Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/05/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchase photos from the business and the photos was printed with the company ** code on the photos. The company refused to removed the ** code.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/02/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  In June 13, Flickr. Com , with a contact number for SmugBug charged my ***** to my ***************** I do not have an Flickr account.I asked **** to investigate and they approved the charge. So, on 7/5 I tried The phone number, which was non working and directed me to a website. Only way to contact SmugBug was via email. They said they had no record of account and to reach out to Flickr. Flickr has no way to contact other than through email but will not allow that me to delete the account without a valid email address associated with the account. There is not one! At this point, I only wanted to delete the account, and although the money is due credited back to me, I was simply wanting to delete my account for future charges. But I was not able to do a thing because there is no account associated with me or my family.On July 6, After many emails, ****** from flicker sent me a link to what He said was my account. I replied that none of the photos are mine or of anyone I have ever met.I emailed both SmugBug and Flickr 5-6 times over the period of one it two weeks.SmugBug, whose number is associated with the charge, says ***** has nothing to do with them! ( they are the owner).Also, twice, representatives via email asked me for date of charge amount and proof of charge, including the last 4 digits of my card number, but did not respond to my supplying that information other than yesterday,, to say they dont have that credit card number in their system(they charged it in June)I have received no response as of yet.It is wrong that there is no way to cancel this account. nit even via (without an valid email)They said neither of my emails are in their system. I wi see if this would be a class action lawsuit If consumers realized these charges were Automatically going through.I am very distressed that a company is permitted to automatic bill without an option to reach out with questions.Pleas help me at least recover my money and delete the account.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/04/2023

  The SmugMug team and the Flickr team have been in contact with ********* about this charge. The Flickr support team was able to find the account for ********* and she said the account was owned by someone named *****. She was able to close down the subscription successfully after identifying the account owner. This was resolved on July 8th. 

   

  -******

  SmugMug Support 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/20/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Back in august of 2022 I signed up for a 2 week free trial to smugmug. Nowhere in the welcome email did it say Id be charged after the free trial. I included that email. The next email was that in seven days the trial would end, also never mentioning being charged. Less than several days later there was an email saying Id been signed up. They started charging me way before the 2 weeks had ended so I wasnt looking for that email. They never again sent an email stating I was signed up and being charged. Ive now found (after examining my checking account) that theyve been charging me ***** for the last 7 months. Ive emailed them several times and never heard back from them. Phone calls were not answered. I would like to be refunded and cancel my membership

  Business Response

  Date: 03/13/2023

  Creating a trial account on SmugMug does not force the customer to enter billing information and we do not automatically charge the customer at the end of the free trial. We will only charge the customer if they choose to subscribe. The monthly renewals have been refunded for this customer. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/16/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/22/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Flickr has a system where the user sets the moderation level of the photos they upload to the public. Those are "Safe", "Moderate" and "Restricted". Although the rules are clear, There are hundreds of photos that are misclassified daily. Maybe thousands. This results in hundreds of inappropriate photos marked as "safe" that are constantly uploaded and displayed into "safe" groups. Flickr restricts moderate and restricted content to paid users, however many of the free users are the ones posting **** and pornographic content. I have flagged and reported one such user for more than a month yet nothing gets done about it. Everyday myself and my family are subjected to VERY inappropriate photos while simply trying to view a couple of groups that are labeled as "SAFE" content only! This is completely unacceptable! **************************************************************************************

  Business Response

  Date: 03/06/2023

  Thank you for bringing this up. We want you to know that we do take this very seriously. This is a manual process for our small Trust and Safety team so it takes us some time to reach all the accounts that are abusing our guidelines.

  Flickr uses a combination of humans and technology to moderate content and keep the community safe. We are frequently calibrating our tools and reviewing our efforts to stay ahead of emerging trends. In addition to our current efforts, our community members play a valuable role in helping us keep the Flickr community a safe place. You too can contribute to these efforts by reporting any accounts that are in violation of our ToS or Community Guidelines.

  If you notice any Flickr accounts that seem like they may be against our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines, the best course of action will be to report the account to us so we can look into it.

  If you see another account with prohibited content or content that has not been moderated properly, we simply haven't seen or been made aware of that photo or account yet. We have billions of images and millions of users. As this number fluctuates every single day we cannot guarantee that every account and upload is following the rules. In most cases it is just an oversight and not someone trying to break the Community Guidelines.

  One of our rules is even "Don't be creepy", so if someone is giving you creepy vibes or making you uneasy, we will definitely investigate if notified.

  If you are unsure of our Terms and Conditions or Community Guidelines, I'll go ahead and provide the links below so you can take a look over them.

  Flickr Terms and Conditions: *************************************************

  Flickr Community Guidelines: ******************************************************

  I'll also include an article below that will give you more information on how to report someone. You can even report the user then block them, that way we are made aware of any sort of behavior that is occurring that shouldn't be, and you should no longer have to deal with that user while we investigate.

  Report Abuse in Flickr: ************************************************************************************************************************

  We do take these reports very seriously, and while we try to be as on the ball as possible in regards to shutting down any sort of untoward behavior, unfortunately some accounts do slip through the cracks, so we greatly appreciate it anytime someone takes the time to report accounts that violate our terms and guidelines.

  Please let us know directly if you have any further questions or concerns. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/04/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I placed an order for photos and photo items with SmugMug and have not received all of my order and there has been no communication on this order or any response to my messages letting them know part of my order is missing. My order consisted of a photo coffee mug, photo button, photo ornament, and photo panel. I only received the coffee mug and it shows the order is complete. I paid by credit card for this entire order and want to receive my items.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/04/2023

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/12/14) */ The customer wrote to our help desk directly in November and we helped to reprint the missing items on the order. I wrote to the customer today, 12/14 to see if anything is still missing.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/27/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Good morning, I have contacted SmugMug+Flickr security customer service on four occasions requesting assistance with removing content because of security and safety concerns. The content is hosted on an inactive organization account that has not been accessed for eight years - the organization does not claim this account and does not manage this account. I have expressed my concerns and have not had any resolve with removing photographs of my family - including a minor child. The photos were collected and posted without my permission in 2012, and laters scraped/syndicated to foreign websites. I am a military service member and need assistance to resolve this issue.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/03/2023

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/12/14) */ Flickr did respond to previous communications with instructions to verify ownership of the account so that the account owner can make changes and delete content. The album in question has already been set to private and is hidden from public view. Logged-out viewers trying to view the album on Flickr should see: "You need to be signed in to see this It appears you don't have permission to view this album." If the photos exist on other platforms or sites, we don't have the capabilities to remove them from other places.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/22/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Stopped paying for a subscription from Smugmug.com billed at $13.00 monthly. Upon renewing my subscription I was backcharged 7 months worth of subscriptions. I was not informed of these backcharges and I am seeking a refund for them.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/14/2022

  The account was 8 months overdue, and those 8 months were catching up once the billing information was updated. Four of the 8 charges were already refunded, and we're refunding three more. There's now only one charge covering October and the months between March and September have been refunded. There are two more recent charges renewing the subscription for November and December.
  
  Please understand that each month needs to be paid for, and when we can't charge your billing information during that month it will want to catch up later to cover the time your files are being saved.
  
  If you're interested in switching to the yearly subscription, it will save money over time compared to the monthly subscription. That change can be made in your Account Settings > Me > Subscription section.
  
  I hope this helps! If you still have questions or if you need anything else, please let us know at *******************************
  
  Take care,
  ******
  SmugMug Support Hero
  *********************************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/16/2022

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This company has charged me multiple times (8 in the last two weeks) despite the fact that I have just recently reactivated the account. They claim that I have been "maintaining the account since January." this is not true. I have included a screen shot of the statistics for the web address they created initially in January and it clearly illustrates this is not the case. I am requesting a full refund of all 8 charges to my CC that they made. I have sent them an email canceling the account in total. I did this back in January as well. They have not responded. They have a better business bureau rating of F with many complaints along the same line as mine.

  Business Response

  Date: 10/27/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/10/06) */ This customer did create their account in January 2022 and agreed to the monthly renewal charges. The account was not closed in January and remained open. While the account was not publicly accessible during the months that it had not renewed, we were still covering the costs to store the uploaded content. When the billing information was updated in September to allow the account to renew, it wanted to cover those unpaid months that the account was still accessible to the account owner. There were only six charges to renew the unpaid months on the account; these occurred on September 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14. Of the six charges trying to make the account current, two of them were refunded on the 14th and we also added two months to the account to push back the renewal so the last two unpaid months did not need to be charged. The customer closed their account and disputed these charges which were reversed through their credit card company or bank, and we cannot refund them. Signing up for a monthly subscription of any service will require monthly payments. Unlike a magazine or streaming service, we don't withhold services or account access if months are unpaid. Our goal is to preserve memories and create a safe place for photos. We would be heartless if we shut down accounts immediately after a failed renewal transaction. We keep the account available and send notifications to the owner asking them to update their billing information so that their uploaded content remains safe.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/01/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  June 30th 2022 ****** added a follower to my ****** acount. This follower is *****************. I what this follower removed. This follower is not real and has a political agenda that is not good. I tried to remove this link in the "report abuse", however this link did not have an action button and was a dead-end. If you review this member you will find it was likely created by a BOT and the photos are not individually owned by the Lister. ****** has to be careful and not add false identities to their profile. I expect this follower to be gone with no further effort on my part. These are my terms. Thank you very much.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/29/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I placed Order # XXXXXXX on May 3, 2022. It was for 2 photos, one of which was unacceptable. I filed a dispute with my credit card and as a result ************ of SmugMug agreed to send a good photo and even showed me what that image would look like. However, she insisted that I had to end my dispute before she could take action. I trusted her and canceled the dispute. A month has passed, and no one will respond to my emails and no new photo has been received.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/19/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/07/07) */ Contact Name and Title: ****** Senior Support Contact Email: ****@smugmug.com ***** is working directly with ******* to have the disputed charge resolved and then to have a reprint order put in to correct the print issue. We are awaiting word from the bank that the charge dispute has been resolved and then we will get the new order put in right away.