Charged After a Free Trial? How to Get Your Refund

The rules depend on the facts and on where you live, so treat this as a practical guide, not legal advice.

Why did a free trial turn into a charge?

Most free trials work the same way. You hand over a card number on day one, the company bills it at the end of the trial unless you cancel first, and your silence counts as agreement. The Federal Trade Commission calls this a negative option: you're charged automatically unless you tell the company not to bill you.

The FTC's consumer advice on free trials, auto-renewals and negative option subscriptions is blunt about the catch: if you don't cancel on time, you'll probably be charged. It also says the trial terms should tell you what you're agreeing to, how long the trial runs, and how and when to cancel to avoid a charge after it.

That matters for your refund request. A charge is not automatically a mistake just because the trial was "free". But a charge can be a problem if the terms weren't clear, the cancel route was hidden, or you did cancel and were billed anyway. Your first job is to work out which of those you're dealing with.

Step 1: Who billed you, the company or an app store?

The answer decides where your request goes. Open your bank or card statement and read the merchant name on the charge.

Statement line looks like	Who billed you	Where to ask
Apple, an Apple bill line, or an App Store receipt email	Apple	Apple's refund request page
Google, a Google Play receipt email	Google	Google Play order history and refund page
The company's own name or a payment processor	The company	Its billing or support team, by email
A name you don't recognise	Unknown	Find the receipt email first, then decide

Search your inbox for the words "receipt", "invoice" and "trial" from the week of the charge. The receipt tells you the plan, the price, the billing period and who collected the money.

If Apple billed you

Apple's own guide to cancelling a subscription from Apple sends you to Settings, your name, then Subscriptions. It also says that if there is no Cancel button, or you see an expiry message in red text, the subscription is already cancelled. For trials, Apple says to cancel at least 24 hours before the trial ends, which is why a last-evening cancellation can still be too late.

For the money, Apple's page on requesting a refund says to sign in at reportaproblem.apple.com, choose "Request a refund", pick the reason and the subscription, and submit. A few details from that page matter here:

• Apple says to wait 24 to 48 hours for an update after you submit.
• If the charge is still pending, you can't request a refund yet. Wait for the email receipt, then try again.
• Refund eligibility can vary by country or region, so a decision of "no" isn't the same everywhere.

If Google Play billed you

Google's help page on cancelling a subscription on Google Play is clear that uninstalling an app does not cancel the subscription, so cancel from your Play subscriptions. The same page says past subscriptions can't be refunded, with some exceptions set out in Google's refund policies. So read those policies for your case, and ask promptly.

If the company billed you

Cancel in the account settings or the way the terms say, and keep proof. Then write to the company. The rest of this guide is about that email.

Step 2: Cancel before you chase the refund

A refund and a cancellation are two separate things. Getting your money back doesn't stop the next charge, and cancelling doesn't return the last one. Do the cancelling first, today, and keep the confirmation.

If you aren't sure the cancellation worked, screenshot the account page showing the subscription status. Then keep the confirmation email, or write down the reference number and the time if you cancelled by chat. If you need help wording the cancellation itself, our cancellation email generator writes one from the details on your receipt. The FTC's advice is to keep a copy of your cancellation request and notes on any conversations about it.

Step 3: Build a three-date timeline

The strongest trial refund requests are short and built on dates. Before you write anything, fill in this table from your emails and your statement.

Fact	Where to find it	Your answer
Sign-up date	Welcome or confirmation email
Trial length you were told	The sign-up page or welcome email
Date and amount of the charge	Bank or card statement
Did you get a reminder before the charge?	Search the inbox for "trial ending"
Did you use the service after the trial ended?	Account activity, your own memory
Cancel date, if any	Cancellation confirmation

Two rows carry most of the weight. "Reminder before the charge" shows whether the company warned you. "Used the service after the trial" shows whether you got anything for the money. If the answer to the second is no, say so in the first lines of your email.

What do the federal rules actually say?

Here is the legal hook, kept narrow because it's easy to overstate.

The Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, known as ROSCA, was signed in December 2010. The text of the law, Public Law 111-345 on congress.gov, makes it unlawful to charge a consumer on the internet through a negative option feature unless the seller does three things:

1. Clearly and conspicuously discloses all material terms of the transaction before obtaining your billing information.
2. Obtains your express informed consent before charging your card, bank account or other financial account.
3. Provides simple mechanisms for you to stop recurring charges.

The law is enforced by the FTC and by state attorneys general. It also records Congress's reason for passing it: findings in the act describe sellers using a free trial period to enrol people, then charging them until they cancelled, which it says took advantage of consumers' expectations that they'd get a chance to accept or reject the offer at the end of the trial.

What this does and doesn't mean for you:

• It gives you a legitimate point to raise if the terms were buried, the consent was unclear, or cancelling was hard.
• It does not mean every post-trial charge is illegal. If the terms were clear, you agreed to them, and you could have cancelled easily, a refund is a favour the company may grant, not a duty.
• It is not a magic phrase. A calm request that quotes the facts works better than a legal threat.

What about the "click to cancel" rule?

You may have read that the FTC passed a rule making cancelling as easy as signing up. That rule is not in force. In July 2025 the Eighth Circuit granted the petitions for review and vacated the FTC's amended negative option rule because of procedural defects in how it was made. So the current federal hook is ROSCA, together with state automatic renewal laws and each company's own terms. Some states have their own cancellation requirements, which is why your location matters.

Step 4: Write the refund request

Send it to the billing or support address from the company's own pages, not a guessed one. If you can't find it, our billing email finder looks for it on the company's own site. Keep it short, put the dates first, and ask for something specific.

Here is a version you can adapt:

Subject: Refund request: free trial charge on [date], account [email]

Hello,

I signed up for a free trial of [service] on [sign-up date] using [email address]. On [charge date] I was charged [amount], which I didn't intend. I haven't used the service since the trial ended.

I have cancelled the subscription [as of date, confirmation attached]. Please refund the [amount] charge to my original payment method and confirm that no further charges will be made.

I'd appreciate a reply by [date, about 7 days out]. If you can't refund it, please tell me why and point me to the policy or terms you're relying on.

Thank you, [Name] [Account email]

Why it works: it opens with dates, which are easy for support to verify; it states the single fact that matters, no use; it asks for exactly one outcome; and it sets a polite deadline. For more wording options, including a firmer version, see our guide to a refund request email.

If your trial converted after you did use the paid period, be honest about that. Ask for a partial refund or the unused portion instead of pretending you didn't use it. Support teams often check usage logs, and an inaccurate claim costs you the goodwill that gets refunds approved.

What if the company says no?

A refusal isn't always final. Reply once on the same thread, politely, and ask three things: which clause in the terms they rely on, whether a one-time exception is possible, and whether the case can go to a supervisor or billing specialist. Our post on what to do when a company refuses a refund has a sequence for this stage, including how to keep the exchange on the record.

Meanwhile, look at the sign-up flow again with ROSCA in mind. If you can show that the price or the auto-renewal wasn't disclosed before you entered your card, or that you couldn't find a way to cancel, say so plainly. Nothing in that sentence needs to accuse anyone.

When should you dispute the charge with your card issuer?

Disputing is the next step when the company won't refund, ignores you, or keeps charging after you cancelled. The FTC's advice is that if you're charged without your consent and the company won't refund your money, you should dispute the charge, also called a chargeback, with your credit or debit card company right away.

For credit cards, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau explains how to dispute a charge on your credit card bill. Its guidance is to call the card company about the problem right away, and to protect your rights by sending a written billing error notice within 60 calendar days after the charge appeared on your statement. After receiving it, the company has 30 days to confirm it received the dispute, unless it has completed its billing error procedures by then.

Two practical points:

• Send your evidence. The refund email, the cancellation confirmation and the dates table are exactly what the issuer's reviewer wants to see.
• Don't wait. The 60-day clock runs from the statement date, not from when you noticed.

Debit cards and prepaid cards follow different rules from credit cards, so ask your bank how its process works. Our comparison of a chargeback vs a refund covers when each route fits and what it can cost you if the merchant fights back.

How do you stop it happening again?

• Cancel on day one. Many services let you cancel straight after signing up and keep the trial until its end date. Read the terms to confirm yours does.
• Set a reminder two days before the end, not the last evening, especially for Apple trials where the 24-hour rule applies.
• Check the terms before entering a card. The FTC recommends finding the length of the trial and how to cancel before you sign up. Watch for pre-ticked boxes too, which the FTC warns can give permission to keep charging after the trial.
• Use a card with spending controls if your bank offers single-use or virtual card numbers for trials.
• Review statements monthly, which is where the FTC also tells you to look for charges you didn't expect.

If the charge was one of several you've lost track of, DemandRefund's inbox scan reads receipts for trials that turned into payments, so you don't find out from the statement.

Where do you start?

Start with the dates. Open your email, find the sign-up message and the receipt, and fill in the timeline table. Then use DemandRefund to turn those facts into a refund email: pick "Free trial turned into a charge" on the DemandRefund homepage, add your receipt, and it finds the right billing contact and writes the message for you. Free accounts get three cases a day.

FAQ

Can I get a refund if I forgot to cancel my free trial? Often you can ask, but it isn't guaranteed. If the terms were clear, a refund is the company's choice. If the terms were hidden, cancelling was hard, or you were billed after cancelling, you have a stronger case. Ask quickly and say you haven't used the paid period.

Is it legal for a company to charge me after a free trial? It can be, if the seller disclosed the terms clearly before taking your billing details, got your express consent, and offered a simple way to stop recurring charges, as ROSCA requires for online sales. If those steps were missing, the charge may be a problem, and the FTC and your state attorney general take reports.

What do I say to get a trial charge refunded? Give your sign-up date, the charge date and amount, and say you haven't used the service since the trial ended. Ask for a full refund to the original payment method, confirm you have cancelled, and set a reply date about a week out.

My free trial was through Apple or Google. Who do I ask? The store, not the app developer. For Apple, use reportaproblem.apple.com. For Google, use your Google Play order history and refund options. If the charge is still pending on Apple's side, you may need to wait for the receipt before you can request a refund.

How long do I have to ask for a refund? Company windows vary, and some are short, so ask the day you notice. For a credit card dispute, the CFPB says to send a written billing error notice within 60 calendar days after the charge appeared on your statement.

Does cancelling the subscription refund the charge? No. Cancelling stops future billing. Getting back a charge that already went through needs a separate refund request.

What if they keep charging me after I cancel? Send the cancellation proof to the billing team and ask for a refund of the post-cancellation charges. If it continues, dispute with your card issuer and report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or to your state attorney general. Our guide to being charged after cancelling a subscription covers that case in detail.

Can I dispute a free trial charge with my bank right away? You can, but it works best after you've asked the company first and kept the paper trail. A chargeback with no prior contact is easier for the merchant to contest. If the company ignores you or refuses, go straight to the dispute with your evidence.