Melanie was raised in Michigan (an hour outside of Chicago) and has been living in the Midwest ever since.

Warning

Do not use usenet.nl. Usenet is a scam.

Joining Usenet.nl: Getting Hooked By a Free Trial

I have heard of Usenet services in the past but wasn't sure what it was. I found a website called Usenet.nl and they had a free trial via PayPal, so I joined. Once I was a member of the site, I got to look around more and decided it really wasn't what I was looking for.

Usenet.nl Rating

Cancelling Service

Their cancellation policy looked very difficult and there was a bit of Engrish on their website. When I dug deeper, I found that it's actually impossible to cancel the free trial before it expires, so they charge you the full price.



I should have noticed these things before I signed up, but PayPal is known for protecting their buyers and I was under a free trial. However, I was able to cancel during the free trial.



Nothing happened after that. I didn't get charged and didn't hear from Usenet until they "suspended" my account, which was expected. To me, that was a confirmation that it was mutually understood that the deal was off. My account was inactive, therefore they were no longer rendering service past my free trial period. Logical.

Email from Usenet.nl Saying Account Suspended

Threatening Invoices, Bills, and "Collections"

Fast forward about a month or two and I get a bill in the mail. The letter came all the way from Europe and wanted something like €100. When I first got the letter, I thought, "Yep, this is definitely a scam."



Later, I started getting emails from another company called Tesch Inkasso, a foreign collections agency, I presume. They wanted €99 for the "contract" ( and I'm using the term contract roughly since that's the word they're using, but I don't recall any contract.) In addition, they wanted:

Interest

Dunning cost (I had to look up this word, it's something like a collections agency fee.)

Damages in the form of a business fee

Damages for mailing me a letter

Everything totaled €164.46. Furthermore, they cited that if I wanted to pay via PayPal, they would "have to charge handling fees in the amount of €15.00, making the total amount €179.46." Nice try deterring users for opting for Paypal, but I dare not give them credit card details!



Plus, didn't they suspend my account since I didn't pay after the free trial?

Usenet.nl Customer Service

I contacted Usenet and they responded,

"After an extensive database search we must unfortunately report that we have been unable to find a valid cancelation for account ########.



We will however gladly perform additional searches if you can assist us by providing further information: After you canceled your account did you receive a cancelation confirmation by e-mail?

-If you did, can you please send us a copy?



How did you deliver your cancelation notice (support form request, e-mail or post)?

- If you used our support form or contacted us via e-mail did you use a different e-mail address and/or customer account number from the one listed above?



Thank you for your assistance and continued patience as we work to resolve this matter.



Once we have proof of your timely cancelation, your contract can be terminated and the membership fee credited to your account."



Oh. Okay, so my account wasn't cancelled even though I cancelled the subscription via PayPal? And they suspended my account?



I responded to the email, but I got:

"+++ This is an autoresponder - please do not reply to this email! +++"

Followed by,

"Stopping payment is not a termination. According to the terms and conditions it is irrelevant if you have used the provided contractually agreed services, because they have provided their service without limitation. We kindly ask you to settle your debt until 6th January 2017 to avoid further reminder cost."

How were the services provided without limitation if they suspended my account due to me cancelling the free trial via Paypal?

Lessons & Closure

To close, it's clear that Usenet.nl is a scam. They demand money for service they did not provide after a free trial that I canceled. They use bully tactics to attempt to get people to pay.



I've searched the Internet and found many other people dismayed by their business practices. Unfortunately, some people fell for the scam and did pay up out of fear.



If you find yourself in a similar situation with Usenet.nl, know that these are not legal business practices and do not pay them. I'm glad I don't keep a super tidy inbox, so I still have my account suspension notice.



Currently, I am working with PayPal to get this remedied. I'm hoping that with my evidence, PayPal will stop working with Usenet.nl. If you've found yourself in a similar situation, contact PayPal or your credit card company. Provide evidence and protect yourself from predatory business practices.



And no matter what, do not fall for their bullying. Do not pay them. And, of course, share this article to spread the word.

What if You've Been Scammed?

If Usenet.nl is sending you threatening messages after non-payment, do not pay them. They operate solely by scare tactics. This is illegal. What usenet.nl is doing is illegal. Don't let them bully you into paying for a service you canceled.



If you've paid by PayPal, contact them and very professionally explain what has happened. The more people who contact PayPal, the better!

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

Questions & Answers

Question: Some used a prepaid credit card of mine, and now I'm trying to get a refund. All I have is a record of the amount charged on my card from Usenet.ni. What else can I do?

Answer: I would recommend contacting the credit card company and reporting fraud if these are fraudulent charges.

© 2016 Melanie

Mars on August 13, 2020:

I subscribed to a 14 day trial and like many quickly was faced with the difficulty of unsubscribing and locked into a 1 year plan. If this has happened to you, report it to econsumer.gov and your local authorities, the more of us who report it, the more likely they will be investigated and face criminal charges. They will hunt you down and make you pay with a debt collector, so the only viable push back is legal support.

John Byrd on August 13, 2020:

I MADE A TYPO ILLEGALLY MENT TO BE LEGALLY!

Victim on March 02, 2020:

This asshole company causes several problems:

1. Makes it impossible to reach anyone to cancel your trial.

2. Neither do they answer emails.

3. What you can do is use PayPal, which allows you to cancel recurring subscriptions on your end.

But what they do, in retaliation, is report your associated card as 'fraud', causing PayPal to lock

you, and tell you to upload ID and credit card statement to restore, and at the same time,

causes your bank to cancel and issue you a new card, which causes you to go update all your

other recurring payments at your good merchants on that card.

4. It wasn't that much trouble for me, but be sure that I will get the word out,

you desperate pieces of shit. I hope you go the way of myspace.

Abdulrahman on January 10, 2020:

Good to know this info about usenet. I was planning to join but no after reading the feedback.

Nathan Stewart on December 18, 2019:

This website is a tricky one, I emailed a number of times to cancel the subscription, I got one response back that it was cancelled but it wasnt after but then after a day I called their UK support number and the agent was okay, I had to act like I didnt know what it was and she cancelled everything. The number I used was +44 20 3670 5870. Try it the key is to be nice and not to shout at the agent, she is only doing her job at the end of the day.

Hope you can get it cancelled and avoid the fees :)

Tony B on December 03, 2019:

They were pursuing me in 2016 and 2017, even though we did not have a credit agreement in the US, so I let them know they were wasting their time. The letters and emails stopped after a formal complaint to Paypal. Dismayed to see thiis still going on in 2019...

Cesar Williams on September 27, 2019:

Usenet took 103 USD , the way they do it is using a Trial, the same day I cancel it. I check to see if they register the invoice in PAYPAL, it was not. So yesterday I receive a charge to my credit card and it is from USENET, I claim for my refund using the service they provide and they say that they issue a ticket, but no one comes back to you. Why PAYPAL accepts a fraud company like that

Mohamed Nagy Attia on August 22, 2019:

Usenet took 99 USD out via Credit card I have never signed up with then never heard of them before until I noticed the funds gone I contacted My bank and they probably refunded the amount USENET have access to my account without my authorisation and taken the funds illegally they are Scammers and should be stopped I have to wait for the money to clear up to 60 days leaving me with nothing to live on.

Ranboy on August 04, 2019:

Just received an email from usenet.nl "Auto Renewal Contract".

Last month Initiated cancellation immediately my free subscription on their website after few minutes finding out that their service is not what I'm looking for, but there's no way to cancel for they designed their cancellation webpage that users' cannot do the right way of cancellation or unsubscribing. So I went to paypal and did the cancellation.

I was tricked by their misleading ads.

But this scammer emailed that they are auto renewing my subscription after a month and will billed me soon.

I replied them with one word... SCAMMER

George on July 11, 2019:

Usenet took 99 USD out via PayPal I have never signed up with then never heard of them before until I noticed the funds gone I contacted PayPal and they probably refunded the amount USENET have access to my PayPal account without my authorisation and taken the funds illegally they are Scammers and should be stopped I have to wait for the money to clear up to 4 days leaving me with nothing to live on I’m pissed off but glad PayPal has at least refunded me the money

Marie on July 01, 2019:

I have never even heard of Usenet but money just went to them from my credit card. Hoping my bank will give the money back to me. I have no idea how they got my card details.

Lokplart on June 25, 2019:

Hi, I fell for their scam too.. I used my PayPal so I was able to remove their permission to bill me. I also managed to get my subscription canceled by basically sending another email in which I specifically mentioned this is my second attempt and threatened them that if any money gets withdrawn from my account I will sue them. A few days later I've found my "subscription status" or whatever they call it to be "canceled"

Nádia on May 23, 2019:

I'm brazilian and made a account with paypal some months ago, and now Harvest Credit Management is charging me.. I'm really worried about this..

Jeraldine on April 28, 2019:

I literally just created an account and made the mistake of using my card. I tried terminating it but I am still logged in and the account still appears to be active. What do you advise I should do? Thanks for your help.

Chrizzy on March 17, 2019:

This article is golden. I've literally signed up for this today (luckily with computer generated data) and it isn't what I wanted. After a bit of research I found out that they send money requests to those who do not pay so I sent a request to cancel my subscription (which obviously hasn't been answered yet as it is 3am in the morning). The research I went into has landed me onto this page which gave me a feeling of relief as I was really scared what can come upon me. And for this, I want to say thanks. Without this article I would probably sit here, wait for the money request to come and pay them like every scared person would. Seriously, thank you Melanie for this article.

Aisa Nyx on March 08, 2019:

THIS IS AWESOME! THANKS for the article Melanie! It possibly saved me a lot of trouble. (Well, I did give them my e-mail address - but that's about it. We'll see, at least now I know what to do.)

On that note: I can't believe this site still exists! Everybody seems to be fighting alone - can't we take some joint action to just stop the scam and victimizition of people who are frightened enough to pay?

I'm not sure when the original article was posted (it only says updated 2018 August 13), but the first comment seems to be from two years ago. It was a few minutes ago that I felt compelled to google "is usenet.nl a scam" (why could that have been? shady as ever), bringing me to this site. This also means that usenet.nl is STILL active, judging from comments from 4 months ago not any more legal than before, furthermore search engines like Google STILL spit out this link (hey! shouldn't they flag sites like this? I would want my search engine to bother to do that) and last but not least -- NOBODY managed to bring them down legally? I mean: REALLY?

I sometimes wonder: what the hack are we all paying taxes for, if sites like this are not tackled by ANY authorities? To put it bluntly, if I have to fight with my own fists, I do not wish to pay for a police force so that they can just sit around, thank you very much. Case in point: usenet.nl is not the only culprit here.

Well, at least a new target for scambaiters....

RayAkuma on February 25, 2019:

I was recently mailed by this Usenet.nl

I dont know what even the service is they provide, but they Adressed me with "Yamaha Factory" and Charged my Bank Account with 100$. I'll just wrote them i am neither a Factory nor have i bought any services and i dont even know for what i got 60gb of additional data. I will certainly refund the money they took from my bank account and if they have any problems with that ill flip!

Yule on October 09, 2018:

I have same problem. I paid more than $60 to this SCAM and just realized its reality. Yesterday they sent me an email telling me to pay debt. They told me that they are the center of 'world-wide network of lawyers and debt collecting agencies' which quite scared me. Even though I know it's a SCAM and they are illegal, I wonder if there will be any harm for me.

s on August 28, 2018:

i am in this situation now too, but i have written to them and they told me that would cancel my account after the 14 days trial. I mean, I already blocked my card too. Will anything else happen after that?

Linh on July 31, 2018:

I had the same problem, go to Paypal or your Credit card and cancel them through that (cancel vendor). Usenet.nl is a SCAM!

N1colle97 on July 18, 2018:

Hi! Yesterday I received an email from Paypal with a bill of 100Euro to Usenet which I did not know of. Now, I don't know what to do to recover that money. What can I do?

GoodBoy on July 08, 2018:

ok cancel my previous comment, just read more comments below that they don't provide cancel option and so on.

GoodBoy on July 08, 2018:

ok so it was your mistake. Cancelling subscriptions on paypal is not canceling of the account.

All services that I use like hetzner hosting / vpn providers, have the same policy - you should cancel your account on their page, not just canceling the source of payment because that's retarded.

Never used usenet mentioned here, I was looking for opinions and landed here but this only assures me they are good company.

Bad company wouldn't even talk with you.

J.S. on May 02, 2018:

Tried to get me but i just never replied after reading this and they haven't sent me a letter in over a year. Maybe they gave up lol :)

Irma on May 01, 2018:

I have never heard of this company, I live in the United States, I am not even entirely familiar with euros and I was sent a bill. I do not even have a Paypal account.

Matan on March 13, 2018:

I had the same experience.

rosk on March 08, 2018:

I've had the same experience - signing up for free software but stopped when they wanted credit card details. Now they keep demanding money.

They don't seem to offer a facility to cancel the account which makes it seem all the more suspect.

Even though they have no right to demand any money from me, it still causes me unnecessary stress to keep getting these demands from them

yikes on February 07, 2018:

Im a student and I was just looking for books to buy online for cheap. Once I signed up for the trial period I realized that it was too sketchy because first of all they were advertising that they have access to books etc. but after my sign up it was showing that they were a high speed company offering 600Gb.

I tried cancelling my account through the phone number they have provided which doesnt work. and 2 months later they've sent me a letter saying I owe them $104 euro. All they did was provided me with a username and password, now my account is blocked. What should I do ? I've never even used their services, not even once.

nah on February 05, 2018:

I never even signed up for the website and they're saying I owe them money!

Fisz on February 01, 2018:

I am currently in the same position and I'm just wondering whether the letters will eventually stop?

Dave 211 on January 19, 2018:

Ten month ago I had same problem as everyone else, even had a collection agency knocking on my door, but after a lot of hassle I managed to prove to the agency with my paperwork which I keep, to all online transactions (luckily) in regards to my cancellation.

Would you believe yesterday Usenet had the audacity to send me an Email offering me a special WINTER deal on their product! WHAT! they obviously kept my Email address from our first encounter, no hesitation, DELETE, DELETE. Their red label is a warning.

laura on January 18, 2018:

I signed up to try getting a textbook but immediately lost the password for the account. I freaked out for a bit before realizing i could cancel the payment from paypal. I did that (and I have proof i cancelled the payment early) but I didn't think to tell them DIRECTLY I was cancelling the account...

they sent me a letter saying i have to pay 94 euro otherwise they will send the information to a credit agency working in Canada... How do i REACT to this?

Vanessa on January 02, 2018:

I am from Malaysia and still a student ... I signed up was because I wanted to download a pdf book for my study and after signing up they didn't even send a notification to remind either to cancel the subscription or continue during the trial period... Then this morning I literally jumped out of bed because I received a message stating that my card has been charged with 99USD or RM434.13 I was so devastated to see that... my God I don't even know how to respond I feel like crying because that's my mum's hard earn money and I am still a student and all I wanted is to download a PDF book but feels like I was scammed ... This is getting serious as a lot of countries are being scam and this is definitely a fraudulent transactions... I hope people will not be scam after reading this

Joe Majury on January 02, 2018:

I’ve had problems with them as well.

I empty my email “trash” daily, so I too do not have proof of cancellation, so I sent them the following email, and have heard nothing since, and I don’t expect to.

“ I have attached 3 documents to this email, which also includes my reply towards this payment.

I am NOT the sort of person who buys something and doesn't pay for it, I am also not a trouble maker, or someone who looks forward to confrontation.

I am a Retired Police Officer, so I am used to Court appearances and the threat of further action does not intimidate me in any way.

you must also not forget that I can take Usenet to court if they continue to harass me over this payment.

Payment for a product that I cancelled 4 days into a 28 day trial period.

Any future correspondence will be handed over to my Solicitor, along with my email of cancellation, and if it comes to it, as I said, I shall instruct him to counterclaim on my behalf “

Don’t let these bully boys intimidate you into paying.

Denis on December 30, 2017:

Same story here. Since I could not easily find an easy way to cancel this FREE TRIAL! on their fraud website, I canceled my Paypal subscription BEFORE the trial period ended. Then they started sending me emails, then letters asking me to transfer money to their bank account (yea right sure I'm an idiot!) for the amount of 110.00 EURO (Bank name: Hypovereinsbank Regensburg) and finally they threatened me to send my case to a local (I live in Canada) collection agency. And guess what, these low-life scam worms actually DID just that. Months later a local collection company sent me a letter claiming the money I apparently owed these thieves otherwise they threatened me to damage my credit score. They even called me but I ignored their calls. After a few months they gave up.

SO, people PLEASE, PLEASE, DO--NOT, I repeat DO NOT give in to these scammers, thieves, fraud assholes. They will use all sort of bully tactics just to scare you into sending money into their bank account. THIS IS FRAUD. In fact I was hoping that this collection company here would send me a subpoena so I could go to court to expose these fraudulent scammers. But of course they will NEVER have the balls to show themselves. At the end, I just feel stupid enough to have even tried to use their crappy fraud services even for a few minutes. I should have known better. BUT at the very least they didn't get a cent from me but inversely, they spent money on stamps and collection agency fees I guess. For that I am proud. However, I am still pissed at international laws for letting these thieves get away with frauding people worldwide for SO MANY years. Any lawyers out-there, here is your chance to go after a worldwide SCAM. I'm here to support you and a future collective action against these worms.

Patrick Koning on December 15, 2017:

I felt into this trap as well. I got the free trial, and they asked me to pay 1 euro through iDeal, because I don't have a credit card and my paypal account is empty. Now 14 days later, I never received a message that my trial period was over and they never asked me if I wanted to continue the subscription. So I went into my account and pushed the cancel button several times, even with the statement I never got a message about the trial period ending. It even says that the amount of 84 euro's was already paid, while that amount has not been taken from my bankaccount. I am kind of worried that they will try a debt collection on my bank account. Al though I am not sure whether an iDeal transfer would give them the right to do so. I have changed all my personal information on the website, even changed the email address and my home address. But I am not sure whether they keep the original address or not. I live in the Netherlands and someone in this article stated that I have nothings to worry about since he was from the Netherlands too and gave the advise to get them stuffed and don't pay. I hope they send the reminder bills to the other address I input into my information. Sadly enough it's not possible to enter a separate IBAN into ABN-Amro to block any debt collection. This can only be done if the collection has occurred and you reverse your money, only then you can block them. Well, I don't trust these guys so I keep as little money on my account as possible, then I will just buy more groceries than usual, but with no money on my account.

It would be very useful if everybody here who dealt with them, tell later on how it ended. Did anybody face a lawsuit? Did anybody got a debt collector at their house? Has anybodies bank account been blocked? That sort of stuff. Oh man, I wish I never had done this. This is an eye opener, before I do anything like this again, first Google on it to see if any scam is related to it.

Paul Graysom on December 07, 2017:

Just fell into this trap too November 2017. They took money without authorization from my account, and then when I canceled they came after me with collections.

Please people, don't even sign up for a free trial. It's a pure scam.

Jim on November 28, 2017:

The *SAME* exact thing happened to me. I am not sure what to think other than they are messing with the wrong person. They will *NEVER* get a cent out of me because I cancelled purposefully, emailed, and their services did not work as promised. I'm ignoring the demands and let them try to sue me in the United States in my county which has 1 judge (Which is where they will have to sue me). Credit card company already says that I am fine, so no worries there. but this is DEFINITELY without a doubt a scam trying to get you to pay money and if you pay I have no doubt they will try to make you continue to pay. ignore it.

Higgins Troyard on November 22, 2017:

Same thing. I found their email when I

was traveling in China and I did not pay attention to their email. I lost my wallet when I was transferring to China in Incheon Airport and I locked all my credit cards immediately. Now they send me an email telling me that me that they have informed a debt collecting agency to rob 150 euros? I have never heard of them and they are collecting transactions disapproved by the bank?

michel on November 19, 2017:

should i pay or not they say i have to pay 104 euro.

Owen on November 16, 2017:

I started up the free trial, it was so long ago I can't even remember why. It wasn't what I was looking for so I tried to cancel it. When the site messed me around I gave up and left it

Now today in the mail I get an invoice demanding 89,14 EUR (euros I think. I'm in England so that confused me) which includes an 6,00EUR reminder fee

What do I do about this?

Mel Gregory on November 14, 2017:

These people have sent a bill to my son, a child, saying he has an unpaid account.

I've messaged them, as I refuse to pay stating that I know this is a scam as my son doesn't even own a computer plus he is a child. They are now asking me to send a copy of his identification. I'm also refusing to do this as I don't know who is the other end.

I will keep you updated

Kennedy Afriyie on November 13, 2017:

I find myself in the similar situation. I cancelled free trial period on the same day my account was created. I never used the service but I have charged $100 and has been deducted from my Visa accounts.

John A S on November 13, 2017:

Just fell for this one in September. Like an idiot I did a paypal payment,and then checked the reviews for this so-called company! As soon as I saw the reviews I cancelled the paypal payment which was within five minutes of making it so it never went through. Unfortunately usenet.dl now had my details and have been pestering me ever since. I had just started getting tetchy with them when I saw this site. Many thanks for the re-assurance. I will contact Paypal.

Howard C. on November 08, 2017:

I got the short version of the same treatment. They came in through the side door, attached to an add that said I "was the lucky winner.". Next thing I knew they were charging my bank, and there was absolutely no way to cancel before the end of their convenient "Trial" period. They also don't answer their phone because, no matter what time of the day or night you call, you've done it wrong. They're not open.

Their charge went to 'pending' within a day.

However! Not screwed yet. Canceled everything at the bank, and will not buge no matter what.

When is the FCC going to do something about these kind'v guys? Just go get'em, and hang'em high. Thanks.

H.C.

Joe Majury on November 06, 2017:

I got the same letter today demanding £164.46 for a service which I had cancelled just 4 days into the 28 day free trial.

almost the exact scenario as yourself. I have told them to go and get stuffed and f I get any more mail regarding this, I will charge them £100 an hour for dealing with, and after that I will be handing all my correspondence to my Solicitor, along with my copy of my cancellation email.

I'm an ex-cop, so threats of Legal action don't scare me.

It seems to be one big con.

I did wonder at the time why they needed my CC details for a free trial, now I know. When I cancelled, I also told my CC company not to make any payments to Usenet.

Nathan on November 04, 2017:

Glad I read this. Was about to sign up but after reading through the cancellation policy, it seemed sketchy.

Sam on November 02, 2017:

Just got scammed. I wish I saw this before I signed up for the free trail. What should I do now? They sent a bill for $105 CA. I would never sign up for anything over $10 , not sure where they are getting these numbers from.

Rob on October 31, 2017:

Have had this exact same scenario, almost word for word. So glad I found this article - I was alsmost on the verge of paying 140 euros for 'services ' after I cancelled the trial by stopping PayPal payments and got demands from third party collector Tesch Inkasso to pay up. Good to know this advice is out there!

Mervin Butts on October 27, 2017:

I find myself in the same problem that you identified. I don't know how usenet.nl got my home address, as I did niot request this service. This definitely is a scam. Thanks for your heads up and info.

LarriiThaGentleman on October 05, 2017:

O OK cause I wasn't gonna pay them in the first place, Thank You for letting me know it was all a scam.

Valentin Mitroi on September 27, 2017:

I'm in the same situation, cancelled free trial period on the same day my account was created. Never used the service.

Robert Newton on September 26, 2017:

I have been receiving the same letters and e-mails. In fact I NEVER had a "free Trial" or signed up with them. I don't have or never had any interest in their news service!

S on September 24, 2017:

@FSyou can contact paypal to get your money back from those scmmers.

FS on September 21, 2017:

I'm in the same situation, cancelled free trial period on the same day my account was created. Never used the service.

Now they have withdrawn €99 from my PayPal and told me that I also had to call them to cacel. Is there i chance I'll have the money back?

U9K on September 20, 2017:

Oh yeah, and I have a Paypal account that isn't connected to a credit card (I don't own one). It always has a € 0,- balance. When I pay something with Paypal it get's taken from my normal bank account a day later or so. BUT only if I bought something and therefore approved it.

Save!

So those Usenet bastards can't do anything

U9K on September 20, 2017:

I fell for the same scam too. It all started in July 2016. Same as everyone; Tried to cancel, didn't work, R. Weirdmann started sending me e-mails that I needed to pay about € 151,- Fast forward to the present time. The last e-mail I got from them is december 2016. They gave up.

Just DO NOT PAY. Don't get scared, I live in the Netherlands and they can't do shit to get you. Don't worry!

:-)

Zakiyyah on September 12, 2017:

Usernet are CON-ARTISTS & scam innocent people for money. I Do not ever remember registering for Usenet.nl and then they sent me a bill for 11 euros. I requested an invoice with banking details are I didn't mind paying the little money to get rid of them nagging & politely asked them to remove my details and unsubscribe me which they did not respond to. 10 months later they are getting credit collectors to run after me for 110 euros...THEY ARE SCAMMERS!

Iz on September 08, 2017:

Just got scammed. Like many others, I wanted to download a book that is useful for my study. After realizing that this is a scam, I immediately proceeded to cancellation. But cancellation can only be completed through phone. Damn. I wrote to them via their Contact Form. Hopefully I get a reply. If not I might have to terminate my credit card. That's the only solution I can think of right now.

Ev on September 04, 2017:

I am being scammed by usenet. They have gone from trying to extort money from pay pal ($25) to the latest email of $86.51. BIG SCAM and there is no way that I'm paying. I reported it to ACCC and will call NSW fair trading next if I get another email. Will see! There are so many scammers out their. Just do not tolerate garbage. Scummy scammers!

Anam on August 20, 2017:

Please tell me what you did, I'm receiving the same letters in the post now! Even though I cancelled my payments through paypal

Kiki on August 19, 2017:

I also fell for the scam.. :(

I subscribe for free trial as they advertised a book that I really wanted to download. Then actually, it wasn't there. SO I tried to cancel my account but couldn't find a way to cancel except to call them. So I cancel my account through paypal in the same day I subscribe for the service.

thought my free trial has been canceled automatically, a month after that I received email from them. Second mail, threatening me to pay some amount of money. After that I receive an emmail from debt collection company to settle the bill. Just to end all problem and disconnect myself from them, I paid the bill. The women from deb collection company promised to finalise my account and close it fully for me so they won't charge me more in the future.

Still I got another email from her to pay some more amount of money. GOSH! I hope she is wrong and not in the same boat with usenet to scam me more.

David Li on August 14, 2017:

hey - just looking for some help here - paid with a dead prepaid visa card - got my letter in the mail - but the issue is i didn't use paypal - how should I resolve this?

Richard - Canada on August 12, 2017:

Just got my first of the scam letters . . . which will be ignored

Thanks for all the posts it was pretty obvious to be a scam

TKay on August 11, 2017:

Hello All!

I have the same story as basically all of you. I have been receiving emails and letters for about 3 months now saying I owe this company money and if I do not pay they are going to proceed with legal action. I have been ignoring all letters and emails from them and am not paying them a dime but I'm just curious to know if the emails and letters have eventually stopped for anyone?

Dave211 on August 05, 2017:

Hi! Nina, and all, - I received two emails from them, and three from a collection agency with threats, but I tend to be a hoarder with any minor business emails like this one, and on request from the collection agency I sent them a copy of the cancellation acknowledgement from usenet.nl and PayPal whereby I received a reply saying the collection agency had stopped proceedings.

Bottom line hang in there and don't pay, be brave, and always save short term any future paperwork in regards to anything you may acquire on-line. good luck.

Nina on July 29, 2017:

I have a question for everyone who was scammed? Have you received one letter or more? I could handle just one, but more...

Craig Smith on July 28, 2017:

I don't want to get letters about billing so I changed my address. Will this stop them?

Hydro on July 28, 2017:

Hello, I got scammed and I'm frightened. I used my PayPal and later cancelled my trial through PayPal as the site was useless. I then logged into my account and completely changed my address and name. I didn't change my email as I wanted to see if I'd get a cancellation email. I also sent an email to usenet and got a reply saying there's a high number of enquiries and it'd talk a while which is a bullshit excuse. Am I still safe?

Mike McAllister on July 24, 2017:

It just happened to me today. I got a collection notice from TeschInkAsso. I'm not going to pay. I'm interested in knowing if anyone in the US has actually been taken to court or had the debt transferred to a US collection agency. Or are these guys just blowing smoke trying to see how much they can extort from unknowing victims. I am also going to contact Paypal to add my name to the list.

ityphoons on July 23, 2017:

if its not paypal? I use my card. please help me i just signup and realizing this. Im from the philippines and i did not contact them through calling because its very expensive here in my cointry, so I use their online supprt form. but they are not replying. helpme. I signed up because i wanted to download a pdf of a book that was advertised by their website to study for an major exam. i only came there for the free trial package, im very poor i cant afford the billing. My mother works hard for the money that is in my account. I have total anxiety right now i cant handle it, I cant study! this situation is all im thinking right now. please help me!! :(.

Tino on July 20, 2017:

Just happened to me a few days ago. They send me a mail saying that the free trial was expired, so therefore my account was "suspended".After, they asked me for a payment. However, I didn't want to subscribe, so I cancel it through PayPal.

Therefore, they have send a mail to me today saying that they haven't received my cancellation; and asked me to pay it anyway.

What should I do next to avoid paying to those scammers?

Mill on July 13, 2017:

Yep; cancelled through Paypal's subscription services: so glad there was an option for that. Thanks for the detailed explanation and solution for those who chose to use Paypal. Kudos!

olu on July 12, 2017:

seems there are many more people who have had or are having the same experience . that been said i keep getting emails from them and there supposed collection agency . anyone knows how to put a final stop to them and stop all the annoying emails.

Pritesh shah on July 07, 2017:

Same here....Today , 64 Rs is deducted from my credit card by usenet.nl ...i got message on mobile .... Yesterday , i started free trial , what should i do to cancel this subscription and get back money.....

Edd on July 03, 2017:

Ok so I wrote to usenet customer support, asking to cancel my contract. They confirmed, that my contract has been canceled. I hope its gonna be good.

Melanie (author) from Midwest, USA on July 02, 2017:

Cancel it with your credit card company.

Edd on July 02, 2017:

Damn! I have the same problem. What should I do?? I put my card details not paypal!

Julie on June 27, 2017:

My son received a bill from them and he has never used it. They have on it that he has a pasted due amount for 12/5/2017. How is that possible its only 6/27/2017. At the bottom of the invoice it has Yours faithfully. I dont know about anyone else but i have ever seen a business put that on a bill. I know this is one that will not get paid.

Rachel on June 24, 2017:

They have tried to get €146 from me and sent letters to my home address. PayPal refunded and they won't be getting a penny

Ziana on June 19, 2017:

I received an invoice in the mail, and I'd never even heard of usenet.nl until I received this invoice. I don't have an account with them, I've never signed up for anything, or used any of their services. I sent them a lengthy paragraph telling them so via their contact form. I also let them know not to expect a payment from me.

Jack on June 02, 2017:

Today's victim a child below the age of 18 was going to stupidly pay £10 or €19 thanks to this I can go to the cinema tomorrow

Sam on May 17, 2017:

Next victim here. I got a letter yesterday asking me to pay 23 euros or be transferred to a collection agency. They couldn't charge my Paypal account since I have no bank info linked to it. I wasn't bothered, since I had received several emails from them saying my account was blocked - I thought: no payment, account blocked so... deal off. They expect me to accept to pay even though my account was blocked and I never used the service. I'm contacting the police and a lawyer to hear what they have to say about this. Usenet.nl is not seeing a dime from me.

Cursel on May 13, 2017:

Hello from Washington State USA

I too have gotten these scam debt collection letters on seemingly official looking documents. The Usenet letterhead states they are based out of Italy, the debt collection agency is based out of Germany, Usenet uses a Netherlands extension on their domain. That alone raises serious questions.

They target worldwide. They threaten you legally and threaten to go after your credit history. This is actually extortion and the last time I checked extortion was still illegal here and most other places I assume as well.

This scam company is very well organized and smart. They use online contracts that are very hard to get out of as their legal basis for payment due. They use international addresses to make it harder to pin them down. They send out professsional looking invoices and collection letters. They know that a percentage will pay without a fight and this is their market.

I have written the Washington State Attorney Generals office with supporting documents and they have actually written Usenet. They are still waiting to hear back from the fake debt collection site but did get some sort of response from Usenet.

So here is the situation. You are being extorted for money. They will use threats against you for payment. This is illegal. You need to write and talk to your local agency responsible for handling these issues. If you do nothing they will keep doing this to you and others. So dont do nothing do something that will contribute to stopping this.

UmOkay on May 12, 2017:

Hi all,

I can't believe that I'm also trapped in this kind of thing! I signed up for the free trial hoping to find a download for an old game but I can't even cancel the account. Thing is though, I linked the account to an old gift card (that holds a few cents) and not through Paypal... I have also sent them many of those 'inquiry' messages through their site and through email too. I really hope I can get a reply back saying that they cancelled my subscription...?

Do you guys think they can still somehow charge me or report me even though my account is linked to some old gift card? Someone please help...! Thanks.

diogenes on May 09, 2017:

To John Doe below. Paypal will commence an action if you rteport any company you are not happy with. You have to ask them to do this, of course. If they agree with your side, they will back charge the "scammer," and get your money back; advice you and keep the money in your Paypal account for you to use or have them transfer into your bank. At least, that is what I have done on three occasions. Good luck! Bob

John doe on May 08, 2017:

I have a problem. I was also scammed, yet I never even recall signing up. So, I always thought that the emails they sent were spam and deleted everything. Since I don't have the termination email, what do I do?

Dave211 on March 02, 2017:

Thanks Melanie, for your post, Just a repeat of everyone else problem, I signed up for the 14 day free trial then abruptly cancelled out after about 3 hours trying to sort out the in's and out's of their messy program, but after cancelling out, two weeks later I find that they had taken out the initial payment from my PayPal account, so I put a block on their services via the PayPal office. They then informed me that I had signed up for two lots of their program,(don't recall that) and had only cancelled one?? why would anyone sign up for two of the same thing the same day then only cancel one?? I sent them an email stating that I was not interested or would I ever be using their services at any time, and that when something is cancelled it means cancelled, (to which they never responded) I have just received a reminder three months later of an outstanding amount of Eur110.00 but they can go jump in the lake, as I have all PayPal and the original cancellation emails from them, which I am keeping to one side, their shoddy book keeping records should show this already, so good luck with that one. I wont be paying them a dime.

Nik on February 15, 2017:

Same thing for me, I got charge for 110$ my payment was canceled trough Paypal, am I safe then?

lee on February 10, 2017:

im korean same situation

I do not speak English so I have a lot of errors to solve the problem.

I am into Google translation...

i dont know what to do

i removed paypal card But can not this be solved by this?

remy on February 08, 2017:

same situation. I think we should all contact the fbi, or maybe interpol. This is an international fraud scheme

Rachel on February 02, 2017:

I am in exactly the same situation described. I believe I was hacked and never signed up an account. I contacted PayPal then refunded the money. usenet.nl sent me a letter in the mail wanting money so I tried to call the number. It was international and wouldn't go through so I email them. Long story short, it's been 5 months and they are still hassling me. How do I get proof it is a scam? I want to know that I can't be taken to collections in the U.S. over this mess or even my wages garnished or some other strange situation.

Same issue on February 01, 2017:

I cancelled my subscription like last year, it took over 3 months till they send a letter to my house telling me I didn't cancel my subscription, now I am not sure if I should pay just for the sake of getting them off my back but there is no reason why they cant provide a cancel button on the site for people to cancel, or just remove the charge from my account given I only tried the service for 2 days it was awful I uninstalled and cancel within like 2 days of trying...

I don't have copies of the original Email I sent them because it was months ago to cancel it and I have over 7000 emails, but I do have the cancel on record with PayPal which clearly shows 2 days I cancel and my account was suspended too so they lose nothing I would lose nothing...

Regardless of a Terms & Conditions there is no way to prove where I sent them information or not I am actually thinking about destroying my account and filling it up with blank information

Skhan on January 26, 2017:

Hi Melanie

I am getting the same emails and letters from them. What should I do?

Emily on January 25, 2017:

Thank you for this review. My situation is very similar. Actually I don't even know if I signed up for the free trial or if UseNet.nl just got my info, but somehow I ended up with not one, but two paypal billing agreements with them. I cancelled both billing agreements within less than 3o minutes, and went on my merry way thinking that all was fine and dandy.

But of course, no way. I didn't go through all the proper cancellation channels for UseNet.nl! Then I didn't hear from them again until this week when they sent me two nasty-grams telling me that I owe them 173 Euros for each of the two accounts. I took screen shots that showed when I cancelled the billing agreements through PayPal and sent them as proof to the collections company by email.

Very quickly they sent me back an email that said my proof only showed that I refused to pay them, not that I cancelled my accounts with them. It went on to say that the terms and services I signed gave specific instructions about how to terminate accounts, and that since I had not followed those specific instructions, I did indeed owe them the money .

Now I am still scratching my head wondering why on earth I ever signed up for a free trial with them, or even if I ever did. I don't remember ever hearing about them before seeing the two billing agreements on PayPal. And what am I supposed to do about their harassing letters?

They are not a website or a company that anyone should go near AT ALL!!

Handel on January 12, 2017:

Thank you Melanie for this excellent post. I find myself in virtually the same situation as described by your article. I recently, and foolishly, gave Usenet.nl a chance without first googling. Well, that is a lesson learned. I have not yet received the payment harassment notices that you write about, but no doubt they are coming.

Usenet.nl appears to be a foreign-based (outside USA), scam operation.

One serious concern is that they can do harm to a person’s good credit rating through false allegations of non-payment. Would anyone out there know about this? Have you considered filing a lawsuit in return, asking for a cease and desist regarding unwarranted payment demands?

If enough Usenet.nl potential “scam-ees” banded together, perhaps file a joint lawsuit against these vile scammers? I note that Usenet.nl have been sued by several major media companies for copyright infringement. This ragtag outfit apparently lives in this cesspool of conflict and deception. It is their element.

Suhail Zubaid aka Clark Kent from Mississauga, ON on December 24, 2016:

Thanks for letting your readers and followers know. I hate those scam and collection tactics based on fear factor. I am glad you didn't fall for this fraud.

I wish you a merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a very happy new year in advance.

David Hunt from Cedar Rapids, Iowa on December 22, 2016:

It can be very unnerving to have undeserved threats of increasing costs. I commend you on your perseverance and cool under fire. Personally, I never sign up for "free" trials that require payment information up front (PayPal account, credit card info, etc) no matter who is offering it. It is in the interest of even "legitimate" businesses to make cancellation difficult. Great article.

diogenes from UK and Mexico on December 22, 2016:

Well done. There is so much of this disgusting scamming going on on the Internet. You have to look ten times at each button you press to make sure you are not being dragged in further to one scheme or another. Adding automatic renewal to many services when you have not requested same is one glaring problem. I agree that Paypal, a great service, needs to become more proactive regarding these unsavoury tactics and perhaps make it easier to use their site to seek remedy.