Has anyone else had issues with automated upgrades in their marketing software? I’ve been helping a client who mistakenly labeled some contacts as marketing contacts, which pushed them over their subscription limit. As a result, the platform automatically upgraded their plan and charged them for the next tier, despite the fact that no marketing emails had been sent to these contacts yet.
After assisting the client in correcting their contact setup and reverting to their previous limits, the platform still refuses to adjust the billing. They insist that the client must pay the higher fee for the rest of their contract, even though the upgrade was accidental and no marketing activity took place.
In their response, the support team mentioned that exceeding the marketing contact threshold leads to an automatic charge for the next tier, and downgrades can only be made during contract renewal periods. This policy seems quite unfair, as it’s easy to increase charges but difficult to reverse them when an error occurs. The client is now considering leaving for another platform due to this situation.
Has anyone else faced similar issues with automatic billing? What solutions did you find?
Ugh, same thing happened to us last year. These platforms make it ridiculously easy to accidentally hit upgrade buttons. We threatened to cancel our account entirely and boom - suddenly they could reverse the charge. Sometimes you’ve got to play hardball with these companies. They’d rather fix a billing mistake than lose a customer.
It’s common for marketing platforms to implement policies that complicate billing once you exceed contact thresholds. In my experience at an agency, I’ve encountered this issue many times. The key is to bypass regular customer support and speak directly to someone in retention or management. Instead of framing it as a billing mistake, present it as paying for services that were not utilized, especially since no campaigns were launched to those extra contacts. Emphasize the need for a prorated refund, citing contractual clauses related to material changes, which can provide leverage. If they remain inflexible, hinting at switching to another platform during renewal may encourage them to offer a more favorable resolution.
Had the exact same thing happen six months ago with a different platform. We accidentally imported an unsegmented list and got bumped to a higher tier overnight. Here’s what worked: skip regular support and go straight to the billing department manager. I sent screenshots of the import timestamps and proved we never actually sent campaigns to those contacts. Took three weeks of going back and forth, but they gave us a partial credit and let us downgrade mid-contract as a one-time thing. Be persistent and document everything. Front-line support can’t override certain policies, but managers usually have more wiggle room for genuine screw-ups. Also worth checking if your client paid by credit card - they might be able to dispute charges for services they didn’t actually use.