Summary of this article
Archana Puran Singh's son was charged Rs 87,000 after confusing trial subscription terms
Initial $0 transaction followed by full-year charge within hours
Incident highlights risks of auto-renewals and unclear billing policies
Actor Archana Puran Singh's son Aayushmaan Sethi recently disclosed that he had been charged Rs 87,000 on his credit card for signing up for a service that offers a seven-day trial period. The case came to light in a family vlog on YouTube.
Aayushmaan claimed he had signed up with a service that provided a seven-day trial period, and was expecting to be charged after seven days. But he noticed a charge for a one-year subscription hours after authorising an initial $0 charge. He then told his parents about the issue and asked his bank to cancel the credit card.
Aayushmaan said that the website did not seem suspicious, but the terms and conditions were unclear, resulting in confusion, which led to the erroneous charge.
What Exactly Happened
Aayushmaan said the transaction started with a $0 verification fee, which he authorised. This was followed by Rs 87,000 being charged without further verification. He said the app seemed genuine, but the billing process seemed unclear at the time of subscription.
This is one of the common issues in the subscription-based model wherein consumers might overlook fine prints, such as payment terms and auto-renewal within the extensive list of terms and conditions before finalising the payment.
Users usually overlook the terms and conditions, and directly click on the 'consent' or 'I agree' button, sometimes leading to fraud or unforeseen charges.
How To Avoid Such Scams
Free trials may automatically charge payments if not cancelled immediately. It is necessary to go through the terms and conditions carefully before giving out the card details.
Sometimes, the platform may give you a discount for the initial months and then charge a higher price after the discount period ends. For instance, let's say you are charged Rs 79 per month for the first 3 months for a subscription, and after 3 months you will be charged Rs 199 per month unless you cancel the subscription. Mostly we forget to manually cancel the auto payments and suddenly we see that Rs 199 has been deducted.
Users should check whether the platform requires manual cancellation before the trial period ends. In case of any unexpected charge, contacting the bank immediately can help in blocking further deductions and initiating a dispute.
It's best to not store card details on unknown platforms and to use temporary cards for subscriptions. Allowing transaction notifications within your banking app can help monitor suspicious transactions.
