Charged for free trial before it ends

Not a question but more of a PSA to other Apple users. Apple has the ability to determine what offers 3rd party apps can offer you with regards to pricing and override it with their policy.

I had previously paid to use an App and decided I no longer needed it. To be clear, this was not an Apple app (i.e. Apple music) that they would dictate pricing but a 3rd party. Upon going back to the free version of the 3rd party app, I was provided me with an offer to pay again.

The offer was fairly straight forward - a 2-week trial period that would conclude on XXX date (the date was specifically stated in the offer). If agreed to, no credit cards would be charged until the 2 week trial had concluded. If you did not cancel prior to the date set out in the offer, then the charge would be made and you would be a monthly subscriber.

Now I had no desire to pay for the app again, but figured, what is the harm in using the 2 week trial if its being offered? Well... that is where Apple stepped in and decided they didn't like this offer. Upon accepting the offer I as immediately charged which left me confused. I immediately went into my subscriptions and cancelled it and then I double checked the fine print of the offer to make sure I hadn't missed anything before contacting the company. They indicated that billing is done through the iTunes store so please reach out to them for a refund as I should not have been billed. Again, seems fairly straight forward.

Upon going to Apple support, I was told this could not be refunded because I had already previously used a trial offer so I was not eligible for the offer. To be completely honest, I had no idea if I had previously used a free trial or not as I had first started using the app 3-4 years previously and do not recall how I initially signed up. Confused further, I asked why I would have been offered something I was not eligible for? Apple said that regardless of what was being offered to me from the company, Apple does not permit someone to use a free trial more than once so they charged me immediately upon accepting. Why, if this was the case was I not notified that 1) I was not eligible or 2) that Apple would not approve the offer from the 3rd party app.

What was lovely is that upon cancelling prior to the trial period ending, I reverted back to the free version (which is fair - no complaints with regards to that as that is how it should work) per the 3rd party app but according to apple my subscription would last until the month was over. So, to recap, I was paying for a subscription that per Apple, would expire at the end of the month period but I no longer had the subscription per the 3rd party app (no paid services) and was therefore paying for a service I had no access to. While this still seems absolutely absurd that Apple has the ability to do this without prompting you with a warning or, ensuring you aren't being offered deals you are not eligible to accept, their customer service agents didn't see anything wrong with it.

After being told from multiple levels of agents that this is too bad, I decided to go a different route to get the solution fixed. I went through my credit card company and disputed the charge and as expected, the charge was credited as paying for a service you didn't receive is what refunds are for. Apple did not like this though as they promptly disabled my account and requested contacting customer support if I had any concerns. Back to customer service I went but this time asking why my account was suspended. I was assisted in getting my account activated again with relative ease and efficiency from the agent but prior to ending the call I received a parting shot - [paraphrased] If you have billing issues in the future, we would advise you not to go through your credit card company and speak with us directly or we will continue to ban your credit cards and disable your account. It honestly felt like I was talking to a bully who was going to take his ball and go home as the rules weren't fair for them anymore. After charging me without warning for a service I was now not even getting, they didn't appreciate I had to use an alternate route to getting a resolution after speaking with numerous apple Agent in the first place got me nothing. I bit my tongue and refrained from letting the agent know I had actually spoken with agents previously for over an hour as this was not her fault and she was never involved in the initial phone call.

Moral of the story, despite the terms you believe you are getting, check all prior history of app purchases to make sure that you never previously used the app prior to accepting trials. If you did, regardless of what the 3rd party company wants to offer you, Apple may just erase that and decide on their terms what you will be paying. Safe to say I will not be paying for any additional apps / services from Apple going forward as its proved to just not be worth it.

Cheers!