REGISTERED FOR 15 DAYS GOLD ACCOUNT TRIAL with Maestro Debit card. WAS CHARGED IMMEDIATELY with £23.72 FOR ONE FULL MONTH !!!

Gabriel -
This is an authorization not a charge. We only authorize the cc for the amount, and we do not have your money. We do that to be able to bill you in 15 days (without storing your cc information).

When we "authorize" some cc companies place a temporary hold for the amount - and that's what you are seeing. The information displayed can be confusing.

This authorization is automatically released eventually. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but as I said - we don't have your money. What we can do is cancel the authorization, and turn off automatic billing for your account. This will require you to manually extend the account before the free trial expires (you will receive emails with reminder and instructions).

Let me know if you'd like us to do so.
Regards
Gil

What are you saying is not entirely TRUE. Here is why:

1. I am using for on-line purchase a Pre Paid Master Card (PrimeCard). I top it up every time with the amount needed(Is not paranoia, is safety and I'm not the only one using it). Once the funds taken, CAN'T BE REFUNDED because the only way to top it up is BY CASH. So money is taken for good
2. Your offer is THE FREEDOM to get a 15 day TRIAL PERIOD. "NO RISK and NO OBLIGATIONS". As is stated by you:
"You will enjoy SitePal service for free for 15 days without any obligation. You can cancel your account anytime during your trial and you will not be charged"
Which means I have the right to use it 13 days then on the last day I can simply cancel it as is stated:"To cancel, log into your account and go to the "Account Info" area or contact support@sitepal.com."
YOU DO NOT NEED or YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHTS to get "safety" measures to be able to charge me after 15 days for the whole month. You have to do this If:
a. I don't cancel my registration
b. and/or continue using your services
NOT BEFORE. "If you're satisfied, do nothing and your membership will automatically continue for the plan you selected.".
Well, you still can do this, confirmed by your statement "If you're satisfied, do nothing and your membership will automatically continue for the plan you selected." only if you "do that to be able to bill ME in 15 days (without storing your cc information).". Statement in brackets is FALSE. Maybe , YOU DO STORE maybe NOT(without grounds and right) CC information. Or Verisign does on your instruction (but without my aproval) otherwise you won't be able to charge me. Check following capture
And you should notice one more essential thing. In the capture above, please notice that "Automatic Billing" is checked (NOT BY me but BY YOU) by default, as an option which was NOT explicitly requested or permitted by me.
You do this with the purpose to charge (1 whole month)from the beginning during an NON-CHARGEABLE TRIAL PERIOD.
To be more clear, You do not have the right to "authorize" without my express notification, acknowledgment and consent, that "CC companies place a temporary hold for the amount on my card". The checkmark is put there as "an option[MINE], by which you[ME] authorize Oddcast to bill your[MINE] credit card and extend your[MY] account automatically...". Not TO BE CHECKED AS DEFAULT BY YOU in the very first day..
So now you are still claiming that YOU ARE RIGHT?
By the other hand, no worries, you don't have to (because you can't) cancel authorization (shouldn't act on my behalf from the beginning) because I won't get the funds back. In this way I have to consider that I bought de 1 month fully (without even had a rightful promised TRIAL) and keep it. I hope it worth it.
Best regards
Gabriel
PS: sometimes in life is not a shame to admit that we did wrong. And to promise to try (at least) not to repeat it. In business this honesty is a proof of "vertical spine".
And credibility

Gabriel -
Thanks for the detailed explanation - I'm afraid that some of the details of the way credit and debit card providers treat their customers are outside our control.

From our perspective, we just do our best to bill our clients after 15 days (if they do not cancel) and every month after that (for the monthly plan); We use the paypal/verisign API to do so.

And we try to do all this without storing our client's credit card number. Your point about how Verisign/Paypal may store this number on their end may or may not be true. My informed understanding is that they DO NOT. When an authorization transaction is made, this authorization is performed by paypal vs. the CC issuer (as they call it "the Bank"). They receive an authorization code, which they pass on to us. We use this code to "capture" this transaction after 15 days.

If any 3rd party were to infiltrate our servers (which has never happened btw) - at worse they would gain access to authorization and transaction id's which they would find quite worthless. If more online merchants took this approach we might all be safer.

Bottom line -
Your authorization transaction has been voided. Your Free trial account is still active - but you will need to extend your account manually before the 15 days are up.
Hope this helps,
Best,
Gil