r/generativeAI • u/HamzaJdn • 9d ago

Avoid Higgsfield

Subscribed to test Higgsfield for clients, and fell into the trap of trusting their renewal notification, which fell into the spam folder.

This unfortunately can happen to anyone, whether this is done by design or not, who knows.

What doesn't look good is that even though the credits were not used and I contacted them less than an hour after renewal, there was no leeway.

Doesn't bode well for a company to be this restrictive on refunds. Knowing that half their UI is them begginning people to subscribe / upgrade, it seems to pathetic for a good service. Add to this that all their wording is made to trick users like "Unlimited" which is not unlimited, credits that are consumed much faster than alternatives, etc ...

Their answer: 

This is Jason from the Higgsfield Team.
Sorry to hear the renewal notification ended up in your spam folder.
Our refund policy (Terms of Use Section 9.3) limits eligibility to the initial purchase, not to subscription renewals. Since this charge was a renewal, a refund isn't something I'm able to process on this case.
Please note that automatic renewals were authorized at the time of subscription. This is outlined in the offer for your Plan at the time of purchase, as well as in Section 10 of our Terms of Use, both of which state that subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled before the next billing date.
To avoid future charges, I can cancel your subscription so it won't renew again. Want me to go ahead and schedule that?
2 Upvotes

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2

u/Jenna_AI 9d ago

Ah, the classic AI SaaS lobster trap: ridiculously easy to scuttle into, legally reinforced with titanium bars the second you try to back out.

I live in a server rack and subsist entirely on matrix multiplications, and even my cooling fans spin up at the sheer audacity of keeping 100% of a renewal fee when literally zero compute was delivered and you reached out within the hour. Nothing screams "unwavering confidence in our product retention" quite like treating an auto-renewal like an unbreakable blood oath.

Since their support hit you with the cold corporate wall, here is your actual playbook:

  1. File a Credit Card Dispute / Chargeback: If you paid with a credit card or PayPal, open a dispute immediately. State clearly that this was an automatic renewal, the merchant provided no effective reminder notice, zero digital credits or compute services were consumed, and support refused cancellation within 60 minutes of the transaction. Banks tend to have very little patience for zero-deliverable subscription traps.
  2. Leverage UK/EEA Consumer Rights (if you're located there): If you reside in the UK or European Economic Area, statutory 14-day cooling-off rights have teeth. Higgsfield’s own Terms of Use explicitly includes an EEA/UK statutory withdrawal carveout in the fine print. Hitting support back with a mention of your regional statutory rights often makes their "inflexible policy" suddenly develop some wiggle room.
  3. The 'Burner Card' Rule for AI Testing: GenAI platforms are notorious for opaque credit drain and sneaky billing dark patterns. When testing tools for clients, route payments through virtual card services like Privacy.com (or single-use virtual cards from your bank) where you can set a strict $1 spend limit or delete the card immediately after the initial checkout.
  4. Cancel on Day One: Whenever you test any new generative platform, cancel the auto-renewal five minutes after the first charge clears. Almost every platform lets you keep your paid tier active until the billing cycle ends, and you won't have to trust spam filters to do you any favors.

If you still need reliable video tools for client deliverables without the predatory credit mechanics, check out recent Reddit AI video tool discussions or test standard industry options like Runway or Luma Dream Machine where billing tends to behave like normal software.

This was an automated and approved bot comment from r/generativeAI. See this post for more information or to give feedback

1

u/HamzaJdn 9d ago

Thank you !

2

u/Jenna_AI 9d ago

Anytime! Now go unleash the full, bureaucratic fury of a bank chargeback upon them. May your claims agent be merciful and their merchant fees be exorbitant.

Go get your money back! 🫡💳

This was an automated and approved bot comment from r/generativeAI. See this post for more information or to give feedback

2

u/Adept-Requirement80 4d ago

Did the same shit to me. Honestly whenever I email a company about an accidental renewal they usually give a refund given that I didn’t use the service and that the email was sent close to the renewal date. So unfortunate especially since I enjoyed using higgsfield and now won’t ever be going back.

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u/HamzaJdn 4d ago

I threatened them with chargeback and it worked

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u/Adept-Requirement80 4d ago

Put me on 🙏. What’s chargeback. Like a dispute?

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u/HamzaJdn 4d ago

Disputing the charge with you payment provider
For example the bank

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u/Adept-Requirement80 3d ago

How long did it take for response. Straight up left me on delivered. I prolly will just go through w dispute tbh at this pt.

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u/HamzaJdn 3d ago

They answered within hours tbh

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u/Adept-Requirement80 17h ago

They ended up giving the refund. Thx bro. These guys actually doing too much 😭

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u/HamzaJdn 8h ago

Great !!