A charge on your statement listing ETM and the phone number 800-528-7550 is a recurring subscription billing processed by eTicketMachine, a third-party payment gateway run by WTS ETicket of Austin, Texas. If you don’t recognize it, you can stop future charges by cancelling with the processor and recover money already taken by disputing the charges with your bank under federal law. Move quickly, because the strongest protections have short deadlines.
What the Charge Is
eTicketMachine is not a store or a content site. It is a payment processor that handles credit card and ACH (bank transfer) billing for online merchants selling subscription access to websites and digital content.1eTicketMachine. FAQs The 800-528-7550 number that appears in the descriptor is the company’s customer service line.
Consumers who report these charges most often describe small, repeating deductions they didn’t recognize. Reported amounts have ranged from $9.98 to $24.98, with recent complaints citing figures between $14.99 and $16.92.2800Notes. 1-800-528-7550 Phone Number Reports3Better Business Bureau. WTS ETicket Complaints Some consumers can trace the charges to sites such as “cheep-coupons.net”; many can’t identify any underlying service. eTicketMachine’s own FAQ notes that customers may see multiple charges if they accepted “special offers or impulse promotions” at checkout, which can produce billings people don’t remember agreeing to.1eTicketMachine. FAQs
The Better Business Bureau lists 214 complaints against WTS ETicket over the most recent three-year reporting period, 143 of them classified as billing issues.4Better Business Bureau. WTS ETicket Complaints
How To Cancel the Subscription
eTicketMachine says subscriptions can be cancelled by phone at 1-800-528-7550 or by email at cs@eticketmachine.com. A cancelled subscription remains active through the end of the current billing period, so the cancellation stops future charges rather than the one already in progress.1eTicketMachine. FAQs
Some consumers have reported difficulty reaching a live representative on that number or getting the company’s website cancellation page to complete.2800Notes. 1-800-528-7550 Phone Number Reports3Better Business Bureau. WTS ETicket Complaints If direct contact doesn’t work, filing a written complaint through the BBB has produced results for other consumers. When WTS ETicket can locate an account matching the name in a BBB complaint, its standard response is to cancel the subscription and refund six months of charges. Where the company reports it cannot find a matching account, no refund is issued through that channel and the consumer is referred back to customer support.5Better Business Bureau. WTS ETicket Complaints
That six-month cap matters. If the charges have been running longer than six months, or if the company can’t identify your account, you’ll need to work through your bank to recover the rest.
How To Dispute the Charge With Your Bank
The federal law that applies depends on how the charge hit your account.
Credit Card Charges
The Fair Credit Billing Act caps your liability for unauthorized credit card charges at $50. To use this protection, send a written dispute to the card issuer’s billing inquiry address within 60 days after the first statement showing the charge arrives. The issuer has to acknowledge the dispute within 30 days and resolve it within 90 days. You can withhold payment on the disputed amount during the investigation, and the issuer cannot report you delinquent on that charge while it is being reviewed.6Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
Debit Card or ACH Charges
When money comes out of a checking account as an electronic transfer, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E apply. Your liability depends on how quickly you report the problem:
- Report within two business days of learning about the unauthorized transfer: liability capped at $50.
- Report after two business days but within 60 days of the statement: liability capped at $500.
- Report after 60 days: you can be held responsible for the full amount of transfers that occurred after that window.7eCFR. Regulation E, 12 CFR Part 1005
Once you notify the bank, it must investigate promptly and cannot make you file a police report or contact the merchant first. If the investigation runs longer than ten business days, the bank generally has to give you provisional credit for the disputed amount while it continues.8Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Electronic Funds Transfer Act
Because many of these charges post as ACH withdrawals rather than card transactions, ask your bank to place a stop payment or ACH block on the merchant descriptor after you report the dispute, so the next scheduled pull doesn’t go through.
Where To Report the Billing
Reports to government agencies don’t usually generate individual refunds, but they feed the databases regulators use to spot patterns and bring cases.
- Federal Trade Commission: file at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or call 877-382-4357. The FTC shares reports with more than 2,000 law enforcement partners through Consumer Sentinel.9Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud FAQ
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: for banking and electronic fund transfer issues, file at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. A separate FTC report is not needed if you file with the CFPB on a banking matter.9Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud FAQ
- State attorney general: every state has a consumer protection office that takes complaints. The National Association of Attorneys General keeps a directory at naag.org.10National Association of Attorneys General. Consumer File a Complaint
Whichever route you take, the clock is what matters most. The 60-day windows in both the Fair Credit Billing Act and Regulation E run from the statement date, not from when you finally noticed the charge, so open the last few statements before you call the bank and make sure you’re inside the window for every charge you plan to dispute.