Trademark Engine

Once I started searching for the trademark office's requirements, google flooded me with "you don't have to pay the government's $3500 fee, use us instead."
I fell for Trademark Engine LLC https://www.trademarkengine.com/, only $49.00.
1. That was November 27,2023 at 9:56:06 AM CST. I filled out their form and asked several questions, as neither process nor the form was clear. (I have a MS Engineering and an MBA.) I did the responsible thing and asked immediately how to proceed.
I got only an unctuous auto-bot, "our clients are important to us, we'll get back to you." They never did.
I send more emails. Same response.
2. I did my normal weekly transaction review (via Mint), and discovered TWO (2) charges for $49.00, The second was on November 27,2023 at 10:00:32 AM CST
3. Thinking this was a simple clerical error, I shot more emails. NEVER an answer, same unctuous email.
4. After several emails, only unctuous auto-bot, I discovered they managed to post an unauthorized $350 mystery fee. November 28,2023 at 9:56:47 AM CST
5. Only response to my queries on this: unctuous auto-bot.
6. It is clear that I'm a victim of FRAUD. I appealed to PayPal. Their response.
>>"Thank you for reporting this case. After our review, we found that certain transactions weren't unauthorized and hence couldn't be covered by PayPal Purchase Protection."<<
7. Translation: The Trademark Engine charges are FRAUDulent, and thus not PayPal's issue.
8. A flurry of more emails, during which I got another charge: $199.00,12/7/23 6:09 AM CST
9. I've sent several emails requesting, initially polite, requesting refund, with the same auto-bot email.
10. When they reponded, Never to me, but to PayPal was the $199 is a fee for a so far invisible service. Unrefundable after 14 days. They RAN OUT THE CLOCK. Thus, I'm stuck with the invisible service charge of $199.
11. The last response, and only through PayPal, never directly was: a) I have to call them directly to complain about fraud on their part. I've tried 4 times, and got a busy signal.

Absolute FRAUD based on my understanding of the byzantine non-responses to me and PayPal.

Took the money and did not do the work won't respond or answer calls. They are running a scam. Avoid.

Horrible scam! I don't know how they get away with this! Luckily I froze my card before they could charge the $350 which I did not authorize.

For over a year our trademark went unregistered. When in inquiring with the USPTO there was never an application. This company is indeed a scam.

As a professional for over 20 years I appreciate transparency... Trademark Engine is NOT transparent at all. And here is why:
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They begin by advertising $49 dollars for the service without being fully transparent of additional charges. I signed up for it and paid $49 yesterday.
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This morning I saw they tried to charge my card $350 which I imagined was from the state department but again, NOT transparent at all and I went online to see reviews and there it was, thousands of fake "good reviews" so I decided to call customer service
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As soon as I call I say "I want to cancel" and without ANY hesitation, they cancelled - I get an email saying: "subscription of $99.00 USD monthly to Quarterly Trademark Infringement Monitoring is now Canceled." -- THIS IS FRAUD -- I NEVER signup for this in the first place, ever!
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WHY is this company even active --> this is STEALING plain and simple.
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I told the customer lady I want NOTHING to do with this company, ever! I asked for full refund.
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STAY AWAY from this company!
STAY AWAY.

I'm trying to start a consulting business, but I'm not loaded with money, just knowledge and a talented team and we'd like to at least secure our name and imagery. I'm sure your actual services are great, obviously you have five star reviews everywhere.

However, I'm extremely unimpressed with the Dark Patterns used on your website (https://www.darkpatterns.org/types-of-dark-pattern/sneak-into-basket). I know it's not a full "sneak into basket" dark pattern, but it's similar because I didn't see any mention of the additional federal charges to come at least mentioned in my basket -- I reviewed my purchase for $69.00 (Trademark Reg), $59.00 (Certified Copy add-on), and $99 (Statement of Use add-on) and expected those to be my final totals. Three days later, I got 3x charges of 350 (explanations in billing records) + an additional 59 (no explanation) and 69 dollar charge (no explanation). When I spoke to customer service, they explained there is a note that says the government will also charge 350 per item -- I missed this and I'll take the blame for that, but I didn't see it in plain sight either. Not all end users are slow paced. When I suddenly get a message from my credit card company saying a "purchase was declined for 350" I become very upset. Most end users are in a hurry because they don't want to spend a lot of time on a website to buy a product, so make sure these charges are visible at the end, even if they won't be charged today.

My other complaint is how you handle the add-ons. I recall there was no way to "go back" or "undo" after selecting an addon, you just had to keep going through until you finished. I view this as a dark pattern as well and it takes advantage of users without giving them an option to immediately undo their choice, instead they have to wait to get to the cart. Or maybe it is there, but extremely hard to find... which is the point of a dark pattern.

I'll use Trademark Engine when some of these UX designs and content are updated. You do have a solid service, but terrible UX design choices destroy a good product.

Customer service is excellent, I will say that 5/5. But you get an instant 0/5 (1/5 in this case) if there is even a hint of bad UX design in your digital product.

Do not use fake they just want your money no progress or good outcome don't do it! They are users