It is a little embarrassing to say that for the second time some unscrupulous advertiser on Facebook got my money. It’s easy now, no more clicking Facebook ads. Sorry Facebook, it is clear you are more interested in getting money from your advertisers than you are interested in protecting your members.
What Happened?
Well, there was an ad for a cool Apple Watch face. It looked similar to my Breitling Navitimer and said “Breitling”. Since the “Framify” app was a paid app, it had an air of legitimacy to it. Instead it was click bait for a subscription that is impossible to use. Looking at the website from different browsers all of the “reviews” appear to be fake, bots or AI. None are linked. On Apple the app has a 2 star rating from 600 people, not what the website claims.
After I paid, nothing happened and to keep it interesting there was a “download” button. Guess what? When I pressed the download button, the app downloaded without the subscription key and it tried to charge me again. After reading the website for the app, I clicked on “refund request”. Within seconds I received an email stating that I didn’t read the rules, that the “deposit” is non refundable and the “subscription” is cancelled. The subscription never appeared in my list of subscriptions on my Apple account.
I removed the app and have disputed the charge on my credit card.
My Idea To Fix Scams
Since Facebook and the banks won’t police the advertisers, I think we need an “electronic collections law” that says.
“No subscription or app may be sold without a 48 hour holding period. At the end of the 48 hours the buyer must receive notification via email or push notification (if opted in) with only two options “Keep This App and Pay” or “Delete This App and Cancel”. The buttons shall be clear and of equal size and color.
For Physical items, all funds shall be held in escrow until proof of delivery is received. After the proof of deliver is received the bank or credit institution may release funds.”
Maybe Apple Pay and Google pay can make this part of their app store rules. As an app developer, I can live with those rules. All of my apps are free and you have to try the ad based version before you can pay to upgrade.
Facebook Strike One
You might be asking what stupid thing I clicked on for “strike one”. Strike one on Facebook was some cool matching PJ’s my wife wanted for Christmas. I ordered them in October with a 5-10 day delivery window. After I paid that changed to 20-25 days. Either way plenty of time before Christmas. On Dec 15th I asked where they were and received an email saying they “were ready to ship”. On December 28th, I received an email that they shipped on Dec 24th. The company claimed delivery on December 29th, but the website still showed “in transit” on Jan 5th. When I filed the dispute, the website changed and showed that they shipped on November 8th and delivered with a date of December 29th in english and the rest of the delivery notice in Chinese. I sent screenshots to the credit card company. Both cases are still in dispute.
If you read this far thanks for letting me rant. If you want to see what I up to, I’ll be on LinkedIn. I’ll leave the Facebook account and check in annually just because it will take up space on their servers. I might even post some things to toy with their AI model.