PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! DO NOT USE ZIINGA.COM My experience is basically the same as most of other people who have been conned by Ziinga. On 11th November 2012 I went on Ziinga.com. (I can't remember how I got to the site). I put a free bid on a £35 Sainsburys Gift Card and won straight away! I paid the £5.17 Including P & P) on my credit card. They asked for documents for security which I scanned and emailed. Next time I went on the site I saw I had some bids so I put a few bids on items (no Sainsburys Gift Cards). The bids kept going weird but I wasn't bothered because I was just 'messing' with bids, which I believed were free bids. A few days later when I went on my Credit Card account online I saw that, on 13th November, Ziinga had taken a further £178.97 from my Credit Card. Immediately I phoned Ziinga. I got through but I could not understand what the person (gentleman) was saying to me and after a couple of minutes he terminated the call! So I went on the online chat and 'chatted' with a lady and asked why they had taken the monies from my Credit Card. It was then that I found out that at some stage when I was completing the purchase of the Sainsburys Gift Card I had 'agreed' to a free week membership followed by a 3 months Platinum Membership (at £59.99 per month). (This was the first I knew of this - I had NO idea that I had signed up for this membership). The lady on the 'chat' said that as I had used some bids (about 4 bids) that I was bound to pay for the 3 months membership. (Even though the bids I made were during the 7 day free membership period!). After some 'debate' she said I could cancel the 2nd and 3rd months, but I would have to pay for the first month (£59.99) as I had used some bids. Also, I would have to pay a £35 cancellation fee as the 3 month membership is binding. She also said that I would NOT get the Sainsburys Gift Card. (Please note that they took the monies from my Credit Card during the period that they said was the 7 day free membership period and that I put the bids on during the 7 day free membership period).
I realised I was getting nowhere and so I said I did wish to cancel which I did via an email which she sent to me. (So I cancelled within 7 days of signing up, as I believed I was covered by the Sales of Goods Act and would get all my monies back). As I was 'chatting' I phoned my Credit Card Company and explained what had happened and that I did not know why Ziinga had taken this £178.97 from my account. (They are sending me the Chargeback paperwork). Further to this I have sent several (3) emails to '*******@ziinga.com' and their replies have all been that I agreed to and signed for this 3 month membership and that they have done all they can do to help me. SO, AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME ZIINGA HAS TAKEN £94.99 FROM MY CREDIT CARD AND I HAVE RECEIVED NOTHING.

Bad, really bad website. Just waste of time.

Ziinga.com, fraud or just the clever use of fine print?

I came across a website called www.ziinga.com. Another one of those auction sites but this one looked very promising. I had been on these sites in the past and had won numerous wonderful items in my life. I had a thorough look around and saw that a new visitor gets some first dibs on some amazing prizes so I Bid on a Canon Power Shot Camera and won this item for a mere R134.00
They requested me to send a copy of my ID, Some utility bill proof of address and a photocopy of my credit card used to purchase said item. I did all this but I photo shop some digits off my card as I am well versed in the mechanics of internet fraud (in fact my previous career was in internet security). After a couple of days I logged into my control panel and noticed the status is now "documents received". On their terms and conditions it states that the item might take two to four weeks to ship pending approval of documents. This was the second of May...
Here is where the punch in the gut comes in. Today the twenty first of May I logged on and started a chat with one of the Ziinga personal to enquire if everything is ok. I spoke to a person named "Summer " and was told that it has not been four weeks yet and that it will still be shipped. Smiling at my own impatience, another message popped up saying that they notice I have not yet activated my platinum membership. "Platinum Membership?", I asked. "Yes sir, we require you to activate your platinum membership and pay your membership fee before we release the prize." Stunned I asked what that would be. "R699 monthly"(under a minimum three month binding contract), Summer replied. So hold on they want me to pay R699 plus the R134.00 which I already paid. The camera is worth R600 on bidorbuy.co.za by the way. Now a bit angry I asked Summer if she could please cancel this and just refund my R134 to my credit card. Summer informs me that I have to pay and additional R299 cancellation fee. Do the math here. I spent about an additional R200 this month on credits too just to bid on other items with no success I might add.
Needless to say this has been one of those bad experiences, but then again at no point do they properly explain this. Even looking at the terms and conditions does not make it clear to the user before they pay for their initial "first prize". Sites like these are attracting more and more attention lately as people flock to them in hope of a bargain. Whether or not this kind of luring is legal or even morally valid I am not quite sure. One thing though, I will be warning newcomers to this site and will be looking into the legalities of this in the next few weeks.
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