I recently posted an article questioning what I believed to be questionable sales tactics by RocketLawyer.com which was a reaction to a post by elawyeringredux.com (since removed). This is an official redaction of that post.
After a healthy exchange with a reprensentative from RL, it appears that their policy is confusing, but in my opinion not necessarily unethical.
My initial concern was that the free legal document offered by RL was perhaps not free. RL requires that you register for a free trial period of their service which includes an credit card pre-authorization process.
Some commenters and other viewers expressed negative views stating that their credit cards had indeed been charged after all.
Apparently, the pre-authorization process charges a fee that according to RL, will be automatically removed after a few days. Only after the free trial period ends does a new charge appear (if you don’t opt out.) This is obviously a precautionary measure for RL to ensure that the registrant has sufficient funds in order to later participate and use RL’s service.
The FAQ explains this process:
Why is a credit card needed for the free trial?
During the trial period, your credit or debit card is authorized to make sure it is valid. You might see a “pending” charge on your bank or credit card statement. This authorized amount reserves the amount of the first membership payment should you decide to keep your membership. The authorization is removed by your bank or credit provider automatically. No funds are actually collected from you unless you continue your membership past the trial period.
RocketLawyer might fend off angry customers if they clarify this process further, but I believe RL’s efforts are satisfactory.
Full disclosure: I am not an affiliate of RocketLawyer.com and was not pressured to remove the original story. On the internet, bad press is bad press – and I didn’t think it was fair to leave the article up and mislead my (small) readership contingency.
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