Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  07/31/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I subscribed for a membership in February 2023 on this website because it was advertised as a community to help black podcasters. I never received any community updates so I reached out via their online contact form to request that they cancel my membership. Please note that there is absolutely no way to cancel your membership, delete your account or remove your payment information from their website. I never received a response back when I reached out in May. I reached out again a few weeks later in June via the same contact form to request that my membership be cancelled. I received a response asking to confirm the name of my podcast. I responded back and never heard anything back. I then reached out again a few weeks after that and still no response. This company is still charging me a monthly fee of $20 for a membership that I do NOT want. Since all of my attempts for contact have been unsuccessful, I called my bank on June 28 to dispute the $20 membership fees for ***** My bank submitted my dispute, cancelled my debit card, and sent me a new card. After I received my new card, I got an email on July 9th that Blk Pod Collective was unsuccessful in collecting a monthly payment for July - which was expected given that I had a new card. Then on July 18, I received another email from Blk Pod Collective with a receipt stating that my payment was successfully processed. I went online to see that this website now had access to my new card number. I'm not sure how this happened but this should be illegal especially given the fact that this company does not have a privacy policy on their website which is required by law. I am requesting a refund from May-July 2023 (total $60). I am also requesting that ALL of my information be deleted from their website immediately. I finally found their email address online and I emailed them directly on July 20 to request a refund and for my information to be removed for their site. I still have not received a response.

  Business response

  07/31/2023

  To address ******************************* complaints below are the details in response:

  ******* became a member February 2, 2023, but never took part in any of our community offerings or workshops.

  As attached in the supporting documents you'll see that she received emails about events, workshops and community meetups on March 23, April 12, April 26, May 10 and May 24. So the allegations that she never received any community updates are completely false as she also opened each of these emails on the same day that they were sent. 

  ******* emailed us on **** 21 to cancel her membership and someone emailed her back that same day asking for more information seeing that the email she emailed from was not in our system (she emailed with *************************************** and what we have in our system is *******************).

  Unfortunately, on **** 23, we were locked out of our email due to a new intern. It's taken us a month to gain access back to our account, and in doing so on July 31st we immediately processed her refund and cancelled her membership. 

  Her $20 monthly payment was processed on **** 18th, and she contacted us on **** 21st to cancel her payment; hence the only month she was due a refund was July; however, for her inconvenience we still processed her refund for **** & July.

  We are a small organization built on community and we do not advertise for new members as we strictly want people who want to be apart of our community and pour into our community as a whole and not just take. We are happy that we were able to refund ******* her money so she can find a community better suited for her.

   

  Customer response

  07/31/2023

   
  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. I have requested via email (attached) that my information be deleted from their website as soon as my refund is processed.  
  
  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. ↩