DoNotPay

DoNotPay

This is one of the very few of our site picks and/or freeware picks we have not fully tested. There are just too many services available from this site that we do not have the time or need to test them.

The first thing you’ll probably notice is that DoNotPay is an app for Apple iPhone. But do not despair, anyone who has a credit card and a cell phone can sign up. If you’re not an Apple iPhone user you’ll be missing the convenience of having a smartphone app and some of the other features of the Apple iPhone app that are not available via the DoNotPay Web Portal.

And finally, before I get into the Kibbles & Bits of this, I want to point out that neither one of us are attorneys, not even close. As for the legality of DoNotPay, if you’re a doubting Thomas, call your attorney, they get paid to give you legal advice. We don’t get paid much for anything, and nothing for picking Cloudeight site picks. So nothing in this article should be construed as legal advice or us guiding you into doing something you don’t want to do. When it comes to DoNotPay as a site pick, our primary goal is to inform you and let you know what it is and potentially what you can do with it.

Free trials 

Every time you sign up for a free trial you expect you’ll end of paying for it because you like it or you’ll forget to cancel when the free trial is over and your credit or debit card will get zapped for the price of the product or service or for a full month of a subscription if you are trying a video streaming service like Netflix, Hulu, CBS AllAccess. Either way, you end up paying for the free trial.

Yes. You can call your credit card company and tell them you forgot to cancel after the free trial, but you may as well save your time. Besides that – why should a free trial be opt-out, why shouldn’t it be opt-in? In other words, when the trial is over your trial subscription should be canceled automatically and if you want to buy the subscription you should be able to opt into it. But that’s not how it works. If you don’t cancel before the trial ends, you get charged for a month of service. Welcome to “How Rich People Get Rich 101”.

I don’t know how you do things, but I have signed up for free trials and forgotten I did and ended up paying for something I didn’t use. The only way I find out these things is to pore over my credit card statements and find these subscription charges for services I forgot about.

When you sign up for DoNotPay (Apple app or not) you’ll be able to generate a Free Trial Card. A Free Trial Card is a virtual credit card that you can use to sign up for free trials of any service and do so anonymously. You can try any service you want, and generate a DoNotPay Free Trial Card (virtual credit card) instead of using your real credit card.

So, when the free trial ends, the DoNotPay Free Trial Card automatically declines to be charged, thus ending your free trial.

Why would you want to do this? Well… you don’t have to remember to do anything or cancel anything. DoNotPay automatically sends you an email when you sign up for a trial service and another when the trial ends. It’s nice to get the email at the end of a trial just in case you want to transform the trial subscription into a full paid subscription. If you do decide to convert your trial subscription to a full subscription, you’ll need to update your payment information with your real information and your credit card number. and – in most cases – give up your real name and address.

I signed up for DoNotPay via the DoNotPay Web Portal. I wanted to try a trial subscription to CBS All Access. I generated a DoNotPay virtual credit card that comes complete with the credit card number, CVV number (the 3 digit number on the back of any credit card), expiry date and zip code (not mine). Along with the virtual credit card came the following instructions:

Card Details
The DoNotPay card cancels your subscriptions for you. It will automatically approve on “free trial” or billing pages, but never approve subscription (or other) charges.

Never Ever Pay
We are so sure it works that you are not responsible for any charges made on the card. You can just go crazy and we will never ask you to pay.

How To Use Card
You can use any name or address when prompted. However, make sure the card number, expiration date, and zip code matches the information on the card.

That’s it. I tried a streaming service called CBS All Access. I received an email from DoNotPay when I signed up and one when the trial was over. Zap!  My subscription ended. I wanted to see “Star Trek Picard”

Is this legal? Who knows? I’m not an attorney. DoNotPay has been featured on many major U.S. TV networks, and newspapers and by the BBC. You’re right – they are not lawyers either – but they have lawyers and we don’t. DoNotPay was founded 5 years ago and they are growing.

We’re just here to tell you about DoNotPay – you have to decide whether you want to use it. We want you to be aware of it – if you don’t hear about it from us, you’re bound to hear about it from someone else.

Other stuff

DoNotPay offers quite a lineup of services, here are a few of them.

Above: Teach RoboCallers a lesson. But if you want our advice the best policy is to hang up on these miscreants.

Remember… we have not tested most of the services on this site. Visit the site, see what they offer, then use your discretion.  We just wanted you to know about DoNotPay and what the services they offer might be able to do for you.

Learn more about DoNotPay here. 

And please read DoNotPay’s privacy policy here