Do I have the right to request a chargeback from LinkedIn? Will it hurt my credit score?

July 28, 2011 8:38 PM

Do I have the right to request a chargeback from LinkedIn? If I succeed in getting a chargeback, will it hurt my credit score or show up on my credit report?

I got an email from LinkedIn that offered a free month's trial of their business premium account. I figured I'd give it a shot. Signed up and completely forgot when the free month ended. Credit card bill arrived in the mail today and I see that I was charged the $49.95 on 7/17/11. Panic ensues. I submitted a request on their site to cancel the premium account and refund my money immediately. Right after submitting the request, I find their refund policy. Apparently they do not offer refunds or partial credits. They have no phone number listed on their website but I googled it and found it. They're open 9am-6pm Pacific time and were closed when I tried calling. I will definitely call them at 12pm (I'm on Eastern time) tomorrow. But I'm getting really scared.

I wish I had read all the complaints about the premium service before signing up so I would've known that LinkedIn doesn't respond to 2 email requests to cancel premium account (last comment on the page), that trying three times to cancel and mailing the CEO (CTRL+F GlassKnees)doesn't work either.

I read the Consumerist a lot and whenever there are credit card disputes, people immediately say "chargeback". But am I qualified to request a chargeback or claim that this was an unauthorized charge? I DID agree to the terms that LinkedIn set for cancellation and the free trial and they did provide the service that they charged me for. I will be calling my credit card company tomorrow (this is a Chase Visa) but I'm worried they'll tell me I'm SOL because I agreed to the terms and I received the service and I was charged 10 days ago (11 by the time I call tomorrow). And even if Chase/Visa allows me to get my money back, couldn't LinkedIn dispute the refund right back? I really do not want my chargeback to be sold to a collection agency . Will a chargeback hurt my credit score or show up on my credit report?

I already know that it was stupid of me to believe that this was really a "free" offer (It was free with Netflix!) and stupid for me to not remember to cancel in time. But I CANNOT afford to pay this $49.95 and have no one to loan me money. And I feel like crying right now... so no snark please.

Hopefully LinkedIn will answer my call tomorrow and I can plea my case that I am an unemployed student (hence using LinkedIn) and cannot afford to pay so pleasepleaseplease make an exception and refund my money. And if the nice approach doesn't work, I'll threaten to contact my bank about the charges. Am I within my rights to request a chargeback or say that this was an unauthorized charge? If I do succeed in getting my money back from Chase, will this show up on my credit report and will I really end up getting a collection agency involved (that should definitely ruin my credit!!)?

Please hope me.

posted by lovelygirl to work & money (30 answers total)

1- Don't let Consumerist get you all anxious. Their job is to do that so they can increase page views. (In my opinion) they are usually full of it.

2- You can't ethically request a chargeback unless there was some kind of fraud or abuse. Regret doesn't count.

3- You still should hound Linkedin to get your money back.

4- It is on a credit card, surely you can find a way to pay it off in a couple of months, if you had to, right?
posted by gjc at 8:49 PM on July 28, 2011

You have no grounds to get your money back. They did nothing wrong in your case even if they did with other people.
posted by dawkins_7 at 8:53 PM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

My advice is not legal, ethical, or even proven... but here you go....

Do the charge back tomorrow. Claim over the phone (which is usually enough to start the process with most banks) or via email that you canceled and the cancellation was not honored. No other details, Full stop.

- The charge will at least be temporarily credited back to your account.

After that, a letter with the chargeback info (only your name and credit card number) is sent to the vendor (Linked In.) I've seen a heap of these letters, I'm pretty sure the reason for dispute is never included.

- Linked In then has 30 days to respond.

Who knows how their internal corporate policies run. They may just throw your dispute from the credit card company into the round bin because it's too much of a hassle to fight.

- If you get the charge re-applied to your account, have the money on hand to pay it and move on.

Surely you can save an extra $50 in 30 days... right?

This will work (I'm 99.9% sure.) IANAL or YCS (Your Credit Specialist.)
posted by jbenben at 9:04 PM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

You could post this on Hacker News where many LinkedIn employees will see it.

http://news.ycombinator.com
posted by michaelh at 9:19 PM on July 28, 2011

Requesting a chargeback is unethical, and it borders on credit card fraud (falsely reporting you didn't receive a service/product that you actually did).

Take it as a lesson to be more diligent when you try to use "free trials" and other similar offers. This is why they give them away for free.
posted by chrisfromthelc at 9:26 PM on July 28, 2011 [5 favorites]

I already know that it was stupid of me to believe that this was really a "free" offer (It was free with Netflix!) and stupid for me to not remember to cancel in time.

I don't want to be snarky, but you bought their product. Why would you not be required to pay for it?

Am I within my rights to request a chargeback or say that this was an unauthorized charge?

No. Absolutely not.
posted by pompomtom at 9:27 PM on July 28, 2011 [4 favorites]

Please, please consider this a very inexpensive lesson in fiscal attention. $45 is a very small price to pay for your error, but you most likely will not make this mistake again. You can pay it off over a year if needed, but to request a chargeback would be to commit fraud.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:32 PM on July 28, 2011

Finally found info on Visa's website about free trial issues.

3. Try to resolve the situation with the merchant. If unsuccessful, contact the card issuer immediately to dispute the charge.


I'm not trying to be argumentative, but could someone explain to me how requesting a chargeback would be unethical and wrong if the credit card company itself says to call them immediately to dispute the charge?? Maybe I'm confusing the terms chargeback and disputing a charge?

Also jbenben, wouldn't the CC company demand further details about the terms of the agreement in order to process my claim? If I say that I canceled and the cancelation wasn't honored, then I would have to tell them what date I canceled on...
posted by lovelygirl at 9:38 PM on July 28, 2011

People are telling you that this is unethical because a chargeback is designed for situations wherein you did not receive the goods/services for which you were charged, or for situations where those goods/services were insufficient (broken, incomplete, etc.).

Your situation is that you simply forgot when a free trial ran out and, well within the terms to which you agreed when you signed up, you did not cancel before the first automatic charge. Chargebacks impact more than just your own credit rating; they ding the merchant's good standing with their bank, too. Your being forgetful is not really a good reason to do this any way other than amicably through the company itself.
posted by asciident at 9:43 PM on July 28, 2011

By the way, that Visa page is talking about marketers that try to slip in recurring charges when they're busy asking you for a card for shipping fees for some free trial/free item. That's not really the same situation as this. This did not happen to you:

What they may not realize is that there is a pre-checked box at the bottom of the page in fine print or buried in the terms and conditions that authorizes future charges.

What you signed up for is more like Netflix's free trial: "you can try our service for 30 days, and after that we're going to start charging you unless you cancel. Cool? Cool, give us your credit card #."
posted by asciident at 9:51 PM on July 28, 2011

Make up a plausible date - what is the difference?

This will be accepted over the phone without evidence (this is my experience with Bank of America when I've had provable charge back issues - YMMV.)

Stop emailing Linked In, because your charge back via the bank/credit card has a higher chance of working.

At the end of the day - who cares if it works??

I just told you how to buy yourself 30 days. Save the money. Use it to get on the right side of this!


(I hate hate hate hate those 30 day trials because they are a SCAM and depend on folks like you to forget. Fuck 'em. A charge back 100% does NOT appear on your credit or get kicked to a debt collection agency. If the worse thing that happens is you get an extra 30 days to pay off the debt - yay! If you successfully fight the charge, even better. My experience is a telephone complaint is all it takes to have the funds restored to your account - YMMV.)
posted by jbenben at 9:52 PM on July 28, 2011

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but could someone explain to me how requesting a chargeback would be unethical and wrong if the credit card company itself says to call them immediately to dispute the charge?? Maybe I'm confusing the terms chargeback and disputing a charge?

Chargeback and "disputing a charge" are pretty much the same thing in this context, but the broader point is that the credit card company isn't there to hear about your regrets, but only to address bona fide disputes where the merchant didn't fulfill their end of the bargain or the charge was simply fraudulent (stolen card numbers and such). You and LinkedIn executed a contract when you signed up for the service. As far as I can tell from your post, they didn't trick you or hide any of the relevant terms, and you agreed to participate. As part of that agreement, you promised to pay them money, which you now owe them. Telling your bank otherwise is fraud.

By all means, if they didn't honor their agreement by not promptly cancelling your account or failing to provide the services they promised, hold them to that and request a chargeback. I'm not seeing that in your description of the situation though.

I'm sorry you're in such a tight spot financially right now and I hope you can find a way to make this work, but you agreed to receive a service for a set price and they honored that deal.
posted by zachlipton at 10:01 PM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

It's your responsibility to either not sign up for these things or eat the charges if you forget. A chargeback would be unethical and lead to increased fees for those of us who remain responsible with these offers.
posted by cmgonzalez at 10:01 PM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

Trial offers are not scams. They are trials. It is written right there that you need to cancel before X days are up or the next Y days' worth of full price will be charged. Take responsibility for your contracts.

It is not a scam in that it is all written right there. Set up a Google Calendar reminder on day 29 if you're apt to forget these things.
posted by cmgonzalez at 10:12 PM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

You can't ethically dispute the charge, because they held up their end of the bargain. Yes, it sucks. I've made the same mistake with credit score monitoring, Amazon Prime ($89!) and a bank rewards program among others. Now I create calendar alerts that email me and pop up messages with sound.

It sucks. But it's your fault, not theirs.
posted by reeddavid at 10:18 PM on July 28, 2011

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but could someone explain to me how requesting a chargeback would be unethical and wrong if the credit card company itself says to call them immediately to dispute the charge?? Maybe I'm confusing the terms chargeback and disputing a charge?

Even if someone from LinkedIn picked up the phone, what exactly are you going to say? Ask them to make a special exception for you? Not being able to get a hold of a customer service rep does not really change your situation.
posted by babbyʼ); Drop table users; -- at 10:36 PM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

I work for a major tech company with monthly membership fees. People try to do chargebacks all the time. what happens with our company is we contest the chargeback based on the fact that you agreed to the terms of service. So initially when you dispute it the bank or credit card company will reimburse you but as soon as we contest the chargeback you are charged again. Often this causes people to overdraft because they are assuming they won the dispute.

I agree with the others, treat it as a really lame mistake that you made and a lesson learned. You agreed to be charged unless you canceled. Your bad.
posted by Pork n Beans at 10:44 PM on July 28, 2011 [3 favorites]

Even if someone from LinkedIn picked up the phone, what exactly are you going to say? Ask them to make a special exception for you?
Yes. I mentioned that in my OP. "Hopefully LinkedIn will answer my call tomorrow and I can plea my case that I am an unemployed student (hence using LinkedIn) and cannot afford to pay so pleasepleaseplease make an exception and refund my money".

And to address previous comments, I am NOT apt to forget things and I am NOT an irresponsible person. I have had an extremely stressful past few weeks and very little sleep. Everyone makes mistakes. I never even had time to utilize the premium features anyway.

Whatever. I truly appreciate people who took the time to help me and make me a little less panicky :)

I will be making phone calls tomorrow.
posted by lovelygirl at 10:45 PM on July 28, 2011

There was a wave of affiliate marketers signing people up for negative option rebill offers (which is what this sort of thing is) and it got a lot of press. Scammy companies were doing the same thing and got busted big.

However, LinkedIn is not a scammy company and I can guarantee their policies are as clear as their lawyers made them be (and not an ounce clearer) what the terms of the trial were. A chargeback, while it may work, would be unethical because it only should be used in situations where services were not received, not stupidity (sorry, but that's what this is).

I would try to escalate internally at LinkedIn if you are able to get supervisors. Otherwise, consider it a $50 lesson in how to be better organized so that these things don't slip by.
posted by Elminster24 at 11:15 PM on July 28, 2011

If you able to talk to someone and have them waive the fee, then great. I wish you well.

I was addressing the comment (which I quoted) and making the point that failing to get a hold of a customer service rep to plead your case is not grounds for a charge back.

If for some reason the service you were promised was not fulfilled and you couldn't get help, then yes, definitely initiate a chargeback.
posted by babbyʼ); Drop table users; -- at 11:17 PM on July 28, 2011

and if the nice approach doesn't work, I'll threaten to contact my bank about the charges.

Your bank will refund the money during the investigation and take it right back once they realize that you were at fault.
posted by babbyʼ); Drop table users; -- at 11:19 PM on July 28, 2011 [1 favorite]

"I didn't even use the premium service"

This is really not the point. You have no legitimate basis to dispute this claim. I've been unemployed and stressed before too, it's no excuse for fradulent credit claims. Have some personal responsibility.
posted by seesom at 4:10 AM on July 29, 2011 [3 favorites]

Nthing - this is fraud. When you give someone your CC number in a free trial, this should be a hint that at some future date, you'll be charged unless you cancel. Sorry your life is complicated; I had to get on a computer and keep my bills paid when I was in a hospital 6 weeks, so my sympathy is limited. As life lessons go, this one is pretty cheap. I'd say the value of not getting on the outs with LinkedIn exceeds the $45 or whatever it is. Yes, I know at some future date you can give them another e-mail and start over, but those dead profiles hang around, and look strange to prospective employers. As it is, if you pay up and downgrade back to free, you should be able to keep your profile.
posted by randomkeystrike at 5:22 AM on July 29, 2011

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but could someone explain to me how requesting a chargeback would be unethical and wrong if the credit card company itself says to call them immediately to dispute the charge?

As someone with a merchant account (read: I accept credit cards for payments) the number of chargebacks against me directly factors into the percentage rate for each transaction and can result in having my account closed and my business placed on the terminated merchange file. (Thankfully, no chargebacks.)

While you may have not intended to pay, you certainly did authorize the transactions. I don't care if you're a responsible person or not. At the end of the day, they did what they said they were going to. If you do file a chargeback, I wouldn't be surprised if they dispute it for the reasons listed above. This isn't a case of a merchant charged too much or cahrged you for something you didn't order, which is what chargebacks are really for.
posted by Brian Puccio at 9:14 AM on July 29, 2011

For all the holier-than-thou posters, I was certainly going to call my credit card company and see what can be done. I can't demand them to do anything. After explaining my story, the csr can decide if I can charge back. I wanted to know what to expect instead of just wringing my hands with worry. Why would they waste time processing my claim if it doesn't meet standards for a valid chargeback??

But whatever haterss. Got an email from LinkedIn this morning saying that my card would be credited the $49.95 within 5 business days. I did learn a valuable lesson to be extremely cautious of "free" offers. But in the end, everything worked out! :)
posted by lovelygirl at 4:01 PM on July 29, 2011

You didn't intend to buy the product, so do a chargeback. That's what they're there for.
posted by delmoi at 8:17 PM on July 29, 2011

I have no idea why so many people in this thread are saying that he has no right to issue a chargeback. As long as you're not 'satisfied' with the product you can issue a chargeback. You don't actually have to have been ripped off. Why should the OP just give linkedin free money in order to 'learn a lesson'? Maybe linkedin needs learn a lesson in issuing scammy 'free trials' in hopes people forget to cancel them?

Chargebacks impact more than just your own credit rating; they ding the merchant's good standing with their bank, too. Your being forgetful is not really a good reason to do this any way other than amicably through the company itself.

So maybe they shouldn't put themselves in a position to have chargebacks issued against them by charging people for things they didn't ask for? The OP said she wasn't aware that she was going to be charged.

I also don't see any evidence that chargebacks effect your credit rating.

Chargeback and "disputing a charge" are pretty much the same thing in this context, but the broader point is that the credit card company isn't there to hear about your regrets, but only to address bona fide disputes where the merchant didn't fulfill their end of the bargain or the charge was simply fraudulent

This is way, way wrong. The credit card company isn't there to hear about the merchant's regrets. Who do they make more money from, the merchants, or the card members?

The credit card companies do not care if the chargeback is 'fair', in fact they don't even really care if it's legit (in terms of how they act) They will basically issue chargebacks without even looking into it.

It's your responsibility to either not sign up for these things or eat the charges if you forget. A chargeback would be unethical and lead to increased fees for those of us who remain responsible with these offers.

Again, crazyness. The 30 day scams are based on people forgetting to cancel them. They are intrinsically unethical because they make money by people forgetting to cancel them, not by providing a service

I can't believe the warped sense of ethics on display in this thread, as if it's important for people to get screwed by businesses in order to 'learn lessons' about how business will screw them. Well I say, screw that. (And then all the other comments 'it will be bad for linkedin!' well if they don't want to have it happen they should refund the money!)

And it does seem like they are going to refund the money, probably because they don't want to deal with chargebacks, which cause much more pain for the merchant they do for the cardmember.
posted by delmoi at 8:39 PM on July 29, 2011

Again, crazyness. The 30 day scams are based on people forgetting to cancel them. They are intrinsically unethical because they make money by people forgetting to cancel them, not by providing a service

No, not "crazyness[sic]". A trial is a contract. Cancel before the 30 days are up and they will not charge you. Forget to cancel or decide not to cancel and we will charge you X amount of money. Sure, they're banking on people forgetting, but it's your responsibility to guess what? Not forget! Or you know what, don't sign up for a trial if there's a risk of forgetting. Remind yourself via Google Calendar, as above.

It is not a scam, unless every contract on the face of the earth is a scam. It is YOUR responsibility to cancel your contract during the free grace period or pay when you don't. It's not the company's fault if you forget. As far as everyone is concerned, each has kept their end of the contract.

If there's anyone spouting a "warped sense of ethics", it's those who feel like a company owes them something for their utterly preventable mistake. Something that the rest of us get charged for when card companies have to suck up these complaints.
posted by cmgonzalez at 9:31 PM on July 29, 2011

Again, crazyness. The 30 day scams are based on people forgetting to cancel them. They are intrinsically unethical because they make money by people forgetting to cancel them, not by providing a service.

I agree. My business does none of this nonsense, which, along with explaining how charges will appear on my customer's credit card bills along with delivery a quality product for a competitive price, is why I have no chargebacks. That doesn't mean I haven't heard of horror stories from other small, local merchants who have to fight chargebacks where the merchant is in the right, the customer is in the wrong and the merchant faces increasing fees and possibly being blacklisted.

If the OP and anyone else finds these 30 days trial things to be scams or otherwise unethical, then you should make that determination up front and not do business with these people. There are plenty of companies that don't do things like this. Don't sign up, forget the terms of the contract you agreed to and then claim foul. You were't duped, you knew all of this going in from the start.

posted by Brian Puccio at 7:50 AM on July 30, 2011

No, not "crazyness[sic]". A trial is a contract. Cancel before the 30 days are up and they will not charge you. Forget to cancel or decide not to cancel and we will charge you X amount of money. Sure, they're banking on people forgetting, but it's your responsibility to guess what? Not forget!

An ethical transaction is one where goods or services are exchanged for appropriate, agreed upon compensation. Taking money from people because they forget to do something isn't ethical to begin with, so there is no reason why you should pay them if you can avoid it.

In this case Linked in decided to refund the money, but if they hadn't there would be no reason not to do a chargeback. Most likely, the reason they are happy to give back the money is because chargebacks are harmful to them, beyond just costing them money.

If there's anyone spouting a "warped sense of ethics", it's those who feel like a company owes them something for their utterly preventable mistake.

I don't think either party owes each-other anything, which is why the op is entitled to a chargeback -- neither party gets anything.

The fact that a corporation was able to weasel their way into her life in such a way that if she makes a mistake they are able to take money from her doesn't mean that they are morally entitled to do so.
posted by delmoi at 9:21 PM on July 30, 2011