2 days and downloaded 9 clips I hardly think the $50.00 charge is fair practice.

The email originally came via MacLife magazine and since I respect them as one of the most reputable magazines available I felt "safe" to give Videoblocks a trial. I have been bitten once and warn others to avoid this company now. Lest they get bitten. I found this discussion by a Google for "VideoBlocks.com sucks" so I trust others will find this warning and take heed.

If you have a good experience with a company you tell 2 people. If you have a bad experience you tell 10 people. I am certain I am not the only one to get a surprise bill for $50.00 and cancel immediately. They can view their own stats to confirm this and that will be an indicator of how many people they have ripped off.

The ToS state you have use only while you are a subscriber. Therefore, since I have cancelled my subscription, the 9 clips I have downloaded are useless and not available for me to use. So I gave them $50.00 for NOTHING!
Click to expand...
 
Did you expect that they were going to give you a bunch of their products for free? You might not be satisfied with the service, but they have a TOS page which is pretty plain:

"Guarantee
The Video Blocks Guarantee:

We think you are going to love your Video Blocks subscription. But to make you feel even more confident, here is our guarantee to you:

You can cancel at any time, no questions asked: You may cancel your subscription at any point, and your current billing cycle will be your last. You will not be billed for the next monthly billing cycle.
.
There are never any additional fees: Your monthly membership fee gives you the right to use the clips you download in all types of projects, royalty free. There are no additional fees for usage.
.
Downloads Are Safe: Our site is scanned daily by McAfee to ensure that all files are safe to download. We are a Certified McAfee Secure site.
.
Your Information is Safe: We use Verisign SSL certificates to encrypt all sensitive information, such as billing information.
.
Refunds: You may request a full refund for up to 30 days from the date your trial or subscription started, as long as you have not downloaded any clips. Unfortunately, given the nature of our business we cannot provide any refunds if you have downloaded clips. (This is because we pay our content providers commissions based on downloads of their files).
If you have any additional questions please call us! We are here to help: 866-282-5360"



Although you might be frustrated that you were billed, to call these outfit deceptive might be stretching a bit since they didn't deceive you. You just failed to read what was in plain sight; an entire page with the above quoted terms. This isn't a tough read, you just didn't do it. Their business model leases the use of their stock footage or effects. There are other services that sell this type of content outright. Either way, there is no free lunch.

I have no interest in this outfit, and I have no grudge with the OP, but this seems like an unfair claim against the company.

Grant
 
Don't ever buy a house/car or sign any other contract.

Life has fine print.

It's not their fault you chose to not read it.
 
If I understand correctly, they have a seven-day free trial period during which if you download any clips, you will be charged.
 
They aren't deceptive. You signed up for a recurring subscription. I guess you've never had an online subscription before?

Even if it was, on a computer fine print can be resized to be larger from within the browser. ;-) Also the plan you signed up for is called "$49/month after 7-day trial."
 
adamr316 said:
They aren't deceptive. [...]
Click to expand...

Not including their return policy, particularly when it states that downloaded clips will incur a month's fee, along with all of the other free trial offer details, is definitely deceptive.

Free Subscription Trial:
You will be asked for valid credit card information when you sign up for the free trial. Videoblocks.com will use the credit card information for future subscription fees should you fail to terminate the trial subscription within the timeframe provided by Videoblocks.com. We will start your 7-day free trial upon completion of your trial signup. You may cancel your trial subscription without charge at any time within 7 days of placing your order. If you do not cancel your free trial subscription within 7 days of the date you start your trial, your subscription will continue automatically and the monthly fee will be billed to the credit card or other billing source provided by you when you signed up for the trial, on the first day of each successive subscription term.

Nowhere here does it state that if you download a clip, you will need to pay for a month. Only in a separate area of the site is that fact revealed:

Refunds: You may request a full refund for up to 30 days from the date your trial or subscription started, as long as you have not downloaded any clips. Unfortunately, given the nature of our business we cannot provide any refunds if you have downloaded clips. (This is because we pay our content providers commissions based on downloads of their files).

One should not need to examine every page of a web site in order to know a very important detail concerning a free trial period. No doubt that fact should have been included in the free subscription trial information.
 
I actually know the guy who runs it and he's on the level (actually owns footage firm and about a dozen others, and is only a few years older than me...bastard). To be fair though, that's how a lot of these trials generate income, is with people who forget to cancel. It seems a little underhanded but it's just a business that counts on ignorance, like the lottery.
 
They are deceptive according to the new FTC guides

They are deceptive according to the new FTC guides

I tried a trial, and found the server pretty slow, I tried to download one file, got 700 k of a 300MB file, and gave up, just did not see how I could really download enough files at that slow rate to be able to make it worth the cost of admission. When I asked for a refund, they said that they could not give me a refund because I had tried to download a file, :Drogar-Kriz(DBG): Amazing way to run a business, I did find that they are in violation of the new FTC guides which states that any "Free" offer which requires the use of a credit card must conspicuously, post on the same page as the offer, the cost involved in any free offer or trial.

Clearly they are not currently in compliance, as the terms which indicate the cost are buried in a link on a separate page, If you have also had some issue with this company I would encourage you to complain to the BBB, the FTC, and the Attorney general of the state of Virginia.

I ended up paying 39.00 for a 700 K "attempt" at download one file, I believe that is not only a bad business model but it is also illegal immoral and despicable.

The truth is that they are not honest or upfront about what they are doing or where the files come from.

There are many better places to order products like this from, including, footage firm, which I have used many times in the past with no such problems as this company, its sad when a man has to act like a coward in order to beat someone out of a few bucks.
 
^ Open a dispute with the issuer of your credit card. You didn't download a clip. Therefore, a refund must be given according to their policy. Make sure you state that the attempt was made to download a file - and failed.
 
I was just on the phone with my credit card CO and a rep from VIDEOBLOCKS and they love to use the words Terms & Conditions but they did not like it when I pointed out that I was cut off the minute I canceled the service and could not use the service. They said they would reactivate the service for 30 days and I said it is not in your Terms & Conditions. I told them the truth is that I had not signed up for a service from Sept 10th to Oct 10th and did not need their service and I was not paying for services I was locked out on.

Here is a copy of my original complaint to my credit card Co that resulted in the call I got. I am also local to this Co and I am thinking real hard about suing them.

To: HSBC Card Services
PO Box 81622
Salinas CA 93912-1622


I am notifying HSBC that I believe that VIDEO BLOCKS.COM RESTON VA made a false representation of why the wanted my credit card. I am attaching a screen grab that show where they said it was needed to keep people from abusing the free sign up.


After speaking to their Rep on 9-1-2011, she advised me that it was stated in the terms and conditions that there was auto billing after the 7 days. This contradicts what the prompt says when I signed up. I would note that I contacted Video Blocks within 24 hours of the billing and I left a detailed message as no one was answering the phone. I also canceled the service through the web at that time (8-27-2011). They want to bill me for a 30 day time period from 8-26-2011 to 9-26-2011 when now I can not even access the site because I canceled the service. I have not used this service at anytime during the one day that the service was active.


Disputes are
1. Website gave conflicting and deceptive information that got me to give up my credit card info.


2. Service is billed for a 30 time period, I canceled it on the first day off billing but can no longer have access as a result and can't use the service I have been billed for. I would expect to be able to use the service till it ran out otherwise. I AM BEING BILLED FOR A SERVICE I HAVE NO ACCESSES TOO


3. I have not used the paid service and am being billed for that service.


I canceled on line and was give no confirmation. Please note is HSBC does not decide in my favor I intend to inform Video Blocks that I want to got to arbitration on this matter. I am asking HSBC to withhold payment till this is resolved.


Paul XXXXXX
1488 XXXXXXX


XXXna, VA X2XX2
X03-7X4-X8X5
XXXXX3@me.com
Account Number XXXX
Case ID# XXXXXXXXX
 
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Videoblocks

Videoblocks

I too, entered into a "free trial" with this scam. And yes, a free trial is free, period, given the print they provide on that page. Sorry, that's what it offers. And when you use this free service and contact the dealer after SIX days (not SEVEN), you do not plan to see $79 charged to your bank account! So, I'll not bore anyone with my similar situation. Many attempts to correct the situation have gone without response back. That speaks for itself right there. One expects some sort of semblance to the FTC these days. The internet is not the frontier west anymore. FTC guides require that any "Free" offer which requires the use of a credit card must conspicuously, post on the same page as the offer, the cost involved in any free offer or trial. Sorry, adkimery- you do not "know" this guy, for real. I did not forget to cancel and this guy has one purpose in mind. I think it's great if you had a good experience but that has llittle to do with the way he is operating now. And there are way too many people (just google it) to come to any other conclusion judging by theeir experiences. We can't all be loonies....
 
Videoblocks keeps changing its story!

Videoblocks keeps changing its story!

I just pulled this off their facebook page. It proves that they say the only reason they want you card is to prevent multi accounts and nothing about the billing.

  • Jeffery Campbell Videoblocks is a good website for vids, but they want your credit card number right off the bat for any free vids etc. it is like going to the store and just browsing and offered a free sample, but you must leave your credit card number with them or you can not have the free sample. When I taste the free sample or try on the clothes, if acceptable, then I will do the appropiate credit card act. Not before.August 15 at 6:28pm · Like



    http://www.facebook.com/VideoBlocks#


    Jacob Hodgman Agreed Jeff. Also, the posts can be very misleading. The one about building the 'ultimate' edit suite at home barely covered the basics required for a beginner.August 15 at 7:59pm · Like



    http://www.facebook.com/VideoBlocks#


    VideoBlocks.com ‎@Jeff--Thanks for sharing your concern. Unfortunately, we have to require the credit card information as a way of identifying unique accounts. We tried to allow the free trials without a credit card number in the past, but too many people abused the system by creating multiple accounts. As a result, we had to start using the credit card number system.August 15 at 8:08pm · Like



    http://www.facebook.com/VideoBlocks#


    VideoBlocks.com ‎@Jacob--Thanks for your input! We have many customers of different experience levels, so what may be an appropriate blog for one may be too basic for another. We'll keep your comments in mind and create a more in depth blog on that same subject in the future.August 15 at 8:09pm · Like · 1 person




    ​


 
Videoblocks given FTC Info

Videoblocks given FTC Info

For anyone else having issues with them, I recommend that you read this as a tool to aid you. If I still see complaints on the web in the next 30 days I will forward them to the VA Attorney General, the BBB and the FTC. I hope Videoblocks is done with this type of thing.

Before I copy and paste my least email response to Nikki at Videoblocks, please understand that this is in response to her reaching out to me on ripoffreport.com.

Dear Nikki, thank you for reaching out to me at my post on Ripoffreport.com. I would like to take you up on your offer to refund my money. First I should let you know that the bill is currently held up as a result of my challenging it through my credit card company, as you must have gathered from my posting that you responded too. I am going to share that printout of your post with them. Also if you have contact information for them to reach you directly, I will pass that along. I would like to first resolve it through them. Any supporting documentation you can provide would be helpful.


I would like to share with you some things I found that might be of value to your company. While it may or may not have been the intention of Videoblocks to mislead anyone, I can only believe that things got serious enough, as you said, they hired you to smooth things out.


# 1 The word "FREE" means that, free. To carry over clips from a free trail to a billing cycle later is not free. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a number of rules regarding the usage of the word FREE and what disclosures must accompany it. Primarily they state that any offer using the word FREE must have all stipulations and terms located next to the the offer and not in a remote location such as in your companies terms and conditions. I am going to copy the US Code on this for you to review. From what I have read, this is one big factor in the disputes I have seen posted on the net. I also would recommend that email confirmations of both activation and cancellation would go a long way in allowing a perspective customer know what they have just agreed too and to provide them of proof. Lastly, I would recommend that Videoblocks review the language on its site that suggest, the only reason it wants a credit card is for a non billing reason. To further support my concern I located on your Facebook page a response to a customer, validating that they wanted the credit card info to keep people from signing up for multiple free accounts, it made no mention of billing and in fact implied just the opposite.


So here is what I see, right or wrong.
1. Advertisement (Creative Cow) and main page missing vital terms required by the TFC.
2. Statements as to why Videoblocks wants the credit card on the main page being for non billing reasons.
3. Billing info and terms located in the terms and conditions, mid way in, in a manor pointed out by the FTC as being incorrect.
= mass confusion and upset folks.


Also, when I canceled, I again did not get any notice and I was blocked from logging in. If your company does that then it should not bill the person for service it wont let them have access too.


Please feel free to contact me directly for any questions, as I look forward to resolving this matter per your request as quickly as possible..


Paul XXXXXX
XXX-XXX-XXXX
XXXXXX@XX.com


[TABLE="width: 580"]
[TR]
[TD]
FTC GUIDE CONCERNING USE OF THE WORD ``FREE''AND SIMILAR REPRESENTATIONS​
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]




§251.1 The guide.
(2) Because the purchasing public continually searches for the best buy, and regards the offer of ``Free'' merchandise or service to be a special bargain, all such offers must be made with extreme care so as to avoid any possibility that consumers will be misled or deceived.
(b) Meaning of ``Free''. (1) The public understands that, except in the case of introductory offers in connection with the sale of a product or service (See paragraph (f) of this section), an offer of ``Free'' merchandise or service is based upon a regular price for the merchandise or service which must be purchased by consumers in order to avail themselves of that which is represented to be ``Free''. In other words, when the purchaser is told that an article is ``Free'' to him if another article is purchased, the word ``Free'' indicates that he is paying nothing for that article and no more than the regular price for the other. Thus, a purchaser has a right to believe that the merchant will not directly and immediately recover, in whole or in part, the cost of the free merchandise or service by marking up the price of the article which must be purchased, by the substitution of inferior merchandise or service, or otherwise.
c) Disclosure of conditions. When making ``Free'' or similar offers all the terms, conditions and obligations upon which receipt and retention of the ``Free'' item are contingent should be set forth clearly and conspicuously at the outset of the offer so as to leave no reasonable probability that the terms of the offer might be misunderstood. Stated differently, all of the terms, conditions and obligations should appear in close conjunction with the offer of ``Free'' merchandise or service. For example, disclosure of the terms of the offer set forth in a footnote of an advertisement to which reference is made by an asterisk or other symbol placed next to the offer, is not regarded as making disclosure at the outset. However, mere notice of the existence of a ``Free'' offer on the main display panel of a label or package is not precluded provided that (1) the notice does not constitute an offer or identify the item being offered ``Free'', (2) the notice informs the customer of the location, elsewhere on the package or label, where the disclosures required by this section may be found, (3) no purchase or other such material affirmative act is required in order to discover the terms and conditions of the offer, and (4) the notice and the offer are not otherwise deceptive.
(38 Stat. 717, as amended; 15 U.S.C. 41 - 58)
[36 FR 21517, Nov. 10, 1971]


[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 16, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2010]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 16CFR425.1]


[Page 430-432]
TITLE 16--COMMERCIAL PRACTICES

CHAPTER I--FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

PART 425_USE OF PRENOTIF ICA TION NEGATIVE OPTION PLANS--
Table of Contents

Sec. 425.1 The rule.


(1) Promotional material shall clearly and conspicuously disclose
the material terms of the plan, including:


In addition I have done reseal on federal rules regarding Free Trials. This is what I found:


The FTC calls this (Negative Options Marketing)


Current procedures for legal negative options
Under the current rules, there are seven terms that a seller must clearly disclose in order to legally offer negative options deals to consumers, including:
  • Terms for subscribers to notify sellers of their desire not to purchase a selection.
  • Minimum purchase obligations.
  • Whether billing charges include postage and handling.
  • Notification of a minimum of 10 days to reject a selection (and the requirement that if a subscriber was not given 10 days to cancel their selection, the promise that the return of the selection plus postage and handling, will be credited to the subscriber).
  • The frequency that announcements and forms will be sent.
  • The maximum number of announcements subscribers can expect.
  • The right to cancel.
Being that the trail period was only 7 days and not 10 and that I rejected the offer in 1 day of being billed and activated I would suggest that Videoblocks is in violation of FTC Rules.


This is a direct lift from the FTC website and it looks to be a warning to the exact behavior of Videoblocks.


Whiter Teeth? Flatter Stomach? Shinier Hair?
Whether it's for a teeth whitener, vitamin or kitchen gadget, all free trials eventually end. And typically, if you don't want to buy what you've tried, you need to cancel or take some other action before the trial is up. If you don't, you may be agreeing to buy more products.
But some dishonest businesses make it tough to cancel, hiding the terms and conditions of their offers in teensy type, using pre-checked sign-up boxes as the default setting online, and putting conditions on returns and cancellations that are so strict it could be next to impossible to stop the deliveries and the billing.


This was lifted from the Bureau of Consumer Protection - TFC for WEB RULES


GENERAL OFFERS AND CLAIMS
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES​



The Federal Trade Commission Act allows the FTC to act in the interest of all consumers to prevent deceptive and unfair acts or practices. In interpreting Section 5 of the Act, the Commission has determined that a representation, omission or practice is deceptive if it is likely to:
  • mislead consumers and
  • affect consumers' behavior or decisions about the product or service.
Other points to consider:
  • Disclaimers and disclosures must be clear and conspicuous. That is, consumers must be able to notice, read or hear, and understand the information. Still, a disclaimer or disclosure alone usually is not enough to remedy a false or deceptive claim.
Nikki, I hope this helps Videoblocks make choices that are helpful in their future marketing and customer relations.


Paul
 
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I retract my previous statement. VideoBlocks/Footage Firm is being deceptive by not stating in large fonts that you'll be charged if you download a clip. To bury that in fine print is ridiculous.
 
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