Is it just me or is active.com super scammy?
I just registered for a race (the Ypsilanti Color Run) on Active.com for the first time. I have registered for lots of races via other websites and never have I gone through a registration process that had more massive hidden fee booby traps than this one.
They try to get you to avoid a $3 processing fee by signing up for a $35 membership, then they try to get you to end up with $100+ in magazine subscriptions by saying "Hey try 3 of these magazines out for 3 months free!" Then lastly they try to get you hit up with some additional nearly $60 membership fee by presenting you with a filled out form where the only empty field says "Verify your email address", hoping you'll just finish it out mindlessly.
I can't remember the last time I went through such a scammy process, it left me shocked and honestly sad that I signed up for this race through them, thus supporting their awful practices. I would have stopped and not completed it but my sisters and niece are running in the race.
Anyone else have a similar experience or other horror stories? Maybe I'm just extra sensitive to this since I'm a web developer and designer, and at my job we spend a lot of time agonizing over how to make sure everything's as clear and easy to use for the customer as possible, and avoid hitting them up with any of these kind of hidden fee booby traps, especially ones that would amount to nearly $200.
Posted Jan 31, 2013, 1:56 PM UTC
Oh boy do I ever have a horror story. Last June my father and I signed up for the "Rapid Running Buffalo Half Marathon" on Active. ~$85 each. It was supposed to have tons of swag, chip timing, pictures, a post-race party (With beer!), and featured a finish on the Buffalo Bills 50 yard line. Ten days before the race we get an e-mail from RR stating that the race has been postponed to the fall to accommodate the "overwhelming interest" or some B.S. No hard date for the rescheduled race. RR refused to grant a refund because the registration had a clause that if the race was "postponed" there would be no refunds.
The local news ran tons of stories, and thankfully, a couple days before the race a local running co. picked up the slack and put on a barebones replacement race, with free entry for everyone who had paid RR. No chip timing, not much swag, almost no pictures, NO BEER at the finish!
The race was great and appreciated, but I know the difference between a $30 race and an $85 race. Here's where Active gets real scummy. RR refuses to answer phone calls, e-mails, any sort of contact (For the past 8 months). We tried to contact the credit co. to stop payment. They said they wouldn't because a third party (Active) had taken payment and done nothing wrong. I spent hours on the phone with Active, and they refused any sort of remuneration, or assistance getting money from RR, despite keeping their registration fees, and having touted the director of RR as their "Director of the Month" leading up to the race. Here we are, 8 months later, and we are still out our $170 because of Active's compliance in all of this. And, oh yeah, still no "rescheduled race."
Fuck Rapid Running, fuck Active.com.
The way active operates, and how most event registration sites operate is this:
They take the payment for the event, extracting a fee from either you or the race director to pay for the cost of the credit card transaction (which depending on what rate they get is usually in the neighborhood of 3% of the amount of the transaction), which means $5.10 of your race fee was out the door before anything else happened.
They then extract their fee (which is usually fairly small), because hey, they've got to make a profit too, or it wouldn't be worth it to them to even have the business.
The money gets put into an account and on a schedule, the funds are either direct deposited or a check is mailed out to the race director.
After #3 happens, essentially active no longer has your race fee to give you. This is why they have you check a box during registration saying that you understand that they issue no refunds, and any possible refunds need to be done through the race coordinators.
I'm not saying Active isn't scummy (god knows I hate them trying to sell me magazine subscriptions and active advantage every race I sign up for), they just aren't at fault in this particular situation. If they didn't provide the service, most races out there wouldn't even be able to take credit cards, due to the fact that the organizers either wouldn't get a good enough rate from a credit card processor to make it worth it, or wouldn't be able to get approval from a credit card processor at all.
It is not difficult or expensive for legitimate organizations to take credit cards. And, even PayPal would be better.
For large races, sure. But I've been a part of a student organization that runs a fairly barebones annual charity 5k for maybe 100 to 150 participants, and getting a payment processor for just one student-run event per year is overkill.
Active.com sucks, but there is a very real need for a service like that. Here's hoping a good competitor occupies this market.
I also do some web work for a very small charity that organizes races to fund free mammograms - like Komen, but on a local level, unaffiliated with them.
They are opting to continue with active.com as their registration company as they are so small, it would eat into too much of their $ raised to build something from scratch. Any other options would be greatly appreciated.
[deleted]
PayPal isn't absolutely awful these days in terms of rates (2.9% + $0.30 USD for sales inside the US), but that is similar to what active is charging that people seem to hate so much.
A lot of people also really
hatedislike PayPal for quite a few different reasons, but Ill let you read up on that for yourself.In regard to getting the ability to take credit cards, you also must remember that your organization goes through a similar approval process to that of people apply for credit cards. A lot of times small races (especially new ones) do not have a low enough risk factor for a processor to take them on, and if they do, there may be much higher fees associated.
Also, please remember that not using active (or another similar service) would incur quite a few other costs such as:
Sounds almost like they are in cahoots or at least gaming people by using this "third party" clause.
I get what you're saying, but Active should have a procedure for sneaky crap like what the RR Buffalo Half pulled, or in more honest "force majeure" cases like a race being cancelled due to earthquake/tornado/Sandy type situations. They're a business, they should have insurance to cover refunds, and in cases like possible fraud (RR Half's behavior here is incredibly sketchy) the insurance here would turn around and go after the RR's race organizers to recoup their loss.
Otherwise they're just as culpable once they've pocketed the money, and in cases of fraud, it could be argued they're an accessory, even if they're not in on it.
Found a news article that said this
But that is still ridiculous that you didn't get a full refund.
It's quite clearly fraud, why aren't you pursuing legal action?
Because its fucking $170
small claims mother fucker
Still not worth it. At least ~$50 in filing fees, plus all the time it would take (20+ hrs), plus the fact that you will likely never collect the money even if you do win.
It's not fraud, it's just people not reading everything they are signing up for. They see the words "free" and get a raging hard-on sign up to waive the registration fees then are shocked that the contract that they did not read had a fee assigned to it.
I'm amazed at the lack of importance that people give contracts these days. It's the same people that bragged about it only taking 20 minutes to close on their house then were shocked when their 5/1 ARM changed value and they could no longer afford their home. Read a god damn contract before you sign it.
Are you sure you read above posters story?
I claimed it's fraud because it's clear they had no intention of running the race he PAID for (85$.)
Active.com does not control that, they are simply a company that race organizers go through so they do not have to deal with the logistics of doing online registrations.
I had a similar experience. Signed up for a tough mudder type race a few years ago. Was really excited about it. The week before the race I was talking to a lady in our climbing gym who told me it was cancelled. There was no other notification. Apparently other people prepaid and didn't know it was cancelled as well. We tried contacting the place that put it on but it's been a complete black hole.
I was so disgusted with loosing that money that it's the last race I ever signed up for. It really took the wind out of my sales as far as racing. I only run about once a week now and can't see myself signing up for anything in the future. It just feels like I would be throwing good money after bad.
Look for races that are annual and have a few years of experience. It's never guaranteed, but you'll have a better chance at the race going off as expected.
Just to counter-balance your experience and those of others I have been racing for 20+ years and not ONCE have I gotten ripped off by a race. I've done hundreds. That being said I have seen that prices have gone up dramatically which I think is a shame.
Please give the community another chance and don't let one bad experience sour you on it. Look for a cheap local race to participate in. They are a lot of fun and I really don't think you'll regret it.
Did you sign up on active.com or on toughmudder.com?
He said tough mudder "type" race. It could have been a one-off from some tiny outfit.
doling out a beat down may be your only recourse
Wow that's horrible.
That sucks bad! I hate dealing with Active so much. I think the No Beer would have made me go insane.
No beer, no swag, no bueno.
Contact a plaintiffs' attorney where the race was located and explain what happened, ask him to institute a class action. That's a simple case.