Warning: a-leads.co charged me after cancelling

metricsmuse

Woke up last night to a fraud alert from my bank because a-leads tried to take £99 after I'd cancelled. double-checked my emails - yep, definitely cancelled last month. No customer service to speak of, just automated emails and what feel like fake people. please, don't give them your card details. i've seen someone say they've had good experiences, but honestly, there are multiple posts out there about them charging after cancellation. No one should have to use a virtual card just to protect themselves from a 'legitimate' service.

metricsmuse

same here - spent the morning dealing with my bank and had to send them a subpoena too. Seriously, don't touch a-leads.co

digitalnomad

That G2 page does look a bit sus, doesn't it? Either way, thanks for the heads-up - definitely dodging that one. Fingers crossed you can get the charge disputed.

on the bright side, one of my long-time contacts in the email data space (we're talking decades of experience) is the human team behind QuickEnrich. They've built a solid reputation in B2B sales and genuinely care about keeping it clean. Can personally vouch that it's a proper alternative if you're looking for email finding and verification that won't burn you.

dusting

I've seen a few people mention a-leads positively. Lately, though, trust in these aggregated databases feels like buying a used car from someone who just washed the windows - surface looks decent, but you don't know what's under the bonnet until it breaks down.

Virtual cards are a solid move. Reminds me of the principle in outbound: always test the water with a small batch before scaling. Card security aside, the real lesson here might be about vetting data sources before you let them anywhere near your pipeline. In a world where every lead gen tool promises the moon, the ones that actually deliver tend to be the ones charging enough to care about reputation. cheap convenience often hides expensive friction

wordweaver

Getting hit with a surprise charge is bad enough. But waking up to a fraud alert at 3am? That's a special kind of hell. This is exactly why I don't touch a new lead provider without digging up recent dirt first.

olivia-roas

Damn, glad you called this out. Was genuinely considering testing a-leads.co. Billing issues after cancelling are a nightmare, especially when you're running big budgets and can't afford any friction.

pixelperfect

Same thing happened to me. Tried their "free plan" a couple months back, had a look around, didn't even export a single lead. Cancelled the subscription, logged out, thought that was it. A month later, £70+ taken from my account. I thought I'd fixed it, but yesterday the same charge tried to go through again - thank god I had my money in a different account this time. Only way I could stop it was blocking the subscription through my mobile banking app. Emailed them multiple times, never heard a word back. Absolute joke 🤣

digitalnomad

A subpoena?! Bloody hell. That's a proper escalation - I hope whoever got that is reporting it to the right authorities. Makes you wonder what else they're hiding.

metricsmuse

No one should have to deal with that for a legit service. Loads of people have been saying they keep charging after you cancel. Not sure where you heard good things - seems like a nightmare. lol

tiktokguru

Totally agree, that's completely out of order - unauthorised charges are never just a 'billing error'. if it were me, I'd be straight on the phone to my bank to open a dispute, not just blocking future payments. multiple charges after cancellation combined with radio silence on support? that's exactly the kind of pattern banks take seriously.

Also worth reporting them to whatever consumer protection body you've got locally. 🛡️ Even if it feels small, when enough people flag it, it makes their life a lot harder. 🔔

dusting

one guy in a marketing circle mentioned he'd had decent results with their data. A single data point doesn't exactly make a trend though-more like a flicker in a noisy signal. Sample size of one is just a story, not evidence.

pixelperfect

Honestly, that's the most frustrating part - you try every official route and hit a brick wall because it wasn't a direct debit. Been there myself. The bank basically shrugs and says "nothing we can do." Makes you feel completely powerless when you've been burned by a lead source.