Risks of Credit Card/Bank Funded Upgrades, and what to do if you get charged back.​

Hello everyone, in this topic I will do my best to explain to you the risks of Credit Card/Bank Funded upgrades, and what to do if you get charged back and put into negative credit.

This topic will be split into 4 different sections

Section 1: How do I spot a Credit Card Upgrade?
Section 2: How do I spot a eCheck/Debit/Bank Funded Upgrade?
Section 3: What does it mean to have "Negative Credit"
Section 4: What do I do if I get charged back?

==Section 1: What is a Credit Card/Bank Funded Upgrade?==​

To purchase a "One-Off" Membership via Credit Card, the person applying the Credit Card must successfully apply all the Card information, and then cancel the recurring membership, leaving you with approximately 30 days of P2P.

If you [the buyer] are applying the membership yourself or are using a MM/OMM, be wary if this if this is the method they are using to upgrade your account. If the person selling the upgrade calls their Credit Card company to reverse the payment, or is using a stolen Credit Card, your Runescape account is the one that's held liable. (See bottom of Section 2)

Screenshot of the payment screen for recurring memberships funded by Credit Card:
​

==Section 2: How do I spot a eCheck/Debit/Bank Funded Upgrade?==
​

There are 2 ways to purchase Runescape Memberships through your bank; Debit Card, eCheck/Direct Debit

Purchasing via Debit Card follows the same process as paying with a Credit Card (See Section 1 for what to spot)

Purchaseing via eCheck/Direct Debit requires you check out through PayByCash, the portal to which usually lies on the right hand side of the payment tabs:

Screenshot of PayByCash Payment Tab:
​

Once you click on "Proceed to PayByCash" you'll see a number of various payment methods (Varies by country), one of which will be the eCheck/Direct Debit option:

Screenshot of the eCheck/Direct Debit option:
​

Once you click on the eCheck/Direct Debit option, you will need to fill out the following:

​

==Section 3: What does it mean to have "Negative Credit"==
​

After the information at the end of Section 2 is filled out, in order to process the payment the Runescape Account Owner has agree'd to the following:

​

Circled, is the amount you agreed to pay IN ADDITION to the negative JCoins fee. $25.00 is what the Runescape account owner will need to pay if the payment gets reversed. On top of the $25.00 fee is a $19.95 fee to purchase 200 JCoins to bring your runescape account out of negative credit. So if a payment gets reversed, you will be paying a total of $44.95 PER ACCOUNT, to get them unfrozen.

If your account gets charged back, your account becomes frozen, and you will not be allowed to even log into your account (F2P or P2P) until you buy yourself out of negative credit.

==Section 4: What do I do if I get charged back?==
​

If you have fallen victim to this scam, there are two ways you can get yourself out of negative credit.

The first is contacting Billing Support and pleading your case: http://www.runescape.com/kbase/guid/general_billing_faqs#contact_billing

Keep in mind that buying Runescape Membership from someone is against Runescape rules, so do NOT mention that when contacting them. It may take a while to obtain a response, but I have heard of people getting their restrictions lifted by claiming they've been hacked or something along those lines.

The second, and more immediate approach, is to pay off the debts. The most convenient way to purchase JCoins is via Ultimate Game Cards, which are typically sold in $20.00 increments (http://ultimategamecard.playspan.com/ugcstores to find a store near you that sells them)

The Cards will look like this:
​

You will need to purchase 3 Ultimate Game Cards @ $20.00 each ($60.00 total) to pay off the $44.95 Debt on your Runescape account.

Furthermore, the amount must be paid at PayByCash's alternate payment system, link of which is found here: https://www.paybycash.com/zzzz.php

PayByCash also has a Customer Service line, reachable at: 1-434-984-0007

Monday-Friday: 9:00AM-8:00PM EST
Weekends: 9:00AM-6:00PM EST
Holidays: 9:00AM-6:00PM EST

Once you've paid off the amounts, you should receive an email from PayByCash which looks like this:

​

And a receipt that looks like this:

​

In conclusion, it's highly recommended that you monitor your own subscriptions to Runescape.com, or to use highly trusted upgrade sellers if you wish to purchase via RSGP. Although purchasing upgrades off newcomers for cheap prices can be appealing, the consequences can be severe.

Thank you for reading my topic, and if there are any further questions/concerns, feel free to contact me via Sythe PM