Chapter 1: A Frustrating Discovery

I apologize for the blunt title, but I am quite frustrated! Recently, I discovered that I had been charged $60 over the past two months for a membership I was entirely unaware of. My aim in sharing this is to prevent others from making the same mistake I did. If I can help even one person steer clear of Shutterstock, then my effort will have been worthwhile. Here’s my anti-sales pitch.

It was a chilly December night, and my family was excited to create some charming homemade Christmas cards to share with friends and family. However, we were missing one crucial element—a small image of a fireplace for the kids to color.

I fancy myself somewhat of an artist. Under typical circumstances, I would have sketched the fireplace, scanned it, and printed out the 30 copies we needed. Unfortunately, as usual, I had procrastinated until the last possible moment. We needed to send the cards out the next day for them to arrive before Christmas.

A quick Google search yielded many results, but one image stood out as exactly what I was looking for. Clicking the picture led me to the site, and I thought I could simply purchase the image for a few dollars. But then I noticed their "risk-free trial"! Up to 10 free images—perfect, right?

Now, before you judge me, I consider myself fairly tech-savvy. With over 10 years in IT, I usually tread carefully online. Perhaps it was the four beers I had or the urgency I felt, but I went ahead and signed up for the trial. I needed to provide a credit card to access the trial, which I admit is a trap I’ve fallen into before. Sign up, forget to cancel, and suddenly, I’m hit with a bill. It happens; life goes on.

I thought I was smarter this time.

I registered for the free trial, downloaded my image, and immediately turned off the "Auto-renewal" feature in my account. After that, I closed the browser and rushed upstairs to print our lovely little fireplaces, putting the entire matter out of my mind.

Fast forward two months.

With Valentine's Day approaching, I decided to check my "secret account"—the one I use to keep my wife from noticing the gifts I purchase. To my shock, I saw two recent transactions of -$30 from Shutterstock.com. What on earth? I quickly logged into my account, where I confirmed that Auto-renewal was indeed off, but I found a new red button that said "Cancel Plan."

Upon closer inspection, I learned that the trial automatically enrolled me in an annual plan ($30 a month), and I could have canceled for free during the first month. The Auto-renewal I had turned off would have merely prevented them from billing me for another year. Paying $30 a month for just 10 downloads? What a terrible deal! And now, I had been charged $60 without even logging in once!

It was time to initiate a support chat; surely they would understand and refund my money, right?

WRONG.

The representative I spoke with was courteous but quickly informed me that the trial was for a full year and I could only cancel for free during the first month. He could cancel my account, but there would be a $40 fee involved (some convoluted calculations about money paid versus time left). I lost my cool.

"I'm not giving you another cent! It's bad enough I paid $60 for a subscription to your terrible site without even logging in! Are you out of your mind?"

I’ve worked in IT support for years, so I know how these conversations go. It never feels good to lash out. I did apologize, recognizing that it wasn’t his fault and that I was sorry for venting my frustration on him.

However, only after my outburst did he finally offer to "as a one-time courtesy" cancel my plan for free. Unfortunately, my $60 was a lost cause. I ended the chat and went upstairs to vent to my wife about the whole ordeal.

By the time dinner was over, my anger lingered, and I felt the need to fight back. I returned to my office and composed a strongly worded email to Shutterstock's support team. I made sure to direct my criticism at the company and its policies rather than the individual receiving the email.

About 45 minutes later, I received a response:

"We apologize for your experience with our company. As a one-time courtesy, we will refund your latest payment of $30. This will take 2–3 business days. However, if you download anything before the refund is processed and your account is canceled, we will revoke this refund."

As if that would ever happen! At this point, they could pay me $30 a month, and I still wouldn’t return to that site.

Later that evening, I shared my small victory with my wife (though it's sad that getting $30 back feels like a win). We pondered how many others had fallen for this dubious trial. I would be curious to see the statistics on billing, callbacks, and complaints. How many people are too passive to fight back and end up paying even more to cancel their accounts? It’s a frustrating thought.

Maybe Shutterstock has great content? Perhaps some of you have subscriptions and enjoy their service. Good for you, but I will never set foot on that site again. I will actively discourage others from using it as well.

According to Sitejabber.com, they have a dismal rating of 1.23 out of 5 stars based on 371 reviews. If I could give a rating, it would be a firm one star.

If I can help even one person avoid a $30 mistake, I’ll consider that another small victory.

Thank you for reading!

Chapter 2: Lessons Learned

Section 2.1: The Importance of Research

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Subsection 2.1.1: Recognizing Subscription Traps