SmileBoxReviews 2,307

They are scammers. Will charge your credit card without your permission and they will charge you for an entire year. No way to reach them to dispute, they don't even have a phone number.
BEWARE
DO NOT USE

Go Pro button is located in edit mode right next to save button. 1 accidental click will get you charged $139.99. They wont refund your money. They do not ask you to confirm. And the button sits like an editing button. Beware. 1 click. No refund, no confirmation of request.

I have had the same experience as so many reviewers here. They charged me for a year of upgrade, and then my project wouldn't save. It was a slideshow for my mother's memorial. I wrote and told them that, thinking someone would get that adding a monetary rip-off scam to someone's grief is a really bad thing to do. But that's what they do, apparently. No refunds, no matter what. They suck. Don't use.

Their desktop version no longer works yet they auto-renew and charge you for it. Since you can't get into the account you can't change the auto-renew option. Also, all the days and weeks spent creating Smileboxes are all for nothing as they can't be retrieved any longer. I had weddings and memories of people who no longer live not here! Extremely disappointed.

Very deceitful way to run a website really.
Firstly, and quite enjoyably, they let you make an 'invite/eCard' using almost full funtionality online for free*. But you cannot save it, send it, or do anything with it. They then suggest if you do want to do any of those things, please sign up to our $5/month plan. However in doing so you don't get to try any of the additional functionality yet, and they deceitfully charge you the full year's worth upfront without stating that prior, then put that charge on a perpetual debit which DOUBLES each year it lapses?! Having paid my $5 to use the extra functionality, my eCard came out skewed and wording obstructing other sections of my card when viewed on all non-desktop devices (ie. Most of the recipients that would receive the card would be viewing it on their iPhone also). Further, it flashed past my eCard in 4 seconds to SIT on their SmileBox logo. There is no pause function. The user must replay and replay and replay to read the eCard?! So I log in to see what went wrong to discover this is their 'premium' product, and, they charged me the full year's subscription without my knowledge. When challenged (SmileBox), they say 1) I must be making it up (skewed writing obstructing), 2) just make your guest keep replaying the video (ie. Tough luck), and 3) yes we bill you annually, I don't know why you though it would be $5/month.
Overall, as a company, their goal is obviously to make as much money as possible, without any desire to do this honestly from people happy with their great products. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND SmileBox to anyone, and I implore you to cancel their indefinite (increasing) direct debits that they also put in place...

They take yearly subscription without you asking! BEWARE - they are NOT free! DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS. IF YOU CHOOSE A $5.99 choice - they CHARGE YOU $59.99 WITHOUT YOUR APPROVAL! SCAMMERS!

Not user-friendly
I was investigating programs to use for a slideshow for my son's rehearsal dinner. I clicked on Smilebox and first thought I was getting a free trial, then I only had options to pay, I selected the five dollar per month option but was charged $59.99 for an annual subscription. The program did not do what I needed, was not easy to adjust music and transitions. I contacted the company ( electronically as that is the only method allowed) and they told me they have a no refund policy. Very disappointted. I do not recommend Smilebox at all. Not user-friendly at al - the program nor customer service. I feel completely taken advantage of and ripped off.

Smilebox may seem like an attractive option to send elaborate cards to loved ones, particularly during a pandemic. However, their site is misleading, as they emphasize only their monthly rate, which makes it seem like you can pay for only a month to try it. I figured I would be able to confirm this during the purchasing process, but no. Instead of a final "here's what you're buying screen" to confirm, all-of-a-sudden they had charged my card for a full year. They refuse to refund money and take several days to respond to support inquiries. They simply offer extensions of their service to try to passify irate customers, which are next to worthless, since we don't want the service anyway. This is not a great company and will likely not be around long. Even if the service you get is OK - which I'm not certain that it is - you should know that you're paying for an entire year of a service you can't even test out. I would not recommend them at all.

This agreemWow, I wish I didn't even have to rate this as I would give it no starts at all. THIS IS A SCAM. They advertise that it is only $5 per month. I figure what the heck I only needed it to make a slideshow for a virtual birthday party as we are in a pandemic so I thought $5 for one month and I will cancel as I will likely not use this once a month or even more than once this year. Then I see they charged me $59.99 the whole year up front. I emailed customer service asking for a full refund as I will never use this for a whole year and they say oh sorry no refunds. Why the heck this company advertises $5 a month then charges you $59.99 for the whole year is ridiculous but it says somewhere in fine print that they charge $59.99 up front "due to an ongoing special price campaign"... bull crap. Then they offer an upgrade to premium at no charge for the inconvenience which is pointless as I stated to them I will not use this service again so why would I want an upgrade for something I will never use again. I mean we are in the middle of a pandemic, if I or someone I know would actually utilize the services they have to offer such as making invitations and such I would continue to use the service but no one is having any gatherings to use invitations so a waste of my money. Wish I would have read the reviews here before I decided to purchase for what I thought was $5 a month. So my advice... DO NOT USE THIS. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. NO REFUNDS.

This company has malicious pricing practices and refuse to refund your money. I advise you to Opt-out of arbitration because there is definitely going to be a class-action lawsuit.

OPT-OUT: Customer can choose to reject this agreement to arbitrate ("Opt-out") by emailing *******@smilebox.com within thirty (30) days after the date Customer enters this Agreement for the first time. The Opt-out email Customer sends must state that the Customer does not agree to this agreement to arbitrate and must include Customer's name, address, phone number, and email address. Providing an Opt-out notice is the only way a Customer can opt-out of this agreement to arbitrate. If the Customer does Opt-out of this agreement to arbitrate, all other provisions of the Agreement will continue to apply.

Verdenchristophers7

Jan 22,2021, 11:44 PST

Good Day,

Please can I request a refund for the amount of R897 debited from my account as your advertisement did not allow the option to select a monthly subscription. I do not want the yearly subscription and request that this be sorted out as soon as possible as there is no way I would have agreed to that amount had it been clear the only option available is the yearly subscription and not the monthly subscription of 5 dollars. I have just lost my mother to covid and was creating a memorial program on your site and this money is needed for the funeral next week.

Please have a heart... Im begging you!
Want to add that your advertising is very ambiguous as both the monthly subscription and yearly subscription is advertised as if the customer has the option to choose both. That's misrepresentation as you only find out that you don't after the transaction has been processed.

I'm waiting 48 hours as per your advise below. If I am not contacted by Tuesday 26/01/2021 then I'm going to complain on every social media platform as this is unethical and poor business practice. I would happily subscribe on a monthly basis but cannot agree to the full amount being deducted due to the passing of my mum.

This is so wrong and so heartless honestly.

If I could put 0 stars I would. I bought what was advertised as a monthly £2.99 subscription so that I could make one card. I cancelled a week later so not to continue a monthly payment. However I discovered that 4 days after my intial purchase my card was charged £34.88. They took 2 weeks to get back to me to explain the reason for this is that they no longer offer monthly subscriptions and only annual and that they will not give me a refund because I 'signed an agreement'. Yet somehow I was able to buy a £2.99 monthly subscription... this is false advertising and totally disgraceful. I'm so upset by this. For one, this is a lot of money for me and for many people, even though for some it might not be. But it's more the principal of it! This should be illegal. It's false advertising and essentially stealing. And on top of this, the animated card didn't even work properly. I hope this company is ashamed. Don't know how people working for companies like this sleep at night. Never purchase from or trust this company.

DO NOT use this company. I tried to create a collage for my family. The collages did not open correctly on cell phones: pictures moved and the text moved out of the text box. Also, the message I added on the bottom did not get delivered. Additionally, they make you take a years subscription, before you realize what a lousy product it is.

On 12/29/2020 I found the smilebox.com website. It was my fiancee's birthday & I needed a card fast. In my haste, I signed up for what I believed was the basic service. Created a card & submitted my credit card info. 12/30/2020 I realized my card had been charged $59.00. I immediately attempted to contact the company.(Because, I did not desire to subscribe yearly. And do not believe $59.00 is a feasible cost for any b-day card)Only to find that email is their only method for customer service. I proceeded to explain my issues & wait for a response. Only to receive a response indicating that due to holidays response time may be longer than the idea 48 hrs. I recieved the same message 01/06/21. Again on 01/07 & again on 01/09. Today is 01/19/2021 & I still havent spoken to anyone. Nor has my issue been addressed or resolved. There's no way to contact the company by phone. And obviously no consideration or respect for the consumer's email. In my opinion, this is very unprofessional. No company with any customer service ability behaves this way. It's a huge middle finger to the customer & completely unacceptable. I am now pursuing my legal options to for refund.

Very bad service I will never recommend it, I am sending email to them every day but no one respond, it's scam web

My issue is not with the application. My issue is related to customer service and lack of notification PRIOR to auto renew and charging for a subscription. We all have busy lives and it is unacceptable that a courtesy reminder is not sent for renewal. When contacted within 10 min of email of charge to reverse the charge since notification is not sent prior it takes 3 weeks for response to be told there is nothing they can do. Better customer service is needed with a renewal refund grace period seems in order as this is common practice with most subscription based applications. Will not be going back due to deceptive practice to garner revenue.

I signed up for a free trial and changed my mind less than 30 minutes later and canceled my subscription. I emailed them immediately because there is no other way to contact them. They did not respond for three weeks after my third email. After numerous emails back and forth with a so called Sviatoslav Kravets, they refused to refund my money. I even copied their policy below and they said they were no longer doing free trials. In other words, they would not refund me nor honor their policy that clearly states there is a free trial. DO NOT fall for their scam. I have never encountered such a company who by choice decides not to honor what they say because they are refusing to refund money. Their policy read:
Free Trial. For each Subscription, Smilebox may offer a free trial period (if offered, the default period is seven (7) days, unless configured otherwise by Smilebox) ("Free Trial" and "Free Trial Period") prior to charging for the Fees.
Their response:
Please note, that there are no free trials at the moment, and even if there were, as stated in the extract you have provided "(a) Customer proceeds to begin paying the applicable Fees".

After escalating your case to the Senior Billing Manager, we are ready to make a final offer to you - a Lifetime Pro subscription for no additional charge ever. You will have the best Plan for as long as you need it only for your initial payment.

Again, DO NOT sign up with this company. I wish I would've read reviews prior to signing up.