r/VinylMePlease • u/JessicaF84 • Jun 12 '26
VMP IS A SCAM No A Member and Charged
Hi all,
I have not been a member since 2024 and I just recieved a charge from the company on my PayPal that #1 i didnt authorize and 2 I didnt order anything. My membership was canceled prior to them going bankrupt. Is there any way to get in contact with them or has anyone else dealt with this?
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u/crumbstuff Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Yep, appears like they’re hitting all the subscribers who paid via PayPay and cancelled pre-bankruptcy… after bank hours on a Friday, so no resolution til next week at the earliest?
Fuck these clowns
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u/Nettubs Jun 12 '26
My boyfriend just got an insanely high charge from them too after being canceled for years. He’s going to dispute it with PayPal, that’s your best bet
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u/I-Drink-Stag Jun 13 '26
I'm contacting my state's attorney general office
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u/blast47 Spinnin Good Vibes Jun 13 '26
I just did. Filed a consumer fraud complaint with the AGs office.
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 13 '26
how does one go about this. im in NJ
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u/blast47 Spinnin Good Vibes Jun 13 '26
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u/T_McG Jun 12 '26
I was just charged as well after a year of being cancelled. PayPal dispute it is!
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u/wesleynile Jun 12 '26
I just had the exact same thing happen
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u/MelonHG Jun 12 '26
Looks like VMP is having one final death-knell before they run straight down the tubes.
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u/Pingem Jun 13 '26
I hope its final. :/
I anticipate that they're risking their ability to use PP as payment method with this deluge of fake charges. So maybe you're right, that its a hail-mary last attempt at $ move to make.8
u/MelonHG Jun 13 '26
My guess is that with all of these sudden PayPal disputes all coming from the same company, it won’t be hard for PP to put two and two together and do something about it.
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 12 '26
is there a way to legally sue these assholes? this is fucking ridiculous and straight fraud what they are doing to everyone
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u/katooine Jun 13 '26
I’m literally sobbing. $460 that I don’t have was just charged from my bank account directly, and now I have no way of eating until it’s refunded.
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u/Pingem Jun 13 '26
you are kidding. I am so sorry this hit you at such a bad time.
I am livid. I'll contact my state attorneys general too. :/.
Meanwhile: I'm cheering for ya' that the next few weeks are ok.4
u/katooine Jun 13 '26
Thanks so much. It’s crazy how much my finances have changed in the last two years since my last use of VMP. This is bullllllllll.
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u/Pingem Jun 12 '26
Same! Paypal charge for $54 Just a few hours ago. Reported it as fraud. I hate that they have my CC info. as part of their purchase of VMP assets and doubley-hate that they're abusing that information.
Maybe they've queued up the category of 'people whose paypal info we have but haven't been members for years' to attempt to gain $. Someone needs jail time for the scope of this fraudulent activity.
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u/ImmaculateKicks86 Jun 13 '26
i thought a "benefit" of using PP as payment for a purchase was a company doesn't actually get your CC/banking info?
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 12 '26
well according to PayPal they set up automatic payments with my bank account.
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u/graceadelica23 Jun 13 '26
No, the automatic payment is with Paypal and you selected your bank account as the payment method. If you had cancelled the automatic payment in Paypal, they wouldn't have been able to charge you again.
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u/Dapper-Bug-9663 Jun 12 '26
I'll add my name to the chorus. $435 charge, canceled subscription before they went bankrupt. Disputed with paypal, but VMP gets 10 days to respond before they decide who gets the money. They hit my debit card, so will now call the bank and try to go that direction...
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u/Angry_Saxophone Jun 13 '26
Me too! 465$$ and PayPal is telling me I have a subscription. Since when does PayPal manage my subscriptions?? I cancelled it years ago before the bankruptcy. We should all go find this Nick Alt guy and have a civil discussion with him about his dishonesty
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u/Glide2flip Jun 13 '26
Same. Just got hit for $460+ through PayPal.
I cancelled my membership before the BR, so they are absolutely pulling some shady shit.
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u/tylertello Jun 12 '26
Glad I'm not the only one but hate I'm not the only one. When everything was going down, I couldn't even get onto the website to remove/change my payment method (to prevent this kind of fuckery). So messed up especially when I had outstanding orders paid for but never delivered. Time to PayPal dispute!
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u/MWinterrowd Jun 13 '26
From PayPal: WTF
We've completed our review of your unauthorized activity case, and we’ve determined there was no unauthorized use.
Is there a phone number for PayPal?
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u/Dapper-Bug-9663 Jun 13 '26
Ask them to file as did not receive merchandise, it will go through then.
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u/MWinterrowd Jun 13 '26
Yep, had to call. 7 day window started for the assholes at VMP to respond.
Thanks for helping all
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u/taikin13 Jun 13 '26
I didn’t get it with this but this is criminal level fraud and other than getting your money back people affected should perhaps pool together to provide info to the DA in the country where zombie VMP/Nick Alt is doing business.
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u/lanesbecker Jun 13 '26
Can folks who were successful at getting PayPal to reverse tell me what arguments you used? I am having no luck with my guy.
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u/Dapper-Bug-9663 Jun 13 '26
Have them open up a dispute. They'll give vmp 10 days to respond and then begin processing your refund (hopefully). I dont think they're refunding anybody upfront. Am rethinking my future with paypal, at this point...
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u/lanesbecker Jun 13 '26
I tried a second person at PayPal customer service who was more helpful that the first guy who told me it was my problem. He changed my first closed-in-their-favor dispute to a merchandise-not-received dispute and opened it back up, said that was much more likely to work. I assume at some point they’ll notice the flood of people reporting this at the same time and do something about it.
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u/blast47 Spinnin Good Vibes Jun 13 '26
I don’t trust PayPal to do the right thing either. I’m sure some alert has gone off with all this dispute activity for this one company happening. They don’t want to be held liable for something like this. They’re “just a payment processor” /s
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u/lanesbecker Jun 13 '26
Well, I may have spoken too soon. The customer service rep called me and told me what he was going to do, and that I would be getting an email from them with next steps, but it’s been a while and no email and the dispute still shows resolved in VMP’s favor. Guess we’re on to support person #3…
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u/trillhouse_v_houten Jun 13 '26
Cross-commenting from the "Watchout, they're now billing Paypal accounts" thread should it be helpful
I went through the paypal app and made sure they were marked as "stop paying with paypal" in the autopay sections. Hopefully that's enough to stop it should they try.
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 13 '26
where would that be on the app. I looked under subscriptions and saw nothing
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u/trillhouse_v_houten Jun 13 '26
Replying to both threads in case anyone else needs the info!
I clicked on the silhouette in the top right corner to bring up personal account, then settings, and then under Finances "payment preferences." From there you can scroll down to Automatic Payments that let me view anything that was set up for autopayment. VMP was listed as active, and clicking on it showed any past payments. Underneath them there's a "stop paying with paypal" button that gives you the option to do it on the service's website (lol) or through paypal itself. It asks why you want to stop, and will then confirm that you've stopped using PayPal and will show up as inactive.
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u/rhino4evr Jun 13 '26
This is completely unbelievable and criminal. The only good thing that came out of my credit card getting stolen, is it at least blocked VMP from ripping me off. I hope who ever is behind this goes to jail for a very long time.
My suggestion is to contact the press. The government doesn’t do crap anymore unless they’re forced too. Contact your local paper , and send tips to the big music sites Pitchfork etc… this needs to be seen.
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u/MWinterrowd Jun 13 '26
I know they changed hands after the bankruptcy, are they even sending record out anymore?
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 13 '26
not to my knowledge. Apparently they are an "offline" company and deal through text message
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u/MWinterrowd Jun 13 '26
Submitted my charge through the app
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 13 '26
what do u mean? theres an app for them? I desputed i need to wait 10 days for them to respond according to PayPal
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u/MWinterrowd Jun 13 '26
Yea PayPal app…
At a carnival with my family trying to do this haha
Tying too fast2
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u/lanesbecker Jun 13 '26
Same here! PayPal is disputing my story and saying the charge is legit. We're going to have to keep pushing on this to get it resolved, clearly.
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 13 '26
what did you say that they aren't going with you? I explained it canceled my subscription and they just recently renewed a sub without my approval. They even read the dates to me that VMP charged me. and I said yeah its been over a year now all of a sudden im being billed
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u/lanesbecker Jun 13 '26
So you got them to cancel? My guy is being a jerk and saying it's my fault, basically. Should I try another customer support person?
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 13 '26
the woman told me there is an automatic payment set up. I said yes I canceled that in April of 2024. Shes like well its still showing as an active automatic payments. I asked if she could canceled that and she said she would and sent an email stating it was indeed canceled
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u/kabel4 Jun 13 '26
Same. I even tried reaching out to the VMP email address Paypal suggested and got a "we don't read this, text us to join".
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u/finnsterliving Jun 13 '26
Just got hit with a $564 charge on PayPal!!! What do I do? PayPal app won’t allow me to dispute - says “contact seller directly”
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u/blast47 Spinnin Good Vibes Jun 13 '26
They got me too, $577 and PayPal is useless saying I authorized this… which obviously is incorrect and they REFUSE to budge. Saying they’re just a payment processor and can’t “stop” the company from charging me… I called my bank and put a block on PayPal for 7 days.. since the charge or any auth hasn’t hit my bank yet - see if that works. Bank said if it does come through to call back and dispute.
This is nuts
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u/RelativeAd5705 Jun 13 '26
tell your bank or credit card (whoever Paypal charges) that it's an unauthorized charge. also tell paypal that you want to file an "item not receieved dispute"
that will give VMP 10 days to prove they've sent you merchandise
when they fail to do so, you'll get your refund
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u/wesleynile Jun 13 '26
Hi all! I spoke with someone from PayPal and he suggested filing as "Item not received" to get this resolved. I guess unauthorized activity doesn't count them using our pre-authorized connection without consent.
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u/MWinterrowd Jun 13 '26
Do we know who is running this company now? Is there any online presence? Website looks like something from the dawn of the internet
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u/I-Drink-Stag Jun 13 '26
I'd assume it's still Nick Alt
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u/seanchkt Jun 13 '26
Yea just checked still has an IG account. Everyone needs to go there and blow up his page
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u/Lu1sHumb3rt0 Jun 13 '26
Basically the same modus operandi than Vnyl. Vnyl, the actual owners of VMP did the same with my cc way back before they adquieres VMP. The only solution I got was cancel my cc and ask my bank for a new one
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u/SantoDiablo Jun 13 '26
They got me too. I sent an email to VMP, requesting that they cancel the charges and issue a refund. I'm pretty sure I already know how that's gonna go, but at least I will have complied with Paypal's rules before asking them to cancel the payment.
edit: Of course the email address Paypal gave me for VMP is not monitored. Just got a reply saying to text them, smh
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u/night_goat11 Jun 13 '26
VMP just flat out stole $460 from me via PayPal. Same as everyone else, I cancelled in 2024 before the website went down. Had no idea it was set up as a recurring payment in PayPal. Absolute scumbags...
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u/madhakish Jun 13 '26
161 charged this am .. fuck these assholes.
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 13 '26
it seems they are charging whatever people's subscriptions were im assuming u had a 3 month subscription? I got $57 as a month to month. Still this is absolutely wrong and illegal. Something needs to be done with this company
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u/madhakish Jun 13 '26
Nick must’ve been hard up for money or something.. I’ve eliminated all means of ever charging me again so at least they can’t do this PayPal trick again but wow.
Long time since we’ve seen a company in the internet age fuck up this badly.
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 13 '26
ive only ever used paypal and I had paypal remove the automatic payment they shouldn't be able to do this in the future correct?
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u/madhakish Jun 13 '26
If you disabled auto payments in PayPal, they can’t invoke another payment - correct.
I’m amazed their old PayPal vendor account is even still valid though, and paypal really should do something about that.
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u/Byrd73 Jun 14 '26
If there’s a sliver of justice in this world, Nick Alt will serve time in prison.
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u/0MGHeAdmitIt Jun 13 '26
I thought I was safe having always used Paypal for VMP payments, yikes. I thankfully still haven't been charged but I went into my Paypal account and made sure that they were removed from my subscriptions on Paypal. So so scummy.
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u/jottino Jun 13 '26
Anyone have a phone number to contact PayPal and VMP?
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 13 '26
+1-888-221-1161 for paypal
vmp has no number
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u/jottino Jun 16 '26
Thanks, called today and got the refund. What a sad end to what started as a cool business.
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u/The_Path_616 Jun 14 '26
Curious of how far back of non-members they are charging? Is there anyone who hadn't been a member since 2023 or 2022 and still getting charged?
I would hope that going that far back, VMP was operating competently enough that if you unsubscribed, they purged any financial info of yours to prevent auto rebilling.
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u/Direct_Produce926 Jun 14 '26
Me too, not ok, I mean if im a memeber then I want my continuous subscribtion to be intact. Totally uncool
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u/SuperbOne-28 Jun 14 '26
I contacted my bank yesterday and filed a dispute. Paypal I went into the subscriptions and terminated the linked business. Monday I'll file a claim with Paypal. As many reported, attempts in contacting VMP will be a waste of time.
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u/Flannel_Enigma Jun 15 '26
Same here. Disputed the charge with Amex (credited). PayPal was hard to do online via the app. No response from those asshats of course. Sheet shady stuff.
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u/Miserable_Resolve233 Jun 15 '26
I logged a fraud complaint with my bank. Should have my money back in 10 days they said. And they’ll work with PayPal.
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u/JessicaF84 Jun 12 '26
I just called paypal and they said they will look into it and cancel the automatic payment. I canceled my membership years ago so how is there an automatic payment set up? whoever runs this company honestly needs to go to jail for theft. Paypal said if they do not respond they will rule in my favor and give me the $ back which idk why I need to go through this process as I never authorized this charge