Academia Opiniões 815

I was charged for an annual Academia Premium subscription on May 18, 2025, despite believing I had canceled it. It could’ve been helpful if they sent reminders or even just receipts for the billing like other ethical websites and companies. Academia.edu has refused my refund request, and their cancellation process is confusing and unclear. As a student, this unexpected charge caused financial hardship. I signed up for Academia.edu Premium and later attempted to cancel the subscription during the trial period. However, I recently discovered that I was still charged an amount of 358,630.37 MNT (~$104 USD) on May 18, 2025, despite believing I had successfully canceled. I received no email notification before the renewal and was unaware that two separate steps were required to cancel properly.

I contacted Academia.edu support immediately after noticing the charge. They acknowledged the payment and confirmed that auto-renewal was turned off but refused to issue a refund, citing their policy. I explained that the cancellation interface was unclear, and I thought I had completed it. As a student, this is a significant amount of money for me, and I never intended to continue the subscription.

Aggiornamento: mi hanno contattato 3 giorni dopo e mi fanno fatto il rimborso senza fare storie. Sono contenta sia finita così, state comunque attenti.. può essere un sito valido se gestito meglio!
Vecchia recensione:
Ho utilizzato anch’io il “paga un euro per il documento per la prima volta” e senza neanche dirmelo hanno attivato una prova gratuita e mi hanno scalato 150€ senza nemmeno avvertirmi qualche giorno prima come un sito rispettoso farebbe.
Sono una studentessa e quei soldi non sembra ma mi fanno comodo, ho chiesto gentilmente un rimborso in quanto non ho mai usufruito del loro servizio ad eccezione del documento da 1€, e non mi hanno ancora risposto, attendo da 2 giorni ormai.
Sono rimasta molto delusa e anche in difficoltà.
Spero in una risoluzione del problema che sia veloce ed efficace.

Truffa. esigo il rimborso. La qualità degli articoli è infima e la cifra dell'acconto è eccesiva. Nessuna mail per segnalare che l'abbonamento sarebbe partito.

Every person here should ban together for a lawsuit if they do not get reimbursed for these sudden hike charges. Horrible, and a shame as i found it to be useful, but not $500 by any means. No one would pay that in any class of society for a website built on the work of the academics on it.

Academia.edu renewed my Premium subscription without clearly informing me of a massive price increase from €107 to €434 per year. That’s almost a 400% jump — and I received no direct notification or warning about this change.

This practice violates European consumer law, which requires that any price increase be clearly, individually, and timely communicated before an automatic renewal is processed. Despite this, Academia refuses to offer a refund.

I've filed a formal complaint with PayPal and will also report this to the European Consumer Centre (ECC).

My advice:
If you’re in the EU, assert your legal rights and file a complaint via your national consumer agency or the ECC. Be extremely cautious with Academia Premium — their billing practices are unethical at best, and potentially illegal.

Doubled the premium subscription cost from $249 in 2024 to $498 in 225 without notice.

SONO SCHIFATA.
Avendo creato un profilo come studente, il sito ha salvato le mie informazioni di pagamento, arrecandomi nel tempo spese periodiche fino ad arrivare quasi a 600 euro. Diffidate dal registrarvi a questo sito.

This is a complete rip off. Very expensive, no value, no refund. Avoid at all cost. For me, never ever again

mi sono ritrovato addebitato automaticamente un abbonamento per un importo di157,38 euro che non ho sottoscritto e senza essere informato, solo per aver consultato una volta il sito academia.edu. Ora pretendo il rimborso. Sito sicuramente ingannevole.

I had the really bad experience of finding out that over £200 had been taken from my account without warning. On closer inspection, in what looked like junk mail entitled "Update on Academia Premium" received 4 days before my money was taken, there was a mention towards the bottom that my fee would now be rising from £69 to over £200.
This isn’t just bad practice — it’s likely to be against UK consumer law (Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the CMA’s rules about fair auto-renewals). Hidden notices and big surprise price increases are not allowed, and terms saying "no refunds" can’t override consumers' basic legal rights.
If you get caught out by this scam you can dispute the payment with your bank (chargeback / Section 75); or otherwise to report the matter to Trading Standards and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Fortunately for me PayPal returned my money.
Ignore the 'customer service' responses to reviews. I will update this review if I ever see or hear of such assistance that is sincere and actually helpful. Those in actual academia can sometimes tend to assume that we can trust organisations that purport to support learning. Sadly that isn't always the case. Avoid.

Buongiorno mi riferisco all' articolo della dottoressa Silvia Motta su uno studio della cosiddetta " Montagna Quadrata " in Perù: io sono l' esploratore italiano che dopo i primi 5 anni di studio 2010/2015 ha incontrato la dottoressa Silvia Motta a Milano nel 2016 e insieme al mio amico Roberto de Leo ha fornito tutte le informazioni utili perche' la dottoressa potesse intraprendere delle ricerche satellitari per arrivare all'articolo che ha pubblicato. La dottoressa non conosceva nemmeno l' esistenza di questi luoghi in Peru' che stavo esplorando da anni. Dopo 8 anni di collaborazione la stessa e' venuta meno e nel suo articolo non sono stato nemmeno citato personalmente! Oltre a fornire informazioni non precise sul ritrovamento di un tempio nel 2017, avvenuto non per caso da" pastori' ma da guide pagate dal sottoscritto e da un gruppo francese. Desidererei che faceste far sapere all' autrice dell' articolo questa mia " recensione"..in modo che almeno possa modificarlo. Grazie. Dr. Marco Zagni. Presidente Associazione Italiana Esploratori.

This is a scam website. I innocently and now realise naively paid the £1 fee to view a publication on their website and didn’t realise that buried within the labyrinth of their terms and conditions was a trap to lock you into an expensive subscription. I have been to their website to try and release me from their subscription but the mass of conditions and obligations are purposefully designed to confuse and cheat you of your rights. I have been to PayPal and stopped any payments to this company in the future. I live in England and will refer this company to the appropriate authorities.

I subscribed for a month free trial a couple of years back. I cancelled my subscription, but they charged me anyways. The charged 100$ last year, and 300$ this year and they are not willing to refund. When I tried to cancel, you have to go through 2 or 3 different sites a reaffirm your choice of cancelling, which is deceptive enough to imply that the customer cancelled, without them actually doing so.

Absolutely appalled to find I'd paid £200 for something I didn't ask for - this 'company' is a complete con.
And ignore the ‘so sorry’ drivel - I have filled in the form and got nothing except ‘unfortunately …’ This money was stolen from me. It’s a criminal act. Wish I could give a negative star rating.

I was not using it and subscribed trial for 3$ . next year i was charged $89 which i didnt know in 2024 but yesterday i was charge $449 Invoice Number 785D4864-0003 . First the price difference . Second I dont use it anymore . Please refund .

I cancelled my subscription and was charged the annual fee anyway.
The articles in my field of interest are of very poor quality.

UPDATE: Received my refund without any questions asked.

Darei anche meno se potessi.
Ho consultato un articolo e, involontariamente, ho sottoscritto un abbonamento. Ovviamente non era chiaro per niente, visto che di solito sto molto attenta. Stamattina mi sono vista addebitare ben 315,98 euro. Una follia non dichiarata, una truffa bella e buona. Spero di riavere i miei soldi, e chiuderò l'account.

I got charged for 1 year, and i did not want that, i just forgot to cancel the subscription. I made a request for a refund and it s been 3 days and no answear just a mail that my request has been received, i want to know when i can get my money back because i have the 30 day refund eligibility and it s my first year.

UPDATE:
I got my money back after like 6 days, even tho it was Easter when i made the request so maybe for other people it might be faster. They followed the rules on the site so it is a big tumbs up from me.

Ein Stern ist leider noch zu viel. Mein Probe-Abo wurde für 260€ verlängert, obwohl dies nicht klar kommuniziert wurde. Eine augenscheinlich eingegangene Kündigung muss auch noch mindestens einmal zusätzlich bestätigt werden, was genauso wenig kommuniziert wurde. Da ich seitdem keine Premium-Funktionen genutzt habe und sogar als Student anspruchsberechtigt für einen Rabatt wäre, habe ich den Support kontaktiert, um eine nachträgliche, rückwirkende Lösung - ganz egal welche - zu finden. Bspw. eine Anerkennung des studentischen Rabattes o.Ä. Leider ohne eine hilfreiche oder auf mein Anliegen bezogene Antwort zu erhalten. Entweder wurde auf eine standardisierte Antwort zurückgegriffen, oder man hat im Support überhaupt gar nicht verstanden, worum es ging. Meiner Meinung nach vermutlich nicht verstehen wollen… Insgesamt wirkte die Reaktion wenig individuell und nicht besonders kundenorientiert. Die Seite jedenfalls ist unter keinen Umständen weiterzuempfehlen!

Poor customer service. Poor selection. Don’t waste your money