The expert warned about the risks of a free trial period in online services

A free trial period is the most common way to attract clients to online services, but it is associated with some risks, said investment advisor and founder of the University of Finance Yulia Kuznetsova. She warned Russians about the negative consequences of registering the option in a conversation with Lenta.ru.

The main risk when a user binds a card for a few free days or weeks, and then the subscription automatically becomes paid, is that the person may not pay attention to the terms of renewal and discover the charge-off after the fact, the expert said.

When signing up for a trial period, Kuznetsova called for checking three things: when it ends, how much the subscription will cost after it ends, and whether automatic renewal is provided.

If the consumer informed the service that he refuses to use the previously provided bank details for payments, the service no longer has the right to use this data to receive periodic payments, the Lenta.ru interlocutor indicated. Moreover, the executor is obliged to provide the opportunity to send such a refusal, including in electronic form, she added.

“Simply deleting the app from your phone is not enough. I recommend logging into your personal account, turning off automatic renewal, deleting the payment instrument, if such an option is available, and separately sending the service a refusal to use bank details for further payments. It’s better to record all these actions, save screenshots, emails and support service responses,” Kuznetsova advised.

If after this the money continues to be written off, the expert urged to immediately contact the contractor with a written complaint, demand to stop the write-offs and return the funds, attaching confirmation of the previously sent refusal. At the same time, you can try to challenge the operation with the bank. In case of failure, the consumer has the right to protect his rights in court.

“A separate problem is a situation where a person did not understand at all that payments would begin after the free period. In such a dispute, evidence of how exactly the service informed the user about the price and automatic renewal is especially important. The more documents and screenshots a consumer has saved, the stronger his position,” the speaker concluded.