this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023

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AITA For being Disappointed in Surfshark? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by WeirdAnimeOtter@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

36 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A while back, I sighed up for surfshark with the intention to refund my subscription soon after. I just needed it to access some information I thought was region lock. After I was finished I sent an email to surfshark asking for a refund.

I then received an email that I thought was a confirmation that I would be refined.

However, recently I got an email that my subscription could not be auto-renewed because my account lacked funds (I'm a broke college student).

Their reason for not canceling my account was that they actually wanted another confirmation that I wanted to get a refund.

Is this my fault for not checking back in? I thought it was clear that I didn't want to stay with surfshark.

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[–] klyde@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I know for a fact you're an asshole for using services and expecting a refund

[–] sadreality@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

bootlicker

[–] WeirdAnimeOtter@lemmy.world -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can't tell if this is /s but there was a 15 day refund policy so I thought I was allowed to do that

[–] Danfen@feddit.uk 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Refunds are supposed to be for faulty products or not meeting your expectations/needs. It sounds like the product did exactly what you wanted it to do, therefore even though allowed, claiming the refund is still a scummy move (all discussions regarding corporate profits e.t.c. aside). You should just cancel the subscription and not pay for any future months.

[–] Gutless2615@ttrpg.network 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Refunds are intended to never be used. That this consumer fulfilled the letter of the agreement that the business would be happy to wield against them does not at all make them an asshole.

[–] Zeus@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

still scummy though. i'm not going to go into the morals of whether social contracts should apply with businesses, but put it this way: if enough people did this, businesses would stop offering refunds; which would screw over those with genuine issues

[–] Gutless2615@ttrpg.network 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I will. Businesses ARE screwing over people, and they do so by using scummy terms and conditions that are one sided at best, like the one used by Wireshark. In a just world, one more fair to consumers, wire shark wouldn’t have arbitration agreements locked into their TOU, but here we are. In a just world, one more fair to consumers, there would be a no questions asked return process as a legal right for any online service. But here we are. I guarantee you the OP is not being abusive to the business by trying to get a refund during the 15 day return period. They’ll be just fine.

[–] Zeus@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i feel like you've missed my point. unless you either have a bloody revolution or go corp-free, you're not going to win this one. the corporations will notice people doing this and either remove the refund window or raise the prices. they won't just go "ah well, that seems fair, we've earned enough money". you can justly rage against the machine all you like; you're just going to make the experience worse for everyone.

In a just world, one more fair to consumers, wire shark wouldn’t have arbitration agreements locked into their TOU, but here we are.

yes they would. that's the point of contracts. it's up to you to read the terms of use before you agree to use the service. i'm not going to say the current system is fair to consumers; but the issue isn't the existence of contracts.

In a just world, one more fair to consumers, there would be a no questions asked return process as a legal right for any online service.

this is dumb. corporations might be earning too much money in your opinion, but demanding that they give away their services is the same problem in the other direction. op used the service, he should pay for it. this is how transactions work.

i'm not going to argue this. arguing on the internet makes me tired (i hope i got this energy across in this comment)

[–] Gutless2615@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My dude I am an attorney that has written these contracts. You aren’t getting it. That’s fine. It certainly doesn’t take a bloody revolution to get better consumer protections and it absolutely isn’t scummy to exploit the terms of the contract to the fullest extent allowable under the contract — as the OP has — as a consumer. This contract has already been written by the business to benefit them to the furthest extent they think they could get away with and they will be more than happy to use it for their benefit as much as is allowed. This is how this works.

[–] DrQuint@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Both assholes. Their "are you sure OwO???" tactics is just typical assholery that I'd have straight up made illegal were I the FTC, but you did go in specifically intending to abuse them, so I would urge you to take the loss as some sort of "lesson learned tax".

Well, the loss of the first month, don't have them be entitled to more. Those three other months are assholery that should never be rewarded.

Edit: I also don't think this belongs in /c/Technology. There's asklemmy for this stuff.

[–] EyesEyesBaby@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

let me know what you decide

Yeah you didnt respond. They wanted to know is you wanted to keep the ability to use their sercive until day 15, or cancel it right away.

[–] WeirdAnimeOtter@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I've never had to deal with a company that did things like this. I really don't think I will see that money against so I guess Its a lesson learned

[–] RheingoldRiver@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

They're asking you, "How would you like to proceed in this case?" Respond as follows:

Hi,

Thanks for replying.

I misunderstood the previous message. I thought it was transparently clear from my initial email that I wanted to cancel my services. You can either refund me for all months billed me or I will contact my credit card company for a fraudulent transaction made. Please let me know how you'd like to proceed.

Best,
WeirdAnimeOtter

[–] danl@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They literally asked if you want the refund now or at the end of the 15 days. They’ve agreed to refund you.

[–] pm_me_your_trash@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Yeah it does say "let me know what you decide" . But it is a sneaky tactic used exactly for this reason. Allot of companies do this which sucks.

[–] WeirdAnimeOtter@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

[–] under2x@lemdit.com 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes this is the anti cancel tactics that many companies use and the ftc is working on it: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/23/1165527249/ftc-rule-charges-cancel-online-subscriptions

I recently canceled surfshark too (i hope) and I recommend Mullvad if you need a vpn in the future, you pay for one month at a time, no subscription bs.

[–] WeirdAnimeOtter@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Thank you for the recommendation, I'll keep it in mind next time I need a VPN. I guess this post is mostly just to show other people my experience with surfshark and hopefully save someone else.

[–] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You made it clear that you weren't interested anymore. Their unanswered "are you really really sure?" message doesn't entitle them to your money. I'd get in touch with support about refunding and (if your schedule allows) set a secondary objective to cost them at least double what you paid in support staff wages.

[–] WeirdAnimeOtter@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I'm down to waste their time, but the problem is I have assignments I need to finish and my mental health is already stretched thin enough

[–] RiikkaTheIcePrincess@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Nah, they just sounded like "Aww, what did we do wrong?" like they're just asking for feedback. They should've scheduled a refund anyway or made absolutely clear that they weren't going to respect your wish instead of waffling at you about how much they want to improve their service or whatever.

That very last bit where they try to ask if you want to wait then just assume you want to not only wait but continue the damn subscription without even getting a response is super slimy and so gross that I'm offended by it and I'm not sure I'd even heard of this company before.

"I would like to refund my subscription" does not mean "keep billing me!"

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Windscribe has a free tier of like 10GB per month, if you need a VPN for rare use cases like what you described.

[–] fidodo@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

If you don't intend on continuing a subscription cancel it immediately after starting it. You will still get service for the access period you have, it cancels renewal, not service. To be even more safe, use a one time use cc for it with a funds cap. If they charge you after you explicitly cancel your subscription, then you can do a charge back with your card provider.

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