Credit card fraud is a serious issue that affects millions of people worldwide and can have lasting consequences on your personal creditworthiness. Although it can be disheartening to encounter unexpected charges on your card, there are a few things you can do before raising the red alert.
Check your account invoice to review recent charges
Descript charges can come by way of a number of services that are charged regularly, or as a one-off service. Your invoices page (https://web.descript.com/invoices) provides you with a history of recent and upcoming charges to your account that may include:
Subscriptions - Descript subscriptions are billed automatically each month unless canceled. Signing up for a Descript subscription constitutes authorization for your card-on-file to be billed automatically each month for service.
Drive Members - If you are the account owner of a drive with multiple members, each additional member that you invite to your drive is centrally billed to your account (not the drive member) each month. Adding a new member will immediately charge the account for the new membership.
Additional Transcription Hours - If you require additional transcription each month, you can make adjustments to your monthly transcription rate limit at a rate of $2.00 per additional hour on the subscription page (https://web.descript.com/subscription). These changes are recurring each month unless adjusted back down before the end of your billing period.
White Glove Transcription - White Glove Transcription service is a metered (per-request) service charged at the end of each billing period at a rate of $2.00 per hour.
One-Time Boost Transcription Hours - Users may request that additional transcription hours be added to their account as a one-time charge at a rate of $2.50 per hour.
Verify if there have been other non-invoice charges
Overage charges - Customers who regularly exceed their monthly transcription rate limit are subject to a $.05 / minute overage charge and will be notified of the charge via email.
Check to see if the charges are associated with a secondary email address/account
Users occasionally report unexpected charges on their credit card, only to realize that they had mistakenly subscribed with a secondary email address. Please verify your subscription status with any additional email addresses.
Modify the subscription for any services you would no longer like to receive
If you would like to downgrade or cancel your Descript subscription, please read through the instructions in the following help center article:
Cancel or downgrade your Descript subscription
Frequently Asked Questions
What do I do if I'm still seeing unexpected/unauthorized/fraudulent charges on my credit card?
If you suspect that your credit card has been compromised you should notify your card's issuing bank immediately to report the fraudulent charges. Generally the institution will work with you to mitigate the issue and re-issue your card, however please note that there can be time limitations associated with receiving a refund for verified fraudulent activity.
Experian has provided some helpful information for people who may be subject to credit card fraud or identify theft:
Credit Card Fraud: What to Do if You’re a Victim
Will Descript cancel the subscription and reverse the charges?
Descript offers a 48-hour, no-questions-asked refund policy for subscription charges if for any reason you forget to cancel or are dissatisfied with your service, however this policy does not extend to other services.
For full details please see our article on the topic:
What if I don't have an account with Descript, or the charges do not appear to be associated to one of my accounts?
With the potential of bad actors to attempt to gain unauthorized access to user accounts, Descript enforces industry-standard security measures to protect the privacy of our customers accounts and data.
As such Descript requires that account change requests must originate from the email address of the account in question before any changes are made. We are unable to make exception for account change requests originating from any other source.
While we cannot provide access to an account for the reasons listed, a member of our support team may be able to assist in canceling the subscription to prevent further charges provided that sufficient card verification is obtained.
For more details on how to contact a team member see our article on the topic:
What if the charges are appearing on a company card for a user who no longer works at the company?
For the reasons listed above, Descript cannot make account changes originating from any source other than the email address of the account in question. Please work with your IT team administrator to provide access to or re-instate the email address before proceeding.
If the account is outside of the 48-hour satisfaction guarantee period for a refund, you may prevent further charges by cancelling the subscription as explained in the following help center article: