I begged LinkedIn Australia for mercy; they still kept my house deposit money | Hacker News Reader

I begged LinkedIn Australia for mercy; they still kept my house deposit money

fourlightyears.blogspot.com

11 pointsandrewstuart11 comments

I'm clearly in the wrong here, but hopefully it's a lesson that will help others be vigilant in their dealing with LinkedIn Australia.

Don't blame yourself too hard... No recurring subscription emails are such a huge dark pattern that I didn't even realise it was legal!

Surely a receipt or an invoice is the bare minimum they should do. Awfully scummy of them.

That is actually a good point. Are they not legally required to send you a receipt? (You being the generic person that are paying for a service or goods).

I just did some research off the back of this, and surprisingly it's not a legal requirement to provide a receipt for any sale (at least in the UK), just a recommended practice for businesses.

For LinkedIn recruiter, you'd expect almost everyone who uses it expenses it to their job, and so I'd think receipts would be universally requested

I'm not sure. In Canada, Ontario at least, I noticed our liquor store always asks "Do you want your receipt?"

It's not a convenience question. Either they throw it away for you, or they put it in the bag and you throw it out yourself. Maybe even with the bag.

Then I realized, it could only be because they hope for you to agree to making the item no longer returnable. No receipt, no return. So you (potentially) only shoot yourself in the foot by saying no.

If you buy from a convenience store, the default is usually no receipt as well, probably because few want them. But I suspect if you are buying from the lcbo (Ontario liquor monopoly) on a liquor license, ie for a restaurant, you always get a receipt. My point is that for business purchases, a receipt is basically mandatory, and most LinkedIn recruiter subscriptions would be business purchased.

Yes, in business money doesn't usually change hands without acknowledgement from both parties involved. There is no "convenience" in providing only half of a contractual exchange.

Yep, not only is it legal - I think it's the basis of revenue for many businesses.

As you can see, LinkedIn have optimised the forgotten trial cancellation to a fine art.

The two important lessons everyone should take to heart from this:

1. Whenever you sign up for a free trial that requires a credit card, set yourself an out-of-band reminder for the deadline to cancel before being charged.

2. Every month, read through all of your monthly statements and make sure you recognize all of the charges on them.

After LinkedIn spammed my contact list on my mobile phone when I installed the LinkedIn app, I will not buy any services from them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com