Complaint Review: Efax - Internet

It seems that people have given up on recovering anything since there are no reports on Ripoffreport.com in recent years.

That doesnt mean that there arent hundreds of current complaints on several other complaint websites.

Here's my story that I described to an attorney whom I have on retainer:

I signed up for a "free trial" with efax.com and sent one fax using their service in October, 2014. Before the trial expired, I contacted them to cancel the account, but their rep offered me a service for $50 annually. I accepted the offer believing that it was the same service at a reduced price. A few days ago, I sent another fax through their service and was immediately billed an additional $10.

I called them to investigate and was informed that the $50 service does not include any outgoing faxes. I then demanded a refund of $60 but was told that the charges were not refundable.

When I accepted the $50 charge, I was not informed that no outgoing faxes were included in the package. Neither was I informed that there would be a $.10 charge for each page faxed and that my credit card would be charged a minimum of $10.

I contacted my bank to protest the charges and initially they contended that if I had been informed that the charges are non-refundable, they would not refund them. I was not informed that the charges were non-refundable until I contested them a few days ago.

Here was the initial answer I received:

eFax.com is owned by, J2 Global, Inc., HQ in Los Angeles California. The customer agreement contains very specific terms and conditions, among them:

1. Jurisdiction for all disputes is Los Angeles County Superior Court, or U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

2. All disputes must be subject to binding arbitration, except that either party may sue in Los Angeles County Superior Court -- Small Claims Department (maximum recovery, $10,000).

3. In Sections 25-27 of the agreement, a customer must send notice of intent to arbitrate to the address provided; this will trigger a legal department response -- given the cost of arbitration for the corporation, it will probably refund your money, since you received practically no services.

4. You can also contact the California Department of Consumer Affairs (see Section 26). I have no idea if the DCA will actually get involved -- but, it's a legal option.

Note: Small Claims means California under the agreement, and there are no telephone hearings available. You could try to sue in [your state]. If you win, you would have to register the judgment in California and then try to collect.

Even if you cant collect, you can help put these people out of business.

Then I asked:

Okay, but do I have any recourse because of their "non-refundable" clause to which I may have inadvertently agreed. Chase Bank says that if I was informed, albeit in small print, they will not refund me. I was certainly not informed when their agent offered me what turns out to be a promotional product. All indications are that this company is more about ginning revenue than it is about providing fax services.

 

Here is the answer I received:

A contract provision stating that charges are nonrefundable for any reason amounts to an unenforceable contractual penalty. In effect, this is a liquidated damages clause that is not a reasonable approximation of the damages suffered by the vendor -- therefore, it is unenforceable.

My thoughts:

Chase Bank DID REFUND my charges to eFax after three days and they said that they will accept similar complaints for up to two years.  Other banks may have different policies, but I suggest using words like scam, farud and deceptive trade practices.  Chase caved when I mentioned that there are more than 200 complaints similar to mine easily found on the internet.

It costs $53 in my state to file a claim in Small Claims court for amounts under $10K.  If you win (and you almost certainly will), eFax will have to refund your money and pay all of your fees.

Dirtbag scammers like eFax are more about ripping people off than they are about providing a service.

eFax reports that they have over 10K users in Japan alone.  I dont know if they have any recourse, but Americans do.

The reason that scammers like this get away with their crimes is because most of us are too lazy to expend the time and energy to report them and put them out of business or in jail.

Please exercise your rights and, in the process, prevent eFax from ripping off anyone else.

You can get all the forms and info needed by searching small claims court in your state.  It's quite easy to do and you dont need a lawyer.