bidmacs.com Review is it a Scam
Penny auction websites at the date i am writing this seem to be popping up left right and center. When one goes under another one emerges at the time i am writing this Bidmacs.com which also has an alias of savefunwin.com is in its early stages yet when i watch the bid wars they all seem to be very competitive. I find this very odd…One would think that when a penny auction website just launches people would be winning auctions at easily with little or no competition but in the current case of bidmacs.com this is far from the case.
Is Bidmacs.com a scam?
First off I would like to say that I personally don’t recommend signing up for bidmacs.com or any other penny auction website but… I was comparing a running bidmacs.com auction to the largest penny auction website online which is currently quibids.com oddly enough the same type of Voucher was receiving the same amount of bids. My personal fear in penny auction websites is that the game is rigged and looking at bidmacs.com really makes me wonder.
its November 2010 when i am writing this and Bidmacs.com is a new penny auction website, a Garmin GPS which retails for around $100 is currently at a price of $70.04 on Bidmacs.com, Bidmacs is a new penny auction website how could they possibly have that many bidders this early on???. I am not saying their game is rigged but some things look suspect to me.
What I don’t like about Bidmacs.com
I don’t like penny auction websites that do not accept paypal as a form of payment. There are plenty of penny auction websites that do if you want to sign up for a penny auction website my advice is to use one that accepts paypal. Reason being is that paypal protects consumers from unexpected or fraud charges on their credit cards. I’ve read and heard of too many stories from consumers who had unexpected charges charged too their credit card bills from fly by night penny auction websites. I’m not saying that bidmacs.com will be involved in these activities but i don’t see or hear many negative stories about penny auction websites that accept paypal payments.
Some Penny Auction Information
In order to participate in a penny auction website you must purchase credits in the case of Bidmacs.com unused credits are refundable which is a step in the right direction most penny auction websites use non refundable credits. The difference between penny auction websites and say a company like eBay.com is every bidder pays for the price of the item . In eBay only the winner pays but because you bid using credits in a penny auction websites once you bid you’ve actually paid at least a part of the price of the desired item. That being said there can only be one winner in a penny auction site and although there will be winners the percentage will be small compared to the membership base.
The larger the membership base of the penny auction website the better things get for the Penny Auction owners and the harder things get for the members. I think penny auctions is something you approach with caution i think if you are going to participate you should understand the risk involved, which is you might spend a hundred dollars and come away empty handed. With some penny auctions you can buy the item at retail even if you lose a bidding war but to me that defeats the purpose.
Lastly I find penny auctions very time consuming have you ever watched those clocks reset it’s annoying justing watching it, it also opens the door for more bidders which means more credits being wasted. To me its a good idea if you’re the owner but being a member in my view is just not worth it. In my opinion auctions should be fair to all parties. In a penny auction website remember the Penny auction owners are the ones with products and also the people running the auctions. Non the less if you want to sign up for bidmacs.com don’t let me stop you
Please leave your comments regarding Bidmacs.com below you’ll help others in their decision making process.
i logged on to this site and was checking out what they had to auction.i put in my charge card imfo.the next thing i knew they billed me $150.00 with out me doing anything.i called them and they agreed to refund my money but after 10 days.
I too logged in to bidmacs and was charged $150 without any notice during the registration process, beware. I complained and they said they will refund my money but now reading the post above by Steve makes me wonder if I’ll ever see my money. Looking at the website if you track one auction once the clock reaches 4 or 5 seconds remaining it resets to 20 sec over and over again to milk the bids, this is a clear scam and who knows how they’ve stacked it with the their own players. Stay away!!!
@ole Olsen Please give your refund request time and let us know what happens, although i don’t like penny auctions lets see how they treat their customers who request refunds. if its not too much for you please let us know how it goes i think your comments could help others in their decision making process.
Same thing here…I logged on to their site for FREE registration/sign up, net thing I know, my credit card is charged for $150. I don’t recall anywhere in the process agreeing to purchase anything. I have requested a refund and have even canceled my credit card. I find this site to be very confusing, and have not plans to use it.
Oh boy! I, too, registered for “free” only to find out (after I had made about 10 fruitless bids as I watched the clock continually reset to 20 secs.) my credit card was going to be charged $150. I immediately send them an email via their customer service site, demanding that my card not be charged and that their site was fraudulent. This was on 11/20/10. Thus far, I have not had a response from them, but no charge has shown up on my credit card. I have tried to get back to their site, but cannot find it anywhere!
The $150 is cleary stated in the fine print if you guys read it all. Yes it is a little misleading with the actual advertisment that the put in big bold letters etc. But for bidmacs.com the fine print states that you will be charged for 300 bids @ a price of $149.99 and then you will receive 50 bids for “free”. This is where the free comes into play. So yes I agree it is a little scammish but if you actually read the fine print it does tell you you will be charged $149.99 for signing up for their “free” registration. Because technically the registration itself is “free” so they’re not lying there. They’re just not upfront about the $150 charge for the 300 bids, plus the additional free bids.
I myself read this before signing up, I feel you should read the fine print before complaining and as a consumer be informed! Every time you sign up for something you are always forced to check the box to agree with their terms and conditions, instead of checking the box and moving on. Read it! Especially for something that “seems to good to be true”.
As for the timer resetting on these sites, again reading the fine print you’ll see that this is done everytime someone puts in a bid to give others a chance to win. This is one reason I do not sign up for these sites, becasue by the time there are people not bidding on them the item has already been paid for based on everyones bids even though the winner may have only used a few bids to actually get the item. Assuming that 50 poeople placed 20 $0.50 bids. There’s $500 right there the company has made, and obviously this is unrealistic because people place more bids than this. But the individual that one may have only placed the 20 bids themself only paying $10.00 for the item.
I wish I had read this before I went on bidmacs. I too registered for bidmacs and did not see anything about a 150.00 charge. I have emailed customer service and it said I would receive a response within 30 minutes…didn’t happen.Now, I get to spend hours on the phone trying to get a refund. Shish!
The same thing happened to me a few minutes ago. I thought I was just signing up for an account but got charged $149.99 to my bank card. It caused an overdraft fee because I don’t have enough in my checking account to cover it. Customer service is closed because today is Thanksgiving. I will try calling them again tomorrow. This is horrible! I will let you guys know if they refund my money.
Very helpful information. I was about to sign up with credit card information but read your posts first. Thanks for the heads up on the bidding process and the net costs involved. I did not offer any credit card information.
Thanks again.
I was linked to their website by a website that is called thenews5.com. Now that I went back to read that site it is not a newspaper at all nor affiliated with any. I too signed up and was charged 149.99. I was in shock. Called but no answer as today is Thanksgiving. Sent them 2 emails and also called my bank, and they said that I had made an “authorized” transaction and to go to them first to get a refund. We will see tomorrow if I have any luck. On another blog that I found says to report them to the BBB of Utah and also to report it to ftccomplaintassistant.gov/. I will see what happens.
OH i went to hat place for bidmacs and register but , i was decline about the charges lol , i just have 75 dlls at my account debit.i did the transaction 2 times and it say no, ok i got the mail saying the proved of the emal adrees and then ok i was logged in , but then i want to bid and it was i have to buy bids, ok i did, and star to bid for card bid but NEVER ENDS!!! THE CLOCK WAS 21 TO 7SEC AND RESTART, OK I WAS WITH THE FEELING BETTER PLACE WITH PAYPAL MORE SECURITY FOR ME BUT OK, I SPEND 50DLLS ON THIS PAGE, OK I WILL GO TOMORROW OR SATUrDAY TO THE BANK AND ASK THE CHARGEBACK of this if they get it ok if not ok but i will ask them NOT TO PAY ANYMORE ANyTHING TO THIS page or companie i hope they help .
I went back and tried to go through the sign up process again, but I still did not see where the $149.99 is in the fine print…I did read the terms and conditions the first time around, and going back, I still just don’t see it. Either way, I don’t want to do business with any company that is basically tricking people into any purchase.
I too registered with this website and now cannot find it anywhere…can anyone tell me how to get in touch with someone at bidmac so I can begin the process of trying to get my money back…
Thanks!
I too was charged $150 without my knowledge. I have emailed customer service which promised a response within 30 minutes, but that didn’t happen. I emailed them to cancel the charge, and again did not get a response. I called them this morning and got message “circuit busy and to call back”.
I received a response from [email protected] this morning that I would get a refund. I will keep you posted if I receive it and when.
Shish, thanks for all your posts. Very informative for people who wants super duper deals like moi.
I thought I would sign up for this penny auction site, almost did until I read these reviews. No thanks
I thought I would register for free to try this penny auction and
did not see anything about the $149.99 charge until after I put in my
info about how I would pay for my purchases. I was threw off the site with an error message so I checked my email to see if I had a confirmation
and discovered an order for a bidpack for 250 plus 50 free bids. I checked my acct. which was in a negative and immediately called the 877-364-9217 number and was told by operator 5114 I would get a full refund in 3-5
days and was given 26 free bids to try it out to see how it works.
I too just signed up for the free registration so I could just look at some of the items. Little did I know, I had been charged 149.99. I almost cried I was so upset that I had no idea I would be charged. Please someone let me know if I can get a refund and cancel my account online since I have to wait till monday to call.
I checked out the site from a pop-up. Thinking it was legit and harmless, I input my credit card info just to get my “free bids”. Come to find out, bidmacs charged my credit card $149.00!!! Supposedly it was stated in fine print that entering my credit card information automatically charges my card and gives me 250 bids… So ofcourse I was furious! It seemed very misleading to me. Usually when I input my credit card, if it were to be charged, their would be a confirmation…. right??? That obviously wasn’t the case. I had to go online to check my bank account to find out it was charged. I got a hold of bidmacs customer service and said they will “Send a request to corporate” to approve my refund!!! So the rep couldn’t confirm I would get my refund. She said it can take 3-12 business days. We’ll see what happens.. DO NOT TRUST THIS SITE!!!
Here’s the issues with the $149 – depending on how you signed up for BidMacs, you may OR may not have had it disclosed. If you registered via a fake news site (channel9newstoday.com) and were directed to savefunwin.com, then during the registration process the $149 is clearly seen on the screen. If you registered directly at BidMac.com, there is ZERO disclosure of the $149 membership fee and you are led to believe you are only buy a bid pack, not a membership.
The big question here is WHY the alternate site savefunwin? This entire operation does not pass the stink test. Best advice: stay completely away from this penny auction site.
what number did you call to get a hold of them?
Wish I read this before I signed up. Thanks for the 149.99 heads up. I just found that I was charged and contacted the site for a refund and cc’d the better business bureau. The phone number has a 2-3 hour wait time due to black friday and cyber monday. [email protected]. We’ll see…
it clearly states $149 on the left hand side, you can also pick different packs to start up your acct. from $15-$149. I was half asleep and saw it. there is a drop down box for you, to select a package.
Bidmacs is a scam! I signed up for the cheapest plan, $15. Fortunately, that’s all I’ve been billed to date. I’ve been watching the bidding and noticed that almost every time the clock gets to 4 seconds, “someone” bids and the clock is reset to 20 seconds. Just watch multiple auctions at the same time to see what I’m talking about. I even looked at it at 1am on a Monday night and same thing is happening. Really? So many people are up so late on a work night bidding. I don’t think so. This is a scam.
I sent an email to Bidmacs on Thursday, 11/25, requesting a refund, received an email response that I would get a refund on 11/26 and received the refund today, 11/30. Whew….I’m glad this ordeal is over.
Bidmacs is a scam! $150 gone. Is very hard to win the auction. when you close to finish they reset the timer to 20 seconds again an again and again.
Why they sale an iPad for $75, easy is the best business ever, why? = each time you bid you spend $0.60, but the price of the item only raises $0.01.
Amazing right, each dollar really means $60 of people that lose their money. So If they sell an iPad for $75, is 75×60=$4500 tehy make and you still have to pay $75 for the iPad plus the shipping.
Great Scam!
You can get a refund by contacting Michelle at 877-364-9225 m-f 9am-5pm or by e-mailing her at [email protected]
I got caught up in this scam and didn’t realize it until I had spent over $80.00 just clicking my mouse. They did not tell me up front that they charge $149.99 just to sign up. My card has now been charged for the full amount and I don’t know if I’ll get any of it back. I have reported them to the consumer’s fraud unit and am considering the FBI as an alternate
WHAT A RIP-OFF. I too did not see anything about being charged $149.99 for a FREE signup.
I have sent two emails to them but have zero replies.
I think there is definitely inter-state wire fraud going on here and the FBI should be brought in.
It’s like the old saying, “You can’t get something for nothing”!
The only way to get items that cheap is to ether buy them at wholesale lots of 10,000 or rob a warehouse.
These penny auctions are a total rip-off! Because if you use bid credits and you spend 100 credits and you lose the auction, you done lost a lot of $$$! With eBay it’s simple, if you bid so much and you don’t win you don’t pay for anything. And you get buyer protection also.
It’s one thing to get a good deal but a iPad for $17.00? Come on get real people!
I called them yesterday after seeing the $149.99 charge on my bank account. They were very cordial and understanding. Really too accommodating to believe them, but they said my refund would be back in my account on Tuesday, the 7th. Stay tuned. I do think that people are winning these bids and this BidMacs is making a ton of money, but it’s not for me. And they should make sure to put it in your face that your account WILL BE charged the $149.99 one time fee.
I wish I’d seen this site first too! I watched an online TV update and thought it was legitimate and signed up. Next thing I knew, I was charged the $149.99. I gave them a call and got an answer immediately. They were very nice and said since I missed seeing where the initial charge was they would refund my $149.99. I got a confirmation today so will check my statement in a day or two. I bought a smaller package and they threw in more free ones. I have since called them to try to figure out how to win a bid. I thought I was going to do okay, but some of the bidders have no end to their dollar power. I have 36 bids left, I think. Just win I think I was the bid winner, I had to wait another 20 seconds and always lose. If I look away or walk away for a while, it seems to sell at that moment and for such low prices. I won’t buy more bids. It is very addicting and is just like the casinos. Instead of pulling the crank, you push a mouse button waiting for your three bars. Only those with unlimited dollars or just being lucky when every other bidder had to take a break at the same time. Penny Auctions are not a “good thing”.
How could you input your credit card info without looking at the rest of the page? Any time you give your Credit Card info anywhere on the internet you will be charged. This should be common knowledge for everyone alive on this planet. If you were screwed by this scam, please learn from your mistake. Don’t ever input your credit card info on the internet unless you’re ready to lose money. Remember: It is not Free if they ask for you credit info.
People, are you all serious. I saw this board and went and found the links and the sign ups for the Promo of 149.99 and Is everyone on this board lying blind or what. The terms are clear, On the first part of the sign up it has a check box with high lighted link to the terms, on the second page it shows the Shopping cart in large font that says $149.99,
Come on people take responsibility there was no scam here, I just get tired of people who slam business without telling the truth. Go back to the page you signed up on, it wasn’t the main site, it was the promotional site is what you or how you were charged the 149. And you did check the I agree to the terms and you did see the huge shopping cart with 149.99 on the page when you signed up..
I signed up, I saw it, I enjoyed it Period.
It’s not a scam, just an incredibly good deal for BidMacs. Here’s an example. An iPad sold for $13.06. So, 1,306 bids were placed costing about $0.50 each, some more. Thus BidMacs took in $1306/2 + 13.06 = $666.06 for an iPad that only cost them around $350 or less at wholesale. Plus they charge shipping and handling! They charge you $150 up front because, like a casino, they know you are likely to stay around until you have spent all your chips. Caveat Emptor.
George,
you must not know how bidding works. just cuz you bid 0.50 cents on an item does not mean that you’re paying anything unless you win. They don’t make 1306/2, because all the people that bid 50 cents DO NOT pay that amount because they are not winning the auction.
LET’S MAKE A COLLECTIVE DEMAND!
REPORT THIS SCAM TO:
FBI Salt Lake City
257 East 200 South, Suite 1200
Salt Lake City, UT 84111-2048
Phone: (801) 579-1400
Fax: (801) 579-4500
E-mail: [email protected]
Bidmacs changed their web page in the last days and everything looks legal but I saved the original web page where they offer a free registration and when you give your information they charge you the $149.95.
FBI officer told me that according with bidmacs terms and conditions they must return to User the balance of any purchased Bids.
I called this people and sent emails canceling my account but I have not received any answer yet.
877-364-9217
[email protected]
[email protected]
Let’s see what happen….
Smarterthanu,
You’re thinking about EBay type bidding. On BidMacs, it actually costs $.060 per bid that you place, whether you win or not. You buy bids at the beginning and you use them to bid on items. Say you bid ten times during the duration of an auction. Those ten bids cost you $6.00, regardless of the auction outcome.
This was in the Terms and Agreement Conditions:
“Payment
This offer is a one time offer for only $149.99 for 250 bids and 50 bonus bids. We also offer cheaper bid packs at http://www.bidmacs.com. By checking the I agree box, you agree to the $149.99 charge to be billed to your card today at check out which is also shown on the shopping cart on page 2 of this offer.”
did anyone that was charged 150.00 bid at all? or win anything?
I’m in the same boat with most of you. Got charged the $149.99 without my knowledge. Called and was told a refund would be 7 to 10 days. That has come and gone with no refund yet. They did take all the bids away (250 and 50 bonus) after I called, so I thought I had a good chance of getting my money back. I just sent an email to michelle. We will see.
This website is BOGUS! My experience?….It doesn’t matter when you bid even if there’s 6 seconds left the other person still wins!! Or it says GONE with you as the high bidder, then MAGICALLY the bidding continues! I’ll bet any amount of money they’re bidding on their own auctions so they don’t have to give the big prizes to ANYONE! They drop the hammer when they FEEL like it!! I am out $400 on B.S.!! With a new computer and fiber optic cable… it’s IMPOSSIBLE for it to be on my end, so don’t even go there!! IF I don’t get my money back, I’m exposing you people and I’m going to share my MISERABLE EXPERIENCE on EVERY BLOG SITE ON THE WEB! With the local news stations and newspapers!!! I’m LIVID!
The [email protected] address is no good. I can’t get through on the phone either. I think they closed up shop.
Same thing happened to me. I signed up withouit realizing that I was signing up! I did use 19 credits to just give it a try called back asking for a refund right around Thanksgiving. Now this it he 3rd time I am calling to see why my refund hasn’t gone through yet. I am on hold right now! oh great I just saw the message left on December 16th! Not looking good. I am still on hold.
IT took 40min on hold but finally was able to get a hld of someone. They said it can take up to 12 business days and she reassured me that I will be getting my refund. So the 12 th business day is on Dec. 22nd. So I will hope for the best.
I signed up on Nov. 27 not realizing it cost $149.99. It was not stated anywhere or I would not have done it! Anyway, I’m still waiting on my refund and getting the same runaround as everyone else.
For my curiosity, I registered on the Bidmacs and of course lost all my money, well, all the money I paid for bidding tokens. Yes, it’s true that one lucky guy bought $100 BestBuy gift card for $20. If you are looking for this kind of deal, you are better to spend money to buy lottery tickets. Let’s do a quick math here. For the gift card mentioned above, the Bidmacs already collected $0.60X2000= $1200 from bidding process, since it took 2000 bids to get 20 dollars price tag. On average, people are paying much more to get very little. Who is surely a big winner: Bidmacs, not you!
I have been doing the penny auction sites and received some great deals and of course, in some, I lost but I knew that when I started. Then I went to Bid Macs site and of course like everyone else, they charge $150. as soon as you go to the site. They didn’t have anything I wanted to take the time to sit and bid, so I just went for their Itune gift cards and decided I’d hurry and keep bidding and get them at full price just to get something for the money they had taken from my card. The other penny sites, I have received my purchases in a few days. I have still not received the itune cards. They have called and left me messages and I have returned the calls. Three times, I was on hold for ten minutes and hung up. We own a funeral home and my time is as valuable as theirs and I don’t have time to hang on and listen to “thank you for your patience”. Finally, this morning I called at 9:08 and at 9:23 (18 minutes on hold) a lady came on the line and said they needed to verify my mailing address before they could mail them. Do they not think I knew how to type in my mailing address when I ordered them?
I certainly will not order anything from Bid Macs again.
I too purchased bidmacs for $149.99 on The night before Black Friday without even realizing it they charged my account. I sent many many emails asking them why and finally got a hold of someone who said my money would be refunded in about 7 to 10 days. It has been three weeks since speaking to the representative and still no refund. Everytime I call they never ansswer and they don’t respond to my emails. Has anyone received a refund yet. I am going to write to ABC and NBC and get them involved.
I joined, didn’t win anything and asked for a refund and have not received it. I think I got took
I got signed up and charged like many other unsuspecting victims but with a lot of calls and E-mails I DID get refunded so they ARE legit.
They charge your card without consent and do not mention that you are even ‘buying’ points when you register. I contact them 6 times by phone and heard the same run-around. Do not email them because they will not get back with you (I tried 3-4 times with no response for 7+ days). I finally called and spoke with Correy the Customer Service “manager” and he told me the same thing I had been hearing for 3 weeks. After my conversation, I filed a complaint with the BBB and amazingly enough had my refund processed within 48 hours and it finally hit my account 6 days later (counting weekend days). Yes they may be legit for giving refunds, but how many people are being scammed and NOT getting this back? I refuse to let money go without a fight so I made sure I got it back, but those that are not so abrasive? This is a scamming site no matter how you look at it. I am posting negative reviews on every site I can find.
DO NOT USE BIDMACS, YOU WILL BE RIPPED OFF! The beginning of December I tried bidmacs. I actually won a few products, Macy’s card, Sears Card, x box 360. This was December 3rd. I never received the products. They are to be christmas presents. I spent money on this! I tried to call no one picks up the phone. I wrote by email to the customer service and no reply. I finally threatened that I was a Wash. Post writer and was writing an article about my experience. Guess what? Someone finally got back to me. The only thing this idiot did was replace a few bids in my account for the Sears card he said was an administration error. Who wants the bids? I won it cheap and expected it. So stupid. The chances of getting another are very slim. I want my money back not the bids. Like I am giong to use this site again. They said the Macy’s card was sent and had an attached copy of a packing slip. Never made it to my door! The x box never came and this guy is saying it did. I wrote back and explained again. NO REPLY!. What terrible customer service, I think this site is run by kids/teenagers working in an adult world. My WARNING: DO NOT USE BIDMACS, YOU WILL BE RIPPED OFF!
I tried out Quibids. I do not work for them so I am not someone just trying to sell a site. Seriously, works great and actually received my won products within 3 days. I just joined this site the same time as bidmacs and quibids sent me a Happy Holidays 250 FREE bids. Now that is what I am talking about.
I just put a complaint in to the BBB. Hopefully this will help.
I also was charged $150.00 registration without my permission. I also contacted BBB with no help! This web site is nothing but a scam!! They should be shut down!
as of 11/29/10 I am still waiting on my refund- it’s 12/29/10 and still nothing. I tried emails, phone calls still nothing.
I received an email from Bidmacs today stating they processed my refund, to give 3-5 business days to show up and I was also given a confirmation number. I know that Bidmacs received a notice of complaint from the BBB which I put in a complaint on the 26th so I think that helped. Now just waiting to see the money on the card.
Thy said i would recieve a refund its been 3 and a half weeks still no refund when i call them they said it was because of a high volume of refunds issues that there system can not keep up with .Bid macs is a scam i will be surprized if i do recieve a refund at all .
I finally reported bidmacs to my bank, Wells Fargo’s fraud dept and rec’d a refund from Wells. The next day I rec’d an email from bidmacs saying they were giving me my money back! This is the FIRST email, out of many I’ve sent, from them. So report it to your credit card co. or the bank, if done by debit.
I signed up on Nov. 29 without reading thoroughly (I guess) but I sure didn’t remember that I was going to be charged $149.99, I called Nov. 30 to cancel, requested immediate refund and was given a confirmation of cancellation number. I called again Dec. 10 and was assured I would see my refund credit. Finally, I reported them to Citibank fraud dept and have a pending credit on my account now. Caveat emptor — I really should know better!
Contact the FTC website and log a complaint on Bidmacs…I am. The website makes you think you are bidding on an item and that you’ve won, however, what actually happens is, I later found out, you get charged $149.99 to buy bidpacs just to have the right to place bids. Good luck from here because you’re going to need all the luck you can get getting any products or money back. I’ve called several times since I was unknowingly being charged $149.99 on 12/3/2010 and keep being told that my refund is processing and that it should see the refund in 5-7 working days. Well, it’s way beyond 7 days.
I have had the same thing Thanksgiving day and have not received a refund yet. I have called and emailed numerous times they now are claiming that there was a glitch in their system mid Dec. that has slowed their refunds. BS. Freak just to get a hold of someone to talk to you are on hold for 20 min. I told them they have 3 days and if its not in my account maybe Gephart, the BB and FBI Salt Lake would be interested in their fraudulent practices.
I called a few weeks ago because I was tricked,and They did answer, but it took an HOUR.
After trying to get my refund for awhile I put a complaint in with the BBB and I received my refund quickly. Give it a try.
Bidmacs is plain and simply A *$#& SCAM!!!!! I signed up for this “free” account and (like it seems most others providing feedback on here) were PISSED to see that I was immediately charged $149.99!!!! (and no, to the smart a$% who probebly works for them and who noted in a comment below that it states in the “fine print” that you will be charged $150….no, I didn’t read the fine print that is OBVIOUSLY designed to scam people into signing up…they know good and DAYUM well that most people do NOT read all that crap! And they prey on them!) WTH???? Anyway….this was on November 26….black friday! I IMMEDIATELY read the fine print and saw that a refund was possible and called on Monday November 29th. Like others have said, you literally WAIT FOR 20-30 MINUTES before even GETTING to speak to one of these idiots! So, let’s do a timeline:
Call #1 (Nov. 29, 2010)- I was told they would process my refund and that I should receive it .
Call #2 ( December 9, 2010)- I was less than happy that I STILL had not received my money back,….called….waited another 20-30 minutes and was told by Cust. Svc. Rep X ( I can’t remember their name)”It looks like it was entered into the system, but we have been having problems with our refund system, so I will walk this down to accounting myself….right away”.
Call #3 – December 18, 2010 – I called and when the CSR told me that because the CSR from call #2 had “cancelled and resubmitted” my refund request (thereby starting the refund “process over” ) that I would have to wait ANOTHER 14-21 business days from the last time I called(first time I heard THIS on the length of time it would take for me to get a refund which is REDICULOUS at best!) to get my money and that there was nothing that he could do. I asked to speak to a manager. They put “Corey” on the phone and I told him what the CSR from Call #2 had told me (re: issues with their refund processing). He told me “Oh, theres no problem.. that person is a new person , newly hired to assist during the hoilday season…blah, blah, blah”. I was not happy because now, that meant that I would NOT get my money back in time to use for Christmas purhcases,etc. But I said ok and went on…
Call #4 (- Yet another CSR told me that “when you spoke to Corey on December 18th he had had “cancelled and resubmitted” my refund request so it was reset on that day so you’ll have to wait……blah , blah, blah.
I was IRATE! It had now been over a MONTH of them promising and me calling and calling and getting the runaround and now they tell me that the MANAGER (who should D*#& sure should have known NOT TO cancel ANYTHING and restart the timeclock) did this????? I went off. There’s no two ways about it. They refused to let me speak to someone above the manager “Corey” citing “there is no one else to speak to”. I retorted ” OH, OK, SO YOU ARE SAYING HE OWNS THE COMPANY????????????????!!!!! This is BU&*&HIT and I am reporting you to the BBB and I will be having a lawyer contact your company as well, I WANT MY D&#^ MONEY AND I WANT IT NOW! I don’t CARE about how long it takes you to get OTHER people their money, but I have been waiting OVER A MONTH now and am hearing the same B.S.!!!!!!!!! GIVE ME MY MONEY NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!”
I got an email in 2 hours stating “Your refund will be proessed in 3-5 business days” (hmmm….. wo where in the H&$L did the 14-21 days come from?????? yeah, ok!)
I got my money, direct deposited in 3 days. They are FULLA &#^t!!! Please , if you are trying to get your money from them, make a stink, make a fuss, contact the BBB and get on their A&$E& because they are HOPING that you just give up! DON’T give these scammers the satisfaction!!!!! If I could close them down myself I would!
I have repeatedly asked for a refund from midmacs but so far no response.
If you have been SCAMMED like I have with Bidmacs and have been trying to get a REFUND on charges made to your card without your clear consent, this is what you should do:
Go ahead and send Bidmacs multiple emails and leave them voice messages. Then call your bank or credit card company to DISPUTE the charges. Your bank or credit card company will attempt to contact Bidmacs for you!! Let them know Bidmacs is a fraudulent company and that charges were made to your card WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT!!! Let them know how Bidmacs ‘tricked’ you into buying bids while you were under the impression registering online would be free!!
You will also need to file a complaint with the BBB. This should also kick Bidmacs into gear with REFUNDING what is yours!!!!
Hopefully all this effort will eventually SHUT BIDMACS DOWN. They do not deserve to be conducting business as they have proven to be nothing but unethical and just down right shady!!!
I also am thoroughly at wits end with this affair. I was under the assumption that at some point there would be a big, blam!!..in your face normal transaction showing I would have to pay $150.00….well, there wasn’t, I signed up for the promo to try it, not once was I ever given the option to just sample say 10.00 or 20.00 to try out this new auction site. sure, you can go and purchase after you are already a member for lower amounts, but this misleading promo deal has rubbed me wrong.
I at first was dismayed to see I was charged 150.00, but after some digging on their site I saw I could get a refund from any unspent bids. Since I had bid 4-5 times, I was to get back almost all I was charged…no worries? Wrong! I have had my account since 11/25/10…it was just a few days later I noticed the charge. I have since called once or twice every week since then. It is now 1/17/11. I keep being told it’s taking them longer than expected to recieve my refund. I find it curious that in this day and age of super coding and near instantaneous online transactions that even the most backed up and understaffed company could still be taking this long. Now it is almost 2 months since my account has been active and almost the same amount of time since I requested, which was 12/4/10. I have already contacted my bank, who will continue to look into the alleged fraudulent activity. Next step is contacting some legal counsel on web based enterprises.
This is not good business practice….
BIDMACS IS A TOTAL CROOKED ORGANIZATION!!!!!! 3 f*cking months now and they still wont refund my money. its the same ole song and dance, “oh we’re sorry, our computers are down, oh sorry our computer crashed, oh sorry we’ve been so busy with the holidays…..” BULLSH*T! Just give me back my money and I’ll stop blogging everywhere I can possibly rant about them until its refunded.
These sneaky bastards have moved to Lewes Delaware. Complain to the BBB at this address.
BBB of Delaware
(New Castle, DE)
60 Reads Way
New Castle, DE 19720
Phone: (302)230-0108
Fax: (302)230-0116
Email:[email protected]
Web: http://www.delaware.bbb.org
Their new address is
Bidmacs
16192 Coastal Highway
Lewes, DE 19958
Bidmacs came to me in my E-MAIL and I inadvertently purchased a bid pack for $149.99 on NOVEMBER 24, 2010. Boy was I surprised. I can’t even duplicate the crazy way I ended up getting charged.
I have called at least a dozen times and have e-mailed and left messages and I still do not have my refund as promised and today is JANUARY 18, 2011.
Today when I called you actually don’t talk to a person, but leave a message. Weird.
At one point the customer service person told me that they are a 3rd party calling center and they don’t even actually work for bidmacs.
I know I was stupid. I cancelled my card, my account and my husband is still mad at me. I am happy to file a file a former complain to whomever it is appropriate. I need my money back.
I filed a complaint with the BBB of Deleware listed in a comment above Jan. 18 and they rerouted it to:
Better Business Bureau of Utah
5673 S. Redwood Rd
Taylorsville, UT 84123-5322
(801)892-6009
How can the change locations in 24 hours? They still won’t answer their phone. How can anyone get away with this?
The same thing happened to me. I was scammed!!! I have been trying since November 25 to get my $140.00 refunded. I have gotten the run around and I am sick abouth this.
Dear Bidmacs,
Why did Rodney give me his “personal extension 5516” when I can’t even get to it anyway?
Why did Misty ask me to e-mail her and then sent me an e-mail that says, “Thank you for being nice to me.”?Misty doesn’t answer her e-mails.
Why do you call yourself bidmacs when your company is listed as The Shock Box?
Why do you use a third party calling center for “customer support?”
Why were you in Delaware Jan. 18, 2011 and then Utah Jan. 19, 2011?
Why are you still in business?
Why are you not a member of the BBB?
Why won’t Jeff Aldous refund my money as promised November 24, 2010?
NAME: The Shock Box LLC
BBB MEMBER: NO
CONTACT: Mr. Jeff Aldous
ADDRESS: 1192 Draper Pkwy # 511 PMB
Draper, UT 84020-9356
PHONE: 877 364-9217
FAX: 801 285-5399
Website:http://www.bidmacs.com
Dear Bidmacs,
How’s my refund coming? Sometimes I dream about what I would buy once I get my $149.99 back. I really miss it. Why won’t you write me back, call or refund my account? It’s been 41 days. I feel like I’m the only one communicating and all you do is take and never give back. This isn’t working out and I need to terminate this neglectful relationship with you. I can’t stop thinking about Bidmacs and my money. It’s the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep. This horrible experience has scarred me for life and I will never be in a relationship like this again. You just don’t care do you?
Oh how I wish I’d researched Bidmacs before joining! Yes, their bids are ‘refundable’ but that’s just a word – you can’t actually get your money back because no one ever responds to email or voice mail. I submitted a merchant dispute with my credit card company and they’re doing my fighting for me, but Bidmacs is just one huge scam. 3 danger flags – no where do they show what ‘bid pack’ you’re signing up for – oh, surprise, it’s $149.99; no one answers the customer service line – it’s just a message machine (who does that? DON’T tell them you’re calling for a refund!); and last, on your credit statement they don’t list a physical address, just that same message phone number. Hmmmm. Good luck with this one.
Bidmacs has shut down. Their website is no longer there> If you have been taken for the $149.99, call your bank immediately and dispute the charge. They will investigate it and reimburse you within a day. They take the money back from Bidmacs. Just tell your bank that you registered with them but didn’t authorize any payment.
I called my bank and they refunded me $149.99 yesterday! Hooray! Thanks for the idea sk and Alan. I hate bidmacs.
Bidmacs have promised me a refund also. Now their website isn’t even on the internet anymore!!
THIS IS MY COMPLAINT I LEFT WITH THE BBB:
I signed up with bidmacs not knowing that I would be charged $149.00. I read the FAQs to make sure that it wouldnt cost. I entered my credit card number thinking that this was there way of letting me enter and once in I could add bids as I see fit. But instead, I was charged $149.00 immediatley. Nowhere in the FAQs or front page did it say that it would cost anything at all. This was back in november of 2010. Here it is jan. of 2011. I have called several times and each time I am told that they are running behind on refunds due to their system not being able to keep up and that they are having to manually put them in. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! I am tired of waiting. The most rescent I have found is today (1-25-11) I went to look up their site so I can get the number to call them again and the page cannot be found. Instead, I have found countless blogs of victims of the same thing. Some have been refunded but a large majority of people have not. I fall into the majority. Please do something about this. The only other step I know to take is to contact my local attorney generals office and file a complaint. Apparentley they are scamming people of their hard earned money.
I called my bank and they told me to go to a branch and formally file a complaint and they would refund me the $149.99. This is the best chance anyone will have to getting their money back. Maybe with enough people asking their banks to do this, the banks will file a lawsuit together.
Bidmacs is a SCAM. i siged up and then requested a refund of bids not used in December. i was told my refund would be processed in 3-5 bisiness dady. It never happened. Now the website is no longer up. the don’t answere the phone. I ALSO called my bank and will be filing a formal complaint.
BICMACS is a disgrace. I will file a complaint with the BBB as well as my bank.
Thanks for the great help given here.
I too was scammed. I signed up on black friday and when I saw that my cc had been charged, I immediately called and requested a refund. I was told 3-5 business days. Two weeks later, nothing. So I called again. I was told that the request had been submitted and that it was pending, but I needed to allow 7-10 days. That was all over 2 months ago. Today, I attempted to call and then emailed. I also contacted the Utah BBB and filed a complaint. If I do not hear anything within the next 2 days, I will call my credit card company. This is absurd.
they took money off my charge card that wasnt autherized ,that was 3 months ago and i still havenet got refund,in fact if you call them now you will get a recorded message and thats all,i would not recommend them to anybody ,there a big rip!!!!!!!!!!
When siging up for Bidmacs I got swendled into buying bid pkgs costing me 146.00. I called them as soone as I relized the mistake. they sad they would refund the money. that was three months ago and they still have not refunded the money. You can not talk to anyone in the company. If any one knows where they are fooiced at pleasee let me know and I will go there and get my money back one way or the other.
On 11/26/2010 I brought packs of bids and by the 29th I knew it was not for me I requested a refund and was told it would take 3-7 business days to be processed, two weeks later a customer service rep supposelly put me in the back of the line and two other calls i was told it would be given to a supervisor and it would take 3 weeks due to backlog well in the the 3 rd week of jan 2011 i filed a bbc complain which first went ot deleware then utah and they never asnswwered my complaint and now i have to wait till this friday to do it over again and this time i will give it to the comuser depat of my state. think how much interest they are making off our money
I am still waiting for my refund at bidmacs 🙁
I am so upset with bidmacs I did not even consent to have any money charged to my credit card !!! I have called them and they promised me a refund, that I never recieved !!! So I contacted the credit card company and they removed it from my account a month ago.. well now it is on there again !!! I have called them many times since then and only get a recording saying to leave a message and they will contact me…. well we all know that didn’t happen!!!! I am going to contact the BBB and file a complaint again.. and I see that they keep moving!!! what a bunch of crooks !!!! I need my money back !!!
Thank You Guys!!!
Thank so you so much. Thank God for getting in this site. Bidmacs will never get my money thanks to those people who have the courage to warn me of this crook
I also was scammed by these people. It happened back in December 8th, and have yet to recieve my refund. Now when you call the number it is just an answering machine asking you to leave a voicemail that they never listen to. The website is no longer up either. IS there anything more I can do to get my 150 dollars back or are we all to chalk it up to scam-us-more?
bid macs is no good thay still the money i close the my account and i dont gared my money back this is bull shit was $78.00 bid macs is no good never anser the phone i call every single day for my money back
Bid MACS sucks ass!! I was scammed too! They should be sued!! Stealing people’s money like this.
This sucks! I also got scammed too back on Nov 29. After calling every day at BidMacs for a refund and nothing for over 2 months,So I called my bank(Chase)back on January 27 about this and they gave me temporary credit for 149.99 on same day. But my bank had to do a research,but yesterday march 15 my credit got reversed. So I called bank and they told me the charge is valid because and gave Bid Macs my credit card # and is nothing my bank can’t do about it. Bid F**king Macs could charge anything they want,Because we gave them our Credit Card info and they are autherized to charge it!!! So if you got a temp credit from your bank, it will take over a month to get it reversed. BidMacs have proved of us giving our Card Info. So we all F**KED!!! FYI… if you give your credit # in any website,they could charge what ever they want on your card anytime. So what next after this? How we could get our money back? Are we all F**KED!?!?!
I guess I’m more fortunate than most – only got “took” for $78.00 rather than the usual $149 many have mentioned. Back on 1/12/11, did reach “Julia” by phone who said she’d refund the money within 15 business days. That didn’t happen and now with multiple phone calls am only getting an answering machine. They’re a scam all right!
what is sad is the fact i found the website through channel 7 news. They even said it was a legitimet site, otherwise would never have looked thre in the first place. I wonder if there could be legal action taken against the news company for misleading the public to a scam
After much trouble late last year I finally got my $150 refund back from Misty (ID # 5125 tel. 866-733-4860) after over a month of trying. Get a transaction # for your intial refund process application.
Hey there! I’ve been reading your site for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Dallas Tx! Just wanted to mention keep up the fantastic work!