Subscription charge increase

[allen_m]

Combing through my bank statement and I happened to notice that my normally 9.99/mo CAD subscription (as still advertised here: https://www.spotify.com/ca-en/premium/?checkout=false) has gone up to 10.49 and then 11.19 over the last several months with NO NOTIFICATION.

I am absolutely baffled that Spotify would think this is OK.  I'm even more confused at why it's impossible to submit a complaint about billing to anywhere but this community.  I recall there used to be a support contact?

[KatesHere]

Hey there @allen_m and welcome to the community!

According to this FAQ post, an increase in your subscription fee could be due to a couple of things, like a VAT increase for example.

Hope this was helpful!

K

[allen_m]

Hi Kate,

I read that post, but there have been no changes to sales taxes in my province or federally.

There is also nothing in the advertising materials for the Premium subscription that says it is 9.99 + taxes and fees. For example Netflix says their service is 7.99$, and I have paid exactly 7.99 in every period since I signed up with them over 2 years ago. If there was a VAT increase - why didn't my Netflix bill go up?

I have also never received a receipt from Spotify detailing my monthly charges (except for my initial receipt for $0.00 under my initial 30 day trial).

[Merik]

Hey @allen_m!

To me it looks like there are changes in your VAT for your location. It could have been that Spotify changed discovered a tax they were missing so they recently added it. Taxes are always a pain. That's a simple way to put it. Now we can't say exactly why there isn't any taxes for your Netflix subscription. Taxes vary between Netflix, Spotify and every other every company because of many factors such as if they have an office in the country/province, if they have any employees in the country, etc..

If you go to your receipts page, and click on "View" on any receipt, you can see the amount you were charged for VAT. Please check it to make sure that it was a change in VAT. Also, a receipt will be sent to the email address in your account profile only after starting a trial offer, making your first payment of a new subscription, and purchasing an e-card.

[allen_m]

Thanks for the link to the receipts page Merik. Turns out that I had originally been charge no tax, then 5% and now 12%.

It is outrageous for Spotify to change their billing practices without notification. Could you imagine if a magazine subscription company changed the amount they charged customers mid-year?

I signed up for an advertised rate of 9.99/month (with no mention of sales tax), was charged no sales tax in the first period and it was gradually increased from there. This is a dishonest, shady practice and I would encourage all users to check their automatic withdrawals and see if the same thing happened to them without their knowledge.

Also, I'm confused, do you and KatesHere represent Spotify? This is very confusing since they took down links to their support contacts, though I was able to get through to a support email.

[Merik]

@allen_m Can you double check your inbox and spam folder to see if there is any e-mails from Spotify regard the VAT increase? There should have been a notification. If not, contact the payments team through online contact form to make sure all the settings on your account are correct.

@KatesHere and I, do not represent Spotify as we are volunteers. We're just Spotify users that like helping other Spotify users. 🙂  On the community anyone with a Green name is a Spotify employee.