iStockPhoto

I needed to use this website once for photos for my child's project. I did not realize that it was for an annual subscription. Now I am being charge over $100 each month and I emailed Sarah to kindly let her know that I had not used the website since September and wished to discontinue my subscription asap however she was not flexible at all and in fact suggested that I upgrade my membership. I feel quite frustrated with this lack of understanding on their part.

AVOID this company!
I accidentally forgot to cancel my free trial - they've charged me $85 and will not budge on a refund although I contacted them about the mistake immediately. I will not be using this service, so what am I paying for? Their greed.

You see the quality of a service when the only way to make money is by almost secretly charging people after a free trial. They mention in the contract in tiny letters no one will see about their cancellation policy. Horrible!

They have an "introductory" offer that if you do not cancel in the time period you are automatically contacted to a year at 10 month payments of $70/month. They NEVER tell you that in the trial offer unless you read the fine fine print. We feel so taken by them and they refuse to issue you a refund or let you out of the terms. SCAM.

Worst service ever. Been trying to unsubscribe for 2 months and I keep getting charged monthly. As a South African, these payments have been detrimental to my financial situation. I'm going to have to cancel my credit card as that seems to be the only way out of this evil scheme

They have horrible customer service, who literally disconnects in the middle of a conversation because they think the conversation is over. And they don't give the refund they promised.

I asked for a refund via email. They ignored my email. I used the chat system on their website, and I talked to two people to make sure the refund is processed. And yet they still charged me a month later. Be careful when you use this website. It's almost a scam. I'd never use their services again

Bought 12 credits and because I only needed a few didn't log in for a year so they just took my money and and can't use any more credits. When I complained they said oh it's mentioned in FAQ's and everyone else uses them immediately. Sounds like a con to me!
Why not tell customers that that is the deal that they need to log in, why not send a reminder email that it's due to expire, oh yes that's right because it'll make them more money!

I subscribed for a free trial - 30 days, to use a few images, and I had set a reminder on my calendar to cancel before being charged. I though the last day was still valid, turns out I was charged the day of. So I reached out to chat, explain and ask for a refund, if it were a mistake from my end. They would not accept, saying they need to be consistent with their policy. A little common sense, would be appreciated in understanding the context, but they wouldn't budge. They know all the facts and downloads, which was 5 in total, meaning I wouldn't use it because of the nature of my work. I think it's a scam to acknowledge the situation and still decide to take my money. Other companies would gladly wave it off. I feel robbed! I am beyond disappointed, & disgusted, I would never recommend them to anyone. Shame on you!

We requested quotes on a series of short videos we were including in a Book Trailer. We placed a call. The customer service guy said "A sales person will follow-up with you." A day later, after no one followed up with us, we made an email inquiry and included the image numbers for the respective videos for which we sought licensing quotes. We received an email that said: "A sales person will follow-up with you." A day after that...crickets. So, now four days after our original request, we followed-up one last time and pointed out the history of no follow-ups. Nothing. Why would any professional want to do business with these people? We moved on.

Signed up for a free trial subscription to download ten free photos. I forgot to cancel it and was billed $70.00. Based on the invoice I received I believed it was $70 per year and I had been charged a full-year upfront so I decided to keep the subscription. I was then charged another $70 a month later. It was not clear to me on the invoice it was $70 per month. It appeared confusing to me and I stare at invoices all the time. I submitted a cancellation request via their website and received an email back saying I would have to pay a $70 "administrative charge" to cancel the subscription. I was told it was a year long contract and I would be billed every month for the full-year unless I paid the fee. I had to put a stop payment on payments from them through the bank. The email was very generic and offered zero customer service and was not even signed by a company representative. If you need photos from them, buy them individually, do not become duped into a contract subscription.

Not only nothing but stolen images so far in my search for ONE thing. But also things no one would want as stock. One account seems to also collect dead and bloody animal photos, for instance. No accountability for the site, no reporting page. Prices are high anyway.

They make you buy credits at full price to purchase your image, then tell you that they expire a year from the date of purchase... They do not refund your credits, they just are gone. Even though you paid good money for them. When i complained about it they basically said tough luck. They are stealing your money by making these credits have an expiration date. There is no need for them to expire if i paid for them. Very annoying!

I recently had a concerning experience with istockphoto.com website, which has led me to believe it may be fraudulent. The platform lacks basic functionalities like the ability to delete or update credit card information. Upon reaching out via email, I received a response from an unidentified individual, offering to charge exorbitant amounts to remove my card details.

This experience raises serious red flags, and I strongly caution against providing any credit card information to this company. The lack of transparency, unresponsive customer service, and apparent reluctance to assist with basic account management suggest questionable business practices.

My advice: Exercise extreme caution and avoid sharing any private or financial information with this website. It appears to be a potential scam, and I recommend exploring more secure and reputable alternatives.

Stay vigilant and protect your personal information!

The Free Trial is a trap.

I thought cancelling auto-renew would disable it but it doesn't. There's no warning given to you of trial expiration date, and if you pass that deadline, according to the tiny letters you are not entitled to stop for a year.

Of course in the busy adult life such things are very easy to forget, and the vast majority of companies allow you to withdraw nonetheless, even after giving you warning.

These ones want to trick you out of your money.

Stay. Away.

Will change this review if I get prompt help on cancelling. Otherwise I'm blocking them from everything and will cancel any bank account that ends up being charged by their scammy policy.

Finally finished with this place. My last 10 credits were "restructured" "in my advantage" to 2 credits but every photo I've looked at is 3 credits. As a web developer, I don't have any need for sizes other than the small which used to cost a credit... now thanks to their "improved pricing" a small costs the same as a large.
I have steered all my clients away from this place. Thankfully, there are much better business models out there that don't cheat their clients.

I should mention that if the pricing structure had been improved to support the contributing photographers, it might not have been so distasteful. Also, had they properly grandfathered existing credits instead of reducing them... I look forward to the class action suit.

I signed up for a free trial but forgot to cancel before it ended, leading to a surprise 29 euros charge for the first month.

What's upsetting is that to cancel the plan, they hit me with a big 145 euro fee. This felt like too much.

I get rules, but I think there should be some understanding. I just wanted one photo during the trial, and now I paid way more than expected.

During the trial, I downloaded only one photo, and that was my intention.

I hope my story helps others know what they might face with iStock.