Istockphoto Reviews 

Just awful. Customer service very unhelpful and very inflexible. Very difficult to cancel beyond the free trial - deliberately so. Payment taken early so no opportunity to cancel without charge, and the charge is very excessive (~$90) compared to other similar services.

Terrible company. This is a scam; do not work with this company. They will try to charge you for a full-year subscription with up to 10 downloads at $10/per photo.
$99/month for one year. Customer Service is definitely in on the scam, as well.

I think that they 1 star average speaks for itself. TERRIBLE business model. Buyer Beware. I had to file a claim with my bank who was happy to assist with blocking/reversing charges. I had continual issues with istock and when I emailed them for assistance their ONLY solution was for me to upgrade and pay $70/month. Also, super frustrated to find that when you attempt to cancel, they inform you that in the fine print you commit to a YEAR. LOL Who is using contracts for stock photos or any app for that matter and refuses to let you out of the contract when you have constant issues with the app??

They are scamming people, beware! There is an automatic button for a 1-year commitment. Additionally, when I asked to cancel my commitment, they said I couldn’t use credits, meaning I couldn’t download images, and they demanded that I pay 620 NOK! Imagine having to pay for something you can’t even use. This is the most horrible company ever. Stay away!

They offer a free trial but I forgot to cancel. They would not refund my money because I had downloaded images during the trial. In all cases this has happened in the past with other apps they always offered a refund in spite of no specific contract stating they needed to. iStock, in my opinion, is practicing underhanded behavior, in spite of them being within the limits of their contract. I will no longer do business with a company that practices predatory behavior.

I had a terrible experience with iStock. They completely misled me during the purchase process, and I ended up being charged an outrageous amount of money. When I realised what had happened and reached out to their customer service, I was met with dismissive and unhelpful responses. They flat-out refused to issue a refund or even take responsibility for their misleading practices.

For a company of their size and reputation, their behaviour is shocking. They seem more focused on trapping customers into paying large amounts than providing quality service or support. I would strongly advise anyone considering using iStock to look elsewhere. Save your time, money, and frustration!

In early November I had a $350 subscription charge on my card from istock. As I never heard of istock before i knew my card was hacked.

As part of the dispute a transaction with my credit card company they wanted me to first to try to get resolution with istock. I emailed istock and through several emails I provided them the cards last 6 digits, expiration date and after not locating they asked for the address on card to locate.

Once providing they replied to the email chain saying a user name that is not me signed up for an annual subscription and they will cancel the annual subscription for a $1500 charge.

I'm shocked they'd charge me $1500 to cancel a subscription on my hacked credit card.

Further to this they emailed me as well as the email of the hacker. So all the information I gave them was provided to the hacker!!!

I cancelled my cards immediately but needless to say just cancel your card if they charge you. Don't deal with customer rep as they will just leak your information to the person who hacked you!! (Love having the hacker know my home address!!! Thanks istock!!! The worst!!)

I tried to change my subscription mid year. Was told I couldn't and then after it auto renewed I contacted them only to be told that I still couldn't change it. They turn on the auto renewal in your account hoping that you get forced into another year of payments. The only change they will allow you to make is to spend more money with them. What a scam.

worthless, screwed into a permanent contract. Then, after a year, you will have a sea of ​​unused credits and you cannot continue to use them after canceling your subscription.

We call this legal theft. We strongly advise against this service and 1 (20%) star is too much...

deceptive wording. i entered istock either from unsplash.com or pixabay.com.

they said i could cancel during the trial period, risk free. so i had planned to pay for the first month, and download my 10 photos (which was all i needed)

instead i went to their site to subscribe to their annual plan which didn't come with a trial period, because i didn't know there would be a difference between the 2. the pricing page on their site has no mention of the trial plan so i naturally assumed they were the same.

there was no way out, no cancellation fees i could pay, nor did they allow me to pay for the difference to change it to monthly.

they then claimed that the free trial only applies to certain regions. i proved to them that my country has free trial, but they insisted that it is because i chose the wrong option.

thanks for giving me no way to rectify issue

congrats on making me pay 339 USD for 10 photos.

I wish I read the reviews in time. I just got scammed from I Stock for $70. I mailed them a cancelation through their email and they said they never received it and refused to return my money. Thieves. STAY AWAY

SCAM!, Worst Service, Just Stealing funds from people, Use other free tools.

Trapped in a subscription that was misrepresented.

This is just plain robbery in daylight - sign up for a trial. Then get charged. Ask for cancellation.- they say pay 70 eur and we will cancel it for you. You agree. They charge you 84.70 eur. DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THEM. Plenty of sites offering images for free. SCAM

They didn't want to cancel my annual subscription, please don't sign up for this scam.

I signed up for a free trial and downloaded one photo. I tried to cancel in the free trial period but couldn't figure out how to do it, so I decided to wait.

My phone broke and I had to get a new one, completely forgetting to sign back in to my company email account. I was notified on Nov. 6th that I was charged $74.90 and I was signed up for a yearly subscription. I tried to call and cancel but they're closed on the weekends. There was no spot to cancel on the site. I ended up finding the chat bot and requested a cancellation.

I figured that I may not be refunded my money, but that I would still be able to keep my downloads included in my plan. I had 9 left from the free trial and 10 for the month of November, coming up to 19 more downloads. They cancelled my subscription, but instead of letting me use what I had left for the month, they took away all of my downloads and said they kept my money as an administrative fee.

I downloaded one photo and was charged $75!!!!! Please don't sign up with this company. They need to be sued and shut down!!!

Awful scam company!!!!! I wish I would have researched before doing their stupid trial ugh. So messed up they should be reported!!

Incredibly expensive license, and absolutely no flexibility if you forget to cancel but do not use the service. Many companies refund you if you forget to cancel a free trial, and istockphoto will not do this. Very disappointing.

on August 2, I used stock photos to get around four images, I must have done the free trial, but it would never let me cancel. I canceled auto renew and it is worded as though it is going to stop the monthly payments, but then it billed me again and there’s no way to cancel. Their wording is extremely deceptive throughout the entire process they genuinely need to be investigated. I regret not looking them up on the Better Business Bureau and Trust pilot beforehand, but I thought they were a reputable company. I thought wrong and people deserve to know what type of sales schemes they are using.

Let's say you continue with the annual subscription if you don't cancel the free trial. When it ends you LOSE unused credits unless you renew your subscription. That's theft!