Shutterstock

These thieves have placed me into a yearly subscription which I something I never selected and are charging a cancelation fee.

Their support team was also not very helpful in resolving this matter.

Shuttlestock have a really dodgey subscription service that I fell foul to last year after browsing for images for a banner for a project. I accidently signed up to a whole year which cost me £264 in total and didnt use the service one. Now you could say this is my fault and yes it is for not reading the T&Cs etc however, I did try to cancel and was told that I would have to pay an exit fee which was more that the subscription, so no point in paying that so was left with a expensive cost each month and a very annoyed customer. Avoid this service like the plague unless you will be using their services each month.

First thing's first. THERE IS NO FREE TRIAL. The free trial doesn't allow you to try the service, nor is it free. I started the free trial on Feb 11. I tried to download some of the stock photos and I never received my downloads. Then, they literally charged me $25.11, turned around and tried to charge me a $40 cancellation fee. I also noticed in the reviews, everyone's numbers were different. That's a little suspect, but whatever. If they got you, call them immediately to cancel. Maybe you will get lucky and have a nice phone operator like me. It's not worth the stress though.

I used Shutter stock only once for one picture and got tricked into paying $30 a month and to cancel, I have to pay an extra 30. Every month I see my bank go negative for a service I don't use. The company steals and somehow is getting away with it.

So, I think their website is doing some unnecessary tracking or other security because both my linux computers wont allow the downloads, usually that means there is some security compromise on the site. Customer care are useless and now not responding to provide any workable solution.
Be wary of this site

Shutterstock forces you into an entire year of paying 36 Euros a month no matter how many pictures you need. When you try to cancel your plan you have to wait for a mail with a link and if you do not pay another months fee within three days your plan will continue.
This means for one simple graphic you will have to pay a minimum of 2 times 36 Euros. Shutterstock is disgustingly abusing their position if they are the only license holder to employ an unethical, inhonest payment strategy.
Do not support this business, please.

I got charged $36 for fist month, and i got charged again for cancellation fee. I just wanted to try this service for the first month to see if i like this service. Turns out i got ripped off.
I contacted customer service and this is what i get:
" Thank you for holding. I really appreciate your patience. I was checking your account and I could find that you have 2 recent payments. Correct, but since this was an annual plan and you would not be completing the 12 months commitment we would need to complete a price adjustment"

These people are thieves... Shutterstock billed my credit card when my monthly plan was cancelled. Forget their BS chatbot. It is just a way to make you feel as though you have to be satisfied with being robbed. Call their phone number. And DEMAND a refund! They will "Open a case" in your name. Within a few hours they emailed me back stating I would receive a refund in 3-5 business days. Don't be a victim! Call the 866 customer service number NOW!

I made a one time purchase, of two pictures for $29. They signed me up for an auto-renewing monthly subscription because, "that is their policy". When I filed a complaint with Paypal, they refused to refund the second charge until after I reported the problem solved to Paypal. The problem is not solved until after they refund my money, then I will drop the complaint through Paypal. These are thieves.

I uploaded a bunch of photos as a contributor, mistakenly believing it would kinda cool to sell my images that way. Over time, my photos have been purchased 39 times through Shutterstock but I did not receive a single penny. You have to get to $25 to even get paid at all, and for most images, they pay you 25 cents per download. What a joke! They are completely scamming artists and photographers and using our hard work for free. I just deleted all my photos.
If you are considering putting your work on Shutterstock, do yourself a huge favor and DON'T.

The Shutterstcok company has an automatic renewal system without warning that the payment will be debited from the account, and without confirmation of payment. So for someone like me who isn't as diligent about looking at their credit card statements, it's an ideal situation for them to take money from someone who isn't using their service. I haven't uploaded any images in 5 years and they won't refund me. Other large companies send renewal notices and payment confirmations. It is unacceptable. I see many of us have had a bad experience with Shutterstock. To be banned.

Beware! If you sign up for an annual plan you get screwed if you want to cancel early. $40 cancellation fee for them to flick a switch. Check out other photo/video sites before giving a dime to Shutterstock. Pexels is really good.

After being a client for 6 years, I came across a vectored download that would not break apart in Coreldraw or Photoshop. I contacted customer service requesting one credit back because it would not work. Easy enough?
Nope!
I had to prove to the girl I could not break it apart via several screenshots. A waste of my time. She then replied it workis in Illustrator, which I do not have. But I have another department that does. Sent it over and only a portion would break apart. I'm over this comapny! Terrible customer service. They seem to think they are the only image company out there! Customer Loyalty means nothing to these people.

I signed up for a trial period months ago and forgot to cancel as i have not used it. When i tried cancelling my account, they charged me $80 to do so, My other option is to wait it out what a rip-off. When i tried telling them fine give me credit for the months i have not used it they said no it's month to month. So I'm paying for nothing. I will never support shurrter stock again just a shiety company.

The level of slime and scam is off the charts with Shutterstock. The way the ad read, I believed I was paying $29 for unlimited downloads for a year so I paid. Then went to download an image and found out many images, the good one, you have to "upgrade" to get. I went to cancel, and then found out it wasn't $29 for the year, which the ad clearly said, it was $29 a month, AND for $29 a month, you can only download 10 images a month AND many of those images you still have to upgrade. When I went to cancel, at the very last page, I found out there is a $40 cancellation fee or they charge you $29 a month for year when you can only acess half the images. I tried to just delete my card to get around these vile, slimy crooks but they even have it set to where you can't delete your card. So I had to either pay another $40, or be charged $29 a month, no way around it. They deserve to go out of business: do not use Shutterstock, vile slimy crooks.

I was also swindled by Shutterstock with their free trial. While it's my own fault for not cancelling after 14 days, I was then locked in for a year at $29/month. I never received any email communication from them during the 9 months it took me to realize I was being charged nor did I ever log in again. If they really stood behind the value of their site, they could have confirmed I never logged in again or downloaded any content. Clearly, this is how they make their money. They were then going to charge me $20 to cancel early... when I complained, they said they could waive the cancellation fee as a "courtesy". Don't make the same mistake I did.

Unauthorised payments that do not show up on your profile payment history but do reveal themselves on your bank statements. The free trial trap caught me out, when somehow I was billed for two separate annual subscriptions. When you contact customer support you are mocked. Took out a fraud dispute through my bank to address the issue, and cancelled my card for security reasons. Scum.

Honestly just avoid this site if at all possible. The lock-in triggers immediately after your 'free trial' ends. Cancellation is made as tedious as possible and you have to then pay to cancel because of the 'value' you have received on their 'discount' plan. Basically they are thieves with graphics.

I purchased one image form Shutterstock so I was amazed to see a recurring $36 per month charge to my credit card. When I tried to cancel this plan, it got worse. I was then presented with a message that said "Cancellation of an annual plan early may incur a plan price adjustment". In other words, not only did they lock me into an annual plan without me knowing about it, but also it looks like they are going to try and charge me an exit penalty. This outrageous price-gouging by Shutterstock. Stay away from Shutterstock, unless you want to get a nasty surprise!