Tell HN: Educative.io auto-renews without warning, refuses to provide refunds

#1

Post by blowski » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 4:14 PM UTC

For reasons that now elude me, I signed up for educative.io last year. It's not great content, little more than a few crappy ebooks in a web UI. I'm pretty sure I turned off auto-renew at the time (because I normally do this for annual subscriptions), but have no written record.

It recently auto-renewed for an annual term (£189), and customer service are refusing to refund. I will, of course, be getting a chargeback from my credit card company.

So if you also foolishly subscribed to an educative.io that is now dormant, make sure you're deleted the account and have written evidence.

Re: Tell HN: Educative.io auto-renews without warning, refuses to provide refunds

#2

Post by upon_drumhead » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 4:46 PM UTC

This is why I use privacy.com cards for the majority of my online purchases. You never know when a company will change a policy and charge cards on file.

Re: Tell HN: Educative.io auto-renews without warning, refuses to provide refunds

#3

Post by solardev » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 4:57 PM UTC

Charge it back on your credit card

Re: Tell HN: Educative.io auto-renews without warning, refuses to provide refunds

#4

Post by blowski » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 5:01 PM UTC

solardev wrote: post #3

Charge it back on your credit card

Absolutely, I'm going through that process at the moment. I posted this in case it helps somebody who doesn't have that protection or has cashflow issues.

Re: Tell HN: Educative.io auto-renews without warning, refuses to provide refunds

#5

Post by neilv » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 5:07 PM UTC

I accidentally helped sustain Yahoo, by spending years paying my credit card statement every month without looking at the line items.

Re: Tell HN: Educative.io auto-renews without warning, refuses to provide refunds

#6

Post by liminalsunset » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 5:10 PM UTC

Seems like the popular (?) "Grokking the Coding Interview" course is sold through them. This was commonly recommended on sites like Blind.

The content of the course appears to be widely distributed for free elsewhere on the internet now on GitHub (unofficially). At least the last time I checked, there also exists cross references to LeetCode questions equivalent to their questions.

Re: Tell HN: Educative.io auto-renews without warning, refuses to provide refunds

#7

Post by itsdrewmiller » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 5:12 PM UTC

upon_drumhead wrote: post #2

This is why I use privacy.com cards for the majority of my online purchases. You never know when a company will change a policy and charge cards on file.

If you have a capital one card they provide virtual cards for free, though the UI is a pain. If you are signing up for things as a business mercury.com provides virtual cards for free (and with a really nice UI and feature set).

Re: Tell HN: Educative.io auto-renews without warning, refuses to provide refunds

#8

Post by qmarchi » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 5:13 PM UTC

solardev wrote: post #3

Charge it back on your credit card

Just note that without evidence, it becomes he-said-she-said, and a chargeback doesn't negate a contract to pay.

Re: Tell HN: Educative.io auto-renews without warning, refuses to provide refunds

#9

Post by Wistar » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 5:14 PM UTC

upon_drumhead wrote: post #2

This is why I use privacy.com cards for the majority of my online purchases. You never know when a company will change a policy and charge cards on file.

Wow. I never knew about privacy.com cards. I may have to avail myself of that service. Thanks.

Re: Tell HN: Educative.io auto-renews without warning, refuses to provide refunds

#10

Post by Kiro » Sun, Jul 21, 2024, 5:18 PM UTC

> I'm pretty sure

If you're not actually sure I don't understand how you can make a post claiming they did it without your consent.