People are complaining about being charged after Apple Music free trial ends
Time’s up for the Apple Music freeloaders.
Apple’s alleged Spotify-killer launched on June 30 and offered a free, three-month subscription to try it out. The trial period is ending, and for those who didn’t read the fine print, Apple is automatically renewing them unless they cancel.
Apple isn’t being totally shady about it since it’s sending out emails to subscribers alerting them about the trial period ending that results in a $9.99 monthly fee. Still, emails are often dismissed, so people are complaining on Twitter about being charged or not knowing how to cancel.
Some are griping about forgetting to cancel:
Who else forgot to cancel their Apple Music membership and got charged for next month? #blurg
— Megan King (@megantking) October 1, 2015
Apple Music charged me $10.59 — Ceasar (@DrFeelGoood101) October 1, 2015
When out of nowhere you get charged $10 for Apple Music…
— Daysie Martinez (@Daysie_Martinez) October 1, 2015
Damn, I forgot to cancel my Apple Music account, they charged me. Wonder how many millions of people are as lazy as me ;-) — Hessel van Oorschot (@73553H) October 1, 2015
While others are accusing Apple of allegedly over charging them:
@Spotify @AppleMusic must not want my business, my credit card was charged 7 times now I have to wait 3-5 days for a refund & can’t renew
— Craig Doherty (@CraigDoherty4) October 1, 2015
@AppleMusic y’all messed up and charged everyone $9.99 when we have the $14.99. Fix it or I’m cancelling. — bnix© (@bnix75) October 1, 2015
Trying to figure out why @AppleMusic @itunes or whoever charged my account a million times. #ineedanswers
— Amanda B (@whoisamanda_b) October 1, 2015
Regardless, people aren’t pleased with the company’s tactics. Apple has not yet responded to Digiday for comment about billing issues.
Apple Music racked up 11 million subscribers during the trial period, a number its execs are “thrilled” with, so it’s easy to see why Apple is eager to convert them to paying subscribers. Apple VP Eddy Cue told London’s Evening Standard newspaper today that he’s not worried about the number of subscribers falling, reinforcing that Apple is “in this for the long haul.”
Still, Apple Music’s first impression to many people isn’t a good one.
Images via Apple Music on Facebook.
More in Marketing
Digiday+ Research: Marketers optimize GEO strategies amid the effects of zero-click search
While AI-generated search results are still relatively new compared to traditional search results, marketers are deeply feeling the effects.
‘Google doesn’t care that it’s terrible’: Brand, agency execs air frustrations with The Trade Desk, Google’s Performance Max, Meta’s Advantage+
Think transparency is hard to come by in programmatic advertising? Well, get a bunch of brand and agency executives in a room, and they’ll get super transparent about how opaque the digital ad market has become.
Future of Marketing Briefing: Memes used to be a joke. Now they’re a strategy
This Future of Marketing Briefing covers the latest in marketing for Digiday+ members and is distributed over email every Friday at 10 a.m. ET. More from the series → Last month, a U.S. Special Forces soldier was indicted for insider trading — not on stocks, but on a prediction market. He had detailed knowledge of […]