iStockPhotoReviews 196

Like everyone else has experienced, I signed up for the free trial to be able to download 1 photo that I needed for an assignment and did not realize that it automatically bills you for an entire 12 months and that you are actually contracted and cannot cancel. Complete rip off and no one replies to your messages when you try to contact them to explain that you can't afford their services. Resorting to cancelling my card to stop further payments. STAY AWAY from this site!

Unprofessional business practices. As many other here, their main revenue is from scamming people into a years subscription. This needs to be looked into from legal perspective.

Oh my God, I can not believe they are professional liars and big scammers. However, they first show that it is based on law and the contract you agreed to. They are professional in lying. Just keep away

Signed up for a test account. Did not manage to cancel the subscription and now they have me signed up for 1 year, with invoiced EVERY month. Talked to customer support, total robots, probably outsourced, so no possible way to get out. Never touch this peace of sh*** software!

I canceled my free trial within the timeframe required. Actually, within two days of starting it. A month later I received a charge for $75. I immediately contacted customer service who told me they recanceled all of access to their services and would not charge me again. They stated they will not refund my money per their billing policy. I told them I followed their requirements and they fraudulently billed me anyway. They continue to tell me they will not refund my money. I have filed a fraud claim with my bank.

I signed up for a free trial and forgot to cancel my account in time. There was no email to remind me that a paid subscription was about to start. The subscription started. I sent an email to their support team to explain the situation. They were clear that it couldn't be cancelled. Not only that, but even though payments were made monthly, I was subscribed for a year with no possibility to change it. I was therefore expected to pay AUD 1,122 (incl. Tax) over the course of 12 months, with AUD 93.50 already debited from my account as the free trial finished. After several emails, they eventually "offered" to terminate my account if I paid a cancellation fee of AUD 467.50 (incl. Tax). After attempting to negotiate with them and failing miserably, I eventually accepter their proposition. I had to call the support team as they stopped answering my emails for several weeks. I start free trials all the time and I have never ever had such a terrible experience. Even though they seem to have covered their backs with supporting policies, I believe such policies shouldn't be legal. It most definitely feels like a scam. Now I know, and I think everyone should now this about iStock until they rectify their methods.

I signed up for a free trial but forgot to cancel before it ended, leading to a surprise 29 euros charge for the first month.

What's upsetting is that to cancel the plan, they hit me with a big 145 euro fee. This felt like too much.

I get rules, but I think there should be some understanding. I just wanted one photo during the trial, and now I paid way more than expected.

During the trial, I downloaded only one photo, and that was my intention.

I hope my story helps others know what they might face with iStock.

It's unacceptable that they don't allow any exceptions to refunds when trying to cancel the free trial the day you get charged and didn't use any of the credits. What a rip off!

Extremely expensive auto renew if you forget to cancel the trial. Rather than going into a monthly renew, you are put into a yearly plan for $70/mo.

Had an incredibly negative experience with iStock. I am initiating legal proceedings against their website. I used their service for only an hour and clicked the button to not renew. However, the renewal was for a year, not monthly, and it was not clearly displayed. The cancellation email went to spam, so I never received it. I mistakenly thought that clicking the cancel button was for the monthly payment. I strongly advise against using their service in the future.

IStock employs manipulative & deceptive tactics. IStock debits your account and refuses to refund your money. This company has many international complaints and is an internet scam!

This site is a total scam and I honestly can't figure out how it's even legal. They rope you in with a GIANT banner about their (oh so generous) free trial. After that, it's $70 per month. This is where it gets tricky, because even though it's $70 per month, they won't let you cancel it for a year. I don't understand how something like an online photo gallery can have such a high monthly fee and then require that you pay it for a whole year. I used one photo from their gallery during my free trial, which I have now paid $70 for. After going back and forth with them with no success, I finally had to cancel my credit card so I wouldn't end up paying them $700 for that one photo. To add to the ridiculousness, their photo gallery isn't even that great. I have a pro Canva subscription that rivals it, and I pay way less money for so much more value. I usually always read reviews before signing up for something, but I was in a time crunch with my website and needed an image that I didn't have readily available. It was a pricey lesson learned, but a lesson nonetheless. I promised them I would be posting negative reviews, so I'll need to repost this in a few places, and then off to the fun task of contacting all my monthly subscription services and creditors to give them my new credit card info.

Signed up for a free trial subscription to download ten free photos. I forgot to cancel it and was billed $70.00. Based on the invoice I received I believed it was $70 per year and I had been charged a full-year upfront so I decided to keep the subscription. I was then charged another $70 a month later. It was not clear to me on the invoice it was $70 per month. It appeared confusing to me and I stare at invoices all the time. I submitted a cancellation request via their website and received an email back saying I would have to pay a $70 "administrative charge" to cancel the subscription. I was told it was a year long contract and I would be billed every month for the full-year unless I paid the fee. I had to put a stop payment on payments from them through the bank. The email was very generic and offered zero customer service and was not even signed by a company representative. If you need photos from them, buy them individually, do not become duped into a contract subscription.

After seeing that the website was "by Getty Images" I mistakenly assumed this would be a valid business with a business plan and some sort of structure and culture attempting to sell a service or a product.
The misleading signup process led me to believe I had signed up for the FREE Trial and then afterwords would be on a basic monthly plan. The flow of the checkout somehow led me to default to the mid level plan on an annual billing cycle...OK. All of this is fair game in my opinion and I should have paid more attention.
Where they become a low rent money grab site is this...I contacted them and notified them I had only downloaded 1 item during my free trial and the item did not work. So I had not logged in since then and had not used their services and had gained nothing from them and used nothing of theirs and generated no cost for them. When I requested a refund they denied me and said flatly it was against policy.
This company has no confidence or belief in the product hey have created. Their goal is to use recurring billing to make money from customers who forget to cancel or are unable to cancel regardless of whether customers are satisfied with their products and services. It is the exact opposite of everything I have designed my own businesses to stand for.

I recently tried iStockPhoto with a supposed 1-month free trial, only to encounter a nightmare when attempting to cancel. Little did I know, I was roped into a 12-month plan that proved impossible to cancel, a fact conveniently missing from their initial offer. Not only that, but their failure to include VAT in the monthly plan violates Norwegian law. Transparency and compliance are evidently not priorities for them. Ordering online should also include a scheme according to local regulations, which iStockPhoto lacks. This experience has left me deeply dissatisfied, and I'll be taking this matter up with the authorities. Beware of their deceptive practices and disregard for legal obligations.

They make it difficult to cancel your free trial and usually end up charging you. They have terrible customer service and will not refund your money if you have issues. Stay away!

They deliberately designed the best way to confuse first-time users with a huge charge which you can't cancel online - WATCH OUT.

I called iStock customer service several times to ensure that I wouldn't miss the deadline for my month's free trial subscription. The last staff member I spoke with gave me dates that extended into 2024. I thought that was wonderful until the day after the month deadline was up when I called to confirm that and was informed the info I was given was incorrect.

They would indeed charge me ($70!) for the next month although I was 1 day over the monthly deadline and was told earlier that it had been extended. Which staff person was I to rely on? I went with the most recent and got dinged for $70 for the entire month. IStock falsely promised a year by phone so that intentionally supersede the monthly deadline...and then charged SEVENTY DOLLARS for the next month! Additionally, I'd only downloaded 2 photos that month (neither of which I used) for a local kids non-profit,

IStock Photo is dishonest and greedy and engage with them at your own peril.

They make it sound like a fair trial offer. But it is clearly a baited trap.

They say you can cancel anytime. But they do absolutely nothing to remind you when the offer is about to expire. And they don't send you you ANY emails after the free offer expires that might remind you that you are paying a $75.00 a month subscription. When was the last time you had a company you had a subscription not send you marketing emails, encouraging you to upgrade or refer a friend.

They clearly want to get as many payments out of you before you realize you are being charged.

Then if you do try to cancel, THEY WILL NOT TALK TO YOU ON THE PHONE OR CHAT.

They force you to submit a request through a form then wait 36 hours for their response.

One low-res photo I could have gotten for $15 to $20 somewhere else ended up costing me $150.

Terrible company.

PS - you can find a much better selection of image on other sites.