Yahoo Overbilling Users, Part 1

January 7th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

Yahoo Overbilling Clients, Part 1We now have three separate users claiming that they have been overbilled by Yahoo Personals. While I respect Yahoo for its ability to weather through tough markets, Yahoo’s attempt to recover some of those lost revenues through overbillings is just wrong. To assume that it would be a mistake is one thing but I think Yahoo knows better.

Phone companies were notorious in the 80’s and 90’s for slamming. For major internet companies like Yahoo to attempt to do the same is just outright wrong. Could it be completely benign? Absolutely, but unlikely. We will keep an eye on the story and wait for comment from Yahoo as to its billing practices.

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There Are 12 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by BobVan on 7 January 2008:

    Why aren’t they doing something about this?????

  2. Comment by Phil on 7 January 2008:

    Wow, Yahoo is really desperate. It makes sense though because there are many better (and free) options in that niche. Yahoo needs to restructure and cut some of those programs because it is better to have quality than quantity.

  3. Comment by rj on 8 January 2008:

    That shows them being desperate? it is not good? might be in terms of there funds but over all business look it might not be the right way to gain loss.

  4. Comment by Greg on 8 January 2008:

    What happened to yahoo? why would they something like that? it seems detrimental to there image? but what can we do?

  5. Comment by JaniceW. on 8 January 2008:

    I hope that was just a mistake from them, as this little thing could ruin their reputation!

  6. Comment by W84 on 8 January 2008:

    hmm, I doubt it, really, yahoo would not do such a thing, have these 3 people showed proof of what they said? maybe its just rumors

  7. Comment by Mega_boss on 8 January 2008:

    I never actually liked yahoo,it always sounded strange for me, I think they are not well organized, so I would not doubt it at all

  8. Comment by max on 8 January 2008:

    Ya this might happen. But yahoo being a big company this might also happens due to some technical fault as well. But such scenario of overbilling is very much relivent in today market.

  9. Comment by Phil on 8 January 2008:

    The sad thing is you can’t tell for sure if its a technical error or if it is on purpose just because it is becoming so common these days.

  10. Comment by Nisa on 25 January 2008:

    nah, i don’t think yahoo will do something like that. It’s probably some mistakes. A bad mistake indeed.

  11. Comment by Charles Ashburner on 9 June 2009:

    I’ve been using Yahoo (previously Overture) in the UK and USA (seperate accounts) for years. I don’t spend much on the USA advertising (we’re based in the UK). It’s always been around the $300 a month mark.

    On 8th May 2009 Yahoo overbilled me by $3200 (16 seperate $200 payments on the same day).

    I suspended all advertising on Yahoo USA at this point - and reduced the Daily spend limit to $10 just to be safe.

    I complained in writing and received an apology on 12th May agreeing to credit my account. The money went back onto my Yahoo account. I then had to write a seperate email to ask for the money to be refunded to my bank account. I received an email on 29th May confirming that the money would reach us in 5-7 days.

    After not receiving the money in my bank account I wrote again and received an apology on 8th June and an undertaking that the refund would be complete in an additional 2-3 business days.

    On 9th May I awoke to find that Yahoo have deducted a SECOND $3200 (16 seperate $200 payments on the same day). I am now down by $6400 despite having suspended my account and having received no advertising clicks.

    I’ve now cancelled all cards that Yahoo have listed for me (which is incredibly inconvenient), and I’ve emailed them again. I will try to phone them at 16:00 GMT / 08:00 PST (which I think is when they open).

    Anything else I can do?

    Happy to provide ‘proof’ by the way, for any doubters out there.

    Charles

  12. Comment by Charles Ashburner on 9 June 2009:

    Managed to speak to someone on the phone - they didn’t phone me, I had to phone them - who explained the situation thus;

    1. No explanation offered for the first overbilling.
    2. Refund for first overbilling has left the Yahoo bank account (though not yet arrived back with us).
    3. This first overbilling created a ‘trading history’ on the account that suggested that I had been spending in excess of $1000 a day.
    4. At the point at which the first overbilling was repaid (i.e. when it left our account at Yahoo) their system charged me again to cover the next 3 days of trading, which the computer decided was in excess of $1000 a day - because of the ‘trading history’ created by the first overbilling.
    5. I’m still $6400 worse off… but a very nice man at Yahoo has told me that I will get my money back (all of it) within the next 1-2 days.

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