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Warning - Long-Term Dropbox Unlimited Customers: Retained Legacy Storage Can Be Removed
I’m posting this as a warning to other long-term Dropbox business users, particularly anyone who originally had Unlimited storage and was later migrated to a paid tier with retained legacy storage.
This is not a rant. It’s a factual account of what happened to me, so others can assess their own risk.
Background
I was a long-standing Dropbox Business customer on an Unlimited plan.
When Dropbox discontinued Unlimited, I was explicitly told that:
- My existing storage usage would be retained
- My account would continue functioning as before
- My monthly cost would increase to reflect the new structure
My price went from roughly £70/month to £154+/month, which I accepted in order to keep my storage and business workflows intact.
Over time, I built my business around this arrangement and stored ~56TB of client data, some of which I am legally required to retain.
What went wrong
Recently, my bank temporarily declined a payment after flagging Dropbox as a potential fraud risk.
This caused a brief, unintentional billing interruption.
Important points:
- I did not cancel my plan
- I did not request a downgrade
- I updated my payment method as soon as I became aware
However, during that short interruption:
- My account was downgraded
- When I re-upgraded, I was placed onto the current Dropbox Advanced plan
- My previously retained legacy storage was permanently removed
My account now shows a 30TB limit, despite already having ~56TB stored.
Dropbox’s position (in their own words)
Support confirmed the following:
- I was notified that my account would be downgraded
- I was not notified that retained legacy storage would be permanently lost
- Once downgraded, legacy storage “no longer exists” and cannot be restored
- There is “no room for escalation” because the features are no longer offered
- The only option is to pay substantially more for additional licences or storage add-ons
In short:
A temporary billing issue permanently removed storage that I had already been paying a higher monthly fee to retain.
Why this matters to other users
If you:
- Ever had Unlimited Dropbox
- Were told you could retain your existing storage
- Are now paying more under a newer plan
- Store large volumes of business or client data
Then your storage is not safe in the way you may assume.
Based on my experience:
- A billing interruption (even involuntary)
- Can trigger a downgrade
- Which can permanently remove retained storage
- With no restoration, review, or escalation available
Even if you immediately fix the payment issue.
Key takeaway
This isn’t about asking for free storage or legacy features.
It’s about undisclosed consequences:
- Being warned about a downgrade is not the same as being warned that previously retained storage will be permanently forfeited
- Especially when customers have already accepted significant price increases to keep that storage
If you rely on Dropbox for large-scale storage, I strongly recommend:
- Keeping multiple backup copies
- Reviewing your exact contractual position
- Understanding that “retained” storage may not survive plan interruptions
Why I’m posting this
I’m sharing this so other users:
- Aren’t blindsided the way I was
- Can make informed decisions
- Can assess whether Dropbox is still safe as long-term business infrastructure
If you’re in a similar position, I’d genuinely like to hear your experience.
5 Replies
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- Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey there, Tage, let's jump right into this!
First of all, I'm sorry to hear about that.
From my side, since I understand where you're coming from, I would like to gather a few more pieces of info and get closer into what happened.
With that in mind, can you let me when your plan was last renewed and when it got downgraded?
It'd also be extremely helpful to have the ticket ID that corresponds to the interaction with the Dropbox Support team you mentioned.
I'll be right here when you're ready. Hi Megan
Many thanks for your reply,
The ticket id is #25827768
As far as I am aware by email there was no mention of downgrade, only that a new payment method was needed to be updated, this was an issue with a dropbox payment being flagged as potential fraudulent activity by my bank.
That being said, I was working away and when I had chance I updated this, nothing was mentioned about downgrading or that the account had been downgraded, I updated my payment method and it as only then did I notice that my legacy storage had been removed.
After a long back and forth over support chat I was told that there is nothing whatsoever that can be done and categorically I cannot be helped and that it is dropbox's position that there is nowhere to escalate this situation to given that my storage is a product no longer offered and so therefore if I want to be able to access dropbox in the same i did last week I will now be paying over £3000 a year from the original £700 a year when I originally signed up for dropbox.
this is the nail in the coffin of a whole mountain of issues and i'm trapped at either paying more money to use dropbox or to migrate my files to another solution, which at this moment in time, seems the only way forward.
UPDATE:
I wanted to post a factual update, as things have developed further since my original post.
Approximately an hour after a Dropbox Community Moderator asked for my ticket ID, I began receiving automated emails showing that my account storage was being modified multiple times in quick succession — without any action taken by me.
Within a ~25 minute window, I received confirmations showing my plan as:
- Dropbox Advanced with 35TB + grandfathered storage
- Dropbox Advanced with 59TB (multiple grandfathered spacepacks applied)
- Dropbox Advanced with 35TB
- Dropbox Advanced with 30TB (no grandfathered storage)
This included a period where my previously retained legacy storage was visibly reinstated, before being removed again shortly afterwards.
I then contacted Dropbox Support via chat to ask what was happening. The agent confirmed that:
- they could see the repeated plan changes,
- the behaviour was unexpected,
- and that an internal investigation was required.
The chat was subsequently moved to email so the account history and internal logs can be reviewed, with the possibility of escalation to a specialised team.
I’m posting this update for transparency, as it directly contradicts earlier support responses stating that:
- legacy storage “no longer exists”,
- cannot be reinstated,
- and that no escalation path is available.
I’ll update again once Dropbox completes their investigation.
- Megan
Hi Tage, thanks for the update about that!
I'd also suggest that you keep an eye on the ticket related to this issue. Since it's a unique situation the troubleshooting will require account visibility and some more advanced tools than what we're able to provide here on the Community.
I appreciate your patience while the team navigates what could be the culprit there.
If you need something else, please let me know and I will be more than happy to help every step of the way. Thanks!
- Helen DBX
Dropbox Staff
Hello Tage
Helen from Dropbox here. Thanks for reaching out about this.
We’ve just given you an update on ticket number 25827768!
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Best regards,
Helen
The Dropbox Team
https://www.dropbox.com/help
