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Is it possible to get a refund for a Dropbox for Business purchase?
Here's the full story.
In January 2105, I worked for a company and signed up for DropBox for bussiness account using my work email address. In March 2015, I left the company and lost access to that email address. I personally lost access to that service in March 2015.
This January, 5 days after my personal credit was charged $850, I contacted DropBox and asked for a refund over the phone. The person on the other line said there's no way for him to transfer me to the billing department and said that I can only submit a ticket via email.
I submitted a ticket via email and got a response that my concern was escalated. A day later, I was notified that I'm not eligible for any refund. I responded again asking to look into it again and asking for the phone number to call to reach the billing department.
I got the following response:
"I am currently the highest level of support and am more than willing to assist you with your concerns.
This issue has already been escalated and no exception could be made in this case. I do apologize for the inconvenience.
At this point, I would suggest disputing the charge with your bank/credit card company."
There was no easy way for me to remove my credit card information from that account. There was no way for DropBox to notify me about the fact that my card will soon be charged because I lost access to that email account.
Dear DropBox, is this really how you do business? Do you think it's fair to do this?
Please understand, it was impossible for me to prevent this charge and cancel the service on time. At this time, I'm ready to go public about this issue and notify major tech news website about how you treat customers.
thank you
Chicklet5 wrote:
I hope dropbox can help me resolve this issue - the second account was just a mistake.
Have you contacted them yet? If not, you need to.
Open your ticket here: https://bit.ly/cm-support
Track your ticket here: https://dropbox.zendesk.comOr, if you have a Dropbox for Business account, use the phone number found in your admin console under Help.
Replies take approximately 1 - 3 business days with Pro users getting priority (longer for Basic users).
29 Replies
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- Thank you evgeny r.!!! Very helpfull!!! I will do the same!!!
I am in the exact same boat but I actually wound up with TWO business accounts which charged me 2 full yearly memberships after my trial expired. 1700 bucks that I never intended to spend.
I wasn't having any luck uploading my files on my original account, the site kept crashing mid-upload. These were 2GB files, tops. Thinking my account simply hadn't been properly upgraded, I made a second throwaway account to test the uploading capacity. It crashed again, and didn't seem to have been upgraded from a basic (free) DB membership.
Fastforward to yesterday, I notice 2 850$ charges on my card - apparently both accounts were automatically upgraded to business without my knowledge. One for the main account (which still shows up as 'basic' not business) the other for the throwaway account.
I hope dropbox can help me resolve this issue - the second account was just a mistake.
- Also - would you mind sharing if you live in the EU? I am in Canada and I am not sure we have the 14-day grace period for refunds that they apparently do in the EU.
- Rich
Super User II
Chicklet5 wrote:
I hope dropbox can help me resolve this issue - the second account was just a mistake.
Have you contacted them yet? If not, you need to.
Open your ticket here: https://bit.ly/cm-support
Track your ticket here: https://dropbox.zendesk.comOr, if you have a Dropbox for Business account, use the phone number found in your admin console under Help.
Replies take approximately 1 - 3 business days with Pro users getting priority (longer for Basic users). - MarkChicklet - I'm in the EU (United Kingdom) and while I know this doesnt apply to you it may to others.
The 14 day cooling off period is a consumer right, it does not apply to businesses OR importantly business services/products. So a consumer buying something for a business/aimed at a business would not qualify for the cooling off period. - I have sent in my support ticket but I am hoping to get this resolved with a real human person. Unfortunately since today is Saturday, I will need to wait until Monday to have access to dropbox live support.
After using dropbox as a free service for so long, I was sucessfully enticed to sign up for a dropbox business account trial with the understanding that I would be charged a very reasonable $12.50/mo if I didn't cancel at the end of the period.
What I didn't know was that at the end of said period there's an autorenewal which charged my card for an entire year immeditely with 5 member member minimum for $750 total, with no refund offered unless legally required.
I've been attempting to contact support via phone, email, and by 'submitting a help request' as listed through the admin panel. The support phone number listed there is just an automated message telling me to email them or submit a help request. Both emailing and submitting a help request produce the same automated email message telling me I can close my account at the end of the 1 year billing period, but offer nothing in response to my request for a refund. The live chat is listed as 'closed' when I'm logged into my business account, however interestingly I have no problem live chatting with sales when complely logged out, trying to sell me a business account until they find out I have one, at which point they immediately end the chat session and direct me back to the bogus support page on the admin panel.
Needless to say, this is morally reprehensible business ethic. I was unsurprised to find that the BBB ratings for dropbox are utterly abysmal.
If there's any other option besides attempting to forcably reconcile matters through my credit card company, please let me know.
- Mark
You agreed when you joined to pay for 5 users - it very very clearly states this when you get to the payment page. Unfortunately YOU didnt read the information correctly. It isnt Dropbox at fault here.
Also, I'm moving this to the support area rather than feature requests.
It certianly wasn't made clear to me that my account would be auto-upgraded at the end of the the trial period and charged for an entire year instantly (the default setting). There's no reason why anybody would pay a year up front without any incentives, if you want to make the argument that dropbox doesn't use deception as a tactic to snare customers then maybe you can explain why that's even a setting much less the default.
By the way, it's one thing to stick customers with surprise bills, it's another to give them the runaround when they're unsatisfied by having a phony ticketing system and a phony toll free support number that send only send automated messages refusing pro-rated refunds. This is classic wheeling and dealing, I had my guard down because I never expected this from an acclaimed cloud service company.
I've been left with no other choice than to get a chargeback from my bank which finally resulted in dropbox downgrading my account with a full refund to avoid legal action. Dropbox even has an automated message for such an occasion: go figure.
It's really sad that dropbox forced me to resort to this to get my money back as I would have otherwise likely been a loyal long-term customer. My issue is resolved, thanks Mark.
- Rich
sjsiegel001 wrote:
It certianly wasn't made clear to me that my account would be auto-upgraded at the end of the the trial period and charged for an entire year instantly (the default setting).
Actually, it was made clear.
Step two provides the option of yearly or monthly billing. You must choose one before continuing. Note that 5 users, the minimum, is already entered.
Billing options
If you try to enter fewer users, you're told that the minimum is 5.
And on step three, you're told that you'll be charged if you do not cancel in time. Note that the January 6th date in the screenshot below is based on the date that I originally took the screenshot.
Autorenew notice
There's no reason why anybody would pay a year up front without any incentives, if you want to make the argument that dropbox doesn't use deception as a tactic to snare customers then maybe you can explain why that's even a setting much less the default.Cost? Five users x $12.50/user x 12 months = $750 when paid yearly. Five users x $15/month x 12 months = $900 when paid monthly. $150 seems like a pretty big incentive to me.
By the way, it's one thing to stick customers with surprise bills, it's another to give them the runaround when they're unsatisfied by having a phony ticketing system and a phony toll free support number that send only send automated messages refusing pro-rated refunds.
Neither system is phony. The phone number for business support is located in your admin console under Help (only available to Business customers). It's listed along side your PIN, which is required when contacting support in this way. Phone support is not provided on any other number. As for the ticketing system, it provides options for opening a ticket throughout the system. They're usually marked as "Get help with other issue" and they take you to a ticket form instead of a help article.
