Backstage, LLC.

We are very sorry to hear that this customer has decided to cancel his subscription to Backstage, the world's most popular and trusted resource for actorsThis customer's Backstage membership has now been cancelled, and the most recent renewal charge has been fully refunded as of
todayIt may take a few days before this is reflected on the customer's credit card statement, but the refund has been issued.The subscription was actually cancelled earlier, when the customer requested itThe customer's access to the service was still available through the term he'd paid for; and auto-renewal was turned off when this was requestedHowever, we must note that when the customer originally subscribed to the service, our records show that he did sign up for an annual auto-renewal accountAnd our records show that the customer was sent a reminder about the upcoming auto-renewal a month before the renewal occurredDeactivation of auto-renewal or cancellation of the subscription could have been requested at any time during the months of the original subscription to prevent the auto-renewal chargeAnd a cancellation and refund on the auto-renewed subscription could even have been requested up to five days after the subscription renewedBut in this case the customer did not make the request until after the renewal had occurred, and well after the refund window agreed upon in the terms of serviceAdditionally, we should clarify that Backstage's customer support team can be contacted via our Help Center's online contact form; regular email; voicemail; and live chat on the siteWe hope that the customer will reconsider joining Backstage again in the futureAnd if he needs any assistance with getting the most out of the site's acclaimed services in the future, our customer care team will be happy to help

At this time, I have been contacted directly by Backstage, LLC. regarding complaint ID ***, however my complaint has been resolved because:
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please close case.... Resolved
Sincerely,
*** ***

Backstage is very concerned about the satisfaction of its customers, so we are disheartened to hear that this customer was not satisfied with Backstage's award-winning products and servicesFounded in 1960, Backstage has long been the most trusted resource for actors, models, performers, and
entertainment-industry professionalsMore than 30,productions cast their projects via Backstage every year, reaching over million actors and performers every monthBackstage is well-known for providing thousands of quality job listings, articles, resources, and performance and education opportunities to talent of all levels.The customer that filed this complaint subscribed to Backstage using an annual billing plan with automatic renewalUpon request, this auto-renewal can be canceled at any time during the 12-month membership to prevent the auto-renewal from occurring at the end of the subscription termHowever, in this case it appears that the customer did not request auto-renewal to be turned off or the subscription to be cancelled until nearly months after the renewal took place -- nearly months after the subscription was initially signed up forSo the customer's claim that Backstage "stole" money from them is not correct: The payment was a regular auto-renewal that was authorized by the customer at the time of signup; and no requests were filed to turn off auto-renewalOur records show that we even emailed the customer a reminder a month before the auto-renewal took place -- and yet we were not contacted with a cancellation request until months later, after the renewal took placeAnd we were only informed about the request by the customer AFTER they'd already contacted the Revdex.com rather than simply asking our customer service team for assistance.(Backstage provides multiple contact points for customers, including a contact form, email, phone/voicemail, online chat, and a full online help center.)Now that we're aware of the situation, we will honor the customer's request for a cancellation and refundOur customer service team will be contacting the customer to work out the details.We encourage all customers with questions, concerns, or requests to contact Backstage at ***Most cases are resolved within 1-business days, and we pride ourselves on delivering excellent customer service and an outstanding product

We are very sorry to hear that this customer was not happy about their account being renewed.
If the customer contacts us directly, we will be happy to try and resolve the matter with them in a satisfactory manner.
However, I should note that the customer's complaint...

contains some misleading statements:
They said that they only purchased 3 months of a magazine and that they were then charged $200 for renewal without permission. However, from what I see in our records, what actually happened is that they signed up for an ongoing auto-renewal account that included both a weekly magazine and 24/7 access to an online account with a wide variety of additional career tools, job listings, and entertainment-industry data. When they signed up, they choose the semiannual (6-month) auto-renewal option from among monthly, semiannual, and annual billing options. The semiannual auto-renewal option charges customers only once every six months, and offers a substantial discount off of the regular monthly subscription fee. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time during the subscription term at the customer's request.
The price of the 6-month subscription is only $137.40 and not the $200 stated by the customer. 
And one month prior to the auto-renewal taking place, we sent an email to the customer reminding them that their account would be renewing in a month -- we have a record of this email -- the renewal email is a reminder so that customers will not be surprised by the renewal and will remember to request a cancellation of their account or a deactivation of auto-renewal if they no longer wish to renew the service. The customer took no action after being sent the renewal reminder.
We also have a 10-day grace period in place after a renewal occurs, during which time a customer can still request to cancel their account and seek a refund. However, this customer did not contact us until over a month after the renewal occurred.
When the customer did finally contact our customer service team, our customer representative politely explained the situation to them via email, and offered to have their account cancelled (turning off auto-renewal on their account so that they would not incur any additional charges) as well offering to have pro-rated credit issued for the remainder of the 6-month renewal term they'd paid for.
However, we have no record of the customer responding to us after this. Apparently they went straight to the Revdex.com rather than continuing the discussion with our customer service team.
Again, though, we do hope that we can fix matter for the customer. Backstage has been the single most trusted resource for actors and filmmakers in the world since it's founding in 1960, and serves over 1.5 million satisfied customers every month. Even a single case of customer dissatisfaction such as this is something that we take very seriously.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I was autobilled for another year _ I am unhappy with their service and want my money refund to my cc as soon as possible. They didn't have permission to do this. They have promised a refund check and I have not revived it. I was sick all last week with the flu and you canceled my claim. I would like a refund
Here is a copy of the email that he said he would refund. I have not received the refund check.
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
 
Sincerely,[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We are very sorry to hear that this customer had such a difficult time cancelling her Backstage subscription.
We have now cancelled her account for her and issued a full refund.
However, I must note that Backstage has a very simple and easy cancellation process:...

Customers can simply go to [redacted] and write in their contact details and message to request a cancellation or to ask for any other help with their Backstage account. The process of filing a customer-service request via [redacted] only takes a few seconds.
After sending their message, they immediately receive a reply email with a case number so that their case can be tracked, added to, and responded to. And customers can reply to the case email to add further information and requests to their customer-service ticket. All customer inquiries receive a response. Cancellation requests are consistently fulfilled within 1-3 business days.
Our contact form is linked to from every customer's [redacted] page, from our FAQ, and via the footer of every page of Backstage.com. Customers can also file requests and ask for assistance by emailing [redacted]. Additionally, Backstage.com often has customer service reps available to offer assistance via live-chat on the site. Our dedicated customer service team takes all customer inquiries very seriously and are well-known for going above and beyond to care for customers' needs.
But in this case there is no record of the customer having ever filed a request with backstage via the [redacted] form or email. It sounds like the customer may have left a message on a general voicemail line and in a non-active chat window -- although these are not the recommended ways to file a request with Backstage (with [redacted] being the primary contact method, and live-chat and email being being additional solutions) -- our customer service team would normally have still found and responded to a customer's messages even in these cases. So we will look into this matter further to try and discover what happened to this customer's messages.
Also notable is that this customer appears to be operating under two different first-names and two different email addresses, and did not have a phone number on file in her Backstage account -- all of which may have added to the confusion. However, now that the customer's complaint has been discovered, we are happy that we can resolve the issue for them.

Review: On November [redacted] 2015 a charge for $139.95 was posted to my debit card account by Backstage LLC / Backstage.com. When I attempted to contact Backstage via the phone number associated with the charge (###-###-####) it was voicemail. When I contacted the company online explaining that I did not have an account with them, and would like a refund it was communicated to me by customer service employees (Richard B[redacted] and Danny C[redacted]) that I opened an account on October [redacted] but my card was declined. Then I was charged on November [redacted]. As I continued to request a refund and notified them I cancelled the card & reported it stolen. In response they notified me that they closed this supposed account that I supposedly opened with a declined card that they charged 39 days after the card was declined, but still would not refund me the money even though they cancelled what they charged me for.

They kept asking me how they could resolve the issue and kept refusing to resolve it by refunding my money.

I did save the emails.Desired Settlement: The desired outcome of this complaint is a full refund for $139.95 in the form of a check for Backstage LLC to [redacted].

Thank you in advance no matter the outcome.

Business

Response:

We apologize for the confusion. The customer (or someone using the customer's name, email address, credit card, etc.) signed up for a Backstage account in October, and the charge for that account (in the amount the customer selected when they signed up) was processed in November. The customer subsequently filed a complaint with Backstage demanding a refund. The customer's wording led to some confusion -- our customer service team interpreted his complaint to indicate that he was reporting that his credit card was stolen and used to purchase the Backstage account by someone other than him; so our customer service team advised him to contact his bank about the stolen card. Backstage was expecting a chargeback and fraud report to be issued by the bank to handle the refund. However, evidence now suggests that the customer likely was not reporting a stolen card, and instead had signed up for Backstage and just wanted to get a regular refund well after his initial sign-up date. We have now processed that refund in full, per the request.

Review: Magazine debited my credit card for an unauthorized subscription renewal. I had originally signed for three months and then they apparently sent me an email requesting a subscription renewal. I never responded to the email, and when I complained they said that the renewal is done automatically if they receive no response.Desired Settlement: I want refund in full, plus interest.

Business

Response:

We are very sorry to hear that this customer was not happy about their account being renewed.

If the customer contacts us directly, we will be happy to try and resolve the matter with them in a satisfactory manner.

However, I should note that the customer's complaint contains some misleading statements:

They said that they only purchased 3 months of a magazine and that they were then charged $200 for renewal without permission. However, from what I see in our records, what actually happened is that they signed up for an ongoing auto-renewal account that included both a weekly magazine and 24/7 access to an online account with a wide variety of additional career tools, job listings, and entertainment-industry data. When they signed up, they choose the semiannual (6-month) auto-renewal option from among monthly, semiannual, and annual billing options. The semiannual auto-renewal option charges customers only once every six months, and offers a substantial discount off of the regular monthly subscription fee. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time during the subscription term at the customer's request.

The price of the 6-month subscription is only $137.40 and not the $200 stated by the customer.

And one month prior to the auto-renewal taking place, we sent an email to the customer reminding them that their account would be renewing in a month -- we have a record of this email -- the renewal email is a reminder so that customers will not be surprised by the renewal and will remember to request a cancellation of their account or a deactivation of auto-renewal if they no longer wish to renew the service. The customer took no action after being sent the renewal reminder.

We also have a 10-day grace period in place after a renewal occurs, during which time a customer can still request to cancel their account and seek a refund. However, this customer did not contact us until over a month after the renewal occurred.

When the customer did finally contact our customer service team, our customer representative politely explained the situation to them via email, and offered to have their account cancelled (turning off auto-renewal on their account so that they would not incur any additional charges) as well offering to have pro-rated credit issued for the remainder of the 6-month renewal term they'd paid for.

However, we have no record of the customer responding to us after this. Apparently they went straight to the Revdex.com rather than continuing the discussion with our customer service team.

Again, though, we do hope that we can fix matter for the customer. Backstage has been the single most trusted resource for actors and filmmakers in the world since it's founding in 1960, and serves over 1.5 million satisfied customers every month. Even a single case of customer dissatisfaction such as this is something that we take very seriously.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,

Review: I joined Backstage.com for one month subscription in January 2014. I didn't realize that it would be a recurring charge to my credit card every month. However, in March, I attempted to cancel my subscription by website. There was no "cancel" button; only a chat message button for discussion of anything. I sent a chat message stating that I wanted my subscription cancelled. I also attempted to edit my credit card information to prevent further charges by changing the CVV of the card which unfortunately didn't work. I phoned and received a recording and left a message regarding cancellation of my subscription. My subscription has not been cancelled, and I have contacted via chat message several more times, including the month of May, June, and July (today). Another huge issue is that my credit card on file at Backstage.com had been closed by [redacted] due to possible compromise of financial information by a merchant that my card had been used at; however, Backstage.com has been able to charge my new credit card (with a completely new number never on file with Backstage) since April. I contacted [redacted] today and unfortunately had to cancel my new credit card and replace with another credit card to attempt to STOP these charges.Desired Settlement: I want my subscription cancelled immediately, and I want a refund from March as well as grievance pay for the absolute aggravation of having to continue contacting this company to cancel my subscription and having to cancel my new credit card solely to stop charges by this company.

Business

Response:

We are very sorry to hear that this customer had such a difficult time cancelling her Backstage subscription.

We have now cancelled her account for her and issued a full refund.

However, I must note that Backstage has a very simple and easy cancellation process: Customers can simply go to [redacted] and write in their contact details and message to request a cancellation or to ask for any other help with their Backstage account. The process of filing a customer-service request via [redacted] only takes a few seconds.

After sending their message, they immediately receive a reply email with a case number so that their case can be tracked, added to, and responded to. And customers can reply to the case email to add further information and requests to their customer-service ticket. All customer inquiries receive a response. Cancellation requests are consistently fulfilled within 1-3 business days.

Our contact form is linked to from every customer's [redacted] page, from our FAQ, and via the footer of every page of Backstage.com. Customers can also file requests and ask for assistance by emailing [redacted]. Additionally, Backstage.com often has customer service reps available to offer assistance via live-chat on the site. Our dedicated customer service team takes all customer inquiries very seriously and are well-known for going above and beyond to care for customers' needs.

But in this case there is no record of the customer having ever filed a request with backstage via the [redacted] form or email. It sounds like the customer may have left a message on a general voicemail line and in a non-active chat window -- although these are not the recommended ways to file a request with Backstage (with [redacted] being the primary contact method, and live-chat and email being being additional solutions) -- our customer service team would normally have still found and responded to a customer's messages even in these cases. So we will look into this matter further to try and discover what happened to this customer's messages.

Also notable is that this customer appears to be operating under two different first-names and two different email addresses, and did not have a phone number on file in her Backstage account -- all of which may have added to the confusion. However, now that the customer's complaint has been discovered, we are happy that we can resolve the issue for them.

Review: On May *, 2013 I contacted Backstage Magazine through their email portal on their website. In the email I explained to them that I had been charged twice for a magazine subscription in at the end of April which would pay for the month of May. I requested a refund of the additional charge and requested cancellation of the subscription. I received a reply from [redacted], Customer Service Rep stating that there had been an error and there were two email addresses for which I had subscriptions and that is why I was being charged twice since December 2012. I explained that I had only email address registered. Instead of a refund, I was given a complimentary subscription for six months through 11/*/13 as compensation, which I did not want, and that that the incorrect email address would be deactivated on 5/**/13. On May **, 2013, a subscription fee was deducted from my account again. The subscription was supposed to be complimentary as of my email of May*, 2012. I again emailed [redacted] only to receive an email stating that the subscrition would deactivate on May 30, 2013. This is fraud as I was told that I would no longer be charged.Desired Settlement: I do not want a complimentary subscription nor anything else from this company. I would like to be compensated at this time for the incorrect charges dating back to December 2012 until present. This total amount is $49.75. Nothing else will be accepted.

Business

Response:

We apologize for the confusion regarding this matter.

The customer signed up for Backstage through a third-party company rather than subscribing to Backstage directly. The third-party company (which is not owned or operated by Backstage) appears to have mistakenly created 2 accounts for the customer instead of 1, with a typo in the duplicate account's email address. Additionally, the third-party created the account under a different name than the name of the customer (the alternate name may have been the customer's alias, stage-name or child).

The customer contacted us about the resulting duplicate charges nearly 5 months after the subscriptions began. However, due to the alternate name and incorrect email address being used, there was initial difficulty locating the correct account(s) for the customer, since Backstage was contacted by the customer using a name and email address that did not match up with the accounts.

Once the problem was identified and the mismatched accounts were located, the accounts were corrected. To help make up for the confusion, a customer service representative offered to give the customer a free 6-month subscription that was of greater value than the extra/duplicate subscription the customer had accidentally paid for.

At this point, the Revdex.com was contacted by the customer, requesting a refund. We'd actually already issued a partial refund to the customer a week prior to this. And we have now fully cancelled the user's accounts (since the Revdex.com complaint seems to indicate that she no longer wishes to use the service), and all of the duplicate charges have now been refunded, in addition to the most recent monthly subscription fees.

Founded in 1960, Backstage has been the most trusted resource for actors, models, performers, and casting professionals for over 50 years; and this type of problem is highly unusual for us. We're sorry the customer had a disappointing experience using Backstage, and hope they'll try our service again in the near future, at which point I believe we'll be able to serve them better.

We encourage everyone to sign up for Backstage directly, rather than through third-parties, so they can have immediate and direct control of their account options and contact details, eliminating the type of confusing situation that occurred in this case.

Review: I was autobilled for another year _ iam unhappy with their service and want my money refund to my cc as soon as possible.Desired Settlement: I want a refund of the money that was stole from me.

Business

Response:

Backstage is very concerned about the satisfaction of its customers, so we are disheartened to hear that this customer was not satisfied with Backstage's award-winning products and services. Founded in 1960, Backstage has long been the most trusted resource for actors, models, performers, and entertainment-industry professionals. More than 30,000 productions cast their projects via Backstage every year, reaching over 1.6 million actors and performers every month. Backstage is well-known for providing thousands of quality job listings, articles, resources, and performance and education opportunities to talent of all levels.The customer that filed this complaint subscribed to Backstage using an annual billing plan with automatic renewal. Upon request, this auto-renewal can be canceled at any time during the 12-month membership to prevent the auto-renewal from occurring at the end of the subscription term. However, in this case it appears that the customer did not request auto-renewal to be turned off or the subscription to be cancelled until nearly 2 months after the renewal took place -- nearly 14 months after the subscription was initially signed up for. So the customer's claim that Backstage "stole" money from them is not correct: The payment was a regular auto-renewal that was authorized by the customer at the time of signup; and no requests were filed to turn off auto-renewal. Our records show that we even emailed the customer a reminder a month before the auto-renewal took place -- and yet we were not contacted with a cancellation request until months later, after the renewal took place. And we were only informed about the request by the customer AFTER they'd already contacted the Revdex.com rather than simply asking our customer service team for assistance.(Backstage provides multiple contact points for customers, including a contact form, email, phone/voicemail, online chat, and a full online help center.)Now that we're aware of the situation, we will honor the customer's request for a cancellation and refund. Our customer service team will be contacting the customer to work out the details.We encourage all customers with questions, concerns, or requests to contact Backstage at [redacted]. Most cases are resolved within 1-2 business days, and we pride ourselves on delivering excellent customer service and an outstanding product.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

I was autobilled for another year _ I am unhappy with their service and want my money refund to my cc as soon as possible. They didn't have permission to do this. They have promised a refund check and I have not revived it. I was sick all last week with the flu and you canceled my claim. I would like a refund

Here is a copy of the email that he said he would refund. I have not received the refund check. [redacted]

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have been contacted directly by Backstage, LLC. regarding complaint ID [redacted], however my complaint has been resolved because:

[redacted] please close case.... Resolved.

Sincerely,