Grrrr.

[kyrielle]

I am really, REALLY annoyed at Carbonite. Understand, I've used them for backup for a while - even had to restore once when a hard drive died - and while I don't consider them perfect I have been very pleased. Best of all I don't have to think about it, so it actually gets done.

However. I am having a billing problem at the moment. With most companies, "billing problem" means I have been charged and did not want to be. With this company it means they are threatening NOT to charge me. They are saying the subscription for one computer, when it auto-renews, will fail because the credit card on file will have expired by then. However...it renews August 7. The card expires at the end of DECEMBER. And it clearly shows on their web site the right card and expiration date. This makes it impossible to update my billing info to fix it since my billing info IS FREAKING FINE.

So I called them. The guy told me I misread the email, and then I got disconnected. I was on my cell phone so I am hoping it was a dropped line, but I still don't feel like calling back and being told I can't read again. So I used the help form on the site, which takes you to a search for your terms (which, since I am writing a letter, finds nothing). According to the instructions on the form, you then click the "Continue Submitting" button to send your question to them.

A small hint: IT'S HARD TO CLICK A BUTTON THAT IS NOT FREAKING THERE.

I'm off to do something useful with my day. If the auto-renewal fails, I will take that as a sign to find a different online backup service (even though I really hate the initial backup, which takes a while). Anyone have any to recommend, if I hit that eventuality?

...also, I'm gonna link their twitter guy to this. Maybe that way I can actually contact them (though then I'll be out for a while, but such is life). So the (slightly edited) text of the letter is here:

I received a billing email saying my credit card will expire before my account can be renewed in early August. The card expires in December, and the billing information on your web site shows that.

I called customer support, but he just said I must have misread the email and it was just telling me my credit card would be billed for the renewal. Then I got disconnected while I was saying, no, the email was very clear. I hope that was just a phone problem and not actually hanging up on me....

Anyway, to quote your email: "Your Carbonite online backup subscription for SIVAO is scheduled to automatically renew in 30 days. However, our records indicate that your credit card, ending in ..., has expired (or will expire before the scheduled renewal date). To ensure that your backup service continues uninterrupted, please take a moment and update your payment information."

That is pretty darned clear and is not saying "you will be billed, ignore this if you want your subscription to continue." I do want it to continue, but I can't update my credit card info on file with you because you already have the correct info, on a card which is not expiring until December. I had hoped to get this resolved quickly, hence the call, but now I'll try the form in the hopes that perhaps I won't get disconnected before it gets sorted out, and maybe if I quote the email I also won't get told that it didn't say what it said. What needs to happen to fix this?

Thanks,
Laura

To answer my own last question, at least, apparently a freaking MIRACLE is needed.

Comments

[susandennis]

I have used them for my work computer for years. I have found that when they are good, they are very very good and when they are bad, it is over very stupid things like this and they are so bad that I want to never ever do business with them again but they are so good at what they are good at... It's very frustrating.

I finally did cancel all but the work computer so that made me feel a little better :).

[kyrielle]

Yeah. :/ I'll probably try to call them again but I need to get my desire to bother back first.

[kyrielle]

I had an inspiration before I headed out the door earlier. I went back to their web site and filed a request for help with a short sentence and a link to this post. I figured maybe something broke their HTML and that was why no button. Bingo, button! No problem submitting.

No reply, either. Not even an automated reply yet. (Unless the two additional emails about my credit card expiring were a 'reply' but since they appear to have been triggered by a two-week time on one computer and a 60-day time on the other, I think it was just appallingly bad timing on their part.)