(Radio Iowa) – Iowans who sign up for a free trial of a streaming video service or an online video game may not realize that once the trial ends, they’ll be charged for that product every month — and those fees can quickly add up. Lisa Schiller, spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau, says Iowans should be wary when a “free” trial requires you to pay something upfront.
“In almost every case that we hear,” Schiller says, “the free trials will ask for your credit card number because they need to charge you for ‘shipping and handling’ or something like that.” Some trials may last six months but others may run for just a matter of days before you’ll start incurring charges.
Schiller says, “Sometimes people don’t even realize that they’re not going over their charges on their bank statements or credit card statements to even see that there is a charge every month.” Be sure to read the fine print when you sign up for any sort of trial, and she suggests mark down the date when you need to cancel that trial before you have to pay.
