Scott C.

On August 20, I upgraded my personal Dropbox (DB) account to a standard business plan, with the understanding from the DB webpage interface that it would cost $150 year ($12.50 monthly). However, I discovered that I was being charged $799.50 when I reviewed my credit card statement at the end of September. Furthermore, DB refuses to refund me, because I did not cancel within a 1 month trial period, even when I was NOT informed that I was being charged more than 4 times what I was expected.

I am an individual user of DB, and with the birth of our first child this year, I decided to upgrade my existing account to the standard business plan for the 2 TB of storage for all of our family pictures and videos. My credit card statement is only posted in the latter half of the following month (Sept) in which this purchase was made, and as I travel for my job and am only able to review my financial transactions at the end of the month. When I saw the mischarge, I contacted DB the first working day of October to address the mischarge which is 12 days after the 1 month trial.

UNETHICAL SERVICE

DBs refusal to provide me a refund rests on its policy that my request came 12 days after its 1 month trial period. However, at NO time was I informed that I was being billed $799.50 either during time of purchase or any time afterwards. In short, I had no idea I was being overcharged, and therefore did not know I had reason to cancel my subscription during the trial period.

Why does DB not send out email confirmations of purchased services and cost, or an email reminder that the trial period is ending for a service (and its cost)? It feels as if DB has arranged its communication strategy to deceive unsuspecting customers. It is unscrupulous that DB does not refund me for services not intended or used due to its misrepresentation and miscommunication.

MISREPRESENTATION

Part of the problem seems to be that I am being charged for 5 licenses, but when I purchased the standard plan, the DB webpage indicated that it would cost $150. From reading complaints in this forum and elsewhere online, it seems that a DB standard plan is a minimum of 3 licenses at $450 total.

This is not apparent in the customer interface online when upgrading an existing DB account to the standard plan. A brief search on the internet reveals that my experience is not unique. There are numerous complaints from DB customers who, like myself, have been over- charged for service not intended or used, i. E. multiple licenses. For example, in addition this very DB forum, the website of the Better Business Bureau has an assortment of complaints of the same nature.

DB needs to improve its website customer interface and communication, rather than mischarge and penalize unsuspecting customers.

UNACCOUNTABLE CUSUTOMER SERVICE

The lack of direct telephone assistance from DB for billing disputes further amplifies the situation, as if DB has designed customer service to be exceedingly convoluted to discourage follow-up with disputes. As one person in this community expressed in a related post, hours of email back and forth could more efficiently be resolved in 5 minutes on the phone.

When one finally does get customer service, it seems to prioritize corporate profit over customer satisfaction. Let me illustrate with a couple examples from my experience

1. When I pointed out to DB customer service that I was not informed of my credit card charges in a timely manner to cancel my subscription, they simply did not respond to this part of my dispute. Instead, I was told that my payment details are available through the DB webpage for my account at any time; however, I did not know that I needed to or how to navigate the DB website to check my payment details, (which requires several un-user -intuitive clicks to reach).

2. Customer service responded to my dispute by focusing on a screenshot I took on Oct 3 to illustrate the website interface and how it can mislead customers such as myself because it shows the cost for a standard plan to be $150. However, customer service did not acknowledge this, but instead pointed out that at the bottom a billed total appears of $799.50. What? This appears simply because I accessed the plan while still logged into my DB account, and it only reflect that the screenshot was taken on Oct 3, after my account was already mischarged this amount. Maybe I am missing something, (which could be addressed if phone customer services available), but it feels as if DB is deceivingly sidelining the points I am making by distracting on non-relevant points it creates.

PROFIT OVER SERVICE

DBs Terms of Service states, We want to address your concerns without needing a formal legal case. However, this clearly has not been my experience. Maybe if I was a large business with the resources for legal counsel DB would respond differently, but from its response to my dispute, DB actions reflect that it prioritizes profit over customer service and satisfaction, even to the degree of unscrupulous behavior.

I welcome any advice you may have for me and my predicament.