Two years ago, when Photobucket ceased being a "free" site, and suddenly increased their "premium account" fees, we asked them to close our account. It took a month, but finally the account was closed - or so we thought. We had been paying the $39.95 per annum for the "hassle free" access, and assumed that would end.
Well, yesterday our PayPal account was charged $39.95 from Photobucket. We protested the charge with PayPal, and PayPal quickly got back to us. They said that the agreement (between Photobucket/PayPal/Us) was still in place, so they had to honor the $39.95 charge.
However, since we cannot get Photobucket to sever the agreement, PayPal will do so - hopefully disallowing future access of our account by Photobucket.
My question is, have any of you encountered this yet? And if you had the agreement with Photobucket/PayPal, is it severed? Or not?
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
That is a real bummer, mobilman. I cannot be of any help here, since my PB account was the free type. As soon as they started charging fees for accounts, I simply stopped using the PB website. Fortunately, PB never had access to any of my credit cards or PayPal.
Rich
Alton Junction
I never signed up for "Recurring Payments" when I did have an active account they would send me an email saying payment was due.
I think by default accounts were set to automatically renew unless you actively told them not to. I was "grandfathered" to the old rate until May of this year. I do not plan to renew.
I hope you can get a refund.
Good Luck, Ed
PB´s business model now seems to be based on fraud.
I am glad I never told them any of my bank or payment details. What a crummy organisation!
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Pretty sad way to go.....A number of us were using PB, and I suspect many would have gladly paid a nominal fee for the service if the onset of it was done properly.
In our case, PayPal has assured us that the Photobuckets "door" to our PayPal is closed, and that is a nice assurance. While we could fight the $40 they took from us, I don't think its worth the effort and in fact is very likely a losing battle.
mobilman,
Since you closed your account with PB 2 years ago, I'd take them up on it and contact them again via email. If it wasn't renewed one year after dropping the account but is after two - that's an error on them.
I would fight it further with PB. $40 is $40...but that's just me.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstage mobilman, Since you closed your account with PB 2 years ago, I'd take them up on it and contact them again via email. If it wasn't renewed one year after dropping the account but is after two - that's an error on them. I would fight it further with PB. $40 is $40...but that's just me. Tom
The fact that you weren't billed in 2018 is clear evidence that the fault is theirs, not yours.
richhotrainThe fact that you weren't billed in 2018 is clear evidence that the fault is theirs, not yours.
Mike
I agree, Mel. I find that a polite but firm email with logical flow and thought helps resolve issues like this.
I think that PayPal shares the blame. PP claims that it has to honor the agreement, but if PP has the ability to confirm the existence of an agreement with PB, then why didn't PP take notice of an absence of any 2018 billing. And, since the OP previously cancelled the agreement, presumably in 2017, and PB failed to notify PP, the agreement has been breached. PP should refund the $39.99 to the OP and then PP should fight it out with PB. That is what PP claims that it will do with erroneous charges.
And me. I would 2nd Tom's suggestion and email PB demanding a refund.
I also. We see the problems that MR has with the internet, so there may not be anything delibertately sinister about the charge. Just more of PB's incompetance.
PP makes it clear you are first to try to work it out with the seller (PB) before you go to their resolution center.
I've had good luck with my credit card company in dealing with problems, for instance I made a campaign contribution for $X and there were two charges for $X. Also had a mailorder charge for a store out west that I did not make. A call to the credit card company fixed both without any charge or hassle to me.
With all the hacking of websites, I a haven't had the same credit card number for two years. An unintended safeguard of using a credit card.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I'd been with a free photobucket account for a number of years, but eventually opted for a paid account, as internet traffic, especially by search engines, was using-up my monthly allotment of bandwidth in two weeks or less.The paid account allowed unlimited bandwidth and an enormous amount of free photo storage. My photos are mostly a very small file-size, so with almost 6500 photos stored there, I've used just slightly over 5% of my allotted storage!
When photobucket changed their policies, they "grandfathered" my paid account (due in August each year) until the end of 2017 (at no charge), at which time they offered me a better version of the account I had, with only a minimal increase in cost. Since I was paying anyways, I accepted their offer and am generally pleased with their service. The site, I believe, has been sold (or perhaps merely structurally re-organised) and while it is sometimes a bit on the slow side, continues to serve me well. Their tech support has been outstanding any time I required assistance, certainly going well-beyond what I would have expected. I previously payed when my account was due to expire, but eventually signed-on for automatic renewal. I've made provision for having that cancelled when I expire, so when my photos here disappear, you'll know that I have disappeared too.
Wayne
lesson to be learned, always have auto payments by credit card, much easier to fix. I do have a pp account but all things I have set up with for auto pay are card linked. That being said if you contact PB and don't get it fixed, go back to PP and talk to a higher up.
Much like Wayne, I am a happy photobucket user. The current fees are very reasonable in my mind.
I was once a big paypal user, not so much anymore now that I stopped selling tractor parts, or much of anything, on Ebay.
There are often mixups with automatic subscription payments, PP and PB are no different in this regard.
Sheldon
I really got hammered by Lone Wolf Development, the publisher of Army Builder software.
.
Since that bad experience, I only use PayPal for eBay and nothing is linked to my bank account.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
The one thing I have learned is to never auto renew or autopay any recurring bills/obligations. If you are in a dispute you are better off holding your money rather than trying to get the other party to fork over a refund. And, I would also consider copying the Attorney General's office in the state where you live. Don't threaten PP or PB or whoever, just do it. AGs love to get involved with consumer disputes because usually they don't have anything to do with the really sexy criminal cases. Check and see if there is a consumer fraud division in your AGs office, and copy them, or just copy the AG directly. It may take a while but you should get a response.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
Ever since Photobucket started charging, I gave up on them. I wasn't about to pay $400 a year to share my own pictures.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Medina1128 Ever since Photobucket started charging, I gave up on them. I wasn't about to pay $400 a year to share my own pictures.
If that had been the case, I would have opted out, too, but the account I have allows unlimited bandwidth and storage amounts far beyond what I will ever need. I currently have over 6400 photos in photobucket, using only 5.17% of my allowable storage capacity. The cost is just slightly over 10% of that $400.00 amount they were originally throwing around, and even taking into account the fact that I'm paying an exchange rate of about 25% due to the lousy Canadian dollar, I still feel the price to be reasonable.
If you don't have another hosting site, it may be worthwhile to check them out.
doctorwayne Medina1128 Ever since Photobucket started charging, I gave up on them. I wasn't about to pay $400 a year to share my own pictures. If that had been the case, I would have opted out, too, but the account I have allows unlimited bandwidth and storage amounts far beyond what I will ever need. I currently have over 6400 photos in photobucket, using only 5.17% of my allowable storage capacity. The cost is just slightly over 10% of that $400.00 amount they were originally throwing around, and even taking into account the fact that I'm paying an exchange rate of about 25% due to the lousy Canadian dollar, I still feel the price to be reasonable. If you don't have another hosting site, it may be worthwhile to check them out. Wayne
Wayne, that's when I started storing my online pics to IMGBB.com. They allow posting to 3rd parties without charging any fees.
Medina1128 Wayne, that's when I started storing my online pics to IMGBB.com. They allow posting to 3rd parties without charging any fees.
Free is good!
I still have an active account at Photobucket but things don't seem to be functioning the way the "old" Photobucket used to work.
One thing I've noticed is that when I click on a P-B photo and I'm taken to their site the photo does not open in a larger format the way it used to.
Still, other photos have a large "Photo Hosted By Photobucket" watermark splashed across them. Maybe these are former paying users that have not renewed?
I recall clicking on a photo submitted by a Photobucket user and the photo was enlarged to a point where fine details could be viewed. That no longer seems to be the case.
Cheers, Ed
Ed, most of the ones I post will enlarge if clicked on, and should enlarge further with another click (sometimes the photo, when clicked-on, will appear on the photobucket site, and a click on the magnifying glass icon should yield a full-screen image).
Here's a couple...
I tried them all, and one click got an enlargement within photobucket, and a second click on the magnifying glass gave a somewhat further enlarged image of the last photo, and full-screen images of the first three.
This is what I got from the photo of the hoist area:
PB_x1 by Edmund, on Flickr
I used to get the magnifying glass but it hasn't been there since Photobucket made the "big change"
When I click on the photo of the coal-dump shed I get this screen but no option for enlarging the view:
PBX-2 by Edmund, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
Wayne, when I click, this is all I get.
But, it is good enough for me.
When I click on it, I go to Photobucket, and the regular Photobucket size picture comes up, no magnifying glass.
After I logged into my PB account, I get the regular Photobucket picture, and I can advance, but it doesn't go to more of the Dr.'s pictures, it goes to pics from other members???
You used to be able to look at all the pictures a member had in there. I guess that's changed.
Mike.
My You Tube
mbinsewiAfter I logged into my PB account, I get the regular Photobucket picture, and I can advance, but it doesn't go to more of the Dr.'s pictures, it goes to pics from other members??? You used to be able to look at all the pictures a member had in there. I guess that's changed.
The ability to view all of a photobucket member's photos is controlled by the person to whom the album is registered. Mine was originally "Public", but when my bandwidth useage shot-up dramatically, I changed it to "Private". That may account for the lack of enlargement capabilities, too.
I supposedly now have unlimited bandwidth, so I'll temporarily change that setting to "Public"....here's a LINK.
If you visit, please let me know if the enlargement feature works, as you should be able to get a full-screen image of most photos - there are some older ones there which will not enlarge. Also, try the four photos posted here earlier - perhaps they'll work now.
I will likely revert it to "Private", but will wait to see how it works for others, for now.
Wayne, it says folder is empty.
I just looked at mine, and it is unlocked.