Binverse

[hardy]

Hi Hardy,

Can you please email your Binverse username to promotions@binverse.com?
There was technical glitch that caused a small number of customers problems and it was quickly discovered and corrected; however, it seems like we missed your account.
Sorry about that. We'll get you taken care of right away and make sure to check for other customers similarly affected.

I'd also like to take a closer look at the support thread as it seems like your problem wasn't correctly diagnosed causing you to not get the level of support we normally offer.

Please accept my apologies, once I receive you're username I will make sure everything is taken care of ASAP.

Thanks,
The Binverse Team

Hi everyone... Is this legit? Will I get into further trouble divulging my binverse username to someone who calls himself Binverse and has only one post to his credit?

[gorlov]

For example, newsdemon and thundernews are slyck recomended, Ngroups offers the same service through the same set of servers, at more than half the price! If newsdemon and Thundernews are so great, surely Ngroups must be the same caliber right, or is it just because newsdemon paid for Slyck to say they are the best? If I pay a bit, can I be Slycks #1 Poster? Either way, it is misleading to the user who wants to learn or the new user to Usenet.

Well...here goes.

Because NGROUPS is here today but might not be here tomorrow.

For which reason do you single us out as not being here tomorrow? We have been in business longer than any of those other providers mentioned.

Because the sites you mentioned provide a better overall experience than Ngroups.

Such as us not having a blog, or what?

Because the little things matter. Things like actually updating your site with actual English and accurate math. Example from Ngroups:

"Our servers carries almost all active newsgroups on the usenet. The retention for binaries is up to 424 days and GROWING towards 400+ days!!!"

That is a special case, because a couple of key persons handling the updates of the web site has been off work due to serious illness for about a month. It should be updated within a day or two.
Had it been something that really affected the services, it would have been taken care of immediately.

Because both those sites offer a free news reader and Ngroups does not.

In our experience most users prefer their own newsreaders, and don't want to sponsor those few who may want a free one. That makes the prices more fair, since you don't have to pay for anything you don't use.

Because Ngroups does not offer live support.

No, we don't. But our median response time for support tickets are less than 25 minutes, and we rather offer lower prices than waste money on live support which is only used a couple of times a day.

Because Ngroups is not half the price like you say it is.

Our current specials are $9.99 per month for unlimited (the "Octoberfest" special), and since a year back we're offering a quarterly subscription for $29.99

Because Ngroups uses some random third party payment processor that I do not know if I can trust with my CC data. If you can not get your OWN merchant account and process your OWN credit card transactions then should I do business with you?

CCDeb isn't a third party processor. It's our own in house system, developed to serve a number of services we offer, not only newsgroups. Originally we planned to act as a 3:rd party processors for other services too, but that's currently on ice.

Off the top of my head, those are things that both those sites do, that is also done by Giganews and a few other "top" providers.

FYI, Giganews didn't update their site for a long time (many months) updating their retention when it was LOWER than they claimed, so they aren't exactly without fault either.


-Goran

[hardy]

Hi Hardy,

Can you please email your Binverse username to promotions@binverse.com?
There was technical glitch that caused a small number of customers problems and it was quickly discovered and corrected; however, it seems like we missed your account.
Sorry about that. We'll get you taken care of right away and make sure to check for other customers similarly affected.

I'd also like to take a closer look at the support thread as it seems like your problem wasn't correctly diagnosed causing you to not get the level of support we normally offer.

Please accept my apologies, once I receive you're username I will make sure everything is taken care of ASAP.

Thanks,
The Binverse Team

To 'Binverse'
For security reasons, I have written to the stated email address but have not divulged any sensitive information until I get a formal reply with actionable evidence declaring that I really am dealing with legitimate Binverse executives.

If your public reply here turns out to be unofficial and fake, I'll let forummers here decide on the kind of security lapses that can threaten any web user.

If your reply here is legitimate and leads to a satisfactory outcome, I will duly inform Slyck users and let them decide how they should react. In any case, I do not wish to question the excuses cited by you. These 'glitches' can always happen again, and therefore do not bolster anyone's confidence in the service; I'll let the intelligence of Slyck users guide them in their dealings with Binverse (if they do want to try out your service).

Thanks and regards.

[UJM]

signed up for the 14 free day trial on Friday, received an email which allowed me to logon to their web site but never received the remaining emails which are needed to install their software and begin using the trial service. I've sent three memos (support tickets) to Binverse, none of which were answered, ... needless to say I cancelled the trial.
I'm definitely not impressed.
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complain ... 06284.html
.

[Tia_t]

I never signed up for Binverse, I only pushed the free trial button. To get your "free" trial you have to pay $1 through PayPal. I canceled the transaction, but still Binverse somehow had everything they needed to start charging me for something I never signed up for.

Tried to call their "help"desk, but all I got was a sarcastic women who couldn't help me at all. Had to take the dispute through PayPal instead, who immediately blocked Binverse for me.

My advice is to STAY AWAY FROM BINVERSE as they only cheat you and have no interesset in helping you once you're trapped.

[binverse]

Hi Tia_t,

Like most other Usenet providers the Binverse free trial will convert into a paid account if you do not cancel by the end of the free trial. This is outlined in the agreement when you sign up for the free trial as well as in warning emails that we send out prior to the end of the free trial (These emails remind you explicitly that if you don't cancel by the end of the free trial that you will be charged for a full account).

Unfortunately canceling a payment with paypal will not register in our system as you canceling your account. You need to actually log into your account and hit cancel or you need to send us an email letting us know you want to cancel.

We do strive to provide great customer service so I would encourage you to email your username to promotions@binverse.com so we can review your interactions with the customer service rep to make sure she handled this appropriately.

Thanks,

Binverse

[Benee]

Nothing but problems with Binverse

After doing some research i decided to Give Binverse a try.
Signed up for their free trial offer it sounded good, got billed $1 via paypal.

Received login and password right away... Put these into my Newsbin Newsreader and everything worked fine.
2 days later Login and Pass quit working altogether. Status window said Binverse server was rejecting login and password. It appeared Binverse had cancelled my 14 day trial.

But I discovered 4 weeks later Binverse had auto billed my Paypal account 21.99 for a news service that didn't work and I couldn't connect to.

I've been contacting Binverse relentlessly since trying to resolve the Login and Bogus Billing problems.

Their contact form is a dinasaur and all I got was a robot responding sending me the Same Login and Password that quit working using my newsreader program.
The 30days of paid service eventually expired with no usage at all. I was unable to connect to their server using the login and pass they provided. Binverse attempted to bill me another month via paypal but i blocked it. After many attempts of coresponding with them trying to resolve the issue, I finally received an email stating an alternative Login was nessesary if using Newsbin NewsReader program. Then blaming me that i should have contacted them sooner. Further to that they want me to pay for another month of service if I want the new login to work.

I've sent an email to Binverse promotions but have not got any response.

Buyer Beware...... Binverse is Not worth it. I'm seeking a full refund for the services i didn't receive.

[endymion]

Some background: I have used Giganews and Easynews before and have nothing but compliments for them. I unsubscribed from them when I needed to eek a bit more out of my budget for some months.

Binverse, on the other hand, are running a scam in my opinion. I signed up for the $1 trial. In contrast to their posting here, there was NO WARNING about being converted to a $21.99 per month subscription. I received no such email. There was the vaguest of deliberately camouflaged hints in one email:

If you are taking advantage of the Binverse free trial offer, you will be able to download 5 Gigabytes of Quantum Leap downloads. You may activate your full account at any time in order to get access to your full download allotment. You can activate your full account by logging on to the Binverse website and clicking on "My Plan".

Despite me never activating a full account, they moved me on to a subscription plan.

Their T&C are clear. HOWEVER, there is a strong mismatch between their T&C and what they communicate on their site and via email. This, in my opinion, makes them a fraudulent operation. The legitimate providers don't have to resort to these underhanded tactics to make money. Communicating one's unhappiness via their "support" network leads to a wall of canned response emails.

Let the buyer beware!

As I've said, I've used other news providers before, and I've NEVER been this unhappy.

[leyton]

endymion
I took the free trial out and there was nothink about $1 trial , it was free i did have some theething proplems at firts only over a silly email addy.when you say you got charged $21.99 per month subscription. how did they charge you that becueas when i took the free trial at no point did i enter my card details,i just enter my email addy and sat back 4 hours latter, a email came which said thanks for your interest in binverse would you like a 5 free gig download, if so install binvers and get a user name and password all for sweet fa,after the 5 free gig i sign up 2 days latter,then i enter my card details

[endymion]

how did they charge you that becueas when i took the free trial at no point did i enter my card details,i just enter my email addy and sat back 4 hours latter, a email came which said thanks for your interest in binverse would you like a 5 free gig download, if so install binvers and get a user name and password all for sweet fa,after the 5 free gig i sign up 2 days latter,then i enter my card details

They charged $1 via PayPal for the trial. I've since cancelled the PayPal repeat billing, but the first payment of $21.99 won't be refunded. The software didn't work very well for me either - in fact I've downloaded basically nothing using their service, but maybe you've had a better experience.

There was NO warning that I was imminently about to be billed $21.99 recurring. I should probably have read the T&C in detail, but it's no way to run a legitimate business. I would happily forward all of the emails I received from them to anyone to prove that they deliberately obfuscated their intentions.

I have got zero value for the$21.99 I was billed, as I have not been using their network since the trial. If they cared about customer service they would have refunded the $21.99, but they stonewall with form letters.

[binverse]

Sorry for the late reply, this post was just brought to my attention. It looks like you’ve discovered a problem that we weren’t aware of.

We recently implemented paypal express to allow recurring payments similar to credit cards. After reading endymion’s post I went back and reviewed the automated emails and discovered that paypal accounts were still being sent emails under the assumption that they had to manually approve each payment (this was the case before we implemented paypal express). When paypal express went live this should have changed so that paypal users received the same warning that credit card users received but for some reason didn’t.

We’ll push a fix for this live ASAP and as well as review the signup process to make sure everything is clear. In the mean time anyone who signed up using paypal and didn’t receive the “Automatic Payment Reminder” please email promotions@binverse.com and I will make sure you receive a refund as well as some free GBs that you can use in any newsreader.

Please except my apologies for this mistake. We do try to make sure everyone is notified before we ever charge their accounts and the customer service team was operating under the assumption that you had received the proper email communications.

Cheers,

The Binverse Team


Just as an FYI, Here is the email that everyone should receive prior to being charged.
Xxxx xxxxxx,

Your Binverse service will renew in 7 days and your payment method on file will be charged $21.99. Please ignore this email if you wish to continue with your Binverse service.

Alternatives:

1. Upgrade or downgrade your account
http://binverse.com/index.cfm?xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2. Cancel your account
http://binverse.com/index.cfm?xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Have questions? Need help? Contact a friendly support representative 24x7 - http://binverse.com/index.cfm?DL=sf. Please note that it may take up to 24 hours for our support department to respond.

Thanks for your continued business.

Best regards,
Binverse, Inc.

Please do not respond to this email. Binverse will not receive your message. If you need further assistance please use our online support form found at:

http://binverse.com/index.cfm?dl=sf2

[cacilei]

Sorry for the late reply, this post was just brought to my attention. It looks like you’ve discovered a problem that we weren’t aware of.

We recently implemented paypal express to allow recurring payments similar to credit cards. After reading endymion’s post I went back and reviewed the automated emails and discovered that paypal accounts were still being sent emails under the assumption that they had to manually approve each payment (this was the case before we implemented paypal express). When paypal express went live this should have changed so that paypal users received the same warning that credit card users received but for some reason didn’t.

We’ll push a fix for this live ASAP and as well as review the signup process to make sure everything is clear. In the mean time anyone who signed up using paypal and didn’t receive the “Automatic Payment Reminder” please email promotions@binverse.com and I will make sure you receive a refund as well as some free GBs that you can use in any newsreader.

Please except my apologies for this mistake. We do try to make sure everyone is notified before we ever charge their accounts and the customer service team was operating under the assumption that you had received the proper email communications.

Cheers,

The Binverse Team


Just as an FYI, Here is the email that everyone should receive prior to being charged.
Xxxx xxxxxx,

Your Binverse service will renew in 7 days and your payment method on file will be charged $21.99. Please ignore this email if you wish to continue with your Binverse service.

Alternatives:

1. Upgrade or downgrade your account
http://binverse.com/index.cfm?xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2. Cancel your account
http://binverse.com/index.cfm?xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Have questions? Need help? Contact a friendly support representative 24x7 - http://binverse.com/index.cfm?DL=sf. Please note that it may take up to 24 hours for our support department to respond.

Thanks for your continued business.

Best regards,
Binverse, Inc.

Please do not respond to this email. Binverse will not receive your message. If you need further assistance please use our online support form found at:

http://binverse.com/index.cfm?dl=sf2

I've got same problem just now. I am very shocked I was charged 21.99 without any notice from Binverse.
I don't know what to do so I open dispute right away. I never received this kind of notification. Since the day I paid for trial, I never use the software because it doesn't work and I never log-in again to my binverse account. If I received any notification, I will surely cancel it immediately.

Good thing, you're here to respond with the same problem that you will make sure for refund.
I am now confident that I can refund it. Please review your transaction today. I really need my money back.

[brendonj]

I am in the same boat, no notification, no reminder, just an email to tell me that $99.96 had just left my Paypal account.

I have spent all day phoning or emailing customer support just to find that I get pre-made formulaic responses that do not answer the question.

What do I have to do to get my cash back? $100 is a lot of money.

[towndrunk]

I have been using Binverse since February. As an extreme novice using newsgroups and related readers I can appreciate the ease with which Binverse has made newsgroups available to the uninitiated. To date there have been a few minor glitches with the reader they provide. Maybe three or four times in the last 5.5 months the Binverse reader has not been able to connect. It has never lasted for more than an hour or so and the last time it was for about 15 minutes... no big deal. I am and was fully aware of the various complaints concerning folks getting locked into paying a full year of service. I was not one of them. I read the T&C before I signed up for the free trial and it is quite clear that if you do not cancel the trial you will be billed for a default plan. I signed up for a different (cheaper) plan with no problem.

I can't say I will stay with Binverse after my year is up, of course I will shop around a couple of months before I have to decide, but Binverse has done everything they said they would do as far as I am concerned.
There are countless businesses unrelated to newsgroups that offer free trials for services that automatically default to a contract subscription if the trial is not deactivated properly and in a timely manner. It may or may not be fair or even ethical, but it is a reality -and not exactly a new thing.

[Trickman23]

I am and was fully aware of the various complaints concerning folks getting locked into paying a full year of service. I was not one of them. I read the T&C before I signed up for the free trial and it is quite clear that if you do not cancel the trial you will be billed for a default plan

Thank god I already thought I was the only one around here to think that most of the people who scream SCAM simply didn't read the TOS so they weren't aware of the fact that they have to cancel the free trial. Not that I think some people really have been scammed by Binverse, but in my opinion the majority doesn't want to admit their own mistakes and are just hiding behind those who have been scammed. This is nothing but an easy excuse!

[leyton]

Hi just been looking around the internets today,ive just come a cross this http://www.squidoo.com/binverse-scam-binverse-review

What he/she says is true 100% if a user cant be assed to read befor you try,then its not binverse fault.ive been with them now for 16months,it suits me for what i need and do!

[Trickman23]

Well you know I guess the main reason why you hear so much bad stuff about sites like Binverse is because you usually don't write about something good that happened you. If you think you've been scammed and you want to complain and tell the whole world about it you'll do it as soon and on as many internet sites as you can. If you're happy with them, why bother writing about it? Or did you ever hear the news starting with: "Today more puppets have been born"
But you are right, if people can't read properly it's not Binverse's fault.