Appealing Closed Case of Unauthorized Payment

[aa475]

In February 2019 I purchased a product from CyberLink (billed as AskNet Inc) and paid for it through Paypal with no problem. It was a one time purchase for $62.99.

Today (one year later) I noticed a payment go through that shows as "automated payment" on behalf of AskNet Inc. I did not authorize or subscribe to any kind of automated payments by them but was charged $69.99 for a product I did not purchase.

I have tried reaching out to the company through their website but there is no way to view or change account subscriptions or update payment information. I have requested that they cease all charges and cancel any subscriptions that they believe I have because I did not authorize any.

I reported this transaction to Paypal as an unauthorized payment (which it is) and it was denied by Paypal within a couple of hours. 

It does not sound like Paypal made any effort to actually investigate this case and just sent an automated response.

Now that the case is closed there is no way to appeal their decision. I wrote Paypal an e-mail through their contact form and requested that all payments to AskNet Inc be stopped immediately and my $69.99 be refunded. I received another automated response within an hour telling me there is nothing I can do except contact the company that billed me.

At this point it does not seem I can do anything and from reading other customer's experiences, Paypal has no interest in actually resolving fraudulent activity or scams like this. It seems Paypal does not care about its customers and is happy to do whatever they want.

Has anyone been able to somehow successfully appeal a closed case? I am afraid that because these payments are automatic that I will not be able to disconnect my bank account and close my Paypal account.

UPDATE: I found where subscriptions are managed on the CyberLink website and auto-renewal for the product I originally purchased in 2019 is OFF. It was never turned on and CyberLink (AskNet Inc) should have NEVER billed me.

[sharpiemarker]

@aa475 

Did you turn it off on the automatic payments in PayPal:

Go to Account Settings (gear icon) > Payments > Manage Automatic Payments

Select merchant on left, click Cancel on the right.

If you did cancel it before the charge, then try to report it.

Locate payment transaction in your PayPal account activity, click it, then click "Report a problem" and choose:

I have a billing issue  

Report issues with transaction amount, duplicate charges, refunds or canceled subscriptions.

Otherwise, you'll have to keep contacting the merchant to cancel or dispute it via our financial institution.

[aa475]

Thanks for the reply.

There are no automated payments set up for this company (AskNet Inc), it shows up under "inactive". I have Netflix and a few others on there, but not the company that billed me.

I have already reported the transaction and Paypal denied my case and closed it. That is why I am posting on here.

[JaybeOne]

I just found your post and I am about to go through this Paypal process. I purchased Iobit Software over a month ago and I just noticed I am being charged again just over two weeks ago randomly. There certainly seems to be an issue as in other forums as I am finding scam reports of an offshore company with this name making verified fraudulent charges. If this turns out not to actually be an accidental double charge or its not the real Asknet Inc I will now be also looking how my details were even obtained from  Paypal, Iobit and the real Asknet by this fraudulent Asknet company. These were the only three companies that were involved. I have not seen any reports on them being hacked but perhaps it is undisclosed? If i run into the same issues being treated like you did without proper investigation which normally takes Paypal 2-3 weeks, where the merchant is involved in the process ( I have disputed 1 other transaction unrelated over the last few years), I will cancel my Paypal account, request my bank deal with fraudulent charges. It just does not seem fair how you are being treated and I for one will not tolerate it for myself. I use Paypal for protection from this sort of treatment. If they are not doing their job, then they are fired from my solution provider stack. I have spent two hours now so far trying to work out what is going on which I simply do not want to be doing ever again. Sorry to hear your troubles.

Good luck at getting this resolved. Do not give up

[jeffperry2215]

I am dealing with same issur exactly , asknet inc. unauthorized charge paypal closwd and said it wasnt unauthorized. Do you have any updates or helpful info to pass along regarding this issue?

[irenarh]

Hi I have same problem. I  even don't what I bought at  Ask-net !?  Let me see if  PayPay will refund it. 

[Fletty]

Exact same problem with the exact same company. Cyberlink/Asknet. Got the standard PayPal "case closed" response to the initial dispute resolution I'd raised. So escalated with a direct e-mail complaint. Eventually got a refund a few days later after a few sleepless nights.

[Nienb1991]

Good Day, I am experiencing the same problems. I would genuinely appreciate it if you could let me know which email addresses you used to communicate with the company.