ShutterstockReviews 533

If you sign up for a subscription and try to cancel your subscription because you realize they don't have enough images of what you want and need you will be CHARGED by the company. First of all, you CANNOT CANCEL unless you call them. It is highly inconvenient to have to sit on the phone to wait for a rep in the technology age. This practice is like from the 1990's when you have to use the phone to make a cancellation. They do this so they can get your feedback and I'm sure it is so they can change your mind. Felt like a telemarketer type of approach. Also, did you know that if you sign up for the lowest package $29 / month and you want to cancel you will be billed $20 / month x # of months you have had the subscription. Basically, with the lower end subscription, you are stuck in a contract. You have to purchase the $49 / month to have the right to cancel without penalty. This is not good business practice. Also, they are not explicit about the cancellation policy. So in order to get out of my contract, I had to pay $40 = $20 x 2 months I had the subscription to get out. This is like negative billing. Absolutely appalled at this company. I will never again sign up or promote this and I'm a marketing consulting agency. This was the worst experience. Shutterstock - you should take lessons from other image bank companies who retain their customers and have customers who keep coming back. Make it convenient for people to use your service. Don't try to tie them down through negative billing practices. Don't make us call your reps to turn off auto renew or cancel. AND BY THE WAY. THE REP I TALKED TO TOLD ME THERE ARE LOTS OF PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS SITUATION. SO DEAL WITH IT AS SOON AS YOU CAN to save your reputation.

My experience with this Rep was worse than the worst imaginable experience. I downloaded 2 images paid 29.00 one would not down loadoneed didn't download the other was too low res. Ok so that 29.00 was thrown Away. I didn't know that seconds later my "Renewal" would kick in and I was billed immediately for another 29.00 when I called her condescending reply was I am not refunding any of it you got your 2 images and you have a year to buy 2 more. I said I wasn't aware that the 29 was billed with 29 I was not aware I was set up for any automatic renewal much less the same day. She spoke to me like I was 5 let me explain how we work and why you are not getting anything refunded... I asked for a supervisor she said I have to hang up on you now. I asked her name she finally gave it to me. Luciky when I called back I got Jessica on the phone normal professional great listener and fixed my issue. The other one needs to work at a school for the deaf. No one should have to endure her horrible rude tone Ever. I filed a complaint against her hopefully saving someone!

I purchased some photos from Shutterstock in February & paid what I thought would be a one-time fee. I did not see that they have a hidden auto-renew button on their website. I had no intention of signing up for a monthly $29 payment, but Shutterstock has been charging me $29 every month since then. When I called Shutterstock to ask about this, they offered to cancel the account and refund $29 - one month's payment only. When I pressed for more (and this took quite some time) she agreed to refund $89. She said that was the best she could do. Then I called my bank's customer service & they did their best to be helpful. They will attempt to get a refund, but they can only ask for the last 60 days of payments.
I run a small local business and have a lot of respect for people who offer good service with integrity. The people at Shutterstock seem to have no integrity, they are actively scamming their customers by engineering their website and policies to steal their customer's money. Ive filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of New York City, Im sure its not the first complaint theyve gotten.

I highly recommend you avoid Shutterstock. They have a sleazy auto-renew feature that charges you automatically without any notice. You don't select into auto-renew. In fact nowhere do they say you are in auto-renew just by signing up. Rather you have to dig into your account to find this option and turn it off. Otherwise you will be auto-billed for the next period. No alert emails like with almost every other service saying "auto-renew is turned on... you will be billed $50 on xx." All you get is a new charge on your credit card. When I called billing to complain, I was told billing was not able to handle this request and was put on hold for 20 minutes so a retention specialist could come along and try to keep me as a customer. I'm not even sure what they are doing is legal but it is certainly a scam and no way to grow a company.

I noticed we were charged double after I downloaded the 2 images I paid for. Come to find out they have some little auto-renewal button that is AUTOMATICALLY turned on, and you are immediately charged for 2 more images if you don't turn it off. I never saw this button, and now we are stuck paying for something we will never use. And they claim they can't refund it. SLEAZY business practice. They should make it so if you want it, you turn it on, not the other way around.

I purchased a 30-day 10-image subscription from Shutterstock 8 months ago. Reviewing my CC statement today, I see a charge and find out they have been charging me every month since then. I did not consent to this.

I called Shutterstock customer service and explained I had received no invoice in mail or email indicating a recurring monthly charge. They said they don't send emails because you can see the charges on your credit card statement.

Shutterstock customer service refused to refund the 7 months I did not use. They reviewed my account usage and confirmed that I had only downloaded 2 images on the day of purchase, and nothing ever since.

They offered to transfer me to the retention department. It was a long hold. I finally asked for a call back so I'm not sure what will happen. I do know it is unethical to charge a recurring fee for a one-time purchase without the buyer's consent, deny a refund for services not requested, and not tell a customer they're being billed every month.

I've used Shutterstock sporadically over the years for business (only downloading a few photos here and there... so the auto-renewal system never got activated so I forgot it even existed). Last week I noticed they offered video, so I had enough budget to download 5 videos (it went slightly over budget as it added VAT onto the price... again, this wasn't clear before I paid for the package). Anyway, content with the 5 videos, I thought nothing of it until I saw my bank statement and they'd taken double the amount on the same day. When I went to the accounts section I noticed the autorenewal system had been triggered because I'd downloaded the 5 videos. This is VERY SNEAKY and UNETHICAL marketing practice. I don't object to autorenewals, but there should always be a 'cool off' period of a couple of days and some warning to remind you of the payment being taken so that you have an option. I've requested a refund. If I don't receive one from them I will not be using them again (after 10 years of being a customer) and I will be making sure that my social media network of business owners (20,000+) know what an unethical company they are.