I’m assisting a client who finds himself in a really frustrating situation with HubSpot and wanted to check if anyone has faced something similar.
What happened:
My client, a young startup founder, signed a 12-month contract with HubSpot for three users at a total cost of around $300 per month. Additionally, he paid $1500 to a setup person for assistance.
The person hired for the setup was subpar, taking ages to respond and hardly completing any work over a span of five months. When I began working alongside my client, I ended up doing most of the setup myself. Ultimately, the setup person refunded us our payment only after we expressed our dissatisfaction.
The issue at hand:
We’ve managed to create what we need using a different platform, which is significantly less expensive and more efficient for us. Now, we’re looking to cancel HubSpot, as we’re no longer utilizing it.
HubSpot’s support keeps insisting that we can’t cancel early due to the terms of our contract. We’ve attempted to contact higher management only to receive the same standard reply. They won’t even allow us to reduce the number of users on our subscription.
Has anyone successfully navigated out of a HubSpot contract early? As a small team, this monthly expense is impacting our budget for a service we don’t even use. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Had the exact same issue with HubSpot two years back. Standard support was useless, so I filed a complaint with my state’s attorney general about their business practices. Three weeks later, HubSpot’s legal team called wanting to negotiate early termination. Got out paying just two months’ worth of fees instead of the full contract. The trick? Document everything that went wrong and frame it as them failing to deliver what they promised - not just you wanting out. I also hit up their executives on LinkedIn. Sometimes going straight to the top works way better than dealing with regular support.
Dig into your original contract - look for clauses about service quality or implementation support they didn’t deliver on. At my last company, we had better luck formally requesting a supervisor review through their escalation process instead of just asking to cancel. Don’t frame it as wanting out - frame it as them failing to deliver what they promised. HubSpot’s retention teams handle escalated cases and usually have way more flexibility than regular support. Document everything with dates and push for a pro-rated cancellation based on the months you couldn’t actually use the service. Also mention the reputational risk if this goes public - that often shifts them from ‘sorry, our policy’ mode to ‘let’s work this out’ mode.
hubspot’s pretty stubborn about refunds, but you might have leverage here. Tell them their recommended setup person wasted 5 months of your time - if you’ve got proof, use it. Threaten bad reviews on g2 and capterra since companies hate those. also try a chargeback if you paid by card and can show they didn’t deliver what was promised.
Look for a material breach clause or satisfaction guarantee in your contract. HubSpot basically breached their end when that setup consultant failed you for five months straight - they didn’t deliver the onboarding services you paid for. I dealt with something similar with another SaaS company. Skip the regular support calls and go straight to their formal dispute process. Send a certified letter to their legal department. Spell out how the botched implementation meant you got zero value from the contract for most of your term. Quote the specific contract language about service delivery. Most companies have internal policies for early termination when they screw up core services, even if front-line support won’t tell you that. Make it a legal issue, not a customer service complaint. This got my client out of their contract in six weeks after months of useless support calls went nowhere.
Create an automated paper trail that forces HubSpot to act fast.
Set up workflows to pull your usage data showing zero activity during those five months of broken setup. Auto-generate timeline reports proving their consultant burned through half your contract doing nothing.
Cross-reference your support tickets with actual platform usage. This builds a rock-solid case that they completely failed at onboarding.
Once you’ve got the documentation, automate your escalation. Send complaint emails to executives every 48 hours with updated damage calculations. Set up social media monitoring to track how they handle similar public complaints.
This beats angry emails because it shows you’re organized and won’t disappear. Companies hate dealing with people who have their docs locked down.
Latenode nails this - connect HubSpot’s API for usage data, integrate email systems for auto-escalation, even trigger social posts if they ignore you. The whole thing runs itself while you focus on actual business.
Hit up your credit card company first. If you paid that setup fee by card, dispute it for services not rendered - that consultant basically robbed you of five months. Card companies usually back customers when there’s clear proof the service was garbage. Once you file the chargeback, tell HubSpot’s billing team about it. They get way more flexible with contracts when they’re staring down payment reversals. I’ve seen this flip the whole conversation from begging to get out to demanding money back for failed service. The chargeback creates official documentation that their legal team actually cares about. Even if you only recover the setup fee, it shows you’re ready to fight and have real grounds for breach of service.
Been there with enterprise contracts that turn into dead weight. Skip fighting HubSpot’s legal team - automate your way out instead.
Build a workflow that migrates all your HubSpot data to the new platform while documenting every service failure. Auto-send escalating emails to HubSpot executives, track communication timestamps, and generate complaint forms for regulatory bodies.
This works because you’re not just another angry customer - you’re systematically documenting their screwups. The automation keeps pressure on them while you focus on your business.
Latenode nails this kind of multi-platform integration. Connect HubSpot’s API to extract data, feed it into document generators for complaints, and set up automated follow-ups across channels.
Most companies cave when they realize you won’t disappear and you’ve got a systematic escalation plan.
SaaS contract disputes usually come down to proving they breached first. Your setup consultant bombed and you documented it for five months - that’s solid grounds to show HubSpot didn’t deliver the onboarding support they promised. I’ve watched this strategy work with other software companies when clients prove the service was basically useless. Write a formal letter explaining how the botched setup killed any value you could get from the platform for most of your contract. Include any emails where HubSpot vouched for or recommended this consultant. Skip regular support and send it straight to billing disputes. If the money’s worth it, threaten small claims court - most companies would rather settle than fight these cases.