Unscrupulous Subscription Behaviour from UBISOFT

LTek58 on 07/10/2019 - 23:53

First of all I gather there may be a fair few complaints online regarding Ubisoft for a number of reasons, but I was just looking at sharing my experience and possibly gaining some advice from others online.

In early to mid September I signed up to Ubisofts uPlay+ 'free trial', a free trial for a new subscription service similar to EA Origins 'Origin Access' and Premium Origin Access.

During the free trial I decided that the service wasn't for me, as the program/service had not taken any payment details when signing up, nor displayed any 'checkout' style page warning that payment would be taken automatically at the end of the free trial without notification or warning I assumed that I had nothing further to do and would let the trial run out.

On the 4th of October I was charged the $19.95 subscription fee via PayPal, I'm not sure how they got my PayPal information but I can only gather it was through some purchase I must have made years ago.

When I received the paypal email on the 4th I contacted Ubisoft Support, their response was that "The free trial of Uplay + was free only until October 1st, and so after this the new billing period would start. I am afraid that as the paid membership has now been ongoing since October 1st, we would be unable to refund this for you."

Now obviously I was not able to request a refund on the 1st of October as the transaction had not happened until the 4th, but my more serious gripes are that;
1. Automatic renewal was not clearly signposted when registering for the 'free trial'
2. Payment information was not taken on signup, no 'purchase' or 'subscribe' menu was shown,
3. unauthorised payment information was used from a previous purchase (many years ago)
4. no email warning or contact was made at the end of the free trial cautioning of upcoming charge

I get that this is a lot of effort for $20 but I don't like that this is a tactic being employed by Ubisoft to rake in a little extra revenue.
'Dodgy scam free trials' are what I'd expect from disreputable websites and not a large, international entertainment company.

Would anyone have any suggestions or experience for this situation?

Tim

Gaming

Related Stores

Ubisoft
Ubisoft

Comments

  • spackbace on 08/10/2019 - 00:01
    +4

    Your PayPal account is likely tied with your Ubisoft account, and you authorised recurring payments from them when you bought from them. You could've cancelled this in PayPal at any stage (and is always worth checking).

    That parts on you

    The rest is hearsay that the trial doesn't mention anything about further charges. It's standard practice that it would.

    All sounds like someone who didn't read what they were agreeing to.

    • Tek58 on 08/10/2019 - 00:03

      ? I certainly wouldn't have authorised recurring payments when making a one-off purchase of a game, not subscription. I do check my paypal regularly and there was no 'Ubisoft subscription recurring payment'

      • spackbace on 08/10/2019 - 00:04

        "Certainly not" doesn't equal you did.

        Check your paypal account

        Oh and check the conditions of the trial when you ticked "I agree with the terms and conditions"

        • Tek58 on 08/10/2019 - 00:06

          Where are you getting "Certainly not" from and what are you referencing?

          • spackbace on 08/10/2019 - 00:08

            @Tek58: sigh
            "certainly wouldn't"

            Happy?

            • Tek58 on 08/10/2019 - 00:10

              @spackbace: Aah ok.

              " I did not authorise recurring payments when making a one-off purchase of a game,"

              fixed

      • vikvance on 08/10/2019 - 07:05
        +3

        I certainly wouldn't have authorised recurring payments when making a one-off purchase of a game, not subscription.

        That's what you think. Often, the authorisations are actually for automatic/recurring payments, even when it appears to be a one-off payment. (It's easy to miss this, in the excitement of buying something that you really want.) This is for your "convenience" 😁 so you don't have to go through the authorisation process if you make another purchase.

        Go into your Paypal account, click the wheel icon (settings), then click on Payments, and Manage Automatic Payments.

  • GangGang on 08/10/2019 - 00:10
    +4
    1. Automatic renewal was not clearly signposted when registering for the 'free trial'

    It never is posted. You will have to click on the T&C and find it.

    1. no email warning or contact was made at the end of the free trial cautioning of upcoming charge.

    They won't contact you. They want to keep you onboard paying the subscription fee. You can usually sign up & instantly remove the automatic renewal & still have access for the entire free trial

    As for 1 & 2. You may have answered it by saying you purchased an item years ago. Check your profile & see if your PayPal is still linked to the Ubisoft account.

    • spackbace on 08/10/2019 - 00:13
      +1

      Promo posted here. I particularly like the bold point:

      One free trial per Ubisoft Account from September 3rd to 30th, 2019. To begin free trial, you must provide a valid credit or debit card. You will be charged the full amount of the subscription price ($19.99 per month) on expiration of the free trial on October 1, 2019, unless you cancel before September 30th – 11.59pm.

      But y'know, if you don't read the conditions then you can whinge about it a month later 😂

      • Tek58 on 08/10/2019 - 00:16

        Thanks for that Spackbace, could have saved me $20 if I had seen the free trial through Ozbargain. Unfortunately I was recommended it through family.

        It seems that it allowed me to subscribe without asking for details because I was using my account which had previously made a purchase with.

        • spackbace on 08/10/2019 - 00:18

          It would've been there on the page when you signed up to it. The PayPal side yes was because it was still linked to your account.

          Hey it happens, subscription renewals suck if you forget out them! $20 is getting off lightly compared to some others

          • Tek58 on 08/10/2019 - 00:18

            @spackbace: true, I am glad it's not more than $20!

            • GangGang on 08/10/2019 - 11:43

              @Tek58: Just remember for next time to cancel the subscription immediately after you sign up, making sure it cancels it without forfeiting the free trial.

      • GangGang on 08/10/2019 - 11:40

        One free trial per Ubisoft Account

        I think this is the main clause that applies to all free subscriptions that people don't know or forget about, then wonder why they get charged.

  • ChillBro on 08/10/2019 - 00:23
    +2

    I know exactly what you mean, OP, as I also signed up for the trial. The cost of $20/month isn't clear anywhere in your account during the trial. In fact, I think it shows as $0 so you don't really know until the trial ends. I had to google to find what the cost would be.
    Luckily, I wasn't charged as I unsubscribed and removed my payment details in time.

    Not sure what advice I could give but I guess you could try reply saying that you didn't actually play anything in the new month?

    • Tek58 on 08/10/2019 - 00:28
      +1

      Thanks ChillBro,

      I've been in contact with Ubisoft support since the 4th, it doesn't seem that they can be bothered to read my replies but I'll add your suggestion about not using the service in the new month and see if that helps.

      Thanks again

  • Tek58 on 08/10/2019 - 00:47
    +1

    Looking at trustpilot it looks like I'm not the only one

    "Lola, 2 Days Ago
    The company is very misleading especially with their "new" uPlay+ scam.

    UBISOFT'_SUPPORT_LINE-+1-8-.5-5-2-9.'8'2'5,O,7.
    UBISOFT_SUPPORT_LINE-+1-8-.5-5-2-9.'8'2'5,O,7'

    The company, hides the unsubscribe page by sending you to a page that says

    "Sorry to see you go" then in a MUCH smaller font, scroll down to confirm cancellation, then REFUSE to refund the money even when queries the FIRST day they take the money."

    https://www.trustpilot.com/reviews/5d98e7086b04580b54567f5e

    • [Deactivated] on 08/10/2019 - 01:21

      I'm having the same issue with Ebay Plus. They've charged me an annual subscription fee because I've missed the deadline to cancel the service after my free trial ended yesterday. They are not only refusing to refund the $50 but are also refusing to let me close my ebay account until Oct 2020.

      • Tek58 on 08/10/2019 - 01:29
        +4

        I feel like there definitely should be a law regarding unused subscriptions and free trial cooling off periods.

  • marquise on 08/10/2019 - 04:34
    +3

    This seems to be such a common ploy now for free trials and trying to cancel them before being charged. I just got charged for Scribd, even though I thought I had cancelled it. Seems after pressing cancel there's more confirmations in smaller font that I missed.
    Luckily managed to sort out a refund through support ticket.

    • Tek58 on 15/10/2019 - 01:13

      I was expecting a similar situation to happen to me, >contact support and explain circumstances > they see that I haven't actually used anything > happy to refund

      Unfortunately it seems like mistake subscription charges are part of how Ubisoft make their revenue and have a policy against issuing refunds

  • askme69 on 08/10/2019 - 10:33
    +1

    Same crap with Motor Trend on demand and Netflix.

  • gnarkill on 08/10/2019 - 18:02
    +1

    I subscribed to the one month free trial on the last day of September. I didn't realise but the renewal is on the '1st day of the month' so it would've been processed the very next day. I'm yet to use the subscription at all. I've just submitted a support ticket for a refund. It does seem unusually scammy, I guess even after processing refunds and any negative brand damage it's worthwhile for them.

    • Tek58 on 15/10/2019 - 01:18
      +1

      let us know if you end up getting that refund. Yeah surprising how persistent they are with it, definitely must be worth their while. I guess if companies keep doing it and piss enough people off we'll get new consumer laws like what happened with airlines and hidden charges

      • gnarkill on 15/10/2019 - 10:02
        +1

        I haven't heard back from them. I've also not used the subscription at all. Hearing mixed things about refunds although most is negative. It took me about 3 months to get a uplay game registered following an issue with a steam purchase and I imagine they are far busier now. I imagine they are probably working on new laws already given how many companies are doing it.

  • Povotron on 08/10/2019 - 19:39
    +1

    Good luck getting refunds. I cancelled mine and then got charged. Contacted support who said it was just a 'holding charge'. Got charged a second time now despite cancelling before the first charge. Haven't received a response but there are a lot of people who have had the same thing happen and have not received refunds. I'll wait for a response before lodging a charge back.

    • Tek58 on 15/10/2019 - 01:15

      Sorry to hear that, I contacted payPal and they refused my charge back. You might have better luck if you used a credit card maybe.

      I also submitted complaint/referrals to ACCC and Queensland Office of Fair Trading

      • Povotron on 15/10/2019 - 23:19

        I just heard back. No refund of any charge. My subscription also ends at the end of the month despite having paid for two. Some people say they'll suspend your account if you issue a charge back although those who've done it so far haven't had their account suspended.

        • Tek58 on 18/10/2019 - 03:30

          The option I chose when making my PayPal claim was 'unauthorised charge', I can't quite remember what other options there were but I'd suggest trying a different one since mine was rejected.

      • jv on 15/10/2019 - 23:21

        I contacted payPal and they refused my charge back.

        On what grounds?

        • Tek58 on 18/10/2019 - 03:28

          My chargeback/claim was that the charge was unauthorised, and their response was
          "We reviewed the claim(s) you filed on 6 October 2019. Unfortunately, we had to deny your claim(s). This decision was made because this transaction was not unauthorised." just a generic 'no'

          Not entirely surprising outcome unfortunately

  • Tek58 on 01/11/2019 - 01:38

    ——-EDIT—————

    Just wanted to update everyone that Ubisoft has given me a refund. The last contact I had with their support team they were still denying any refunds, but recently I received a separate email from Uplay saying "Your refund request has been approved" and have since received the refund in PayPal.

    What specifically caused this I'm not sure, I got a call from the Queensland office of Fair Trading but they were ringing because they were unable to get through on the ubisoft Melbourne number I got from their google maps entry. Maybe ACCC said something, maybe it was something else.

    • Lysander on 07/11/2019 - 22:26

      One word: incompetence!

      Not unusual and specific to Ubisoft. Has happened to me with many big Aussie companies - some I had to take to a tribunal and they only settled right before proceedings commenced.
      I see no reason why the situation should be different at Ubisoft.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join