1. The Three-Month Membership Charge- this is called Ziinga's Platinum Membership. So does this mean there's such a thing as a Gold and Silver membership? If so why does anyone who sign up automatically fall under the Platinum membership? The main reason is that its the most expensive one and it gets you into a 3 month binding contract. Now if you didn't read Ziinga's terms and conditions, for sure this will come as a shock. Hence, all these Ziinga complaints from surprised consumers.
If you love Ziinga, this should be no problem especially if you are addicted to this penny auction site and actively bidding for three months long, this should come as a bargain. However, if you were just looking to browse and try bidding, there is a way to squirm out of this binding contract.
Call Ziinga- ask for a cancellation which will surprisingly cost you £30.00 - why? because the transaction will require the services of Ziinga coordinating with your bank. Well, it should be free to cancel right? But it is isn't so because as much as possible Ziinga wants to keep you as a member.
You can also Open a Dispute Claim with your Credit Card Company or ask for a Chargeback.
2. Email or Text Notifying You are a Winner of a Prize- This may include a Free iPod Shuffle, a digital camera, a Debenhams voucher. With this, you have 24 hours to claim yourprize, if you click on the link they provided you will be ask to sign up to register your credit card. To claim your prize you may be ask to pay £2.00 or so, but after a 7 day trial, there will be a monthly charge on your card, if you use any of their bids.
3. I Can't Claim my Prize without Sending a Photocopy of Personal Details- Ziinga will ask for your passport, driver's license and credit card copy as Ziinga states is a counterfraud measure. This is to ensure that you are who you say you are. But then again, you can't blame people if they are not too trusting. Ziinga will not send you the prize that you won unless you pay for 1 month's membership. So that £2.00 iPod Shuffle is a bait for you to try their website for 1 month and pay them £59.99
Most of the complaints with Ziinga has mainly to do with their registration, subscription and membership process. So far, Ziinga is not known as a penny auction with shills or bots. In fact, I think they have a very good auction system at place where you can actually win prizes with their bidding agent. You can count on Ziinga to be shill-free. However, their membership contract is something of an inconvenience, but Ziinga is a penny auction site to begin with, if you are used to playing around Adult entertainment sites you know that they do operate this way by asking advanced fees upfront.
