Note: Before I took the course, I was aware of the scams they did to people but I thought ‘I’ll just cancel my free membership early so I won’t get charged.’ I couldn’t have been more wrong.

On November 12, 2019, I signed up for the free one-month subscription for the Digital Marketing class. But on December 3, I accidentally clicked on the E-certificate purchase, so I asked for a refund. Naturally, they said no because it’s already activated on my end. So I said, ok whatever it’s only 75 AED and it was my fault for accidentally clicking on it. On December 6, I cancelled my membership to avoid getting charged and went on my merry ways.

Come January 5, 2020, I woke up to a charge of 159.99 AED from Shaw Academy. I immediately messaged them telling them that I shouldn’t get charged and give me a refund because I already cancelled my subscription on December 6 and did not renew. On the website, my account was set to none-renewing.

Patrick and Roy from Shaw Academy kept sending me this message:

I have personally reviewed your account and found that you had subscribed on 12-Nov-2019 using your debit/credit card/payment method and availed of a 30-day free trial after which payment would be made. All aspects of this were made clear at registration, within your member’s area and via communications. You then proceeded to cancel your membership on 06-Dec-2019 and subsequently reactivated it on 06-Dec-2019 with the offer of free Toolkit and E-certificate. Your trial then restarted from this date onwards and since you did not cancel during your restarted trial period payment was processed as per the terms and conditions associated with your membership. Click here to review the same in particular section 4 and 5.

They both kept on insisting on the words “subsequently reactivated”. So I asked them what does that even mean for this scenario, but instead, they just kept on giving me their robot-spiel and refuse to give me a refund and still try to sell me their product even though it was very obvious how angry I got on the email.

I repeatedly informed them and sent them a screenshot that I purchased the E-Certificate on December 3 and not on December 6. I also sent them a screenshot of my cancellation email confirmation. I did not stop hounding them with valid questions. I kept on asking for any evidence and email confirmation that my account was renewed on December 6. THEY COULDN’T PROVIDE ANY. Whatever system or Terms and Conditions they have are designed to blatantly steal from people and they are deliberately sneaky.

They also tried to explain to me that ‘This free trial model is similar to what the likes of Netflix, Spotify and all other subscription providers offer.’ YUP, THEY REALLY TRIED TO COMPARE THEMSELVES WITH NETFLIX AND SPOTIFY. I told Patrick that I have so many subscriptions and they are the ONLY ONE who doesn’t inform the customer that they are going to be charged and that the subscription is due for renewal.

I immediately called my bank to block my credit card and I filed a dispute claim. After so many angry email exchange with Patrick, they finally gave me a refund which should reflect on my bank account in 10 days. Today, I cancelled the dispute claim with my bank.

This tale may serve as a warning for online learners like me.

DO NOT TRUST SHAW ACADEMY. THEY WILL STEAL FROM YOU AND THEY WILL DO IT SNEAKILY. THERE IS NO WAY TO REMOVE YOUR BANK DETAILS ON THEIR WEBSITE. SHAW ACADEMY IS A SCAM.

Edit: some words