Captive Subscription System - Update
Initially, I was amazed when I discovered their website. I loved the designs they had and the idea behind the website, of exploring symbols behind ancient cultures.
Great, it took me about an hour to decide to join their website. And here starts the journey. On their website, the premium option is called "Unlimited Access". The description of it is "Access to a unique collection of Worldwide Ancient Symbols" charging for Commercial rights "35$ Month". What I understood was that for 35$ I will get access to their library for a month.
When i added the service to cart, in the shopping cart it was called "subscription". I finalized the purchase, thinking that if it is indeed a subscription, I will simply terminate it after the first month. I paid, and then i checked my account settings. There is no option in the account settings to cancel a subscription, to delete your account. There are 3 pages on their website you can access " Privacy" "Licences" and "About". On those 3 pages, the word "subscription" is not present. I was somehow disturbed because everything indicated that i bought access for a month, yet they called it in the shopping cart subscription.
So i decided to send them an email. The same day i bought the access, i used their contact page. I congratulated them for their website and i kindly asked if i bought a subscription or an access, mentioning that if it is indeed a subscription i want to cancel it asap, as my intention is to have access for a month. I laso bought two fonts from their website. I received no receipt. Which is quite problematic for me, so i also asked for that in the mail.
2-3 weeks, no answer. It rarely happens to me to become paranoid, but in this case i did, asking them again, if what i bought was an access or a subscription, and if it was a subscription to cancel it. I also asked for the invoice. (My mistake this time was using another email than the one i registered with - thinking that i might get an answer this time if the address was different).
I received an answer after few days, simply asking which was the email i registed with. No other details were provided. I answered the same day, but never got replied back.
This is how the first month passed, and my card was charged again with another 35$. At this time i thought i entered a scam with a captive subscription system. There is no option to cancel the subscription in the account settings (there is nothing mentioning that it is a subscription apart the product name once you add it to the cart). I had to call my bank, to cancel my card, and I emailed them again. This time i was a bit rude in my email, since i got quite frustrated. I also sent them a message on facebook and on instagram. No answer.
So I thought about googling these guys, and I found Trustpilot. Here i wrote an initial review, naming them a scam and a captive subscription system, which i thought it is, and i read another review of a person in the same position as me, not being able to cancel her subscription.
Surprise! After the review was published, i was emailed the same day by their support team. They told me that I was refunded and that my subscription was terminated. Funny enough, i work in communications, and Frank, their support guy, is not really the best one i've seen. After i never got answered to 3 emails, his problem was " I don't understand why you were so rude with us, we are not scam as you stated in you trustpilot review, I hope you would update that review."
So their problem was their reputation, not that i had to stress for a month to get rid of them. He also mentioned that they use Stripe as a processor and that i can download my invoices or cancel my subscription there. Surprise Frank, i paid with a card, never used stripe for the checkout. In Europe we don't use Stripe, I thought you may consider these cultural differences, since this is what your business is about.
However, Frank did indeed refund me (hopefully really canceled my subscription), i had to pay for a new bank card, stress for a month, and guess what. I still had to support Frank's audacity to blame me, that i was the one not understanding that it was asubscription, since it was mentioned in the shopping cart title. Sure Frank, it's perfectly OK for a business to be ambiguous with their customers and not answer their questions. My bad. I might not be a native english speaker, but i learned in school that when something is recurrent, it should be called "Monthly" or "per month" to indicate recurrence.
In the end, Frank assured me of my refund, which i did receive indeed, that the subscription was cancelled and asked me again to update my review, MENTIONING that i should focus on my initial experience with their product. The service is a headache. The product is nice. Here Frank, i wrote it, i liked the product. Stop emailing me to update my review.
21 December 2024
Unprompted review
