ComplaintsforAbine, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  07/17/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  deleteme website will not allow to login and when I ask for new password to login, it does not send me any emails. I know it's the correct email because I get messages from them saying I tried to login but with wrong password. They have no customer support or any way to contact the. They keep billing me on auto renew but wont allow me to login to cancel the subscription.

  

  Business response

  07/18/2024

  Hello, 
  

  I see that you reset your password yesterday, and the link to contact support is at the top of every page on our website as well as the emails we have sent to you but maybe you missed that.

  I have cancelled your order and issued a refund as requested

• Initial Complaint

  05/26/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Date of Transaction: -A few months ago Amount Spent: -One year renewing Plan (not sure how much it is and the website doesn't immediately show me in account section)What did the business commit to providing:-To a normal person it would seem like they're providing you the ability to help remove you from online sources. In reality, they have specific groups they can remove your information through. Regardless, when you quote search your name the most common websites used that show information aren't on their list.Nature of the dispute:-After a few months, I keyword googled my name ("First Last") and the exact same websites that had my information on the first page of ****** still had a ton of my info (addresses, phone numbers, family, etc). I paid for a service and beyond their fine print and ******** language they take your money and do nothing useful to the end user.To the average person, a website that when ******d says (verbatim) "Remove Personal Info From ******" you would expect them to remove them from the TOP ****** RESULTS!Advertisement was the same when I started my account as it is today in late May 2024.

  

  Business response

  05/29/2024

  Hello, 

  As stated, you have signed up for a 2 person plan on 3/8/2024 at the discounted rate of $183.20 (Normally $229.00.) However, I noticed you only completed the datasheet for the second person on 5/26/2024. Lacking that data, we would not have been able to remove the information from the data brokers for that individual.

  Additionally, we try to be very clear up front that our service focuses on data brokers and people search sites and is not a 1-stop-solution to all online privacy issues.  For example on our "how we work" page we provide a specific list of sites we remove from.  We are constantly working to add more, but it's not easy -- many of these sites are malicious in intent -- they change their policies frequently and do every thing they can to avoid removals.
  
  We see ourselves as an essential part of any privacy solution -- we handle the biggest data brokers and work to keep your information from reappearing as it almost always does unless the source information is found and removed.  And we pride ourselves on being a privacy "partner" with our customers, to help them through the removals of sites, whether we support them or not. 
  

  Finally, ****** search results are very much regional meaning the information you see is likely going to be different then the information I will see, even when using the exact same search criteria. For example, a search using your First and Last name this morning returns first page results largely consisting of your ************ accounts- those cannot be removed by a third party.

   

  Customer response

  06/07/2024

  1: If they're regional then why are the same companies popping up when I use a VPN?

  
  2: Why do you advertise on ****** that you "Remove personal info from ******"? If I still see my stuff on ******, then that is textbook false advertising. When you hide the fine print behind other parts of your website with disclaimers it doesn't change the massive banner alluding to a task you can't accomplish according to your reply.

  
  3: "Remove personal info from ******" (the primary tag next to your name when ******d) in no way implies that this is a partnership. That clearly implies it's a service. When I ask someone to get rid of weeds and they advertise "We remove weeds from your garden" I don't get an "About Us" page about how we "share in the responsibility of caring for my lawn." Can you give an example of another business that "partners" with the people that are clearly looking for a service (especially based on your [what I consider to be intentionally] misleading tag lines)?

  
  
  Regards,

  ********

   

   

  

  Business response

  06/14/2024

  Hello,

  We cannot delete ****** search results themselves without first removing the source information that the search result is pulling the information from, the data broker websites. ****** is not the source of the search results its showing you; its merely displaying your information from the most relevant sources, based on your ****** search query letting your information be found more easily. ****** does not have the file containing your personal information, nor can it delete the file.

  Once we remove your information from a site that is part of your plan,  ****** and other search engines naturally filter it out of search results within 3-4 weeks.

   
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I create an account with IronVest for their services, they have a missleading fake advertisement about the 2 free masked, that are free-of-charge according to their website, well, actually they're not, since I create a card and I was charged for 2$ on it. I contact their support to resolve this situation and they didn't do anything to solve my issue, instead while having an argument they prefer to ban my account and didnt provide me any resolution.I will give you the change of refund my card for the whole amount of it, or I will dispute this with my bank.

  

  Business response

  08/09/2023

  Hello,
  
  Unfortunately this is an Ironvest issue, not an Abine *** issue and I cannot assist you directly on this matter.

  You will need to contact this company directly at ********************.
  
  Sorry we can't be more helpful on this one.

  Customer response

  08/09/2023

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered. 

  [You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.  If you do not enter a reason for your rejection, your complaint will be closed as Answered.]
  
  Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.
  
  FAQ
  
  Regards,

  Amira

   

  They're part of your company, and as I said you're an awful company,I hope you solve my issue with my full refund, otherwise I will ensure to let Abine and IronVest bad review for how disgusting you treat your customers.

   

  

  Business response

  08/10/2023

  Hello, in the interest of preventing future misunderstanding, Abine *** and Ironvest are NOT the same company. However as a courtesy to you, I personally contacted Ironvest support on your behalf and you were refunded in full on 8/8/2023 , the same day this complaint was generated. 

• Initial Complaint

  03/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Joined deleteme 6 months ago. They have removed some of my info from the web But they is still a lot of my info still out there. I have paid up front for a years service and I have done multiple searchs for my info and found quite a few sites and reported it to my dedicated worker. Either that can't get my info off of some sites or it's not covered under my plan. Why am I paying y'all guys for a service that I'm not 100% receiving?? There's not but a monthly or a yearly how is some sites (not covered under my plan)?

  Customer response

  04/09/2023

  I have not heard from the business in response to my complaint.

  

  Business response

  04/10/2023

  Hi There ,
  
  First, let me say that you're not alone in your frustration.  People are finding their info spread across the internet more and more these days, which is why they're turning to services like ours to help them remove it.  However, we try to be very clear up front that our service focuses on data brokers and people search sites and is not a 1-stop-solution to all online privacy issues.  For example on our "how we work" page we provide a specific list of sites we remove from.  We are constantly working to add more, but it's not easy -- many of these sites are malicious in intent -- they change their policies frequently and do every thing they can to avoid removals.
  
  We see ourselves as an essential part of any privacy solution -- we handle the biggest data brokers and work to keep your information from reappearing as it almost always does unless the source information is found and removed.  And we pride ourselves on being a privacy "partner" with our customers, to help them through the removals of sites, whether we support them or not.
  
  For any sites where you are finding your information, you can submit those removal request directly from your dashboard for followup action.

  Customer response

  04/11/2023

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered.

  I do not accept the business response because I'm paying you for the services that I'm not getting. If y'all guys tell me to find the site myself and summit it to y'all. Which I have in my 3 pictures. But I'm still listed on there or it's not covered under my plan. What plan you have monthly or yearly plan. There's not but one plan for the year and I have paid for it???? But yet I'm still listed on half the sites and it's been 6 months but yet a lot of my info is still out there for everyone to see and find. Either remove all my info from the web like y'all are supposed to or give me my yearly membership money back and I'll find another company that actually does there jobs without me having to report it to someone and waiting for what ifs.

   

  
  Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.
  
  FAQ
  
  Regards,

  *******

   

   

  

  Business response

  04/13/2023

  Hello,

  I see that you have submitted these removal requests and they are being acted upon.

  To protect your privacy, I will communicate the results of our actions via email. 

  Customer response

  04/13/2023

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered. 

  Not accepting the one email telling me that they can't remove me from a public website and said I should have responded to a email from one of the companies. That's THE WHOLE point that I'm paying y'all to do for me??

  
  Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.
  
  FAQ
  
  Regards,

  *******

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  10/27/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The company has no published customer support number, particularly for subscribers, and the number they provide is not answered by anyone and leads to a nondescript answering machine.Unacceptable customer service for a paying customer, and a violation of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. I think I have a right to live, human customer support for an IT product I am paying for.

  

  Business response

  11/03/2022

  Note: Blur is no longer an Abine product and ownership has been transferred to Ironvest. 

  From Ironvest support:

  The customer support number is listed on our FAQ's and it's also shown when the user receives an error message.

  When placing a call to our support line ************** it does state the name of the company, our business hours and where to press to get live assistance. Due to being a small team, we might not be able to answer all calls and some might go to voicemail.

  Nevertheless, we do read and respond to all of our voicemails, chats and emails. Upon further review of our call log, we do not have any logs for the phone number [Redacted]. Had you contacted us via phone, email or chat, we would have been happy to assist. 

• Initial Complaint

  10/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Hello,I paid for a deleteme subscription a few months ago. They have basically done nothing in terms of removing my information off the internet. It is always some stupid data broker site that if ****** actually has some sense to remove the page ranking it would have been over for them a long time ago. Whenever I ****** myself there is literally like 5-6 of these companies. You can see my age and everything. Older photos of myself from when I was a kid. I feel like using deleteme's service was a giant waste of money at this point. If they simply ****** my name they would be able to realize they have done nothing with my information removal service. This is not good for somebody who works in the industry I am in. ******* needs to develop laws to remove these data broker sites from ****** or any search engine and catch up with the rest of the world. It's basically a form of harassment.

  

  Business response

  10/06/2022

  HI There,

  I have attempted to contact you directly via support but I have not received a response at this time.
  

  Social media sites like ********* Instagram, etc. are not public information and are user created accounts. This means that the creator has agreed to the terms of these sites in creating this data and therefore as a third party, we cannot remove that data. This is also the primary source of images that *** appear in search results.

  Please feel free to contact us directly at ************************************** to discuss further.

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  07/19/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On March 15th, I paid DeleteMe for their services after dealing with a stalker online who had begun making threats on my family and self. Assuming their services were legitimate, I was able to rest a little easier. By July 7th, I had noticed my online information appearing on multiple websites that it had allegedly been removed from (such as ***********.com). I brought this to DeleteMe's attention. Not only can I still find myself on multiple websites, I've received no further information from DeleteMe in over 10 days when their own policy says it shouldn't take longer than a week. I've paid upfront for 2 years of this service, and now I understand why they charge upfront for such long periods of time.

  

  Business response

  07/19/2022

  Hello,

  
  I see that you submitted a removal request for this site on 7/7/2022 and no further communications from you have been received in our support system.

  
  Your request was updated on 7/14/2022 (seven days after your submission) as follows: "PII found. Submitted on 7/14/2022." NOTE: If you did not opt in for email updates, you would not have received this response in your email. As of today 7/19/2022, that information has been taken down.

  
  Additionally we offer one and two year subscriptions for our service and you chose two years of DeleteMe service when you signed up.

  
  Finally, we have a no hassle refund policy as stated in our terms of service as follows: You have the right to cancel your DeleteMe subscription at any time, for any reason, and can do so by emailing us at support[at]joindeleteme.com or calling us at ************. You are entitled to a full refund if you cancel before your first DeleteMe Privacy Report.

  
  If you cancel anytime after your first DeleteMe Privacy Report, you are entitled to a prorated refund based on the time remaining in your DeleteMe subscription. Upon cancelling your DeleteMe subscription, Abine will cease any future billing.

• Initial Complaint

  04/05/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I made two purchases regarding a a masked phone but later found out I've been paying a premium subscription for 2 years. As far I knew I made these two independent transactions for 1 of their services but it looks like that's not the case. Abine is a fine company with lots of features for Americans but not *********. And that's fine, but when you're charging someone something, why not email them a confirmation or something to alert them? I had no idea I was paying $90 yearly for services I was not using.

  

  Business response

  04/06/2022

  HI There,

   

  I understand this issue was addressed via Blur customer support. Has this been resolved to your satisfaction?

   

   

• Initial Complaint

  11/10/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I was curious about this service and decided to sign-up for a just month only for me to realize that they went ahead and charged me for a full year. Given this was a shady way to start the service, I want to cancel it entirely. As expected, they do not offer a means to cancel on their website hence my submitting this complaint.

  

  Business response

  11/11/2021

  Hi There.
  
  I'm sorry for the confusion. 
  
  All DeleteMe subscriptions are billed on an annual or biennial basis. The monthly prices on our website are shown for general pricing comparison purposes only.
  
  From our plans page:
  
  1 Year, 1 Person
  
  $10.75/mo
  
  Billed annually ($129/year)
  
  That said, I have cancelled your subscription and issued a full refund. You should see that post to your account within 2-5 days depending on your bank.
  
  Best,
  

  ****

  Customer response

  11/11/2021

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint #********. I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved. 
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************************

• Initial Complaint

  10/31/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I've been a Premiere Charter User for a number of years. Over the course of time I have repeatedly have lost access to my passwords and other critical financial information for weekends extending into 3-4 days because 1) their support team doesn't work weekends (ponder that please - weekends people have time to pay bills, shop, use credit card information) as a premiere user I am supposed to get assistance within 4 hours. Here's the rub, if you can't login in as your Premiere User email address, you are treated as a FREE user and the weekend is lost to pay bills and shop sales on time, etc. 2) if you try to "remember" your password to login to the main too many times you are locked out, if you try an alternative address you have registered within your account, it doesn't forward the authentication email to that address. SO, again you can't do ANYTHING! I have documentation I can't get to to back my statements because I can't access the account with the examples of previous times this has happened. When I finally get in - like Nov. 1st I will update this with my documentation. Now imagine this - you get Abine warnings of attempts to get into your account at the alternate/earlier email registered, but you never get the authentication code at that very same address. Make sense to you? NO, I thought so. My documentation also illustrates the *"successful"* changing of the login address, but for unknown reasons this weekend resorted back to the original, and with a password I can't seem to get correct. When I request a PW reset it sends it to the same address the warning goes to, BUT THE AUTHENTICATION emails never seem to arrive. Go figure. I have Rx's that mitigates normal stressful days, my Abine encounters have always given me a much, much higher negative medical readings, stomach pain and mindblowing headaches. AFTER I have sorted this out and can access all my vital personal info and PWs I am done with Abine, and WILL advise others of my "headaches".

  

  Business response

  11/02/2021

  Hi There,

  I'm sorry you are experiencing issues logging into your Blur account. As I mentioned in email, your login credentials have not and cannot be changed by our team. This feature is accessible only to the user for security reasons.

   

  Best,

   

  ****

  Customer response

  11/02/2021

  ****, once again, the problem is 1) HOW did the email address revert back to the old/replaced email address. 2) As a Premium client which I could not prove unable to get into my account (now mtigated by your deactivating 2-Factor Authentication) to the address of record that NEVER received the Authentication Code, BUT the address was able to send failure notices to, and CSRs were able to email? 3) How can you mitigate any premium member with a problem to be unable to contact Dlur over any weekend, essentially SHUTTING down their ability to utilize their computer or any browser to pay ****, not incur late fees, OR in general carry on their every day non-weekend normal life? 4) Why under 2 Factor Authentication utilizing 2-FA Authorization tokens, be unaccepted by the Blur 2-FA current process?

   

  Respectfully,

   

  /T/

   

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answered. 

  [You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.  If you do not enter a reason for your rejection, your complaint will be closed as Answered.]
  
  Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.
  
  FAQ
  
  Regards,

  Thom

   

   

  

  Business response

  11/03/2021

  1) HOW did the email address revert back to the old/replaced email address. 
  
  The audit log (redacted here for privacy) shows every change that has been made to your account since 2014, as you can see, the email address on your account has not been changed prior to your update yesterday. The email address on your account was never changed prior to yesterday, 11/2/21. Again, customer support did not change the email address on your account as this is technically impossible. As a Note: You have a blur free account under (redacted for privacy) you created on Mon, 16 Dec 2019 that *** have caused this confusion.
  
  2) As a Premium client which I could not prove unable to get into my account (now mtigated by your deactivating 2-Factor Authentication) to the address of record that NEVER received the Authentication Code, BUT the address was able to send failure notices to, and CSRs were able to email?  
  
  As I explained to you previously, the emails from support are generated from a different server, than the email sent for 2FA. Why your email domain is blocking the 2FA emails is a conversation to have with your email provider, we cannot control the emails that *** be blocked on your specific email domain. Please contact your email provider to figure out why they are blocking our emails. 
  
  3) How can you mitigate any premium member with a problem to be unable to contact Dlur over any weekend, essentially SHUTTING down their ability to utilize their computer or any browser to pay ****, not incur late fees, OR in general carry on their every day non-weekend normal life? 
  
  Our support page (https://abine.com/support.html) indicates the hours of live support, that information has not changed in the past 7 years. 
  
  "Feel free to reach out any time, and we're glad to help however possible, even if you just want to say hello! We, the Abine support team, are available Monday through Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM. We regularly help customers with product questions and advise on how to be more private online.
  Free Blur users hear back from us within 3 business days. Premium Blur customers, and DeleteMe customers hear back from us within 1 business day (same day Monday through Friday)." .
  
  4) Why under 2 Factor Authentication utilizing 2-FA Authorization tokens, be unaccepted by the Blur 2-FA current process?
  
  You have several options for 2FA that work just fine for our customers: A. re-enable email 2FA to be delivered via email or B. enable 2FA using an industry standard authentication app like ****** authenticator.
  
  

  Customer response

  11/12/2021

  Better Business Bureau:I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does not satisfy or resolve my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint # ********. Please add your rejection comments below; if you do not provide any details, your complaint will be closed as Answere

  On ny main computer with Lisnel directions I changed the address from the original to the gmail.  That was completed.  Logging on from that point was no issue.  Sometime after that on my cell phone blur app, I couldn't log in.  

  The point is as a premium customer, who could not log in, there was no capabilities to submit a trouble ticket as a premium member in my case.  You have stated that your trouble ticket turnaround is one day.  Being unable to login prevented me from submitting a trouble ticket (as a premium client). Therefore the turnaround time was two day plus.

   

   

   

   

  [You must provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.  If you do not enter a reason for your rejection, your complaint will be closed as Answered.]
  
  Businesses and Customers should be civil, courteous and polite in their responses to complaints. It is important to remain professional and productive when participating in the BBB complaint process.
  
  FAQ
  
  Regards,

  Thom

   

   

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩