Academia Reviews 832

I think I ended up receiving emails from this company was after I searched for information on my cities manufacturing history. I do NOT want to subscribe as it was a one off search I looked for. I now receive a minimum of 2 emails a day suggesting papers (not even from areas I live) every email I unsubscribe it says it may take a couple of days for it to go through. WELL… it’s going on a month since the first unsubscribe and STILL the emails keep coming. How the hell do you get this company to stop?!!!!

You took the money from my account even though I was not signed up for anything. I need a Refund.

This year’s annual subscription fee was significantly increased compared to previous years, and I was not informed of this change in any way. Despite cancelling my membership on the subscription start date, the fee was still charged. I do not accept this situation and request a full refund. Otherwise, I will have no choice but to take legal action.

I was on Academia.edu for a long time. I wanted to go download an old paper that I had stored there.

10 attempts to reset my password resulted in no email to reset. So I created a new account.

And I found that a scammer "named" Cora Rankin who had added herself as an author on all of my papers in place of one of my co-authors. There is no customer service or way to report such fraud, so clearly it is just scammers and liars.

This is a huge scam.

They will charge you and then reactivate your account and then double the price over years. I have been trying to disconnect over a few years. You email them and they say "no refund." I was just charged $498 for nothing. These people deserve and investigation and to be shut down.

Unauthorized charges once they have your card. They cheat you and charge your card for $150+ even after you have cancelled your subscription. Will not refund either. Do not ever subscribe. Not a useful platform either.

I was charged €234 for a €1 paper — deceptive and abusive billing

I went on Academia.edu to access a single paper, which was listed as €1. I never agreed to any subscription, never saw clear terms, and never received a confirmation email. A few days later, I was charged €69 and then €165.60 — a total of €234.60 — without my consent.

This is not a mistake — it’s a dark pattern. I only realized what happened because I checked my bank app. Academia.edu never warned me, and I had no idea I was being enrolled in a recurring subscription. To make matters worse, I’ve now seen many users reporting the exact same experience.

I’ve contacted their support and blocked them through my bank. If I don’t get a refund, I’ll escalate this further. Academia.edu should not be allowed to continue using deceptive billing tactics like this. Avoid this platform at all costs.

They're pretty much a money scam at this point. If you miss canceling the subsciption renewal by even 1-3 days they won't refund you. At this point it would make more sense to go to the scholar's direct publication site and just either buy or rent a copy of their paper.

**WELL-DESIGNED TRAP – STAY AWAY!**

Academia.edu turned out to be a complete trap, with practices that are borderline illegal, if not outright fraudulent.

In 2024, I signed up to download a few academic papers, under the impression it was a free service. At no point during the sign-up process was it made clear that I would be subscribing to a paid membership. On March 7th, €129 was charged to my account without my explicit consent. Probably they sent an email that ended up to spam, but no previous explicit consent by my side.

Then came 2025. The so-called "service" renewed automatically, and the cost more than doubled: €258 + €56.76 in taxes, totaling a whopping €314.76. Once again, no clear notice, no confirmation, just another sneaky email buried in spam hat I discovered later, when I looked for after the discovery of the payment.

Academia.edu relies on tricking users through silence and ambiguity, in clear violation of EU law (Directive 2011/83/EU) and Italian consumer law (Legislative Decree 206/2005).

I contacted support multiple times, asking for a refund. Their answer? "It’s against our policy." No discussion, no transparency, just a kind cold wall of indifference.

Avoid Academia.edu at all costs. This platform is not a service — it's a trick like a scam disguised as academia, built to exploit unsuspecting users.

Caught out by this outfit on subscriptions. Poor show.
Not informed of 8200% increase in subscription.
Is this legal? Stopped PayPal too late and informed them of the situation.

I was recently charged, without any prior notice, 159.00 by acadamia.edu.
After several emails and voice mails threatening to report them to the attorney General and FTC, I found that the BBB can help to get your refund.

Scam alert!
They will make you fool by offering one month free with cancellation but you would never understand how does it work the cancel. They will cut your money for years. Full of scamming payment model. Never subscribe.

Predatory subscription model that borders on fraud. They give no clear warning for renewal, with difficulty finding your account and payment area if you do want to cancel. Then, if you do cancel a few days before the automatic renewal they say you must give 30 days notice for cancellation. Costs an outrageous $338 CDN for a year to access academic articles. If they had a good, essential product, they wouldn't need to bamboozle subscriptions and rip people off. Stay FAR AWAY from this amoral company.

I was told 400+ academic papers mention my name — but I couldn’t view even one without paying. No preview, no verification, just a paywall after a tempting claim.
This feels less like academic sharing and more like data-fueled phishing.
Academia.edu might sound like a scholarly space, but beware: it seems designed to exploit curiosity and insecurity — especially among students and researchers.

Not trustworthy. Better alternatives exist.

Academia auto-renewed a $371.80 AUD subscription from my account without prior notice. I didn’t consent to it, and I wasn’t warned it was about to happen. When I asked for a refund, they flatly refused—even though I explained the unexpected charge caused financial hardship.

Their billing practices feel deceptive and predatory. No flexibility. No empathy. No refund.

If you’re thinking of signing up, be extremely careful. You might get charged hundreds without realising it—and there’ll be no support if it happens.

I'm not even clear as to what Academia supposedly provides, but I'm also not clear as to how they got my credit card information. I thought I was on a free subscription but today I noticed a charge of £333.60. I reviewed my financials and apparently they've been charging me for the past three years and just upping the amount each year. I obviously can't afford that amount of money particularly when they do not provide a service. I demanded a refund which they refused so I reminded them that they are required by law to honour a cool-down period of 14 days after both subscriptions and renewals. I'm absolutely furious, I'm not sure if I'll get my money back, and I would strongly advise everyone I can to stay as far from this absolute scam as possible.

Really bad customer policies. I was on a yearly plan that renewed and without any reminder email. I email them same day for cancellation but their support gets back saying they can't refund. It's not a unique service that we can't find through research gate or else. I'd gladly pay others rather than pay this high to a company that doesn't heed customer requests

I was charged $139 right after my free trial ended, but this was the first year of my subscription, not a renewal. Academia has stated that first-year charges are refundable, yet they refused my request with a generic template response.

I submitted the request on the same day I was charged, well within 30 days.

If I don’t receive a proper response, I will file a chargeback with my bank or credit card company.

Be careful – this platform uses misleading billing practices.

[UPDATE – July 3, 2025]
After persistent follow-up, Academia has refunded the full $139. The process took about 2 days.
I hope this helps others in a similar situation. Stay patient and firm, and be sure to reference their own public policy when you reach out.

I signed up for a free account upon the recommendation of a professor, and then was charged $159 for a premium subscription that I did not sign up for. I received no warning email about a subscription charge. When I reached out to ask for assistance and a refund I was told they do not do refunds. Very predatory in their practices.

It is a scam.
Don't recall every subscribing and would never accept auto-renew and they say I can't get a refund
nearly $200!!
AVOID!!