FAQ : Account & Billing | abbywinters.com

I have forgotten my password. Help?Top

If you no longer have the email we sent you with your password (and other account details) when you joined, there are a couple of ways to get it.

The fastest way (as in 'immediate') to get your password is to head over to GMBill's account info page, enter your details (we need to know who you are before we go giving you your password - what if you were a hacker?!), and you can find your password (amongst other things) there. You'll need to know the number of the credit card you used to sign up with. In addition, you'll need to know either your subscriptionID (which would look something like aw102030) or the email address you provided at the time you joined. Use this link:

https://www.gmbill.com/accounts/account_lookup.php

If you joined by CCBill (very unlikely), you can use their online support here:

https://support.ccbill.com/

You can also contact our Customer Support team from the "Get Accounts Support" tab on our feedback page, here:

http://www.abbywinters.com/help/support

Note: We'll need to be able to both find your account, and verify that we're sending your password to you, and not some hacker. So help us out; give us as much of the following information as you're able -

• your subscriptionID
• your username
• your full name (as it was provided when you signed up)
• email address (as it was provided when you signed up)
• the last four digits of your credit card (just the last four digits, nothing else, please)

What does rebill mean?Top

"Rebill" means that at the end of you billing cycle, we'll automatically charge your card again for the next period. This is so you can enjoy continued access, without having to re-subscribe every month. If you don't like this idea, we have a few other options - look for the "no-rebill" subscriptions.

An example of rebilling is: you join on March 17th, for $36.00 (one month's access). On April 17th, you are rebilled another $36.00. On May 17th, another $36.00, and so on.

At any stage, if you want to cancel these rebills, you can. You'll have access up until the next rebill date, but you won't be rebilled - your account will just no longer work.

Can I use a different credit card for rebills?Top

Yes, you can; it's pretty easy too. Just login with our biller's 'account lookup' tool here:

        http://cards.gmbill.com/

There is a small chance you joined our site with our back-up biller CCBill; if that's the case you can still update your credit card details, but you will need to go here instead:

        https://support.ccbill.com/

How do I cancel my rebills?Top

There are two ways to cancel your rebills:

Go to My Account. Under "Current Subscription" click "Cancel/Enable Rebills"

Go to the website of the billing agent you signed up with:

Chances are very likely that you joined by GMBill. To cancel, click here. You will need to have your account details ready

Less likely you joined via CCBill, but if so, you can cancel by going here.

When is my next rebill?Top

Look in the top right hand corner of any page - we show when you are due to be rebilled, or if you don't have rebills, when your account is due to lapse.

You can also go to 'subscriptions' from the My Account pull-down menu in the top right hand corner of any page. There you can see the date and amount of your next rebill

How can I renew my account?Top

Our billing system does not have a renew function, so if you would like to change your subscription from a non-rebilling type to one that rebills automatically, or if you wish to change the length of your rebill cycle from x month(s) to y month(s) you will need to let your current subscription lapse, then rejoin for the period you want access for.

We aren't able to do this ourselves on your behalf. Any changes to credit card billing must be made by the cardholder, which is done by rejoining.

IMPORTANT: You must wait until your current subscription lapses before rejoining with a new credit card (we'll send you an email the minute it expires).

How do I upgrade my account?Top

What "upgrade" means is to add another site to your current active account. What you can't do by upgrading:

• Start rebills or change to automatic rebilling on an account that never had rebills.
• Change the rebill cycle (the time between rebills). An exception to this is a Founding Member account*
• Uncancel rebills after your subscription to a site has expired (you can uncancel rebills if the sub to that site has not yet lapsed)

To add a sub, you need to uprade from My Account, here:

http://www.abbywinters.com/myaccount

Important: Don't try to upgrade by going to the join page! If you have problems or questions about upgrading in My Account, contact us.

Click the pic for the site you'd like to add. If you choose to add more than one, click on either picture and you'll be able to add other sites on the upgrade page. Sites you're already a member of will be checked and greyed-out (ghosted); just check any other site you want, and choose your options for length and rebills, below.

Note: Any options you choose for your new site sub(s), are for the new site(s) only, they won't affect a sub you already have to another site. Also, if you choose rebills for the site(s) you're adding, the price you see on the upgrade page is for the new site(s) only and will be in addition to any rebills you already have. It doesn't include your current membership.

 

* Founding Members who would like to upgrade from a 1-, 3-, or 6-month rebilling sub to a 3-, 6,- or 12-month sub, or a 6-month sub may do so by going to the GMBill account update page, here:

https://www.gmbill.com/accounts/account_lookup.php

How do I check my account status?Top

To stop your account from rebilling (ending your subscription with us when the time you've paid for runs out), you need to go to the billing company you joined through. Most likely, this was GMBill.com.

When you cancel your rebills, you will have access to the site for the remainder of the period you have paid for.

For some basic information on your account, when you log in on our news page look in the top right hand corner - we show when you are due to be rebilled, or your account is due to lapse.

For more detailed info, at GMB, you will need to supply the credit card number you used when you joined, and either the email address you used when you joined, or your six- or seven-digit subscription ID. They need this information to ensure it's you cancelling your account, and not someone else. Of course, they're not going to bill your credit card for cancelling - we just need to identify you.

When you enter that info on the account info page, you will be able to:

• cancel any future re-bills
• check the status of your account
• check your password if you have forgotten it
• see when you are due to be rebilled
• change your listed email address
• change your password
• update your credit card details.
  
  

You can also go to 'subscriptions' from the My Account pull-down menu in the top right hand corner of any page. From there click the button 'Cancel/Enable Rebills'.

Note: If you use this method, be sure you get the confirmation email before assuming your rebills have been cancelled. This email is sent within a few minutes in most cases. If you don't receive the email, go to the newspage from the home menu (not with your browser's back button), be sure you're logged in, and look to the right of 'Logged in as <you>'.. If you don't see a line that says 'expires: <date>', contact us.

I think my account has been hacked, what do I do?Top

This is due to hackers all over the world using your username and password to access this site. We have advanced and aggressive software in place to combat this, as it is a serious problem that greatly increases our operating costs.

The system has never made a false positive suspension to date, so no matter how hard you find it to believe, your username and password have been "cracked" or discovered by hackers - else you'd not be seeing this page.

This happened because:

• You shared your password with friends (hopefully not likely) OR
• Hackers used software to "guess" the password (much more likely)

This did not happen because:

• You used your account from home, work, and a friend's house all on the same day
• You disconnected and reconnected several times from your ISP on the same day
• You use an ISP or connection method that utilises dynamic IPs (cable, DSL, AOL)
• You had several browsers or browser windows open to this site at the same time
• You used several different ISPs in the same day

These things could never cause your account to be listed as "hacked", and we consider these legitimate usage.

What can I do about it?

Head on over to our Accounts support page, fill in the info, and say in the notes that you received a message that your account was hacked. We will unlock your account, and issue you with a new password. You will not be able to access the site until we have done this. We'll always do it in under 24 hours, and often in under an hour.

Hackers!

Hackers use software to guess your password and username combination. Hackers use lists of tens of thousands of words at this website - and many others - to try to break in. They will get many "denied" errors, but after trying millions of combinations over several hours, they will come up with a list of access info pairs (ie, a username and a password that works).

Likelihood of this is greatly increased if you use:

• any dictionary word (in pretty much every language) ("sex", "secret")
• contractions of several words ("letmein", "goodporn")
• a proper noun (like "Schumacher", or "Ajax")
• a common letter-number combo (like "sk8ers" or "sexy69")
• the same password as you did with other sites (if it was simple)

Note: It is not your machine that has been hacked, it's ours! It was hacked because you chose a password that was too simple.

In future, for your username AND your password, please be sure to use a jumbled mixture of letters (upper and lowercase), and numbers, not a dictionary word, or a password you have used before. It says this very clearly when you are asked to enter a password when you sign up. Please do not use any punctuation characters.

Once hackers have this access information, they then post it to a site dedicated to hacked passwords, so other people can use them. Our software detects lots of people using the same access pair, and suspends your account.

Password Sharing?

Please be sure to keep your access info secret, and to not share it with anyone (including friends!). You have paid for your access to this site, not everyone else's! Ask them to sign up as well, to support the site so it can get better. Please.

We are able to maintain a low price for this website, and ease of use, by having these safeguards in place. If we did not, we would assign you a password and username, each ten characters long, random letters, numbers and punctuation, to gain access. Sure, then we'd have no more hacker problems, but you would be greatly inconvenienced. By letting you choose your own access info, we make it easier for you to be a member... but you have to help us a little as well!

Why has my account been suspended?Top

Your account has been Temporarily Suspended

Your account has been suspended for 120 minutes, as you have made eight unsuccessful login attempts, and to our security software it looks like someone trying to hack the system. We don't want hackers here, they are bad news for you, our paying member and us trying to run a fast and reliable website, so we have to do this, sorry.

This would most likely be because you entered your password (or less likely, your username) wrong eight times. That probably means that you don't know your password (or username). We recommend you copy and paste your username and password from the email we sent you (Not sure how to copy and paste? We have a tutorial!).

Your account will be automatically unlocked in two hours. In the mean time, you can look up your account over at gmbill.com (http://www.gmbill.com) if you have lost your email.

You can contact us and we can unsuspend you right away.

Why do I get a notice that I have exceeded bandwidth?Top

You downloaded an extremely excessive amount of data from our site - way more than the entire amount content of the site. We're a small company who has to pay for your downloads. This is factored into our subscription plans. If you see the "excessive downloads!" message, or you have been asked by the site administrators to view this page, you have cost us much more than your subscription, and we don't like you any more.

We have frozen your account, so you can browse pages on the site but not download any content.

It's unlikely you'd have a valid excuse for this, but you can contact us to discuss it if you wish. Some of the popular excuses that won't wash are:

• "I didn't read the terms and conditions!": You are required to agree to the terms and conditions before you join the site. We realise that not everyone reads the fine print, but unfortunately, it's a fact of life.
• "I gave my password to my buddies": You paid for the site for you, not for your buddies. Tell them to join themselves (and buy you a new sub, cos you won't be using this one again).
• "I installed this special program to mirror the site, but I did not know how to use it...": We don't need you to mirror the site, thanks all the same. You are responsible for software you install. Ignorance is not an excuse.
• "I got a new download manager, but I did not know how to use it...": Again, not out fault. Your computer downloaded it!
• "It wasn't me!": You're responsible for your password, which is the only way to access the site. We advise you to keep it secure. Our software does not make mistakes: we count each megabyte you downloaded.

What is your refund policy?Top

For our refund policy take a look at our Join FAQs.

What are your Terms & ConditionsTop

Before you can join, you must read and agree to these terms and conditions. By joining this site, you are agreeing to these terms and conditions, and are agreeing to be legally bound by them. If you haven't read the Terms & Conditions yet, you might want to take a look.