Sunnyside: Drink Less Alcohol

I wish I had read some of the reviews here beforehand. I deleted the app shortly after downloading because I couldn't afford a subscription. Thought that would be the end of it, but nope! For weeks after I was spammed with texts asking why I didn't complete my account, with one representative going as far as to sign me up for a "free trial" without my consent. Texting "STOP" to these messages didn't work, and even after going on their website to delete the account I am still recieving texts and emails advertising a medication I have absolutley zero interest in taking. Ridiculous. These pushy marketing tactics are not only annoying but also distinctly predatory. Do better.

I had used this app a while back and they had a monthly subscription option—fairly priced and worth it to try out for a bit. Their new business model is not cool to only offer a $99 yearly subscription or a $299 premium yearly subscription…especially when I saw a reply on a previous review offering someone a monthly option if they email them directly. If that is someone you offer, it seems almost predatory to make the only options yearly subscriptions and after a trial goes to the MOST EXPENSIVE option. 😥 Now they have a free trial that I, and I admit should have paid more attention, just found out after doing the trial turns automatically into a $299 yearly subscription. I didn’t cancel the trial in time but thought it was the monthly plan it used to be, then got a notice from my bank of a declined transaction of $299. I immediately cancelled the subscription and contacted the app developers right away. Because it was through the app store they cannot do anything about it. Now because I do not have $300 in my account and cannot afford to deposit that much to be taken out and wait for Apple to refund me…which after waiting for the transaction to get out of pending status and then issue a refund (which the Apple rep did offer me) could end up totaling 7+ business days (so potentially 9+ actual days)…I am essentially locked out of using my Apple account to download even free apps until I can afford to have that money come out of my account. People struggling with substance use are not all rich. While part of this is apple’s system in which they cannot reverse a pending charge…I can’t help but think how this is a largely inconsiderate business model. If you want to help people, I suggest allowing them to pay for your app by the month or even quarter in an upfront manner. And if you really cannot offer that, at least have it default after a trial to the $99 yearly option. Yall have to know people forget to unsubscribe to free trials…and after receiving 36 text messages from yall in a 8 day period, during which I had to opt out once…still kept getting messages, then opt out a second time for them to finally stop…a simple reminder text that your free trial is expiring and you will be charged $299 maybe would have been a nice feature. Unfortunately when you have to choose between paying $299 for an app or paying you legally required car insurance or rent to not be evicted, you have to choose those actual necessities. So I guess hopefully in 3-4 weeks when I can manage to have $299 held up for 7-9 days I can finally do things like download free apps on my phone… It really bothers me that you offer people who are upset about your costs options to do a monthly subscription, but not the decency to offer it people who want to try your app and instead leave the option be to default to $299 yearly models. This has put me in a tough spot.