ComplaintsforSurveyMonkey

• Initial Complaint

  04/11/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Far too many of the surveys they send you initially ask you basic questions, do you have diabetes, are you suffering from hair loss, etc.But as you get up to question 15 or 20 they start asking you about your opinion of Jews, then they ask you about your opinion of LGBT, then they want to know what political party you belong to, then they want to know if you've ever had knee pain, then they want to know if you've ever had a hair transplant, then they want to know which podcast you listen to, then which news stations are you watching, etc They're basically asking you survey questions and they complete their survey without paying you.

  

  Business response

  04/12/2024

  Were sorry to hear about this customer experience. ********************** is a self-serve tool that can be used by companies/individuals to send out surveys and collect data. Were solely responsible for offering the platform to design, send and analyze those surveys. Based on the issue the customer is describing, theyre likely receiving these from someone using our tool.
  
  We werent able to find a SurveyMonkey account tied to this customers email address, so they shouldnt be receiving any emails from our company directly. Its possible theyre getting sent survey invitations sent by someone using our tool to distribute surveys, or they have been added to receive notifications from a survey by a platform user. Anyone sending surveys through our Email Invitation collector is required to include an Opt-Out link in their survey invite. If the customer has questions or concerns about having been included on a senders email list in the first place, they will need to reply to the email invitation they received to reach out to the sender directly.
  
  Respondents can use the Opt-Out link in the invite to unsubscribe from all survey invitations 
  sent through the senders account in the future. Heres more information on this process for their reference: ****************************************************************;

  We were not able to locate a support case for this customer. We encourage them to get in contact with the support team should they have any further questions about this. They can get in contact with our support team here :**********************************************
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  04/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I subscribed to Survey Monkey on 2023 for my business. When I subscribed I was asked if I wanted to pay by month or yearly. I selected yearly at the moment, and was not prompted any other questions regarding payment or subscription. I did not which to renew my subscription for this year, as I am working on a budget for the company and every expense counts. I suddenly realized that my card had been charged an amount of $468 on March 8th for the renewal of the subscription, which I did not authorized. Apparently, Survey Monkey has an auto-renewal option, that by default is set to auto-renew every year; and I did not select. When I reached back to Survey Monkey asking for the refund based on my previous explanation they said it is against their policies to give any refunds.This practice seems unethical, as users do not get to chose the auto-renewal option, but instead is by default, and in my case I did not realize it until the card had been charged again.

  

  Business response

  04/12/2024

  Were sorry to hear about this customers experience.
  
  Subscription options, features, and conditions are included for customers to view and agree to on the sign-up checkout page when processing the payment for an account upgrade, and listed within our Terms of Use. SurveyMonkey is a self-serve tool, and as such we expect our customers to carefully read and consider the terms and conditions they are agreeing to before signing up for an account and/or providing their credit card information. 
  
  Because SurveyMonkey is a self-service platform, we leave account management up to our customers, including subscription management. With our plans, we provide a service for a set price, and this begins upon upgrade or renewal; once this has occurred, the account is committed for the full billing period. This is included in the agreement we make with our customers about what they can expect of us. Fees are non-refundable per our Terms of Use: *******************************************************************;
  
  Customers can cancel auto-renew at any time, but they won't receive a refund for the remaining paid time. Our Terms of Use state that the fees paid by the customer are non-refundable. We can also cancel this setting on a customers behalf when contacted directly through our support channel: ***************************************************;
  
  This customers case has been reviewed by our team. Though we understand that refunds have been requested, we are entirely prohibited from refunding these charges, so no exceptions will be made to our no-refund policy.
  
  

  Customer response

  04/13/2024

   
  Complaint: 21552444
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I believe the "self-managing" Site of Survey Monkey is miss leading. At no point during my enrollment for the first year, was I asked to activate the auto-renewal option. Therefore, it is built in so that it automatically self selects the auto-renewal option. I did not get an email days in advance notifying me of my renewal either. It is made this way to keep charging customers, regardless of their preference. This business practice is abusive, particularly noting that there is a non-refundable policy that they refuse to review. 

  Regards,

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  

  Business response

  04/15/2024

  Again, we are sorry to hear about this customer's experience. 
  
  The purchase process outlines terms for an ongoing membership, and includes the following statement below the [Confirm] button: You will be billed $XX when you click CONFIRM. Your subscription will automatically renew, and you'll be billed $XX each year until you cancel it. By clicking CONFIRM, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy: **************************************************************.
  
  Again, customers can cancel auto-renew at any time, but they won't receive a refund for the remaining paid time. Our Terms of Use state that the fees paid by the customer are non-refundable. We can also cancel this setting on a customers behalf when contacted directly through our support channel: ***************************************************;
  
  Though we understand that refunds have been requested, we are entirely prohibited from refunding these charges, so no exceptions will be made to our no-refund policy.
  

  Customer response

  04/18/2024

   
  Complaint: 21552444
  
  I am rejecting this response because: AGAIN: As stated in my previous communication, I was never asked to activate the auto-renewal option. Meaning that the option of auto-renewal is the default setting for Survey Monkey (this is evidenced by the response of the  business as well). Regardless of what the policy of the business say, and whether it states that by accepting the terms I agree with the auto-renewal of the service; my point is still the same: the Site is miss-leading by not providing customers with the option to auto-renew and rather make it so by default.

  By doing so, they know that many customers will pay for the second year of service, even though they will not really use or need the service. The business should have real data of how many users pay for the second year because of the auto-renewal but end up not needing or using the service.

  A business that acts in a transparent and fair way will ask customers if they wish to set the auto-renewal option, and not set it up as the default option. Survey Monkey is not an example of this. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  04/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am a graduate student working on my dissertation. My dissertation involved administering a multiple choice survey consisting of fifteen items. Instead of doing a pure multiple choice survey, survey monkey threw in four matrix MC items. The results of these four matrix multiple choice make no sense and endanger my dissertation. I want Survey Monkey to correct these survey results.

  

  Business response

  04/08/2024

  Were sorry to hear about this customers experience.
  
  Subscription options, features, and conditions are included for customers to view and agree to on the sign-up checkout page when processing the payment for an account upgrade, and listed within our Terms of Use. SurveyMonkey is a self-serve tool, and as such we expect our customers to carefully read and consider the terms and conditions they are agreeing to before signing up for an account and creating their survey. 
  
  Because SurveyMonkey is a self-service platform, we leave account management up to our customers, including subscription management and survey design/creation. With our self-serve plans, SurveyMonkey does not have say on how customers decide to build and design their survey, what question types are use and how they choose to send responses. This is left up to the survey creator and account owner. 
  
  Customers can always reference our *********** page for additional information and guidance on how to set up their survey, as well as contact customer support for additional tips. More information on this can be found here: ************************************************;
  
  We always encourage our self-serve customers to test out their survey prior to sending it out to respondents. More information on this can be found here: ********************************************************************************************
  
  We were able to locate the support case created by this customer, and we encourage them to continue communicating with the support team should they have any additional questions about this.
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  03/30/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Problem: I need a refund and cancelation subscription Issue: I cannot contact the survey monkey customer service; sent a message to Robot chat on 3/16/2024 but hasn't received a response yet. Resolution: 1. Survey Monkey **************** phone number or email address 2. Refund of ****** 3. Cancellation of subscription March 16, 2024 *********************** ************************************************************************** ****************** ********************** email address was closed due to the college closure. ************************** email address was closed due to the college closure Survey Monkey *********** CA Subject: Request for Subscription Cancellation and Refund (Invoice #********)I am writing to request the cancellation of my subscription and a refund for the subscription fee charged on 12/21/2023, totaling $******. The subscription was for the billing period from Dec 21, 2023, to Dec 20, 2024.The subscription fee was originally intended for conducting student surveys at what was formerly *************, now known as ******************** Unfortunately, ******************* ceased operations as of August 31, 2023, rendering the subscription unnecessary.I recently discovered that my credit card was still linked to automatic subscription payments when I reviewed my credit card billing statement. Despite attempting to contact Survey Monkey via the Engage Chat system since January 2024 to dispute and cancel the subscription, I did not receive any response.Furthermore, my credit card company, US Bank, intervened and provided me with an event log showing no cancellation activity since the previous renewal. The log indicates that the last login was on April 26, 2023, suggesting that I have not utilized Survey Monkey products since that date due to the closure of ********************Given these circumstances, I request:Immediate cancellation of the subscription.A refund of the subscription fee amounting to $******, charged on 12/21/2023.***********************

  

  Business response

  04/08/2024

  Were sorry to hear about this customers experience.
  
  Subscription options, features, and conditions are included for customers to view and agree to on the sign-up checkout page when processing the payment for an account upgrade, and listed within our Terms of Use. SurveyMonkey is a self-serve tool, and as such we expect our customers to carefully read and consider the terms and conditions they are agreeing to before signing up for an account and/or providing their credit card information. 
  
  Because SurveyMonkey is a self-service platform, we leave account management up to our customers, including subscription management. With our plans, we provide a service for a set price, and this begins upon upgrade or renewal; once this has occurred, the account is committed for the full billing period. This is included in the agreement we make with our customers about what they can expect of us. Fees are non-refundable per our Terms of Use: *******************************************************************;

  Customers can cancel auto-renew at any time, but they won't receive a refund for the remaining paid time. Our Terms of Use state that the fees paid by the customer are non-refundable. We can also cancel this setting on a customers behalf when contacted directly through our support channel: ***************************************************;
  
  Since a chargeback dispute has been filed by the customer with their card issuer, we are prohibited to take any action on the account. We suggest the customer follow up with their card issuer and bank directly for further details as well. When a dispute is filed with the card issuer/bank, they handle the entire process and would determine if it qualifies for their dispute criteria and reimbursement. Any reimbursement would come from the bank, not in the form of a refund from SurveyMonkey.
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  03/20/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I purchased a one year SurveyMonkey subscription one year ago and used it for a month for a school project. There was never a notification that the subscription would be renewed giving me no chance to cancel before my card was charged $276. I had not used the account since maybe May of last year. By the time my account was charged, it was too late to receive a refund as the company refuses to issue a refund unless legally obligated, regardless of whether or not the account was used. I have no intention of using my account further and am stuck with an expensive product I have no use for and cannot return. Not to mention the process to cancel was convoluted and required navigating broken links. I had to use a help forum on Reddit to cancel. Even if I cannot receive a refund, I think the lack of notification for when your subscription would be renewed and the difficulty of actually cancelling the subscription should be amended.

  

  Business response

  03/22/2024

  Were sorry to hear about this customers experience.
  
  Subscription options, features, and conditions are included for customers to view and agree to on the sign-up checkout page when processing the payment for an account upgrade, and listed within our Terms of Use. SurveyMonkey is a self-serve tool, and as such we expect our customers to carefully read and consider the terms and conditions they are agreeing to before signing up for an account and/or providing their credit card information. 
  
  Because SurveyMonkey is a self-service platform, we leave account management up to our customers, including subscription management. With our plans, we provide a service for a set price, and this begins upon upgrade or renewal; once this has occurred, the account is committed for the full billing period. This is included in the agreement we make with our customers about what they can expect of us. Fees are non-refundable per our Terms of Use: *******************************************************************;
  
  Customers can cancel auto-renew at any time, but they won't receive a refund for the remaining paid time. Our Terms of Use state that the fees paid by the customer are non-refundable. We can also cancel this setting on a customers behalf when contacted directly through our support channel: ***************************************************;

  Our support team was not able to locate a support case from this customer with the details they have provided. We encourage them to get in contact with support team for further assistance.
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  03/01/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Their customer service is a scam. I have put a request in for a refund because we no longer utilize Survey Monkey as of July 2023 and was unaware of an auto-renewal until I saw the charge appear on my credit card. Per their policies, they state that "we, in our sole discretion, determine a refund is appropriate.". When I brought that to their attention, they completely disregarded their own policy and stated they are "unable to offer a refund" due to them being a self-serve platform. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was contacted via email less than a minute later by a rep named "****". I emailed him my concerns and explanation all to receive a response back from the representative who initially responded to my request. Their responses has been a copy/paste from a script and they are falsifying the person I'm supposed to be speaking to. That whole experience was a disgrace and opened my eyes to the scam and con behind Survey Monkey.

  

  Business response

  03/19/2024

  Were sorry to hear about this customers experience.
  
  Subscription options, features, and conditions are included for customers to view and agree to on the sign-up checkout page when processing the payment for an account upgrade, and listed within our Terms of Use. SurveyMonkey is a self-serve tool, and as such we expect our customers to carefully read and consider the terms and conditions they are agreeing to before signing up for an account and/or providing their credit card information. Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of a customer's billing cycle to ensure they dont lose access to paid features and survey data. 

  This customers case has been located by the support team and an exception has been made for the customer. We encourage the customer to continue communicating with support should they have any further questions.
  

  
  

  Customer response

  03/20/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. The business and I were able to find a resolution after I submitted my initial complaint and they refunded my account for the amount I was requesting. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************************

• Initial Complaint

  02/15/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Our non-profit has an account with **********************. The employee that had sole access to the account is no longer with us and her email address (it was used for log in) with us has been deleted, So I can't even ask for a password reset as the email no longer exists. We were just charged $468. for our annual subscription and we can't even use the service. I have contacted SurveyMonkey 3 times this week and have yet to get a response. I've been asking for them to contact me so that we can get the credentials changed. I have the credit card information for verification for the account if they need it. I also needed a receipt for the transaction so our CPA could reconcile the credit card statement. I can't get that either as i cannot get into the account.

  

  Business response

  02/16/2024

  Were sorry to hear about this customers experience.

  Subscription options, features, and conditions are included for customers to view and agree to on the sign-up checkout page when processing the payment for an account upgrade, and listed within our Terms of Use. SurveyMonkey is a self-serve tool, and as such we expect our customers to carefully read and consider the terms and conditions they are agreeing to before signing up for an account and/or providing their credit card information. Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of a customer's billing cycle to ensure they dont lose access to paid features and survey data. 
  
  Because SurveyMonkey is a self-service platform, we leave account management up to our customers, including subscription management and account information/details. 
  
  This customers case has been located by the support team and is currently being reviewed by both the support and management team. We encourage the customer to continue communicating with support should they have any further questions. 
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  02/01/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Purchased an annual subscription 4 days ago for my company, but after we created a survey, sent a test survey via SurveyMonkey email system, and the survey's were quarantined by Office 365 / Gmail. I opened a support request and their response was to send 300 users SurveyMonkey's allowed server list so they can add them to the customer's email system whitelist. I requested a refund, but SurveyMonkey stated they will not refund the subscription. I was sold a broken product that doesn't not provide a way to successfully send customers a survey.I do not have this issue with other campaign systems.

  

  Business response

  02/05/2024

  We are sorry to hear about this customer's experience. 

  As a self-serve platform we do leave account management up to our customers, this includes subscription management, keeping contact information up to date as well as working with respondents and their internal IT team in regard to company-wide security and email deliverability settings. This is included in the agreement we make with our customers about what they can expect of us when signing up for a SurveyMonkey account and plan. 

  Customers are provided with the necessary information and resources in order to work with their IT team and provide to their respondents to ensure email deliverability for future use and so that they can utilize their account going forward.

  We do have policies in place to ensure we are fair and consistent with all of our customers. The fees are non-refundable per our Terms of Use, and those conditions are included for customers to view and agree to when they first sign up:*************************************************************

  This customers case has been located and is currently being reviewed by both the support team and management. We encourage the customer to continue communicating with support should they have any further questions.
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/03/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I made an online donation to a non profit organization, and was asked at the end of the donation process to complete a survey. (The organization was either ********.org or ********.org) I began filling out the survey questions, and then noticed that the info being asked for was way too detailed. I tried to get out of the site, but evidently, Survey Monkey just went ahead and opened an account in my name. I am a 75 year old retiree. I have no interest in nor any business reason to open an account with a survey company. This is appears to be a sneaky scam by Survey Monkey!Survey Monkey does not have a method on their byzantine website for me to cancel this fabricated account. This appears to be a scam created by Survey Monkey to make money from a bogus account that they set up and they refuse to close!

  

  Business response

  01/10/2024

  Were sorry to hear about this customers experience.
  
  SurveyMonkey is a self-serve tool, and as such we expect our customers to carefully read and consider the terms and conditions they are agreeing to before signing up for an account. Because ********************** is a self-service platform, we leave account management up to our customers.
  
  The customer can find the steps to delete their account by following the instructions in the Help Article here: **********************************************************************************************
  
  Our support team was not able to locate a support case from this customer. We encourage them to get in contact with support team should they have any problems with deleting their account: **********************************************
  
  

  Customer response

  01/17/2024

   
  Complaint: 21093209
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I attempted to open the alleged link and it failed repeatedly. Therefore I feel this is not a valid link. Please provide a link that works and shows a real attempt to resolve this issue.
  
  *************************************************

  

  Business response

  01/22/2024

  Again, were sorry to hear about this customers experience.
  
  As a self-serve platform, the customer can delete their account at any time with the instructions outlined in our *********** article here: **********************************************************************************************
  
  We are not able to delete customer accounts on their behalf due to privacy and security reasons.
  
  Our support team was still not able to locate a support case from this customer. Again, we encourage them to get in contact with support team directly should they have any problems with deleting their account: ***************************************************
  
  The customer can also view how to contact the support team with this *********** article: *************************************************************************************
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/02/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I cancelled my subscription. $120.75 was charged after the fact without my authorization. Survey Monkey is refusing to refund the unauthorized charge.

  

  Business response

  01/10/2024

  Were sorry to hear about this customers experience.
  
  Subscription options, features, and conditions are included for customers to view and agree to on the sign-up checkout page when processing the payment for an account upgrade, and listed within our Terms of Use. SurveyMonkey is a self-serve tool, and as such we expect our customers to carefully read and consider the terms and conditions they are agreeing to before signing up for an account and/or providing their credit card information. 
  
  Because SurveyMonkey is a self-service platform, we leave account management up to our customers, including subscription management. With our plans, we provide a service for a set price, and this begins upon upgrade or renewal; once this has occurred, the account is committed for the full billing period. This is included in the agreement we make with our customers about what they can expect of us. Fees are non-refundable per our Terms of Use: *************************************************************
  
  However, since a chargeback dispute has been filed by the customers with their card issuer, we are prohibited to take any action on the account. We suggest the customer follow up with their card issuer and bank directly for further details as well. When a dispute is filed with the card issuer/bank, they handle the entire process and would determine if it qualifies for their dispute criteria and reimbursement. Any reimbursement would come from the bank, not in the form of a refund from SurveyMonkey.
  
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩