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Do NOT use this company! I can't believe anyone has had a good experience with this company. Every negative comment that I have read is basically what happened to me.
The product is good but their service is terrible. I paid for my subscription over 10 days ago on their site. They deny receipt of payment, even though the payment went through and reflects clearly on my bank statement as payment made on Animoto.
They no longer respond to my emails and seems like I have lost my money.
In South Africa, we call this theft! After numerous emails to try and resolve this, they have shut down and I am getting no response. I had bought from them previously and know how its meant to work.
My account was renewed prior to the renewal date and they say you have to change it days before it renews. Customer service won't respond for 2-5 days? My account is now overdrawn. Reading all the reviews here... Maybe not a good company to do business with. We'll keep everyone apprised as to how this is resolved.
I signed up for a month free trial with animoto. I cancelled before the month was up. I was never notified that my account automatically renewed, and I just discovered fees on my credit card dating back three years! Customer service is horrible, they are only going to refund three months of the fees. I was completely unaware that I was being charged these fees, I didn't receive an email from them the entire time! Customer service is horrible, you cannot speak to anyone by phone, they only accept emails. And they take days to respond. Just stay away, no video is worth dealing with them.
I have a free trail with Animoto that I didn't even realize I had until they charged my account $180.00 and issued a partial refund of $150.00. After a week of going back and forth with Animoto customer service, I still have not received the full refund. The customer service is terrible, the worst I've dealt with. I've had to repeat myself 4 times now and tell them each time to carefully re-read my past emails. I have provided customer service with my account, email addresses, transaction numbers, the day of charges and even screenshot attachments of the charges and they can't even find my account. Talk about a frustrating experience. I just want my money back. NEVER SIGN UP FOR A FREE TRIAL WITH THIS COMPANY!
Legitimate software developers don't have refund schemes. They do. I bought the hype about how great the product allegedly is and jumped in, creating one video then realizing it's true worth. Within 24 hours I requested a refund and Ravenna ('billing advisor') informed me that they would keep $42 because "you created a video". Yes. Yes. Yes. There's cya in the refund policy - an immoral excuse for conducting business this way.
I fell in love with Animoto. Easy to learn.
But some of the voice overs made me sound like Donald Duck. Too fast
They are slow to respond to email. No telephone
They finally told me I sounded normal (I'll mention this to my therapist)
No fix.
They refunded my money and stopped communication.
I've been charged for 15 months not using it a single time! And when you want to turn off your auto-renewal, surprise: there's an error!
Auto-renewed and charged my credit card without my consent. Very dodgy way of doing business. Product is very ordinary and boring (for lack of better word).
Some way this company got my charge card and charged me $30 for a service I've never heard of. Calling their number on my bank statement lead me to a recorded message and reference to their webpage. Going to their webpage there is NO WAY to contact them and dispute the charge. Furthermore their website says there are no refunds. Go to your card company and dispute the charge. Contact the better business bureau in the town the are in and report them.
Hi Bob,
While we don't offer general phone support, you can send us an e-mail anytime at [email protected]. We'll make sure that it's more visible to our users.
As for the $30 charge, we can definitely look into it for you. If you were charged, then it's likely there is an account open with your card on file. I'll send you a private message so we can locate the account and process a refund for you.
The Billing tab does not appear on my account, so there is no way to check this or turn it off. I may have to cancel the card. Thanks Animoto! Pending email through their customer service/help forms. I do not recommend this product!
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your patience with us!
We wanted to reach out to you regarding your recent charge on your card. If you don't find a Billing tab in your Account Page, then the charge is most likely linked to another account you may have opened. We can definitely help you locate that account, so you can terminate the auto-renewal. If it's a recent renewal, we can provide a full refund as well. We've sent you a private message just now, so we can obtain some account information.
I WAS EXTREMELY UNHAPPY WITH THIS COMPANY. I WAS UNABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY CREATE ONE VIDEO AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS BECAUSE THE SOFTWARE KEPT DELETING OR REORGANIZING MY ADDED PICTURES.
Also, very unhappy with the billing because they stated a monthly fee, but I was charged an annual fee instead. I was given a partial refund after complaining.
I spent hours scanning and then cropping and resizing pictures to meet there parameters. Uploaded the pictures and started to structure the presentation, paid for the upgrade to remove the water marks and exited the site. Logged in the next day to find none of the changes there and the water marks still there BUT the charge for the upgrade went through. No way to correspond with them! My bad learned a lesson. "Stay Away"
Like many others, they took the liberty of turning my autorenew back on. Out and out theft.
So disappointed in their lack of telephone support. I signed up for a business acount so I could get telephone support. When I ask for it, they said it's quicker to use email. Since it takes them hours to respond to a request for help, I think it's only better for them. The people on the help desk seem to want to help, but whoever runs Animoto and makes the operating decisions is sleazy.
Similar to others reviews, their pricing practices is slightly dishonest and deceptive at best. Absolutely do not sign up for even one month with this company. Customer service practices are appalling, they must not plan to have return customers. I don't leave many reviews, but this was such a horrible experience its warranter.
Like others on here I did cancel the autorenew, but it seems they took the liberty to reset it. Combined with Paypal not sending me the correct notification emails for several months, I didn't realise Animoto were billing me. I don't hold out much hope of getting a refund, though I have made perfunctory attempts through PayPal.
Make sure to turn off auto renewal. You purchase a certain plan and they automatically put it on auto bill...
We paid by CC for a year subscription, never selected the auto renewal button tab, but sure enough. A year later - with no renewal notice or upcoming auto debit notice - they charged the CC again. Then you read their refund policy. "Sorry but we cannot refund fees unless you turned off auto renewal at least 2 days before due date. Key: they do not send you out any type of upcoming renewal notice, so that you can make that choice to renew or not renew! Then you get to try to work it out with a customer service that is not available by phone, but by a long process of submitting a 'ticket'? Not a very professional - customer service oriented company! 'F' rating
DON'T SIGN UP! I canceled my account after one month and turned off auto renewal. They continued to charge me $250 each year but sent me emails saying my account had expired. They have no phone number that you can call and they don't respond to emails. Beware!
Hi Susanto,
Oh no! I'm sorry you were unaware of our subscription terms when signing up. I'll make sure to review our checkout page to make sure it is more visible to our users. When you signed up, we notify you that your subscription's auto-renewal is automatically turned on. However, you can turn it off or cancel immediately after purchasing if you only wanted it for that specific term.
I'll shoot you a private message, so we can take a look at your account!