LinkedIn - Disgusting behaviour and how to complain and prevent this happening to others?

ClapNursesPayCEOs

LinkedIn have locked me out of my account and attempted to take annual payment(s) from my credit card.
LinkedIn support or contact can only be made with their account, no email, telephone, webchat, etc.
They request government ID documents to unlock my account, however I value privacy and do not wish to give this to them.

I only wished to access their training videos, which used to belong to a company called Lynda.
However to access this video material I now create a LinkedIn account which is basically to have your CV online for companies, something I have no interest in.

Signied up for a free month then an annual fee to access to their training material.
However shortly after obtaining access my Jane Doe LinkedIn account was locked.
LinkedIn will unlock or cancel the account if I Identification which I do not wish to provide.

Unable to contact LinkedIn without an account a month later they attempted to take money off me for a years subscription.

How can this be legal and how to complain to prevent this happening to others?

*Please note my credit card was immediately cancelled as this was my only way of preventing what some might call theft.

ClapNursesPayCEOs

Order summary: Premium Career (Annual)

Due today: 1-month free trial £0

Due on MM/DD/2025

After free trial

£179.88 / year

Show order details:

Your free trial begins today and ends on Month DD, 2025. We’ll send you an email reminder 7 days before the free trial ends.

Beginning Month DD, 2025, your payment method will be charged £179.88 each year. The plan will automatically renew each year until canceled.

Cancel anytime before Month DD, 2025 to avoid being charged.

TadleyBaggie

ClapNursesPayCEOs said:

LinkedIn will unlock or cancel the account if I Identification which I do not wish to provide.

So there is a solution, you just chose not to use it.

QrizB

TadleyBaggie said:

ClapNursesPayCEOs said:

LinkedIn will unlock or cancel the account if I Identification which I do not wish to provide.

So there is a solution, you just chose not to use it.

And OP has already given their credit card info, so LinkedIn knows their ID and billing address.

GardenBirdWatcher

ClapNursesPayCEOs said:

However shortly after obtaining access my Jane Doe LinkedIn account was locked.

So, to sum up - you created a fake account on LinkedIn in an attempt to use content that they usually charge for and LinkedIn locked your fake account. I'm fairly certain that if you check their T&Cs, there will be some mention of creating fake accounts not being allowed.

LinkedIn will unlock or cancel the account if I Identification which I do not wish to cannot provide as I don't have any fake ID for my fake name.

FTFY

*Please note my credit card was immediately cancelled as this was my only way of preventing what some might call theft.

You may well get a surprise when you see your next credit card bill as it's very likely that this legitimate charge will be back on there. You signed up for a service, and LinkedIn are providing it, its just that because of your own actions you can't actually make use of it. So your attempt to avoid paying is likely to fail.

Undervalued

ClapNursesPayCEOs said:

LinkedIn have locked me out of my account and attempted to take annual payment(s) from my credit card.
LinkedIn support or contact can only be made with their account, no email, telephone, webchat, etc.
They request government ID documents to unlock my account, however I value privacy and do not wish to give this to them.

I only wished to access their training videos, which used to belong to a company called Lynda.
However to access this video material I now create a LinkedIn account which is basically to have your CV online for companies, something I have no interest in.

Signied up for a free month then an annual fee to access to their training material.
However shortly after obtaining access my Jane Doe LinkedIn account was locked.
LinkedIn will unlock or cancel the account if I Identification which I do not wish to provide.

Unable to contact LinkedIn without an account a month later they attempted to take money off me for a years subscription.

How can this be legal and how to complain to prevent this happening to others?

*Please note my credit card was immediately cancelled as this was my only way of preventing what some might call theft.

Others, some might say better informed, wouldn't call it theft as they actually know what the word means!

Otherwise @GardenBirdWatcher seems to have summed this up very well.

born_again

Someone needs to search out Visa Card Updater... Mastercard have the same setup...

ClapNursesPayCEOs

GardenBirdWatcher said:

ClapNursesPayCEOs said:

However shortly after obtaining access my Jane Doe LinkedIn account was locked.

So, to sum up - you created a fake account on LinkedIn in an attempt to use content that they usually charge for and LinkedIn locked your fake account. I'm fairly certain that if you check their T&Cs, there will be some mention of creating fake accounts not being allowed.

LinkedIn will unlock or cancel the account if I Identification which I do not wish to cannot provide as I don't have any fake ID for my fake name.

FTFY

*Please note my credit card was immediately cancelled as this was my only way of preventing what some might call theft.

You may well get a surprise when you see your next credit card bill as it's very likely that this legitimate charge will be back on there. You signed up for a service, and LinkedIn are providing it, its just that because of your own actions you can't actually make use of it. So your attempt to avoid paying is likely to fail.

Firstly @GardenBirdWatcher thank you for the first nice constructive reply.

T&Cs I'm sure would do this, I could argue it is unfair two services being used together to try and get you to use their original CV service but as you probably would agree a pointless discussion.

The FTFY I was aware but thank you for pointing out

Thanks for other peoples comment but aware of other comments about credit card and owners details etc.


After all of this nobody seems to be able to address the actual problem of a company locking the account, requesting government documents, providing no alternative support contact and then attempting to take money until what appears the end of time.
If anyone else is able to be constructive and helpful I would appreciate, as I was expecting to hear about ombudsman for these types of practices.

Wonka_2

After all of this nobody seems to be able to address the actual problem of a company locking the account, requesting government documents, providing no alternative support contact and then attempting to take money until what appears the end of time.
If anyone else is able to be constructive and helpful I would appreciate, as I was expecting to hear about ombudsman for these types of practices.

There’s certainly no LinkedIn ombudsman 😂

The only constructive advice is to comply with the T&C’s you signed up to. I’m aware of a colleague who was very active on there but also set up an alternative account which was quickly discovered and left him losing both. 

Given the target audience you’d expect them to be thorough when it comes to chasing debts. 

ClapNursesPayCEOs

Wonka_2 said:

After all of this nobody seems to be able to address the actual problem of a company locking the account, requesting government documents, providing no alternative support contact and then attempting to take money until what appears the end of time.
If anyone else is able to be constructive and helpful I would appreciate, as I was expecting to hear about ombudsman for these types of practices.

There’s certainly no LinkedIn ombudsman 😂

The only constructive advice is to comply with the T&C’s you signed up to. I’m aware of a colleague who was very active on there but also set up an alternative account which was quickly discovered and left him losing both. 

Given the target audience you’d expect them to be thorough when it comes to chasing debts. 

I don't feel many have understood the precedence they are setting in preventing their customers from cancelling.

I've never had a company not provide any support other than through their login system which they lock you out after taking your credit card details.

Thanks for the comments but it seems nobody has a solution for this infinite money glitch this company has found to keep taking money off people by not allowing people to cancel their subscription.

Marcon

Try googling on 'how to contact LinkedIn'. That'll give you the answer you need.