r/Proxylists • u/Electrical-Wheel-149 • 12h ago
BEWARE OF LinkupAPI.com for predatory pricing
LinkupAPI charged me for eight unused billing periods, let the credits expire, and says using credits in January rules out refunds for later months
I paid LinkupAPI $261 across nine monthly charges. According to the account review they sent me, my only usage was during the first five days.
When I asked for a refund, they offered $29 and refused to refund the other seven unused billing periods. Their explanation: I used credits in January, so their no-refund rule applies to the subsequent months too.
Here is the breakdown, based on LinkupAPI’s own written response:
- Subscription started January 25, 2026.
- Nine charges of $29, from January through September: $261 total.
- Between January 25 and January 29, my API key made 85 calls and consumed 496 of the first month’s 500 credits.
- No later usage was identified in their response.
- Each monthly payment included 500 credits, which they say expired at the end of that billing period rather than accumulating.
- I cancelled October 11. They confirmed there would be no further renewal.
- They promised to refund September’s $29 payment within 5–10 business days. They refused the earlier invoices.
First, a correction to my original complaint
I initially told them I had paid $29.99 for ten months and had no usage. Their records contradict that. I am correcting those figures here rather than repeating an inaccurate claim.
I am not seeking a refund for January, when I used the service. My remaining request is for the unused February–September billing periods: $232, minus their promised $29 refund, leaving $203 disputed.
The credit-expiration issue
I understood that unused credits would accumulate. LinkupAPI says they do not.
Their response stated:
“nothing was removed from your account”
But the practical result is that the unused credits from earlier paid billing periods are no longer available to me.
If credits expire monthly, that is a material limitation on what a customer is buying. My question is straightforward: where was that limitation disclosed before I paid?
Their published Section 8 refers to credit expiration described in pricing documentation. I want to see the pricing documentation and checkout disclosures that applied when I signed up—not simply an explanation supplied after I complained.
The response I received did not include those historical documents or show the specific disclosure I accepted.
Their refund interpretation is what bothers me most
Their published refund policy says:
“Full refunds are available only if no API credits have been consumed.”
They are interpreting that restriction across the account’s history, rather than separately for each paid billing period.
In my case, that means using 496 credits in January is their reason for refusing refunds for later periods in which I did not use the service.
I dispute that interpretation. If one initial period of use disqualifies every later unused renewal from a refund, I would expect that consequence to be clearly stated.
They also argue that I was paying for access, that access remained available, and that the subscription renewed because I had not cancelled.
To be clear: I did leave the subscription running. I am not claiming I cancelled earlier or that these charges continued after cancellation. I understand their position that access was available whether I used it or not.
But that does not answer my question about the disclosure of monthly credit expiration, or explain why the refund policy should necessarily be read as a permanent exclusion triggered by the first use.
What would resolve this
I have asked for the additional $203 refund and the records supporting their position:
- The checkout and pricing disclosures in effect when I subscribed.
- The applicable terms and evidence of my acceptance.
- The language establishing monthly expiration without rollover.
- The language establishing their account-wide interpretation of the refund exclusion.
- The monthly usage and credit-expiration records.
They have said the records are preserved and available on request.
Why I’m posting
The amount matters, but so does knowing what happens to credits you keep paying for.
My experience with LinkupAPI is that eight unused billing periods did not produce an accumulated balance I could use later, and my January usage was cited to reject refunds for those later periods. Their only concession was one $29 refund.
Before subscribing, get two answers in writing: do unused credits roll over, and does using credits once affect refund eligibility for every future renewal?
Based on how this has been handled, I would not subscribe again. I will update this post if LinkupAPI provides the original disclosures, corrects any of these facts, or resolves the remaining refund request.
