Sorry for slightly longwinded retelling of the story, but it's best to explain fully the situation. The short version is: following the end of my 30-day premium trial have been charged for a premium account but whenever i tried to check if i was going to be charged, and when i checked to see if i have a premium account it told me no, and told me i instead had a free account. Even now, having been charged it still tells me i have a free account. The long versin of the story:
On the 11th of June i signed up for the free 30-day trial of Spotify premium. Realising i could not afford the monthly payments i logged on to my bank account (HSBC) and checked to see if there was an impending payment to Spotify. There was nothing mentioned in the section on direct debits, standings orders, pending transactions, or anywhere else. I thought this meant rather than automatically switching to charging the customer after a month (i checked on two days, not sure whether you based the month on a 30 day or 31 day - i felt it was best to make sure) the account reverted to being a free account. I also logged on to the Spotify website, and checked my subscriptions which told me:
"Subscription status
You are currently using Spotify Free. To get the most out of Spotify, sign up for Spotify Unlimited or Spotify Premium.
Payment method
You do not currently have a payment provider connected to your account."
I was relieved to see this. Today i checked my HSBC account and found i had been charged £9.99:
"12 Jul VIS INT'L 0090464474
SPOTIFY 1129082686
LONDON
9.99"
You can imagine how annoying this is, particularly in these economically constrained times (myself being unemployed probably hammers home how keen i was to check i was not going to be charged and that i had made every effort to ensure the premium subscription was cancelled).
So i checked the FAQ, and found:
https://www.spotify.com/uk/help/faq/account/why-am-i-being-charged-every-month-i-only-paid-for-one-m...
Which says as it's last line: "If you would like to stop the recurring payments, you can do this on your subscription page."
Then this:
https://www.spotify.com/uk/legal/new-30-days-free-trial-terms-and-conditions/
, which links back to:
https://www.spotify.com/uk/help/faq/payment/how-can-i-cancel-my-subscription/
Which again told me "If you have an active subscription to Spotify Unlimited or Spotify Premium, and you would like to stop the auto-renewal of the subscription, or if you would like to discontinue your participation in a free trial, you can do either on your Subscription page. "
However, now when i check my subscription page it tells me again "Subscription status
You are currently using Spotify Free. To get the most out of Spotify, sign up for Spotify Unlimited or Spotify Premium.
Payment method
You do not currently have a payment provider connected to your account."
I can not cancel an account i'm told i don't have. And yet i've been charged for the premium account without receiving it. As you have probably gathered i don't want to receive it, and i tried to make sure i wouldn't. I have been told by friends anecdotally this has happened to others which is disappointing, but i can only comment on my own case which has made me question whether i can trust Spotify. On the basis of the above complaint I would like to request a full refund. I sent this message via the contact us thinking how quickly i've had responses from other internet businesses, normally responding within the hour, but i have no had a response.
