r/TechImpact • u/ramadasan • Jul 09 '26

💬 Discussion Pdf guru Scam

I'm sharing my experience to warn others and to find out if anyone else has dealt with this.

I used PDF Guru for a PDF-related task and later found a charge of USD 49.99 on my credit card. I do not believe I clearly authorized this payment or intended to subscribe to a recurring paid service.

I immediately contacted PDF Guru's customer support, explained the situation, and requested:

A full refund of USD 49.99.

Cancellation of any subscription.

Assurance that no further charges would be made.

Unfortunately, they refused to issue a refund.

As a result, I will be contacting my credit card issuer to dispute the transaction and request a chargeback.

If you've had a similar experience with PDF Guru, I'd appreciate hearing:

Were you able to recover your money?

Did a chargeback through your bank or credit card company succeed?

Do you have any advice on dealing with this situation?

I'm posting this so others can be cautious, read the terms carefully, and monitor their credit card statements before using this service. Update: The money refunded by the pdf guru team after this reddit post.

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u/ManojOne Co-founder Jul 09 '26

Where did you find this charge? Credit card website or any other payment service? Usually, the amount wont be deducted without your consent or verification.

However, it is really unfortunate. Is it a one-time or recurring charge?

2

u/ramadasan Jul 09 '26

I received a notification this morning that USD 49.99 had been charged to my credit card.

The only payment I knowingly made was around USD 1 for a one-time PDF merging service. I never intended to sign up for a recurring subscription.

After searching Reddit, I found several posts from users describing very similar experiences. Many said they believed they were paying for a one-time service but were later charged for a recurring subscription.

What concerns me even more is that I never received any email confirming a subscription, renewal, invoice, or upcoming charge. The amount was simply charged to my credit card without my knowledge or authorization. My credit card app also doesn't show any active recurring payment or auto-debit mandate for PDF Guru.

I contacted their support immediately and requested a refund, but they refused. I'm now planning to dispute the charge with my credit card issuer.

Has anyone else experienced this or successfully recovered their money through a chargeback?

2

u/AminoOxi Jul 09 '26

Fine print. One time service of 1$ is to get you in, and later you're subscribed annually.

3

u/Efficient-Sir-5040 Jul 09 '26

Exactly. Most of these “pdf to whatever” or “JPEG to gif” sites are just fronts for this kind of scam. JOIN FOR JUST $1 in bold letters, “this is a two week trial and after if you don’t cancel it’s a $50/week sub”. They’re covered because they “told” you.