To warn you about the Domestika scam

[Lonelyscarecrow]

Hi - I thought Mumsnet might be a good site to post about this as it has such a big reach. Domestika deletes any comments on their social media trying to warn people of the scam. There was a Facebook group called Domestika Scam, later renamed Exposing Domestika which was supporting (I think?) 1000s of people who had been scammed but Domestika started lawsuits against the admins and the group has been shut down (this is what I understand to have happened anyway - I'm not on Facebook so wasn't part of the group)

Domestika is an online learning platform, lots of art/craft/design courses etc. I did quite a few courses with them over the last few years. I really enjoyed the courses, teachers are great, they were only a few pounds each. It was a lovely online "place".

But over the last year Domestika have started using dark patterns. They are selling courses for say 99p but people unknowingly also get signed up for a month's free trial. I think it might show somewhere when you pay for the course you want but it's very deliberately hidden and you don't get any email notification or anything to say you're on the trial and you don't have to click anything to sign up for it. Then after a month they take the cost of a year's membership from your bank with no warning or without you consenting to it (around £100). They just send an email say a day later confirming membership. Even people who actually did mean to sign up for the trial are finding that even if they opt out of membership well before the month is over the money is still taken from their account. It's impossible to talk to a human in customer service and people just get an automatic reply saying they chose to do the trial so there are no refunds. I found a way to get a refund but I think I must have been lucky as most people don't seem to be getting one.

Have a look at reviews of Domestika on Trustpilot - you can see that 1000s of people all over the world have been scammed in this way. Some stories are very sad as people very much couldn't afford to have this amount of money unexpectedly disappear from their accounts.

Just wanted to warn people - if you are buying a course from Domestika just be careful to check that they haven't added the free trial (unless you want it of course) and maybe you can delete that part. I mean obviously we should check what we're paying for online anyway - I guess I just became trusting and negligent as I'd bought so many courses from them over the years with no issue - lesson well and truly learned! If you have bought a course from Domestika recently, keep an eye on your bank account.

Also just to add that people who did intend to get the trial found they didn't actually get access to that many courses with membership anyway.

Thank you, I had no idea! I've seen their ads, and have been a bit tempted to try, but never gotten round to it. And now I'll avoid them, thanks to you!

You're welcome @Ahwelltoobad although I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news as the actual courses are good and it's really sad this is happening now. This situation is so unfair on the teachers themselves as well - I don't think they even have the option to remove their content from the site.

ETA it might be worth making a note of the names of teachers of courses you're interested in in case they might run courses themselves,

Just bumping my own thread 😁so hopefully a few more will see it. I'm on a mission to warn people about this (but don't worry I'm not going to keep bumping it - just this once - probably).

I did some really nice courses with them, but a while ago now. It is shame that they are using such tactics.

Yes it really is @Sajacas I was hoping they'd stop doing this when there started to be a backlash but it's been at least a year now. I still see courses I'd like to do but wouldn't dare let them have my payment details again. On a wider scale it's alarming that doing this, and losing many many loyal customers in the process, is working better as a business model for them than just selling courses as they used to.

I see their ads regularly on Facebook and always an assumed there was something dodgy due to the low costs (they're always advertised as special reductions aren't they?).

It's a shame the courses are in fact good but the company is not!

I signed up for one of the 99p courses and then was charged for a year's membership. BUT... when I went through my emails, I had actually received several emails from their admin letting me know that my trial period was about to end, at which point I would be charged a yearly membership fee. I was just busy at the time and hadn't bothered to read through my emails. Even the email I received with my receipt of the 99p course said this was part of a limited trial period.

I'd be interested to know if this is the case with some of the other complaints. Could be that these emails had ended up in spam and simply not seen. That doesn't mean that Domestika is trying to pull a fast one though.

On the up side, I thought that since I'd paid all this money for a yearly subscription – albeit by accident – I may as well make the most of it. I'm now doing a few of their courses and the quality of the teaching is excellent.

Exactly @SoupDragon. Yes actually they always used that thing of saying it was a special reduced price, reduced from about £20 to £5, when obviously the lower price was just the price as the sale was on permanently. Because there were no other issues I just saw this as a fairly benign marketing ploy - but now, not so much!

Thanks @Buttheywereonlysatellites51. It's good to get another perspective. I'm fairly sure I didn't get any emails as I check my spam regularly and anyway it seems a bit strange if these emails notifying of imminent payment always go straight to people's spam folder when generally Domestika's emails don't. Anyway, either way, I'm just seeing it as a lesson in not clicking "buy" in a hurry. I'm glad you are enjoying the courses - I definitely agree about the quality of the teaching.

Yes, you can bet I am very careful now about reading the small print, as well as keeping on top of my emails. 100 quid is a lot of money!

Surely anyone offered such a low cost 'course' would have just reason to be suspicious?

I bought a train ticket from 'trainline' and then had a popup saying ''Do you want 20% off your next fare?

But had I done so, they would have taken a subscription from me - all these 'deals' have fine print, and aren't the bargains they seem.

I signed up for a course and got this, however I cancelled it very easily.

Yes you are totally right @oakleaffy I let my guard down as it was a company I'd used for several years without any problem - but as I said, lesson learned now.

@Lonelyscarecrow Thanks for highlighting this - I've seen these courses too on my FB feed and been attracted to them, whilst wondering how they appear to be so cheap. However my natural state of inertia has prevented me from actually doing anything about them.

That's good @Trixiefirecracker Yes I was able to cancel mine too thank goodness, but I see so many people online who followed the same steps I did and it didn't work. I wonder if it makes a difference what country you're in, what the specific laws are around this? I have no idea though.

There is a lot of this going on with Facebook and instragram.

Recently got scammed by a face yoga 'business'.

Black Friday deal, $9 for a years subscription, 90% reduction.

You automatically get signed up for a seven day free trial of another course, all hidden in the small print. Seven days later, £100 taken from my account.

It's clear they are only there to scam by the way their 'customer service' respond to emails asking for a refund. Giving the runaround.

Bank has reimbursed me.

Should have said it's a 'company' called FaceGo

I do think its partly down to idiot people not reading the small print or not bothering to read emails they come through. You can in fact cancel anytime and turn off auto renew before the free trials end etc but no one bothers to read what they have signed up for and I guess once the money has been taken out it’s harder to claim it back maybe but all in all I think their courses are great and I’ve enjoyed them.

On 5th December 2024, I purchased a course from Domestika for £0.99 while enrolling in their subscription plan. The first month was advertised as free, and based on the information on their website and my online research, I understood that subsequent months would cost less than £10.00 each. Their policy of "cancel anytime" led me to believe I could try the service for a couple of months to assess whether it suited my needs.

However, on 5th January 2025, I noticed a charge of £110.44 coming out of my account, which caused me concern. After some investigation, I discovered that Domestika had charged me for the entire year upfront. I never selected this payment method, nor did I agree to such an arrangement. Given their "cancel anytime" policy, I find it puzzling how I could cancel if the full payment for the upcoming year had already been collected.

I attempted to contact Domestika about this issue, but the online chat led to no useful resolution. When I emailed them, they responded with a standardised reply rather than addressing my specific concern.

"Hello,

Thank you for contacting Domestika!

Regarding your request, if you are writing to us because you have received a charge that you do not recognize, it is possibly because you have previously activated a FREE TRIAL TO DOMESTIKA PLUS; this was a 30-day trial period which was automatically renewed, as stipulated during activation for the annual plan modality indicated there.

Please review the following Help Center article which describes the cancellation and refund policies associated with Domestika Plus.

We hope that you find the information useful and that you continue learning and enjoying Domestika.

Best regards,

Domestika Team"

My advice: DO NOT SUBSCRIBE! Unless you want to be charged for the entire year upfront, with no way to cancel.

Today, I filed a dispute with my bank (I recommend you try the same if you're in a similar situation). I’ll see how it goes.

@Lovageandgeraniums So sorry that happened and glad to see you got refunded. Thanks for the warning about that company too! I don't understand how it can be legal for companies to operate like this.

So sorry you had that experience @Beata70 They are definitely being deliberately deceiving and misleading. Your story is very familiar from reading all the reviews on Trustpilot. Just to let you know I found a refund button when it happened to me - it was behind a button saying "request an invoice". I just found it by chance as I was clicking on everything I saw just after getting the email from PayPal that the money had been taken. I don't want to get your hopes up as I have read that other people have tried this and the refund button wasn't there or didn't work - but it might be worth checking, especially as it's very recent that they took your money. I hope you get refunded one way or another anyway.

(In the order and course management bit in your profile)

Hi, thanks so much for sharing your experience and keeping this thread active!
I have also been scammed by Domestika, and was wondering how you got a refund? They charged me a years subscription twice! 😫 I payed through PayPal ( not on credit) and the transaction is fully completed so I can’t cancel it.
Thanks so much,
Sophie

Hi @SophieSkevington So sorry that happened to you. I went to my profile (top right hand corner) and went down to "orders and course management". Beside "Domestika Plus" there was a button saying request invoice. I clicked on that and it led to a button saying refund or request refund or something like that. I clicked on that and I did get my money refunded pretty much straight away as far as I remember. I don't think that has worked for everyone though - I really hope it works for you. Maybe it depends how soon you do it after they take the payment.

PayPal don't seem to be much help in getting money back although some people evenually managed to get them to help - but you can at least go into your PayPal account to stop Domestika being able to take repeat payments in the future. I can't remember the exact process for doing that but I think it was quite straightforward. Good luck - I hope you get your money back!

I have not signed up for a Domestika course, and sfter reading your post I found some info from googles'ai .

"If you're charged without your consent, and the company won't refund your money, dispute the charge (also called a “chargeback”) with your credit or debit card company right away."

I cancelled in time to avoid the yearly subscription. Domestika did send a few emails saying the trial period was ending. I think they're not being fair by defaulting to their annual subscription charge rather than their monthly cancel-anytime one when the free trial ends. I was under the impression that if I didn't cancel the free trial I'd only be charged a tenner or so for a month as that 'cancel anytime' payment option was the one prominently advertised. Luckily I checked. It's a shame as it's a good platform with some instructive courses.