I downloaded the do not pay app a week ago because I wanted to use their temporary card number feature to sign up for a free trial.
This feature automatically declines the charge when the trial finishes.
The app was free to download and I was immediately asked to enter my credit card on the onboarding flow. I was a bit annoyed but reluctantly entered it and figured I could cancel this before the trial.
Then I went to create one of these fake cards and got a notification that my actual credit card was charged $3. What? Turns out activating one of these fake cards automatically activated my free trial. I had no idea and was annoyed by this dark pattern, and even more annoyed I fell for it.
Then I tried to cancel and the only thing I could find is a chat bot that kept presenting the same options. Ironic that the article talks about bypassing a bot when they use one themselves to handle customer service.
After going through the chat of flow a few times I was able to cancel my subscription, but the chat it didn’t know how to handle my refund request. I ended up finally finding a form I could send an email to someone asking for a refund.
This app has dark patterns all over the place to trick you into paying for their products that save you money. I would not recommend it.
This feature automatically declines the charge when the trial finishes.
The app was free to download and I was immediately asked to enter my credit card on the onboarding flow. I was a bit annoyed but reluctantly entered it and figured I could cancel this before the trial.
Then I went to create one of these fake cards and got a notification that my actual credit card was charged $3. What? Turns out activating one of these fake cards automatically activated my free trial. I had no idea and was annoyed by this dark pattern, and even more annoyed I fell for it.
Then I tried to cancel and the only thing I could find is a chat bot that kept presenting the same options. Ironic that the article talks about bypassing a bot when they use one themselves to handle customer service.
After going through the chat of flow a few times I was able to cancel my subscription, but the chat it didn’t know how to handle my refund request. I ended up finally finding a form I could send an email to someone asking for a refund.
This app has dark patterns all over the place to trick you into paying for their products that save you money. I would not recommend it.