All I gotta say I these guys are slick. I got lucky when I found my copy of Limewire.. I searched and searched. Found a couple of these idiot paysites and said to myself there was NO WAY I was paying for this thing. A friend at work told me about it and he NEVER mentioned anything about memberships. So I kept up until I found the REAL Limewire download site. Tried the free version and really liked it.. so I bought the PRO version.

I was intrigued by these claims of fraud and decided to investigate one such site. http://www.limewire-downloading.com/uk/index.htm

These folks are slick. Nice professional looking page. The colors are right, different logo, but unless you've seen Limewire in action, you'd never know it. On the main page... down at the very bottom in a almost unreadable light gray is the line "LimeWire is a freeware. Please consult the Terms of use to learn more."

So... I consulted the Terms of use. OMG!! They are really out to get you. There is a clause in there that says something to the effect of.. if you dispute your purchase in any way you HAVE to use a specific email address for all correspondence. If you don't they will CHARGE you $15 for every email you send. This includes contacting the actual company who places the charge on your credit card. Here's the exact text from their TOU Page "USERS AND MEMBERS AGREE THAT IF THEY HAVE ANY REQUESTS/QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR SALES/ REFUND POLICY, THEY MUST CONTACT US DIRECTLY AT support@limewire-downloading.com AND SHALL NOT CONTACT PAY SYSTEM OR WORLDPAY. IF THEY DO NOT COMPLY TO THIS ORDER, WE ARE IN THE OBLIGATION OF CHARGING THEM A 15$ UNSOLICITATED FEEDBACK FEE TO THEIR CREDIT CARD/CHECKING ACCOUNT FOR EVERY EMAIL THAT IS NOT SENT TO THE APPROPRIATE DEPARTMENT."

So basically not only are they charging you for a FREE program, but they charge you if you complain about it too! Good thing the DMV here in the states doesn't do that.. An extra $15 bucks every time you complain about the length of the line unless you do it directly to the deaf guy in the corner wearing the blue tie!

Here's another nice quote from their website "The fee assessed by Limewire-Downloading entitles You to access the location, evaluation, and or recommendation of software products available from the web site and for the installation and technical support provided. All software recommendations refer to software that is available without charge to individuals at large for specific purposes."

Uhh.. OK... SO they're basically saying by charging your credit card we are allowing you to access software that is free to anyone and we'll tell you it's good?? No thanks, I'll try it myself and decide.

OH and it gets better... More confusing language:
"The service does not offer free trials as such the one-time charge is nonrefundable. limewire-downloading is a service website and does not issue refunds for dissatisfaction with the softwares or unability to use due to computer misconfiguration. If refund have to be made, there is a 12$ Processing Fee and Penality charge equals to 25% of the initial membership price. Customer have 30 days to request a refund, prior to this date, all request will be ignored. All penalty charges will be automatically billed to the customer's prefered method of payment and limewire-downloading is not in obligation to provide a written or verbal notice to the Customer."

Ok.. no free trial. Gotcha. No refunds for dissatisfaction or your inability to use the software. Gotcha. However, if they decide to issue a refund, there is a $12 processing fee and Penalty charge equal to 1/4 of your membership price. Yikes! I'm not good on the exchange rates but unless you bought a lifetime membership off the bat, you might actually be PAYING them to refund your money??? Now this is where I get confused... You have 30 days to request a refund... "prior to this date, all request will be ignored." In order for this to even allow for a window of possible refund time it SHOULD say "AFTER this date". Prior to the date means before. So if you bought it on June 4th and your 30 day limit was July 4th.. they are saying BEFORE July 4th your request will be ignored.. and you can't make a request after July 4th. THen there's the "Penalty charges"... they say they can charge those to your credit card WITHOUT notifing you AT ALL!! Uhhh NOT good! How'd you like a $12+ charge to just SHOW up on your credit/debit card out of the blue because you complained that you didn't like their "service". And you'd better hope you complained to the right address ... or BAM! There's another $15 charge.

I just wish there was some way of warning people about this stuff BEFORE they get suckered in. For those who've paid and lost.. I'm sorry you got taken. Let it serve as a lesson to all of us. Even thought they are often long and boring and confusing.. before you give ANYBODY your credit/debit card information READ their usage policies!!! If anything in there looks suspicious.. DO NOT make the transaction. Do the research and save yourself loads of time and money!