posted on April 9, 2002 09:23:25 AM new
In mid March I signed up for a free trial at auctionhawk.com for hosting and launching my auctions. Jason the owner seemed very nice and helpful. I signed up for a plan at $16.99 per month for unlimited listings and 10 megs of storage. 3 days after signing up I recevied a notice that the prices were increasing. The same level of service I signed up was now $32.99 per month. I immediately sent and email stating to cancel the account. I had already launched quite a few auctions. I was told that the account would be cancelled. I then inquired about the already running auctions as to what would happen to them. Jason said I would have to pay for a minimum account of $4.99 to allow my images to remain on his server until the auctions closed. On the morning of April 1st all my images were gone on current auctions. I had provided a credit card for the $4.99 as I was instructed to do. I emailed stating that my images were gone and that this was a poor way to run a business. I immediately got a nasty response stating my credit card had been declined and that he had attempted to send 25 emails requesting a payment. These 25 emails never were received. Later that day I received a threatening letter stating that I had been misrepresenting Auction Hawk and that I had 48 hours to "Cease & Desist" this activity or the FBI and local authorities would be notified and I would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. This guy is a psychopathic lunatic.
Today I just received my online credit card statement and I was billed $15.97 by Auction Hawk...what the heck is this???
This message is a warning that this could easily happen to you if you choose this company for auction services.
posted on April 9, 2002 09:46:52 AM new
Marcn, your situation is unfortunate. You can always perform a chargeback through your credit card company if you feel the charge is unjustified. Forward your e-mail along with the chargeback request.
Just goes to show that you have to consider the source when you read opinions about a company. marcn you were praising them just a few weeks ago... And here I thought you were a long time user! tekgems.com
posted on April 9, 2002 10:04:01 AM new
Yes, a few weeks ago all seemed fine. I never said I was a long time user, just that their service created very nice ads and was easy to use. It has a lot of potential but not when they act the way they do. I was evaluating various services to handle the large increase of volume I am now starting to do on eBay.
posted on April 9, 2002 11:01:47 AM new
I am not having any heartburn over this. Just wanted to let others know that may be considering this service. I use many different tools for posting including SA Pro and Shooting Star.
posted on April 9, 2002 02:58:10 PM new
Your posting your experiences with Auction Hawk is appreciated, and important to sellers like me who might have considered them.
For them to try to stop you from sharing your experiences with other sellers is very telling. After all, there is nothing stopping them and other Auction Hawk users from posting comments to answer you, to praise them, or to apologize.
Further, it is your right to post your experiences, and you can not be sued for stating opinions in newsgroups. What twits they must be at Auction Hawk.
And til I hear otherwise, your account is enough to put Auction Hawk on my "caveat emptor" list.
posted on April 9, 2002 09:00:29 PM new
I tried to use a certain UN-NAMED auction-mgmt service, and here are some observations:
1) Seems to be a 1-man op who gets overwhelmed with email questions: mine are often non-responsive to the question. Like he doesn't match his response to your email.
2) He is super-sensitive to your usage during the "FREE TRIAL" and can appear a little aggressive to get the moola out of ya!
3) I was unable to use the templetes -- although I have no trouble with anybody elses.
4) For FREE you get just about the same or better with SD...PLUS ya get to communicate with with Tomas, who is, at least, a NICE-GUY!
posted on April 9, 2002 09:08:48 PM new
Thank you, when you talked about them before I started looking into them, hadn't gotten around to switching yet, and now I won't.
THANKS
