Office-PDF Online - is this subscription method legal ?

GingerTim

UncleJunior said:

GingerTim said:

 But no-one would pay 50p either given there are so many free options. Clicking on the first sponsored result from any Google search is also inadvisable.
.

I take your point re clicking on the first sponsored result - not a great idea but saying no one would pay 50p, I beg to differ.  Just look at all the poor sods on TrustPliot who got caught by this and paid 50p for a PDF conversion and then found themselves subscribed to a £40 per month PDF converter service. 

And then, just out of interest, what do you make of all those 5 * reviews on TrustPilot for Office-pdf - do you think they are genuine? Companies that spend their days posting fake positive reviews on TrustPilot may be trying to hide something - just saying....

Quite, I should have said: 'no one should pay 50p' to convert a PDF.

All those reviews are almost certainly rubbish. But then I don't pay any heed to TrustPilot, or user reviews in general, good or bad!

RefluentBeans

UncleJunior said:

born_again said:

UncleJunior said:

It is in small script - why are you denying this?

They are doing their very best to hide the automatic subscription which is obvious to anyone. 

And once again, I ask the question - who would knowingly pay £40 per month to convert a single PDF into an excel file.

It is most certainly a scam.

For the people on this thread who have been caught out by this I encourage you to call them and try get a refund.  Without being paranoid, I suspect that some responses on this chat may be trying to stop you going down this route.  

If they do not refund, I suggest you post a genuine review on TrustPilot.  There are already hundreds of similar reviews for people who have been caught out unwittingly.  But I should also add that you will also see the hundreds of fake positive reviews that are posted on a daily basis by this company to attempt to hide their nefarious practises.

I would also contact your credit card company - you may also be able to get a refund through this route.

There is no right to claim money back via your bank unless you have cancelled. Spoken to many over this type of thing.

Sadly in the OP it can not be any clearer that this is a subscription based product.
TRIAL OFFER* & UNLIMITED OFFER

This really is one of the clearer ones I have seen. All on the front page, not like some buried in T/C or added when getting to payment page.

As per many clearly have done. Press in haste, get billed per month.

Pretty sure word has this feature to convert to PDF. Or at least I have done quite a few conversions via word.

But it is not on the front page like you said - you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the bit about prices and membership.  If you just load the the file to convert, you never get to see the bit with the prices set out.

This is all intentional on their part and am sorry to say it goes to the heart of why this is a scam.  You wouldn't knowingly sign up to a £40 per month subscription to convert a single pdf file - office-pdf do everything they can to hide this subscription as best as possible in plain sight and by paying 50p they want you to think that this is the end of the process.  You give credit card details because you think you have to pay 50p not because you are entering into a £40 per month subscription.

To suggest this is not an attempted scan is absurd unless you work for them.

It’s clearly not a scam. It’s been pointed out to you repeatedly that it isn’t a scam. The fact is a lot of paid services for computers have a free counterpart, but it’s the knowledge of this the free service may not be as common.

I was by no means defending it, but to call it a scam isn’t anything of the sort and devalues those who actually get scammed. It’s scummy behaviour but not a scam. 

There are people who will knowingly pay for these services. Ease of use is a big thing. Microsoft Office 365 has multiple products that could all be offered from open access alternatives for free. So why do business pay for it? Easy - ease of use, security, and the ‘it just works’. 

The marketing on this website is actually really good. They are very open with their pricing structure. If you didn’t read below the headline then that’s on you I’m afraid. You won’t be the only person, but you should use it as a learning experience. 

Like I said - relying on consumers to not read the terms and conditions is not uncommon. And in many ways, these are fairer than the ‘exit fees’ companies in other industries charge, as at least it’s clearly advertised. To ban this practice would have unintended consequences (see above in the thread). 

born_again

UncleJunior said:

born_again said:

UncleJunior said:

It is in small script - why are you denying this?

They are doing their very best to hide the automatic subscription which is obvious to anyone. 

And once again, I ask the question - who would knowingly pay £40 per month to convert a single PDF into an excel file.

It is most certainly a scam.

For the people on this thread who have been caught out by this I encourage you to call them and try get a refund.  Without being paranoid, I suspect that some responses on this chat may be trying to stop you going down this route.  

If they do not refund, I suggest you post a genuine review on TrustPilot.  There are already hundreds of similar reviews for people who have been caught out unwittingly.  But I should also add that you will also see the hundreds of fake positive reviews that are posted on a daily basis by this company to attempt to hide their nefarious practises.

I would also contact your credit card company - you may also be able to get a refund through this route.

There is no right to claim money back via your bank unless you have cancelled. Spoken to many over this type of thing.

Sadly in the OP it can not be any clearer that this is a subscription based product.
TRIAL OFFER* & UNLIMITED OFFER

This really is one of the clearer ones I have seen. All on the front page, not like some buried in T/C or added when getting to payment page.

As per many clearly have done. Press in haste, get billed per month.

Pretty sure word has this feature to convert to PDF. Or at least I have done quite a few conversions via word.

But it is not on the front page like you said - you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the bit about prices and membership.  If you just load the the file to convert, you never get to see the bit with the prices set out.

This is all intentional on their part and am sorry to say it goes to the heart of why this is a scam.  You wouldn't knowingly sign up to a £40 per month subscription to convert a single pdf file - office-pdf do everything they can to hide this subscription as best as possible in plain sight and by paying 50p they want you to think that this is the end of the process.  You give credit card details because you think you have to pay 50p not because you are entering into a £40 per month subscription.

To suggest this is not an attempted scan is absurd unless you work for them.

A google search with your wording does not bring up any results for this company for me.
So I was going by the OP.
But going to 
https://office-pdf.com/

Makes no mention of free & scrolling down make it totally clear as per pic in the OP does that there is a charge. There is no mention at all of the word "Free" at all on the site I link to above.

I've just converted a pic & it takes you to a page for payment. Where you have to tick a box to declare you have read the T/C

I declare that I have read and accepted the Terms and Conditions, General Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of Office-PDF. By validating the above information, I confirm that I have ordered an unlimited monthly membership access at the rate of 39.90£ with a 48 hour basic membership at the rate of 0.50£. If you wish to cancel your membership, please click here. You can contact our support by email at contact@office-pdf.com or by phone at 020 3936 9118.

Your bank statement will show Office-PDF.com

So reading the page before converting a doc & after you have converted one. Makes it clear exactly what you are going to be charged for.
Again not sure how much clearer they can make it.


Sadly I deal with these types of sites a lot & this is not a scam in anyway. It is open & upfront on charges.
Scam is when money is taken without you knowing. 
Simply reading the page makes it very clear. Never mind the fact if it is FREE, why do they want your card details...
Biggest hint that you are going to be charged.

I get people are not happy. But like a lot I talk to about these offers, they are in a hurry & never read the page on these sites. 
Not reading is not a excuse or reason to get your money back.

Ksw3

If I had googled free pdf conversion and any site asked for my card details I would run! 

Pollycat

UncleJunior said:

born_again said:

UncleJunior said:

It is in small script - why are you denying this?

They are doing their very best to hide the automatic subscription which is obvious to anyone. 

And once again, I ask the question - who would knowingly pay £40 per month to convert a single PDF into an excel file.

It is most certainly a scam.

For the people on this thread who have been caught out by this I encourage you to call them and try get a refund.  Without being paranoid, I suspect that some responses on this chat may be trying to stop you going down this route.  

If they do not refund, I suggest you post a genuine review on TrustPilot.  There are already hundreds of similar reviews for people who have been caught out unwittingly.  But I should also add that you will also see the hundreds of fake positive reviews that are posted on a daily basis by this company to attempt to hide their nefarious practises.

I would also contact your credit card company - you may also be able to get a refund through this route.

There is no right to claim money back via your bank unless you have cancelled. Spoken to many over this type of thing.

Sadly in the OP it can not be any clearer that this is a subscription based product.
TRIAL OFFER* & UNLIMITED OFFER

This really is one of the clearer ones I have seen. All on the front page, not like some buried in T/C or added when getting to payment page.

As per many clearly have done. Press in haste, get billed per month.

Pretty sure word has this feature to convert to PDF. Or at least I have done quite a few conversions via word.

To suggest this is not an attempted scan is absurd unless you work for them.

Ah yes.
I wondered how long it would take for this old chestnut to surface.
If I had a £1 for all the companies that I've been accused of working for, I'd be able to convert millions of pdf files.

From your own link up-thread, it is clear that you have joined/are joining a subscription service.

robmole

Unfortunately I got caught with this by not cancelling within 48 hours. I presumed I’d paid for the conversion then got a £39 bill. They are exploiting not reading to the bottom of the webpage and checking all the details. When I complied they said it’s all very clear on the front page but it’s right at the bottom and easy to miss. Spread the word and hopefully these companies set up to exploit others will all go under. A lesson learnt after paying £40 for 2 small conversions. 

robmole

Make sure they get the scores they deserve on Trustpilot or these behaviours will never change.

eskbanker

robmole said:

Make sure they get the scores they deserve on Trustpilot or these behaviours will never change.

Did you check any review sites before signing up with them?