Spotify free premium trial scam BEWARE

[leofw]

I'd just like to share my experience with other people to avoid the same happening to anyone else.

Yesterday I saw an ad on Spotify for a free premium trial for three months. After clicking the link I was sent to a legit looking page where I finished the subscription process. Afterwards I was however charged the full price from my credit card and there was no sign of the free trial anymore. I hadn't been a premium subscriber earlier, so it wasn't the issue.

Naturally, I asked the customer support about my problem. They simply answered me that I hadn't taken advantage of any trial even though I'm 100% sure I did. I.e. they basically accused me of lying. On top they told me "not to worry". I don't remember receiving such condescending customer service anywhere else.

Whether this is a technical problem or a purposefully done scam, I'm afraid there's no way for me (or anyone else in my position) to prove I went through the trial link or to get my money back.

TLDR; Do not click the free trial link! It is not free and you will lose your money.

[Billy-J]

Hey @leofw, thanks for reaching out to the Community!

I'm sorry to hear about this. 
Keep in mind the only official Spotify website is spotify.com. 

Could you let me know where you saw this ad?

Keep me posted 🙂 

[leofw · Accepted solution]

Ad was on the desktop app. The issue is now solved however, after some more messaging with customer support.

[Billy-J]

Hey @leofw,

Awesome! I'm happy to hear you got this issue solved. 
Always keep in mind the only place on Spotify to find official promotions and trial offers are here, and here.

I'll be here if you have any more questions or need help in the future.

Have a nice day 🙂 

[Erin_Baxter]

@Billy-J wrote:

the only place on Spotify to find official promotions and trial offers are here, and here.

@Billy-J, are you saying that offers that appear in ads in the Spotify desktop app, and offers that appear in e-mail messages from no-reply@spotify.com, are scams and should be ignored??

Are you saying that if it's not on the spotify.com website in my browser, then it's bogus??

[Peter]

Hey @Erin_Baxter,

Hope you don't mind me jumping in here.

Just to follow-up on what @Billy-J said, you can, of course, receive promotions from Spotify in your inbox if you've signed up to receive them (the sender's email should end in @spotify.com) as well as in the Spotify app itself.

We just want to urge users to take caution when it comes to opening external links, since there have been instances of spoof and phishing in the past. It's up to the individual user to make sure that such promotions are genuine, and so the advice that @Billy-J gave is spot-on.

Let us know if you have any further questions about any of the above.

Cheers!