Double charged several times then had my Plus account canceled when I asked for a refund

[reallyannoyed666]

Well, hey, since Dropbox doesn't have any human support agents to talk to.

I finally figured out the weirdness that was going on with my Dropbox account. For months I'd been receiving "duplicates" of my receipt for monthly payment on my one Dropbox Plus account. I have had this account for many years and I'd only ever paid once a month.

At some point, I think, across mobile device changes, I started to experience weirdness. I wasn't allowed to submit Dropbox payments if I was signed in from the app if it was downloaded from "the wrong app store" or some nonsense. I never figured it out, but I didn't notice that there was anything weird with my payment at the time so I just let it slide.

A few days ago, upon checking something entirely different in my bank account, I noticed I had TWO charges from Dropbox - one from September 15th and one from September 16th. The one from September 15th came through Google Play at $17.91 and the one from Sept. 16 came through Apple at $18.07, and both receipts state that the charges are for the same account. The only account I have. It's beyond me why the charges are slightly different.

It's beyond me why I've been charged twice. But it explains the "duplicate" receipt notifications I'd been getting.

So I used the 'Report a Problem' function within the one of the receipt emails (the Apple one, for no particular reason), and I described this issue. I expected a response from customer support to discuss this further and to make sure my issue was even understood. So often customer service agents glaze over the issue presented, don't actually demonstrate that they listened to anything you said, and proceed to offer scripted non-solutions. 

None of the community threads I could find even explained what this issue was - all the responses seemed to come from customer support agents and were like "Oh, hey, _____________, I've just sent you a message on how to fix this". So if customer support is available, how come they don't swoop in until this moment?

I expected to wait several days for a response from customer support, and it's not that I didn't hear from them at all, it's that promptly after submitting my 'Report a Problem' form, I received an automated notification that my account - the one I still use and need - was going to be CANCELED. I requested a refund for double charges and for the double charge issue to be resolved, not for my account to be canceled. Stranger still is that this "we're sorry to see you go!" email, received on the morning of September 17, 2023, said I'd lose all my Plus benefits on August 23, 2023 which is a date in the past. Are we time traveling now?

Anyway, Dropbox has indeed revoked my Plus benefits and now I'm being bombarded with "URGENT" emails about how I'm 123910238019235% over capacity and need to take action or I'll never sync my files again. I do not want to upgrade to Plus again for fear that I will start getting double-charged again, without any way to actually speak to the Dropbox team directly and resolve the issue.

If someone could help me understand what the actual heck is going on here, that would be great, because this is a headache and a half.

Thanks

[Jay · Accepted solution]

Hi @reallyannoyed666, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Currently, we only provide incoming phone support for team admins of Dropbox Business subscriptions.

Regarding what you experienced, it sounds like you somehow upgraded via both mobile apps, and one of them went through to your account. Most likely, the payment wasn't finalized on our end, hence why the account was downgraded. Can you see any of the confirmed payments (which means both a receipt and invoice) on this page on your account?

Are you still being charged by either Google Play or iTunes? Did you receive any refunds from them?

This will help me to assist further!

[reallyannoyed666]

Hi Jay,

Thanks for your response. I'm not able to see either charge in the billing history on my account. In fact it would appear that many charges are missing from the history. I'm not sure how that plays into things, but hopefully it's useful information for you.

I was refunded for one of the charges as far as I can tell from my bank account and since my Plus account and if I'm to be charged again (which I shouldn't be since I've been downgraded to Basic?) it wouldn't be until next month.

Let me know if you need any for info from me.

[Hannah]

Hey @reallyannoyed666, sorry to jump in here.

Since your account is now downgraded, you won't be charged again.

I'm with jay on what probably happened, but if you do wish to continue with a paid subscription, I would suggest upgrading directly through our website this time.

That way you can keep track of your payments directly through the Dropbox site and no double payments should occur.

[reallyannoyed666]

Hi Hannah,

No worries - I appreciate your input. 

I'll definitely try upgrading through the site instead.

Thanks to both of you for the help 🙂

[Hannah]

No problem at all!

If you need anything else, make sure to let us know.

Have a wonderful weekend! 

[reallyannoyed666]

Will do. You too, Hannah!

[xenia5101]

Sounds like either a class action is possible or at least a  complaint to your state attorney general consumer fraud division.  It seems that this abuse has been going on for quite some time so a lot of people have been abused and exploited.